Seeing that the newcomers meant trouble, Qi Yanxuan lowered the grain from his shoulder.
“Or what? You’re going to kill me?” Qi Yanxuan stared at the three men across from him as if they were already corpses.
The three exchanged a glance and moved in to kill him and seize the grain. But the moment they took a step, a vine plunged into the chest of the burly one among them.
It turned out that as soon as the three made their move, Qi Yanxuan had already activated his wood-element ability, controlling the Bloodthirsty Vine to pierce the big man’s chest.
The instant the Bloodthirsty Vine pierced the man’s chest, it began frantically devouring his blood. In no time at all, the man was reduced to a withered husk of a corpse.
Seeing their boss turned into a dried corpse, the other two were scared out of their wits and turned to flee.
How could Qi Yanxuan let these two men who had wanted to kill him escape? In an instant, he activated his lightning ability and released two bolts of lightning. Before they could even open their mouths to scream, the two were shocked unconscious.
He then let the Bloodthirsty Vine drain both men of their blood, tossed the three dried corpses into his spatial storage, shouldered the grain, and left the alley.
Not a single drop of blood remained in the alley, as if no one had ever been there at all.
On the way back, he came across a steamed bun vendor and used the ten taels of silver Shen Yanqing had given him to buy twelve meat buns, the price had already climbed to five wen apiece.
When he returned to the group, he found a visibly anxious Shen Yanshan.
It turned out that everyone else who had gone to buy grain had returned long ago. With Qi Yanxuan still not back, the Shen father and son had grown a little worried.
Now, seeing him return, they all hurried forward to meet him.
Shen Yanshan quickly unloaded the grain from Qi Yanxuan’s shoulder to lighten his load.
“Child, why did you take so long? Everyone came back ages ago. Did you run into trouble?” Shen Yanshan asked, his face full of concern.
“No, I just stopped to buy some things. Where’s Big Brother Shen? Isn’t he back yet?” Qi Yanxuan asked in confusion, not spotting Shen Yanqing anywhere in the crowd.
Just as the words left his mouth, Shen Yanqing and Shen Kui returned, one behind the other.
Seeing that Qi Yanxuan was back, Shen Yanqing immediately let out a breath of relief. After thanking Shen Kui, he walked over to Qi Yanxuan.
“Where did you go? I finished buying the rice and went to that rice shop at the corner, but you weren’t there.”
“I bought the grain, then went around the other way to get meat buns!” With that, he handed the oil-paper package and the seven taels of silver to Shen Yanqing.
Shen Yanqing took the oil-paper package but not the silver. “You keep the silver.”
“It’s good that everyone’s here. It’s almost dark. Since we’re in the city, let’s find an inn to rest. Traveling at night isn’t safe. We’ll gather at the city gate tomorrow morning.” The village chief’s family of five headed off first.
Laifu Inn
By the time the three arrived, only one room was left. They went up to the room together.
Shen Yanqing took out the buns Qi Yanxuan had given him, then pulled another oil-paper package from his robes and handed it over. “I bought this for you.”
Qi Yanxuan opened the oil-paper package. Hmm? Dried meat? So that day, he’d thought I wanted to eat dried meat. He usually looks like a block of wood, but he’s actually pretty thoughtful. Qi Yanxuan thought to himself, though none of it showed on his face.
He simply lifted his head and gave Shen Yanqing a sweet smile. “Thank you, Big Brother Shen!”
After they ate, the three of them all turned in for the night.
The next day, at the third quarter of the Mao hour
Once everyone had gathered, they left the city. Today, the refugee column had grown even larger.
Because they had set out late before, the city’s other refugees had already gone on ahead, so their column had numbered just over a thousand people.
Today, part of Yuncheng’s populace was also streaming out of the city with their families in tow, fleeing the famine. From a distance, the crowd looked to be nearly ten thousand strong.
“Later we’ll fill everything that can hold water. We have to cross a desert in the coming days without water, it’ll cost us our lives,” Shen Kui reminded everyone.
Hearing this, everyone brought out their water buckets from home and headed to the river in pairs.
Ten thousand people entering this boundless desert, who knows how many will die here, Qi Yanxuan thought, though his feet never stopped following the crowd.
Walking under the blazing sun in the desert was sheer torture. Even the adults could barely endure it, let alone the elderly, pregnant women, and children in the group.
The old people hobbled forward on their canes, pregnant women gritted their teeth and pressed on with hands on their bellies, and small children walked beside their parents, their little faces sunburned bright red.
Everyone marched forward with determination, everyone embodying the longing for life.
After walking all morning, everyone’s pace slowed. The sand also created resistance for the carts. Seeing Shen Yanqing drenched in sweat from exhaustion, Qi Yanxuan took over the cart. “Brother Shen, take a rest. The desert isn’t like the main roads, it’s hard going. Let me push.”
Shen Yanqing didn’t refuse, and took the backpack from Qi Yanxuan’s back.
Qi Yanxuan was, after all, a superpower user, so pushing the cart took hardly any effort at all.
As the group pressed on, the sun gradually sank westward, and the main body of travelers began finding spots to settle in for the night.
Kaoshan Village found a small wind-sheltered slope, and every household began laying out their bedding. The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was around 40 degrees as hot as it was by day, it was just as cold at night.
After laying out their bedding, everyone ate a hasty meal and went to sleep.
Just past midnight.
Qi Yanxuan heard a rustling sound and instantly woke up. Opening his eyes, he saw that Shen Yanqing was awake too. The two exchanged a glance and walked toward the source of the noise.
Just as they got close, they heard a chorus of screams. Not far away, a group of people were covered in a dense swarm of scorpions.
At this sight, Shen Yanqing’s scalp went numb. Grabbing Qi Yanxuan, he turned and ran back.
Back at the camp, the two struck the gong to wake everyone. “Wake up! Scorpions! Grab your things and run!”
After rousing everyone, the two hurriedly packed up. Seeing Qi Yanxuan pulling the cart, Shen Yanqing stepped forward to pull it with him, each holding one handle as they hauled Shen Yanshan along at a sprint.
Hearing the gong and then the cries about scorpions, everyone swiftly picked up their belongings and followed, running.
The other groups heard the commotion and quickly packed up as well, and the scene descended into chaos.