Three days later, Song Ting appeared at the foot of Fuyao Mountain, as Li Erniu had mentioned.
The mountain is not very high, but it is rugged and steep. Below the cliff, there is only a shallow stream and a large forest.
Even if a person falls from the mountainside, they most likely won't survive.
But Song Ting didn't believe Chu Huaixu was dead, so he led his men to search inch by inch, place by place, turning the entire valley upside down.
The group traveled day and night from Chang'an to Jiangzhou, a thousand miles away. Even a body of iron would feel exhausted, let alone Song Ting, who was already on her last breath.
Everyone was on tenterhooks, fearing he wouldn't be able to hold on.
Xiao Wu even grabbed a doctor to take with him before setting off, just in case something unexpected happened on the way.
Surprisingly, Song Ting was in unusually good condition. Even though she was constantly in the woods without rest, her spirits were the best they had been in months.
A sliver of color even returned to his pale face.
However, Xiao Wu and his friends certainly didn't dare to let their guard down. The more they did so, the more something seemed amiss.
Because they knew that Song Ting was like a taut string, stretched to its limit.
If the force applied to the string shifts, the string will snap completely because it cannot withstand the previous force.
"Sir, please take a rest. Qi Zhou and I are here, so please leave it to us." Xiao Wu advised him.
"No," Song Ting said without hesitation. "I have to find it myself. Have you asked at all the nearby clinics?"
Song Ting made another secret trip. In order to avoid attracting attention, he claimed to be ill and skipped court. When he came out, he only brought a few of his most trusted subordinates with him.
Because they dared not make a big fuss, the search for people was extremely slow.
As time went by, he grew increasingly anxious.
"I've asked around, and there's only one clinic and pharmacy within a few miles. I haven't seen any strangers there in the last six months."
Song Ting watched as several birds flew up in the distance, then slowly looked down to the mountainside, where Chu Huaixu had jumped down.
"Are you sure?" He felt as if something was stuck in his throat, and his voice was hoarse.
“I’m sure,” Xiao Wu said. “I took those two kids, so I doubt they’d dare lie.”
Song Ting didn't seem to have taken it all in, but she nodded very slowly.
"It's no use, don't bother looking anymore..." Li Erniu, who had already been turned into a human pig, was also brought along, along with his two children.
Song Ting simply had someone show the child to Li Erniu, and the latter didn't even dare to die.
"Our mountain is also called Ghost Mountain. It's incredibly eerie. No one who falls off ever survives, without exception..."
"Shut up!" Song Ting grabbed his neck, his expression ferocious. "If you dare to say another word, I'll skin those two brats alive and throw them off the mountain."
"No...we can't do this...they're just children, they don't know anything..."
Li Erniu cried out like a madman, "I did the work, and I will bear all the sins and retribution without complaint."
"I just beg you, adults, to spare the two children. They're innocent, adults..."
But what about Huaixu? What about my Huaixu? He was utterly innocent.
Resentment and despair, like vines growing wildly in the dark night, gripped Song Ting's heart tightly, causing him so much pain that he could hardly breathe.
He refused to listen to Li Erniu's complaints any longer.
"It's so noisy." With that, he let go of Li Erniu's hand, stuck two fingers into Li Erniu's mouth, and quickly pinched the other's tongue, forcibly pulling it out.
"Ugh...ugh..." Li Erniu was in excruciating pain, but he couldn't utter a single word. He stared wide-eyed at his tongue, which had been carelessly tossed on the ground.
Song Ting stopped giving him any attention, slowly lifted her eyelids, and took out a pure white handkerchief from her bosom.
After wiping the blood off his hands, he spoke coldly:
“Take him up the mountain.”
It had just rained that morning, and the mountain path was difficult to traverse. It took the group an hour to reach the mountainside.
Song Ting waved his hand, and Xiao Wu pulled Li Erniu up.
"Throw it down," Song Ting said, raising his hand.
Li Erniu had long wanted to die, and upon hearing the order, he offered no resistance whatsoever. Song Ting, however, placed his hand on Li Erniu's shoulder and said coldly:
"Are you sure this is the place? If you're mistaken, I'll have to ask those two children to come here as well."
"Ugh...ugh..." Li Erniu couldn't speak, he could only desperately widen his eyes, "Ugh..."
Song Ting waved his hand, and Li Erniu was pushed off the cliff.
Song Ting watched without moving, then suddenly leaned forward and jumped down as well.
No one expected him to do this; everyone was caught off guard and couldn't even stop him in time. They could only watch helplessly as he jumped.
"grown ups!"
"grown ups--"
Xiao Wu was closest to him and reacted the most. If Qi Zhou hadn't stopped him, he almost would have jumped down with him.
He gripped Qi Zhou's clothes tightly, his face deathly pale: "My lord... my lord has fallen!"
Qi Zhou shook his head, his tone still relatively calm: "The sir didn't fall down, he jumped down on his own."
A single word makes all the difference. Xiao Wu cried out in alarm, "But why did you jump down, sir...?"
It's impossible that he suddenly had a change of heart, felt he was guilty, and didn't want to live anymore, right?
Moreover, in Xiao Wu's mind, Song Ting had not done anything wrong. He was a loyal subject to the emperor, and he and Song Ting were originally the Grand Secretary's people.
Since that's the case, they were acting on the Grand Secretary's orders, so what's wrong with that?
If anything is wrong, it's the fault of their masters.
Even after Song Ting betrayed the Grand Secretary, Xiao Wu still stood by Song Ting's side without hesitation.
Anyway, the Grand Secretary was no good.
He thought that if anyone was to die, it would be those "adults" who were all talk of benevolence and morality but were actually black-hearted and ruthless.
"The master has his own plans," Qi Zhou said.
Despite saying that, Qi Zhou wasn't really sure. After waiting a moment, he said, "You stay up here, I'll go down and take a look."
At the bottom of the cliff, Li Erniu had been smashed into a pile of minced meat, with blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
Even Qi Zhou, who had already killed many people, couldn't help but frown upon seeing this, feeling a wave of nausea in his stomach.
However, Song Ting was nowhere to be found. Qi Zhou and the other two scouts searched the surrounding area for a long time, but still could not find him.
After another half-cup of tea's time, Song Ting finally appeared.
His clothes were torn to shreds by sharp rocks and crisscrossing branches, and he had many small wounds on his face and body.
His face was paler than ever before, as if he had suffered internal injuries.
Qi Zhou was anxious and quickly went to help him up.
His master was always strong-willed, and Qi Zhou had already prepared himself for rejection, but this time Song Ting fell into his arms—
The man coughed up blood, clutching a tattered piece of cloth tightly in his hand. His face was deathly pale, but his eyes were bright.
"He's not dead..."
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