Too many female prisoners, a special forces soldier transmigrates and marries wildly.

"That makes sense." General Wang then looked at Lin Feng.

"Since you insist on returning to Shuofeng, I cannot force you to stay. Two days later, I will send a troop of my personal guards to escort you back to Shuofeng!"

After the meal, Qin Hongyu brought over a small wooden box, placed it on the table, and opened it.

Inside was a thick stack of silver notes, with a face value of at least ten thousand taels.

"Brother Lin," Qin Hongyu said sincerely, "I know that money is not enough to repay even a fraction of the life-saving grace. But it is only a small token of my gratitude. Please accept it."

Lin Feng said, "Miss Qin, we appreciate your kindness. But this is indeed too much. How about this, we have very little money left for our journey, so we will take five hundred taels as our return travel expenses. Please take the rest back."

"How can this be..." Qin Hongyu said anxiously.

"If Miss Qin insists on giving it to me, then she is looking down on me." Lin Feng's tone was calm, yet carried a firmness.

Looking into Lin Feng's clear and open eyes, Qin Hongyu knew that he wasn't putting on an act.

Her admiration deepened: "Brother Lin's noble character is truly admirable. Also..."

She took out a palm-sized token, neither gold nor wood, engraved with ancient Qin characters, from her bosom and handed it to Lin Feng.

"This is my Qin family's 'Mysterious Iron Token.' Seeing this token is like seeing the head of the Qin family. With this token, you can mobilize manpower, vehicles, and money at all the Qin family's warehouses and caravan shops throughout the northern border, and do whatever you need. Perhaps Brother Lin will find it useful in the future. This is a token, not a reward, so please do not refuse it."

This token was clearly more valuable than silver coins, representing a favor and a promise from the Qin family.

This time, Lin Feng did not refuse: "Alright, I'll accept this token. Thank you, Miss Qin."

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

The carriages and horses were already prepared. Lin Feng and Yang, the captain of the personal guards sent by General Wang, rode side by side in front.

The fifty guards were all dressed in civilian clothes, but carried standard military swords at their waists and powerful bows and crossbows on their backs, and were divided into the front and rear of the train convoy.

"Captain Lin, Miss Su, Miss Bai, take care on your journey!" Qin Yulin cupped his hands, his eyes filled with reluctance and emotion.

"Take care of yourself, Master Qin. Until we meet again." Lin Feng returned the greeting with clasped hands.

At Captain Yang's command, the convoy slowly started moving.

The towering walls of Blackwater gradually shrank behind us, eventually disappearing below the horizon.

Before me lay a vast, desolate northern plain, with withered grass stretching to the horizon, and distant mountains rising and falling, their lines cold and hard.

"Captain Lin, if we take the shortest official road back to Shuofeng from here, we will have to pass through several places, including 'Wild Wolf Valley,' and finally arrive at 'Juma Pass' south of Shuofeng." Captain Yang explained to Lin Feng while controlling his horse.

"General Wang has instructed that safety should be the top priority on this trip, and there is no need to rush. The daily itinerary will be determined by the squad leader."

Lin Feng nodded: "Thank you for your help, Captain Yang and all the brothers. We will proceed at our normal pace and find a suitable place to rest and eat around noon. Before sunset, we must find a water source and a sheltered spot to set up camp. We need to send out double guards at night, and pay special attention to the Di Rong scouts."

"Yes!" Captain Yang replied, turning to relay the order to his personal guards behind him.

The convoy moved in an orderly manner, with scouts deployed in advance to patrol and guard the area for miles around it.

Su Wanyue and Bai Xiaohe sat in the car. The car was furnished with thick blankets and had a small heater burning, making it quite comfortable.

The first day passed uneventfully. The night passed without incident.

The next morning, they broke camp and set off. The further north they went, the more undulating the terrain became, with the official road winding through the hills.

Just past noon, the convoy entered an area with more complex terrain.

On both sides are severely weathered earthen hills, and the official road passes through the narrow valley in the middle. This is the outer edge of "Wolf Valley".

"Captain Yang, tell the men to be alert, nock their arrows, and watch out for the mountain beams on both sides," Lin Feng ordered in a deep voice.

His ominous premonition grew stronger and stronger.

"Yes, sir!" Captain Yang also sensed the danger of the place and passed on the order. The team slowed down, and the scouts expanded the search area.

After traveling another five or six li, a scout suddenly turned back on horseback and galloped up to Lin Feng and Captain Yang, speaking urgently:

"Report! Fresh bloodstains and scattered hoofprints have been found three miles ahead at the bend in the main road! There are also signs of a struggle! Judging from the footprints, there were at least twenty riders who went towards the northwest fork in the road! The northwest fork leads to the 'Ghost's Sorrow' Canyon, which is a dead end, but it is said that there is a secret path that leads to the Di Rong Grassland!"

They're here! Lin Feng's eyes sharpened. Could it be that Feng Kun's men were intercepted here? Or were these traces left intentionally?

"Captain Yang, what do you think?" Lin Feng asked.

Captain Yang frowned deeply: "The bloodstains are fresh, and the signs of a struggle are messy, not like they're faked. But their appearance at this time is too coincidental. Captain, should we hold our position and wait for further reports from scouts, or..."

"Let's go take a look," Lin Feng decided immediately.

"But be careful. The convoy will stop here. You will take twenty men and come with me to investigate. The rest of you will guard the carriages in a circular formation. Do not move without orders!"

"yes!"

Lin Feng selected twenty personal guards, along with Captain Yang, and rode forward.

Thirty men were left to protect the carriage, their swords drawn and arrows nocked, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

We sped along the official road and, sure enough, after a sharp bend, we saw a scene of utter devastation.

There were several pools of dark red blood on the ground that had not yet completely frozen, along with a few broken arrows and a chipped dagger.

On the soft, sandy ground beside the official road, messy cart tracks and hoofprints stretched northwestward toward a narrower fork in the road, almost completely overgrown with weeds. Judging from the tracks, they had been gone for no more than an hour.

Lin Feng dismounted and carefully examined the bloodstains and marks. The pattern of the bloodstains indeed resembled those from a fight. The broken arrow was standard issue for border troops. The blunted waist knife was of ordinary design.

Everything looked like a small team that had been ambushed, defeated, and was fleeing northwest.

But it felt too deliberate. It was like someone had deliberately arranged it to lure them in.

"Squad leader, should we give chase?" a guard asked.

Lin Feng did not answer immediately, his sharp gaze sweeping towards the depths of the northwest fork in the road.

The mountains there were steeper, with jagged rocks, and mist began to permeate the valleys, obscuring everything.

"Captain Yang, take ten men and continue to scout along the official road for two miles. If there is nothing unusual, immediately return to rejoin the convoy, stand by, and strengthen vigilance," Lin Feng quickly ordered.

"The rest of you, follow me into the side road and take a look. Remember, stay close, keep your distance, and if there's any unusual movement, retreat immediately. Use the signal arrow as a warning!"

"Captain, are you going yourself? It's too dangerous!" Captain Yang said anxiously.

"No problem, I know what I'm doing. Execute the order!" Lin Feng's tone left no room for argument.

"Yes!" Captain Yang gritted his teeth, selected ten men, and rode forward along the official road.

Lin Feng mounted his horse and waved to the remaining ten guards: "Let's go!"

Eleven riders charged into the northwest fork in the road. The fork was rugged and difficult to traverse, barely wide enough for one horse to pass at a time. Hoofprints and bloodstains stretched intermittently into the depths of the valley.

After walking about a mile, a three-way intersection appeared ahead.

The bloodstains and hoofprints became tangled here, splitting into two streams: one continued into the deeper valley to the northwest, while the other turned northeast onto a more secluded, almost vertical, steep mountain path.

Lin Feng reined in his horse, his gaze lingering between the two tracks.

Continuing northwest, you'll reach the "Ghost's Bane" canyon, a truly perilous place.

Turning northeast onto the steep path, and crossing the mountain ridge, it seems possible to circle back to the side and rear of the official road...

"Squad leader, what should we do? Split up and chase them?" a guard asked.

Lin Feng didn't answer immediately. He listened intently. The wind howled through the valley, and apart from that, all was deathly silent.

It was so quiet, not even a bird could be heard. His gaze swept over the towering cliffs on either side and the jagged rocks above.

"Dismount, pick up stones, and throw them at suspicious spots above and to the sides of those two roads," Lin Feng suddenly ordered.

Although the guards were puzzled, they dismounted as instructed, picked up stones from the ground, and threw them forcefully at the cliffs above the two paths and the piles of stones on both sides.

"Pfft... Splash..."

The stones rolled down, echoing through the silent valley.

Just as the stone struck a patch of dense, withered vines above the steep northeast path, a strange thing happened!

"Whoosh whoosh-!"

A dense barrage of arrows, like swarms of bees bursting from their hive, shot out from the crevices in the rock face and behind the withered vines above the steep northeast path!

At the same time, from the deeper valleys to the northwest, the sound of rapid hoofbeats and shouts of battle rang out, indicating that there were no fewer than twenty or thirty riders rushing towards them!