Inside the tent, a long sword had been driven straight through the bottom of the tent and now stood planted before the apprentice.

The apprentice knelt on the ground, trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Feng Jiu’er sat in a chair, looking at the person on the ground, her eyes half-narrowed, saying nothing.

It was only after everyone outside had left that she said flatly, “Get up.”

The apprentice looked up in disbelief, her hoarse voice ringing out: “Mi— Miss Jiu’er.”

“Get up.” Feng Jiu’er reminded her again.

The apprentice stood, looked at Feng Jiu’er, and blinked, not daring to speak.

“Where are you from?” Feng Jiu’er met her gaze and asked in a deep voice.

“Phoenix City.” The apprentice took a deep breath and answered in a low voice.

“Phoenix City?” Feng Jiu’er studied the girl before her up and down.

“Mm.” The apprentice nodded. “My mother died.”

“With no kin or connections left in Phoenix City, I thought to come and seek out my uncle, but I’ve been in Crow Wood City for over ten days now without any word of him at all.”

“My travel money ran out too. Later I saw a medicine shop hiring an apprentice, so I went to try my luck.”

“How well do you know medicinal herbs?” Feng Jiu’er asked softly, looking at the apprentice.

“My mother was also a physician. I started learning about herbs from her as a child, so I have some understanding of them.” The apprentice replied softly.

“Good.” Feng Jiu’er picked up a bowl of porridge from the table and held it out. “Come take a look — tell me what’s in this porridge.”

The apprentice pressed her lips together and stepped over to Feng Jiu’er.

She took the bowl, lifted it to her nose to sniff, and then suddenly dropped to her knees with a thud.

“Miss Jiu’er, don’t kill me, I really didn’t poison anyone.”

“What did you smell?” Feng Jiu’er asked softly.

“Toad venom,” the apprentice replied in a low voice. “It’s the scent of fresh toad venom.”

The apprentice didn’t quite understand Feng Jiu’er’s intent, and could only look up at her and answer honestly.

“When was the wound on the back of your hand made?” Feng Jiu’er glanced at the back of the apprentice’s hand, her tone growing somewhat colder.

“Reporting to Miss Jiu’er, this wound happened yesterday while treating the brothers — I accidentally cut myself.” The apprentice said cautiously.

“I really didn’t poison anyone, please, Miss Jiu’er, don’t kill me.”

“You think I mean to make you drink poison to atone for your guilt?” Feng Jiu’er looked at the apprentice, frowning slightly.

The apprentice looked up at Feng Jiu’er, then lowered her eyes to the bowl of porridge she had set on the ground, pressing her lips together.

“If not… could it be that what poisoned the brothers really was toad venom?”

“Yes.” Feng Jiu’er confirmed the apprentice’s guess.

“Among my brothers there are also some who understand herbs and medicine like you do, so even if you all intended to bring poison in to harm people, it wouldn’t have been so easy.”

“If I had wanted to poison someone, I wouldn’t have chosen to bring the poison directly into the camp either,” the apprentice said, nodding slightly.

“Miss Jiu’er, I remember seeing toads by the stream not far behind the third squad’s tents, but I truly did not poison the brothers.”

“For now, I believe you.” Feng Jiu’er took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and waved her hand. “Get up.”

The apprentice bit her lip, nodded, and slowly got to her feet.

“Miss Jiu’er, how… how can you believe me?” she asked, lowering her head, her voice soft.

“I understand medicine, and I understand poison too. If I were the one who’d caught a toad and harvested its venom to drug the brothers, that wouldn’t be impossible either.”

“Of course,” Feng Jiu’er nodded, “everyone here is a suspect. But for now, I believe you.”

“Going by how well your wound has healed, your injury truly is over twelve hours old.”

“And this fresh toad venom was harvested from the toad no more than three hours ago. When harvesting toad venom, it’s very easy for the poison to stick to a wound.”

“You show no signs of poisoning at all, which is why I say — for now, I believe you.”

Feng Jiu’er sighed softly and stood up.

“Since you understand how to identify medicinal herbs, then stay here. My people brought back some herbs — don’t go anywhere, just stay and help sort the medicine.”

“Yes, Miss Jiu’er.” The apprentice nodded sharply.

Feng Jiu’er untied a cloth pouch from her waist and pulled out a very thin layer of facial skin.

“Lift your head. I need to do something to your face.”

The apprentice didn’t dare ask further and raised her head.

About a quarter of an hour later, the apprentice left the tent. Soon after, a brother came in carrying a sack of medicinal herbs.

In another tent elsewhere, several physicians and their apprentices were eating together.

Seeing the female apprentice who had just been kept behind walk in, her master immediately stood up, brows furrowed.

“Could it really have been you who drugged the brothers? Did you want to get us all killed?”

“No.” The apprentice’s voice was somewhat hoarse, and she looked as though she’d been frightened half to death. “Miss Jiu’er has already gotten to the bottom of it — it wasn’t me.”

“As long as it wasn’t you, that’s fine.” Seeing her return safely, her master chose to believe her too. “By the way, who do you all think actually did this?”

“Knowing full well we belong to the other side, if anything bad happens to anyone here, Miss Jiu’er will surely suspect us first.”

“This time, the one who was drugged could really have died!”

“Right, who could it be?” Another physician looked around at everyone and said softly, “Don’t let this drag us all down!”

“I still have family at home, old and young — nothing can be allowed to happen to me!”

“Miss Jiu’er really has gone too far,” another physician’s voice rose. “We came in good faith, wholeheartedly willing to help, and she suspects us?”

“We’re the only outsiders here — if she doesn’t suspect us, who else would she suspect?” the female apprentice’s master said.

He turned to glance at his apprentice and let out a sigh of relief himself.

“Still, it seems Miss Jiu’er is a decent person after all. If it had been someone else, none of us here might have survived at all.”

“For a matter like this, what general wouldn’t make an example of someone to warn the rest? And we’re the surrendered side besides — if she’d simply killed us all, no one would have spoken up for us.”

“True enough. I just hope Miss Jiu’er sorts this out soon. As long as whoever’s capable leads, it doesn’t matter to me who becomes the head of the sect.”

“…”

Everyone chimed in with their own words — some complaining, some resigned, while others stayed quiet, only occasionally adding a remark.

The female apprentice sat among them, remaining silent the whole time.

There were many wounded brothers, and after the midday meal, the physicians and their apprentices grew busy again.

Changing dressings, preparing medicine, decocting herbs — everyone was kept busy without rest.

“I heard the one who poisoned them has been caught — it was a spy from within Miss Jiu’er’s own army.”

“Right, I heard that too.”

“Never thought it’d be a spy. We nearly got killed by him.”

“Still, good thing he’s been caught — at least we won’t be implicated.”

Before nightfall, word spread through the army.

Soon, everyone knew the fact that the one who had poisoned them today had been caught.

Within the camp, calm finally returned.