The group set off again, locked onto the direction ahead and did not change course. They crossed mountains and ridges as if walking on flat ground, moving in a straight line.
Looking at the direction of travel, Yu Qing gradually became expressionless. His gaze grew deep once more as he trudged forward numbly.
Tie Miaoqing, walking beside him, occasionally glanced at him. She gradually sensed something unusual in his demeanour and asked, “What is wrong? You seem preoccupied. Are you afraid I will go back on my word?”
Only one fire cricket remained. She did not want any mishaps now.
Deep down Yu Qing still wanted to get closer to the beautiful woman. A smile instantly appeared on his face. “Nothing much. I am just a bit tired. My cultivation is not high. You understand.”
So Tie Miaoqing reached out again and pulled his arm. “Since we have already set off, just hold on a little longer. Once we reach the place you can rest properly. Resting in a cave is better than out in the open.”
“Mm.” Yu Qing nodded. Yet merely having the beautiful woman’s hand holding his arm felt insufficient. His mind wandered. He wondered what it would feel like to hold this woman in his arms.
Just moments after the group set off again, another group emerged flying from the Ancient Xiao Old Forest.
A group dressed in black tight-fitting clothes. It was none other than the Jianyuan Zhai party.
Their numbers had dwindled by more than half. From over thirty people, only a dozen or so remained, each one in a sorry state. Some were even in tattered clothes, covered in wounds.
The leader, Steward Cui You, fared no better. Several parallel bloody gashes crossed his chest, almost as if he had been gutted.
Clearly the group had encountered some disaster.
Seeing the hordes of Single-Horned Mountain Xiao behind them no longer pursuing, Cui You immediately led the way to land and stop. He leaned against a large mountain rock, gasping for breath without pause.
His dozen or so panting subordinates quickly took out wound medicine and helped apply it to one another.
Wu Kuang, limping, also took out high-quality golden sore medicine and approached Cui You. While applying it he panted heavily, “Steward, that was truly close this time. We nearly all perished in the Ancient Xiao Old Forest.”
As the medicine touched the wound, Cui You’s face twitched in pain. After drawing in a sharp breath, he straightened his chest with the torn flesh exposed and slowly said to the sky, “The ‘non-demon monsters’ here truly live up to their reputation. Fortunately the grand steward gave us that token before we left, just in case. I never expected it would actually come in handy.”
Wu Kuang asked curiously, “What token was that?”
Cui You chuckled, “From Qixia Mountain. The grand steward has some connection with the son of the old demon of Qixia and received a token from him. Now it seems these local ‘non-demon monsters’ dare disregard the face of Youjiao Port but do not dare refuse the old demon of Qixia.”
Wu Kuang clicked his tongue, “Looks like those ‘non-demon monsters’ still do not know the old demon of Qixia was already killed by the Earth Mother.”
Cui You said, “They avoid contact with the outside world and have poor information flow. It is normal they do not know. But on the other hand, it is precisely because they did not know that we managed to survive. Surviving a great calamity means good fortune awaits!”
He looked ahead, raised his hand to signal, “Continue the journey!”
“This…” Wu Kuang glanced back at the exhausted and wounded state of everyone and said awkwardly, “Steward, everyone is this injured and tired. Let us rest first.”
Cui You glared, “Do you think I am not injured or tired? At this point you must have realised we are tracking a group of people. I will be frank with you. We must catch up to them before they leave the ancient deadlands. Once they reach the outside world variables become too great. If any mistake occurs the grand steward will not forgive us!”
“Yes.” Wu Kuang forced a bitter smile and agreed. Then he went to rally the extremely unwilling group to set off again.
Yet this time they did not travel far before stopping again.
They had spotted another conspicuous marker: a small stone placed on a larger one.
Wu Kuang circled the pattern on the stone and said strangely, “Steward, this diagram is different from the previous ones. What does the square framing the arrow mean? Did our people leave this?”
Cui You pondered, “The arrow tells us the direction. The square framing the arrow is telling us to stop tracking.” He turned to look back toward the Ancient Xiao Old Forest and sighed with a wry smile, “I think I understand how we got ambushed. We probably moved too fast. The people we are tracking were likely just ahead of us not long ago. The Single-Horned Mountain Xiao they disturbed had not yet calmed down, so we crashed right into them. It seems they left here not long ago. If we hurry a bit more we might end up face-to-face with them!”
“…” Wu Kuang was speechless for a moment. After a while he pieced it together. He very much wanted to say he had suggested resting earlier but Cui You refused and insisted on rushing. In the end he did not dare voice it. He hesitated, “We have chased this long. Stop tracking now? Then when do we resume?”
Cui You said, “Since he left this intention he will naturally give us an explanation. Everyone is exhausted anyway. Rest on the spot. We can rest now.”
The group, already worn out beyond endurance, immediately collapsed in a heap upon hearing this.
In a basin amid the mountains, vines covered a cave entrance within the basin. Unless one knew in advance there was a cave here it would be hard to spot.
The Miaoqing Hall group stopped at this place. This was the other underground entrance where they had previously discovered fire crickets.
Yu Qing did not rest immediately. Instead he asked Cheng Shanping and Zhu Shangbiao to prepare first by going to cut trees.
After the two left to carry out the task, Yu Qing asked Tie Miaoqing to take him ahead to see the end of the passage first. Sun Ping stayed behind to watch over the two burdens Xu Fei and Chong’er. She watched the pair disappear into the passage holding a portable oil lamp.
Chong’er, who had also watched them disappear, suddenly asked timidly, “Shopkeeper Sun, once Young Master Shi Heng catches one more fire cricket can we leave the ancient deadlands?”
Sun Ping smiled, “Yes.”
Expectation shone in Chong’er’s eyes. He had grown thoroughly tired of being dragged by the arm and rushed about everywhere.
Xu Fei also hoped everything would go smoothly. Yet Cheng Shanping’s attitude toward Yu Qing filled him with hidden worry. He feared whether Cheng Shanping would truly keep his promise and return Yu Qing’s belongings. He had personally seen Yu Qing kill two demons for twenty jin of spiritual rice, one of them a Xuan-level demon cultivator.
That fellow dared risk his life for two thousand taels of silver. Among the items Cheng Shanping took was a single bottle of Xuan-level demon dew worth ten thousand taels. He truly dared not imagine what Yu Qing might do for over ten thousand taels.
He hoped he was overthinking it.
His worry was not baseless. Just a short while ago he vaguely noticed something off in the way Yu Qing looked at Cheng Shanping. The key was that he had seen a similar look in Yu Qing’s eyes before. Back when Yu Qing hid in the tree hollow preparing to shoot and kill that demon cultivator his eyes had shown that same ruthless intent, as if ready to strike hard.
Deep in the passage, far from the entrance, a lone lamp flickered in the darkness. The sparse sound of footsteps echoed clearly in the quiet.
As he walked beside the woman holding the lone lamp Yu Qing suddenly spoke, “Boss lady, there is something I would like to ask.”
Tie Miaoqing’s attitude toward him was now quite good. She replied readily, “What is it?”
Yu Qing asked, “Is the task released by Youya this time truly just three fire crickets?”
Tie Miaoqing said, “Of course. I would not get that wrong. It is exactly three.”
Yu Qing said, “No, you misunderstood. What I mean is, does Youya only accept three fire crickets for this task?”
“Yes, only three.” Tie Miaoqing answered seriously and curiously added, “Is something wrong?”
Yu Qing asked, “What if several teams all manage to collect three fire crickets?”
Tie Miaoqing explained in detail, “Youya said three, so it is three. No less, no more. Fewer does not count. More will not be accepted. Whoever finds three first and brings them back completes the task. The task ends there. Others who find them later have worked in vain. It all depends on who finishes first.”
Yu Qing nodded thoughtfully and asked again, “How many shops in Youjiao Port accepted this task?”
Tie Miaoqing thought for a moment and said slowly, “Hard to say. Youya only posts the task. It does not force any shop to accept or refuse. Those willing simply bring back the three fire crickets mentioned in the task. There is no formal acceptance process. So I do not know exactly how many shops took it. From what I know might come perhaps around twenty or so. How many actually came I cannot be sure.”
Yu Qing said, “In other words, other shops from Youjiao Port have people here too.”
Tie Miaoqing smiled, “That is certain.”
“You are working so hard now. Are you not afraid someone has already completed the task and returned?”
“Whether anyone has returned I do not know. I only focus on doing my best to find them and bring mine back as quickly as possible. The rest can only be left to fate.”
“If other teams learn someone else finished first, robbery becomes possible. I am not wrong in understanding that, right?”
“Correct. If that situation truly arises robbery would be normal. But you must know the ancient deadlands are vast, no smaller than your entire Lie Province. The chance of two shops’ groups running into each other is extremely slim.”
Yu Qing lowered his head slightly, stared at the ground ahead, and walked on in silence.
They continued walking quietly like this for quite some time. Suddenly the oil lamp flame flickered oddly.
Yu Qing abruptly stopped. He also suddenly reached out and grabbed Tie Miaoqing’s arm.
Tie Miaoqing’s arm instantly stiffened. She was unaccustomed to other men grabbing her like this. To her it felt improper. She quickly swung her arm to shake him off and scolded angrily, “What are you doing?”
The moment Yu Qing grabbed he realised it was wrong. He quickly let go first and hurriedly said, “Do not misunderstand. Stop for a moment. Do not move.”
Tie Miaoqing was puzzled. Then she noticed he was staring at the flame of the oil lamp in her hand. She looked at the lamp, then at him, unsure what was happening, and could not help asking, “What is wrong?”
Yu Qing did not answer. He glanced around, then reached behind him and drew out more than a dozen incense sticks. He lit them together on the lamp flame, stared at the drifting green smoke for a while, and as if thinking of something a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Tie Miaoqing asked again, “What exactly is going on?”
“Perhaps something unclean.” Yu Qing casually brushed it off. Then he took the burning incense and inserted the sticks one by one into the walls on both sides.
Tie Miaoqing now trusted his words quite a bit. Combined with his strange behaviour she quickly scanned the surroundings upon hearing this. Yet with her cultivation she sensed nothing at all. She hurriedly applied Blue Enchantress to her eyelids again. Still she saw no ghosts or spirits. A chill ran down her spine.
After scattering and inserting the incense along both walls Yu Qing acted as if nothing happened and waved his hand, “Let’s go.”
The two continued forward. Yet Tie Miaoqing always felt something cold following behind her. Her whole body felt uneasy. Even the swaying shadows of the lamp seemed to hint at something sinister.