“Miss Jiu’er, we’ll go with you to find Jian Yi.”

“Miss Long, we’ll go with you to find Jian Yi.”

Behind her, the brothers shouted out loudly.

Wave after wave of voices rose, a hundred times louder than the guards’ shouting earlier.

Finally, amid the brothers’ clamor, Feng Jiu’er turned Zhuiyue around to face the crowd behind her.

“Jian Yi must be saved — but not right now.”

The moment Feng Jiu’er spoke, everyone fell silent.

“Let’s leave this plum blossom forest first. Move out!”

“Yes.” Long Shiyi nodded, grabbed the banner, and raised it high.

“Move!”

At his command, everyone except the unit led by Yang Sheng fell in line and followed.

Yang Sheng fed the antidote to the poisoned guards.

As before, he and the several other leaders explained the situation to the more than two thousand guards.

Everyone understood clearly that the guards’ decision to switch sides wasn’t simply because an antidote had been developed.

Still, they chose to surrender and take the medicine Feng Jiu’er had developed.

Beyond the plum blossom forest lay a prosperous village, with a field of plum blossoms on one side and a river on the other.

Beside this village were two more villages, and the outermost village was separated from the town center by only a single mountain range.

This place wasn’t far from where Lei Shenbao had taken refuge — his men had only just left when Feng Jiu’er and the others arrived.

Feng Jiu’er chose to make camp here, and Yang Sheng volunteered to have his men “clear out” the village.

And so, with Yang Sheng’s men in front and Zhao Yusheng leading the brothers behind, they steadily expanded the territory under their control.

After taking these three villages, Yang Sheng didn’t stop there, leading several thousand brothers across to the other side of the river.

There were two more villages across the river — once those were taken as well, attacking the town center would be much easier.

After all, these were still people of Li City, so Yang Sheng’s intention was simply to let the common folk flee to either side.

As long as the villagers kept to themselves, no one would harm them.

Even with the enemy at their doorstep, Lei Shenbao made no response at all. The villagers didn’t dare resist and, for the most part, packed up their families and left.

At the same time, Feng Jiu’er sent messenger birds carrying letters to both Chen Hong and Lei Shenbao.

Her message was simple and clear: if they dared harm Jian Yi, she would raze the entire town of Lei to the ground.

That evening, after Feng Jiu’er and the brothers finalized their attack plan, she headed back to her own courtyard.

Standing in the courtyard was the person who had kept her waiting for two days and two nights.

“Yinan, do you have news of Jian Yi?” Feng Jiu’er hurried toward Feng Yinan.

For two full days, she hadn’t received even the slightest news of Jian Yi. The messenger birds had flown off and never returned, and she didn’t dare send any brothers in either.

The town center right now was surely fraught with danger — she had no intention of gambling with her brothers’ lives.

If anyone were to go, it could only be her.

Since circumstances didn’t allow otherwise, they had decided to prepare an early assault instead.

Jian Yi was still waiting for them — no one wanted to waste a single moment.

Over these two days, the one responsible for gathering information on Jian Yi had been Feng Yinan.

Feng Yinan understood the language of small animals, which made it easy for him to slip away no matter where he went — that was why Feng Jiu’er felt at ease letting him leave.

Feng Yinan pulled a letter from inside his robe and handed it to Feng Jiu’er.

“Jiu’er, the messenger bird brought back a letter.”

Without hesitation, Feng Jiu’er took the letter and opened it.

“Jiu’er, what does it say?” Feng Yinan came to her side.

“Nothing.” Feng Jiu’er shook her head and folded the letter shut.

“It’s a letter from Lei Shenbao. He says if we want to save Jian Yi, we must abandon the attack.”

“Abandon it? Impossible!”

With that, Feng Jiu’er turned and strode toward the side chamber.

“Yinan, go get some rest first. We attack at dawn tomorrow — we only have a little over three hours left.”

“Go on, hurry!”

Feng Jiu’er waved a hand, pushed open the chamber door, and went inside.

After closing the door behind her, she opened the letter again.

“Jiu’er, if you come yourself, I will release your man.”

Feng Jiu’er had seen Lei Shenbao’s handwriting before and could recognize it.

She clutched the letter tightly in her fist, and when she finally released it, the letter had turned to ash.

Now that she was certain Jian Yi was in Lei Shenbao’s hands, and the attack plan was already in place, Feng Jiu’er had nothing left to hold her back.

She stepped into the inner room and shut the door.

Less than half an hour later, a dark silhouette slipped out through the window and was gone.

To avoid drawing attention, Feng Jiu’er chose a black steed from nearby.

She hadn’t expected to run into two people along the way.

Feng Jiu’er glanced once at the figures ahead but didn’t stop, continuing onward.

Judging by their silhouettes, she recognized the two black-clad figures on horseback.

“Miss Jiu’er.” Yu Jingfeng came forward to meet her.

“Jiu’er, it was I who told Lord Yu.” Feng Yinan, also dressed in black, came up beside her as well.

“I knew the letter’s contents weren’t simple, and I couldn’t rest easy.”

“Since you’re both here, then let’s go — no more wasting time.” Feng Jiu’er glanced at the two of them.

“Understood.” Yu Jingfeng, given the order, immediately turned his horse around.

There was nothing he feared — except losing Miss Jiu’er.

He simply couldn’t afford that!

Feng Yinan had known Feng Jiu’er would take this path — it was the only trail that wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention.

Fortunately, his gamble had paid off.

Yu Jingfeng worried about losing Jiu’er — and how could Feng Yinan not feel the same?

His life belonged to Jiu’er. Even at the cost of his own life, he didn’t want her to suffer any harm.

They knew little about the situation in the town center, but fortunately Feng Yinan had spent the past two days scouting the way.

Before dawn, Feng Jiu’er, Yu Jingfeng, and Feng Yinan made their way into where Lei Shenbao’s main forces were stationed.

By then, their own brothers had already set out as well.

At midnight, Qiao Mu discovered that Feng Jiu’er was gone.

She read the letter Feng Jiu’er had left behind, forced down her anger, and in the end did not go after her — instead leading the troops into the planned attack right on schedule.

No matter how large the town was, it was still just a town.

Lei Shenbao soon received word that the enemy forces had launched their attack.

He personally led his troops out to meet them, unaware that Feng Jiu’er was already right beside him.

Feng Jiu’er, Yu Jingfeng, and Feng Yinan had changed into disguises and were waiting outside Lei Shenbao’s manor.

The sight of the army marching out to battle was truly imposing.

Feng Jiu’er watched as Lei Shenbao, mounted on his horse, led his forces away, before she turned and slipped into a narrow alley.

The three of them made their way to a secluded corner and leapt up over the surrounding wall.

After moving along the top of the wall for a stretch, they leapt down together into a large private courtyard.

“I don’t know the layout of this place — everyone be careful,” Feng Yinan said, keeping his voice as low as possible.

Lei Shenbao’s manor was heavily guarded, and with so little time, Feng Yinan hadn’t been able to scout much of it at all.

Feng Jiu’er glanced back at him, nodded, then turned and headed toward a nearby grove.

Right now, the most crucial thing was to find where Jian Yi was being held.

Two days and three nights — was that fellow even alright?

Feng Jiu’er knew full well that panicking would do no good, yet she couldn’t stop herself from worrying.

And besides, Jian Yi was so handsome — how could she not worry?

—