Chapter Twenty-Three: Ding Jiangshan "Since this is an internal matter for your sect, I won't interfere. But, Junior Brother Bai, you must stay close to us. There's a group of cultivators nearby who have their eyes on these monsters. They mean trouble, so be careful." However, Zuo Yanfei's tracking skills were truly impeccable. She took Tang Ruowei on a loop around Ding Jiangshan, yet still kept firmly on the monsters' trail. Tang Ruowei began racking her brains, trying to figure out how to bluff her way through this.
"That makes sense." Tang Ruowei waved a hand. "Besides, I'm no use here. I've never learned how to track monsters."
"Junior Brother Bai? What are you doing here?"
"What is this place?"
The two of them split up to ask around in the villages and towns near Ding Jiangshan, and sure enough, they uncovered a few clues.
"Oh? Sister Yanfei, you've studied how to track monsters?"
The villager rambled on, then looked up at Tang Ruowei and Zuo Yanfei.
"But Ding Jiangshan covers such a huge area. Where do we even start looking?"
"Of course. You two young ladies are lovely, too. If I weren't getting on in years, this old man might have gone without food or sleep for days."
"Is that so?"
They hadn't been walking along the mountain path for long when Zuo Yanfei keenly picked up traces of monsters. Following the trail, they found it disappeared into the woods beside the path. So Zuo Yanfei and Tang Ruowei had no choice but to leave the smooth trail, hack through the brambles, and follow the monsters' tracks. But the monsters' trail seemed to veer away from the mountain. The two followed the Fox Demons' tracks deeper into forest no one had ever entered. Zuo Yanfei nimbly led the way, occasionally picking a path for Tang Ruowei, who had to hold up her skirt as she walked, while teaching her how hunters survived in the wilderness.
"When they entered the mountains, those demons were presumably in human form. And if they managed to lure the lecherous Crown Prince out, they must have been quite beautiful. Out here, they'd stand out." Zuo Yanfei looked supremely confident.
"Leave it to me."
The two watched the villager walk away with his hoe slung over his shoulder. Zuo Yanfei turned to Tang Ruowei. "Those are almost certainly the ones. The Monster Race has a natural bewitching effect on mortals. Come on, Ruowei. I'll show you how I catch foxes."
Zuo Yanfei replied, "But I know how to track foxes. Now that they've run into the mountains, they've probably changed back to their original forms and hidden themselves. If we can find them, we'll learn the truth about the Crown Prince's murder."
"No need to thank me. We've mostly been traveling by land, after all."
After withdrawing her gaze, Zuo Yanfei said to Tang Ruowei, "Thanks to your earth escape technique, Ruowei. I wouldn't have made it here so quickly on my own."
Aside from Zuo Yanfei, Tang Ruowei figured that none of the cultivators pursuing the monsters knew how to track foxes by their footprints. If the monsters went into Ding Jiangshan and ran around for a while, they might really lead those cultivators into the mountains and escape amid the chaos.
Zuo Yanfei exclaimed in surprise.
"No. In the Divine Martial Heavenly Army, that's an advanced practical training course."
Zuo Yanfei looked at the burrow and said to Tang Ruowei, "Ruowei..."
Tang Ruowei immediately seized the opening and backed Bai Qiuran up. "The message really was left by me. Senior Brother Jueyun is highly skilled, and it's true that he could have brought Junior Brother Bai here before the two of us arrived."
At a teahouse at the foot of the mountain, they looked up toward the peak. The stone statue built by Dingguo's former emperor stood out clearly. The towering man wore imperial armor and leaned on a greatsword, gazing into the distance from the mountainside, a picture of imposing majesty.
For example, which fruits could stave off hunger, which herbs could heal wounds and cure poison, and which leaves caught fire easily enough to make a blaze. After Zuo Yanfei's lesson, Tang Ruowei's image of her gradually shifted from that of a mighty female general to a wild person who howled through the mountains. Even her silver spear made the girl wonder if it was actually a spear.
After several days of stopping and starting along the way, Tang Ruowei and Zuo Yanfei reached the area around Ding Jiangshan in southern Dingguo.
"They're going in circles."
Tang Ruowei blinked as she looked at the enormous stone statue, about fifty meters tall.
Tang Ruowei grabbed Zuo Yanfei by the shoulder. After a moment's thought, she reached out with her other hand and grabbed Bai Qiuran as well. Then she took a deep breath, circulated her True Essence, and led them underground.
"Looks like they haven't started moving yet."
"Uh... well..."
Zuo Yanfei cupped her hands toward him.
"Cunning little foxes."
"Alright, now stay close to us."
Bai Qiuran could spin a yarn without even blinking.
Zuo Yanfei said, "If we ask around, we should be able to find out where they entered the mountains."
"I'll take it from here."
After all, she and Tang Ruowei had only made it from Dingguo's capital to the area around Ding Jiangshan so quickly thanks to Tang Ruowei's unique earth escape technique. How had Bai Qiuran, a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, managed it?
"Oh, Senior Sister left me a message using the Azure Nether Sword Sect's secret technique before she left."
"So Senior Brother Jueyun brought you here. Then there's no problem."
Zuo Yanfei took Tang Ruowei into the mountains along the path the villager had pointed out—the one the monsters had taken.
"Got it."
Bai Qiuran replied with a cheerful grin. "Thanks for looking out for me, Sister Yanfei."
"The result was, after Sister Yanfei and Senior Sister left, I happened to run into a passing Senior Brother at the Golden Core Stage. I asked him to bring me here. Right, Senior Sister? You remember Senior Brother Jueyun, don't you?"
"I heard that while Old Wang from next door was talking, he accidentally saw one of the ladies' faces. She was so beautiful, like a fairy descended to earth. Wang has been dazed ever since."
Zuo Yanfei tamped down her suspicions.
"Yeah... Huh?"
"Oh, so that's where they were hiding."
"Thank you for the information," Tang Ruowei said delightedly.
According to the locals, not long ago, several women wearing straw rain capes and bamboo hats to conceal themselves had come to the area, then entered the mountains through a pass on the northern side of Ding Jiangshan.
Zuo Yanfei responded instinctively, but then realized the voice sounded strange. She looked up and saw Bai Qiuran standing behind her and Tang Ruowei, somehow having appeared without her noticing. He stroked his chin and peered curiously at the burrow.
"So the foxes are beneath the Dingguo emperor's statue?"
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