Chapter 431: Tracking

After hearing the sounds gradually fade away, Huangpin stood up trembling; although this time was extremely dangerous, he had learned incredible news: Huaxia did not have just one city, but two.

A single city was already difficult for them to attack, and if there were two, then he feared their Suiren Clan had no hope; he did not know why the Baifeng tribe, from which he had never heard any news before, had grown to this extent in such a short time and had become the Huaxia State.

Huangpin's legs were shaking, and he began to walk down the mountain, trembling with every step, still clutching that pheasant in his hand.

When he returned to the shack, he found that the others had already arrived; their harvest was not very good, and the six of them had only caught one pheasant and one quail.

Since they had no pot to boil soup, they could only roast them to eat, which meant the distribution would be even more uneven.

But Huangpin still took the lion's share; after all, he was still a Leader, even if a defeated and fleeing one, and unless these few people had no intention of returning to the Suiren Clan, they had to go along with him for now.

There was more than one ox cart on the road; the one behind was not for hauling feed, but for delivering official documents, and the driver was traveling as usual, but because a great battle had just passed, his vigilance remained very high.

He suddenly discovered that there were human footprints on the road, and they were barefoot; he instantly became tense, immediately stopped the ox cart, and then told the people behind to pick up their Weapons.

There were four of them in total, and after the others got off the cart, they immediately raised their Crossbows, stood back-to-back, and stared intently in all directions.

The driving Soldier advanced cautiously, then discovered that the footprints on the ground were chaotic and not from the same person; these were definitely not from their Huaxia, as they would only leave cart tracks and ox hoof prints on the road, and it was even more impossible to be barefoot in this season.

The few of them moved forward slowly and cautiously, following the footprints, and discovered that the footprints went down the slope at a bend and headed into the forest.

Now they could not go search, because judging by the footprints, the number of people was greater than them, and they had more important matters at hand.

So, after ruling out danger, they got back on the ox cart and continued forward; at this time, the footprints were in the opposite direction, and they drove the ox cart very slowly, just wanting to see where these people came from.

Sure enough, after not walking for long, the footprints disappeared; the place where they appeared was still the hillside below, and they had only walked that short distance before returning below; they did not know what these unknown humans intended, but they had probably discovered that the road was too long to reach the end, so they went back.

This was a very serious matter and could very likely expose the existence of their New City, so they now made the ox run, galloping quickly along the road; the footprints were still fresh, indicating that the enemy was likely still in the forest, and since it was quite late now, the probability of those people spending the night in the forest was high, so the news had to be delivered quickly for their superiors to make a decision.

The forest was very quiet, but Huangpin was constantly startled awake and did not sleep well all night; in his dreams, people with unclear faces but glowing bodies kept killing him, using Arrows to pierce him over and over again.

The last time he was startled awake, he could no longer sleep; in the cold autumn night, he felt his back was covered in sweat, and the other Soldiers seemed to be only slightly better off than him; judging by the movements, they were likely having nightmares too.

The Soldier driving the ox cart, upon arriving at the Old City, quickly went to the Chaotang to find Baifeng; for matters like this, they still felt it was more reliable to find Baifeng.

After listening, Baifeng guessed that it might be the commander and his men from the Suiren Clan, because the number of people was about the same, and if they were running toward the woods, they might have taken too large a detour, and combined with hiding and dodging, the distance and time had been stretched too long; plus, being far from the Dahe, it was understandable that their people could not find them.

But it was already quite late, and even if they wanted to search, they could not find them, so he arranged for the Ministry of War to take hunting dogs and search first thing tomorrow morning.

The reason they did not take hunting dogs out initially was because there were corpses everywhere and the air was filled with the smell of blood; if you let the hunting dogs out to search, they would not be able to determine where the target was, but now the target was very clear, and their hunting dogs should be able to demonstrate their abilities.

At the first light of dawn, Huangpin urged the other Soldiers to get up and leave quickly; he felt very uneasy in his heart and had to reach the territory of their Suiren Clan quickly; now that several days had passed, they could find a way to cross the river.

The Ministry of War also set out early in the morning, driving the cart toward the place where the footprints were found; they did not need to take detours or consider other issues, as the road was wide and the ox cart flew, so it would not take long to arrive.

However, by the time they arrived and were ready, it was already noon.

They had already eaten lunch casually on the ox cart, and then they carried the hunting dogs off the cart, because the ox cart was very bumpy, causing the hunting dogs to be in poor condition; as soon as they hit the ground, they began to sway, and then—*blech*—they started vomiting; none of the dogs were spared.

After waiting for the dogs to recover their state and soothing their emotions, they finally took them to the place where the footprints were found to sniff; after the dogs sniffed for a while, the Soldiers ordered: "Pursue!"

The hunting dogs understood that they were now to find the corresponding prey based on the scent, and they all turned toward the slope, preparing to crawl through the wooden fence.

Seeing the direction was clear, the Soldiers crossed the wooden fence first, took the dogs, and began the pursuit.

Huangpin and his men headed straight for the Dahe; even though their stomachs were empty and they were extremely exhausted, they dared not stop, and only when they saw the Dahe did they dare to stop and catch their breath.

Once their breathing calmed down, they immediately began to chop bamboo, preparing to lash together a Bamboo Raft; no matter how anxious they were, they dared not try to float across the river holding a log, and it was even more impossible to cross the Dahe.

They were rushing to make the Bamboo Raft, and the hunting dogs also led the Soldiers to the shack where the few had camped last night; seeing the direction was correct, they continued to quicken their pace to search.

Huangpin's inner anxiety grew stronger, and finally, while the others were finishing the Bamboo Raft, he went to find some more bamboo, tied it together casually, and made himself a Bamboo Shield.

The Bamboo Raft was pushed into the water and was very stable; Huangpin was the first to get on, taking the Bamboo Shield and sitting on it, and then the other Soldiers jumped onto the raft one by one.

Two Soldiers each held a bamboo pole and pushed hard, causing them to gradually leave the riverbank.