"Stop!"

Lin Zhiyan, who had been traversing through the bamboo forest for quite some time, suddenly raised her hand, signaling the people behind her to halt.

"What's wrong?" the big-headed monk stepped forward to ask.

He was the senior disciple of this group, with the dharma name Hui Yi.

The rest of them had dharma names that were easy to remember too: Hui Er, Hui San... all the way to Hui Shiba.

Their combat strength aside for the moment, their cold resistance was truly formidable, enough to easily surpass those fashionable girls with bare ankles and short skirts in the dead of winter.

According to wuxia novels, when one's martial arts reach a certain level, they can be impervious to heat and cold. Whether these eighteen people were like that was unknown, but Lin Zhiyan indeed noticed that the cold seemed to have no effect on them.

At this moment, Lin Zhiyan looked at a piece of red cloth tied to the bamboo in front of her, her expression grave as she said, "These markers have been altered."

Though the distance between the cloth strips hadn't changed, they should have been approaching the small courtyard by now, given the time they had walked.

Yet all they heard was silence, apart from the occasional gust of wind, with no sounds of battle. This was clearly abnormal.

"Hui Wu," senior brother Hui Yi called out by name.

A monk with a slightly slimmer build than the others, yet displaying extremely strong muscles, stepped forward. "Senior brother."

"Go up and take a look," Hui Yi pointed upwards.

"Yes."

Hui Wu nodded in agreement, choosing the tallest bamboo tree nearby, and like a monkey, swiftly climbed to the top in just a few moves.

But at that very moment, a heavy fog descended, reducing visibility to ten meters in less than half a minute.

Lin Zhiyan grew anxious, taking out her phone to call Xiao Feng and the others, only to find that her phone had run out of battery and automatically shut down.

Hui Yi assumed she just wanted to check the time, and replied, "It should be a little after eight o'clock now. There were three bell tolls just now, coming from the temple, which means it's time for us to rest."

"I didn't see any small courtyard, nor any place with light." Hui Wu came back down from the bamboo, reporting the situation.

Lin Zhiyan grew even more anxious, what should they do now?

Could it be they could only wander aimlessly like headless chickens, just picking a direction and hoping for the best?

"Mistress, don't worry, there's still a way."

"What way?" Lin Zhiyan's eyes lit up.

Hui Yi turned his gaze to a monk with a pair of protruding ears and instructed, "Hui Shi, listen."

"Yes, senior brother."

Hui Shi nodded without hesitation and then lay on the ground sideways, pressing his ear to the ground, closing his eyes, like a safebreaker concentrating deeply.

"He's..." Lin Zhiyan was a bit skeptical.

But she had just said one word when Hui Yi made a silent gesture, indicating for her to make no sound.

Lin Zhiyan took a deep breath, holding it in, her body remaining still, trying not to make any noise.

With no other options available, they could only hope the other side's sound detection could help them find the correct path.

In this environment of complete silence, time seemed to pass exceedingly slowly. Finally, just when Lin Zhiyan was about to speak for air, Hui Shi got up from the ground and pointed to the forward-right direction.

"Let's go this way first."

Saying that, without further explanation, he quickly led the way ahead.

Hui Yi, Lin Zhiyan, and the others hurriedly followed. Although this level of fog wasn't enough to get people lost, what was terrifying wasn't the fog, but the dangers that might be hidden within it.

After walking approximately five hundred meters, Hui Shi again lay on the ground, listened for a while, and then pointed forward, "There seems to be fighting sounds over there."

"Seems?" Hui Yi frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied with that answer.

Hui Shi smiled wryly, "The forest isn't absolutely silent. The wind direction, water sounds, and even animal footsteps can all affect my judgment. I can only try to find the most likely correct direction."

"We'll follow your lead," Lin Zhiyan said decisively.

Whether following Hui Shi's direction was correct, no one could guarantee, but staying in place was definitely wrong, and that was indisputable.

...

At this point, the battle led by Uesugi Yumi was escalating.

The little girl and Lu Yao were evenly matched against Belock, with neither side able to gain the upper hand easily.

Meanwhile, after recuperating, Lin Jiaxuan took on the task of protecting Sun Shijie and the other elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.

Despite her injuries not being fully healed and not being in peak condition, dealing with these ninjas wasn't too difficult.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Sun Shijie and the others didn't get themselves killed.

As for Uesugi Yumi, she was Xiao Feng's responsibility, looking a bit strained, yet maintaining balance.

"Oto, can't you listen to me just once?" Iwakami Shigehiro pleaded sincerely, "If you let me kill Xiao Feng, the Iwakami Clan will have the chance to rise again, and that's what your father would have wanted to see most."

Su Yuzhuo responded blankly, "I've already decided to rebuild the clan, but killing Xiao Feng is out of the question!"

"Why?" Iwakami Shigehiro asked urgently, "Do you really have feelings for him..."

Before he could finish, Su Yuzhuo interrupted, "For myself."

"How can it be for yourself?"

By now, there was no need to keep secrets any longer. Su Yuzhuo briefly explained, "I was the leader of the Devil's Concentration Camp, and by rule, the successor doesn't let the predecessor live."

Iwakami Shigehiro stood frozen in place, eyes filled with shock, evidently finding it unbelievable that Su Yuzhuo had been a leader of the Devil's Concentration Camp!

After a moment, snapping out of his daze, an idea struck Iwakami Shigehiro, and he exclaimed in surprise, "So that's why you've been distancing yourself from me, afraid of dragging me down?"

Su Yuzhuo hesitated, wanting to deny it, but seeing the hope in his eyes, she couldn't bring herself to speak, especially since his words were partially true, so she replied, "That's part of it."

Iwakami Shigehiro immediately became as happy as a child who had received candy, laughing, "I knew it, Oto, you have your own reasons. You just said you plan to rebuild the clan, that's great, I can support you, we will..."

Before he could finish, Uesugi Yumi's angry voice interrupted, "Iwakami Shigehiro, what are you waiting for? Are you going to let a woman hold you back? How can you achieve anything worthwhile?"

Iwakami Shigehiro said excitedly, "Uesugi sama, please hold your hand, Oto just said she wants to rebuild the Iwakami Clan. Our goals are aligned now."

"Ha! Naive!" Uesugi Yumi sneered, "She's just deceiving you. If she were truly with you, why would she still refuse to kill Xiao Feng?"

"Spit!" Opposite her, Xiao Feng cursed loudly, "Old witch, if I were so easy to kill, would I still be talking now?"

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