Zhao Yusheng desperately wanted to walk away, yet he had no idea whether what this girl needed from him was important.

What if it truly was something important?

Zhao Yusheng’s expression became tortured with indecision. As long as Feng Jiu’er called out to him one more time, even if she did not say she was his wife, he would magnanimously agree to go over.

But Feng Jiu’er paid him absolutely no attention — so proud!

If he went over on his own, would that not be terribly undignified?

He very much wanted to walk away, yet if he walked away, he worried about delaying his wife’s affairs.

He debated with himself until he was nearly lightheaded, and at last stomped his foot, set down the buckets, and walked over.

“What do you need? If it is nothing important, do not waste my time — I am very busy.”

“Help me look at this terrain map and tell me whether it has any connection to the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix Formation ahead.”

Jiu’er held the terrain map out before him, not appearing to pay the least bit of attention to what he had just said.

Despite only having spent a few days together, Feng Jiu’er had more or less figured out this fellow’s temperament.

When all was said and done, Zhao Yusheng may have been eighteen or nineteen years old — older than her — but perhaps because he had spent his whole life in a mountain stronghold, he was simple and guileless by nature.

Setting off with her this time, his father, the elder master, and his mother were most likely worried sick.

This son of theirs… frankly speaking, he was truly innocent — the kind who could easily be led astray by unscrupulous people.

Zhao Yusheng truly had no complicated intentions. Taking the terrain map, he began to study it in earnest.

At one moment he looked at the dragon and phoenix within the formation ahead; the next, he lowered his head to examine the terrain map again.

After a good while, he furrowed his brow, shook his head, then nodded.

“Is this terrain map missing half of it?”

“Missing half?” This was a completely new revelation. No one had ever mentioned this to Feng Jiu’er before.

Most likely not even the veiled palace lady knew, and Xue Gu and her maternal uncle certainly did not.

This fellow truly had a future ahead of him!

“Look here.” Zhao Yusheng held the terrain map up high, raising it before her eyes.

Feng Jiu’er looked up, and at first did not notice anything out of the ordinary. But looking again, a hidden layer beneath the terrain map began to slowly emerge.

No — it was not a hidden image. Rather, it was merging together with the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix Formation ahead.

The phoenix on her terrain map seemed to have come alive, leaping and moving across the surface of the paper!

“How can this be?” Yet the paper truly seemed to be still missing something — an empty, hollow space. Could the missing piece be a dragon?

“Do you see the true terrain map now?” Zhao Yusheng prompted.

Feng Jiu’er looked intently, and her eyes immediately brightened: “They have truly merged into a single map!”

So this was how the terrain map was meant to be read — only by standing before the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix Formation could the hidden lines be revealed.

It was indeed a terrain map. Within it lay a mountain, but only roughly one-third of the mountain’s form could be seen.

Just as Zhao Yusheng had said — the map was missing a portion.

She studied it for a long while, but still it appeared no different. Jiu’er gave up.

Zhao Yusheng could not find anything new either, and in the end returned the terrain map to Feng Jiu’er.

“If you want to find the place you are looking for, you will likely need to recover the other half of this map.”

“Have you ever seen a terrain map similar to this one?”

This map had been taken as a rubbing from the phoenix birthmark on her lower back. As for the other half — where on earth was one supposed to begin looking?

Zhao Yusheng shook his head. He was only well-versed in the formation arrays of esoteric arts, having studied formations in depth.

But for something he had never seen, he too had absolutely no way of proceeding.

Zhao Yusheng picked up his buckets and left. Jiu’er put the terrain map away, turned, and glanced back.

The terrain map was actually connected to the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix — yet the missing half, wherever could one find it?

…And so the ship sailed on through calm winds and placid waves for another day.

On the second day, toward late afternoon, they had drawn very close to the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix Formation.

At some point unknown, a great wind had begun to blow all around them.

Zhao Yusheng had everyone return to the cabin. The moment all the brothers had gone inside, the wind outside suddenly intensified with a violent surge.

Howling gale, crashing waves — in an instant, the ship plunged into a dim and murky world.

Although Zhao Yusheng had said the Heavenly Dragon Soaring Phoenix was a treasure formation, none of them had experienced it before, and their hearts still harbored some unease.

Everyone sat in the main hall of the inner cabin. Beside Jiu’er were Jiu Qing and Mu Mu.

Jian Yi and Qiao Mu sat together with Yanu.

Zhao Yusheng had originally wanted to stay close to Jiu’er. Even though this girl always managed to put him out, in a situation like this, he still hoped he could be by her side.

But when he tried to draw near, he found there was simply no room for him.

And besides, Jian Yi was right there, watching him with cold eyes the entire time.

Zhao Yusheng fumed, and could only find a corner to sit in together with the other brothers.

“This fellow is quite entertaining.” Qiao Mu gave Jiu’er a meaningful look.

He was a little young, though — but then again, Jiu’er was not much older herself, only sixteen.

And he was at least eighteen or nineteen, a good two or three years her senior.

“Why not consider taking him in as well?”

Several gazes swept over, cold as ice dipped in frost. Qiao Mu felt a chill run down her spine and quickly pulled her neck in.

“Ah — that was a joke, a joke…”

Honestly though, she genuinely did find Zhao Yusheng quite amusing.

He was tall and well-built too. If she did not already know he was not yet nineteen, at first glance one would easily assume he was twenty-two or twenty-three.

That build of his was top-notch as well — what exactly was wrong with him?

These men, always so quick to get jealous. If she also became this entertaining, Jiu’er would never grow bored.

Ahem — somehow she had started thinking of Feng Jiu’er as though she were a fickle woman. How had that happened?

Outside, the sound of the wind suddenly grew louder. Qiao Mu quickly composed herself and did not dare say anything more.

“We are about to enter the formation. Everyone close your eyes and regulate your breathing calmly.”

Zhao Yusheng looked at Feng Jiu’er once, then closed his eyes.

“Do not panic. This formation bears no ill will toward any of us. Simply close your eyes as you would normally and circulate your inner energy — that is all.”

“Remember — no matter what you encounter, do not open your eyes. Everything you see will be illusions. They are not real.”

“If you open your eyes, it is highly possible that your vital energy will become unstable and you will suffer deviation.”

“Understood!” The brothers answered in unison.

Jiu’er also drew a deep breath and closed her eyes.

But everyone here was a person with inner strength — in a formation like this, they would naturally reap great benefit.

She, however, had not a trace of inner strength. Cultivating and circulating energy had nothing to do with her.

Around her ears, the sound of the wind gradually grew louder — from the initial howling, it later tore past in a raging roar!

Her body too felt as though the great wind was about to topple it. She grew a little anxious and feared she would fall back onto a brother behind her, nearly unable to stop herself from opening her eyes.

Yet she recalled what Zhao Yusheng had said — it was all an illusion.

Perhaps the sound of the wind right now, this savage and ferocious force — perhaps it was nothing more than an illusion.

Feng Jiu’er struggled to keep her eyes tightly shut, not daring to open them even a sliver, even as her body truly felt on the verge of falling.

No — not falling. Rather, she was about to be lifted up and blown away!