Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

The bandit leader glanced at her, then at the burning mountain stronghold, gritted his teeth, and picked up the knife beside him.

"Listen to my order, stop fighting the fire! We're out of water, and this village is beyond saving anyway. The most important thing now is to capture those damned people. From now on, our stronghold will be converted into a village. Anyway, those houses are already built. We can just move in. Also, bring those people back to me. I want to tear their tendons out and skin them alive!"

"They're injured, old, and young, they definitely can't run fast. Everyone, put in more effort and follow their footprints. Once you find them, kill them all and carry them back to the village. If you don't want to go hungry, then keep going, understand?"

"I understand, I understand, I understand!"

"Alright, let's hurry and follow the footprints. They can't have gone far. Let's go!"

At the bandit leader's command, the henchmen, each wielding a knife and looking fierce, chased after the footprints.

Ji Yunshu was fast. When she returned to the group, everyone was still hurrying along. Xie Moyao was the first to notice her return.

He turned his head and glanced in the direction of the village, where the sky was ablaze with firelight, and he guessed what was going on.

"How's it going? Did you find the person? You burned the village down?"

"Yes, the people in that village do all sorts of heinous things. I burned some of the bandits to death, but there are still many who survived. They've probably caught up with us by now."

Xie Moyao didn't ask, and she didn't even remember that Aunt Wu was still in her space at this moment.

She needs to find a way to get him out quickly.

"Charge! Stop! Stop!"

"Stop right there, all of you! Stop right there!!"

Before Xie Moyao could ask any more questions, the deafening shouts of fighting and killing came from behind them. From their direction, they could vaguely see the bandits desperately chasing after them.

Traveling at midnight, these ordinary people and some sick people were already at a disadvantage. The bandits were all strong and healthy, and they were used to traveling in these mountains all year round, so they naturally ran faster than them.

The group was also frightened, and they quickly sped up their pace, but no matter how fast they ran, their speed was still worlds apart from that of the bandits.

Before long, the bandits were not far away from them.

Many bandits took a shortcut and ran ahead of them, blocking their way. The bandits behind them caught up and surrounded them, creating a chaotic scene. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ji Yunshu quickly used her mind to bring Aunt Wu out of the space.

She helped him up.

"Waaaaah... What do I do? What do I do? How did they get here so fast? How did they catch up with me so quickly? Waaaaah, I'm doomed."

"We're doomed this time, doomed!"

People in the crowd were sobbing. They had finally managed to run back, only to be caught up by the bandits in no time. Now, they had no chance of survival.

"Heh heh, you dare run? You've got some nerve! I caught you and locked you up, and you still managed to escape! Not only did you escape, but you also burned down my village. You deserve to die a thousand deaths! I'll tear you to pieces!"

The bandit leader was furious; his mind was filled with images of the burned-down village.

His temper flared up rapidly.

Ji Yunshu supported Aunt Wu, her expression calm, while in her heart she cursed the eldest prince's ancestors for eighteen generations.

Oh shit.

That idiot prince, she drew the route map for him so clearly, why hasn't he come yet?

This is too long-winded. According to her plan, this road is not very long. The First Prince and his party should have arrived long ago on horseback. Now they have been caught up by bandits, and the First Prince has not even come looking for them. How can the First Prince be so useless?

No wonder the emperor didn't like him much; his efficiency was just too poor!

At this moment, the eldest prince was leading his men, running around aimlessly in the forest, as the roads were difficult to traverse at night.

Suddenly, he sneezed. His nose was itchy, and the itch made him uncomfortable. He sneezed several times in a row.

He cursed under his breath, feeling for some reason that someone was cursing him.

Just as he was getting impatient, a guard hurriedly rode over on horseback.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, there's movement ahead! It seems someone escaped from that bandit stronghold, but was stopped by the bandits again. Should we intervene?"

The eldest prince glared at him.

"Idiot, do you even need to ask? Hurry up and lead the men to surround them! I've been searching the woods in the middle of the night for bandits, haven't I? They've all left their hideout, so they definitely don't have many men with them. With so many of us here, let's outflank them from the outside and catch them off guard!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wu quickly led several men to surround the place the guard had mentioned from all sides.

Here

The bandit leader was blinded by rage and paid little attention to his surroundings. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Kill all of them! Let's vent our anger!"

"Wait a minute," Ji Yunshu interrupted.

The eldest prince, that bastard, hasn't arrived yet, so she can only try to stall for time.

"What happened today was all my idea. If you're angry, just take it out on me and leave the others alone."

Oh

No!

What kind of damn heroism is this? This isn't what she's thinking. She has no intention of being a hero.

She just wanted to take this opportunity to see if she could provoke the bandit leader even more, preferably to the point of enraging him and making him want to kill her with his own hands, so that she could wait for the bandit leader to get close and then subdue him silently.

It is said that to catch a thief, you must first catch the king.

In this way, she could capture the bandit leader without revealing her own skills, achieving the best of both worlds.

Sure enough, as soon as she uttered these righteous words, the bandit leader became even angrier and started cursing at her.

"It's you again, you little wench! When I brought you back to the village, I sensed something was off about you. And sure enough, it was you! You have the nerve to admit it? I'll kill you!"

The bandit leader dismounted, brandishing his broadsword, and walked towards Ji Yunshu. Everyone held their breath, fearing that the bandit leader might get angry and actually cut Ji Yunshu in two, splattering blood on the spot.

As the bandit leader drew closer, Ji Yunshu put Wu Da Niang aside, took out several silver needles from her sleeve, and waited for the bandit leader to get close before using the silver needles to pierce his eyes.

This step is a bit risky; if the bandit leader gets into trouble, the other bandits might be angered.

Xie Moyao, carried on Xie Lin's back, stood beside her. Listening to the sounds around them, he whispered to Ji Yunshu,

"There are people coming from around here, and quite a few of them, and they're quite skilled. If I'm not mistaken, they should be the reinforcements you mentioned."

Ji Yunshu breathed a sigh of relief and threw the silver needles in her hand back into her spatial storage.