Seeing Xiao Mu drinking the tea off, General Li poured him another cup. "Young Master Xiao, you must be tired after such a long journey."

"I'm fine." Xiao Mu smiled at General Li.

Then General Li put down the teapot and asked, "Young Master Xiao, do you think this matter is a coincidence or done by someone from Xiling?"

"As far as I'm concerned, it's hard for a spy from Xiling to sneak in our army. Since we have lived in the border for many years, a person with an unfamiliar appearance must cause people's suspicion." Xiao Mu said to General Li.

Hearing that, General Li frowned slightly, "So you think..."

"It could be someone sneaked into the camp, spoke it out, and then escaped." Xiao Mu said, squinting his eyes.

Hearing that, General Li took a deep breath and said, "You're right! Xiling plans to invade while our army is in great disarray!"

"That's right!" Xiao Mu nodded.

General Li nodded and sneered, "That's the wishful thinking of Emperor Xiling!"

"Then, General Li, what are you going to do next?" Xiao Mu asked.

General Li stood up and looked outside. "Turn their trick to our use!" He said.

"General Li, you're so experienced and astute!" Xiao Mu nodded and said.

He thought, "Since the soldiers went to the kitchen to question the grains today, it must be yesterday that someone sneaked into the camp. As expected, Emperor Xiling will take this opportunity to defeat us within three days."

"However, Emperor Xiling will be disappointed this time as Marquis Shuo should arrive at the border in two days according to the date he left Jing City."

Then General Li looked at Xiao Mu and said, "I am speaking from my years of experience on the battlefield. And I need to thank you for showing up timely and helping me out. I did not know how to put an end to this without you."

"It's very kind of you, General Li. There are two reasons why I did this: First, it is for Dongling people. If Dongling falls, their lives will be filled with untold suffering. Second, it is for My Lord who will take over the border affairs on imperial order. If the morale is undermined at this point, the consequences will be unimaginable." Xiao Mu said to General Li.

General Li nodded and said, "Fine. As long as we can defend the border area and lift the people of Dongling out of wars, the reasons don’t matter."

"If there's nothing else, I'll go and take a rest." Xiao Mu said with a yawn.

He was afraid of causing trouble along the way. It could be easily inferred that this was the trick of Xiling people since all the grains in the nearby border area were bought at high prices.

If the spies of Xiling saw that they took the grains to the border on the way, they would be obstructed by them. Therefore, Xiao Mu chose a back road.

Although they did not need to worry about the spies by walking this back road, it was inevitable for them to meet some bandits in the border area. He was not afraid of them because he could quickly defeat them if they did meet them.

However, General Li said that the military provisions had run out. Moreover, because walking the back road had already caused a delay, it was hard for them to go back to the border within five days if any other accident happened.

Therefore, they journeyed on day and night almost without halting to rest.

General Li said to Xiao Mu with a smile, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Young Master Xiao must be tired after such a long journey. Go and take a rest, and I'll ask someone to cook meals for you and deliver the meals to you when you get up."

"Sorry to trouble you, General Li." Xiao Mu said and walked out of the tent.

After Xiao Mu left, General Li plunked himself down on the chair. He did not know what to do if Xiao Mu had not shown up in time.

His punishment could only work for a short while, and the truth could not be hidden for too long.

Then General Li looked after Xiao Mu and nodded to him to show his appreciation. Certainly, none of the men of Marquis Shuo was incompetent.

At this time, Officer Guo walked in and saw that General Li was looking at Xiao Mu. Then he said with his hands arching, "General, the punishments for those people making trouble in front of the kitchen have finished."

"Good. Go and investigate who said out the matter of grain shortage." General Li nodded and gave him an order.

Although he approved Xiao Mu's words, he thought it would be better to have an investigation which could also be a lesson for the soldiers.

It would no longer cause panic if Xiling used this trick again in the future.

Officer Guo nodded and said, "Yes, General. I'll investigate it right now."

After Officer Guo left, General Li stood up and sighed. He hoped that Shuo Ling could have some methods to deal with those freaks of Xiling.

Thinking of this, General Li walked out. He needed to tell General Cheng that things had calmed down to remove his worry.

General Li walked into General Cheng's tent.

General Cheng looked at him anxiously and asked, "How are things going? Did you suppress them?"

"Don't worry. Xiao Mu, Shuo Ling's subordinate, took grains back timely, which removed those soldiers' suspicions." General Li said frankly.

Hearing that, General Cheng put on a relaxed face. He nodded and said, "That's good. That's good."

General Li walked to the bed and said to General Cheng, "Now what you need to do is getting your body recovered. Before that, I'll handle all the things, and you do not need to worry."

General Cheng sighed and said, "Having said that, how could I be relieved as this was a big matter that disturbed the morale? Have you found out the person who said out this news?"

"I sent Officer Guo to investigate just now." General Li said.

General Cheng sat up in bed and continued to ask, "Then, do you think it was Xiling people who did this?"

"You feel the same way?" General Li asked General Cheng.

Hearing that, General Cheng frowned slightly and said, "Although we do not have enough grains now, we provide abundant food for the soldiers. Therefore, I think they could not come to question Old Guan and Old Ji without other people's insinuation. Do you think so?"

"If the investigation proves that it was done by Xiling people, it must be Emperor Xiling's purpose to dispatch troops to our border while our morale is unstable so as to wrong-foot us." General Li said to General Cheng.

Hearing that, General Cheng nodded and asked, "If so, what do you plan to do? Although we no longer need to worry the Xiling army too much as they are not as strong as our soldiers, what about those freaks? We need to make a careful plan."

"If this was truly caused by Xiling people, we could turn their trick to our use. We could set up ambushes in advance." General Li squinted and said.

Then General Cheng asked, "When will Shuo Ling arrive?"

"If calculating by walking, he will arrive in two days." General Li turned to General Cheng and said.

General Cheng nodded and said, "That's good. Shuo Ling is full of wicked ideas. Maybe he could find a way to deal with those freaks."

"Hope so!" General Li said, looking outside.

At this time, after parting with Mo Li, Shuo Ling ran to the Witchcraft Mountain.

After a two-day tour, he finally reached the Witchcraft City.

He directly climbed over the wall and got into Hou Shi's courtyard after entering the city.

At that time, Hou Shi was working on his new venomous worm.

Hearing some noises at the door, he moved his ears slightly and said, "Come in, Marquis Shuo."

"You deserve to be the king of witchcraft. Your ears are so sensitive that they could let you know who comes by hearing." Shuo Ling opened the door and came in.

Hou Shi put the jar of venomous worm aside and turned to Shuo Ling, "Marquis Shuo, you're also a Kungfu master as you could escape from the notice of my guards in the daytime."

"I'm flattered." Shuo Ling said with a smile.

Hou Shi walked up to Shuo Ling and said, "Marquis Shuo, I've heard that you had returned to Jing City. But now you traveled a long distance to the Witchcraft City to find me. What happened?"

"To be honest, I have a favor to ask you." Shuo Ling told him frankly.

Hearing that, Hou Shi frowned slightly and said to Shuo Ling, "Oh? I'd like to know what you are getting stuck with."

"Zhan You has used those witchcraft men in the war." Shuo Ling said to Hou Shi.

Hearing that, Hou Shi looked at Shuo Ling incredibly, "What? When did this happen? Why didn't I know that?"

Shuo Ling continued, "Several days ago, Zhan You arranged dozens of witchcraft men in their army, which made our army completely in disarray and wounded an important soldier of ours. That's why His Majesty dispatched me to the border."

Hearing that, Hou Shi looked away and muttered to himself, "That's impossible. Previously I fed a few powders to that king of seduce of the nightmare, which could make his appetite several times larger. It's impossible according to the number of the witchcraft men. Unless..."

Seeing that Hou Shi sighed, Shuo Ling asked him, "Unless what?"

Hou Shi turned to Shuo Ling, "Unless Zhan You did it at the cost of his life."

"What do you mean?" Shuo Ling frowned and asked.

Hou Shi sighed deeply again and said, "That is to say, now the king of seduce of the nightmare has a large appetite. To feed dozens of witchcraft men, Zhan You has to use a lot of blood every day. I originally planned to let him retreat, but it's beyond my expectation that he truly had no regard for his own life."

"That means Zhan You is quite weak now?" Shuo Ling said.

Hou Shi nodded to him.