This person picking up the pieces was, of course, Chen Dachang.

When the giant ape went to pursue the Yan Kingdom cultivators, no longer guarding the hollow, he saw his opportunity and immediately darted over. Yu Haizhen could barely sit up, let alone have the strength to deal with him.

Chen Dachang understood the monkey’s first accusation but had no idea what the “Six Ao Formation” was. There was no time to think about it now. Seeing the ape staggering toward them, he pressed his hand on Yu Haizhen’s shoulder: “Back off, or I won’t be polite!”

With its master in his hands, the giant ape, though desperate to flatten his head too, could only obey and step back two paces. Its huge eyes fixed on him, burning with rage.

In its mind, it was Chen Dachang and his accomplices who had restricted its movements, preventing it from returning to the front line on time. This had weakened the Six Ao Formation, allowing the Yan army to break through. Consequently, Ying Gong City lost its defensive capability, the Xi Kingdom fell, and its master was injured…

Everything, every single thing, could be blamed on the person standing before it!

Yu Haizhen turned to look at Chen Dachang, her voice weak: “You won’t get far either. The Yan people are pursuing me relentlessly.”

Unlike the monkey, she immediately pointed out the crux of the matter. The Yan forces were in hot pursuit, and if this guy wouldn’t let them leave, he would likely die here too. “Let us go, and I promise Hu Tian won’t cause you any trouble.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Dachang looked at the giant ape. So this monkey was named Hu Tian? Quite fitting—when it went wild, it was lawless and unrestrained.

Hu Tian was indeed obedient, immediately closing its bloody maw, its ferocious expression gone.

“No trouble,” Chen Dachang suddenly smiled. “First, have it change back to a small monkey.”

He could stuff a small monkey into a wine jar, indicating that Hu Tian in that state posed no threat. Yu Haizhen’s words carried no weight; he knew what would be safest for himself.

Yu Haizhen said softly: “If it changes back and the Yan people catch up, we’ll be in even greater danger.”

Chen Dachang suspected that Hu Tian reverting to its giant ape form wouldn’t be easy. He ignored her and moved his palm directly to the crown of her head, saying to Hu Tian: “Are you deaf as well?”

His female master was now very fragile and couldn’t withstand even a slap. Hu Tian glared at him hatefully before transforming back to its original form with a “boom.”

A palm-sized small monkey sat on the ground, filthy all over.

Only then did Chen Dachang give a satisfied whistle.

The large cranes on the cliff folded their wings and swooped down, bringing with them a few snowflakes, then landed beside him.

Hu Tian’s eyes widened in realization: “So these cranes are yours!”

“That’s right, they’re mine,” Chen Dachang shrugged. “Thankfully I returned in time, or they would have been stolen by thieves.”

One of the “thieves” looked up at his remark. Seeing Chen Dachang staring at her, she pressed her lips together. As a State Preceptor, she had always been dignified and noble, but now she was caught in the act of stealing someone’s mount, which was somewhat embarrassing.

But without riding the cranes to fly away, she couldn’t escape the danger. All the subordinates who had come to support her in recent days had been killed by the Yan people, and she didn’t want to summon more to their deaths. The rocky terrain around Ying Gong City was steep on all sides, and the only land bridge to the outside world was guarded by the Yan army. She and Hu Tian would find it difficult to pass through, and staying would only result in them being trapped.

Chen Dachang threw out a set of celestial binding ropes to tie Yu Haizhen’s hands before picking her up and jumping onto the white crane’s back. Yu Haizhen moved her wrists slightly, her eyes showing annoyance. This person appeared young, but he acted with experience. Even with her serious injuries, he still didn’t trust her!

She had secretly gathered her strength for quite some time, but now it would go unused.

Hu Tian became anxious, jumping three chi high: “Take me too! I won’t fight against you!” Without it by her side to take care of her, what would happen to its master?

“With Yu Haizhen taken by me, the Yan people won’t continue pursuing you relentlessly,” Chen Dachang didn’t believe a single word from it. He casually patted the white crane’s long neck, and it flapped its wings, soaring straight into the heavens.

The small monkey, enduring its injuries, rushed forward but only grasped empty air. A medicine bottle fell from the sky, along with Chen Dachang’s floating words: “This elixir is specifically for internal injuries. Use it or not, it’s up to you.”

The crane spirits flew through the high skies for nearly half an hour before slowly descending.

They had not yet flown out of the mountain range but had already left far behind the stone plateau where Ying Gong City was located. The crane spirits were very fast; Yu Haizhen secretly estimated the distance to be at least a hundred li from Ying Gong City.

In a sense, she had indeed escaped from the Yan people, but Hu Tian would also be unable to find her.

Now she was stranded in the wilderness, alone with a man whose background and motives remained unclear!

How much better was this situation than falling into the hands of the Yan King?

Chen Dachang chose a stream area to land. He and Feng Miaojun had stopped here before, and now, relying on memory, he found a spacious cave and brought Yu Haizhen and the two crane spirits inside.

The location was good—a small stream lay in front, though it was frozen in winter. The cave entrance was concealed by heavy snow and several dwarf pines, making it difficult to discover not only from above but even for someone passing by outside.

It was very cold inside the cave, but in the center was a fire pit with unburnt wood. This was the fire pit he had prepared last time, and it seemed no one had visited since. Chen Dachang felt reassured and rekindled the fire.

His movements were practiced. Just as he took out a large pot from his storage ring, a cold female voice came from behind: “What exactly do you want to do?” He didn’t need to turn around to know that Yu Haizhen was lying on the straw pile watching him.

“Save your life, at least to keep you from dying.”

Her condition wasn’t good at all—severely injured and on the run for a full two days. Any further delay and she would be critically ill. Chen Dachang was a person with a strong purpose; normally, he would never wade into such troubled waters. But Yu Haizhen was the target of the Queen’s journey, and her importance was obvious. Before seeing Feng Miaojun, Yu Haizhen couldn’t be allowed to die.

With the howling winds above earlier, the conversation had been difficult. Only now did Yu Haizhen speak, her voice carrying both weariness and disdain: “You have that ability?”

Hearing her confrontational tone, Chen Dachang didn’t engage. Whether he had the ability or not wouldn’t be determined by mere words. He went to the stream to dig up several blocks of solid ice, taking the opportunity to erase the tracks left in the snow by one person and two cranes, before returning to boil water by the fire. Having often hunted in the mountains before, he had his own set of tracking and counter-tracking skills.

The two crane spirits had already puffed themselves into soft balls of feathers and were cuddling together for warmth. Cranes were migratory birds that set off for the south in autumn to spend the winter, naturally averse to such cold. Big Black asked Chen Dachang: “Can we leave yet? Where is the Mis—Mistress?”

It was clever too, originally intending to say “Her Majesty the Queen,” but considering Yu Haizhen’s presence, it forcibly substituted another term.