Fourteenth Master quickly devoured the entire pheasant, leaving only the bones. He wiped the oil from the corner of his mouth, let out a satisfied burp, and leaned back contentedly for a while, patting his round belly.
The women who had been following the Thirteenth Prince were already starving, and watching the Fourteenth Prince devour all the pheasants only made their stomachs grow even more unbearable. Their attention was no longer as focused as before; they were feeling restless and frustrated, wishing the Fourteenth Prince would return immediately so they could have a feast.
"I'm about to faint from hunger. The more I look, the hungrier I get. My vision is starting to blur..." the woman said, supporting her stomach in a daze.
The woman in the lead tried desperately to focus, but her mind was filled with thoughts of prostitutes. She secretly pinched her thigh hard and said sternly, "Our mission is to keep an eye on the prince. Don't have any more wild thoughts..." After she whispered that, everyone fell silent.
The Fourteenth Prince had been waiting for this moment. After dozing for half an hour, he slowly got up and glanced behind him. Sure enough, the women became energetic and excited as soon as they saw the Fourteenth Prince get up, not even noticing the noise they were making.
The Fourteenth Prince casually stomped on the remaining flames a few times, seemingly extinguishing them, then picked up his bow and arrows and his prey and rode away. He moved so quickly that the women didn't have time to react before he was far away.
"Quick! Keep up!" The woman in the lead shouted excitedly, and the group mounted their horses and chased after them, not even having time to carefully observe whether the flames had truly been extinguished.
The Fourteenth Prince sensed the woman catching up behind him and was secretly delighted, knowing his plan had succeeded. It turned out he had planned everything from the very beginning; he knew the only way to contact the Thirteenth Prince and the others was to create a smokescreen. However, this was an island, and the entire island was under Zhu Wanqing's close surveillance. For the Fourteenth Prince to create a smokescreen without Zhu Wanqing's notice was harder than climbing a mountain.
In order to contact the Thirteenth Prince as soon as possible, the Fourteenth Prince deliberately acted sullenly for the past few days, because he knew that his unusual behavior would attract Zhu Wanqing's attention. So when he said he was bored, he lured Zhu Wanqing to bring up the hunting.
As expected, the Fourteenth Prince's strategy of feigning indifference successfully got rid of Zhu Wanqing's entourage. However, Zhu Wanqing was not stupid. She did not completely believe the Fourteenth Prince's words and still sent people to monitor him.
So, under the pretext of hunting, the Fourteenth Prince led them on a tour of the forest, quickly exhausting their strength. Then, he roasted a pheasant, subjecting them to the torment of hunger and gradually eroding their stamina.
While the Fourteenth Prince was roasting the pheasant, he secretly placed all the dry branches beside the fire and waited patiently. After the pheasant was cooked, he leisurely savored the delicious meal but still took a short nap, not wanting to be complacent. His purpose was to make the woman behind him impatient.
Finally, seeing that the time was ripe, the Fourteenth Prince casually stomped out a few open flames and rode away. Sure enough, those originally meticulous and cunning women, seduced by the Fourteenth Prince, lost all interest in observing anything else, focusing only on completing their task quickly so they could go back for dinner. They didn't notice at all that the fire wasn't completely extinguished.
By the time they realized what was happening, the extinguished fire on the ground began to slowly gnaw at the dry branches that Fourteenth Master had prepared beforehand. Soon, the flames on the ground began to flicker and spread, and a large area of the ground began to burn. The flames, like a venomous snake, began to devour further and further away, engulfing the grass, the dead trees, the branches... Slowly, a great fire raged... Thick smoke rose slowly, and the entire forest was shrouded in a gray haze.
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