The celebration continued well into the night , and by the time everyone went to sleep , it was almost sunrise.
But Yang Changtian and Liu Ying , who happen to be early birds who went to sleep earlier , woke up early the next morning.
Yang Changtian just stepped outside when he spotted Liu Ying roaming around camp. Yang Changtian was disappointed to see that she had reverted back to her usual style .
Liu Ying spotted him , and greeted him briefly before walking off.
Yang Changtian didn't have anything else to do , so he decided to follow her.
Liu Ying walked outside the camp with Yang Changtian trailing behind her.
Suddenly Liu Ying stopped , " Mr. Yang, if you want to come along, stop following me and walk with me , " she said, not even bothering to turn around.
Yang Changtian quickly walked over and stood next to her, " So , where are we going ? " .
" We're going to get some lime stones, " Liu Ying answered while walking off again.
" Lime stone ? For what ?", Yang Changtian asked confused.
" Don't tell me you already forgot Mr. Yang , when we add the humic acid to the water , it'll become acidic ,and we need an alkali to neutralize it , and the most abundantly available alkali over here is lime stone."
Yang Changtian let out a small ' ahhh' while nodding.
The two of them soon arrived at a small cave , Liu entered the cave first , asking Yang Changtian to enter next , the cave was quite low so the both of them had to crouch to get through , but after a while the cave opened up into a larger cavern . Liu Ying looked around and walked over to a wall and touched it , breaking a piece off , then she applied pressure to it, crushing it . She checked the powder again and nodded , " It's lime stone."
Yang Changtian also walked over and together they broke of a considerable chunk off the deposit.
" Allow me to carry it back Ms. Liu ? " Yang Changtian said taking the chunk from Liu Ying , it was relatively heavy , but this was nothing for Yang Changtian.
Liu Ying walked in front leading Yang Changtian out of the cave as his sight was now blocked by the huge rock.
They slowly made their way outside , Liu Ying continued to direct Yang Changtian all the way back to camp. Yang Changtian's arms began to ache , noticing this, Liu Ying offered to take over for a while but Yang Changtian refused.
By the time they got back to camp , many people were awake. Da Xiong spotted them and hurried over.
" Let me help Mr. Yang , " he said grabbing the rock from Yang Changtian.
" Take it over to the pit , " Liu Ying instructed him. " After you're done , ask Jin Wei and the others to gather under the large tree near the river."
Da Xiong nodded and hurried off.
Yang Changtian turned to Liu Ying confused , " Why did you ask them to gather ? " .
" We need to discuss the division of tasks, I need some people to help me with the peat solution and a few more to gather the lime stone. Mr. Yang I was hoping you could lend me some men to make it faster."
Yang Changtian nodded , " I'll ask Zilong , Anying and Song Lian to lend a hand. "
Liu Ying thanked him , " That reminds me , I already asked Song Lian to help with retrieving the bone charms from Shaman Hu's hut. I have to go now Mr. Yang. Thank you for your help again."
Liu Ying bid Yang Changtian before hurrying off towards her tent. When she got closer , she spotted Song Lian and Kong waiting for her outside the tent.
" Mr. Song ! I do apologise , I went out to gather limestone in the morning forgetting all about our appointment. "
" Oh no Ms. Liu , please don't apologize for something so minor. "
" Please come in Mr. Song , I have to give you something. "
Song Lian and Kong followed Liu Ying inside . Liu Ying walked over and grabbed a small box.
" Mr. Song, I can't guarantee that there won't be any Crazies lurking around there , especially considering that those charms attract them. Here's some sedatives. I already asked Jin Wei to prepare some crossbows and arrows for you."
Song Lian thanked Liu Ying and accepted the box , " I'll grab the cross bows and set out then Ms. Liu."
Liu Ying nodded , " Thank you for this again Mr. Song."
After Song Lian and Kong left , Liu Ying made her way over to the river bank , she saw Jin Wei and Da Xiong along with Zhou Zilong and Zhang Anying waiting for her.
" I'm sorry for making you gentlemen wait, " she began, " Mr. Zhou and Mr. Zhang , I'm assuming Mr. Yang already filled you in ? " .
Zhang Anying and Zhou Zilong nodded.
" Wonderful , we have a massive task to undertake . I'll be dividing you into two teams; one will be in charge of gathering the peat and extracting the humic acid from it , while the other team will come with me to gather limestone from the nearby cave. "
" Jin Wei , you'll be in charge of the humic acid extraction , Mr. Zhou and Mr. Zhang will help you. Da Xiong , you're with me ."
Jin Wei and Da Xiong both nodded and rushed off to gather people, while Zhou Zilong and Zhang Anying went back to get ready.
In the meantime , Liu Ying walked over to the kitchen and grabbed some egg shells , then she moved to the water pit they used to kill the Crazy. She threw some of the egg shells into the water pit , and once they hit the water the egg shells began to disintegrate.
Da Xiong had placed the large chunk of limestone close by. Liu Ying grabbed a small dagger and pried a fist sized chunk of lime stone off the larger stone.
She used another rock to crush the limestone into smaller chunks , then she threw it into the water . The water instantly began to bubble and it became cloudy .
While she waited , Da Xiong came looking for her. " Senior , Jin Wei already departed with Tao Su , when do you head out ? " .
" I need to be one hundred percent sure this works , so we'll wait till I'm sure."
After a few minutes the bubbling stopped and Liu Ying could see some white particles separating from the water and settling down , giving it a few more minutes , she grabbed the remaining eggshells and threw them into the pit.
After making sure the eggshell didn't dissolve , she stood up , " It works , let's go get the limestone Da Xiong."
While they were busy at work , Yang Changtian was with Lv Ling and Li Cheng.
Lv Ling made a small fire in the middle of the shed they emptied except for the 4 prisoners , she asked Yang Changtian and Li Cheng to go out for a while , after she covered face using a mask to ensure she didn't inhale any smoke.
She grabbed a small brown package and threw it into the fire , which immediately began to spit out thick smoke.
Lv Ling quickly exited the shed and closed the door behind her.
" Let's give it like 5 minutes , to make sure they inhale the smoke completely."
Yang Changtian and Li Cheng nodded .
After sometime Lv Ling quickly walked over and opened the door , to ensure that whatever smoke was left cleared out completely. But thankfully there wasn't much smoke left .
After the shed cleared out completely , Li Cheng and Yang Changtian followed her inside.
The four women looked somewhat sleepy , and one was even smiling slightly.
Lv Ling approached the smiling one and pulled her makeshift pendulum out.
Repeating her hypnosis routine , she was delighted to see that it worked this time . Lv Ling turned and nodded at Yang Changtian who immediately exchanged looks with Li Cheng before stepping forward.
" Tell me , who ordered you to do this ? " he demanded.
" Shaman Hu and Sister Mu asked us to do this."
" Why did they ask you to do this ? ".
" They knew about our past ."
" Your past ? What about it."
" We are fugitives from the capital , where we're wanted for killing a man. We came here to restart our lives but they found out and threatened us."
The questioning continued smoothly and the other two also gave them similar answers. So Lv Ling finally moved on to Sister Mu.
Sister Mu showed some resistance initially , but Lv Ling managed to get through to her too.
" Speak , who ordered you to do this ? " Yang Changtian's voice was low and dangerous.
" Sister Hu called me over and we met up with this masked man called Yinyi. He ordered us to pollute the water source with the fungi."
" Where did you find the fungi ? ".
" It's from Shaman Hu , she has a special skill where she can cultivate the fungi inside her body without any sideffects to her being."
" What else do you know about this Yinyi ? " .
Sister Mu shook her head hard , likely trying to regain control . but Lv Ling's hypnosis proved to be strong as she was unsuccessful in her attempt.
" I don't know , he wore a silver tiger mask. And spotted something like a token hanging from his robe."
Yang Changtian's eyes dilated , " What token ?! " .
Li Cheng walked over and grabbed his hand, trying to calm him down.
" I didn't see clearly , but it looked like a tiger," Sister Mu answered and Li Cheng had to hold Yang Changtian back.
" What else do you know ? " Li Cheng asked this time , still trying to calm Yang Changtian down.
" They wanted us to wipe off the whole village and then erase our traces before escaping , but unexpectedly those bastards from the army arrived and they managed to save a considerable chunk of people. So the man came back and ordered us to kill everyone at the hideout. When the Elder told Song Lian and the others to go raid your camp , I thought it was the perfect time to get rid of those pests so I had Shaman Hu give them the Crazy- attracting charms , but they managed to escape unharmed. The Elder then discovered our secret and when she confronted us , Shaman Hu decapitated her." Sister Mu chuckled , sending shivers down everyone's spines. " When you took Shaman Hu away , I wanted to wipe all of you out and get her free , but by some dumb stroke of luck , you were okay and you managed to save everyone, " she explained, still chuckling.
Yang Changtian was enraged , he just wanted to strangle this woman and that crazy shaman to death , but he couldn't do that.
Yang Changtian shot one final glare at the dastardly woman before heading out. " Li Cheng , continue questioning that woman, if I stay in there for even a while longer I might kill her."
Li Cheng nodded back , turning around to resume the questioning.
Yang Changtian walked out and inhaled deeply. He then walked over to see if Liu Ying was there, he found himself seeking out her company whenever he felt angry or conflicted.
But he was disappointed to see that she wasn't around , he asked one disciple where she was and the disciple told him that she went out with Da Xiong to go gather some limestone.
Yang Changtian could only return back to the shed, when he arrived he found Li Cheng and Lv Ling stepping outside with disappointed looks on their faces.
" What's wrong ? " he asked them .
Lv Ling shook her head .
" She managed to break through the hypnosis , it looks like the effects of the medicine dispersed . She tried to swallow her tongue , but Lv Ling managed to knock her out before she did that, " Li Cheng explained grimly.
" Did you get any more information ? ".
Li Cheng shook his head, " She keeps repeating the same thing."
Yang Changtian sighed and nodded , " Let's try again one more time when she wakes up , and if she doesn't say anything else , we can try it with that crazy shaman, Dr. Lv , I'm assuming that is possible ? ".
Lv Ling nodded , " I just need to adjust some of the ratios because of her half fungi half human status , but it is possible."
" Would it be possible to hypnotize her today itself ?".
Lv Ling nodded , " It'll take like an hour for me to get the medicine ready."
Yang Changtian nodded. "Okay, then let's regroup here in about two hours. Li Cheng, have Mo Ling keep an eye on that woman; she might try to commit suicide again. We need her alive for the trial."
Li Cheng and Lv Ling nodded and they dispersed , each heading to finish their new tasks.
Meanwhile , Liu Ying led Da Xiong and some of their juniors over to the limestone cave. Almost immediately they began to break chunks off the limestone deposit and a few of them carried the chunks outside and loaded it into the cart they brought along.
After a while Da Xiong walked over to Liu Ying , " Senior , how much limestone will we need ? ".
" Actually I need your help to determine that , how big was the underground lake ? " she asked.
" It was almost as big as the Cheng lake back at the capital, " Da Xiong replied.
Liu Ying got quiet , she was making some mental calculations , but she had to go see for herself to determine how big it actually is.
" Da Xiong , take as much as you can back to the camp , from what you told me , we'll need at least 30 carts of lime stone , but I need to see the lake to determine the exact amount, " Liu Ying replied while turning to walk over to her horse.
Da Xiong nodded , " Wait Senior , where are you going ? " he asked worriedly.
" No where in particular , I'll be back soon, " Liu Ying yelled back as she mounted her horse , galloping off towards somewhere.
Da Xiong watched her disappear before heading inside to continue harvesting lime stone.
Liu Ying galloped all the way to the cave the underground lake was in , she tied her horse up under a tree and slowly entered the cave she pulled out her swords , using them as torches to illuminate the dark cave . She descended the first slope with ease , but the second slope had gotten more slippery so she had to be extra careful to not slip and fall. But heaven had its own plan as she missed a step and slipped down , catapulting down , but thanks to her amazing reflexes she managed to do a tumble mid air , landing on her feet at the bottom of the cave.
She brushed the dust off her robe, walking forward towards the opening. The lake was deserted . But Liu Ying noticed the Crazies inside the water , they seemed to be in this meditative trance, but she did not want any unnecessary problems.
Just in case she used her spiritual energy to cast a barrier around her , then she pricked her thumb using her dagger and drew a cross on her forehead using it , next she pulled out an empty talisman paper and used the remaining blood to draw up a masking spell , hiding her spiritual energy away.
The barrier around her still glowed blue , her spiritual colour , but no one was here to see this, so she was not worried.
Liu Ying quickly observed the lake from various angles , she didn't miss the small caves on the sides of the wall either and after a while , she had enough data to calculate the amount of limestone and peat needed.
Just when she turned to leave , she spotted something shining from the corner of her eye. When she turned to look , she spotted a Crazy looking at her from inside the lake , but what caught her eye was the token on its waist. She grabbed a sedative needle from her waist bag and walked over to the Crazy , with one swift move she grabbed the Crazy by its hair and dragged it out of the water , before the Crazy could fight back , she pricked the needle into its neck , making sure it was completely embedded into the neck. The Crazy twitched and went still , and Liu Ying reached out to grab the token hanging on its waist , taking a closer look , Liu Ying smirked. She broke the token off from the Crazy's belt and placed it inside her wait bag.
She threw the Crazy onto the ground and when she was about to walk back , something told her to walk around a bit before heading back. When she entered the cave that housed the natural spring that fed the lake , she spotted a quite familiar looking Crazy lurking under the water , she grabbed another needle and repeated her previous actions , stabbing the needle deep into the Crazy's neck , When the Crazy stilled she took a closer look. Yes this face looked extremely familiar but she couldn't place where she had seen him before . This was strange considering that the Crazies here should be all people from the village ; people she had never seen before. She decided to take the head back ,so she used her sword to behead the Crazy , carrying the head back with her. The Crazy emitted a pungent smell , so she had to get out immediately.
Within record time she climbed the two slopes and exited the cave. She spotted a tree with large leaves nearby so she grabbed some and made a makeshift bag to carry the head back.
Liu Ying redirected her horse back towards camp , on the way she stopped by Jin Wei's working place.
They were busy working hard , even the normally passive Zhou Zilong was carrying peat over to the carts.
Jin Wei spotted Liu Ying trotting towards them , stopped a few meters away from them , " Senior ! Why are you here ? ".
" Jin Wei , I need to borrow you for a minute , it's urgent, " she yelled over , there was something in her voice that made Jin Wei immediately agree..
" Brother Zhou , can you take over for a while ? Senior wants to speak with me , " Jin Wei turned and yelled to Zhou Zilong who nodded in agreement.
Jin Wei walked closer and he smelled something foul on Liu Ying. This foul smell was somewhat familiar and Jin Wei felt a pit forming in his stomach.
" What did you do this time Senior ? " he asked after gulping the bile in his throat.
" I went to the underground to see the lake for myself, since I needed to figure out the exact amount of humic acid and lime stone we needed , but that's not important- " Liu Ying began but she was cut off by Jin Wei's shriek.
" You …. WHAT ?!?! " he shrieked.
This made the others drop everything and turn to look at them , Jin Wei waved at them all , before lowering his voice, " Who did you go with ? Why didn't you tell me ?".
" I went alone , it would be another if you came along . But that's not important . While I was in there I found this , " Liu Ying pulled the token she found out and threw it over to Jin Wei.
Jin Wei observed it closely and he felt his blood draining , " This is.... ".
Liu Ying nodded, " His Majesty was right , they are planning something, otherwise how could this token end up here."
Jin Wei gripped the token that depicted the wings of a hawk flying , " This is only given to his most trusted subordinates too . What will we do now, Senior ? ".
" That's easy , we hand this over to His Majesty , after all it was our job to find out if the prime minister was involved with this issue. Till then , don't tell a soul , and make sure Da Xiong don't tell it to anyone either , you never saw it , and it doesn't exist. Ah , I also need to verify the identity of this Crazy that attacked me while I was scouting the surrounding area."
Jin Wei nodded , but then he froze . He looked up at Liu Ying flabbergasted ,hoping what she just said was not true , but seeing her expression he sighed deeply.
" Where is it ? " he finally said , sounding defeated.
Liu Ying twisted and grabbed the makeshift leaf bag, handing it to Jin Wei , " The heads in there."
Jin Wei pulled some gloves out from his waist bag , when he saw Liu Ying looking at him with her eyebrow raised , " Senior , I know how you are , so I carry gloves around now."
He carefully opened the bag and a very pungent immediately filled the air , he gagged a few times being unable to take it , he quickly held his breath and took the head out , turning it around to get a good look.
When he saw the face , he almost dropped the head to the ground , but thankfully Liu Ying was quick enough to grab it before it hit the ground.
" I knew it , he is someone we know, " she stated matter-of-factly , stuffing the head back into the bag.
" That's….. That's….. That's…. General Lim, " Jin Wei breathed out shakingly.
Liu Ying's pupils contracted and she inhaled sharply , " So that's what they wanted, " she sneered.
" Senior ,we have to tell Mr. Yang about this ."
Liu Ying nodded , " I agree , don't tell him about the token though. That's not his business and we will only put him in danger ."
Jin Wei sighed and nodded.
" Jin Wei , don't panic , just go and resume your work , I'll go and inform Yang Changtian."
Liu Ying grabbed the bag and quickly mounted her horse , galloping as fast as she could towards the camp.
Yang Changtian was just walking around when he heard loud thumps , when he looked around he spotted Liu Ying riding her horse into camp , ' That's strange. Why is she in a hurry ?, ' he thought to himself.
Liu Ying spotted him and quickly rode over , she pulled on the horse to stop in and dismounted in one swift leaping motion , she grabbed a bag by her left hand and she walked over to Yang Changtian grabbing him by her right hand.
" Ms. Liu , what in the world happened ? " he asked, trying to keep up with Liu Ying's speed.
Liu Ying dragged him all the way to her tent and handed him the bag , her expression was tense and angry.
Yang Changtian , felt a pit forming in his stomach. The stench coming from the bag already gave him an idea about what was inside , but nothing prepared him for what he was about to see next.