Yutao and Xukai grabbed their horses and climbed on it.
They took off for the General's house. The General House lies right up ahead very close to the marketplace of Shanjin.
Upon arriving the place, Yutao and Xukai immediately came down from their horses and marched on to the General's gate.
The General Mansion in Shanjin was heavily guarded with his army. Just as they stood before the General's gate which was made of thick hardwood of fine quality, the two guards immediately stood before them, stands on their way and questioned up sceptically, "Show me your amulet!".
Yutao smirked at their behaviour, took out his Amulet and show it to them. The guards gasped upon seeing it. They immediately bow down their heads and apologised, "We are so sorry Master Yutao please go ahead!".
Yutao raised his eyebrows at their conduct and snickered in satisfaction. The two of them then rushed inside the General's Mansion.
Once they enter the Mansion, they saw the General making plans and strategies with his trusted henchmen, the General reacted quickly upon seeing Yutao and Xukai. He quickly walked up to them and greeted, "Master Yutao, you came and Xukai from the Martial Arts Academy as well. I warmly welcome you two. Please head inside"
Yutao nodded his head at it and makes his statement, "So.... what about the Eagle bandit?! Did they confess anything??!"
The General made a big sighed on it and replied in disappointment, "This....please come inside and take a look"
Yutao and Xukai confused upon his reaction, headed inside.
The three of them went inside the General's dungeon. There, they saw all the members of the Eagle bandit lying dead, lifeless.
Yutao and Xukai was left shooked upon seeing them in that state. They rushed to them and checked on them one by one. Yutao then inquired in curiousness, "What happened?! Is this suicide?!"
The General shooked his head and replied, "Yes, this Eagle bandit is so sneaky. Before we could even start our interrogation, they immediately bit their tongue and committed suicide. Some of them even ate poison before we capture them and died on the spot"
Upon hearing the General's words, Xukai commented troubledly, "I heard their rules are strict. If they are in danger of exposing themselves or are capture then they should commit suicide at that instant. These bandit didn't let any outsiders have the intel of them! I even heard that while joining the Eagle bandit, they make all their members accept a blood oath"
Yutao reacted by nodding his head, "Hmm...this Eagle bandit is quite a thing"
He then turned to the General and questioned him, "Then what about their Crime Lord?! My secret intel includes that their Crime Lord will be in the Auction House as well?!"
The General replied to it looking concerned, "The Crime Lord has escaped, it seems that he hid himself amongst the crowd. Some of his men even disguise themselves as the audience, therefore, they manage to escape quickly. The ones that captured and died are their sacrificial pawn"
Yutao couldn't believe his eyes that he sighs in disbelief, "Tch! They sure are tricky. Quite an escape plan!"
He further questioned, "Then what about the lead?! Is there any lead left?!"
The General responded to it, "No. Since all the members have died we couldn't get any leads!"
Hearing his words Yutao and Xukai became discontented since their visit to the General's House became futile they returned from there. Both of them greeted their farewell to the general and took their horses trotting slowly towards the marketplace and enter an inn there.
They took the corner most seat and ordered their favourite delicacies.
After that they started to discuss.
Yutao spoke up straightforwardly, "Xukai, I have something to tell you"
Startled upon his sudden expression, Xukai replied in shocked, "Yutao ge, say it. Is there anything I can help you with?!"
Yutao solemnly replied, "It's about your meimei. Your sister, she.... took in the Blue coral elixir. She found it there in the Auction House and the fight at the Auction House, it was all because of the elixir!"
Xukai proclaimed alarmed, "Blue Coral elixir?! That's a very rare elixir! Why did the sly Eagle Bandit put it on Auction?! They won't give it up that easily unless..... they have an evil intent?!"
Yutao responded troubledly, "That's what I am worried about. They wouldn't let anyone have the elixir that easily! Even it's for the Auction I am assuming that they are planning to take the highest amount and then attempt to kill the bidder right after taking the money. Since their plan is ruin they won't sit still. I am presuming they will come after your little sister. Or for the worst case, they might have already have her"
Xukai nonchalantly reacted to it, "No, they didn't get their hands on my little sister yet!"
Yutao sighed in disbelief and inquired, "How are you so sure about it?!"
Xukai replied to it cockily, "Ahh that...! Meimei must be in so hurry that she leaves this outside the Physician House. I found it early this morning. There were footprints of the horse just nearby it. I am assuming she took off using the horse sneakily without anyone knowing"
He then took out the amulet which was beautifully crafted in wood and continued, "This is our family heirloom. Our father has gifted a unique amulet to each one of us and because our meimei is our family little treasure and adore by us, her amulet was crafted like a lotus flower. Father hopes that like the lotus flower, our meimei would live life with unwavering faith and reblooms radiantly even after going through all the life's greatest challenges and trails ensuring the most beautiful revival"
Yutao was left at peace as he attends to Xukai's words. He nods his head and listened to his whole story. The two of them continued to tell each other stories and ate their lunch over there.
On the other side of the story.....
The bright sun rays falls on Xialin's face making her to wake up. Her eyes slowly open up and her hand were slightly covering up the bright light.
As she rode the horse for the whole night making it cover almost half of the dark forest, she felt so tired that she fell asleep from early dawn.
When she wakes up, she found herself laying on the thick branches of a pine trees which were entangling closely together. Xialin was left shooked knowing it. She immediately raised her body and turned around in wonder, "Where in the world I am? Why am I seeing only the top of the pine trees as if I am in heaven?! Why there are trees everywhere?!"
Unable to figure out where the hell is she now, she immediately got up and take a look around. As she gazed down from the top of the tree, her head went dizzy and nervous. The deep tall height makes her to feel shaky. She immediately got back and exclaimed troubledly, "Goodness Heaven! Why I am on the top of the tree?! When did I climb up here?! And when did I learn to climb?!?"
Xialin's mind went berserk unable to figure out what makes her to climb up on the top of the tree. She immediately sat on the branches and started to gather her thoughts, "Okay...Let's think back what exactly happened!"
She closed her eyes and tried to remember what happened back then. As Xialin closed her eyes and rewinds backwards of her memory, she remembered she was riding in the woods, all alone.... As she continued to rode her horse, she saw a pack of wolves ahead. They all were staring at her with their eyes glowing up in the dark. The wolves instantly attacked her, therefore, she made her horse to escape from the wolves and she fights them off one by one.
Just as she thought that it was over with fighting off the pack, another pack rushed in and it was double the number she fight before.
Not wanting to waste any more of her energy she looked around and found the two pine trees with their branches intertwined to each other, making a perfect place to take a rest. She smirked at it and immediately climbed to the top of the tree. She took her rest there and fall asleep at that place. The wolf pack unable to wait anymore, immediately left the place.
As she recalled it all, Xialin slowly opened up her eyes and murmured to herself, "So, that's what happen last night. Between did I gain a new superpower or something?! I was able to fight the wolves all alone and this tree?! I never learn to climb a tree before?! What exactly happen to me?! Is it because of the blue coral elixir?!"
Her thought were all over the place. Since she wasn't able to figure out she decided to test herself, "Since I was able to climb this tree then there shouldn't be any problem in climbing down?! Right?! Let's test if this is the power of the elixir!".
With it, she exhaled a deep breath and immediately climb-down from the tree. At first, Xialin was about to lose her gripped but then she quickly maintained her balance and climbed down from the top of the pine tree, as if it was not much of a thing.