Chapter 1119: There are different levels of intelligence (1/2)
Long Feiye gave the shadow guards five days to assemble because 1) they needed the time to transfer the troops and 2) this transfer was different from others in the past. No matter what, prudence was key. They couldn’t afford the tiniest leak in intel. Of course, Long Feiye and the rest weren’t idle during those five days either. Now that they knew the hostages were trapped in Clearbreeze Peak, they had to figure out their exact location within the massive mountain.
Both Long Feiye and Gu Qishao had searched the peak themselves in the past, but didn’t find a single clue. It was clear that Bai Yanqing had hidden himself deeply, which meant the mountain must have some unknown, secret locations.
“Big bro, let’s just send men to guard every pharmacy with a maternity department for a 100 li around. As long as Bai Yanqing sends someone to get medicine again, we can capture his messenger!” Tang Li suggested.
If the doctor of each pharmacy only sent them the prescription after writing it out for the client, then the messenger would have long ran away by then. It was best to have their scouts on call. But Gu Qishao was quick to reject this idea.
“No good. If we capture the man and he refuses to confess, it’ll all be over!” Even he had cut back on his careless ways to be cautious and careful. Suppose their prisoner refused to divulge Bai Yanqing’s location? If Bai Yanqing realized his messenger had gone missing, all of their efforts would be wasted.
“Then we’ll follow the person who grabs the medicine instead!” Tang Li said desperately.
“Who will follow him? Suppose they’re discovered along the way? Can you guarantee that plan won’t fail?” Gu Qishao retorted. The person in charge of the prescription was extremely shrewd. It was unlikely he’d visit the same pharmacy every time. The last one had gone to a shop outside Medical City, so who know what next time would bring? The few of them were capable of following the man undetected, but how were they supposed to predict which pharmacy he’d go to next, much less plant an ambush in advance?
As for the shadow guards, only Xu Donglin and Chu Xifeng were skilled enough to pull it off, but the ordinary rank and file would be discovered as soon as they tried to follow the suspicious person. Bai Yanqing wouldn’t send anyone who wasn’t skilled in martial arts and poisons to do the task. For now, their best bet was to sit and wait with their forces.
Seeing Tang Li look defeated, Long Feiye finally spoke up. “Last night I’ve already sent word for Xu Donglin and Chu Xifeng to personally take 10 high level experts to watch all entrances to Clearbreeze Mountain. As soon as someone comes out of one, they’ll send us a report.”
Gu Qishao and Tang Li looked at him in astonishment, while Gu Beiyue sat on one side with a smile teasing at his lips, unsurprised by the turn of events.
“Big bro, how did you think of a plan like that?! That’s impressive! Really formidable!” Tang Li was thrilled.
Here was the idiom, “sitting by a tree to catch a rabbit” come to life! There were too many uncontrollable factors in sending out a contingent of men to watch the various pharmacies. But having Xu Donglin and Chu Xifeng with their ten experts guarding the mountain exits was much more reliable! Even if they couldn’t follow their prey, they could narrow down their location on Clearbreeze Peak.
Tang Li had worshipped his big brother since he was young, to say nothing of now. Meanwhile, Gu Qishao would never acknowledge Long Feiye out loud if he could help it. Pursing his lips, he dawdled for a while before looking away. So there’s different levels of intelligence after all?
Five days came and went; not slow yet not fast. They were busy transferring guards the first couple of days and looking up all records related to Clearbreeze Peak. By the third day, Chu Tianyi had arrived with at least ten skilled archers from the Nether Clan. Although Western Zhou had already withdrewn their troops, the combination of traitors and the chaos of war had left him with only 100 or so archers to form the full strength of the Chu Clan.
Long Feiye had him pick out a dozen or so of them to help out. Besides this, he also transferred some high level experts from Celestial Mountain Sword Sect. Bai Yanqing didn’t want to face them head-on and preferred to drag things out, so it was likely he’d chose to flee once they infiltrated Clearbreeze Peak. The guards scattered on Phoenix Song Peak was their last line of defense. Even if they couldn’t trap Bai Yanqing in place, they could at least buy them some time.
As Chu Tianyi walked over to Long Feiye, he cupped his fists with a bow. “Your Highness.”
Leaving aside the two Chu elders still imprisoned by Long Feiye’s hands, he had long sworn allegiance to the man.
“Sit,” Long Feiye said.
Chu Tianyi sat next to Gu Beiyue and muttered, “Long time no see, Brother Gu.”
“It’s fortunate we can still meet,” Gu Beiyue murmured back.
This simple exchange was enough to reflect the years of partnership, gratitude, and resentment between the Nether and Shadow Clans.
Long Feiye and Chu Tianyi discussed the deployment of shadow guards so the latter would know how to arrange his archers. He hadn’t discovered any signs of the Li Clan’s subterfuge in Western Zhou and thus had no face to ask Long Feiye for permission to see his father and uncle. Instead, he simply withdrew when he was done.
On the fourth day, the shadow guards had more or less all arrived, Tang Li’s new weapons, the “flame crossbow,” also came in time for them to finish their preparations.
On the morning of the fifth day, Chu Xifeng personally reported a bit of good news.
“Your Highness, there’s been a situation in the pine forest on the west side of Clearbreeze Peak. Apparently a black-robed man emerged from there to go down the mountain, but this subordinate didn’t dare follow,” Chu Xifeng said excitedly. It was the safest, most prudent choice to let the man go, because very likely, that black-robed man was out to get medicine. He would return to the mountain eventually.