Liu Ying wordlessly handed the bag over to him.
Yang Changtian felt a pit forming in his stomach. The slight stench emanating from inside the bag, paired with the tense and serious look on Liu Ying's face, told him that whatever was inside wasn't good.
He looked around and finally decided to place the bag on the ground before opening to , he slowly opened the bag , the putrid scent getting worser by the second . Yang Changtian whipped his head around and took in a deep breath before pulling the head out from the bag.
He turned the head and when he saw it's face , his pupils contracted and his eyebrows immediately furrowed.
He looked up an Liu Ying who was leaning against the table ,looking down at him.
Yang Changtian quickly placed the head back in and closed the bag , he exited the tent wordlessly and walked over to the stream. Liu Ying grabbed a bowl and followed him outside , she helped him grab some water from the stream to wash his hands , she then pulled out a small bottle and poured the liquid inside onto Yang Changtian's hands , replacing the putrid scent of decaying flesh with the fresh scent of citrus.
Yang Changtian finished cleaning his hands and walked over to the river and sat down on a rock, Liu Ying followed suit and sat down next to him.
" Where did you find him ? " , Yang Changtian finally asked .
" I was just exploring a cave when I found him , he looked familiar so I decide to bring the head over, ", she answered without even flinching, but her right eye twitched slightly.
Yang Changtian quietly observed her for a while before nodding .
Technically , Liu Ying did not lie , she did indeed find him inside a cave . If Yang Changtian finds out she went to the lake alone , he'll blow up again , and right now they have to be united.
" That is General Lim right ? " Yang Changtian asked.
Liu Ying nodded , " The very one that went missing a few months ago while bringing supplies to the Northern Front."
Yang Changtian sighed deeply , " Looks like this problem just got a lot more complicated , they're deliberately targeting the Northern Front ."
Liu Ying simply nodded back .
"Tell me, Liu Ying, what do you think they want?" Yang Changtian asked, turning to her.
" What almost everyone man wants , they want power," she finally answered.
" You mean ? ".
Liu Ying nodded , " They want our country to fall , they want to take over , and they likely started this a long time ago , this is not something you could do in a short time. They likely caused such issues before too . If I was them, my first action would be taking care of the people who could stop them."
Yang Changtian clenched his fist tightly. Indeed , they started like that , they 'took care' of Jingyou and Master Sun ; two pillars of their kingdom and the ones who were the most likely to stop them.
Liu Ying quietly watched as Yang Changtian's grip tightened and his eyes got redder , his inner turmoil apparent.
Hei Jingyou's face flashes across Yang Changtian's face , well , technically he just saw her twinkling eyes hidden behind that mask. He never even got the chance to see her face , they took that away from him, they took away 20 years with her, they took away his friend.
Suddenly another thought crossed his mind , Jingyou must be hiding from them , that's why she's not coming forward. This thought enraged Yang Changtian , how dare they make her hide , how dare they make her stay away from him. He will make them pay.
Yang Changtian was shaking with anger now , Liu Ying slowly reached out and grabbed his hand , she exerted strength and unclenched Yang Changtian's hand that had gotten red with the force he exerted before.
" It's useless for you to clench your hand like this , you're only setting yourself up for early hand pain or something , you're not young anymore , " she teased.
Yang Changtian snorted , " Liu Ying , might I remind you that I age very slowly and I am still very much in my youth. But you're right , the only thing I can do is fight these bastards for the people who suffered."
Liu Ying nodded , " Exactly , but it would be better to keep this a secret from the others , it'll only complicate things. "
Yang Changtian nodded , " I'm only going to tell Li Cheng and I agree , we don't have to involve the others , it'll be dangerous for them."
Liu Ying stood up and patted the dust off her robe , " Well then , we better get back to work. Right now , the only thing we can do is continue our mission. I'll report this back to His Majesty , you better inform High Highness the Grand Prince too .Well then , Mr. Yang , I have a task to finish. I'm off," she said turning around and walking away waving back at him.
Yang Changtian watched as Liu Ying mounted her horse and rode off . He chuckled , Liu Ying always managed to ground him just like Jingyou did.
Standing up , he also mirrored Liu Ying's actions ; patting the non-existent dust off his robe before walking off to find Li Cheng.
Li Cheng was in his tent , so Yang Changtian dragged him over to Liu Ying's tent that still had the head of General Lim.
After he was filled in about what they found , Li Cheng shakingly opened the nag and pulled out the head, wanting to see for himself.
Confirming the head's identity for himself , he placed the head back in and calmly walked out to clean his hands before waking back into the tent.
" They're aiming to weaken the Northern Front . While General Lim disappeared with the first batch of supplies , the government was quick to discover this and send more supplies. But thy decided to destroy Beifeng , the village that acted as a connector between Jingxi and the Northern Front, " Li Cheng hissed. " They're clearly aiming to topple the country ! ."
Yang Changtian nodded , " Don't tell this to anyone else Li Cheng , it'll only complicate matters."
Li Cheng nodded, he looked around and sat down on a chair massaging his temples , " So what will we do now ? ".
" Nothing , " Yang Changtian replied , making him look up. " We continue on with our current mission like we don't know. I'll send a letter back to His Highness informing him of the new developments. Till we get explicit orders to pursue this , we continue on with our current missions."
Li Cheng nodded grimly , " Where did Ms. Liu encounter this one ? ".
" She said she was exploring a nearby cave , likely to see fi it had more limestone , when she saw this Crazy."
" Well the cave must've been very humid then," Li Cheng added.
" Why do you say so ? " Yang Changtian asked confused.
"The skin on this one is very different from the other Crazies we've seen. It looks more waterlogged, so I'm assuming it stayed in water for much longer. And see those green patches in the hair and such? That's definitely algae. Combined with a relatively slimy skin texture, I'm assuming it has been in water or in a very humid area for a long time to end up like this."
Yang Changtian got really quite , he thought back to the time Liu Ying told him she found the Crazy inside a random cave . Now that he thought back , he noticed some unusual details about Liu Ying's actions, she hesitated for a while before answering his question , and for a split second she clenched her jaw before answering.
Yang Changtian knew one thing for sure , she lied about something and he had a feeling tat it was something that might enrage him. He's going to have a conversion with her as soon as she gets back.
Soon Mo Ling came looking for Li Cheng , so he walked out leaving Yang Changtian alone inside Liu Ying's tent.
Yang Changtian sat down on Liu Ying's bed and spaced out , thinking about how this issue was getting darker and deeper . The silene inside helped him sort his thoughts out , no matter how deep and dark this matter got , he will not back down. For the people of this country, for his sect disciples , for his martial brothers and sister , for this master , for his Martial Uncle and finally , for himself and Jingyou , he had to fight no matter how hard it got.
He began to feel guilty about so blatantly invading Liu Ying's private space in her absence, ho he stood up to exit the tent only to freeze near the exit. Remembering something he quickly turned around and grabbed the head and the leaf bag before exiting .
Liu Ying headed back to the lime stone cave to find Da Xiong had already filled a considerable amount of carts with the lime stone.
" Da Xiong , we'll need around 36 carts," Liu Ying walking over to Do Xiong's side.
Da Xiong was startled at her appearance , " Did you go see the map Senior ? ".
Liu Ying shook her head , " I went and looked at the lake myself."
Da Xiong's eyes almost popped out , " You….. went to the underground lake ?!?."
Liu Ying nodded.
Da Xiong immediately grabbed her by the shoulder and checked for any injuries , " Are you okay Senior ? ".
Liu Ying smacked his hands away and nodded , " I'm fine , the Crazies were all inside the water in this meditative state , as long as I didn't disturb them , I'm safe. Last time you disturbed them so they discovered your existence and attacked you all, " Liu Ying stated matter-of-factly.
Da Xiong sighed deeply , shaking his head in defeat, " As long as you're safe Senior , but next time at least tell me before you go."
Liu Ying nodded back , " Da Xiong , when we et back get a messenger hawk ready , we have to immediately write a letter back to the Capital."
" Did you discover something Senior ? ".
Liu Ying turned and walked away into a corner asking him to follow , when they reached an isolated spot , she pulled out the eagle wing token and showed it to Da Xiong.
Da Xiong's reaction mirrored that of Jin Wei , with his eyes almost popping out ,
" Se….. Sen…. Senior , " he stuttered , " Where did you find this ? ".
Liu Ying smirked , " Guess ? ".
" In the underground lake ? " .
Liu Ying nodded , " I also found something else ."
Da Xiong sighed , he knew that expression well , this was not good .
" I found General Lim, " Liu Ying finished.
Da Xiong almost collapsed onto the ground , " By your tone Senior , he's dead ."
Liu Ying didn't even bother to answer him , " Don't tell anyone about the token , we have to officially confirm it but I'm 100% sure it's the Mo family's crest. I already told Yang Changtian about General Lim , but don't tell him anything about the token , we'll directly report it to His Majesty."
Da Xiong nodded , " I wont tell anyone Senior , does Jin Wei know ? "
Liu Ying nodded back , " He does . Let's get back to work now Da Xiong , we have to finish this and quickly head back to he capital. "
Da Xiong nodded before rushing off to finish their task , even Liu Ying began to help out , her swords were much more efficient in prying out the large chunks off.
They only stopped when dusk approached. By that time, they had already filled 13 carts, but they only had 5 carts available. As a result, a team was assigned to travel between the camp and the limestone deposit to transport the stone they had already harvested, slowing them down considerably .
The group headed back , Liu Ying found Jin Wei waiting for them back at camp ,.
" Senior , we harvested half of the required amount . Should we bet started on this batch ? " .
Liu Ying nodded agreeing , " We'll save time like that , let's get started on that batch and the rest will be extracted after we gather the rest. Divide the responsibility amongst a few trusted and knowledgeable individual , we cant afford to make any mistakes. After your done Jin Wei , come meet me at my tent."
Jin Wei nodded while rushing off , Liu Ying then turned to Da Xiong , " Da Xiong go grab out messenger hawk , I need to write a letter back to Senior."
Liu Ying went back to her tent , right before entering he remembered about he head she had left behind inside , she sighed and breathed deeply before entering , waiting for a stench that never came.
She was surprised to see that the bag was no longer inside her tent , someone had taken it away and the only people brave enough to enter er tent expect Jin Wei and Da Xiong were Yang Changtian , Li Cheng and Lv Ling. She smiled softly as she had a good idea about who took it out . she quickly freshened up before changing into clean clothes .
When she headed out , she came across Song Lian .
Seeing her Song Lina immediately rushed over and handed her a wooden box , " I was waiting for you to return Ms. Liu , here are the things you asked for. "
"Oh my, thank you, Mr. Song, and I apologize for making you wait. I was over at the limestone cave harvesting the stone," Liu Ying explained. "I hope you did not encounter any danger."
Song Lian laughed while rubbing the back of his head , " I have to than Ms. Liu for that , we did encounter a Crazy or two , nothing too crazy , but the crossbows you gave us took care of them."
Liu Ying smiled and nodded , " I'm glad your safe . Again , thank you for this. I'm off to have some dinner , would you like to join me ? ".
Song Lian agreed eagerly , following her over to the dining area.
Yang Changtian spotted Liu Ying walking towards them , Song Lian following her like and excited puppy. Li Cheng also spotted this and discreetly checked Yang Changtian's expression , almost bursting out in laughter when he saw his face.
Yang Changtian did not look amused; in fact, he was practically sneering at Song Lina while constantly rolling his eyes at Song Lian's every action. He was chewing a little too forcefully, as if he were chewing Song Lian into small pieces rather than his food
Liu Ying walked up to them and greeted them.
"Ms. Liu , Song Lian , here for dinner ? You can join us , " Li Cheng replied, still glancing at Yang Changtian to check his mood.
Yang Changtian had pasted a fake smile over his annoyance .
Liu Ying shook his head , " Maybe next time , I invited Mr. Song to have lunch with and I have to discuss something's with Jin Wei and Lv Ling." She then turned to Yang Changtian , " Mr. Yang , thank you for taking care of the dirt in my room."
Yang Changtian smiled and nodded , " It was my pleasure Ms. Liu."
Liu Ying smiled back , " Then gentleman , I'll be on my way."
As Liu Ying walked away , Song Lian also followed her closely , acting like her shadow. Yang Changtian only got more annoyed , " The hecks up with him ? " he mumbled under his breath , making Li Cheng side eye him. Yang Changtian then proceeded to chew at his food harder , imagining Song Lian's face on each bite.
Liu Ying headed over to Lv Ling and Jin Wei who had saved them a few seats , Liu Ying sat between Jin Wei and Lv Ling while Song Lian settled down across her , next to Da Xiong.
" Let's eat first , then we'll discuss the next course of action."
Everyone nodded , eating in silence. Jin Wei noticed Song Lian sneaking glances a Liu Ying , so he sneered inwardly.
After the finished eating , Liu Ying placed the wooden box infront of her and opened the it , inside were multiple bone charms , some where bigger but most of them were small.
" Now that we got the bone charms , we have to hurry up with the other tasks, " Liu Ying started.
Jin Wei nodded , " I already asked them to get started on the extraction , but I assigned like 4 people over there , so I need more manpower Senior."
Liu Ying nodded thoughtfully , " We had the same problem , I'll ask Mr. Yang to lend us some people."
" Ms. Liu , if you don't mind , we would be glad to help too , " Song Lian interrupted.
" Oh Mr. Song , I do not want to disturb you but that would be wonderful , " Liu Ying replied , batting her eyes softly .
Song Lian immediately blushed and nodded back , " Juts tell us what to do Ms. Liu , I am- I mean we're willing to move rocks to help you, " he exclaimed.
" Oh my , I'm really grateful for your help Mr. Song, " Liu Ying thanked him , her voice soft.
Song Lian blushed and immediately stood up , " I'll got get some thing ready for tomorrow Ms. Liu , please excuse, " he stuttered before running off.
Da Xiong looked at him confused , while Jin Wei and Lv Ling wee not amused , " Did you really have do that ? " Jin Wei finally asked.
" Juts wanted to check if I still have it , " Liu Ying replied nonchalantly.
Lv Ling shook her head. Where was the kind and honest Hei Jingyou who never strung people along? Liu Ying was completely the opposite , playing with people just for to see if she still got her charms.