In the dim light, the only sounds in Liu Defu’s ears were the desolate rustling of grass and trees stirred by the wind. When he suddenly saw a dark figure appear on the mountain, he was so startled that his soul nearly left his body.
But when Li Mai turned around, he immediately recognized that the person on the mountain was the one he had come specifically to find.
The tension in his chest instantly eased, replaced by a surge of heartache and guilt. For a moment, he did not know what to say.
His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, yet not a single word came out.
Seeing that the newcomer was not here to snatch food, Li Mai relaxed her guard slightly and continued swinging the hoe in her hand, digging for kudzu roots.
Liu Defu’s heart was already restless because of the matter of fleeing, and he did not even notice that Li Mai had not greeted him as she had before.
Watching Li Mai, completely unaware of the danger closing in, climbing the mountain early in the summer morning just to dig for food to fill her stomach, he felt a pang of sorrow.
If her parents had not passed away, a young girl like her would not have needed to live like this. Perhaps they could even have traveled together.
However, the scene inside the Ancestors Hall surfaced uncontrollably in Liu Defu’s mind.
Most of the villagers believed that the Li family, being outsiders with a different surname and consisting of only three ignorant children, would be nothing but a burden if taken along while fleeing.
Even as the Village Chief, he could not go against the will of the majority.
At this thought, Liu Defu felt as if his heart had been soaked in saltwater, aching intensely and filled with guilt.
But remembering Hunter Li, who had once helped drive away wolves for the village, he still seized a moment to slip away from the departing group and came to deliver the news of war.
“Li Mai! Li Mai!”
Thinking of the urgency of time, Liu Defu no longer cared about propriety and shouted at the top of his lungs.
The anxious voice severely disrupted Li Mai’s mood as she dug for food. She immediately stopped her hoe and turned to look at the figure below the mountain.
Her face was backlit, completely swallowed by the darkness, making her expression impossible to see.
Though she was only a thin figure, against the ink-dark background, she somehow made Liu Defu feel a trace of fear.
It felt as if, if he did not hurry and speak, the consequences awaiting him would be unimaginable.
“The Yue people are attacking. You three siblings should flee quickly!”
When the words “flee quickly” appeared in Li Mai’s mind, she felt extremely puzzled. What was there to run from?
Living in an environment like the Immortal Realm, and with the other “immortals” having no combat ability, it was merely that someone was attacking. If their numbers were not too large, she could handle it herself.
However, before taking action, she still needed to understand the situation clearly.
“How many people do they have?”
“Oh my, they’re mobilizing the entire nation for war. There must be at least tens of thousands. What can a young girl like you do even if you know the number? Listen to me, you three siblings should run quickly. We are about to leave. Do not delay any longer. Once the Yue army breaks through Luming Pass, you will have no way to survive.”
Liu Defu did not understand why Li Mai would ask such a question. As a mere Village Chief, how could he possibly know such details?
But based on the scale of past wars, there had to be at least tens of thousands.
When Li Mai heard the number, her confident expression stiffened for a brief moment, though the darkness concealed it from the Village Chief.
She quickly assessed her own strength. Facing tens of thousands of people would be no different from throwing an egg against a rock.
But to make her abandon a place like the Immortal Realm would be like cutting flesh from her body.
After thinking it over, Li Mai frowned tightly and asked,
“Where are you going to flee to?”
“To the south. I’ve heard that the Lingnan region, guarded by the Prince of Zhennan, has not been breached by foreign enemies for decades. The people there live in peace and stability. We’ve decided to go there and make a living.”
“Is it the same as here?”
“The Lingnan region is filled with miasma, and the heat is unbearable. It definitely cannot compare to our village. But our village is close to the Yue state, and every year there are several wars. This year, they have invaded in full force. No one wants to keep living in fear. Lingnan is more suitable for us to settle down.”
As he spoke, Liu Defu’s face was filled with reluctance.
If not for the incompetence of those above, who repeatedly ceded cities, the location of their village should have been one of the most prosperous areas.
But with the border drawing ever closer and wars becoming more frequent, everyone had no choice but to abandon their homeland.
Hearing this, Li Mai immediately dismissed the thought that had just arisen.
She smiled faintly and stepped on the soft soil beneath her feet, breathing in the rich scent of earth and grass.
Looking into the distance, her eyes were filled with green mountains and flowing waters, layers upon layers of hills carrying fresh, pleasant air, far better than any miasma.
Moreover, just at the foot of one mountain, she had already dug up enough food to last a month, not to mention the sweet and sour wild fruits growing on the ground.
Li Mai felt that she must have lost her mind to even consider fleeing from the Immortal Realm.
In her eyes, every mountain was food. For someone shaped by the apocalypse into a hoarder by nature, abandoning mountains full of food was as absurd as a fantasy.
Even if the enemy had hundreds of thousands of troops, faced with endless mountain ranges and treacherous terrain, only a madman would lead soldiers through here.
And that was precisely her advantage.
Treacherous terrain, endless food, it was practically a natural dwelling tailored for her.
Facing hundreds of thousands would be difficult, but dealing with one or two tigers would be nothing.
With this thought, Li Mai looked at Liu Defu, who kept craning his neck anxiously in the opposite direction, and said,
“Understood.”
“As long as you understand. You three siblings must hurry. According to Liu Quan, who brought the news, the Yue army will likely reach the county by tomorrow morning. The wealthy families in the city have already fled. If you do not leave now, it will be too late. We will go ahead.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Defu turned and ran anxiously, his figure quickly disappearing from Li Mai’s sight.
Li Mai originally intended to continue digging kudzu roots. To her, nothing was more important than food.
But remembering that there were still two people at home, she dug up the remaining roots, tied them tightly, and dragged a bundle about the same size as yesterday back toward home.
By the time she arrived, only a faint glow had appeared on the horizon, and faces could barely be seen within five meters.
She had just set down her harvest when she heard movement inside the house.
The next second, the door opened, and Li Shu appeared.
Seeing the pile of kudzu roots on the ground, taller than himself, Li Shu’s sleepy eyes snapped wide open, and he swallowed in shock.
“You… you didn’t sleep last night and went digging!”
Li Mai had no intention of explaining. She casually washed a root, peeled it quickly, and stuffed the sweet flesh into her mouth.
“Crunch!”
The crisp sound echoed clearly in the quiet yard, making even Li Shu, who was used to skipping breakfast, feel his stomach begin to stir.
After finishing an entire root, Li Mai’s mood improved considerably, and she immediately recounted what had just happened.
“Someone said just now that they are about to flee to the Lingnan region and told us to hurry and run too. The Yue army will reach the county by tomorrow morning.”
“What!”
Li Shu’s mind could not process such overwhelming information. He cried out in disbelief.
War, fleeing, the words spun endlessly in his head. He was only a ten-year-old child, never having faced a choice of survival, and had no idea what to do.
When he realized that the situation meant they had to flee, his entire being became agitated. The tension he had been holding back for days finally snapped.
His lips trembled as they pulled apart, tears burst from his eyes, and with a pale face he shouted,
“Why are you only saying this now! You should have come back and told us immediately. What if we can’t catch up with the group?”
After shouting, Li Shu became frantic.
He rushed into the house and began rummaging through everything, grabbing clothes, silver, pots and pans, anything that might be needed for fleeing, taking everything the house had.
In his haste, he made no effort to keep quiet, and the noise woke Li Qiao in the next room.
She glanced at the sky outside, not understanding why the house was so noisy so early today.
But thinking of their situation, it was better to get up early and start working.
When Li Qiao stepped out of her room, what she saw was her eldest sister standing calmly in the yard, and her brother rummaging through their parents’ room.
The stark contrast left her at a loss. She nervously looked back and forth before finally asking,
“Eldest Sister, what’s wrong with Second Brother?”
Before Li Mai could answer, Li Shu had already rushed out with a bundle so large it nearly covered his head, shouting urgently,
“Little sister! Hurry and pack. The villagers are all fleeing. If we want to survive, we must catch up with them quickly!”
The sudden explosive news stunned Li Qiao. She stood frozen, unable to move.
Seeing this, Li Shu felt both worried and helpless. His pent-up anger turned toward Li Mai, who remained completely unaffected.
“You should have run back home and told us the moment you heard the news. Why were you digging kudzu roots? Are kudzu roots more important than our lives?”
“If we don’t eat, we will starve to death.”
Li Mai curled her lips slightly and answered his foolish question.
Faced with his powerless rage, she did not hesitate to tear away the final layer of illusion. With a cold smile, she said,
“If he wanted to take you with them, he would have told you yesterday.”
Those words were like the last rope snapping in the hands of someone on the verge of falling into the abyss.
The moment she finished speaking, Li Shu seemed to lose all strength and collapsed to his knees. The clothes, longbow, and silver he had been holding scattered across the ground.
The tears he had been holding back surged out, blurring everything before his eyes.
In truth, when Li Mai spoke, Li Shu had already recalled the unusual atmosphere at the Ancestors Hall the day before.
But what he had not expected was that, after being abandoned by his parents and eldest sister, now even the village that had always taken care of them was abandoning them as well.
Perhaps they truly were what others called ill-fated stars, bringing misfortune to anyone who treated them well.
A deathly aura seemed to envelop Li Shu, snapping Li Qiao out of her daze.
She rushed over anxiously, dropped to her knees, and held him tightly, calling out in worry,
“Second Brother! Second Brother! What’s wrong?”
Receiving no response, Li Qiao immediately turned to Li Mai as if grasping her last support, asking urgently,
“Eldest Sister, what should we do now? Second Brother… he…”
Li Mai had not forgotten her promise. Looking at Li Shu, who had lost all will to survive, and Li Qiao, who was filled with anxiety, she slowly said,
“If you both want to follow the village to Lingnan, I can take you to catch up with them. What happens after that will depend on your own abilities.”
“Eldest Sister, what about you?” Li Qiao asked in confusion.