Upon hearing this, Meng Zhelan was furious: "You dare to hurt him and see what happens!"

The middle-aged man sneered, "My master doesn't care about such things. I'm just following orders. If we don't return to the capital soon, my master might do something irreversible."

He was sent by King Liang to assist Black Wolf, and his men are lurking nearby.

There was nothing they could do; the other party knew where they lived, so it seemed they knew them inside and out.

Meng Zhelan could only speed up the preparation of the antidote and find an opportunity to escape, while also notifying Xiao Xi and the others to intercept her.

However, the middle-aged man didn't seem to intend to give her much time. His eyes flashed coldly as he said indifferently, "I advise you not to try anything funny, or don't blame me for being impolite."

Black Wolf stood silently to the side, staring ahead, yet seemingly without focus.

At this moment, he remained silent, as if he had completely isolated himself from the world around him.

He knew that now was not the time for him to interrupt; he had to keep a low profile and not let anyone realize that he had given her special treatment or feelings.

He secretly warned himself to be cautious and not to easily reveal his true thoughts. Here, any flaw could be exploited, bringing unexpected trouble to him and her.

After waiting for many days in Yuncheng, Prince An finally received a message from Li Xi and hurriedly led his men to the secluded forest.

After several days of continuous moving, the brothers of the Hidden Sect finally succeeded in transporting half of the treasure.

Chu Ran and Chen Quan led their brothers to disguise themselves as a caravan selling salted fish, preparing to haul the treasures back to the capital, cart by cart.

For several days, Li Xi led his elite troops through the dense forest, searching for Meng Zhelan's whereabouts.

They searched every possible hiding place, leaving no stone unturned.

Upon hearing this news, Li Xi frowned: "You mean they have about two hundred people hiding there?"

Her voice betrayed a hint of surprise and worry.

After all, rescuing Meng Zhelan would be no easy task given the sheer number of enemies involved.

The people she brought were mainly there to transport the treasure back to the capital.

At that moment, a commotion arose outside the tent, and a soldier rushed in to report, "Reporting to the general, Prince An has arrived!"

This was truly a case of "just when you're sleepy, someone brings you a pillow." Although she didn't have much affection for Prince An, she had to admit that his arrival was perfectly timed.

She quickly stood up, lightly patted her robes, and then led her subordinates to the tent entrance to welcome Prince An.

"Speak of the devil, and he appears! Your Highness, I have been waiting here for quite some time." Li Xi bowed slightly, a half-smile playing on his lips.

However, when Prince An saw Li Xi, he felt a great deal of disdain for her.

However, in front of his many soldiers, he maintained the air of a nobleman and replied, "Haha, I haven't yet congratulated General Li on assuming this position. But I wonder who this 'Cao Cao' is? I've come all this way and haven't heard of him."

His gaze swept over Li Xi, as if he wanted to scrutinize the new general from head to toe.

Li Xi sneered inwardly, knowing full well that in Prince An's eyes, he was nothing more than a hypothetical rival in love.

The other party's visit was certainly not a sincere congratulatory gesture; their so-called congratulatory words were nothing more than empty platitudes.

"Your Highness flatters me. I am but an ordinary soldier, and it is only through His Majesty's favor that I have been able to undertake this important task. I am truly honored. As for the word 'Cao Cao,' it is actually a colloquialism from my hometown, used to describe someone as wise, brave, and ambitious as Your Highness. It is not surprising that Your Highness may not have heard of it before," Li Xi replied humbly.

After listening, Prince An nodded slightly in agreement, but he didn't seem to take her explanation to heart.

For him, there was only one purpose for this trip—Meng Zelan.

So he cut to the chase: "General Li is too modest. Let's skip the formalities. Regarding the rescue of Doctor Meng, please provide detailed plans. I will follow your instructions."

Li Xi was perfectly clear about what Prince An was thinking.

You see, ever since that guy Xuanqing faked his death and fled Xuan Yue Kingdom, Lan'er has been talking about Prince An in front of her every now and then.

Since things have already developed to this point, it's no longer appropriate for her to interfere.

However, how things will develop in the future depends on their own fate!

However, if they dare to do anything to harm Lan'er, then they shouldn't blame her for doing everything she can to break them up!

After all, Lan'er was her best friend! How could she just stand by and watch Lan'er suffer even the slightest harm?

Li Xi knew the importance of this treasure and that it had to be moved out as soon as possible.

However, such a commotion would likely alert the Red Lotus Sect, and if they discovered it, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Therefore, she came up with a plan.

It was decided that Prince An would lead his men to distract those people, thus buying them more time to move the treasure.

The elite troops she brought had been setting up traps in the dense forest for several days.

Qin Xiaolin had some knowledge of Qimen Dunjia, and under the pretext of a drill, he set up a trap array in the forest.

Black Wolf and his men naturally knew that hundreds of soldiers had arrived outside the dense forest.

Although they claimed to be conducting drills, their true intentions remained unclear.

To unravel this mystery, Black Wolf specially dispatched a team to investigate.

After some reconnaissance, they discovered that the soldiers had indeed conducted drills in the woods.

These soldiers, like them, did not stay long in the miasma-filled environment before hastily departing.

This discovery made Black Wolf ponder: were these soldiers really just here for simple training?

At the same time, Meng Zhelan has also made considerable progress.

She finally succeeded in developing an antidote pill with 90% efficacy, which was undoubtedly a major breakthrough for them.

However, Meng Zhelan was also aware that the current antidote was not stable enough and needed further improvement.

Nevertheless, her achievement has solved a major problem for them, giving them more confidence in the face of miasma.

To everyone's surprise, the middle-aged man took the antidote pill, rushed forward, pried open Meng Zhelan's mouth, and forced the antidote pill into her mouth.

He said in a sinister tone, "Doctor Meng, how about this antidote pill? Please try it for us first!" Then he tried to pull Meng Zhelan away.

They happened to run into the returning Black Wolf.