Commander Guo cupped his hands and said, "General, look who's here!"

"General Li, it has been a long time since we met last time." Shuo Ling walked to the seat nearby and sat down while speaking.

Then he turned to Hou Shi, the king of witchcraft, and said, "Please have a seat, too."

Hearing Shuo Ling's voice, General Li suddenly raised his head and bypassed the table on which the map was placed. He walked to them with a smile and said, "My Lord, I just wondered when you would arrive. I didn't expect you could get here so fast."

When speaking, General Li looked at Hou Shi who sat next to Shuo Ling up and down. Seemed in his fifties, Hou Shi wore a piece of cloth gown and had a white beard. He looked shrewd.

Although General Li hadn't met the king of witchcraft before, he indeed had heard of some rumors about him. Judging from his appearance and smart dress style, General Li knew that he was definitely the king of witchcraft.

Then, General Li cupped his hands to Hou Shi and greeted him, "I assume you must be the king of witchcraft. I've heard a lot about you. It's really my great honor to meet you today."

"General Li, make yourself comfortable. You're far-famed in border areas. I've admired you for long," Hou Shi smiled and said.

Hearing that, General Li waved his hand and replied, "Alas, I am not worthy of such compliments."

Right at this time, a soldier ran into the tent with a letter of challenge in his hand. He knelt on one knee and reported, "General, a Xiling soldier came to our camp and sent us a letter of challenge."

General Li stepped forward quickly after hearing that. He took over the letter, opened it, and started to read.

After finishing reading, he folded it.

At the moment, Shuo Ling asked, "What's in it?"

"It says that Emperor Xiling would go out to battle with us in person two days later!" General Li answered and then threw the letter into the furnace nearby.

At once, the letter was on fire and the flame in the furnace flew up. Soon, the letter burned up while the flame died down.

Shuo Ling raised the corner of his mouth and sneered, "It seems that he's impatient now."

"In our last battle, the Xiling army launched a sneak attack at night, leaving us too surprised to defend. They even had some freaks of great strength who hurt General Cheng in the fight. He hasn't recovered yet!" General Li couldn't help becoming angry when speaking!

Hearing that General Li mentioned freaks, Hou Shi asked, "How many men with the nightmare worm have you seen?"

"What are the men with the nightmare worm?" General Li looked at Hou Shi with doubt and asked.

Hou Shi smiled and explained, "I mean those freaks you spoke of."

"I see. There were about 10 men with the nightmare worm. But it was so dark then that I didn't see them very clearly." General Li nodded and said.

Hearing that, Hou Shi frowned and sighed. There were about ten men with the nightmare worm! If Zhan You was able to manipulate ten men at one time, it meant that the king of venomous worm needed blood several times more than usual every day. But now, Emperor Xiling sent a letter of challenge just after dozens of days. How could Zhan You take this?

Although it was unforgivable for Zhan You to steal the banned book, he after all was his master's son and his childhood playmate and brother. Zhan You was merely blinded by hatred now. If he didn't stop Zhan You, Zhan You might die.

Thinking of that, Hou Shi couldn't help but start to worry.

Seeing his look, General Li asked quickly, "Master, what's wrong?"

"General Li, don't worry. Now that I'm here, I'll surely help you deal with those men with the nightmare worm. But, I'd like to ask you to do me a favor. I hope you won't refuse." Hou Shi was looking at General Li and sighed.

General Li was confused so he continued, "A favor? Master, please go ahead."

"Honestly speaking, the manipulator of the men with the nightmare worm is my junior fellow apprentice. Due to some misunderstandings, he stole a banned book and made these men with the nightmare worm," Hou Shi explained to General Li.

Hearing that, General Li knitted his brows and asked, "So, that's why your junior fellow apprentice turned to Xiling to help them conquer our country?"

"No, General. In fact, he aims to destroy the Witchcraft City, rather than Dongling. I assume he must have a deal with Emperor Xiling so that he helped Emperor Xiling attack border areas." Hou Shi said and his eyes were filled with a flash of sorrow.

General Li asked again, "So Master, you want me..."

"I hope you can spare his life when you catch him," Hou Shi closed his eyes and sighed.

General Li nodded and answered, "I will, such being the case. But Master, I hope you can promise that he won't do harm to Dongling anymore after you take him back."

"Of course!" Hou Shi answered.

At this time, Shuo Ling asked, "I heard that some scouts from Xiling had sneaked into our camp to shake the army's morale?"

"Yes." General Li nodded and replied.

Shuo Ling kept asking, "General, do you have any solutions?"

"My Lord, don't worry. I have issued an order to counterplot them. Besides, I've set traps nearby in case the Xiling army will launch a sneak attack again. But now, it seems that we don't need that anymore," General Li said when looking at the furnace where the letter of challenge burned up.

Shuo Ling squinted and continued, "Show me where you have placed traps."

While speaking, Shuo Ling stood up and walked to the table on which the map of border areas was placed.

General Li nodded and walked there, too. Pointing at areas near the camp, he said, "Here, and here. These are hard-to-access places. Once noticing any enemies, we will ask soldiers to throw rocks down. Look at this flat terrain where I've let soldiers set spear-filled traps. We will pull the rope in secret when their cavalries pass by, and then those spears will stab horses into their bellies."

"Leave those traps here for Emperor Xiling as a gift." Shuo Ling lifted the corner of his mouth after taking a look.

General Li understood him immediately.

Then, Shuo Ling asked, "How many soldiers have been injured or killed?"

"We were unprepared last time and those men with the nightmare worm also meddled in. So we lost more than half of soldiers!" General Li sighed.

At this time, Shuo Ling frowned and asked, "Now, how many soldiers do we have?"

"These days, slightly injured soldiers have already recovered. As for those having more severe injuries, they can also fight now after treatment. We have more than 20,000 soldiers!" General Li responded.

Shuo Ling nodded after hearing the number and said, "It's enough!"

"Master, do you know any good methods to deal with those men with the nightmare worm?" Shuo Ling turned to Hou Shi and asked.

Hou Shi smiled and answered, "I do have. Do you still remember that I had added something in the nightmare worm after we stole it?"

"Master, you indeed are worthy of the reputation. If so, we'll leave this problem to you," Shuo Ling nodded.

But General Li was shocked at Shuo Ling's words and asked quickly, "My Lord, I think we should arrange some guards for Master on the battle day. Those freaks are truly..."

Truly, he knew how powerful those men with the nightmare worm were. To be honest, he felt those men had no sense of pain when he fought with them that day. To deal with dozens of men with the nightmare worm alone, Hou Shi might not...

He was worried.

"General Li, everything has its vanquisher." Shuo Ling interrupted General Li.

General Li nodded but still looked worried.

Shuo Ling walked to him and asked, "How about General Cheng? Is he alright?"

"He's been rested for days and almost recovered," General Li answered.

Hou Shi frowned when hearing that. The wound of people injured by men with the nightmare worm would turn black and fester. It needed a special potion to cure. After General Li finished, Hou Shi asked, "How did you treat his wound?"

"His wound kept festering and didn't heal. Therefore, he asked me to cut off his blackened and festered flesh. Now, he's nearly recovered." General Li said with a smile. However, every time he recalled how he cut off General Cheng's flesh, he would get flustered.

Then, Hou Shi nodded and had more respect for General Cheng who he hadn't met. If not treated in time, the wound caused by those men with the nightmare worm would grow. Normal people couldn't take the pain of directly cutting off the festered flesh.

General Li continued, "My Lord, Master, you've traveled a long way. I have saved rooms for you before. So please go to have a rest first and let's discuss about how to deal with them later."

"Okay," Shuo Ling nodded and didn't refuse to take a break.

Soon, General Li led Shuo Ling and Hou Shi to those makeshift tents.

When Zheng Qiu and other people finished unloading potatoes, they were also led to tents next to Xiao Mu's.

They walked in and sat down. Zheng Qiu then asked, "What trouble did you meet on the way?"

"When we almost reached the camp, we came across some Xiling people." Zhao Po looked at Zheng Qiu and explained.

Zheng Qiu knitted his brows and asked, "Xiling people? Are they scouts?"

"Yes." Zhao Po nodded and answered.

Zheng Qiu asked again, "Then what happened?"

"One man stopped us and fought with Su Tong. They were neck and neck. But when Su Tong was about to defeat that man, a large group of people showed up." Zhao Po said.

Zheng Qiu asked quickly, "Then?"

"Those people wanted us to give them all potatoes. We, of course, refused. But they threatened us with villagers. For fear that they would kill villagers, we had no choice but to give them potatoes. They were rather clever. Knowing that they couldn't defeat us, they captured two villagers as captives and offered to set villagers free after they went far." Said Su Tong who filled a cup with water and had a sip.

Then, he added quickly, "Marquis Shuo caught up and asked us about the trouble when we didn't reconcile ourselves to the defeat. After that, he chased after those Xiling people. Within no more than 15 minutes, Marquis Shuo led them to send our carriages back."