After Bateer came to his senses, he quickly put away the look on his face just now and continued to look obediently waiting.
Seeing this, Wei Ying let out an almost inaudible snort before continuing, "Last night, this king had people prepare something. By now, they should have got everything ready. I wonder if you're ready?"
Bateer immediately nodded and said he was ready.
Only then did Wei Ying gesture behind him. Subsequently, Wei Yi actually walked out of the crowd.
Chu Qing raised her eyebrows. She suddenly felt that this assessment should be quite interesting.
Sure enough, after Wei Yi walked out, a meaningful smile played on Wei Ying's lips as he began to speak, "For martial arts, a competition is usually needed. But this king thinks that a simple martial - arts contest is a bit boring. So, this king has decided to see if your strategy matches your martial prowess. As for how to compete, it's very simple. You and this king's subordinate, Wei Yi, will go to Kaze Mountain behind us. On the mountain, this king has already ordered eight flags to be planted. After you two get ready, you'll go up the mountain together and must come down when the sun sets. Whoever... has more flags in hand wins." Saying this, Wei Ying turned to look at Bateer and asked, "So, are you up for it?"
Bateer frowned slightly and nervously bit the tender flesh inside his mouth as he said, "Your Highness, King of Ning, to be honest, Kaze Mountain is not small. It's already noon, and there are at most two hours until sunset. I think it's really difficult to search for the flags on the mountain in just two hours."
Wei Ying smiled and said, "Don't worry. This king won't let you two search blindly. This king has some hints."
Hearing there were hints, Bateer's tense body gradually relaxed.
"The hint... is the five - element and eight - trigrams theory. You can figure it out on your own. Now you can go up the mountain." Wei Ying hooked the corner of his lips and slowly spoke each word.
After hearing this, Wei Yi immediately turned around and rushed towards Kaze Mountain.
Although Bateer was a bit confused, seeing the figure that disappeared in an instant, he didn't care if he understood or not. With a whoosh, Bateer followed up unwilling to be outdone.
Chu Qing watched the two disappearing figures. She looked at Wei Ying in confusion and then whispered, "Who do you think will win?"
Wei Ying leaned closer to Chu Qing and whispered back, "Wei Yi."
"Huh???" Chu Qing was even more puzzled.
Seeing Chu Qing's expression, Wei Ying began to explain, "Since Wei Yi joined the Pohuang, he has been exposed to this... kind of training, and he knows me very well."
"Then aren't you being unfair? Bullying poor Bateer?" Chu Qing pouted discontentedly and gave Wei Ying a sideways look.
Seeing Chu Qing defending Bateer, although Wei Ying felt a bit jealous, he still continued to explain, "This time, Wei Yi won't be able to figure it out easily. Kaze Mountain... is different from many mountains in the Great Yan. Even compared with the few other mountains on the grassland, it's rather peculiar."
"Oh?" Chu Qing raised her eyebrows with great interest.
"Do you want to go and take a look?" Wei Ying propped his chin up with his hand and looked at Chu Qing with doting eyes.
Chu Qing grinned, propped herself up with Wei Ying's help, and then said, "Let's go!"
Wei Ying chuckled softly, took Chu Qing's hand in his own, led a horse over, and the two were ready to go up the mountain.
...
Since the beginning part of Kaze Mountain was relatively flat, they could ride a horse for a while.
Chu Qing was held in Wei Ying's arms. Even though the mountain road was relatively flat, there was still some jolting. But nestled in Wei Ying's arms, she sat very steadily.
"Can you tell me how you placed those eight flags?" Chu Qing looked at the overlapping woods on both sides of the mountain road and asked curiously.
"Generally speaking, Qian represents the sky, Kun the earth, Zhen the thunder, Xun the wind, Kan the water, Li the fire, Gen the mountain, and Dui the marsh. In the past, I've always used these to set the positions. But this time, I've chosen another theory. Qian represents the head, Kun the abdomen, Zhen the feet, Xun the thighs, Kan the ears, Li the eyes, Gen the hands, and Dui the mouth." Wei Ying explained it to Chu Qing word by word.
Since she knew that Wei Ying was proficient in the art of divination at the Prince Ning's Mansion, she had started to study it in depth in her spare time. Although... she still hadn't quite grasped it, when Wei Ying said these things, she wasn't completely at a loss.
"Head, abdomen, feet, thighs, ears, eyes, hands, mouth... It would be easy if it were on a person. But this is a mountain..."
Hearing this, Wei Ying took out a map from his bosom and handed it to Chu Qing.
Chu Qing took it and looked down at it seriously.
Kaze Mountain ran from north to south.
The highest peak was right at the northernmost part.
Then, Chu Qing squinted her eyes. She seemed to have discovered something.
The outline of the mountain seemed to look like a "person"???
The highest peak was clearly the head of the person.
Then the limbs could also be vaguely seen.
"The positions of the flags are... these places?"
Saying this, Chu Qing stretched out her finger and gently pointed out several places.
Wei Ying smiled, stroked Chu Qing's head, and praised, "Sure enough, my Qingqing is so smart. A little hint and you understand."
Being praised so dotingly, Chu Qing smiled shyly. She couldn't help it. In front of Wei Ying, she felt that she was becoming more and more delicate.
But...
It was thanks to Wei Ying's hint. Otherwise, she would never have thought in this direction.
Moreover, the distances weren't short.
If the two of them got the right idea, perhaps two hours would be about right.
The fear was that the two of them... would still be wandering around confused even after getting the hint.
Wei Yi might be better, but Bateer...
Forget it, it's up to their own abilities!
After the two walked for a while, it was no longer suitable to ride a horse. They tied the horse under a big tree and prepared to walk up the mountain on foot.
"Come on, I'll take you to see the nearest flag and see if either of them has discovered and taken it."
The nearest one...
The place where they entered the mountain was approximately at the waist and abdomen, so... it was closest to the place represented by Kun.
"That's not right. There are a total of eight flags. The positions of Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, and Gen correspond to feet, thighs, ears, eyes, hands... These should come in pairs..."
"We entered from the east side, and everything is based on the east side."
"Tsk, you're really considerate of them, saving them from running too far."
"This king has always been kind - hearted."
Seeing Wei Ying puff out his chest and raise his chin, Chu Qing couldn't help but shake her head with a laugh.
Her Prince Ning really couldn't stand too much praise!
As they got closer to the place, the two of them tacitly stopped talking and lightened their steps at the same time.
They were afraid of making a sound and alerting Wei Yi or Bateer.
Soon, Wei Ying led Chu Qing to the place.
What came into view was a towering tree.
And under the tree was a bare big rock.
Wei Ying tilted his head, squinted his eyes, and said leisurely, "The flag here has already been taken by someone."
Hearing this, Chu Qing lifted her foot and was about to go closer to take a look.
Who would have thought that before she could take a step, she was grabbed by the hand by Wei Ying and pulled back.
Chu Qing frowned slightly and was just about to speak when she was stunned by what she saw.
It turned out that after Wei Ying pulled Chu Qing back, he casually picked up a stone that was neither too big nor too small, then threw it towards the small path beside the tree. Immediately afterwards...
The stone was immediately hung in mid - air by a hidden rope.