Jiu Qing and Feng Jiu’er also stopped at midnight and found a cave to rest in.

What no one had expected was that Xue Gu arrived and caught up with them quite quickly.

“Jiu’er hasn’t eaten anything tonight. Jiu Qing, why don’t you go and catch some game?”

Xue Gu looked at the tall figure by the cave entrance and said softly.

Jiu Qing glanced back at Feng Jiu’er, said nothing, and strode off.

The soldiers pursuing them from behind should not be able to catch up this quickly. With Xue Gu here to keep watch, he could go at ease.

Once Jiu Qing had left, Xue Gu walked to the cave entrance and gazed out at the darkness of the night.

“Jiu’er, are you thirsty? I’ll go find you some fruit.” She said.

Feng Jiu’er was still tending the fire and replied without much thought, “That sounds nice — nothing particular, whatever you find.”

Xue Gu looked back at her once, then looked back along the path they had come from.

She had pursued them the entire way here using light footwork, and her speed had been considerable.

Those soldiers, now faced with the Longwu Army Mu Mu had brought, were likely still busy running for their lives. At a time like this, it should be impossible for them to catch up.

She walked out of the cave, and then, in a sudden flash, she pressed her foot to the ground and swept off in the direction Jiu Qing had left in…

Feng Jiu’er had no idea where those two had gone. After getting the fire going, she turned around to find neither of them had returned yet.

Feeling a little bored, she cleared out a clean area, then walked to the cave entrance.

Zhui Feng and Zhui Yue had wandered elsewhere to graze. With only herself left here, she felt, if she thought about it, a little anxious.

In the middle of the night, in this wild mountain wilderness — would there be wolves?

And truly, no sooner had the thought flickered through her mind than a long, mournful howl came drifting from the high slopes in the distance.

Jiu’er was startled and instinctively shrank back toward the cave behind her.

What a remarkably ill-omened thought to have had — could it be that with a head this unlucky, an actual wild wolf was about to come bounding out in a moment?

Suddenly, from the forest beside her, a distinct rustling sound arose!

Something was there!

She pressed herself against the cave entrance, and with a sharp hiss she drew the short knife from her waist.

The cold gleam of the blade flashed out, adding a sharp, bone-chilling air to the surrounding space.

Come to think of it, this precious knife had been given to her by the masked woman. That woman — to this day she still did not know, how much malice she bore toward her.

It had clearly been full of ill intent — yet somehow she could not feel very much of it, and strangely enough, she could not bring herself to hate her.

A peculiar feeling. The person who had crippled her martial arts — she simply could not muster hatred for her.

Then — a massive shadow burst out from the forest and lunged straight at Feng Jiu’er standing in the cave entrance.

Jiu’er was genuinely struck dumb. A tiger this enormous — she had never encountered one in her life.

How could there be a tiger in a place like this? What in the world?

She raised her hand and sent the blade flashing forward; the fierce tiger was startled and drew back slightly.

But it was only a single moment’s hesitation. In an instant, it lunged again.

Feng Jiu’er raised her hand once more, but by now the tiger had already closed the distance.

The blade was about to strike — yet one swipe of the tiger’s paw sent it clattering to the ground.

This was the third time the tiger lunged at her.

Jiu’er’s mind went blank. With nothing left in her hands and no means to fight back, there was nowhere to flee and no way to dodge.

She instinctively raised both arms to shield herself. How pitifully laughable — here she was, waiting to die.

Suddenly, her wrist was seized. She had no idea who had grabbed hold of her hand, but with a single pull, she was hauled upright.

The tiger’s lunge found nothing but empty air. It turned, intent on pursuing them.

But the person gripping Feng Jiu’er leaped off the ground and, pulling her along, landed high up in the treetops and moved swiftly forward.

The light footwork was truly remarkable. In the blink of an eye, they were already far from the cave.

In that brief moment, Feng Jiu’er could not even tell which direction the cave was anymore — they had gone quite far indeed.

She did not know how long they traveled before the person finally stopped.

The instant the two of them landed steadily on the ground, Jiu’er gathered every bit of her strength and shoved the other person away with both hands.

The only one who moved, however, was herself.

The other person stood exactly where they were, not shifting an inch. She, on the other hand, was propelled back several steps by the force of her own push.

She spun around to run. But the person casually raised one foot and stepped into her path.

Had Feng Jiu’er’s reflexes been any slower, she would have run headlong into the other person’s arms.

She looked up, and though she had no inner energy left, her palm still curled tightly, ready to defend her life at any moment.

But in the next instant — unmistakable surprise: “You…”

She stared at the man’s cold, deep face, and Feng Jiu’er exhaled a quiet breath. She pressed her lips together and said, “So it really is you.”

Jian Yi. From the moment he had arrived, she had felt that his bearing was very similar to that of the black-clad man who had nearly wounded her that day.

“Jue Yan?”

This name had first been mentioned by Xue Gu. Yet on the night Jian Yi came to the Heavenly Mechanism Hall, he had quite clearly come tumbling down drunk from the rooftop.

She had sensed no malice from him — and naturally could not confirm his identity — so she had temporarily allowed him to stay.

She had not expected her sixth sense to be truly correct: he was, unmistakably, Jue Yan.

Having his identity recognized, Jian Yi showed no sign of surprise at all. He merely fixed his gaze on her and said coolly, “This mountainside is full of wild wolves. Why were you alone in the cave?”

Feng Jiu’er still felt no malice from him. It appeared the other party had not come to kill her.

An assassin of this caliber would not easily take on a killing assignment without something like a supreme death warrant — the kind of bounty that made it worth his while.

But the master of the Heavenly Mechanism Hall was her birth uncle, and her uncle would certainly never accept an order to issue a death warrant against her. People were inevitably partial to their own kin.

So Jian Yi should not have come for a bounty, to kill her.

“I was with Xue Gu — she just went out to find wild fruit. Could you take me back?”

Jiu Qing and Xue Gu would have returned to the cave by now. Finding her gone, they would certainly be worried.

“I’ll take you to Phoenix City.”

“Hm?” What did that mean? Was he saying he did not intend to take her back to the cave she had just come from?

The enemy was stronger and she was weaker — Feng Jiu’er chose not to question his intentions.

Seeing him walk forward, she could only follow, if she had any wish to avoid being eaten by wolves.

“Where are you taking me?”

“There is a cave up ahead. We can shelter there for the night.”

He had even prepared a place to stay in advance — clearly this had been planned beforehand.

But just what was this fellow’s actual purpose?

Up ahead, there truly was a cave — the kind once used by hunters. Compared to the cave Jiu’er had just been in, the conditions were considerably better.

“Would you like something to eat?” The two of them sat down inside the cave, and Jian Yi lit the fire, looking at her.

Yet his gaze instinctively dropped to her hand.

What had brought him here? Most likely — it was for her hand alone.

He had already decided long ago: he would deliver Feng Jiu’er’s hand to Feng Qingyin, and from that day on, he and Feng Qingyin would be even.

In truth, just now, he had not actually planned to save her. But seeing the tiger nearly reaching her, he had acted without thinking — reaching out without a moment’s hesitation.

Perhaps he had been afraid that even her hand would be devoured by the tiger, leaving him with nothing to bring back and no way to settle accounts with Feng Qingyin.

Surely that must be it. It was only for the sake of her hand.