Chapter 138

Chapter 138

The scent the snow fox had left behind last night was still fresh, and there were bloodstains too.

For the two dogs, this was much easier than trying to pick out the faint traces of scent left on Ji Yan’an and the others.

So they followed the blood trail for the entire morning.

Song Jin was honestly impressed.

“Can a fox that tiny really run this far?”

And while injured, no less. Wasn’t it afraid of bleeding itself dry?

Jiang Yunsui was just as amazed.

The little fox was still lying weakly in her arms.

In truth, if it hadn’t found Jiang Yunsui last night, it probably would have died.

“Woof, woof…”

Zuozuo Youyou stopped.

Song Jin said, “Is this the place?”

He went to check the bloodstains on the ground, as well as the footprints around them.

The footprints were very shallow. If you weren’t paying attention, you would never find them.

“Zuozuo Youyou, come smell this. Follow this scent and track it.”

“Woof, woof…”

Jiang Yunsui felt like her stomach had gone completely flat from hunger.

But she didn’t complain about being tired or hungry.

If they could find Ji Yan’an as soon as possible, that would be best.

“Woof, woof, woof…”

Following Zuozuo Youyou, they arrived at a stretch of woods.

There were very few woods out here, but that didn’t mean there were none at all.

At first, the trees were sparse, but the farther they went, or rather, the higher they climbed, the more trees appeared, and the harder the path became to walk.

This place was actually a cliffside.

“Woof, woof…”

Suddenly, the two dogs began barking loudly.

A bear’s roar came from up ahead.

They had only just been chased by a bear before, so naturally they could recognize the sound of one very easily.

“There seems to be someone over there.”

Jiang Yunsui focused carefully, opening all five senses to their fullest, and could hear sounds from very far away.

Song Jin decided to take the gamble. “Let’s go take a look.”

As they drew closer, the sounds from that direction grew clearer.

“This bear has been starving for so long, so why is its hide still so damn thick?”

There were two people fighting the bear. One attacked from a distance with arrows, while the other held a blade and fought it up close.

In the end, under their joint assault, the bear collapsed unwillingly to the ground.

The two had just breathed a sigh of relief and were about to collect the bear when the sudden barking made them instantly go on guard.

“No way. Did they catch up again?”

Fortunately, the moment Ji Lu saw the two dogs, his eyes widened.

“Zuozuo Youyou?!”

That’s right. The people who had hunted the bear were none other than members of Ji Yan’an’s hidden guard.

“You’re here. Does that mean someone came to look for us?”

Ji Si suddenly moved, using lightness skill to dart in a certain direction.

“Si Si!”

Jiang Yunsui’s cheerful, excited voice rang out.

The next second, Ji Si appeared in front of them.

Song Jin reined in his horse. “I say, can you not show up like a ghost every single time without saying a word? You really do look like one.”

Jiang Yunsui stretched out her little arms, asking to be held.

Ji Si took her into his arms.

Beneath the mask, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

But he was still as silent as ever.

“Si Si, where’s Ji Yan’an?”

Her little head turned this way and that as she looked around.

Ji Lu walked over and slung an arm over Song Jin’s shoulder.

“Song Jin, why is it just you bringing this little milk dumpling here? Where is everyone else?”

Surely only the two of them hadn’t come looking for them, right?

Song Jin said, “We ran into a unit from the Barbarian Army on the way here and got separated.”

“Damn it, those bastards again.”

“Where’s the Young Master? Why didn’t you go back?”

Ji Lu sighed. “We’d have to be able to go back first. We’re already deep in the grasslands. Heiwa is injured and recovering, and with only our group here, we can’t tell directions at all.
“Of course, there’s one more thing, the most important thing. We’ve been targeted by a tribe. The tribe chief took a fancy to Shen Qingzhu and wanted him as a live-in son-in-law. Naturally, he refused, and that’s how we ended up forced into these woods, hiding from their hounds.”

Ji Lu looked at them and, sure enough, saw one shocked expression after another.

Once the shock passed, curiosity and gossip lit up Jiang Yunsui’s big eyes, along with an obvious look urging Ji Lu to hurry up and say more.

Song Jin was interested too. He slung an arm over Ji Lu’s shoulder.

“Good brother, what exactly happened? Tell us all about it.”

Ji Lu was a chatterbox by nature, so he immediately launched into the story.

They kept talking, but their hands and feet did not stop moving. Hauling the dead bear with them, they headed toward the place where Ji Yan’an and the others were.

That day, just as the war was about to end, a traitor emerged from within, and a group of assassins launched a surprise attack on the main camp.

The tent Ji Yan’an had been staying in was burned down.

Fortunately, Ji Yan’an had plenty of schemes up his sleeve, and at critical moments, he was especially vigilant. During that period, he had been changing tents at irregular intervals.

Only his trusted aides knew where he was staying.

So he escaped that fire.

But chaos broke out at the time. Under the assassins’ pursuit, the hidden guard appeared and took Ji Yan’an away.

Fat Chef and the others fled with him as well.

Because of their friendship with the Old Duke, those men naturally had to protect Ji Yan’an as best they could.

And with that one flight, they ended up on the grasslands. The assassins kept hunting them down the whole way.

During another clash, they happened to run into people from a grassland tribe, who helped them out.

They temporarily stayed with that tribe and promised to repay them later with salt, vegetables, and the like.

But unexpectedly, the tribe chief’s daughter took a liking to Shen Qingzhu. Of course, Shen Qingzhu refused.

Those people were completely unreasonable. When persuasion failed, they resorted to force, intending to drug Shen Qingzhu directly and make the deed irreversible.

Shen Qingzhu himself was a miracle doctor, so naturally, he discovered the drug.

In the end, their whole group fled the tribe, and on the way out, they even led off a few horses.

Song Jin asked, “Then is the Young Master all right now?”

“He’s fine, more or less. He just can’t eat much.”

Before Ji Yan’an left, Jiang Yunsui had infused a good deal of Imperial Flowing Essence into his body.

After that, he went to the front lines, and with Shen Qingzhu’s treatment, he had finally managed to sleep a little.

But during this period of fleeing, he had been sleeping less again.

Because they had to stay alert at all times, he was eating very little too.

Ji Lu sighed. “Right now, all we can do is hunt and eat meat. There aren’t any vegetables at all. After so many days of this, forget the Young Master-even we can’t stand it.”

A life of eating only meat and no greens was not pleasant at all.

As they talked, they arrived.

“Woof, woof, woof…”

Zuozuo Youyou had probably caught Ji Yan’an’s scent and started barking excitedly.

Inside the cave, Ji Yan’an perked up when he heard the familiar dog barks.

“Is that Zuozuo and Youyou?”

Fat Chef was just getting ready to start a fire and cook, but without a single vegetable to add, he was worried sick.

“I’ll go take a look.”

Heiwa lay nearby, ears pricking up and tail wagging.

Seeing it like that, Ji Yan’an was basically certain of the guess in his heart.

“Ji Yan’an!”

After Jiang Yunsui confirmed that Ji Yan’an and the others were just ahead, she began shouting.

That little voice of hers was surprisingly powerful.

“Hahaha… So reinforcements really have arrived!”

Fat Chef ran out, his rough laughter filled with excitement.