After Gong Juechen left Xiao Changyi, he returned to his own residence.
As he walked, Gong Juechen suddenly stopped in his tracks, lifted his head to look at the sky without any expression.
He muttered in his heart, "Heavens, if you make her unable to return, I will turn this world under your very eyelids into a river of blood."
Always, he never wanted to fight for anything.
Also, he had never fought for anything before.
Now, having encountered the person he loves, he wanted to fight, even if it ant fighting against the heavens, he would fight.
But if he still couldn’t win, then he would destroy this world.
...
On the mountain.
Over where Ye Zhi was, things were going smoothly. She had already found a tree from which Jingye City could be seen. Ye Zhi was sitting on the tree, observing the surrounding terrain of Jingye City with a telescope while sketching everything she could see onto parchnt.
Shi Shi and the others were sitting under the tree, resting, eating dry rations, while keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Su Chengyuan had been trained to no longer fear heights. Right after finishing her dry rations for lunch, she flicked her whip, wrapping it around a tree trunk, then climbed upward using the whip to pull herself up until she reached another tree.
Because Jingye City was far away, she could only see the vague outline of a city in the distance with her naked eye; everything else was unclear.
Ye Zhi noticed Su Chengyuan had climbed up a nearby tree and smiled, "You’re getting really good at using that whip—now you can even climb trees with it."
Su Chengyuan didn’t say anything, her eyes fixed on the telescope in Ye Zhi’s hand.
Ye Zhi imdiately raised the telescope in her hand, "Want to take a look?"
Su Chengyuan nodded, "Hmm."
"Then go ahead, but make sure you hold it properly. Don’t break it, or I won’t be able to see clearly, and I won’t be able to map out the terrain." As Ye Zhi spoke with a smile, she handed the telescope to Su Chengyuan.
Su Chengyuan carefully received it. She then held the telescope to one eye and observed Jingye City.
To her surprise, the view was crystal clear.
She could almost make out the entire landscape and camp setup around Jingye City in great detail from where they were.
Su Chengyuan couldn’t help but laugh, "No wonder you call this the Thousand-mile mirror, it’s so clear—it feels like everything is right in front of you."
Saying this, Su Chengyuan returned the telescope to Ye Zhi so that Ye Zhi could continue mapping the terrain.
Actually, she could create maps too.
Back when An Jing and Ye Zhi trained them in making sand tables, they had taught her how to chart maps.
But she was far less skilled at it than Ye Zhi or An Jing.
The mountains always held danger, even if they hadn’t encountered any wild beasts yet. Ye Zhi still felt it would be better to leave the mountains as soon as possible. So, as soon as Su Chengyuan handed the telescope back, Ye Zhi continued using it to observe the terrain and work on her map.
The terrain on Ye Zhi’s side of the mountain was different from An Jing’s—it was steeper and harder to traverse. This had delayed An Jing’s team, making it so they hadn’t found a suitable tree to observe Jingye City’s layout by midday.
An Jing’s team ate their dry rations for lunch first before continuing to search. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter of the afternoon that they finally found a tree that t their needs and offered a good view of Jingye City.
Standing on that tree, they could almost take in the entirety of Jingye City.
An Jing didn’t just observe Jingye City; she also noticed that there were many dense camps stationed inside and outside the city. After a preliminary estimate, there appeared to be around six hundred thousand troops.
No wonder the Emperor of Chilin had stationed so many soldiers here—it was the only path for Xiyun to enter Chilin.
Moreover, it was the first line of defense.
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