Chapter 51 is finished. I'm really lost.
Seventeen finished his meal in a whirlwind, let out a small burp, and lazily let Mingyue take him to wash up before collapsing back onto the bed.
He was completely unaware that he had been pampered the whole time, and he snuggled comfortably in the blankets, starting to doze off again.
Seeing that he was already feeling sleepy, Mingyue didn't disturb him any longer, closed the door, and went back to her own room.
Long Zhaoming knocked on the door: "Royal brother."
Mingyue poured herself a cup of hot tea and said calmly, "Come in."
"Brother, what should we do next?"
After Long Zhaoming entered, he closed the door tightly to make sure no one else could hear their conversation.
"We haven't found the weapons yet; we can only leave after we find the items."
Mingyue bent his fingers and unconsciously tapped the table; it was his habit.
"Does Your Majesty think those weapons might be in the back mountain?"
Long Zhaoming poured himself a glass and began to ponder.
"It should be, 05."
A dark figure flashed in and knelt before them. It was Lingwu. He lowered his head and reported the situation in a serious manner: "Fan You is Xie Daoyuan's confidant. He grew up in the Xie family since childhood and is highly trusted."
Fan You was the name of the bandit leader.
Mingyue had long anticipated this. If Fan You were not a trusted confidant of the Xie family, he would not have been entrusted with such an important task. It's just a pity that Xie Daoyuan misjudged people and raised a thankless wretch.
Brainless idiot.
The matter of the bandits was temporarily resolved, and soon the news reached Xie Daoyuan's ears. He was shocked and immediately sent people to search for weapons, but he hesitated to take action because of Long Zhaoming, who was still in Fenglin Town.
Xie Daoyuan spat, his already gray hair neatly tied back, his deep-set eyes somewhat cloudy, yet still shrewd.
If the Zhou family... if the Zhou family gets their hands on those weapons...
With a loud "smack," the person kneeling below reporting the situation was startled.
This is the arena for the Xie family and the Zhou family. His advantage over the Zhou family is that he is closer to Yejing. If these weapons cannot be found, he will have no choice but to fight to the death with that emperor... Perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope.
Mingyue and Long Zhaoming guessed his thoughts. Now the Zhou family is no longer a threat to them. Long Zhaoming had always thought that the army was controlled by the Zhou family, but now that the Xie family has emerged, they have seen through the complicated situation.
The Zhou family certainly has troops, but their size is definitely not as large as the Xie family's. Moreover, Long Zhaoming has not been able to do what they want, so they are anxious. They must win over Seventeen as soon as possible so that they can go straight to Yejing.
Currently, the two major clans are vying for control; whoever enters Yejing first will win.
Mingyue's lips curled into a mocking smile. These two families had indeed planned far ahead, but unfortunately, they were the ones caught in the trap from beginning to end.
Long Zhaoming was also somewhat excited. In recent years, he had been dealing with the Zhou family's brainwashing and attempts to win him over while also having to pass on messages to his elder brother, the emperor. It had been quite exhausting.
He was the type who preferred to lie down rather than stand up. If it weren't for his elder brother, he wouldn't have gotten involved in these matters and would have lived a comfortable and happy life in his hometown of Jiangnan.
"Take a rest first, you've all been working hard lately."
Mingyue softened her tone, which was rare for her, but she saw that Long Zhaoming looked like he had seen a ghost.
"?"
"Brother, are you alright?"
Long Zhaoming felt a pang of unease. What was wrong with his elder brother? Why was he suddenly so amiable? And Seventeen wasn't here either.
Bright Moon: ......
He frowned and kicked Long Zhaoming, saying, "Go back."
"Okay, okay, okay."
This time it's working.
Long Zhaoming returned to his room, fanning himself with a fan. After washing up, he lay down on the bed and fell into a good sleep, only to be kicked by his elder brother in his dream.
He's been kicking me since I was a kid, it's so sad.
＊
It rained a few days ago, but today is a rare good day. It's not cold after the rain; in fact, it's gradually getting warmer. Seventeen changed into a lighter outer garment, yawning as she went downstairs.
Mingyue and Long Zhaoming were eating at a wooden table, while Xiao Mowen dutifully stood guard beside them.
"Little Seventeen is awake, come down and have something to eat."
Long Zhaoming smiled and waved to him, while Mingyue also looked up at Seventeen.
Those dark eyes looked the same as usual, but Seventeen's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason, and a wave of heat washed over her.
"After we finish eating, let's go to the back mountain together and see if we can find anything."
After a few days of delay, it's finally time.
He nodded at 5 p.m., then lowered his head and finished the warm soup.
I felt much better after drinking the soup. I slept a lot yesterday, so I feel especially energetic today.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the back of the mountain.
The garrison left men to guard the area around the bandit camp, and as soon as Long Zhaoming approached, they immediately made way for him.
"Let's search around first. Since Magistrate Pu knows about the weapons, it's likely that these people hid them in the bandit camp."
The other three responded and went off to search separately.
Seventeen rummaged through the haystacks outside, but found nothing. He then went into a room, but was immediately forced back out by the stench.
"It stinks so bad... Don't these people ever take a bath?"
Once the strange smell was gone from her nasal cavity, Seventeen took a deep breath, held it, and went back inside.
Even though it smells bad, we should still search carefully, just in case.
This room was similar to the one Xie Qingyan had lived in before, but it wasn't as clean. There were messy things scattered all over the floor, and rats were running around on it.
Seventeen searched the place with disgust but found no place to hide weapons.
Logically speaking, the place where weapons are stored should be quite large. Seventeen stroked his chin and looked around again, trying to find any mechanisms or similar things like the ones at Magistrate Pu's place.
However, after searching the room, there was still nothing there. Seventeen left disappointed, and breathed in fresh, non-stinky air again.
He looked behind him; the other three were nowhere to be seen, presumably also searching carefully.
There was only a haystack and a few houses in this area. Seventeen went into a few other houses to look around, but found nothing.
Perhaps it's not on my side. Seventeen thought to himself.
A gentle breeze blew by, and instead of feeling cold, it felt quite comfortable.
Seventeen squinted and exhaled, preparing to expand the search area further to see if he was still in the camp.
The area was surrounded by extremely tall wooden stakes, but it was a piece of cake for Seventeen. In the blink of an eye, he jumped onto the high platform next to him and then flipped down.
He slowly explored the area. The bandit camp was built on the back mountain, surrounded by thick trees. There were only a few entrances with narrow paths, which were winding and complicated.
After walking a little further, Seventeen looked back and could no longer see the bandit camp. In early spring, many trees had sprouted new buds, and some evergreen trees had covered the path they had come from.
However, Seventeen wasn't worried. There were no wild beasts on the mountain, so there was no danger.
He walked a little further, but feeling that it might not lead to anything, he simply turned around and walked back.
Unfortunately, I can't find my way back.
Seventeen stood there, stunned. Where was the way?
He even broke off some tender shoots as a marker when he came, but they're all gone now?
A sense of panic suddenly gripped me, but I still continued to explore forward, following the path beneath my feet.
As they explored further, they realized something was wrong. Why did the forest seem to be getting deeper and the trees denser?
Seventeen's eyes widened. Oh no, he was really lost.
An occasional gust of wind blew by, lifting the ends of Seventeen's hair and causing his dark robes to sway in the wind. He gripped the sword at his waist, thinking that if all else failed, he would have to force his way out, which was better than being trapped in these mountains.
Looking up at the sun and judging his current location, Seventeen steadied himself and resolutely walked back the way he came.
Occasionally, one can hear the chirping of birds in the mountains, which is not noisy but rather helps Seventeen calm down.
As he walked, he came across a huge tree.
This tree was much larger than the others, with its roots intertwined and gnarled, and every tree next to it seemed to be a branch of it.
The magnificent sight left Seventeen somewhat stunned. He slowly walked forward and looked up at the enormous tree canopy.
While other trees were still sprouting new buds, this one already had lush branches, enough to shelter it from the wind and rain.
"How come there's such a big tree here?"
Seventeen reached out and stroked the tree trunk, sighing. "Thinking about it again, it seems normal. This back mountain is said to have existed for over a hundred years. Apart from a few temples on the front mountain, no one ever sets foot on the back mountain. If this bandit camp hadn't chosen this place, it probably would have remained undiscovered."
It's quite reasonable that such a big tree grew there.
Seventeen walked around the tree once, looked up again to check the direction, made a decision, and walked in another direction.
Before leaving, I turned back and waved to the big tree. After all, all things have a spirit, and seeing such a large tree here was quite an eye-opener.
The further he walked, the more familiar it became. Seventeen was overjoyed; this was the very road he had come from.
He vaguely saw the walls of the bandit camp, and without hesitation, he lightly touched the ground with his toes and sped forward.
Just as Seventeen jumped onto the wall, he heard a commotion coming from inside. He looked closely and saw that it was His Highness and Yue-ge and the others, who seemed to be talking anxiously about something.
He was startled, wondering if he had lost his way.
Seventeen immediately called out, "Your Highness!"
Long Zhaoming looked back and saw that the person who had been searching around was now squatting on the wall. He finally breathed a sigh of relief; his elder brother's appearance had almost scared him to death.
The three of them immediately ran towards the wall. Seventeen looked around, changed to another pillar, and prepared to jump down. But just as his foot touched the pillar next to him, he felt his foot slip and the pillar suddenly retracted!
Seventeen was shocked. Was he really that strong? Could he really crush a thick pillar through the ground?
The seventeen people above couldn't see very clearly, but the three people standing below could see them perfectly.
Just as Seventeen stepped onto that pillar, the thick pillar actually slid down a few inches.
Mingyue crouched down and pulled Long Zhaoming, who was rushing forward, back: "Wait, there's something wrong with this pillar."
Then he looked up at Seventeen and shouted, "Seventeen, come down quickly!"
"good!"
Seventeen immediately flipped over and jumped down, her black robes fluttering in the air. With a light touch of her toes, she landed on the ground as lightly as a bird.
"Your Highness, Brother Yue, this pillar..."
Once down, Seventeen could see much more clearly than from up there. The row of pillars, which had been neat and uniform in height, suddenly had one pillar dented, which was the one he had accidentally stepped on.
Long Zhaoming also came to his senses and said in a deep voice, "This wall is probably some kind of mechanism. Since we can step on this pillar, we should be able to step on the others as well."
The four of them stared blankly at the wall in front of them, and then an idea popped into their minds.
Could those weapons be related to this wall?
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