Chapter 97
Chapter 97
The group finally returned to the cave. Everyone stopped working and turned to look at Xiao Che and the others.
Xiao Jingmo and Xu Huaijin hurried out to meet them.
“Marquis, how did it go? Did you succeed?”
Jin Bao tossed the thing in her hand onto the ground, startling everyone.
“We got it! We got it! Baby wants roasted big bird for lunch!”
Xiao Jingmo bent down and picked up the sparrowhawk, which still had an arrow embedded in it.
“Well, Little Sister really did get it. Now we have nothing left to worry about.”
Without that pair of eyes in the sky, the Black Pine Forest belonged to the Xiao Family from this moment onward. The situation had completely reversed.
Xiao Che handed Jin Bao to Pei Wanqing, then gathered several people around the bonfire to discuss their next move.
“I plan to fight back and make sure Lu Dachang never leaves the Black Pine Forest.”
Xu Huaijin clenched his fists. He despised the imperial court’s lackeys. Old Han already had a personal grudge against Lu Dachang, while Xiao Jingmo believed they now had the strength to fight.
With Jin Bao serving as a living map, they knew every location in the Black Pine Forest suitable for an ambush.
Seeing that no one objected, Xiao Che moved on to discussing the specific steps.
“Father, although they’ve lost their eye in the sky, we can’t underestimate their Snow Mastiffs. I’ve heard those creatures have exceptionally sharp noses.”
Xiao Jingmo had studied some of the Snow Mastiffs’ traits. But since he had never encountered one, everything he knew came from books.
When it came to this subject, Old Han knew the most.
“That’s right. Snow Mastiffs are difficult to deal with, especially trained ones. You could call them Ironfeather Sparrowhawks of the ground. If we want to eliminate the men Lu Dachang brought, we must first find a way to neutralize those Snow Mastiffs.”
Xu Huaijin frowned and thought for a while before suggesting, “Why don’t we try poison? Physician Lu is highly skilled in medicine. Perhaps she can concoct a colorless, odorless poison. We could spread it over the wild boar meat and feed it to the Snow Mastiffs.”
Xiao Che nodded. “That is one option, but the Snow Mastiffs are extremely vigilant. They might notice us before we get close, which could expose our position.”
Old Han rejected the idea outright. “That won’t work. Lu Dachang’s Snow Mastiffs have been trained not to eat food offered by strangers, so the plan is a dead end.”
Everyone fell silent again.
Xiao Jingmo glanced at Lu Shuangshuang before voicing his idea. “Could we use some other odor to interfere with the Snow Mastiffs?”
Old Han nodded. “That could work, but we don’t have anything like that on hand.”
Xiao Jingmo rose and called Lu Shuangshuang over.
“Aunt Lu, can you make something with a special odor strong enough to confuse the Snow Mastiffs?”
“A special odor? I’ve heard that Bone-Rot Herb and Stinkpine Moss grow in this forest. Both produce powerful smells. I don’t know whether they would work.”
Lu Shuangshuang had read about them in a medical text and only remembered after Xiao Jingmo raised the subject.
Old Han’s eyes lit up. “How did I not think of that?
Bone-Rot Herb does indeed grow in the Black Pine Forest. Its stench is fishy and exceptionally powerful, so it should disrupt a Snow Mastiff’s sense of smell. Unfortunately, the plant is difficult to find.”
Xiao Jingmo smiled faintly. “As long as it exists, finding it won’t be difficult. We can continue discussing the rest of the plan.”
The corners of Xiao Che’s lips lifted. “I have a multi-step plan in mind. Tell me whether you think it will work.”
Everyone looked at Xiao Che. After a lengthy discussion, they finally settled on a plan, filled in the details, and prepared to act.
But for the operation to succeed, they still needed Jin Bao.
They needed the map in her mind to set their ambushes.
At the edge of the forest, Lu Dachang abruptly rose inside a cave.
By his calculations, the Ironfeather Sparrowhawk should have returned with information by now, yet there was still no sign of it. Had something happened?
He took the Bone Flute hanging around his neck, brought it to his lips, and played a series of notes. Even after a long while, there was no movement in the sky.
“No! Something happened to my Ironfeather. It had to be Xiao Che! He killed my Ironfeather!”
Lu Dachang gripped the Bone Flute tightly, his gaze seeming to pierce layer upon layer of trees and stare directly at his enemy.
“Just you wait, Xiao Che. You think that after entering this forest, you can scamper away like a snow rat? How naive. I’ll turn this forest into a graveyard for your entire family. You dared harm my Ironfeather. Very well.”
“Commander, what happened to Ironfeather?”
His deputy, Zhu Zhen, looked tense.
“Xiao Che killed Ironfeather. Assemble everyone! He thinks I won’t be able to find them after they killed my Ironfeather? My Snow Mastiffs have already memorized their scent. No matter how they flee, they’ll never escape my grasp.”
At Lu Dachang’s command, two thousand soldiers swiftly assembled. Each wore a thick fur coat and felt hat and carried a finely crafted crossbow on his back.
Lu Dachang’s iron-reinforced sled was pulled by four pure-white Snow Mastiffs, each as large as a young calf. Even in the forest, they traveled as easily as if the ground were flat.
They raced after the trail left by Xiao Che’s group.
Fifty li ahead of Lu Dachang.
Jin Bao led Xiao Che, Old Han, Xiao Jingmo, and fifty selected people toward a hillside.
It was a gentle slope covered in deep snow. Xiao Che and the others buried sharpened ice spikes beneath the snow to create a trap.
Xiao Jingmo and Jin Bao took more than a dozen people to gather Bone-Rot Herb and Stinkpine Moss.
Guided by Jin Bao, Xiao Jingmo hunted a spotted deer. He mixed the Bone-Rot Herb and Stinkpine Moss with its blood to make Scent Bombs, then handed all of them to Jin Bao to deploy.
Once Xiao Che and Old Han finished setting the trap, Jin Bao took the Scent Bombs and swiftly located Lu Dachang’s troops.
Lu Dachang had a reconnaissance unit of roughly fifty men serving as his vanguard.
Jin Bao kept Daddy’s instructions firmly in mind: divide and destroy them.
Using her speed, she darted back and forth through the snow, creating the illusion that a large number of people had passed through the area. Only then did she circle around to the vanguard’s right rear.
She hurled all the Scent Bombs Xiao Jingmo had made into the unit at once.
The odor irritated the Snow Mastiffs, making them sneeze constantly. They immediately lost their sense of direction.
Jin Bao leaped in front of them, instantly attracting the unit’s attention.
“Why is there a little child here? She looks familiar. Wait, that’s the Star Maiden! Everyone, after her!”
The Snow Mastiffs had completely lost their bearings, and their handlers had to drive them into chasing Jin Bao.
Jin Bao led the unit straight into Xiao Che’s trap.
They plunged into the snow pits and were impaled on the ice spikes.
Most of the fifty men died or were wounded instantly. The few survivors were surrounded by a group that suddenly emerged from the forest.
In less than fifteen minutes, the entire unit and all its Snow Mastiffs were wiped out.
“Quickly, strip off their clothes and take their weapons. This is all valuable equipment!”
Old Han was the first to move, and no one else hesitated.
The soldiers were wearing excellent gear. With these warm clothes, the group would no longer have to fear freezing to death in the forest, and their chances of survival rose once more.
Xiao Che had originally planned for Old Han to teach everyone how to make bows and arrows. Now, there was no need.
The bows and arrows these soldiers carried were of the finest quality, saving them a great deal of effort.
But these were only fifty men. More than nineteen hundred remained behind them. If Xiao Che wanted to annihilate them all, not a single step could go wrong.