「Two hours later.」

Back with Zheng Shan’s group, the four of them were on horseback once more.

Mighty Man mounted his horse first. Before he could even help Feng Bei up, she was already reaching a hand out to him.

Mighty Man paused, surprised. "With your skills, isn’t hopping onto the horse’s back a simple matter?"

Feng Bei fell silent for a moment, her gaze drifting away as she answered honestly, "...I can’t."

Nearby, Yue Yan was just about to ride off when she heard this. She staggered, nearly falling from her horse.

Dou Xie and Yue Yan rode ahead of the others. Mustering his courage from who-knows-where, Dou Xie started whispering gossip about Feng Bei to Yue Yan.

"Sister Yue Yan, do you think Lord Upper Three is sick? I feel like she’s so frail and delicate around Uncle Zheng."

"Children shouldn’t ask so many questions about their superiors’ affairs."

Yue Yan shot Dou Xie a glare. Once her initial surprise passed, she began to sense the strange atmosphere between Feng Bei and Mighty Man.

「Half a day later.」

They entered the borders of Yizhou State and soon discovered markings left by Xu Shu and Jin Niu on the tree trunks along the path.

"They took this same road."

Yue Yan was about to turn and report this to Upper Three. But when she glanced back, she saw Feng Bei clutching tightly to Mighty Man’s clothes. She was sitting on the horse with a preoccupied expression, as if sleepwalking, and clearly hadn’t heard a word Yue Yan said. With a soft sigh, Yue Yan kicked her horse’s flank and continued onward, following the direction of the markings.

’She didn’t know if having this mysterious senior along for the journey was a blessing or a curse.’

Xu Shu and Jin Niu had left numerous markings along the route.

This continued until the fourth day, when the markings suddenly stopped.

Yue Yan summoned her Raven and Soul-Luring Lamp. Following the lingering scents and traces, she came to the bank of an unnamed river.

The river was narrow and the current swift; it hadn’t frozen over. The banks showed signs of a struggle. Following the tracks to the water’s edge, Yue Yan found a blood-stained scrap of fabric.

"This doesn’t look like it’s from a Constellation uniform."

’A clue that even Dou Xie could spot at a glance wasn’t much of a clue at all.’

Yue Yan nodded. As the chief Tailor of Zheng’s Cloth Shop, she had a keen eye for fabrics. This scrap looked more like the coarse hemp cloth used by common folk.

"The hem here is finished with a ’plover stitch.’ It’s not common in the north; you see it more in the south."

CLIP-CLOP-CLOP.

The sound of hooves slowed.

Mighty Man reined his horse to a halt. Feng Bei, snapping out of her daze, leaped from the saddle.

Feng Bei had finally registered Yue Yan’s analysis. She glanced briefly at the tracks and frowned.

Meanwhile, Mighty Man Zheng Xiu secretly touched his forehead and flicked a finger.

When equipping Traits for his Incarnation, Zheng Xiu always followed two principles.

First, they had to be good for grinding experience. Second, they had to be suited to the situation at hand.

Since they were currently traveling, he had equipped [Scouting], [Tracking], [Inspiration], [Stealth], and [Intuition]. It was only logical.

As for his Jiazi Deceitful Object, Form One, "Purgatory," it was naturally slotted with [Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes].

[Scouting].

[Inspiration].

[Tracking].

After performing his sequence of actions, Zheng Xiu had a clear picture. He closed his eyes for a moment in thought, then smiled breezily. "A total of five people fought here."

"Two of them must have been your comrades, Xu Shu and Jin Niu."

"One is skilled with a Heavy Saber, and the other with Double Hammers."

"I can’t get a clear read on the other three, but there are only two and a half sets of tracks for them. One is likely missing a leg—a cripple."

Yue Yan and Dou Xie stared at each other, their mouths agape.

Dou Xie, for some reason, suddenly doubled over and began to dry-heave uncontrollably.

’Mighty Man Zheng Xiu had actually thought of the same thing, but that was an incident involving another one of his ’alts,’ Evil Child.’ He could only pretend not to know and continued, "The five of them fought here. Three of them escaped by jumping into the river."

Zheng Xiu pointed to a nearly invisible sharp gash on the riverbank. "Xu Shu’s Heavy Saber made a ranged slash in this direction. I’m not sure if it connected."

He then pointed toward Shuzhou. "Xu Shu and Jin Niu gave up chasing the three of them and got back on the road."

Yue Yan stared at Mighty Man with a curious gaze. "Senior... erm, Brother Zheng, how can you see all this so clearly? It’s as if you were here when it happened."

"Heh, they didn’t bother to hide their tracks afterward, and Xu Shu and Jin Niu were in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken, we should be able to pick up the hoofprints again in the woods nearby. Let’s just hope they aren’t buried in snow."

After his bout of dry-heaving, Dou Xie rejoined the group, his expression grim.

Yue Yan looked to Feng Bei, about to ask for her opinion. But Feng Bei didn’t doubt Zheng Shan’s analysis in the slightest. She nodded decisively. "It’s them." Then she quickly turned back to Zheng Shan and asked, "Right?"

Zheng Xiu paused. "Who?"

Yue Yan found Feng Bei’s reaction odd but didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she explained about the "incomplete trio" they had encountered at the Immortal Maiden Temple.

Feng Bei said, "If it’s really them, Xu Shu and Jin Niu should be able to handle it, as long as they don’t also have to contend with a treacherous Ghostly Realm."

Feng Bei, Yue Yan, and Dou Xie had all clashed with the incomplete trio inside the Immortal Maiden Temple’s Ghostly Realm.

Their combined Miracle Techniques were bizarre and unusual, but if they were using the same tactics, they weren’t difficult to counter, provided you could detect their Magic in time.

Xu Shu and Jin Niu were both veteran members of the Constellation, not liabilities like Dou Xie, so Feng Bei wasn’t worried.

Dou Xie’s expression changed. He touched his face, remembering the ordeal he’d suffered at the Immortal Maiden Temple, and his complexion went deathly pale.

"Who exactly are they?"

But Yue Yan’s brow was tightly furrowed, her mind heavy as a series of questions surfaced.

’Their Incomplete Techniques are identical; they must come from the same source.’

’Xu Shu and Jin Niu were ambushed not long after they left the Imperial City. The enemy seems to know the movements of Ye Weiyang perfectly.’