“Yes, Miss Jiu’er.” Yu Jingfeng nodded and accepted the order.

On Zhao Yusheng’s side, he and a few brothers hurried back from different directions.

Feng Jiu’er raised her eyes to glance over, and together with Qiao Mu went to meet them.

The matters here could be left to Yang Sheng — she truly still had things to do.

“Zhao Yusheng, I didn’t expect you all to be this fast.” Qiao Mu said with a smile.

Her complexion had improved considerably, thanks to Feng Jiu’er’s having channeled energy to heal her injuries.

“Is everyone alright?” Zhao Yusheng looked at Qiao Mu, then let his gaze settle on Feng Jiu’er.

“We’re fine. Today we owe a great deal to you all.” Feng Jiu’er nodded.

Capturing Lei Shenbao was today’s greatest achievement.

“By the way, Jiu’er.” Zhao Yusheng frowned slightly. “Qiao Mu received word that the people in the mountains were preparing to release poison smoke.”

“By the time we rushed over, quite a few of the medicine cauldrons had already been destroyed, and the guards stationed to watch over them had been killed.”

“That being the case, someone arrived before we did.”

“Whoever it was helped us — otherwise, even at our fastest speed, we wouldn’t have made it up to this height.”

Feng Jiu’er gazed toward the other side of the mountain, her moth-brows knitting slightly.

“Do we not know who it might have been? Were there any traces left behind?”

“Not clear yet.” Zhao Yusheng shook his head. “At the time things were too urgent, so I left without examining closely.”

Feng Jiu’er turned back to look once more, then withdrew her gaze, reassured.

“Zhao Yusheng, take me to see the scene. Qiao Mu, you go back and help Yu Jingfeng get things in order — let’s leave this place first and discuss the rest later.”

“Alright.” Zhao Yusheng nodded.

“Mm.” Qiao Mu nodded as well.

A brother brought over Zhuiyue, and Feng Jiu’er leapt onto its back.

Zhao Yusheng and two other brothers also mounted their horses.

Zhao Yusheng led Feng Jiu’er toward the forest where he had just encountered Yang Sheng.

The area wasn’t very large, and they soon arrived near one of the medicine cauldrons.

Feng Jiu’er carefully scanned her surroundings, her gaze settling on several corpses lying on the ground.

She picked up a wooden stick and prodded one of the corpses a few times, turning it over.

Feng Jiu’er stood beside the corpse, looked at it for a moment, then said quietly, “It’s him. Jian Yi.”

“He didn’t go back after all — he secretly followed us here.”

“Jian Yi?” Zhao Yusheng looked around. “Then where is he now?”

Feng Jiu’er shook her head and let out a soft sigh.

“I don’t know where he is either. But I really am worried about him.”

There was no way Jian Yi would obediently go back — that wasn’t who he was before, and it isn’t who he is now either.

So when Feng Jiu’er heard that someone had helped them, the first person who came to mind was Jian Yi.

Having come to the scene and observed the surroundings and the state of the guards, she was almost certain that the one who had acted here was Jian Yi.

Feng Jiu’er raised her eyes to the sky and pressed her lips together lightly.

“Jian Yi, come back. I told you, I’ll find a way. Come back!”

Getting no response was also something she had expected.

This man was always like this — he liked to hide away and lick his wounds alone.

But if he ran into Chen Hong with no one there to help him, what would he do?

Right now, Feng Jiu’er badly wanted to drag Jian Yi out and give his rather attractive backside a good smack — who told him to keep acting on his own?

But Feng Jiu’er knew that if Jian Yi wanted to hide, finding him wouldn’t be easy at all.

For now, she only hoped this man would keep watching over her, just as he always had.

At the very least, she could give him help whenever something went wrong for him.

“Let’s go.” Feng Jiu’er looked around once more, then turned to look at Zhao Yusheng.

“Go?” Zhao Yusheng frowned. “But, Jian Yi…”

“I know he must be nearby. He won’t behave — what else can I do?” Feng Jiu’er sighed softly, heading toward where Zhuiyue waited.

“Jian Yi, don’t go too far, or you’ll fall behind and lose track of us.”

Feng Jiu’er said nothing more and walked off.

After the two of them left, the forest fell quiet.

A figure in white appeared atop the treetops.

He watched the small figure that had already grown distant, his face betraying not the slightest expression.

With Lei Shenbao captured alive, everything that followed would be much easier.

In just three short days, Feng Jiu’er and her brothers had managed to seize almost the entirety of Lei Family Town — all except for one village.

The village lay to the northeast of Lei Family Town, near the Song River.

To its right lay the broad Song River; ahead of it ran a great river, while high mountains stood on its left and behind it.

At this moment, the one guarding this village, Huangsong Village, was none other than Chen Hong.

Feng Jiu’er and the others were stationed in front of Huangsong Village, separated from Chen Hong by a single river.

This river was not narrow at all — a full thirty zhang in width.

After days of continuous fighting, the work of reorganizing the troops was demanding.

Feng Jiu’er was in no hurry to attack, and stayed in camp with her brothers for an entire day.

Nor did she idle — she spent the whole time treating the wounded among her brothers.

Right now, she also faced a rather thorny problem.

Lei Shenbao’s guards had numbered a hundred thousand; now there were fewer than sixty thousand.

Some had died in battle, some had perhaps fled, and another group was in Chen Hong’s hands — but at the very least, nearly sixty thousand guards had submitted.

Everyone trusted her, and Feng Jiu’er couldn’t possibly stand by and watch these people suffer to death in two months’ time.

Without a sample of the drug Lei Shenbao had forced his brothers to take, researching an antidote was truly no easy task.

But she could not give up!

After a day and a night of being busy, everyone could finally sit down and have a proper evening meal.

After the meal, everyone remained seated where they had dined, drinking tea and eating pastries.

With only one village left, the entire city of Licheng was now theirs — it was not a bad feeling.

In the hall, Xing Zizhou set down the cup in his hand and looked toward Feng Jiu’er, not far away.

“Jiu’er, the boats are mostly ready, but the white mist on the other side of the river is still very thick — it hasn’t shown any sign of clearing all day.”

Zhao Yusheng also took a sip of tea and turned to Tang Xiaohua. “Madam Yue, can you tell what formation Chen Hong has used?”

“I don’t know either.” Tang Xiaohua shook her head. “Perhaps I could go take a look tomorrow.”

Having been forced to sleep for most of the day, Tang Xiaohua’s complexion was, if anything, the most flushed and healthy-looking of everyone present.

“No.” Yue Jianfei stretched out a long arm and rested it on Tang Xiaohua’s other shoulder.

Were it not for the crowd, he would likely have pulled Tang Xiaohua into his embrace.

After the words left his mouth, Yue Jianfei realized his phrasing had been somewhat improper.

He gave a light cough and added, “What I mean is, at this point, Chen Hong is no longer someone who walks the righteous path.”

“Her demonic arts are so formidable that I’m not at ease letting Xiaohua go over there. If anyone’s to go, I’ll take some brothers and go myself.”

“For now, I haven’t planned to attack immediately either,” Feng Jiu’er said softly.

“What’s more, Chen Hong has five thousand of Lei Shenbao’s guards in her hands.”

“As Brother Yue said, these guards’ eyes are dull and expressionless — even when injured, even when dying, there’s no change of expression at all.”

“My guess is the same as Brother Yue’s and Sister Hua’s — these people must be under Chen Hong’s control.”