Murong Xue blinked. She had come up with a rough idea of how to go through the woods safely, but she still needed to work on it before telling others. To her surprise, Qingyan troops had already figured out a method by themselves.
“Let’s go to the woods.” Murong Xue looked up at Ouyang Shaochen.
“Okay!” Ouyang Shaochen nodded. With his arm around her waist, he tapped the ground and flew towards the woods.
As Murong Xue could see from the sky, tall trees were cut down one by one by some Qingyan troops sawing them in pairs.
Some troops who stood by around jumped onto the fallen trees. When they waved the broadswords swiftly, all the leaves and branches were cut down and fell to the ground.
Other troops lined up the long trunks on the ground. The troops in armors with long swords ran out of the woods on the trunks and rushed directly to Nanjiang’s military camp nearby.
Murong Xue was stunned upon seeing that.
Poisonous mist and woods were not that dangerous since taking antidotes and keeping distance from woods could prevent people from being affected. Extensive swamps all over the woods were the real peril. It was hard to get through the woods on small areas of hard ground.
But Qingyan troops came up with an idea. They cut down the trees and built bridges across swamps with the trunks, which could prevent people from falling into the swamps.
This smart idea was similar to that of Murong Xue.
The sound of fierce fighting rang as Qingyan and Nanjiang troops fought against each other. Long swords waved in the sky reflected piercing light and spilled blood all over the place.
“The one who figured out this method to cross the woods must be a real talent. Who could it be?” Ouyang Shaochen suddenly said when he was staring at the reshaped woods with a mysterious look.
“Let me ask someone,” Murong Xue said with a smile when she took a glance over the troops. Upon seeing a familiar face, she blinked and tapped the ground with her tiptoes. She flew to the man and patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, stop.”
Her cold voice gave the man a start, who then stopped and turned around. He looked at Murong Xue with his eyes widened. “Sis, what are you doing here?”
Murong Xue smiled. “I have a question…”
“Wait until I’ve killed them all.” Murong Ye interrupted hurriedly before turning around and rushing forward with generals.
With a frown, Murong Xue pulled him back by the armor. She said angrily, “Those troops are not the priority. I have something serious to ask.”
“Alright then. Tell me. What is it?” Murong Ye sighed at the sight of her sullen face.
“Who figured out the method to go through the woods?” asked Murong Xue.
“I did!” Murong Ye said proudly with a smile when he raised his head slightly.
“You!” Murong Xue looked at Murong Ye with astonishment while the latter looked determined in his heavy armor and helmet.
Fair skin, red lips, bright eyes… All of these made him a charming man who didn’t look like a warrior talented enough to come up with such an impressive strategy.
“Trust me. I did figure it out. All generals can prove it,” Murong Ye explained loudly with pride.
Murong Xue looked solemn. It seemed Murong Ye did figure out the method by himself since he was resolute and confident that all generals would prove it for him. But Murong Xue wondered, “How did you figure it out?”
Even generals with rich experience at war failed to figure out a method to go through the woods safely, but Murong Ye made it.
“Thanks to this drawing!” Murong Ye said blandly when he took out a piece of paper and drew circles in various sizes in an irregular circle.
“What is it?” Murong Xue frowned with confusion.
“Traps and swamps,” Murong Ye answered with a smile. He added proudly, “At first, we didn’t understand what it was either. But I accidentally noticed these two circles looking like the swamp I got trapped in.”
“So, we explored the woods with the help of this drawing. We found that the circles on the drawing represent swamps. The shapes and sizes of the circles represent those of them as well.”
Murong Xue looked surprised. With a careful look at the paper, she found sizes of the circles and distances between the circles were marked. It was a thorough topographic map of the woods.
“Big trees are everywhere in the woods, so we cut them to make bridges across the swamps. In this way, we can cross them safely. Some special trees can even chase people, so we also cut them all,” Murong Ye showed off the achievements of Qingyan troops haughtily.
Murong Xue ignored him and asked with her eyes fixed on the map, “Who drew this?”
“I don’t know,” Murong Ye shook his head. “It was found in a bottle outside the camp, which was then handed to General Zhang.”
Murong Xue narrowed her eyes abruptly. Gong Qianyu was the one who set those traps in the woods. Whoever could draw this map must have been someone close to him.
Nanjiang generals had been staying in the camp, so it was impossible that they dropped the map accidentally. They must have dropped it on purpose to guide Qingyan troops to survive Gong Qianyu’s traps.