Ah Jiu just wanted to see if it was true or not. If the other party really had many brothers there, Ah Jiu would have to rush back.
If it was just a bluff, Ah Jiu wouldn't worry.
"You girl, you've been getting bolder lately," said Madam Wang, her hands behind her back as she followed with light steps.
She occasionally helped Ah Jiu, preventing her from falling.
"Having escaped death several times, even a mouse's courage would grow," Ah Jiu said as she walked.
Madam Wang sometimes stopped to wait for her, which made Ah Jiu's heart burn: "Don't you know how to use the energy I taught you to circulate?"
"Huh?" Ah Jiu thought she was already walking very fast.
"When you sit, let your qi sink into your dan tian like a boulder. When you move, guide it with a single thought to your limbs, moving like a swift rabbit. Disperse that primal yang energy throughout your body and try."
Upon hearing this, Ah Jiu began to move while trying to channel the spiritual energy within her.
Instantly, a surge of heat rose in her palms and soles. Ah Jiu, unable to control it, found her feet picking up speed and her body lurching forward:
"Ah..."
Her uncontrolled steps became as swift as flying.
"Jiu'er..." Madam Wang felt the girl flash past her nose. She raised her hand to grab, but couldn't even touch an edge of her clothes.
Watching Ah Jiu stumble and careen down the mountainside, her legs out of control, Madam Wang, worried, thrust her hands behind her back and charged forward.
Ah Jiu, shouting all the way, let out a gasp and tightly gripped a tree trunk by the roadside, finally stabilizing herself.
Panting heavily, she finally stopped.
"You also need to learn to control it," Madam Wang sighed, truly worried.
"How do I control it, Grandma?" Ah Jiu panted.
"..." Madam Wang found the girl incredibly dense: "However you let it out, you let it in, what else can you do?"
Ah Jiu was lost in thought when, at that moment, a dark mass of people appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Ah Jiu quickly let go of the tree trunk and crouched down, peeking.
Indeed, there was a crowd of people. Ah Jiu had no patience to count them individually, but there were probably two to three hundred people, all sprawled haphazardly, resting where they stood.
They had also lit a bonfire, over which sat a large iron pot, the kind used for slaughtering pigs. Inside, an animal was being roasted in sand, its four legs sticking out stiffly from the sandy exterior.
"Wow, so many people?" Ah Jiu tilted her neck to observe. There were women and children too.
Several burly men seemed to be on guard duty, equipped with long sabers, peering around the perimeter of the crowd.
The sabers looked particularly familiar; they were the type used by officials.
"Granddaughter, look at that group of people," Madam Wang pointed.
Ah Jiu followed her gaze and indeed, in a small area, the people lying down were noticeably thinner than the others.
Ah Jiu gasped: "They are all patients in recovery!"
This suggested that they might not be the ones spreading the poisoned meat. Why would they harm their own kind?
"Who?"
Several night watchmen suddenly gathered and looked in Ah Jiu's direction.
Seeing this, Ah Jiu quickly used the tree trunk to shield herself. She thought she saw a very familiar face.
But it seemed impossible.
As Ah Jiu was about to crane her neck for another look, an arrow with a feather whistled through the air.
Ah Jiu quickly retracted her neck. With a thud.
The feathered arrow pierced the bark of the tree, grazed Ah Jiu's nose, and landed not far away.
Ah Jiu's eyesight was excellent. Seeing the feathered arrow, she was shocked: "Grandma, let's go."
She immediately turned and ran up the mountain, picking up the feathered arrow as she went.
The inscription on the arrowhead was the crucial detail. It was carved with the character "Nan," indicating it was a feathered arrow from the officials of Nanming City.
What was the origin of these people? Why would they use official arrows?
As soon as they reached the mountaintop, Guang Wenqiang and Meng Shaode, along with others, had returned. They were gathered in a dense circle within the woods.
"You're so tough, aren't you? Say it, did you put that poisoned meat out?"
Meng Shaode, with a bow slung over his shoulder, brandished a tungsten steel feathered arrow, using its tip to threaten the three men who were forced to cover their heads and squat within the circle.
"Speak quickly!" Guang Wenqiang stepped forward and kicked one of the men in the shoulder, sending him sprawling.
Ah Jiu squeezed into the crowd just as she was about to say that they might not be the ones spreading the poisoned meat. Upon seeing the man, Ah Jiu recognized him.
"It's my bad luck to be captured by your group, but I didn't have the black heart to spread poisoned meat everywhere. I have dozens of patients, my own brothers. Anyway, there's no reason in this world, kill me if you want, I don't want to live anymore."