“All right, don’t overthink it.” Jian Yi scooped a spoonful of porridge for Feng Jiu’er. “It’s nearly time — eat a little more.”

Feng Jiu’er met Jian Yi’s gaze and gave a nod, picking up her bowl.

With something like this erupting so suddenly, the most pressing concern now was how to prevent this needless battle from breaking out. Everything else could wait.

The two of them ate together, their movements a little hurried, neither speaking another word.

Jian Yi ate the steamed bun and sweet potato, leaving the only piece of meat for Feng Jiu’er to go with her porridge.

Once his stomach was full, Jian Yi took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands.

“You used your real name at Black Gorge — aren’t you concerned about certain people coming after you?” He looked at the young woman beside him and asked quietly.

“Which people?” Feng Jiu’er replied casually, seemingly unconcerned.

“Which people could there possibly be?” Jian Yi’s thick brows drew together and his voice grew noticeably heavier.

“If they truly intend to hunt me to the last, it would make no difference what name I used.” With a sharp clatter, Feng Jiu’er set her empty bowl down.

“This journey north is of the utmost importance. Even if some of them stayed behind, they would be nothing more than low-ranking lackeys. Are you saying I can’t even deal with lackeys?”

Jian Yi looked at Feng Jiu’er as she rose to her feet, the tension in his manner easing a little.

“Are we leaving? If not, I’ll go on my own.” Feng Jiu’er swept a glance at Jian Yi, then turned and walked toward her bed.

She gathered a few things together in a casual manner, and by the time she turned back around, Jian Yi was already standing directly behind her.

Feng Jiu’er looked up at the person who stood a full head taller than herself, her delicate arched brows knitting together lightly.

“I need no promises from you. Zhan Liyue — she must be eliminated. Is that understood?”

The words had barely left her lips before Feng Jiu’er gave Jian Yi a light push and stepped forward.

“Let’s go. Right now, nothing matters more than finding that treasure.”

Jian Yi turned and looked at her slight, slender figure walking ahead. He stretched his long legs and followed.

A moment ago, Feng Jiu’er had said “we” — not “I.” That was, in fact, precisely what Jian Yi had also wanted to express.

He continued after her, the expression on his face looking rather well.

Those who needed to be gathered were gathered. The group split up and set out in different directions.

……

Inside Nanman Fort, long before the sky had grown light, everything had already descended into chaos.

The entire Liang family — eleven members in all — had been poisoned to death.

Liang’s three sons had escaped with their lives because they had been on duty the previous night.

Among the dead were elderly people, children, and women — and even a woman who was with child. Two lives lost in one.

Something this grave had never happened before in Nanman Fort, and it was impossible not to think of the group camped outside.

After comforting the three brothers, the fort master set off immediately toward a cluster of stone caves at the rear of the fort.

The entrance to the cave complex stood open. People moved in and out from time to time, each one looking extremely agitated.

“Fort Master, I have heard that the Elder Fort Master began feeling unwell last night.” The steward kept pace at the fort master’s side as they walked.

Both men moved with great urgency, as though they could not reach the inner row of caves soon enough.

“Why is this only being mentioned now?” The fort master’s voice was low and heavy, thick with anger.

“A great deal happened yesterday, my lord. Your wife said she wanted you to rest well through the night. She thought it was only an ordinary indisposition, so…”

“How utterly outrageous!” The fort master let out a cold snort.

But he said nothing further by way of reproach.

The fort master had only one wife, yet kept a great many concubines. His wife never made any complaint of it — she devoted herself entirely to the care of the Elder Fort Master’s daily life in the rear quarters. This moved the fort master deeply, and so, concubines notwithstanding, it was still his wife whom he cherished most.

The two men quickly drew close to the row of stone caves at the rear of the mountain. A young serving girl spotted them and came running over in a great hurry.

“Fort Master.” She bowed and called out.

“What is the Elder Fort Master’s condition?” the fort master asked in a solemn tone.

“This…” The serving girl’s expression became one of great difficulty.

“What exactly is going on?” The fort master swept a glance at her and quickened his pace.

The serving girl spun around in a rush and ran to catch up.

“In reply to the Fort Master — the physician says the Elder Fort Master has been poisoned. The poison is the same as the one that killed all eleven members of the Liang family. Fort Master…”

The serving girl had barely looked up before the fort master was nowhere to be seen.

The fort master strode into the cave complex in long, swift steps. The chambers inside were filled with many people standing about.

At the sight of the fort master, everyone bowed at once.

“What is my father’s condition? Speak quickly!”

The words had barely left his lips before the fort master was already at the bedside.

But the Elder Fort Master had long since fallen into unconsciousness.

The Elder Fort Master lay in the bed, his complexion pale and streaked through with a dusky shadow — most tellingly at the lips, which had gone a deep purplish-black, unmistakable signs of poisoning.

When the fort master entered, everyone made way.

Standing at the bedside, the fort master studied the Elder Fort Master carefully for a moment, his eyes tightening into a hard gaze. He turned and swept his eyes across the room.

“What in the world happened? How did he come to be poisoned?”

First thing in the morning someone had come to report a dozen or so clanspeople dead, and the fort master had been run off his feet dealing with it — so much so that even his own father’s matter had been delayed.

He had not imagined that a man who had been perfectly fine just yesterday could now be lying there, his breathing so faint it was barely perceptible.

From the moment the fort master entered the room, a woman sitting not far from the bed had crumpled to the ground.

Out of deference to the fort master’s presence, the fort master’s wife had been so frightened she had collapsed — and yet no one dared step forward to help her up.

She looked up at the man towering above her, her entire face already drenched in tears.

“Last night, the Elder Fort Master went to Liang’s home for tea, so that is why…”

The “Liang’s home” the fort master’s wife referred to was the home of the elderly man found dead that very morning — which explained why the Elder Fort Master had been poisoned with the same toxin as the Liang family.

“What is the current situation?” The fort master glanced at his wife, then shifted his gaze to the two physicians.

“Fort Master.” The two physicians dropped to their knees with a thud, heads bowed low.

The fort master’s thick brows drew together, his voice as ice-cold as a shard of frost.

“What do you mean by this? Are you telling me my father cannot be saved? He still has breath in him — how could there be no way?”

“In reply to the Fort Master.” One physician raised his eyes for a brief moment, then immediately lowered his head again. “The Elder Fort Master has been poisoned too deeply. We truly have no means.”

“What do you mean, too deeply? You had the entire night — are you telling me you failed to detect that he had been poisoned?”

“In reply to the Fort Master.” The other physician spoke. “At the beginning, the Elder Fort Master only had a fever. There were no outward signs of poisoning.”

“He did not wish to be disturbed, and drove us out.”

“Drove you out?” The fort master glared at the speaking physician. “The Elder Fort Master may be growing muddleheaded with age — but have you grown muddleheaded as well?”

“I wrote a prescription, had the medicine prepared, and brought it over. Your wife received it personally.” The physician said quietly.

“Fort Master, what the physician says is true.” The fort master’s wife looked up at her husband. “I also made sure the Elder Fort Master drank the medicine.”

“After drinking the medicine, the Elder Fort Master sent me out of the chamber, and I…”

“Fort Master.” A serving girl kneeling beside the fort master’s wife raised her eyes.

“The wife was worried about the Elder Fort Master’s condition and kept watch outside the chamber all through the night without a moment’s sleep — this servant can attest to it.”

“It was not until just before dawn, when we went inside, that we discovered something was wrong with the Elder Fort Master!”