The Rong tribe would never willingly disclose the way out, and the elephant cavalry would certainly not be given away for nothing.

Li Wu made preparations on two fronts: on one hand, he sent Niuwang with the Azure Phoenix Army troops he had brought to survey the surrounding rivers and caves, searching for a way out. On the other, he dispatched his goodwill envoy Shen Zhuxi — accompanied by Li Kun and more than ten others — to visit the Rong tribespeople without fail every single day, rain or shine.

The first day the Rong tribespeople guarding the settlement entrance saw Shen Zhuxi arrive, they each reacted as though a great enemy had appeared. But when Shen Zhuxi gestured to convey her meaning — “I have medicine and a physician, and I wish to help your wounded” — the Rong tribespeople ran to report to the chieftain. Shen Zhuxi waited outside, full of hope, and in the end received nothing but a cold refusal.

She was not discouraged. The second day she came again, repeating the same routine. Each time she received a definitive refusal and had no choice but to leave, she would set down some dried rations and cured jerky behind her.

On the fourth day, she waited outside the settlement for a long while — and the one who emerged was not the habitually fierce female guard from previous days, but Dong Miji, whom she had not seen in some time.

Dong Miji looked at the food Shen Zhuxi had brought in her bamboo basket with a complicated expression, then said in halting Yan speech: “Come… come in.”

A flash of joy lit Shen Zhuxi’s face, and she hurried toward him. Li Kun and the others behind her moved to follow immediately. Dong Miji suddenly said: “Not allowed!”

He pointed to Shen Zhuxi and Li Kun: “Allowed.” Then he looked at the remaining dozen or so attendants and guards behind her: “…Not allowed.”

Shen Zhuxi looked back at the attendants and guards following her, then pointed out a middle-aged man carrying a medicine chest: “Let him come in with us — he’s a physician, someone who heals the sick!”

It took some effort to explain the meaning of “physician,” but she at last persuaded Dong Miji. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded and dropped his objection.

Shen Zhuxi, Li Kun, and the army physician — three people in all — entered the settlement at Dong Miji’s lead.

Dong Miji brought them to a small wooden dwelling whose entrance was ringed by many Rong tribespeople. The female elder who had been taken hostage by Li Wu that day was also among them. The moment she saw Shen Zhuxi and the others, the female elder’s gaze turned with hatred.

Every Rong tribesperson in sight — man and woman alike — covered only their lower halves with fur and hide. Shen Zhuxi had gone from initial flustered avoidance to being able now to look past it as though it were ordinary, keeping her eyes forward without a sideways glance.

Dong Miji gestured at the doorway: “Go in…”

Li Kun, without a second thought, stepped across the threshold ahead of Shen Zhuxi. After he had swept the interior with his eyes, Shen Zhuxi and the army physician also entered.

Dong Miji entered last.

“Save, her.” Dong Miji said earnestly.

The dwelling was thick with a blood scent that would not dissipate. A girl lay on a stone bed lined with dried grass and feathers, her complexion utterly bloodless, her lips even faintly tinged with blue. A hide of some unknown animal covered her body. Hearing the sound of someone approaching, the girl tried to open her eyes — weakly and with great effort.

Shen Zhuxi recognized her as the same girl whose shoulder had been cut by a blade during the fighting, whom she had given a simple bandage.

“Save her.” Dong Miji repeated, looking at the girl in the bed. A shadow of sorrow passed across his face. “Death… not allowed.”

Shen Zhuxi quickly beckoned the army physician forward. Though the girl was feeble, her spirit was still full of wariness — she was deeply guarded against the few outsiders approaching. When the physician tried to examine the wound on her shoulder, he nearly had his neck seized in a chokehold. Only with Dong Miji beside her, coaxing and soothing, did the sweat-drenched physician at last get a look at the wound on the girl’s shoulder.

After examining the injury and reading the pulse, the army physician looked at Shen Zhuxi with a grave expression:

“This is the result of the wound being exposed to wind and water. The site of injury has been attacked by wind-cold evil, resulting in lockjaw. If she had been brought two days earlier, there would have been more options to try — but now… we can only do our best and leave the rest to Heaven.”

Dong Miji could not understand such complex speech. Once the physician had finished, he turned urgently to Shen Zhuxi: “Not die, possible?”

Shen Zhuxi looked at the girl lying on the bed, the childlike quality still on her face as she listened to their conversation, and sorrow stirred within her. She forced a smile and offered comfort: “Don’t worry — our physician will do everything possible to save her.”

Dong Miji half-guessed and half-understood her meaning from her expression. The anxious sorrow on his face eased at once, replaced by a grateful smile free of any guile.

The physician used a blade heated red in flame to cut away the festering flesh from the girl’s shoulder. The girl bit her teeth hard together, cold sweat pouring freely — even the watching Shen Zhuxi could not help but avert her eyes — yet the girl kept her gaze fixed on the physician’s blade the entire time as he carved out the dead tissue. What surprised Shen Zhuxi was that the female elder, who so clearly had a strong protective streak toward the girl, also did not speak a single word throughout the treatment, never once intervening.

The female elder seemed to understand that this was the last hope of saving the girl. Each time the physician stretched his blade tentatively toward the girl — while also stealing nervous glances at the female elder’s expression — the female elder stood unmoving beside the bed, her expressionless face drawn as tight as stone.

The necrotic flesh was removed. The physician spread a thick layer of dark black salve over the wound. The girl still did not struggle, but a profuse cold sweat broke out across her face, and from her throat came a small, muffled sound — like a young animal’s whimper — as she drew a sharp, involuntary breath.

The female elder’s feet shifted, but in the end she held herself still.

At last, the girl’s injuries had been treated. From here, all that remained was to change the dressing daily — everything else would be left to Heaven’s will.

The female elder walked to the bedside. Her tall, powerfully built frame placed itself between the girl and Shen Zhuxi’s group. Her face was hard and cold as she spoke a brief, curt sentence.

Dong Miji did not translate the sentence. Having watched the entire treatment, he too seemed drained of great energy, his face pale and exhausted. He turned toward the door and said: “Go… go out.”

The three of them were politely seen out of the settlement by Dong Miji. Many Rong tribespeople followed in their wake, looking at the three of them with varied expressions and openly talking about them in words Shen Zhuxi could not understand.

The scrutinizing and wary gazes, laced with hostility, made Shen Zhuxi sad. She resolved silently that she must dispel the enmity between the two sides as soon as possible. It had nothing to do with the exit’s location or the elephant cavalry — she simply did not wish to see any more needless bloodshed.

In the days that followed, Shen Zhuxi came every day with the army physician to change the girl’s dressings.

Perhaps it was Heaven’s blessing, or perhaps it was the girl’s own fierce will to survive — contrary to the army physician’s poor prognosis, she truly and gradually began to improve. On the fourth day Shen Zhuxi came along for a follow-up visit, the girl was already able to get up and walk, and her appetite had returned.

The army physician declared to Shen Zhuxi that the girl was out of danger. Shen Zhuxi relayed the news to Dong Miji and the chieftain.

The female elder gripped the girl’s shoulders in agitation, pressed her forehead to the girl’s, and spoke softly to her. Dong Miji shouted something in the Rong tongue toward those outside the door. The Rong tribespeople gathered at the entrance broke into smiles all around and ran to share the news with one another.

After his excitement had run its course, Dong Miji hesitated for a moment and made an earnest request of Shen Zhuxi: “Can… others, not die?”

“Are there others who are injured?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

Dong Miji nodded and, using his fingers and toes, counted out a number one by one.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Shen Zhuxi urged. “Take us to the other injured right away!”

Dong Miji let out a delighted cry.

Before long, Shen Zhuxi was introduced to the other dozen or so Rong tribespeople who had been injured in this fighting. Compared to the girl’s wound, their injuries were far lighter — some wound-healing medicine, a splint, and most of them would simply need to wait for recovery.

For the better part of an afternoon, Shen Zhuxi accompanied the army physician and stood in for Li Kun — who had once again disappeared without explanation — bustling inside and out, until she had treated every last one of the injured Rong tribespeople.

The sun burned above the treetops, its light falling upon a settlement filled everywhere with elephant totems.

Shen Zhuxi left the Rong tribe’s settlement under Dong Miji’s guidance. Li Kun, who had inexplicably vanished before, inexplicably reappeared at her side. He kept making strange sounds. Shen Zhuxi asked what the sounds were, but he only grinned and would not answer.

Returning to the temporary camp at the riverside, Li Wu also came back, covered head to toe in mud from scouting. He washed at the riverbank and returned to the main tent carrying the scent of water.

After the spiritual tempering of the Rong tribespeople, Shen Zhuxi no longer had any remarks to make about Li Wu’s bare upper body. She took up a hand towel and helped the carelessly expansive Li Wu dry the remaining droplets from his skin. The magnificent, sweeping Phoenix Sovereign tattoo lay naturally against Li Wu’s golden-wheat complexion, fitting seamlessly with every contour of muscle — and as Shen Zhuxi dried and looked, she found herself involuntarily drawn in. It was only when Li Wu suddenly called her name that she snapped back to awareness, hurriedly asking:

“What did you just say?”

“Has your soul been carried off by a duck?” Li Wu said with displeasure. “I’ve asked you twice already — did anything happen on your end today?”

Shen Zhuxi told him of the Rong tribespeople’s softened attitude and their changing stance. Li Wu ground his back teeth: “They’ve been freeloading my medicine without so much as a by-your-leave, while my woman comes back every day with an aching back — and not a single gesture of thanks to show for it?”

“It’s only been a few days — their attitude softening is already quite something.” Shen Zhuxi was actually quite confident the ice would thaw. “From our time together these past days, I feel they are not deep-minded people — very wholesome and sincere… The female elder you had as a hostage that time — today, when I was leaving, she even gave me this…”

Shen Zhuxi drew from her sleeve a small ivory-white object. It was a nearly circular pendant carved from elephant ivory. Shen Zhuxi had seen them worn as adornment on other Rong tribespeople — they seemed to ward off misfortune.

She found a red cord and hung it around Li Wu’s neck, to take the place of the jade disc he had once given her.

“And your side?” Shen Zhuxi asked. “Did you find a way out?”

Li Wu shook his head: “This wretched place is too vast, and there’s too much jungle. Last time, we even ran into a scout from a local tribe we’d never seen before who tried to ambush us — he used the terrain to his advantage and slipped away. But I’d guess he came from a tribe called Qiqi.”

“The Qiqi and the Rong tribe don’t seem to get along — you must be careful out there.” Shen Zhuxi said, worried.

“You’re the one who should be careful—” Li Wu said, his tone more irritable than his words suggested. “Every moment you go to the Rong tribe’s settlement, my heart is in my throat… Diao’er has been staying by your side the whole time, hasn’t he?”

At the mention of Li Kun, Shen Zhuxi told him of Li Kun’s strange behavior these past days, and said with a worried face:

“We’re in an unfamiliar place here. I worry that he’ll be rash and blunder into some taboo of the Rong tribe’s.”

Li Wu thought for a moment: “You’re right. Starting tomorrow, I’ll personally accompany you to the Rong tribe.”

“There’s no need—” Shen Zhuxi said quickly, “You focus on your own affairs. As for Diao’er — I’ll try talking to him properly tomorrow, and see what exactly he’s been up to these past few days.”

“…Alright. But if you can’t get anything out of him, he goes with Niuwang to scout terrain, and I go in person to accompany you to the Rong tribe.”

Shen Zhuxi agreed.

The following day, Shen Zhuxi brought Li Kun and the army physician into the Rong tribe’s settlement as usual, to examine and treat the sick and injured Rong tribespeople. Li Kun vanished again. Just as she was working out how she would reason with Li Kun on the way back to camp later, an unfamiliar Rong woman suddenly appeared before them.

After hearing what the woman said, Dong Miji looked toward Shen Zhuxi, his face bright with delight:

“Wonderful! My mother, see, you, come!”