Chapter 515: Mother Vanishes at the Cliff

With Nan Qinghuan present, the old ancestor was even happier; she also grasped Nan Qinghuan's hand, about to say something, when Ying's anxious voice came from outside.

"Qinghuan, is the child okay?"

Ying had originally planned to go with Rongdi and the others to interrogate the people of the Baiqi Tribe, but when he heard the child had a fever he became very worried, so he handed the matter over to Rongdi and Yao and hurried back.

"Ying, don't worry, the child is fine, asleep now; keep your voice down."

When he heard the child was fine, Ying finally breathed a sigh of relief; he immediately ran to check on the children, the two little bundles wrapped in cotton cloth sleeping very peacefully.

Seeing that Beibei and Mengmeng were fine, he finally relaxed, gently squatted down and embraced his daughter, seeming afraid to wake her; he was especially careful, kissing her little cheek, then tugged the child's small hand, finding the child sleeping soundly, and only then did he gently let go, and in the same manner went to check on his other son, Beibei.

Beibei was very mischievous; seeming to know his father had arrived, his little hand twitched, trying to grasp Ying's big hand.

Little hand holding big hand.

This made Ying even happier; his son, only a few days old, already knew how to grab his hand.

"It's good that nothing's wrong; how did you tell it was fine?"

Youchao Xuan felt a bit embarrassed, quickly rose, and said, "Ying, it was the Goddess's Fever-Relieving Divine Medicine that helped the child; I'm fine, I'll leave now."

"Fever-Relieving Divine Medicine?"

Ying naturally didn't know what a Fever-Relieving Divine Medicine was; his gaze turned to Nan Qinghuan, and in his view a child so small couldn't be given medicine, so many children like this had died from fever; when he heard the child had a fever he became very anxious, fearing the child would die just like those others.

He would have broken down.

So he didn't want to do anything else and rushed back to check; fortunately the child was fine.

Nan Qinghuan hurriedly explained to Ying; once the family saw the child was fine they relaxed, the old ancestor prepared to cook a meal, but it was getting dark and his daughter hadn't returned yet.

This made her a bit anxious.

She suddenly flared up, glancing at Ying, who was still holding the child and unwilling to let go.

"Ying, your mother went to gather herbs and hasn't returned yet; why don't you send someone to look?"

Hearing that, Ying's expression darkened as he looked at Nan Qinghuan, "Gather herbs, what medicine?"

Here, Ying, having heard his mother hadn't returned from gathering herbs and was very worried, prepared to go find her himself; Nan Qinghuan was also anxious, and the couple went out to search, while over there, Rongdi and Yao were interrogating the three men they had captured inside the Cave.

The Cave no longer housed anyone, but had become the Small Town's detention place; the guard is strict, and even a single Insect can hardly fly out.

Under the blazing Bonfire, the men's faces looked fierce; they were bound to a wooden frame, yet bore no lash marks.

Rongdi's scar on his face was fading; Jiguang had found some wild aloe for him to rub, and over time it became less noticeable, yet he still looked very imposing.

He acted on Ying's behalf to interrogate them, determined to uncover their identities.

Are they really people from the Baiqi Tribe causing trouble here!

"My name is Rongdi, now the Small Town's General; where are you all from?"

The leading man lifted his head, gave him a cold stare, and sneered, "We are all merchants, here to buy goods to sell back; what else could we be? Does your Small Town treat guests like this?"

"I never expected you'd even speak; I ask where you come from?"

The three men exchanged glances; they wore silk garments, clearly from a prosperous region, because this Small Town lacks such patterned silk.

Even the Matriarchal Tribe's silk weaving doesn't have this beast‑studded pattern.

This made Rongdi even more suspicious of their identities.

Since the clothing isn't from here, it must be from outside.

"Guests, why are you buying so many weapons?"

"What a joke, of course we're buying to sell back; we are merchants from Dragon City, heard the iron tools and bronze here are good, so we came to buy more to sell. So, you support trade, yet now you arrest us—why?"

"Rongdi, stop talking nonsense with them; they aren't just buying these, they also stockpile grain and sweet potatoes, many sweet potatoes were bought by them and taken away on horses."

"Horses?"

Rongdi, upon hearing the word 'horses,' already formed an idea—could they really be people from the Baiqi Tribe? Baiqi people excel at horseback riding; they can train those tall, strong horses to do their bidding. Could it be… "Exactly, horses, stop your sophistry; we found evidence of the Baiqi Tribe on you; you're not from Dragon City, are you people from the Baiqi region?"

Yao's words made the three men's expressions darken, but the leading man refused to admit anything, "What Baiqi Tribe? We are merchants from Dragon City; we buy so much just to sell for profit back home—nothing more."

Yao was speechless; these people were truly stubborn.

"Is that so? Then why are you buying explosives?"

Soon, Yao had someone bring up a basket of explosives; they were all commercially sold, and the three men bought them all. Originally, only Li Xiang and Nan Qinghuan possessed the formula for these explosives, but these Ancient People are clever; they steal the technique and make the explosives themselves—though not as good as theirs, the power is still great.

Thus… they are now mass‑producing copies of these items for warfare; of course, the market doesn't forbid selling them, so it is allowed.

Permission gave these people the chance to buy them back and slowly learn.

Seeing this, the leading man sneered, "What's the big deal? Can't we take them back to scare those beasts?"

"Scare, scare, and you still dare to argue? Bring them, strip their clothes off; let's see how long you can keep up that stubbornness."

Rongdi wasn't patient; he immediately began to beat them. Soon, after the three men's garments were stripped, Rongdi readied his whip to strike.

"Now see whose whip is stronger, or whose mouth?"

Whack—whack—!

In an instant, a man's gut‑wrenching scream echoed; Rongdi, strong and eager to force out their identities, struck heavily, and soon the short man could no longer endure.

"Stop beating, stop beating; if you keep hitting us, we'll kill Ying's mother."

The man was pleading for mercy, but his words were especially harsh.

In an instant, his words made Rongdi halt the whip he was about to swing; he retracted the whip's tip, glanced at Yao, then stepped forward, grabbed the man's jaw, nearly dislocating it.

The man, in pain, gasped.

"You let go, let go."

"What did you just say?"