"Are those two hostages injured?" Zheng Qiu asked again.

Zhao Po shook his head and answered, "No, Xiling people didn't hurt them."

Hearing that, Zheng Qiu felt relieved. If they had been injured, then how would he explain to Prefect Xu and villagers?

"What about those Xiling people?" Zheng Qiu kept asking.

"They're of course..." Su Tong raised his hand and put it near his neck to give Zheng Qiu a hint while speaking.

Zheng Qiu nodded.

Xiao Mu who stood next to him patted Zheng Qiu on his shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry. It was indeed dangerous. But thankfully, we lost nothing at last!"

"Mr. Xiao, do you know when the war between Xiling and Dongling will start?" Zheng Qiu looked at Xiao Mu and asked.

Xiao Mu sighed and continued, "About two days later."

"What are the chances that we win?" Zheng Qiu posed another question.

Xiao Mu replied with a smile, "With Marquis's help, we can make everything possible."

"I hope so. Or, villagers will be thrown into the abyss of suffering again," Zheng Qiu nodded and said.

Xiao Mu added, "That's true. It's always villagers who take the suffering. Well, let's skip this topic. When will you go back?"

"Maybe tomorrow. I want them to have a good rest tonight because they must be tired after traveling a long way," Zheng Qiu answered after thinking for a while.

At this moment, Xiao Mu stood up and said to others, "I think Marquis and generals may have finished their discussion. You can rest now and I'll go out to meet them."

"Okay," Other people nodded.

Then, Xiao Mu walked out.

When he left, Su Tong stretched and walked to the bed to lay down.

He couldn't remember when it was the last time for him to sleep on a bed anymore. But it really felt good.

At once, other people heard Su Tong's snore.

Zhao Po and Zheng Qiu looked at each other and both lifted the corner of their mouths.

Quickly, they two also walked to the bed and lay down without taking off their clothes. Soon, they fell asleep, too.

After leaving Suizhou, they lost no time to rush here. Through the whole journey, they had nearly no sleep.

Now, they finally had a chance to rest.

General Li led Shuo Ling and Hou Shi to tents he prepared for them beforehand. He said, "My Lord, Master, these tents are for you."

Then, General Li walked to Hou Shi and said, "Master, we're short of supplies here. Sorry to let you make do with this. If you need anything we have, we will surely..."

"Alas, General, we're close so please don't say that. You can just treat me like ordinary soldiers," Hou Shi waved his hand and answered.

Hearing that, General Li couldn't help but smile and he continued, "Um, if so, I won't hold you up here anymore. Please go back to have a rest and I will ask people to send you some hot water and food."

"Well, thank you so much," Hou Shi said with a smile.

Xiao Mu and Mo Li walked to Shuo Li and said, "My Lord."

Then they turned around and greeted the other two, "General Li. Master."

Shuo Li headed to the left tent first and Xiao Mu and Mo Li followed.

After they entered the tent, General Li smiled and said, "Master, please go to have a rest, too. I'll leave you alone."

"Alright," Hou Shi nodded and walked into the right tent.

On his way back, General Li was relieved. Their scouts reported that Xiling had dispatched 20,000 soldiers, about the same number of soldiers they had. Although their soldiers were demoralized for losing to Xiling last time, he was sure that Shuo Ling would help buck them up soon.

As for those men with the nightmare worm, the king of witchcraft would deal with them.

Thinking of that, General Li stopped. He had to tell General Cheng the good news first in case he couldn't stop worrying.

So, he said to Assistant Regional Commander Guo, "You, go to tell General Cheng that Marquis and Master have arrived in case he will worry about the battle."

"Yes, General," Assistant Regional Commander Guo cupped his hands and replied.

Assistant Regional Commander Guo was about to head to the tent where General Cheng lived.

But then General Li called him, "Wait."

"General, do you miss anything?" Assistant Regional Commander Guo asked.

General Li answered with a smile, "I just remember that I need you to do something else, so I'll go to tell General Cheng the news."

"Yes, General. What do you want me to do?" Assistant Regional Commander Guo nodded and asked again.

General Li asked, "How are those traps I asked you to set near our camp?"

"General, there is only one unset now," Assistant Regional Commander Guo replied.

General Li nodded and said quickly, "Hurry up. I need all traps to be ready tonight."

"But General, there is one thing I don't understand," Assistant Regional Commander Guo frowned after hearing that.

General Li looked at him, hintting that he could go ahead.

"Now that Xiling has sent us a letter of challenge, it means they won't play dirty tricks anymore. So do we still need to set traps?" Assistant Regional Commander Guo looked back at General Li and asked.

General Li nodded and explained, "Just set them. They will be a big help later."

"Yes, General," Assistant Regional Commander Guo responded and then walked away.

After he left, General Li headed to where General Cheng lived.

As expected, General Cheng struggled to sit up after hearing that Xiling sent them a letter of challenge. The wound on his chest was scabbing now. It was so painful when he moved that he frowned.

Right at this time, General Li walked in and rushed to him after seeing General Cheng struggled to sit up. "General Cheng, what are you doing? Lie down."

"I'm fine. I've almost recovered," General Cheng smiled and said.

General Li helped General Cheng to lie down and talked back, "How could it be? It's important for you to heal your wound now. But if you move to make it worsen again, it won't be easy to heal then."

"I heard that Xiling sent a letter of challenge. When will we start the battle?" General Cheng asked worriedly right after he lay down.

General Li answered, "Two days later."

"Two days. Alas, we're destined to have this fight. I'll be almost recovered at that time and I can go back to the battlefield to fight," Hearing that, General Cheng knitted his brows and sighed.

But General Li said with a smile, "I know you will worry about this so I come here to tell you the good news."

"What?" General Cheng asked with doubt seeing that General Li didn't look worried at all and he even wore a smile.

Then General Li explained, "Don't worry. You just need to rest well to recover. Shuo Ling arrived here today."

"Marquis Shuo?" General Cheng looked at General Li and asked.

General Li nodded.

But the smile on General Cheng's face faded quickly and he said worryingly, "Although Marquis Shuo is a skilled martial artist, those freaks are rather difficult to deal with. You have seen them, too. They are strong and impenetrable, just like monsters. If they had no nose or waist, I would think they really were monsters."

"I figure out what they are. They are men with the nightmare worm made through the witchcraft. They have no thoughts and are manipulated by someone behind," General Li said to General Cheng.

General Cheng who seemed not to have fully understood nodded. He asked with doubt, "Men with the nightmare worm?"

"Yes. Near the border is the Witchcraft City where most residents know how to practice witchcraft," General Li explained.

However, the knits on General Cheng's brows didn't disappear and he asked again, "The Witchcraft City is part of Dongling. Does this mean someone there has colluded with Xiling to attack us?"

"It's a long story but you don't have to worry. Shuo Ling has invited the king of witchcraft in the Witchcraft City to come here and help us defeat those men with the nightmare worm. When those men are killed, it'll be much easier for us to win," General Li continued.

Hearing that, General Cheng nodded and asked, "Do you know how many soldiers Xiling has?"

"About 20,000 according to our scouts," General Li answered.

Then General Cheng felt relieved. So Xiling had roughly as many soldiers as they did. Now, the king of witchcraft could help deal with those men with the nightmare worm while Marquis Shuo would join them on the battlefield. He was quite sure that they could win this time.

General Li said to General Cheng again, "So don't worry. You just rest here. When you've recovered, you can fight together with us on the battlefield then. And I still have much work to do. See you."

"Alright," General Cheng nodded.

Then, General Li walked out of the military camp.

In Xiling in the meantime

After dealing with Shuo Ling, Sun Shang and Shangguan San rode fast back to Xiling.

It was dark now.

In the room of Guo Hu, an imperial guard

"Your Excellency," Sun Shang and Shangguan San who walked into the room cupped their hands and said.

Guo Hu opened his eyes and took a look at them two. Then he stared at Shangguan San and asked, "You're injured. What's wrong?"

"We got into trouble on our way back," Shangguan San who took a glance at Sun Shang looked up at Guo Hu and answered.

Then Guo Hu sat upright and leaned forward. He frowned and asked, "What trouble?"

"Your Excellency, we were about to come back after receiving your message. But right at this time, we came across a group of suspicious people who claimed to be a trade caravan. Then, we followed them to have a check and we found all their carriages were loaded with food," Shangguan San looked at Guo Hu again while answering.

Hearing it, Guo Hu squinted and kept asking, "Then?"

"I kept following them while Sun Shang went back to call helpers. Later, I traced them to the crossroad between Xiling and Dongling's border military camp. Therefore, I knew I was right about my assumption. Those people just pretended to be tradesmen so that they could send food to border soldiers. Afterward, I stopped them to hold off time for Sun Shang and helpers," Shangguan San explained.

Guo Hu sneered and asked with doubt, "Intercepting them alone, you are just slightly injured?"

Guo Hu looked doubtful. If Dongling wanted to send food to border soldiers, it made sense that they would disguise themselves as tradesmen. And Guo Hu was sure there would be skilled martial artists among those "tradesmen". However, Shangguan San merely hurt his arm. If Shangguan San really met with disguised supply deliverymen, how could he survive?