Yun Zhe's beaming face naturally cheered those around him. Although they didn't know what Yun Zhe was so happy about, just moments before, he had given them a worried order to advance to the death.

"Gentlemen, we will now head to Tuer Village, but there's no need to rush. We can take our time. Now, slow is fast; fast might actually slow us down."

Yun Zhe's words puzzled Xi Xi. "What do you mean by fast is slow, and slow is fast? Yun Zhe, please explain yourself more clearly."

Yun Zhe just smiled but didn't answer. At this moment, the situation reversed, and they successfully contacted Serena and the others. As long as reinforcements arrived in Tuer Village, they would have hope of being rescued.

Xi Xi looked at the smoke signals in the distance, seemingly lost in thought. "You saw the smoke signals and are waiting for reinforcements, right?"

"That's clever, but I'm also a little worried. This smoke signal might indicate that something is wrong elsewhere."

“My magic has returned, I can ask for you. But let me make it clear, I’m not helping you, I’m just worried about you, Miss.” Xi Xi snorted and said softly when she saw Yun Zhe looking worried again.

Yun Zhe was naturally aware of Xi Xi's physical condition. "No need, you should rest more. When we get to Tuer Village, we'll all be relying on you."

Xi Xi was a little annoyed, but couldn't find anything to criticize, so she could only let out another heavy snort to indicate that she understood.

Yun Zhe didn't argue with her. Although the situation had improved temporarily, he still couldn't see any glimmer of hope when considering the overall terrible state of affairs.

However, perhaps this attack can strengthen everyone's resolve to resist. That would be a good thing.

But determination alone is not enough; a foolproof plan must be devised to at least ensure one's own safety, and ideally, to protect the elves and avert a full-scale war. The larger the war, the less control one has, and the more dangerous the land of Donic becomes.

Yun Zhe's biggest concern is this: he can only see the situation clearly, but he has absolutely no way to change it.

Upon seeing the smoke signal, Serena immediately realized what had happened. After two years of training, she was no longer the naive girl she once was. So she immediately sought out Philby and asked him to lead troops to Tur Village to welcome Yun Zhe.

Even the slow-witted Philby sensed the tense atmosphere brewing in the castle these past few days. So when Serena told him they were going to rescue Yun Zhe, Philby tensed up. In his view, anyone threatening Yun Zhe on this land was indeed a dangerous presence, and he wanted to see just who dared to do such a thing.

Tumani and Feren met by the woods outside Tuer village. They had just met that day and thought it would be a peaceful one, but they never expected to run into such a big mess.

"Haha, Tumani, did you seduce that elf girl and then get tricked into coming out?" Ferren squinted and said with a smile.

Tumani didn't argue. Seeing Feren and the others come out, he hurriedly asked, "Is the village alright? I saw the smoke signals going off."

"Hmph, it's nothing. The signal fire must have been lit by that female elf, probably just for show. But are there really mercenaries outside the village?"

"Yes, they are cavalry, at least fifty men."

"Hiss, so many people, they can't be here for us, right? Even if we demolished the village, it wouldn't be enough to keep them coming out," Feren said, stroking his beard with a puzzled look.

"Hmph, who knows? Let's be careful. Should we try to make contact?" Tumani said, expressing his thoughts.

"Hmph, if they're really targeting us, they definitely won't say anything if they're making such a big fuss. If not, they have even less reason to say anything." Ferren thought for a moment. "Then we'll guard the road at the village entrance, that three-way intersection, which will allow us to cover both sides. If it's really aimed at us, then... let's fight to the death."

"Hopefully it's not aimed at us, but it seems the signal fire was lit at the perfect time," Tumani said with a sigh, recalling Akadina's appearance.

"Don't think too highly of her. Do you even know her background? An elf?! Isn't it strange that she's here? How many times have you seen elves?"

Tumani frowned. He was a veteran who had survived the Battle of Donic and the Elven invasion. Although their trade relations with the Elves had become closer recently, they still hadn't seen the Elves come here many times.

"Are the elves going to war?"

"Huh? Why do you think that? I think someone is trying to invade our Donic."

"Isn't that an elf?"

"All you ever think about is war. Only elves have such plans? Don't others? Have you forgotten about the mithril mine?"

"You mean, someone has their eye on the mithril mine? Then they should go north, what are they doing here?"

"Hmph, who knows? Let's take care of the present first."

After discussing their plan, the two led everyone back to the intersection of the two roads at the village entrance. They waited patiently for their opponent to make a move.

Seeing that he had alerted the village's defenders, Kazt seriously considered whether to kill the dozen or so men. The mission was likely doomed; everyone could see the smoke signal, and if he were Yun Zhe, he wouldn't be in such a hurry to run towards Tuer Village. Chasing after them himself wouldn't be effective; his only option was to rely on the two assassins to launch a sneak attack while Yun Zhe was off guard.

With the plan finalized, Kazt sighed; it seemed he wouldn't be making any money this time.

Reni and Vick, who continued their mission, were not happy about the outcome. They knew very well what kind of opponent they were facing; Yun Zhe was troublesome enough, let alone a vampire!

"It's better not to do this mission!" Vico thought to himself, but seeing Reni's insistence, he sighed helplessly.

As the sun began to set, the woods grew dark. The mercenaries, who had waited all afternoon, received orders to retreat, much to their disappointment. Several soldiers clamored to go to the village for some fun, but Kazt firmly refused.

"Things have changed. We can't stay here any longer. We have to intercept them on the road. We'll split into two groups and chase them back along two different roads. If we don't catch them by the river, we'll turn back. Understand?"

"Understood..." the soldiers replied listlessly.

Kazte scoffed inwardly, but as long as he got these people away without revealing their background or purpose, there wouldn't be any major problems. He could also explain things to his boss.

"Withdraw!!" Kazt waved his hand, and the Nightfire Mercenary Group split into two groups, rushing north along the road.

Tumani, who had been waiting at the village entrance, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing them retreat. In any case, today had passed without serious incident.

"Are those guys really that afraid of the signal fire? Something's definitely up," Feren snorted.