“Jiu—” Feng Jiu’er really wanted to call out “Ninth Imperial Uncle” again, but she wasn’t sure if anyone was around.

The Ninth Imperial Uncle’s identity must never be revealed.

So she forcibly swallowed back that address.

She said, “Jiuqing, I just found the brothers’ footprints.”

“Where?” Jiuqing grabbed her hand, and this time, he absolutely dared not let go.

“I don’t know if I can still find it, but I’ll try.” Jiu’er gripped his large hand back, her fingers interlocked tightly with his.

“Don’t let go of me. Just now… I was really a little panicked.”

“Just a little?” This girl—even when panicked, she wouldn’t shout or scream.

Crying like that just now had already been a rare spectacle.

Feng Jiu’er shot him a look. Wasn’t that because she’d been too moved, too emotional? It wasn’t because she’d been scared.

Although she really had been very scared before, it hadn’t reached the point of despair.

In fact, she really wasn’t that fragile. All her vulnerability was because of him.

“By the way, when we’re together on the road from now on, you can’t just use your authority to intimidate me at every turn. That would make it too easy for people to see through us.”

Feng Jiu’er was in an inexplicably good mood now. Ever since she’d learned he was the Ninth Imperial Uncle, the knot in her heart had completely come undone.

She hadn’t been fickle, hadn’t been flighty.

She liked Jiuqing entirely because Jiuqing and the Ninth Imperial Uncle were too alike—no, Jiuqing was the Ninth Imperial Uncle himself.

So, she really wasn’t some kind of bad woman, definitely not!

Jiuqing looked at her radiant little face, his fingers tightening unconsciously, wrapping her small hand tightly in his palm.

“When have I ever used my authority to intimidate you?”

“All the time!” Jiu’er glared at him, pouting. “Look, right now you’re trying to scare me with that icy gaze.”

Jiuqing only tightened his grip on her small hand, saying nothing.

When Feng Jiu’er looked up, she accidentally caught a strange glint in the depths of his eyes.

Wait, was the Ninth Imperial Uncle just now… smiling? Could this ice-cold fellow actually smile?

It had been so long since she’d seen the Ninth Imperial Uncle smile. When he smiled, he really was—really was gorgeous!

“Haven’t we already reached the planned number of steps? Are we still going to keep walking?”

Seeing that the girl had clearly reached the planned number of steps yet still wanted to keep going forward, Jiuqing lowered his eyes to look at her.

Unexpectedly, she was staring at him with longing eyes, practically drooling.

“Gorgeous?”

“Mm-hm!”

“Once you’ve recovered, I’ll let you look every day.” He said it with a completely straight face, not a hint of joking. “Even stripped bare is fine.”

St—strip bare, that’s fine too? But, strip what? Strip…

Her heart jolted, and without meaning to, she bit hard on the tip of her own tongue. The pain made her brow furrow tightly: “Mm—”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Stop talking, just watch the footprints on the ground.” Feng Jiu’er said, mumbling indistinctly.

She knew it! That scoundrel of a Ninth Imperial Uncle! Always talking nonsense with a perfectly straight face!

Looking so cold and arrogant, who would have thought the things he said could shock you to death!

Strip bare and let her look? Of course she wanted to look! But could she actually say that out loud? Honestly!

“Are these the footprints you saw?” Jiuqing suddenly stopped, crouching on one knee, carefully examining the faint, scattered footprints on the ground.

Feng Jiu’er no longer dared to let her thoughts wander. She quickly crouched down as well to examine them closely.

After a moment, she shook her head. “It looks like many people walked through here, but what I saw earlier were footprints from only two or three people.”

So that meant some of the brothers had walked through here too?

Over a dozen of them had gone out, and none of those dozen-plus had managed to return—only Long Yi alone had made it back to the main group.

Jiuqing glanced ahead. Up front, he could see only as far as five paces.

Any farther than that, and it was essentially a grey blur, no different from being shrouded in thick fog.

But once you walked over there, you’d find there was actually no fog at all around you.

They didn’t dare walk too fast, and could only go step by step, slowly following the footprints.

During this time, Jiuqing would occasionally look up at the sky.

Jiu’er didn’t know what he was looking at—after all, as far as she could tell, there was really nothing to be seen in the night sky right now.

But she knew in her heart that the Ninth Imperial Uncle must be using whatever limited view of the sky was available to deduce which direction they were currently heading.

Since the Ninth Imperial Uncle had studied formations and esoteric arts, what he could perceive wasn’t necessarily something she could see.

After walking a few more steps forward, Jiuqing stopped again, studying the footprints underfoot together with Feng Jiu’er.

The footprints gradually grew more chaotic—it seemed everyone had scattered and split up.

Jiuqing’s gaze grew heavy. After walking two more steps forward, he said, “It seems they’ve all gotten separated.”

“Once separated, it would be very hard to find a way out.” Having gone through it herself, Feng Jiu’er naturally knew what consequences came from getting separated.

If the Ninth Imperial Uncle hadn’t found her just now, she too would likely have been trapped by the stone forest, never able to get out again.

How were the brothers doing now? If they were truly trapped, wouldn’t the odds be against them?

Jiuqing walked forward a few more steps, then suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Feng Jiu’er exclaimed in shock, “Why are there suddenly so many more footprints? It looks like more than a dozen people came through!”

But on their side, the brothers who’d made it this far were already down to just one or two people!

So what did this sudden appearance of over a dozen people mean? Could they be bandits lying in wait here?

“Jiuqing…”

Jiuqing only glanced at her, signaling for her to stay quiet.

He continued studying the footprints on the ground, examining them bit by bit. Every two steps, he’d glance up at the night sky, and every step he took was extremely cautious.

After some unknown length of time, he suddenly stood up, looked at Feng Jiu’er, and said flatly, “They must have been taken away by someone.”

Jiu’er had more or less sensed the same thing, but she just hadn’t been certain.

Now that the Ninth Imperial Uncle had said it outright, the guess had become an absolute certainty.

“So what do we do now?” If they’d been taken away, did that mean they had to keep searching endlessly?

More importantly, she knew in her heart that if they kept searching like this, even the two of them might end up lost in the stone forest.

The reason she’d insisted on following the Ninth Imperial Uncle in here was precisely because she feared he would keep searching endlessly, disregarding his own safety.

Jiuqing glanced ahead, then suddenly pulled her along, walking back in the direction they’d just come from.

“Jiuqing…” What exactly was he planning to do?

Feng Jiu’er had no idea what direction they were even heading in now—whether they were going to keep searching or turn back, she couldn’t tell either.

Jiuqing didn’t say anything to her either, simply continuing to pull her along, still glancing up every two steps as before, then continuing onward.

Jiu’er could only stop asking anything at all, quietly following behind him.

No matter where the Ninth Imperial Uncle went, she would follow him there.

As long as she could follow him, even to the ends of the earth, she would have no regrets!