Several people arrived at the edge of the cliff. Wu Sheng, whose lightness skill was the best among them, once again dashed down from the cliff.
This time, because the angle was different, he discovered a cave halfway up the mountain, hidden beneath a massive tree whose branches covered the sky.
Although Yang Yunxi and the others had already left, they had lived there for nearly half a month, so it was inevitable that some traces remained.
When everyone followed Wu Sheng to the mountainside, they all blamed themselves for not noticing this place earlier.
Leiting looked around and said, “Where do you think the master is now?”
Feng Ying glanced around, then pointed below the cliff. “Let’s go down and take another look. Since the master didn’t climb up the cliff, he must have gone down. Let’s see if there’s a path below that leads out. If we’re fast, we might still catch up to him.”
With that, the group leaped down again, whooshing straight to the bottom of the cliff.
After repeated observation, they were able to confirm that their master had likely swum out through the small stream.
But no matter how they thought about it, they couldn’t understand why, with their master’s skills, he didn’t just fly up directly and instead chose to swim out through the stream at the bottom of the cliff. This was what puzzled them most.
Without saying much more, they jumped into the stream one after another and swam outward.
At this moment, Nangong An and Yang Yunxi had already been walking along the stream for two days. They had no idea what kind of place this was—it was completely desolate and devoid of people.
Finally, at noon on the third day, they reached the official road. Before stepping onto it, they ate a hearty meal again, because they knew that once they were on the official road, it wouldn’t be so convenient to eat freely anymore.
Yang Yunxi looked at Nangong An and said, “Nangong An, I think we should enter a county town to buy some clothes. Think about it—once we’re on the official road, we can’t keep wearing these. We can’t wear the same set of clothes every day, right?”
“I know. Hurry and pack up. I can hear footsteps getting closer to us,” he replied.
After speaking, he pricked up his ears and listened for a while longer. “This group will be here very soon. Let’s walk slowly. When they catch up to us, we’ll move forward with them.”
Yang Yunxi nodded seriously. “Okay.”
About a quarter of an hour later, the crowd slowly came into view.
Perhaps because of long periods of traveling in the open air, under the scorching summer sun, everyone was tanned dark. Although each person looked sallow and thin, their spirits seemed fairly good.
She thought that these people probably wouldn’t be like the previous group, right?
After all, when people are driven mad by hunger, there’s nothing they wouldn’t do.
Yang Yunxi recalled the horrifying scene the original owner had witnessed of people eating human flesh, and her scalp tingled.
Suddenly, she didn’t want to travel with them anymore.
“Nangong An, later let’s ask them where they’re headed. If they’re also going north, we can travel with them for a while. When we reach a nearby town, we’ll buy a carriage. That will speed things up. I don’t want to stay with them for too long—it’s too dangerous.”
Nangong An recalled how, when they were on the mountainside, she had mentioned the matter of cannibalism. If she hadn’t seen such a terrifying scene, she wouldn’t have fallen off the cliff, and they wouldn’t have met. If they hadn’t met, he probably would have starved to death.
So he was grateful to her—grateful for saving his life.
The leader walking at the front saw them and asked directly, since the more people there were on the refugee road, the better. “Hello, you two. I’m the leader, Lin Hai. Where are you headed? If we’re going the same way, we can travel together.”
Nangong An looked at the middle-aged man and said, “We ran into some trouble earlier and got separated from our group. We don’t even know where we are right now. The two of us, husband and wife, are heading north.”
When the middle-aged man heard this, although they weren’t going to the same destination, part of the route overlapped, so he said, “Our group is heading south, but we all have to pass through Nanling City. If you don’t mind, you can travel with us. It’s safer when everyone looks out for each other.”
In the end, they smoothly joined the back of the group.
“Mother, how much longer until we reach Uncle’s home in Nanling City? Ling’er’s feet are about to give out,” a hopeful voice came from a little girl.
The woman walking beside her replied, “Ling’er, hang on a little longer. In another two or three days, we should arrive.”
When Ling’er heard that it would only take two or three more days, she became so excited she almost jumped. “Mother, as long as we’re together, Ling’er isn’t afraid of hardship or exhaustion.”
Hearing her daughter’s words, the woman burst into tears.
Listening to their conversation reminded Yang Yunxi of the original owner’s parents.
She wondered where they were now.
They were probably searching for her frantically.
After all, she was their precious treasure.
“Nangong An, what kind of place is Nanling City? After we arrive, let’s buy a carriage and drive it ourselves, okay?”
Nangong An touched his empty money pouch. If he went hunting in the mountains over the next few days, he should be able to exchange the game for some silver.
“Alright. I’ll hunt for a couple of days, then sell it and buy a carriage.”
Yang Yunxi moved closer to him and whispered softly, “I have silver—more than ten thousand taels.”
All this silver had been given to her by her mother for self-protection. Each of them had some.
Aside from silver, her father had also given her a wooden token, telling her that as long as she carried it, she could withdraw silver from any Huitong Money House, no matter where she was.
So she wasn’t short on money.
Nangong An said nothing. Deep down, he felt that a man shouldn’t spend a woman’s money, so he intended to earn silver himself.
Thus, they slowly followed the group forward. When night fell, they chose a relatively wide open area to set up camp.
After each family picked a place to settle, the men were responsible for gathering firewood, while the women and children cooked.
Yang Yunxi observed all afternoon. This refugee group was relatively united.
All the grain and water were placed on a single donkey cart, and the men took turns pulling it.
Although everyone was eating their own food, being able to stay united at such a critical time was already rare.
If the previous refugee group had been like this, the original owner wouldn’t have been separated from her parents.
Yang Yunxi sat quietly alone beneath a large tree, watching their busy figures.
Time passed second by second, and each family’s meal was soon ready.
“Sister, here—have a wild vegetable cornbread,” a little girl’s voice interrupted Yang Yunxi’s thoughts.
She looked at the little girl holding out the cornbread and felt deeply grateful.
At a time like this, when no family had extra food, someone who was still willing to share their own was truly rare.
“Little sister, I’m already full. Thank you. I have food too,” she said. As she spoke, she reached into her bundle—though in reality, she took two fairly firm mixed-grain steamed buns directly from the supermarket in her space.
She took out two large ones and handed them to the little girl. “Little sister, thank you. This is from big sister. Take it back and share it with your grandma, okay?”
Yang Yunxi had also noticed that it was just the little girl and her grandmother, one old and one young. Although they were being looked after by everyone, they must have suffered a great deal.
The first night passed peacefully.
At dawn the next morning, everyone set off again without even eating breakfast, each person holding the leftover cornbread from the night before as they marched toward the rising sun.
They were still walking at the back, eating soft mixed-grain buns as they followed the group forward.
After traveling all day yesterday, Yang Yunxi had entered her space to take a bath while everyone was asleep, so now she felt clean and refreshed.
The other refugees weren’t as fortunate. They hadn’t washed or cleaned themselves for ten days or even half a month.
So as Yang Yunxi followed at the back of the group, what reached her nose was a sour, unpleasant smell.