Under the faint firelight, everyone began to devise a plan to get out.
While they were anxiously searching for an exit, Zhao Xiaohua, who had been hiding all along, found her previous composure gone as the sky darkened.
She started to panic.
Moreover, she discovered a very serious problem.
Previously, she had relied on the black beetles to guide her, making it easy to find Xiao Qian.
But now, the three of them had followed the black beetles for a long stretch without any sign of Xiao Qian, and her heart began to flutter with unease.
This unease led to trouble, and she ran into assassins from the Misty Rain Pavilion who were following another group of black beetles.
"Everyone, be on alert. There are people ahead," the assassin leading the Misty Rain Pavilion group immediately warned those behind him.
But soon, someone with sharp eyes spotted the anomaly. "Brother Huang Er, what are you panicking about? There are three women ahead."
"Women, Luo Laoguo, have you not been to the Misty Rain Tower to see Little Xing for too long and seen wrong?
What kind of place is this? You know as well as I do, it's called a stone forest, but there's no way out, no different from a dead end. Women dare to come in...
Hey, it really is..." Huang Er said, exclaiming in surprise.
With this shout, the previously listless crowd quickly sprang into action, surrounding Zhao Xiaohua and her companions.
Zhao Xiaohua's heart sank. It was too late to dodge.
The assassins were incredibly swift and agile, and they were completely surrounded.
"You... you can't kill me," Zhao Xiaohua stammered.
Huang Er chuckled sinisterly, his hoarse voice grating like fingernails on sandpaper.
"This little woman has quite a bit of courage. I'd like to hear why we can't kill you?"
Besides, he didn't intend to kill them outright.
There were so many strong, vigorous men among them, and for the sake of the mission, they hadn't had any 'meat' for days.
Being trapped in this godforsaken place, unable to find anyone or a way out, their tempers had flared uncontrollably.
Now that a few women had appeared, weren't they ready-made entertainment?
Why would he be willing to kill her?
"Hahaha, little woman, you're afraid of death, then it's easy. Come, serve us well..."
"Heh heh, little woman, don't worry, even if we wanted you dead, it wouldn't be like this. We'll find another way."
"Jie jie jie... we'll serve you so well you'll die from pleasure..."
The men's hearts stirred at the sudden appearance of Zhao Xiaohua and the other two, and they couldn't help but make lewd remarks one after another.
The more they talked, the more excited they became, and some had already started to reach out and grab Zhao Xiaohua.
"Wuwuwu, Miss, Miss, what should we do, what should we do?" Yuan Huan, scared, hid behind Zhao Xiaohua, trembling.
"Useless thing, what are you afraid of? With your looks, they might not even bother," Zhao Xiaohua retorted, glaring at Yuan Huan.
Because her own appearance wasn't particularly good, she was reluctant to find a good-looking maid for herself.
She chose Yuan Huan precisely because her skin was even rougher and darker than hers. Standing next to her, she could at least regain some sense of superiority.
Otherwise, spending all her days with the noble young ladies in the capital had almost turned her into a mere backdrop, which was utterly tiresome.
"Hahaha, this little woman speaks well. I am so thirsty and desperate that I'm eating anything I can get my hands on..." Luo Laoguo's eyes roamed over the three of them, growing happier the more he looked.
Zhao Xiaohua frowned in disgust and pulled Aunt Jia. "Aunt Jia, can you do it?"
Aunt Jia's eyes swept over the men, calculating. The opponent had too many people; a direct confrontation would surely not be a match. However, if she caused some trouble, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with them.
After weighing her options, she nodded.
"Then let's do it," Zhao Xiaohua said with a smile.
Aunt Jia reached into her embrace, retrieved a round yellow object, and threw it to the ground. It immediately exploded, emitting streams of yellow smoke.
She grabbed Zhao Xiaohua with one hand and pulled Yuan Huan with the other, heading towards another fork in the path.
Huang Er, being knowledgeable, immediately shouted, "Damn it, damn it, this smoke is poisonous, cover your mouths and noses quickly!"
Zhao Xiaohua was initially very confident.
This was because the Aunt Jia by her side was a formidable character.
In fact, in her previous life, she had also been Shen Yun's person.
But this time, she had found her first and brought her under her command, willing to risk her life for her.
She was Zhao Xiaohua's sole hope and trump card for entering this place.
It was also the reason why she wasn't afraid of encountering these assassins from the Misty Rain Pavilion.
But in the end, she was wrong.
Although these assassins were affected by the smoke released by Jia Sanyu, they were far from being rendered powerless.
Moreover, it was clear that the release of the poisonous smoke had thoroughly angered them.
One of them, after covering his mouth and nose, charged forward wildly, grabbed Yuan Huan, who was running behind, and then threw her to the back. He immediately reached out to grab Zhao Xiaohua.
Aunt Jia, Jia Sanyu, was truly not to be trifled with. She turned back and delivered a sword strike.
The two clashed, and blood was drawn immediately.
But unfortunately, the opponent had more numbers. Their team was made up of eight people, so Jia Sanyu killed one, leaving seven.
With the courage of desperados, they swung their swords and sabers towards Zhao Xiaohua, disregarding their own safety.
Soon, the battle was decided.
No matter how skilled Jia Sanyu was, she couldn't fight against so many.
She was still struggling to fend them off, while Zhao Xiaohua had a sword pointed at her neck.
"Old woman, stop, or I'll kill her," Huang Er roared gruffly.
Jia Sanyu hesitated, and Zhao Xiaohua quickly cried out, "Aunt Jia, save me!"
Jia Sanyu sighed, lowered her short blade, and surrendered.
She was waiting for them to be overcome by the poisonous smoke before making her move.
Unfortunately, she had underestimated the ferocity of these people.
While they had been making lewd jokes earlier, in such a dangerous situation, they had no such intentions. Having captured the people, Huang Er, the leader, didn't want any further complications and directly ordered them all to be killed.
Under the torchlight, Zhao Xiaohua looked at them with disbelief, telling them they couldn't kill her.
She could help them find the person they were looking for.
"You know who we're looking for?" Huang Er, his face full of coarse flesh, glared at Zhao Xiaohua.
"You, you are looking for Xiao Qian, the Young Master of the Misty Rain Pavilion. I also know how you found him at the beginning.
Now the black beetles are useless, and you won't find him with your abilities. You need me."
Zhao Xiaohua was very frightened, but she thought that if she didn't speak, they would all be doomed.
She hadn't lived enough yet, and she had always believed that heaven gave her a second chance not to die.
"Second Senior Brother, how does this woman know our affairs?" He spoke so articulately.
He was almost fooled.
The leader thought about it and asked her to lead them to find the person.
If they found him, he would consider letting her go.
If they didn't find him, then they were as good as dead.
Zhao Xiaohua's eyes rolled, and she patted her chest, promising that she could definitely find him.
She was very familiar with this place.
This was the truth, so when Zhao Xiaohua skillfully led them through several forks in the path,
Huang Er immediately believed her.
However, he soon discovered that they didn't need to search everywhere anymore.
Because the person they were looking for had already come before them.
Zhao Xiaohua constantly watched the situation ahead and was the first to spot the person in front of her.
The moment she saw him, her body trembled. She reacted quickly, pulling Aunt Jia, and shouted, "Help! You save me, I'll lead you out!"
Su Xiaoqi looked at Zhao Xiaohua, who had rushed to their front in an instant.
Her willow-like eyebrows furrowed. In fact, they had come to rescue her.
And they had been following them all along.
This stone forest maze was clearly vast, but their luck was excellent. Initially, they were talking about not encountering Zhao Xiaohua and not knowing how to find the way out.
But with a turn, they saw her being escorted by a group of Misty Rain Pavilion assassins, wandering around.
And by the sound of it, this group was the same one that had come looking for them earlier and whom they had avoided.
Even names like Huang Er and Liu Laoguo sounded similar.
She made a decisive move, signaling her companions to follow them, ready to eliminate them, rescue Zhao Xiaohua, and obtain the map to get out.
After following for so long, as dusk fell, the time was finally ripe, and they appeared.
It was just that she hadn't expected Zhao Xiaohua to be so fast, breaking away from the group and rushing to their front.
"Be careful," Su Xiaoqi whispered a warning.
Regarding Zhao Xiaohua now, one could no longer view her with past assumptions.
If they underestimated her, they might well suffer a shock.
"Hahaha, we searched high and low for something that was right before us all along. It came without any effort!" Huang Er saw Xiao Qian walking at the very back and laughed heartily with excitement.
Without a word, he charged towards Xiao Qian with his saber.