With this statement, all eyes—Xu Lingwei, Jiang Tingxia, Duan Yingying, Chen Bin, Lin Jie, and Peng Lei—immediately focused on Lu Bao. He appeared stunned, his gaze fixed on Li Zihang, then he quickly regained his composure and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Zihang, what are you talking about? How could I possibly be a spy..."
"Hmph."
Li Zihang snorted coldly and pointed, "Senior Brother Lu, when we were on watch during the first half of the night, didn't you go to relieve yourself over there?"
Lu Bao glanced in that direction and nodded with a smile, "Yes, didn't you tell me to go there?"
Li Zihang stared at him, "When you went to relieve yourself, Senior Sister Jiang couldn't sleep and came out to chat with me around midnight. I also went to relieve myself over there at ten o'clock, and I didn't see any markings on that tree at the time!"
"Furthermore, when I went to relieve myself, everyone else had already returned to their tents to sleep. It was just you and me on watch. Now there are markings on the tree over there. Doesn't that mean you carved them there when you went to relieve yourself?"
Hearing Li Zihang's logical and well-founded explanation, Duan Yingying, Jiang Tingxia, Xu Lingwei, Wu Weizi, Chen Bin, and Lin Jie turned their gazes back to Lu Bao. He smiled and said to Li Zihang, "Junior Brother Zihang, how can you prove it was me who carved the mark? Wasn't it you?"
"Do you think it was me?" Li Zihang's gaze was sharp as he coldly snorted at him.
At this point, Lu Bao knew he could no longer conceal the truth.
"Senior Brother Lu, was it really you?"
Lin Jie, Peng Lei, and the others immediately pointed at him, their eyes filled with disbelief.
"Actually, I'm not surprised!"
Chen Bin looked at Lu Bao and said, "Senior Brother Lu is always very close to Tao Zifu and often goes down the mountain to school. Perhaps he was already bribed by Sima Boyong back then."
"Yes, Junior Brother Chen is right."
Lu Bao appeared very calm and composed. He nodded and smiled at Wu Weizi, Li Zihang, and the others, "In fact, Uncle Boyong treats us disciples very well, often giving us red envelopes and such. This time, his son, Senior Brother Wentang, said that if the mission was successful, he would buy me a large apartment of over a hundred square meters in Geermu City for my parents to live in, so I agreed to help them!"
"It really was you, Senior Brother Lu."
Seeing that Lu Bao had admitted it himself, Duan Yingying's almond-shaped eyes widened, and she angrily cursed, "You ungrateful wretch, we were truly blind."
At that moment, Xu Lingwei's icy gaze fixed on Lu Bao. Her right hand gripped the hilt of her sword, which was already a few inches out of its scabbard, as if she were ready to draw her sword and kill this traitor at any moment.
"Lu Bao, by leaving marks for them, how close are they to us?" Wu Weizi asked.
"I don't know."
Lu Bao shook his head and said, "I don't even know if they are following us. I was only responsible for making marks along the way to let them know which direction we were heading."
Wu Weizi listened and nodded. Li Zihang turned to ask, "Uncle, what should we do with him?"
"Alas."
Wu Weizi looked at Lu Bao and sighed helplessly, "Let's restrain him for now. We'll deal with him after we've collected the herbs and returned."
"Thank you, Uncle Wu Wei."
Lu Bao bowed gratefully to Wu Weizi, then naturally took out a dagger from his person and handed it to Li Zihang, "This is the dagger I used for marking, Junior Brother Zihang."
Li Zihang took it and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Lu Bao smiled and said, "Don't worry, Junior Brother Zihang. At worst, I'll just forgo the apartment in Geermu City. Actually, I felt quite guilty along the way and regretted agreeing to their terms."
"Pah."
Duan Yingying spat at him, then fiercely said, "Don't put on a false show of sincerity. A person like you is full of wicked schemes. Junior Brother Zihang, tie him up for me."
Lu Bao smiled and nodded, then consciously extended his hands. Li Zihang didn't hesitate, taking out a rope and tying his wrists. He then searched Lu Bao, and finding no other daggers or weapons, he asked Chen Bin and the others to watch him.
"Uncle, we don't know if there are pursuers behind us, but I think we should change direction tomorrow to look for the herbs," Li Zihang returned and said to Wu Weizi.
"Yes, for safety's sake, we'll head in a different direction tomorrow," Wu Weizi agreed.
Li Zihang nodded, checked the time, it was past four in the morning. He said to Xu Lingwei and Jiang Tingxia, "Senior Sisters, let's rest for another two hours, and then at six o'clock, we'll get up, pack our things, and set off."
"Okay."
Jiang Tingxia nodded. Duan Yingying even patted Li Zihang's shoulder with a smile, "Junior Brother Zihang, you did a good job."
Li Zihang smiled and said, "Of course. Junior Brother Wan had instructed me to keep a close eye on everyone else before he left."
Hearing Li Zihang mention that scoundrel, Duan Yingying's pretty face darkened, and she coldly snorted, "Don't mention that scoundrel to me..."
Jiang Tingxia, standing beside them, frowned with worry, saying, "I wonder how Senior Sister and Junior Brother Wan are doing now..."
However, at this moment, more than twenty miles west of Li Zihang's group, deep within the snowy forests of the Kunlun Mountains, below a cliff in a secluded valley, a different scene unfolded in the dim night.
This valley cliff was about a hundred meters deep, with trees and vegetation growing on both sides. The branches were laden with snow, forming a natural barrier, allowing only a small amount of snowflakes to drift down to the bottom of the valley.
However, at the bottom of this valley cliff, there was a natural hot spring pool. Even though it was the middle of the night, one could still see the misty vapor rising from the surface of the hot spring pool, making it feel like a fairyland.
This pool was formed by the convergence of spring water bubbling up from underground. The steam generated instantly vaporized any snowflakes that fell into the water.
This was precisely why the hot spring pool had not frozen over.
The temperature at the bottom of the valley was even higher than the temperature above it. Consequently, many small animals could be seen moving about in the small bushes below the valley, making it their paradise.
However, tonight, two humans descended from the sky, crashing violently into this animal paradise. Two figures lay on the bank of the hot spring pool.
One was the heavily wounded Wan Yunting. He wore a blue cloth daoist robe, his black cloak torn in several places. Visible wounds marked his body, hands, and legs. Some were sustained from his previous fight with Ma Sai, and others were from being scratched by branches as he leaped from the cliff.
Beside Wan Yunting, on his right, lay Zhou Ruoxi, dressed in a snow-white ancient-style long skirt. She also had multiple wounds, particularly a sword slash on her right shoulder and back, inflicted by Liu Hongwei's saber. Her white cloak was stained with a large patch of blood. Her arms also bore several scratches from branches as she jumped down, but these were minor injuries.
"Cough, cough..."
Zhou Ruoxi, lying by the hot spring pool, coughed violently twice. Her pale, pretty face was heartbreaking. She coughed up a lot of water from her small mouth, her long, water-laden eyelashes trembling slightly. Her delicate eyebrows then furrowed tightly, and her autumn-like eyes slowly opened, looking at the pitch-black surroundings.
The pain that surged through her body made Zhou Ruoxi's pretty face contort with agony. It also stimulated her nerves, restoring her consciousness. After coughing lightly again, she struggled to sit up with her trembling, delicate body. Her legs were still in the hot spring pool, and she could feel the water was at least thirty to forty degrees Celsius. "The water... such warm water... Where is this...?"
It was pitch black at the bottom of the valley, so dark that she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Only by looking up at the sky, a circular, hazy night sky appeared.
It was like a frog at the bottom of a well, gazing at the moon through the circular well opening. Now, this valley was a vast, circular valley floor.
Zhou Ruoxi, sitting on the bank of the hot spring pool, took a while to recover before finally realizing that she was not in hell or heaven, but that she was still alive.
"Junior Brother Wan...!"
Suddenly, Zhou Ruoxi thought of Wan Yunting, and her heart tightened and trembled. She looked around, but because it was so dark at the bottom of the valley, Zhou Ruoxi could only grope blindly along the bank of the pool.
She touched the water grass on the bank, and even felt something soft and slimy, like an eel, which startled Zhou Ruoxi and made her quickly retract her trembling little hand. However, she seemed to have touched something, it felt like clothing.
At once, Zhou Ruoxi's pretty face lit up with excitement. She quickly felt her way over, and indeed, in the pitch-black visibility, she vaguely saw a figure lying on the ground, which made her exclaim excitedly, "Junior Brother Wan, how are you? Don't scare me, wake up quickly..."