Chang Lili bought some paper and pens from the shopkeeper. After wiping the wine stains off the table, Chang Lili rolled up her wide sleeves with her left hand and wrote beautifully, her graceful figure leaping lightly onto the paper.

"Look, is it alright?"

The ink on the paper was still wet when Burji took it, looked at the familiar face on the paper, and showed a nostalgic expression: "My sister is the most beautiful lark on the grassland. You drew her very well."

Bulgi showed her the weapon manufacturing blueprints.

Chang Lili took the brush, waited for the ink to dry, folded the portrait and put it on her person, asked where they lived, and waved her hand: "I'm leaving now. I'll send you a message as soon as I find her."

Not far away, Chang Lili spotted a familiar figure and caught up with him in one step.

"Where's Bai Cha? Didn't you take her home?"

Xu Yuandao said, "She was worried about you and asked me to stay behind and keep an eye on things. If anything seemed amiss, I should inform the general's guards in Duanzhou so they could rescue you."

"How could anything be wrong with me..."

Chang Lili glanced at Xu Yuandao a couple more times, telling him to send the white tea back was clearly a way to give them a chance to get to know each other, but who knew they would do things completely unpredictably.

"Do you know this person?" Chang Lili asked Xu Yuandao, pulling out a portrait.

“I don’t know them,” Xu Yuandao said. “If you’re looking for barbarians in Duanzhou, you can ask around at the market entrance. There are new people there every day.”

"That's what I think too."

Chang Lili wasn't surprised, as she hadn't had high hopes to begin with.

The next day.

Chang Lili wanted to figure out Xu Yuandao's thoughts, so she invited Bai Cha along as usual. The two of them went together. Xu Yuandao was waiting for them and was not surprised to see Bai Cha. He walked ahead to clear the way.

Even though she had been there once, Chang Lili still couldn't accept that people were like cabbages, picked and chosen, bought and sold. She frowned and asked Bai Cha along the way, observing, but none of them looked like the person in her portrait. Only one woman locked in a cage recognized her from the portrait.

“Burlan, I’ve seen her. She’s a princess of the Nanli tribe. She’s been missing for a long time. The Nanli chieftain has been searching for her everywhere for a year now, but there’s not a trace of her. She must be dead.”

Chang Lili lowered her head in disappointment. Bai Cha gently patted her shoulder to comfort her. Chang Lili felt a warmth in her heart. She thought that Bulji was still looking for her sister everywhere. The Central Plains was so big, she must be living somewhere.

Chang Lili was not one to give up easily, and she regained her confidence: "There is an old saying in the Central Plains: 'If she is alive, you must see her; if she is dead, you must see her body.' If there are no remains of her, then she must still be alive."

The woman fell silent, leaning against the cage, staring blankly at the sky.

Perhaps in her eyes, death was the best ending.

The human trafficker, holding a long whip, tapped his palm and waited and waited, but they didn't show any intention of buying. His malicious gaze fell on Bai Cha, but he said, "I went to great lengths to get this woman. Do you want her? If not, move aside and don't interfere with my entertaining other guests."

"You dare to covet anyone? Are you out of your mind?" Chang Lili stood ramrod straight, raised her arm towards the slave trader, her sleeve dart poised to fire, locked around his neck, showing no sign of weakness. "How much is this woman?"

The slave trader felt a chill run down his spine and forced a stiff smile. The once clear and lovely woman's face now showed a fierce expression, though only a small part of the weapon in her sleeve was visible.

Having spent years mingling with all sorts of people, he could tell at a glance that Bai Cha was not someone to be trifled with. He only glanced at her aloof and cold appearance, not wanting to take the risk.

"If the boss likes it, you can take it away now for three hundred taels of silver."

People are not objects; haggling over prices is extremely disrespectful. Chang Lili thought for a moment and said, "Release the person."

She reluctantly pulled out three hundred taels of silver, secretly lamenting how expensive the information fee was.

"Alright." The rich man was being foolish, so the slave trader naturally agreed. He smiled and took the cage, opened it, and the woman crawled out, looking at Chang Lili with indifference.

Chang Lili said, "You can leave now. Consider this my reward for the information I asked you for."

The woman stared intently at Chang Lili for a moment, then limped off in another direction.

With the person gone, Chang Lili felt a weight lifted from her heart. She turned to look at Bai Cha and Xu Yuandao, but Xu Yuandao didn't say anything.

Bai Cha said calmly, "This is a food chain; you can't save everyone."

Chang Lili said nonchalantly, "I can tell she didn't do it willingly; she was just deceived. It's not a loss for her to be able to choose her life again."

Bai Cha pursed her lips and glanced at Xu Yuandao without leaving a trace. Xu Yuandao pointed to the long street that seemed to stretch endlessly to the left: "Barbarians often appear on Changliu Street. Let's go take a look."

Chang Lili rushed there with her companion, asking around and searching almost every location, but still couldn't find the person.

Bai Cha was getting tired, so he found a place to rest, sipped his tea to quench his thirst, and slowly said, "Perhaps the person you're looking for isn't in Duanzhou, or perhaps, as that woman said, that person is already dead."

Chang Lili slumped onto the table and sighed sullenly.

It was getting late, and everyone headed home. As Xu Yuandao left, he said, "The gambling den needs to settle its accounts. If you want to, come early tomorrow."

Chang Lili's eyes lit up. She had been so busy finding someone for Bulgi these past two days that she had forgotten about this matter. She immediately straightened up, changing her previous dejected demeanor.

"Thank you so much, Brother Xu!"

Chang Lili left in a hurry. Xu Yuandao watched her back and shook his head helplessly. When he crossed the bridge and looked at the lake, he couldn't help but think of another person. He suppressed the faint smile on his face, remembered the prescription, and went to the pharmacy to bring some medicine back to his mother.

At Yumen Pass, a cold wind howled. Meng Yuxiu stood in his tent, flanked by two deputy generals. A map was spread out on the long table in the center, and he pointed at it with his riding whip.

"According to current intelligence, of the eighteen tribes in the Northern Territory, only five or six are truly peaceful. They all have businesses in the Central Plains and are unlikely to disrupt the peace. The tribes led by the Black Wind Clan are observing and waiting to see what we choose before taking action."

Deputy General Liu Cheng's deep, rough voice boomed like thunder in the freezing cold, sending shivers down everyone's spine: "Truly cunning!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tent flap was lifted, and a soldier crawled in, nearly extinguishing the candle that was shrouded in lamplight.

"General, the scout has reported back." The soldier presented the intelligence report, which was rolled up into a piece of paper.

Meng Yuxiu opened it and then spread it out in the middle of the table: "It matches my guess. Go straight up north, west of the Dayin Mountain, there is a cliff path. The road is very dangerous and is the weakest point in the defense."

Liu Cheng shouted, "General! Let me go! My men haven't let their guard down for a moment. I've been supervising their training, and they'll definitely complete the mission!"

“No.” Meng Yuxiu rejected the idea. Liu Cheng shouted in dissatisfaction, but Meng Yuxiu raised his hand to signal him to calm down. “Although the barbarians are known for their ferocity, there are many capable ones among them. This time, I will personally lead the team to make an example of them. The mountain must be shattered, and the monkey must be warned!”