At the foot of the mountain, seven or eight men in black were surrounding a severely wounded man in white. The white-robed man’s chest and the hem of his clothes were already stained red, yet he still held his sword, fighting desperately against the black-clad men.
Mu Yunjin leaned against the tree trunk, watching this scene, arms folded, observing the chaotic battle below as the scent of blood gradually wafted through the air.
The white-robed man’s martial skills were impressive. Despite being severely wounded, his moves were still fierce and deadly, though his form wavered with each strike.
At this point, the fighting gradually moved up the mountain.
Mu Yunjin continued watching the battle below without any intention of intervening, until she caught a glimpse of the white-robed man’s face. She frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then put down her basket of herbs. Silver needles appeared at her fingertips, flying toward the men in black.
One of the black-clad men, not expecting an ambush, took a silver needle between his brows and fell to the ground, instantly dead.
The rest of the men in black were startled and looked in the direction from which the silver needle had come.
Mu Yunjin, holding her phoenix-tail whip, saw that they had momentarily paused their fighting. She smiled, “Several people against one—what kind of skill is that?”
“There’s another helper…” the lead man in black muttered, then his eyes hardened as he addressed the others, “The master ordered that we must succeed today no matter what!”
…
…
“Yes!”
The white-robed man was also surprised that a woman had suddenly appeared. He stepped back a few paces and looked at Mu Yunjin. “This doesn’t concern you. Leave quickly!”
“They’re blocking my way down the mountain. I can’t leave,” Mu Yunjin said with a cold smile, twisting her wrist and swinging her phoenix-tail whip as she joined the battle.
The group of black-clad men had been fighting with the white-robed man for a long time and were already exhausted. Now, with Mu Yunjin swinging her whip and striking at vital points, they suddenly found themselves unable to retaliate.
Mu Yunjin employed a technique of divided attention—her left hand occasionally ambushing with silver needles while her right hand continuously controlled the whip. Far from weakening her fighting power, this made her attacks even more ferocious.
With Mu Yunjin’s help, the white-robed man also held on with his remaining strength, unleashing an exquisite set of sword techniques that killed the black-clad men surrounding him one by one.
…
After a while, Mu Yunjin put away her phoenix-tail whip and looked at the corpses of the men in black scattered on the ground. She smiled, picked up her herb basket from the side, and prepared to leave.
“Miss…” the white-robed man called out to Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin turned to look at the white-robed man. “No need to thank me. I saved you only because you’re good-looking.”
With that, she walked away.
“Thud—” A sound of someone falling came from behind.
Mu Yunjin stopped in her tracks. Looking back, she saw that the white-robed man had collapsed on the ground, his face pale as he fainted.
“Damn, what is this all about!” Mu Yunjin lamented.
After laboriously dragging the white-robed man to the big tree where she had been hiding earlier, Mu Yunjin opened his clothes and saw that he had been stabbed in the chest with a sword, with crimson blood continuously flowing out.
The rest of his body was also covered with sword cuts—he had sustained numerous injuries all over.
Speechless, Mu Yunjin examined the white-robed man. His white brocade robe was of exceptional quality, clearly made of rare and superior material. The boots he wore were edged with gold, and the center of his belt was inlaid with a transparent piece of white jade. One look and she knew he was either wealthy or noble.
Too lazy to investigate why he was being hunted, Mu Yunjin ground some of the herbs she had collected with a stone. She didn’t care what the effects of these herbs were—it was like treating a dead horse as if it were alive. After grinding them, she applied them to the white-robed man’s wounds.
After covering all the wounds with herbs, Mu Yunjin took another handful of herbs, crushed them in her palm, and let the juice drip into the white-robed man’s lips.
The unconscious white-robed man gradually showed signs of awakening…
“Young Master, Young Master…” A voice calling out came from the foot of the mountain.
Mu Yunjin looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man who looked like a guard, holding a knife and running up the mountain, looking around as if searching for someone.
“Young Master!” The guard, seeing Mu Yunjin, immediately ran over, and then his gaze fell on the white-robed man lying flat.
“You know him?” Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow and asked the guard.
The guard looked at Mu Yunjin, frowned, and pointed his knife at her. “Who are you?”
“Cough, Zhang Bo, don’t be rude…” The white-robed man woke up, coughed a few times, and spoke weakly.
“Young Master, are you alright?” The guard was very worried. He put away his knife and bent down to look at the white-robed man.
The white-robed man nodded, still looking weak.
Seeing that the two knew each other, Mu Yunjin stood up and brushed the grass residue from her hands. “Well, since you know each other, that’s great. I’ll be going now.”
With that, she picked up her basket and was about to head down the mountain.
Looking at the basket that was now half empty, Mu Yunjin pressed her lips together and stopped in her tracks, suddenly remembering that there were many injured villagers in Qingzhou waiting for medicine!
Damn, she had meddled again.
With this thought, she took her basket and went back up the mountain. She had already picked most of the herbs on the mid-mountain slope, so now she could only go all the way up.
Seeing that Mu Yunjin left and then went back up the mountain, the guard gave her a strange look and spoke softly to the white-robed man, “Crown Prince, this woman’s behavior is somewhat peculiar…”
…
Mu Yunjin made her way to the top of the mountain, quickly gathering herbs and planning to finish before dark to take them back.
This was her first time volunteering to do something for the people of Qingzhou, and she didn’t want to delay too long, especially since that wretched woman Qin Muyue was now in Qingzhou as well.
Thinking of Qin Muyue, Mu Yunjin gathered herbs even faster, crouching and bending her head as she collected herbs one by one into her basket.
Seeing that her basket was full again, Mu Yunjin planned to pick a few more herbs before heading back. She crouched and walked a few steps, when her peripheral vision caught something in a pile of grass…
Mu Yunjin went over, parted the grass, and picked up a yellow talisman paper from the pile. The paper seemed to have patterns drawn in cinnabar. Mu Yunjin looked at it for a while but couldn’t recognize the content.
Tossing the talisman paper aside, Mu Yunjin stood up. Her peripheral vision caught sight of something ahead, and her gaze darkened. She bit her lip and walked a few steps forward.
Now she was at the highest point of the mountaintop. On a space before her, Mu Yunjin saw two incense burners. Each burner had several half-burnt incense sticks that had gone out, and beneath each burner were yellow talisman papers.
Mu Yunjin bent down to pick up the talisman papers and saw they were the same as before, with special patterns she didn’t recognize.
This is…
Someone practicing sorcery?
Mu Yunjin’s heart tightened. Looking in the direction indicated by the placement of the incense burners and talisman papers, it aligned perfectly with the location of Qingzhou.
Could someone possess such heavenly abilities to control the rainfall in Qingzhou from here?
“No, no, no, impossible. I must be overthinking. How could anything be so magical!” Mu Yunjin patted her face, bent down to pick up the talisman paper she had initially found in the pile of weeds, tucked it into her robe, and was about to head down the mountain.
After just a few steps, the white-robed man and his guard came up the mountain together.
“Hmph, good physical condition indeed,” Mu Yunjin said mockingly, preparing to walk around them down the mountain.
The white-robed man naturally saw the incense burners and talisman papers. He smiled faintly at Mu Yunjin. “Thank you for saving my life today, Miss. May I know your name?”
“I don’t need you to repay me, so there’s no need to know my name,” Mu Yunjin said dismissively.
The guard beside the white-robed man, seeing Mu Yunjin’s discourteous tone, was about to step forward but was stopped by the white-robed man. “Were you studying these talisman papers just now, Miss?”
“Don’t tell me these talisman papers and incense burners were prepared by you?” Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes, carefully examining the white-robed man’s appearance. He truly was an exceptional specimen.
The white-robed man laughed and shook his head. “I saw you come up the mountain just now, so I followed to express my thanks. This is also my first time here.”
“If I’m not mistaken, the text on these talisman papers should be from some frontier tribal languages. If you want to study them, you might start with some of the frontier tribes,” the white-robed man said slowly.
Mu Yunjin’s expression remained calm, but when she heard about the frontier tribes, her heart sank. She felt that matters were becoming increasingly complex.
“I have to go now,” Mu Yunjin said, anxious to return with the medicine. Before leaving, she looked at the white-robed man once more. “Thank you for your guidance.”
With that, she used her qinggong to fly swiftly down the mountain.
Behind her, the white-robed man watched her gradually disappearing figure. A smile spread across his pale, weak face. “Zhang Bo, investigate her background. This Crown Prince wants to know everything about her.”
“Yes, Crown Prince.”
…
Mu Yunjin met Ding Xian at the foot of the mountain. Ding Xian was examining the corpses of the men in black. Seeing Mu Yunjin, he sighed in relief.
“Princess, you nearly scared me to death. When I arrived at Qingfeng Mountain and saw so many corpses, I thought something had happened to you.”
Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow and tossed the herb basket to Ding Xian. “How could I get into trouble so easily!”
“But why are you here?” she asked.
“After you left, His Highness was worried, so he sent me to follow you,” Ding Xian looked at Mu Yunjin and continued, “But you moved too fast. I took some wrong turns when I was following you, so I’ve only just arrived.”
“Chu Li just underestimates me,” Mu Yunjin muttered, though she felt warmth in her heart.
Ding Xian chuckled and went along with her words. “Well, you’re now the person closest to His Highness’s heart, so he naturally has to be concerned about your safety.”
“At least he has a conscience,” Mu Yunjin smiled, pressing her lips together.
“By the way, what’s with those black-clad corpses? I just checked them—they still have some warmth, so they died not long ago,” Ding Xian said.
Mu Yunjin didn’t want to mention the white-robed man, so she folded her arms and said casually, “They were being thugs, so I killed them.”
Ding Xian was taken aback and gave Mu Yunjin an admiring thumbs up.
On the way back, Ding Xian had some doubts. Each of those men in black had a special mark on them, and those marks looked very familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before.
They probably weren’t ordinary thugs…
At this moment, on the top of Qingfeng Mountain, the white-robed man watched the two small figures walking further and further away at the foot of the mountain, then looked at the position of the incense burners.
“What place is in that direction?” the white-robed man asked.
“It’s Qingzhou City in the Western Yuan Kingdom. They’ve been suffering from floods recently—it’s a poor and remote place.”