“What do you mean?” Xue Gu’s expression shifted.

“Save your schemes for someone else.” Qin Huai said dismissively: “Did you think your petty tricks could fool me? My brothers have already given chase. You would do better to worry about the situation your people are in right now.”

Xue Gu and Jiu Qing exchanged a glance. Jiu Qing did not stop to think — he bolted out immediately.

“When I return from the Feng Clan, I will come back for you without fail!”

Xue Gu did not dare linger either. At the greatest speed she could manage, she followed in Jiu Qing’s footsteps.

She did not know what exactly Qin Huai had meant, but it seemed as though he had known of their escape plan long in advance.

This Qin Huai — whether in the days when he had served at the late Emperor’s side, or now that he had become Elder Feng — his martial arts, though not the highest, were matched by a mind of exceptional cunning and foresight.

Had he truly seen through everything they had planned?

If so — would Jiu’er and the others not be in grave danger?

At the stronghold’s exit, there was no trace of Jiu’er and the others — only a gathered force of stronghold members standing guard.

“This is bad. They’ve been driven into the stone forest.” Xue Gu followed behind Jiu Qing as the two of them broke through the crowd with ease.

She looked toward the stone forest ahead. Mist shrouded it heavily, and in the deep of night, what lay beyond was nearly impossible to make out.

Among Jiu’er’s group, there was not a single person versed in the art of formation and mystical techniques. To charge in blindly like this was likely to be very dangerous.

“Stay close behind me!” Jiu Qing pushed forward at a swift pace and entered.

Xue Gu had no more room for thought — she followed at once.

By the time Elder Feng spoke, all of them had already plunged into the stone forest.

A subordinate came forward with a report: “Elder Feng — the woman and the scarred man both went in. Shall we give chase?”

“In this stone forest, even our own brothers who enter struggle to find their way back out.”

Elder Feng stared into the depths of the stone forest, his expression untroubled — yet in the depths of his eyes lay a complexity no one could quite decipher.

“To go in is to court certain death. There is no need to pursue.”

“Elder Feng…” The subordinate beside him hesitated, his expression uncertain.

There were more than a hundred people who had gone in. Was he truly to simply let all of them perish inside?

“If you wish to go rescue them, you would need the ability to do it.” Elder Feng’s face remained expressionless.

Every one of the subordinates lowered their heads. No one dared say another word.

That stone forest had another name — the Forest of Death. Brothers who went in either came out raving mad or never came out at all.

The further inward one went, the less chance of coming out alive.

They had already gone a great distance. Even if someone entered now, there was no way of bringing them back.

To go in would only be to add a few more lives to the toll.

Besides — no one had truly wanted to kill them. And what was more, their young lady and the young master had already been wed.

Once married, they were family. So why had they been so set on this — so determined to flee?

Elder Feng stared at the entrance of the stone forest. Even gazing at that swirling mist for too long was enough to set one’s inner energy churning unpleasantly, let alone charging directly inside.

Ye Feixue — I had no intention of taking your life. You chose this path yourself.

But she was one of Long Feiyan’s people. Long Feiyan had betrayed the late Emperor all those years ago. If Long Feiyan’s people died here, there was nothing to mourn.

The fault lay entirely with her own recklessness. It had nothing to do with anyone else.

“Where are they? Where are Jiu’er and the others?” A figure suddenly came rushing over, reeking of alcohol.

“Young Master!”

“Young Master!”

The brothers turned at once, greeting him with a bow.

Zhao Yusheng paid them no attention and looked straight at Elder Feng, urgent and direct: “Where are they?”

Elder Feng cast a glance toward the stone forest ahead and said without expression: “They’ve all gone in.”

“That ahead is the Forest of Death — and you let them go in!”

Zhao Yusheng reeked of liquor, but it was clear he was nowhere near actually drunk.

Elder Feng did not answer. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Zhao Yusheng and frowned: “Your new bride escaped from your bridal chamber. Why have you only come now?”

“I…” How could Zhao Yusheng explain to him that he had deliberately feigned being drunk in order to give them the chance to flee?

But surely — if they were escaping, shouldn’t they have taken the main route out of the stronghold?

Whichever way you enter, you take the same way back. Retracing the path you came in by was the obvious thing to do.

Yet they had gone out through the rear exit of the stronghold — which was not even a real exit. Could they not see that there were barriers on all sides and a locked wooden gate?

He did not know whether to call it bad luck or something else, but the fact was: they had walked into the Forest of Death. Could they still get out?

“Young Master — since this new bride of yours had no wish to remain in our stronghold, a forced union is no union at all. Best to forget about her.”

Elder Feng was trying to persuade him to go back. Zhao Yusheng shoved his hand aside without a second’s hesitation.

He stared at the entrance to the stone forest, and then, without warning, stepped forward.

Elder Feng’s gaze turned sharp. He raised his hand — and with a resounding crack, his palm struck down on the back of Zhao Yusheng’s neck.

Their young master was genuinely a good person, but for people who had come from outside, there was no need to expend all one’s goodwill.

Since they had wanted to leave of their own accord — let them leave.

The brothers watched as the young master was knocked unconscious. Not one of them dared say a word.

After all, if the young master gave chase and went in, the consequences would only be far worse.

Better to carry him back than to let him rush in and face such danger.

The Forest of Death — no one who entered ever came out entirely unscathed.

One could only lament that the young mistress and the young master were simply not fated for each other. Since the young mistress had charged into the Forest of Death — it was best, from this point on, that no one ever speak of her again.

Up ahead, the path seemed to grow more and more treacherous with every step.

Feng Jiu’er suddenly called out: “Tell everyone to stop. We go no further!”

It was deep into the night now — the way ahead was completely invisible, and continuing would only lead them further into the unknown.

What was more, Xue Gu and Jiu Qing had not yet arrived. If they kept walking, the gap between them would only grow wider.

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll catch up to us?” Long Shiyi was a little worried.

He couldn’t see the path ahead either, but he at least knew they hadn’t been inside the stone forest for very long.

And because the path was so difficult to make out, everyone had been moving slowly — they hadn’t covered much ground.

In conditions like these, anyone chasing them wouldn’t find it all that difficult.

“We’ve been moving so slowly — if they truly meant to chase us, they would have caught up by now.”

What she feared was that they had simply concluded there was no need to pursue.

And if that was the case, it meant this path was, to those bandits, nothing short of a dead end.

As things stood now — that possibility seemed very real indeed.

Everyone finally came to a halt. In truth, continuing forward had already become unbearable for many of them.

Not from lack of physical endurance — but because everything before their eyes was growing increasingly blurred, and their heads were beginning to ache more and more.

To keep pressing forward risked having the energy surge and rebel inward, leading to internal deviation — or worse.

Yet no one had said a word about stopping. For the safety of the group, everyone could only grit their teeth and keep walking.

Jiu’er, however, had been so preoccupied with worry for Xue Gu and Jiu Qing that she hadn’t been paying close attention to the path — and so, oddly, she had not been suffering quite as much.

But now that she was seated, she felt her head beginning to ache a little as well.

This stone forest was even stranger than the one they had passed through before.

A single look was enough — the energy in her chest surged violently at once, and she nearly spat blood.