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"I know where he is. Let's go." Wei WuHui spoke the moment she left the Glamour Hall and went to an alleyway where Wen Qing had been sitting until she felt pins and needles in her legs. The exhausted maiden shot up and rushes toward the latter, but since her body was still fairly weak and her head spinning, she felt her ankle twisted.

"Whoa!" Wei WuHui luckily caught her before she fell to the hard ground, looking at Wen Qing with concern. "Do you want me to take you somewhere to rest? It's fine if I go alone. I'll definitely bring back Wen Ning."

Wen Qing, hearing that, clung to her tighter. "No! No! I'll go, I have to go!"

Wen Qing ran from Qishan to Yunmeng after she found out that her younger brother went missing and she didn't have time to rest either. When she saw Wei WuHui at the market in Yunmeng, she immediately urged her and begged her as if she was crazy.

Seeing how the once strong maiden is now a frail woman with pale lips and dull eyes, Wei WuHui brought her a few steamed buns from the vendor for her to eat on the go.

"It's fine. I'll definitely bring him back." Wei WuHui tried again.

"I knew I shouldn't have left...but I have no choice. They forced me to go to another city. When I came back, Wen Ning and the entire group was gone! I knew I shouldn't have left him alone!" Wen Qing sobbed.

"He'll be alright." Wei WuHui frowned.

But Wen Qing shook her head. "He won't! A-Ning's been a skittish one ever since he was young. He's both cautious and timid. He doesn't even dare hire the more quick-tempered people to be his subordinates - they're all a bunch of mice like him! He has no idea of what to do when in an emergency when I'm not there with him!"

Wei WuHui stared at the woman before her with sympathy and concern. She remembered the time when she last saw Wen Qing and Wen Ning, recalling the last thing that the woman had said to her and her brother before they left with Jiang Cheng.

"No matter what the result of this campaign turns out to be, from now on, we own each other no more. It's all settled."

Wei WuHui can still remembered the prideful expression on Wen Qing's face but yet, last night, she had refused to let go of her hand, almost kneeling in front of her as she begged.

"Wei WuHui, Wei WuHui, Wei Gu-Niang, please help me. I really can't find anyone else to help me. You really have to help me find A-Ning! I have no other choice other than you!"

Wei WuHui did not see any of the pride left on Wen Qing's face.

———

The pair set off toward the place where Wen Ning and the other remnants were taken off to.

Qiongqi Path was an ancient path that ran through the valley. A legend about this place is that the path was where the founder of the Qishan Wen Sect, Wen Mao, rose to fame in just one battle. Hundreds of years ago, he fought a divine beast for an entirety of eighty-one days, taking its life in the end.

The divine beast was the Qiongqi, a divine beast of chaos that was known to punish the good and encourage the evil, to devour the loyal, the righteous and to award the malicious. Of course, whether the legend was actually true or not.

Hundreds of years later, the valley had become a place of tourism. After the Sunshot Campaign, the sects divided up the area that the Qishan Wen Sect used to hold, and Qiongqi Path was taken by the Lanling Jin Sect.

When the pair reached the Qiongqi Path, it was already night-time and had started raining heavily.

Wen Qing shivered, trying not to let the cold bothered her as she clutched onto the outer robe that Wei WuHui insisted that she take it.

The maidens saw that there were a row of shacks up ahead, seemingly been built to house the prisoners of war.

Wei WuHui then noticed a bent-over figure from afar, as they walked more closer, she then see it was an elderly woman carrying a flag in her hands but as well as carrying a small toddler on her back as the young child paid no attention to anything but nibbling his fingers.

Then, the old woman paused as she put down the flag just for a small break after walking back and forth a few times.

"Granny! It's me!" Wen Qing cried out

However, due to seeing or hearing not too well, the old woman couldn't tell who was calling out to her but she does know that someone is approaching her and shouting at her. Immediately, she held up the flag againb with fear all over her face as if she had been found out and was going to get a scolding.

Wen Qing ran over and grabbed the flag. "What is this? Why are you doing this?" She exclaimed.

The old woman flinched but then realised who the person speaking to her was, her jaw dropped.

"Granny, where's A-Ning? Where's the Fourth Uncle and the rest? Where's A-Ning?" Wen Qing asked.

The old woman then noticed Wei WuHui standing beside Wen Qing but didn't dared to say anything about her. Granny Wen only turned to look in the direction of the valley.

Without hesitation, Wen Qing sprinted into that direction.

There were torches set up on both sides of the valley with the flames flicking now and then from the droplets of rain, but their lights still illuminated the many heavy silhouettes on the path.

The Wen prisoners were all ghastly pale, their feet are now dragging out of exhaustion. Their spiritual powers were sealed off as it was not only out of precautions from the Lanling Jin Sect but also as a punishment from them.

Through the rain, there were dozen inspectors in the Jin Sect robes, riding on horsebacks and bearing black umbrellas.

Wen Qing rushes through, her eyes frantically searching at every land.

"Where did you come from? Who let you run around here?" One of the inspectors shouted.

"I'm here to find someone, I need to find someone!" Wen Qing exclaimed pleadingly.

The inspector came over, pulling something from the side of his waist and waving it around threateningly. "I don't care if you're looking for someone or not — leave! If you don't-!"

He was full of confidence when speaking to Wen Qing, but when his eyes caught sight of black robes coming up from behind the latter, his voice suddenly trailed off as if his tongue was tied up.

The owner of the dark robes was of a beautiful maiden but her eyes were rather cold, the inspector couldn't stop his body shivering under that gaze. But, he then realised that her gaze wasn't on him but rather on the iron brand that he pulled out.

'That...' Wei WuHui's eyes narrowed into a dark glare at the metal tool that she saw whenever she was taking down each Wen's towers, it used to have the shape of the sun for the Wens but now...it was changed to a peony crest.

'I see' a dark glint reflected from her eyes as every inspectors in the area froze at her sudden appearance and quickly stopped their horses, whispering among each other nervously.

"A-Ning! A-Ning!" Wen Qing resumed her searching for her dear brother once there were nothing else that could prevent her now. However, no matter how desperate she sounded, there was no answer. If Wen Ning was here, he would've rushes toward her by now.

Cautiously, the inspectors hopped down from their horses. All their eyes still trained on Wei WuHui as though they don't know if they should greet her or not.

"Where are the Wen cultivators sent here just a few days ago?" Wen Qing asked hurriedly.

"All of the prisoners here are the Wen Sect's cultivators. New ones are sent here every day." One of the inspectors informed.

"It's my Didi, sent here by Jin ZiXun! He...he's about this tall and doesn't talk much. He stutters whenever he talks..." Wen Qing began.

"Hey, Gu-Niang, look. There are so many people here. How could we remember if any of them stutters or not?" The inspector retorted.

Wen Qing shook her head. "No! I know he has to be here!"

The chubby inspector only gave a half-apologetic grin back at her. "Gu-Niang, don't worry. Actually, it happens a lot that other sects come to us for cultivators. Maybe somebody else took him during the past few days? When we do roll calls, we'd sometimes find that one would run away as well..."

"My Didi wouldn't run away! Not when Granny and the others are still here! He would never run away on his own!" Wen Qing proclaimed.

"Then, would you like to take your time searching for him? All of the people are here. If you don't find him, then we can't so much about it, can't we?" The inspector shrugged.

"So, all of the people are here?" Then, Wei WuHui spoke up, causing all of their faces to froze.

"That's right." The inspector stammered.

Wei WuHui tilted her head, staring straight at him with a cold blank gaze. "Fine. For the time being, I'll take it that all the living ones are here. So...where are the rest of them?"

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(Please correct my translation if I'm wrong and the GIFs and pictures used in this chapter does not belong to me, but their rightful owners)