Five miles of road wasn’t really that far.

Aside from a few brothers left guarding the base of the mountain, the rest had split into groups to search the mountain for a water source.

Soon, quite a few of the brothers had found water and were now stationed nearby, keeping watch.

By the time Feng Jiu’er made her way back, many of the Heavenly Mechanism Hall’s brothers were already testing the water sources.

The Heavenly Mechanism Hall had existed for so long that its brothers would never rely on nothing more than whether a silver needle turned black to determine whether something was poisonous. Especially after yesterday’s poisoning incident, today’s inspections were even more careful.

“What’s going on?” Feng Jiu’er asked, looking at the small group of people huddled together.

The others made way, and Xiao Yingtao and Leng Xuepiao stepped out to face Feng Jiu’er.

“Jiu’er, something’s odd.” Xiao Yingtao held a cup of stream water, brow furrowed. “I thought the water was safe, but the last powder we tried changed color.”

Xiao Yingtao held out the cup, and Leng Xuepiao handed over a cloth pouch with a name written on it.

“It was this one,” Xiao Yingtao said.

Feng Jiu’er frowned, took the cup, and looked at the medicinal powder in Leng Xuepiao’s hand.

“In that case, this water can’t be drunk either.”

The brothers looked at the gently flowing stream, and there was a trace of disappointment in their eyes.

Feng Jiu’er went to check a few more places, and the answer was the same everywhere.

The stream water, the mountain spring water — all of it turned the same powder a different color.

“Jiu’er, what should we do?” Gong Xinyue hurried over once she learned what was happening.

Feng Jiu’er looked up at the mountain peak and let out a soft sigh.

“Up the mountain.”

She said only those three words, turned, and walked toward the forest.

“Up the mountain?” Xiao Yingtao chased after her. “Jiu’er, what are we going up the mountain for?”

“Water flows downward. If this is all natural water, it shouldn’t be poisonous.” Feng Jiu’er stared at the high peak, her crescent brows knitting together. “Up there, we’ll find the answer we’re looking for.”

Summer was coming, and the air was stifling, even though the sky wasn’t especially clear today. After more than two hours without water, everyone’s lips had gone dry.

Hearing Feng Jiu’er’s words, everyone seemed to understand.

If the water source had been sabotaged, then finding the root of the problem should solve everything.

“Leave ten people here to keep watch. Everyone else, follow me,” Feng Jiu’er ordered.

“Yes.” One of the brothers clasped his hands and stopped in his tracks.

He held back ten men while the rest followed Feng Jiu’er toward the forest.

Feng Jiu’er came to a small stream and turned back to face the group.

“Zhao Yusheng, take five men and follow this stream all the way up.”

“Mm.” Zhao Yusheng said nothing more, just nodded.

“This stream is fairly wide, so check it carefully — look especially for anything unnatural hidden somewhere along it.”

“When we came through here, we didn’t run into anyone nearby, but that doesn’t rule out that the mountain itself is where it’s safe.”

“Understood!” Many of the brothers answered in unison.

Feng Jiu’er waved a hand, and everyone quieted down.

“Right now, there are two possibilities. One, someone is hiding on the mountain and periodically dumping poison powder into the water sources. Two, the poison powder was placed somewhere long ago.”

“I think the second is more likely. If someone were dumping powder into the water periodically, our tests across the different streams wouldn’t all come out the same.”

“But right now, the color of the water is nearly identical everywhere.”

“Wouldn’t poison powder placed in the water just get washed away easily?” Gong Xinyue asked, puzzled.

“Not necessarily.” Feng Jiu’er’s gaze landed on her.

The question, though voiced by Gong Xinyue, was one that had been on many people’s minds.

“If the powder is packed in a specially made cloth pouch and controlled properly, it will leak out little by little instead of all at once,” Feng Jiu’er explained.

“So we need to search upstream along every single stream now — search carefully, and we should be able to identify it.”

“Understood,” Gong Xinyue replied.

Everyone else nodded as well.

Zhao Yusheng and his five men stayed behind, while the rest continued following Feng Jiu’er.

At every stream Feng Jiu’er passed, she left a few people behind — more for the wider streams, just two for the narrower ones.

The brothers scattered to different locations, yet almost all of them drifted toward the same general direction.

The sky grew darker and darker, but everyone kept observing closely.

Sure enough, about two hours later, many of the brothers sent signals indicating they’d found something suspicious.

Feng Jiu’er, Qiao Mu, and Jian Yi hadn’t joined the search. The three of them had been patrolling the mountain the whole time, never stopping for even a moment.

Everyone was heading toward higher ground, and gradually, more and more of the brothers converged together.

In the end, they all gathered near two pools at the mountain’s summit.

Several of the brothers went in to check and pulled suspicious items out of the pools.

Feng Jiu’er, Qiao Mu, and Jian Yi came to one of the pools.

“Jiu’er, all these cloth pouches were found down below,” Xing Zizhou said, looking at Feng Jiu’er as she approached.

“And these five here were placed at different spots in the sky pool.”

“The brothers have searched everywhere. There shouldn’t be any left.”

Feng Jiu’er’s suspicion had indeed been right. One look at these cloth pouches was enough to tell they were no good.

Feng Jiu’er nodded and asked, “Has the water quality here been tested?”

“Not yet,” Xiao Yingtao said, shaking her head. “But along the way up, we tested several spots, and the results were all the same.”

“It’s just that the higher up we go, the darker the powder turns when placed in the water.”

“It must be because of these pouches!” one of the brothers said angrily.

Such a fine water source, ruined like this.

Not just the brother who spoke — everyone looking at the pouches wore a grim expression.

“That’s inevitable.” Feng Jiu’er looked up at the waterfall cascading down from the cliffs above.

“If my guess is right, this poison won’t cause immediate harm. It’s a kind of slow-acting poison.”

“Jiu’er, do you know what poison this is?” Xiao Yingtao asked.

“I only hope my guess is wrong,” Feng Jiu’er said, glancing back at Xiao Yingtao. “If I’m right, this is going to be a real problem.”

“What exactly is going on?” Xiao Yingtao frowned.

“Do you remember the covert poison Yu Jingfeng mentioned?” Feng Jiu’er turned again, looking toward the waterfall above. “This kind of poison won’t kill outright, but it can control a person’s temperament and torment their body.”

“This Mao Linye is truly vicious!” Xiao Yingtao clenched her fists. “And this poison isn’t easy to detect at all.”

“If we hadn’t used so much testing powder, wouldn’t everyone here already be under their control by now?”

“Evil cannot triumph over good!” Feng Jiu’er said flatly, then turned to Xing Zizhou.

“Xing Zizhou, you need to go to the rear camp yourself and explain the situation to them face to face. Make sure the Heavenly Mechanism Hall’s brothers stay fully alert.”

“From now on, everything we eat and drink must be strictly inspected.”

“This Mao Linye — he’s far harder to deal with than Mao Zhongcai ever was.”