When Feng Jiu’er and Mu Mu returned, they had indeed brought back quite a few catches.

Xiao Yingtao immediately set to slaughtering them, Xing Zizhou went over to help, and Shan Yidao rigged up a roasting rack. Before long, waves of savory, fragrant meat spread through the air, lending a thread of warm, cozy atmosphere to this corner of the mountain forest.

“Has there been any news from the Ninth Prince’s side about the assassin incident?”

Even now, Xiao Yingtao remained very worried about the matter. After all, three members of their group had been confined at the Martial Arts Building.

The topic appeared to draw the attention of Mu Mu, Xing Zizhou, and even Shan Yidao — they had all once been under suspicion themselves.

Everyone knew that Feng Jiu’er’s relationship with the Ninth Prince was not a poor one, and perhaps Jiu’er genuinely knew something.

Feng Jiu’er tore off a sparrow’s leg, blew on it gently, and said with an unhurried air: “I suspect the Ninth Prince actually knows something, but he is not yet ready to alert the snake by stirring the grass.”

“Why not?” Xiao Yingtao tensed immediately. “He already has a suspect in mind?”

“Perhaps… though he did not reveal much.”

Feng Jiu’er appeared to have little interest in the matter and had already begun eating, her voice slightly muffled.

“The Ninth Prince had an urgent matter these past two days and returned to the Ninth Prince’s manor. It should be that there is something pressing on His Majesty’s side, so this matter here has been set aside temporarily.”

“This morning, Captain Huo came looking for me…”

“Captain Huo came to you?” Xing Zizhou frowned.

“Yes — I saw that.” Xiao Yingtao nodded. “I was going to come find Jiu’er at the time, but when I saw Captain Huo going in and the Seventh Princess was there as well, I did not dare go and disturb them.”

“Why was the Seventh Princess in your quarters?” Mu Mu lowered his eyes and fixed his gaze on Jiu’er, who sat at his side.

Feng Jiu’er took out her handkerchief and wiped her mouth, then shook her head: “How would I know? She came on the very first night of my confinement — I do not know what she means by it either.”

No one spoke. Feng Jiu’er seemed to have no particular interest in this topic either, and tore off another sparrow leg. She glanced at Xiao Yingtao and blinked at her.

“Do not panic. The Ninth Prince actually did say a few words to me that day, and thinking it over, he should already know who the assassin is.”

“What did he say to you?” Xiao Yingtao’s heart leapt immediately.

“He said he had an urgent matter to attend to and needed to go back for a few days. He told me not to worry about anything for the time being and to wait for his return, at which point everything would become clear.”

Jiu’er passed the remaining sparrow carcass to Mu Mu, then reached for a freshly roasted whole sparrow.

“No need to overthink it. The Ninth Prince has everything in hand. He genuinely has important matters these two days, but once he returns, he will deal with all of this.”

“For now, the most pressing issue is that the person who threw the thunderbolt grenade still has not been found, and that person may well be right here among us in the Dragon Fourth Army.”

She looked at Xing Zizhou and Shan Yidao: “Neither of you were there that night, so the person who threw the grenade was certainly not from our group. I still cannot think of who it could be. Xiao Yingtao…”

“It was not me!” Xiao Yingtao’s expression immediately darkened.

“I know it was not you — what are you getting anxious for? I only wanted to ask — did you genuinely sense nothing out of the ordinary at the time?”

“At the time I was watching…” Xiao Yingtao’s words broke off sharply. Her face flushed red, and in the end she only shook her head: “I noticed nothing.”

“Never mind then. Huo Yan asked me to help him investigate this matter, and I will look into it properly when we return. But for tonight, let us secure the orchid blossoms first.”

After finishing the other two sparrow legs, Feng Jiu’er retrieved her small bottle from her pack.

“When you spot the orchids, you must take the bud and its stem together — otherwise the petals will wilt rapidly and the medicinal potency will be greatly diminished.”

These orchids — if Huo Yan did not require everyone to hand them over after they were collected, selling them on the open market would still fetch a decent sum.

And so the subject came to a close there. After dinner, Feng Jiu’er and Xiao Yingtao immediately set about arranging things.

Watching the full moon overhead grow ever brighter and brighter, while the sky grew ever darker and deeper — night had begun to deepen.

“The orchids on this hillside are not plentiful. In truth, if each of us manages to find five blossoms tonight, that would already be quite remarkable.”

Feng Jiu’er studied the sky very carefully, and drawing on her observations from dusk, began assigning each person their direction and task.

Each person’s route was different. Five people, five small paths — and they agreed that after two full hours, everyone was to return no matter what.

“I will come with you.” Just as they were about to part ways, Mu Mu suddenly spoke.

“There is no need. Have we not already looked this area over? There will be no danger. The path you are taking is the most difficult one — only you can manage it.”

Feng Jiu’er gave him a nudge. “Go quickly. Let us not waste time, anyone. Today’s training is going to count toward our scores.”

With Jiu’er’s reminder, no one dared to dawdle any further. Each set off down their own path without delay.

Jiu’er walked through the forest ravine, extraordinarily cautious the whole way.

At the end of the day, it was the dead of night, and she was still a little uneasy — darkness all around, the cold air of the forest unsettling.

Along the path she went — first blossom, second, third… The fifth orchid turned out to be growing on a cliff face.

It was no wonder these orchids were so hard to find on this hillside. She had been out for nearly an hour and had only gathered four. Even for her, quite familiar with medicinal herbs and certainly faster at finding them than the others, it had still taken that long.

Feng Jiu’er walked to the edge of the cliff, swept her gaze across, took a deep breath, and leapt down.

Her lightness technique was now fairly accomplished, and even traversing the cliff face felt smooth and fluid, as if moving through clouds and flowing water.

Before long, the fifth orchid was secured. She tucked it away in the bottle, then lifted her head to look up at the clifftop, took a deep breath, and immediately deployed her lightness technique to dart upward toward the summit.

But whether it was because she had expended too much vital energy earlier, her strength was plainly insufficient for the ascent now.

In one careless moment, her foot landed on a slippery stone — and before she could even cry out, she plunged straight down toward the bottom of the cliff.

In her panic, a figure lunged from the edge of the cliff and caught her firmly around the waist, then swiftly carried her back to the clifftop.

The cliff was not particularly sheer, and anyone with decent lightness technique and internal energy would generally come to no harm here.

Feng Jiu’er’s lightness technique was clearly already so refined, yet her internal energy remained this deficient — showing not the slightest improvement whatsoever. It was truly rather baffling.

“Phew!” Having made it back up, Jiu’er let out a long, thoroughly relieved breath. She looked back at the figure standing in the moonlight, patted her chest, and said with heartfelt gratitude: “Thank you. Fortunate that you were here — otherwise today I truly would have been smashed to pieces!”

She glanced back down and still felt a jolt of lingering fear, could not help but shudder. To settle her nerves, Feng Jiu’er hurried a dozen or so steps inward, putting distance between herself and the cliff’s edge, before she dared look back at the figure behind her. “How did you come to be here?”