Rebirth of the Phoenix Princess novel Chapter 1016

The Lingxi City was built on a plain with fertile land and sufficient water. On the plain, it was difficult to set up an ambush if there was a battle. On the East and west sides of the Lingxi City, there were two mountains with dense forests. The mountain in the East was relatively flat, and it extended for dozens of miles along the Qianshui River. The mountain in the West was steep and the forest was more dense, but it was also very dangerous because beasts roamed wild there.

Yun Shang chose the mountain in the East as the destination for her visit today. She rode out of the city and headed for the Langya Mountain.

They were just out of the city, when they saw the way up the mountain. Although there was no official road to the mountain, it was not steep. Yun Shang directly rode up the mountain. After passing through more than half of the forest, they found it became more dense and the horse seemed to be tired. Yun Shang got off the horse and led it up the mountain.

Most of the trees in the forest were spruces and cypresses, and the azaleas were blooming brightly.

They had walked for more than two hours, but Yun Shang didn't see anything wrong. She remembered the last experience when she investigated the terrain like this. It seemed to be during the battle in the KY City. It was during that terrain investigation that she got to know Liu Yinfeng.

At that time, she was trapped in the small yard by Liu Yinfeng's North Seven Stars Array. At last, it was also Luo Qingyan who saved her. Thinking of this, Yun Shang smiled. However, she suddenly stopped. North Seven Stars Array? If she remembered correctly, it seemed that the State of Yelang had never had an array in the battlefield since ancient times. What they relied on in the battles were their brave soldiers and valiant horses. It was highly possible that Cangjue Qingsu knew nothing about the array.

A light flashed in Yun Shang's eyes. She had been apprenticed to Qing Cang, the array master. Although Yun Shang was too busy to learn much from Qing Cang, she had read the array book given by Qing Cang carefully. She could even draw every array in it.

If they fought with the array, it might be possible to have victories in spite of being weaker and outnumbered.

Yun Shang was thinking about it, when the secret guard behind her exclaimed, "Master, look, there seems to be smoke over there."

Yun Shang looked in the direction pointed by the secret guard and saw a black smoke rising from the forest in the distance. Yun Shang looked at the smoke carefully. It was small, and it should not be burned from wet leaves, but dry things. Besides, with such an only smoke nearby there should not be a large-scale garrison.

"Probe," Yun Shang ordered concisely.

The secret guard responded and quickly hid away in the forest.

Although she didn't think there would be a large number of soldiers stationed there, Yun Shang was also worried that it would be some spy sent by the State of Yelang, so she hid under a protruding stone.

The secret guard moved very fast. Not long after, he came back and reported, "Master, there is a thatched hut in the distance. I think it should be a temporary resting place for the people at the foot of the mountain when they go hunting. But now an old couple live inside. I'm afraid they are the people who seek refuge."

Yun Shang was a little surprised, "Why are there people hiding in this mountain?"

The secret guard nodded and replied, "During the war, most people will escape far away, but some older people have troubles in walking, or they don't have enough money. Thus most of them just hide in the woods."

Yun Shang still had doubts in her heart. She thought for a moment and said, "You wait outside. One person will go with me. I have to see myself if they are truly ordinary hiding old people or not."

Hearing this, a female secret guard stood out and said, "I'll go with Master. Women are not easy to be suspected."

Yun Shang nodded slightly. Fortunately, today's secret guards dressed up as ordinary people in order to hide their identity.

"What's your name?" Yun Shang asked.

The woman hurriedly replied, "I am Zhi Wei."

"Zhi Wei. All right. Give them your sword. Let's go," Yun Shang said and walked towards the place where the smoke rose.

The hut looked quite near, but it would take some time to walk over there. When Yun Shang arrived at the thatched hut, she was out of breath. From a distance, she saw an old woman in her fifties washing wild vegetables at the door. The old woman first removed the roots off the wild vegetables, washed them in a bucket, and then picked them up. She stood up and saw Yun Shang and Zhi Wei. She seemed to be shocked by the sudden appearance of the two visitors, and her body trembled. She then let out a scream, and the vegetables in her hands fell into the bucket.

An old man walked out of the hut quickly, with a kitchen knife in his hand. He stared fiercely at both Yun Shang and Zhi Wei.

Yun Shang hurriedly said, "Don't panic, Grandpa. My sister and I came to the Lingxi City to look for our family, but we were driven out before we entered the city. We don't know why we got lost and come here. We want to go to the Deer City. How can we go, Grandpa?"

The old couple were still on their guard. They stared at Yun Shang and Zhi Wei. After a long time, the grandpa pointed in a direction and said, "Over there in that direction."

Yun Shang nodded, cupped her hands in gratitude, and left the thatched hut with Zhi Wei.

"Master," when they were far away from the hut, Zhi Wei said, "Both the elders should not be kung fu masters."

Yun Shang nodded, "All right. Let's go."

It was about noon when they two met with the other secret guards. The secret guards handed water and cakes to Yun Shang, and Yun Shang ate some randomly before starting their journey again. They had just gone not far away, when a secret guard held Yun Shang's hand again, "Master, footsteps."