Chapter 73 Is there such an incredibly beautiful woman in the world?

The group quickly changed into their night clothes, then sat cross-legged and took out the dry food and water they carried to replenish their strength.

They then carefully inspected the weapons and sleeping pills again.

There were eight of them in total, all of whom were experts from the Tian Shu Sect and confidants of Lu Xingfeng. They were not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also very well prepared.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn has passed.

The sun has completely set, and night has enveloped the earth.

Apart from the distant light from torches illuminating Xitun Pass and Linxian Village, the rest of the area was pitch black.

The eight men in black split into two groups.

The four headed towards Xitun Pass, and the other four went to Linxian Village.

The environment, darker than ink, provided them with excellent cover.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace.

Soon, midnight will arrive.

The four men in black, who had arrived at the city wall of Xitun Pass, used their superior martial arts skills to evade the patrolmen and sentries.

Just as they were preparing to use their light-footed skills to scale the wall.

One of them suddenly whispered, "Don't move, I heard something."

As he spoke, he pointed to the sky.

The other three quickly pressed themselves against the wall, holding their breath and concentrating.

The four of them circulated their internal energy, further enhancing their visual and auditory abilities.

A short while later, a faint buzzing sound came from afar into the extremely quiet night sky.

They saw a small black dot flash by in the night sky dotted with sparse starlight.

Although he didn't know what it was, based on his experience in the martial arts world and his expert intuition, he judged that he absolutely had to avoid that thing.

After waiting patiently for a long time, they discovered a pattern.

The thing flying high in the sky would flip over every half an incense stick's time, and there was more than one of them.

Based on the observed pattern, the four found a gap and took advantage of the opportunity to quickly form a human ladder and use their light-footed skills to scale the city wall with great speed.

Then they quietly slipped away from the patrolling soldiers on the city wall.

The entire process was well-coordinated and swift, and they successfully infiltrated Xitun Pass.

In terms of martial arts skills, one of them could easily handle dozens of soldiers.

However, if they were exposed, it would be difficult to escape unscathed when surrounded by troops, so they were extremely cautious along the way.

“Have you noticed?” a man in black said in a barely audible voice from the darkness, “the walls of Xitun Pass seem different from before.”

A man in black responded, "I noticed that too. It's extremely hard to the touch, unlike anything made of earth or stone."

One muttered, "No wonder the Yu Kingdom's army couldn't conquer it; such sturdy walls are truly unprecedented."

"Alright, now is not the time to think about these things," the leader of the group reminded them. "All we need to do is find the cell where the prince is being held and bring him out."

The group stopped discussing and crept towards the prison.

Xitun Pass was not an important place in the past, so even its map was not a secret.

They had memorized the terrain and city layout maps before they arrived.

Sure enough, they quickly found the prison cell at the location marked on the map.

The prison cell was heavily guarded and patrolled.

They pulled out silver needles soaked in sleeping pills from their waists and threw them directly at him.

More than a dozen silver needles, thinner than a hair, pierced the necks of the patrolmen and the gatekeepers with precision.

In the blink of an eye, the Xuan Kingdom soldiers guarding the prison collapsed limply without even uttering a sound.

The four men in black entered the prison as if it were empty.

Immediately afterwards, they used sleeping powder to knock out the soldiers on duty inside, and swiftly reached the deepest part of the prison.

At this moment, the Crown Prince of Yu Kingdom is fast asleep.

The leader of the men in black pulled out a short knife from his waist and slashed it forcefully at the chain on the cell door.

Crack!

The blade struck the iron chain, sparks flying from the friction.

The chain was left with only shallow marks, while the man in black's dagger was split open.

"What's going on? How come we can't cut these chains?"

The four men in black looked surprised.

The other three also tried, but even with their internal energy, they couldn't break the chains.

"This chain... seems different from any we've seen before?" the leader of the men in black said, holding the chain. "The shape is only slightly different, but the material is even better than the finest pig iron produced in the Yu Kingdom. Especially the lock, it's really strange."

Little did they know, these were chains that Ning Jinli had sent to Xiao Qidi.

Just in case.

The other three decisively ran to the unconscious soldier on duty and began groping around.

But the key was nowhere to be found.

The leader frowned. "It seems the key isn't here either; it must be hidden somewhere else."

The other three asked, "What should we do?"

"We finally managed to sneak in, and everything went extremely smoothly. The Crown Prince of Yu Kingdom is almost in sight. Are we going to fail at the last minute?"

"Why don't we tear down the prison cells!"

The leader was frustrated and shook his head helplessly.

They carried only sharp daggers, thinking they could cut even chains made of cast iron.

But this aspect exceeded their expectations.

The four short knives had already chipped and dulled when they were cutting the chains, making it difficult to cut through the wood of the cell in a short time.

"There's no other way, let's go!" the leader ordered after a brief moment of thought.

Since there's no way to rescue the prince anyway, we can't let our own people get trapped here too.

If they lingered any longer, they might be discovered by the other soldiers inside Xitun Pass.

No matter how unwilling they were, they had no choice but to retreat.

The group was decisive; after the rescue operation failed, they returned the way they came without hesitation, as if they had never been there.

While they were expending great effort but returning empty-handed, four other men in black had already infiltrated Linxian Village.

This place is much larger than Xitun Pass, but with their skills, it would be much easier for them to sneak in. They just spent a little more time finding Xiao Qidi's location.

They assumed that Xiao Qidi, as a monarch, would not live among ordinary people.

Sure enough, they eventually discovered a camp by secretly following the village's patrolling guards.

Four ghostly black figures stealthily crept in through the pitch-black night, avoiding the locations of torches and bonfires.

Even though there were many Xuanjia soldiers on duty and patrolling in the camp, no one expected that a martial arts master from the Jianghu would sneak in. In addition, although the Xuanjia soldiers had martial prowess, they did not have martial arts skills, so they did not notice anything amiss.

It's already past midnight.

Ning Jinli lay in the tent, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

As a modern person, she hasn't been able to fall asleep before midnight for a long time.

I thought that being in such a quiet environment without any light interference would allow me to rest better, but the more I lay there, the more energetic I felt.

I instinctively reached for my phone to browse the news or just for a short while, but then I remembered there was no internet here.

My phone can't be used to kill time anymore.

"Sigh... The night is so long, I can't use my phone, and I can't fall asleep, it's killing me..."

Ning Jinli sat up, muttering to herself, and looked around. Through the tent, she could see the light of the torches outside.

Insomnia is bad enough, but the air is also very stuffy.

It's summer, and there's no air conditioning or fan here.

There wasn't even any ice.

The only advantage is that, due to the prolonged drought, there are no mosquitoes or other insects, and no snakes, insects, or rodents will scurry into this makeshift tent.

However, the ancient beds inside the tent were hard and rough, and even with two layers of coarse cloth, it was no different from lying on the ground.

At that moment, she missed her dormitory in the factory terribly.

"Ah...no...it's uncomfortable," Ning Jinli wiped the sweat from her forehead and muttered to herself, "Thank goodness I can return to the modern world anytime. Living in a place like this for the rest of my life would be terrifying. Ordinary people in ancient times really had it tough, sigh..."

The more she experienced life here, the more she felt sorry for the people of ancient times.

The wealthy and powerful, or royalty and nobility, were relatively well off. They had access to the best resources in terms of clothing, food, housing, transportation, and entertainment. Although they couldn't compare to modern people, they were still much more comfortable than ordinary people in ancient times.

Even during the ten years she endured as a modern person, after being driven out of the Ning family and living the hardest and poorest life, it was still far less miserable than the lives of the people here.

Ning Jinli got up and paced back and forth, fanning herself with her hand.

"Should we just go back to the factory and sleep there?"

"I'll order some food and chilled drinks to go, and watch a show while I eat and drink."

"Take one last bath, then lie down on my soft little bed..."

"Tsk, it feels so good."

Looking back now, even just staying in the factory dormitory would have been like paradise compared to this place.

After thinking it over, Ning Jinli finally resisted the urge to go back now.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians here lived like this.

Even their living conditions weren't as good as hers.

They live a hard life every day, can't I even stay for one night?

At that moment, Ning Jinli caught a glimpse of a shadow flashing past outside the tent out of the corner of her eye.

She lifted the curtain and went out.

A gentle night breeze swept by, making her feel slightly cool.

"Little brother, why aren't you asleep yet?" she asked the tall figure not far away.

Xiao Qidi withdrew his gaze from a secluded spot in the camp and turned around. "You got tired of looking at the dictionary and came out for some fresh air. Why aren't you asleep?"

Ning Jinli said helplessly, "I can't sleep... so I came out for some fresh air."

Xiao Qidi stepped closer and said, "If you're not used to it, you can go back."

“Who said I’m not used to it?” Ning Jinli retorted stubbornly. “I’m just… not used to sleeping in a new bed. I’m having some trouble sleeping right now, but I’ll get used to it in a couple of days.”

The dim light from the campfire flickered and shone on Ning Jinli's sweaty face.

Her delicate features seemed to shimmer with fluorescent light.

Xiao Qidi was somewhat distracted by what he saw.

"How is it? Is the dictionary useful?" Ning Jinli asked.

Xiao Qidi nodded, "It's very useful. Every word has a corresponding explanation. I plan to have the literate people in this area learn it in the future."

“Um,” Ning Jinli continued, a little embarrassed, “Then… could you get me something to eat? I’m a little hungry.”

"Come with me." Xiao Qidi walked towards his tent.

Ning Jinli immediately followed her inside.

Xiao Qidi took out a can of meat, opened it, and handed it to her.

"If that's not enough, I'll have someone bring some more."

"That's enough, that's enough."

Ning Jinli simply reached out and took it out and stuffed it into her mouth.

Canned food that I used to think wasn't very tasty now tastes like a delicacy.

She ate heartily without regard for her image, making Xiao Qidi swallow hard as well.

Outside the tent, a figure crept silently closer in the darkness.

Immediately, a wisp of smoke drifted in through the gaps in the tent.

Ning Jinli finished the canned food in no time, let out a satisfied burp, and said with a grin, "Thank you for the treat."

Xiao Qidi looked away from her mouth and said calmly, "This is food you brought, you don't need to be polite."

"Huh? I think I'm getting sleepy..." Ning Jinli suddenly felt drowsy. "I guess it's because I'm full and I'm sleepy. I... can... sleep..."

Before she could finish saying the word "awaken," everything went black and she lost consciousness.

Xiao Qidi quickly helped her up, and then felt his head begin to spin.

He thought to himself, "Oh no!"

He vaguely sensed a figure passing by outside the tent, but it didn't seem to be a patrolling soldier, so he went out to check.

When he suddenly experienced abnormal dizziness, he was certain that something was wrong.

Unfortunately, his attention was diverted to Ning Jinli, and everything happened too fast.

Before he could even call for help, he collapsed, clutching Ning Jinli.

The only thing I could do was cushion her fall with my own body to prevent her from getting hurt...

After the two fell down.

Four men in black quickly entered the tent and tied Xiao Qidi up.

"Who is this woman?" a man in black asked, puzzled. "Her clothes and shoes are very strange."

The other two men in black squatted down and kept looking them over.

"Wow, she's really beautiful."

"Her clothes are so revealing, her arms and legs are not covered at all... Her skin is so white and delicate... Can there really be such a beautiful woman in the world?"

"Could it be Xiao Qidi's concubine?"

"This kid really knows how to enjoy life..."

After a few words of discussion, the two looked at the man in black who was leading the group and asked, "Should we kidnap this girl too?"

The leader of the men in black thought for a moment and then nodded.

The three men in black had their eyes gleaming and rushed to tie up Ning Jinli as well.

The leader of the men in black warned in a deep voice, "She was kidnapped because she was with Xiao Qidi, and her attire was particularly peculiar. She may be an important person to him. You are not allowed to do anything reckless before you find out her identity."

"What if, after we find out, she's just an ordinary concubine?"

"Then you can do with it as you please."

The three men in black almost burst out laughing.

One of them got there first, hoisted Ning Jinli onto his shoulder, and greedily squeezed her thigh.

The other three people worked together to lift the tall Xiao Qidi up.

Then, one after the other, they quickly left the camp.

...

As dawn broke.

Xiao Qidi opened his eyes in an unnamed small cave.

He immediately realized that he was tied up. Without thinking, he tried to break free of the ropes, but found that he could not mobilize his internal energy.

"Don't bother." The leader of the men in black approached, squatted down and said, "I know you are strong and skilled in martial arts, so I specially gave you some special medicine. Now you can barely even run."

Xiao Qidi glanced around coldly and saw that Ning Jinli was also tied up and lying to the side. Although she was still unconscious, she did not appear to be injured, which made him feel slightly relieved.

“Since you know I’m strong and skilled in martial arts, you should know who I am,” Xiao Qidi said with a sinister look in his eyes. “You dare to kidnap me? Aren’t you afraid of death?”

"Hahahaha!" The leader of the men in black laughed loudly, "You're the one we've got! It's a pity we couldn't get the Crown Prince of Yu Kingdom out, but capturing you should be enough to complete our mission."

While calmly observing the surroundings, Xiao Qidi asked, "Are you all sent by the Yu Kingdom? What benefits did the Yu Kingdom offer? I'll give you double."

The leader of the men in black did not answer, but pointed at Ning Jinli and asked, "What is your relationship with this beauty? Who is she?"