On a hillside, three people were sitting on a rock resting.

It’s already February, and Jiangbei is starting to warm up. This place is in the south, and the temperature is already quite high. So, the relatively younger man was using a bamboo hat to fan himself, while an elderly man with snow-white hair was drinking water from a gourd, and another was using a branch to poke at an ant nest on the ground.

Beside them was a bamboo basket with a white fox lying inside.

"We’ve searched the slopes and valleys over there and found nothing unusual." The old man finished drinking, corked the gourd, "Do you think it’s possible that it’s not in these mountains?" They’d encountered members of the Flame Sect, but hadn’t seen the Medicinal Soldiers, nor any signs of people being imprisoned.

The young man shook his head: "It has to be in these mountains." Otherwise, they have nowhere to hide people.

"Alright, the old man regrets coming with you." The white-haired old man stood up, "If only Xinxin were here; when we get out, I want to go back." This person was Dao Xuzi in disguise.

"Not going back." Ming Guang, who was poking the ant nest, glanced at Dao Xuzi.

"It’s just as well you accompany this kid." Dao Xuzi shrugged.

"I miss Xinxin too." Gu Qingheng also stood up, "She’s pregnant, and I want to end the war soon so I can go back to see the child being born."

In fact, Qi Jingyi also wanted to come along, but Gu Qingheng persuaded him not to. To be honest, he didn’t trust Prince Qi Jingrong that much, and even with Zhou Jiang around, when facing Qi Jingrong, they were at a disadvantage in terms of status, so Qi Jingyi needed to stay behind.

Dao Xuzi immediately fell silent and walked forward along the slope; the sun was setting, and they needed to find a place to spend the night.

After crossing the slope and passing through some bushes, suddenly, the piece of gold on Gu Qingheng’s wrist lifted its head, while the Spiritual Fox Ah Zi darted out of the basket.

"Someone’s here." Ming Guang whispered.

Soon, a howl that resembled a wolf’s cry could be heard from ahead, but because of Xiaobai, Gu Qingheng was very familiar with wolves. This sound wasn’t a pure wolf’s cry.

"It’s a wolfdog." Dao Xuzi had already leapt ahead and saw that Ah Zi was confronting a black wolfdog, "This is raised by humans."

To say it was a confrontation was a bit of an exaggeration; the wolfdog was baring its fangs at Ah Zi, but Ah Zi clearly thought the opponent was too weak and just sat there casually watching it.

And that wolfdog was not stupid, sensing Ah Zi’s aura, it only growled lowly and didn’t dare to actually charge forward.

"Consider yourself smart." Dao Xuzi glanced at the wolfdog, "Otherwise, you’d be long dead."

Whether the wolfdog understood or not was uncertain; instead, it stopped growling and looked back.

At this moment, a skinny man emerged from the woods, carrying two wild rabbits. He froze for a moment when he saw Gu Qingheng and the others.

The wolfdog saw its owner and ran to his side, whimpering softly.

Arang petted the wolfdog’s head and looked at Gu Qingheng and others warily, "Who are you?" he spoke in a tribal dialect.

"We are here to gather herbs in the mountains," Gu Qingheng replied in the tribal dialect as well, "It’s getting late, and we’re looking for a place to stay."