As Jiang Man said, her rock climbing skills were far superior to mine. After putting on her protective gear, she was like a nimble gecko, quickly climbing up the cliff.

As soon as Jiang Man disappeared from sight, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "What's the situation up there? Is anything unusual?"

"..."

Silent and still.

I cupped my arms around a megaphone and shouted in front of me, "Jiang Man! Can you hear me? What's the situation up there?"

"..."

Still no sound.

A sense of unease rose within me. I ran to the edge of the cliff, grabbed the rope, and was about to climb when Jiang Man suddenly poked her head out from above: "Hey!"

"call!"

Seeing Jiang Man turn back, I breathed a sigh of relief: "Big sister, when the atmosphere is so tense, can you please stop making such pointless jokes!"

"Isn't it precisely because the atmosphere is tense that we need to ease it?"

Jiang Man grabbed the rope above, hung it on the safety device on her clothes, and quickly descended from it, looking at me with a grin: "Worried about me?"

"I'm afraid you'll be carried off by a bear and taken back to have its cubs!"

I rolled my eyes, then pointed to the cliff above: "What's the situation up there?"

"There was an open area above, and a grove of trees a few dozen meters away, but I didn't go over to check it."

Jiang Man paused for a moment: "The ground above is covered with moss, and you can leave a mark if you press it lightly with your finger, so they probably didn't go this way."

"Song Laosan is a seasoned veteran. If he wanted to cover up the traces, he would definitely scrape off the moss on the ground and then cover it up again after everyone has passed by!"

I still felt uneasy, so I grabbed the rope and prepared to go up and take a look: "In their team, the most difficult person to deal with is actually Song Laosan!"

Jiang Man pressed down on my arm: "Don't worry, I've checked the moss too. There are no signs of it being touched, and..."

"Young Master Duan!"

Before Jiang Man could finish speaking, a monkey's shout suddenly came from behind, and then all three of them ran over.

I saw three people and frowned, asking the monkey, "Didn't I tell you to scout the terrain on the right? Why are you all here?"

The monkey looked at me confidently and said, "We've finished investigating!"

"fart!"

I gestured to the map in my hand: "The distance on the right is twice as long as ours, and we haven't even turned back yet. You're telling me you've already finished checking?"

The monkey immediately retorted, "Isn't our task to investigate Qu Ruilin and his group? This isn't a marathon. Why do you care how far I ran? As long as I found something, that's all that matters!"

When I heard him say that, I immediately became interested: "You found the tracks they left behind when they were traveling?"

"Not only was it found, but it's also very strange."

The monkey waved: "Anyway, you'll understand once you come with me!"

Led by the monkeys, we quickly returned to the circular valley, turned right, and reached the edge of the basin on the right.

This is a large, gentle slope. The mountain looks as if it has been raked by a giant rake, with deep ravines all over it, the deepest of which are nearly three meters deep, winding their way to who knows where.

Before I could ask anything, the monkey spoke up: "When we got here, we found the terrain to be very complicated. We were wondering which way to go when we suddenly saw a mark left by someone at the intersection ahead! It's over here, look!"

I followed the monkey to a crevice and, sure enough, found a pattern made of stones at the entrance.

"Is this a knife?"

I looked at the stone on the ground, a puzzled look flashing in my eyes: "The tip of the knife is pointing towards the valley, it does look like a mark! But who are Qu Ruilin and the others leaving this mark for?"

The monkey speculated, "Could it be that they have other accomplices, or have formed an alliance with someone? Or perhaps they're afraid that if they disappear, the rescuers will use their markers to find them?"

"The third possibility can be ruled out. This is not Ping'an Village. Even in the deep mountains, satellite communication tools still have signals. If they want to request help, sending a GPS coordinate point would be much easier than this."

Looking at the valley ahead, my mind was filled with doubt: "Given Qu Ruilin's personality, he should disdain cooperating with strangers, so the purpose of this mark is indeed puzzling. Could it be used to mislead us? But they didn't know we would follow us!"

"Could it be that it was left behind by Song Laosan?"

Lin Que sniffed: "No matter what, he used to be on our side. This search for the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace can be considered a decisive battle between you. What if Song Laosan felt guilty towards us, so he left this mark?"

"Come on, if Song Laosan really wanted to help, he wouldn't have tried to kill us back in the Far East!"

The monkey simply didn't believe that the mark was left by Song Laosan, but it couldn't figure it out either. So it waved its hand and said, "Young Master Duan, no matter what the purpose of this thing is, it must be man-made. Shall we go in and take a look?"

Just then, Jiang Man, who had gone to relieve herself in the woods, returned, wiping her hands with a wet wipe, and asked, "What are you all looking at here?"

I turned around, and before I could answer the question, Jiang Man's expression changed drastically. Pointing to the stone pattern on the ground, she asked, "When was this discovered?"

Seeing Jiang Man's expression only made me more confused: "You recognize this thing?"

"Not only do I know him, but you should know him too!"

Jiang Man nodded: "Using stones to form a weapon pattern is the exclusive mark of the Black Robe Organization. The blade tip indicates the direction of movement; a blade pointing left means tracking and capture, while a blade pointing right means killing to silence witnesses. If it's a sword, it represents protecting the target! The Jiang family has been dealing with the Black Robe Organization for so many years, I would never mistake this mark!"

"You mean... Qu Ruilin and the others are being targeted by the Black Robe Organization? The blade pointing to the left means capture!"

After hearing Jiang Man's explanation, I was genuinely shocked: "Duan Jinyan should know that the Qu and Wei families have been looking for him. Not only did he not hide, but he even kidnapped their people?"

"So many people in the martial arts world are looking for Duan Jinyan, but he has never been afraid, otherwise he would have disappeared from the martial arts world long ago!"

Jiang Man kicked the stones on the ground and continued, "Based on my understanding of Duan Jinyan, he wouldn't personally handle something like this. So, those watching Qu Ruilin and his group are probably just his underlings. The reason they left the marks is to mark the people who are supporting them!"

"So, Duan Jinyan knew we were in Qingyun Town all along?"

I frowned and shared my analysis: "The reason he hasn't targeted us is that he doesn't want us to disrupt his plans. The reason he's targeting Qu Ruilin and his group is because they obtained the two beast heads, and Duan Jinyan wants to reap the benefits!"