“Right, Jiu’er, how did you guess it?”

Yue Qinchun asked as well.

“I heard that the enemy’s troops are all closing in on the mountain. If Feng Rui doesn’t attack tonight, he’ll definitely come tomorrow.”

“I was thinking, tomorrow at the earliest — they only lost ten thousand men today.”

Xiao Yingtao pursed her lips.

“Feng Rui is hot-tempered. He won’t wait long.”

Feng Jiu’er shook her head, stopped walking, and leapt into the air.

Zhao Yusheng, standing on the small hillside, had just turned around when Feng Jiu’er was already standing behind him.

“Jiu’er, what’s going on?”

Zhao Yusheng asked.

Feng Jiu’er spread out the plan, her long finger landing on the upper part of it.

“I want to open up another path and lure a portion of the enemy troops into this valley. Do you think there’s still time?”

Feng Jiu’er raised her eyes, looking at Zhao Yusheng.

“I expect Feng Rui’s army will attack at midnight. The traps in the mountains should be able to delay them by about two hours.”

“Take a look — can it still be modified in time?”

Zhao Yusheng took the plan and studied carefully the spot Feng Jiu’er was pointing to.

After a while, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and he raised his eyes.

“Jiu’er, this plan is good. I think it’s workable too. But are you sure about luring another group of them into the valley?”

“Mn.”

Feng Jiu’er nodded. “How’s the timing?”

Zhao Yusheng glanced around, then withdrew his gaze.

“You’ve brought so many brothers over — it should be enough time.”

“Good. I’ll go ahead with them first. Once you’ve settled things here, come right over.”

Feng Jiu’er lightly patted Zhao Yusheng’s shoulder.

“You’ve worked hard. See you later!”

“Mn.”

Zhao Yusheng nodded. “See you later!”

Feng Jiu’er led the brothers that Xiao Yingtao and the others had brought, and headed off in another direction.

In the stone forest, the sound of stones being moved mixed with the brothers’ shouts, making this winter night not as cold as one would imagine.

Deep in the night, the moment midnight struck, the enemy’s war drums sounded, and a large-scale assault began.

Aside from the mountain paths on both sides, Feng Rui’s army was also scrambling desperately up the mountain.

Much as Feng Jiu’er had predicted, the first wave of enemy troops broke into the valley about two hours after the battle began.

Feng Rui’s army was fierce. Pushing through layer after layer of obstacles, they charged forward without stopping, banners flying.

The result was that all of them entered the stone forest formation.

Because the mountain paths were narrow and full of traps, the enemy troops could only advance in batches.

By the time it was nearly dawn, eighty thousand enemy troops had fully entered the valley.

By then, the troops who had bravely pushed into the stone forest already numbered over twenty thousand.

The remaining fifty-some thousand troops behind did not rush into the stone forest.

Their commander waited until dawn, gathered all the soldiers who had entered, and only then waved the banner staff, advancing forward in a great, sweeping formation.

Zhao Yusheng’s stone forest formation was meant to throw people into confusion, and it made no distinction between day and night.

Of the eighty thousand enemy troops who had gone in over time, in the end, fewer than fifty thousand managed to come out.

Of the thirty thousand soldiers who were trapped, roughly twenty thousand were still wandering inside the stone forest, and roughly ten thousand had been led away by Feng Jiu’er to another location.

In a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, on one side by a lake at the mountain’s edge, wisps of white mist rose.

Around the lake, in three outer rings and three inner rings, sat or lay a dense crowd of people.

Walking closer, one could see that they were all dressed in matching uniforms.

The people resting around the steaming lake were the ten thousand soldiers Feng Rui had lost the day before.

They looked somewhat exhausted, though their color still seemed fairly healthy.

Suddenly, the sound of disorderly footsteps came. Another army appeared in the valley.

Someone — no one knew who — stood up and pointed toward where the sound was coming from.

“Company Commander, someone’s coming.”