Having seen this younger brother's identity was not questioned by the eldest brother, Mo Jiuye went ahead and explained.
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, years ago you were tricked by the southern border people on the battlefield..."
Mo Jiuye gave a brief account of what happened.
Upon hearing that the Mohist men had suffered so much misfortune for no reason, and the Mohist family was ordered by Emperor Shunwu to have their family assets seized and be exiled, Second Brother was immediately furious, the veins on his forehead bulging.
He clenched his fist and smashed it heavily onto the stone bed.
A muffled boom rang out inside the cave, and the stone bed instantly cracked and shattered.
Second Brother nimbly leapt up from the broken bed and landed steadily on the ground. Angrily he said,
"These scoundrels! My Mohist men were utterly loyal to Great Shun, but in the end we were reduced to this!"
As he spoke, he glanced down at himself again - calling his appearance half-naked would be too generous.
If not for his face being kept filthy from years of captivity here, the blush spreading across it now would surely be visible, red as a baboon's bottom.
Mo Jiuye had witnessed Second Brother's temper flare like this many times already.
By comparison, Eldest Brother was much calmer.
"Sixth Younger Brother, Ninth Younger Brother, you just said our father suffered the same fate as us brothers, and you still haven't found his whereabouts?"
"Mm. We'll go out and search for him right away. If all goes well, Father should be nearby."
As Mo Jiuye spoke, he was already striding towards the cave exit.
He had observed that despite being under the puppet worm's control, Eldest and Second Brother were luckily kept fed by Mr. Si Meng, so their bodies seemed fairly healthy.
Especially Second Brother - his inner power was as strong as ever, able to smash through such a thick stone slab in one blow.
Just then, Second Brother also regained his senses. He had indeed lost control of his emotions for a moment there. After venting them out, his rationality instantly returned.
"Let's search separately," he said.
Hearing Ninth Younger Brother's words, he realized that he and Eldest Brother must have been living here for quite some time. Yet he was completely unfamiliar with the surroundings here, having no memories at all.
Of course, that was to be expected - under the puppet worm's control they had no consciousness of their own, so how could they be familiar with the environment?
As they passed by Third Older Brother and the others, Eldest and Second Brother simply nodded in greeting. After all, the most urgent task now was to find their father's whereabouts.
Seeing his brothers all heading out to search, Third Older Brother felt increasingly anxious.
"Ninth Younger Brother, is there really no way for me to stand up?"
He had just tried focusing his energy, and his legs didn't feel as limp anymore. But getting to his feet was still difficult.
Mo Jiuye knew Third Older Brother was anxious. He reassured, "Third Older Brother, you all just rest here. Once we find Father we'll come back here right away."
Third Older Brother knew that no matter how impatient he felt, it would be futile. He could only reluctantly nod, "Alright, we'll wait here."
No one knew what they might encounter on this search.
And whether their father really was at the Sixth Mountain Ridge was still uncertain.
Where Third Older Brother and the others had collapsed unconscious by the lake, their scattered packages remained. Mo Jiuye knew those likely contained food and other items, so before leaving he gathered all the packages and brought them back for Third Older Brother, and also filled up a waterskin.
Luckily Third Older Brother and the others' packages contained spare clothes, so now Eldest and Second Brother didn't have to awkwardly expose themselves.
The two quickly changed into fresh outfits and followed Mo Jiuye and Mo Jinnian out of the cave to search for their father.
The Sixth Mountain Ridge was very large in area, and the open space in front of the lake was also sizable.
The clearing was surrounded by mountains and forest, with lush, densely foliated vegetation that obscured the view beyond if one did not push aside obstructing branches and thorns.
With the experience of entering this area before, Mo Jiuye dared not let the elder brothers wander too far apart from himself.
How could this place of Mr. Si Meng's possibly lack toxins?
He worried if the brothers separated and happened to encounter something poisonous, he wouldn't make it in time to rescue them.
That would be a most unworthy trade - saving one only to lose another.
Thus, when the elder brothers proposed splitting up to cover more ground, he firmly refused, clearly explaining his reason was to prevent everyone from getting poisoned.
Just as Mo Jiuye expected, in another direction they discovered the same type of poison barrier they had passed through to enter the Sixth Mountain Ridge's center.
Passing through the barrier, they were met with the same rainbow frogs, followed by scorpions.
This confirmed that the path ahead likely led to the Seventh Mountain Ridge.
Mr. Si Meng had set these obstacles to prevent intruders coming from the direction of the Seventh Mountain Ridge.
Mo Jiuye decisively gave up on that path.
"Elder brothers, let's head back and search the other directions."
While Mo Jiuye's judgment made sense to him, it wasn't so clear to the others.
"Ninth Younger Brother, this area looks completely different. Why should we search the other directions?"
Mo Jiuye pointed back the way they had come. "The obstacles here are the same as when we first entered the Sixth Mountain Ridge center. In all likelihood, just past here is the Seventh Mountain Ridge, not far away. That old fox is a top-class poison master, he must have full confidence in his toxins. In his mind, no one could possibly intrude upon the Sixth Mountain Ridge clearing and leave alive. So he had no need to create two sets of barriers. The ones we just passed must be to prevent entry from this direction."
Sixth Elder Brother had the most interaction with Mo Jiuye, so he knew Ninth Younger Brother was far smarter than himself. Hearing Mo Jiuye's explanation, he was the most convinced.
"What Ninth Younger Brother says makes sense. Eldest Brother, Second Brother, let's listen to Ninth Younger and head back."
Eldest and Second Brother's impressions of Mo Jiuye still lingered from when he was 16 or 17. Facing such a clever and wise younger brother now felt somewhat unfamiliar.
However, Ninth Younger Brother's words did seem reasonable.
"Alright, we'll listen to Ninth Younger and go back for now."
Returning to the open space, the sky had gradually darkened.
But the brothers showed no intention of giving up the search.
Eldest and Second Brother found some thick wooden staffs, while Sixth Elder Brother used flint to light them as makeshift torches so they could continue searching the surroundings.
Just as the moon began to rise, a sudden roar of a tiger came from behind the brothers.
They halted in their tracks, with Mo Jiuye and Sixth Elder Brother already grasping their daggers.
In the blink of an eye, a vividly striped fierce tiger bounded towards them.
Accustomed to protecting their younger siblings since their youth, Eldest and Second Brother's instinct was to place themselves between the tiger and Mo Jiuye and Mo Jinnian.
