Lu Wenshu might be steady but his face betrayed his shock. "What did you say?!"

The incident had to be told from the beginning. Lu Wenshu’s junior and members of his sect were discovered in the morning…

...

When the soldiers that Pei Rumo had left behind at the borders of the Desolate Region received the orders from their Commander in Chief, all of them became extremely eager to earn merits. Although there were only a few individuals and a few captains who were chosen to complete the task, they were elated. This caused some unexpected repercussions.

They were supposed to explore the borders of the Desolate Region to take note of any suspicious personnel. Someone came up with the bright idea and the whole group of them swaggered towards the central region of the Desolate Region trying to look for clues. They thought that it was just a short adventure but they never expected that they would run into a small group of people wearing the same type of clothes.

The scouts who went out were rather young and there was a saying that went, ‘A young calf knows no fear’. They disregarded everything and they immediately engaged the group of unknown men.

Those people were Lu Wenshu’s juniors. Even though they were from a sect, they didn’t have much battle experience. When they were suddenly surrounded by a huge army, they were terrified. A group of cultivators were actually suppressed by a small troop of soldiers. They even fell onto the back foot as their clothes were sliced up by the soldiers’ ordinary weapons.

After Pei Rumo's soldiers obtained their spoils of victory, they looked as if they had won a war trophy and quickly retreated. After seeing the barbaric behavior of the soldiers, the sect disciples were stunned. They didn’t know what to do as they watched the soldiers leave.

When they finally realized that something was wrong, they quickly sent one of their fellow disciples to look for Lu Wenshu. As for what happened next… 

...

Lu Wenshu met with his juniors and he had a belly full of anger. With nowhere to vent it, he picked up a tea cup and smashed it onto the ground. A piece happened to rebound and cut the face of one of his juniors.

"What are you guys doing?! I asked you to treat this expedition seriously and treat everyone you meet as enemies. What in the world is going on?! A bunch of cultivators were defeated by mere soldiers… If this matter is made known, how will you face your masters?! Our sect will be the laughing stock of the world!”

The disciples knew they were wrong and didn't refute. They simply stood there silently while listening to Lu Wenshu's lecture.

After a long moment, Lu Wenshu's anger finally receded, “Apart from a corner of your clothes, what else did you lose?"

The disciple immediately denied, "Nothing else. After those people obtained a piece of our clothes, they left." As the disciple spoke, his voice got softer and softer. It was obvious he was feeling guilty.

Lu Wenshu nodded and dismissed them.

It seemed as though he had to look for a time to confront Pei Rumo and Bai Luochu. He was afraid they would make things worse.

While Lu Wenshu and his juniors almost broke out into fights, Pei Rumo’s army portrayed a completely different atmosphere. It was just early evening and they had already delivered the information along with the piece of fabric to Pei Rumo.

When Pei Rumo received the information, night had already fallen.

He brought along the cloth and knocked on Bai Luochu’s door. He planned to discuss their next move.

"Your soldiers are rather capable." Bai Luochu looked at the piece of fabric and praised them.

They were soldiers he personally trained and Pei Rumo was feeling rather proud after Bai Luochu’s praise. Even so, he kept his expression hidden. He replied humbly, "They are getting increasingly bold. They should have captured all of the enemies before making their report.”

Bai Luochu glanced at the fabric and fell into deep contemplation. When Pei Rumo saw Bai Luochu's expression, he thought that there was a problem. "Is there something wrong with this piece of cloth?"

Bai Luochu shook her head. She felt that the piece of cloth was extremely familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

"It’s nothing. However, I think I have seen this type of fabric somewhere before. Whatever the case, we need to pay extra attention and make plans for the worst case scenario seeing as there is another group of experts in the Desolate Region.”

"Make plans for the worst case scenario?" Pei Rumo truly wasn't able to imagine Bai Luochu’s ‘worst case scenario’.

"We need to assume that there are other factions with their eyes on the Desolate Region. We need to move with the assumption that they have already noticed us and are waiting to make a move.”

The air turned stale after Bai Luochu spoke. After a moment, Bai Luochu probed, "I have a suggestion. I wonder if Your First Highness would like to listen to me?"

"You can speak your mind. There are no secrets between us." They had been working together for such a long time and there was nothing they would hide from each other. There was no need to be so reserved when talking to each other.

"Why don't we expand the scouting range to the entire Desolate Region? As long as we encounter someone, we will make a record of the unique traits of their attire. We will be able to note down every faction who has their eyes on the Desolate Region.”

Pei Rumo nodded in response and replied, "Alright. We shall do as you say. I will send a message to the soldiers immediately. They will start to scout out the entire Desolate Region in shifts.”

Receiving Bai Luochu’s confirmation, Pei Rumo returned to his room to notify his soldiers.

Since Bai Luochu had nothing to do, she opened up the map again and divided the Desolate Region into zones. She was planning to split the soldiers into groups so that they would be able to gain a clear understanding of the situation in the Desolate Region.

After dividing everything clearly, Bai Luochu entered a state of cultivation. The situation in the Desolate Region wasn't simple and even if she couldn't be of any help, she wasn’t going to drag everyone down.

The next morning, Lu Wenshu departed from his sect's camp with the objective of getting close to Bai Luochu and Pei Rumo. On the other side, Bai Luochu and Pei Rumo packed up their belongings and were preparing to rendezvous with the soldiers.