This time, Ying Gou did not keep us waiting long. He returned in less than twenty minutes.
He said he had searched the entire forest but had found no trace of Yuan Jiang.
Where had Yuan Jiang gone? Could something really have happened to him? I could not help but feel worried.
But our top priority was finding the Embroidery Woman, so the three of us discussed it and decided to head up the mountain first. As for Yuan Jiang, we could only wait until we came back down.
This was just a small mountain.
As we made our way up, we saw several villagers. The looks they gave me were strange, even deeply guarded.
I recalled what Bamboo Guest had said. He had told us that the villagers here lived atop this mountain in order to protect the Embroidery Woman.
These villagers had clearly come down from the mountain.
"Stop!"
Several villagers blocked our path, and I noticed that quite a few more had appeared behind us.
I understood then. These villagers who had come down the mountain were here for us. We had been surrounded.
"Who are you? Why are you going up the mountain?" one of the women asked.
I answered, "We came to see the Embroidery Woman. We are old acquaintances of hers."
The woman sneered when she heard that. "You were sent by that King Yan, weren't you? Go back and tell that worthless King Yan to stop dreaming. Even if the Embroidery Woman dies, she will never marry him."
I gave a bitter smile. "We truly were not sent by King Yan. In fact, the Embroidery Woman and I can indeed be considered old acquaintances."
The woman did not believe me. She said coldly, "If you get the hell down the mountain now, we