"Someone! Anyone!"
"Doctor! Alchemist!"
"Come quickly!"
"..."
A series of urgent shouts suddenly pierced through the rain.
Something had happened!
Everyone dropped what they were doing.
Yun Qi, who had been practicing his sword techniques by the river, also stopped and rushed toward the source of the commotion.
Through the trees and the rain, they could vaguely see a group of people rushing in from the south.
Everyone's hearts sank at the sight.
The group was stumbling and crawling, their bodies covered in blood.
Some were even carrying others on their backs.
Two mounts led the way, each the size of a water buffalo.
Yun Qi recognized them—a tiger named Huang Ying and a blue wolf named Bai Wei.
Both belonged to people who lived in the market district year-round.
But now, the mounts were severely injured, their wounds so deep that bone was visible.
It looked as though they had bled dry.
No one was riding them now; instead, several bodies were haphazardly tied to their backs with ropes, like a stack of corpses...
Moreover, the group that had left five days ago was much larger.
Where was Hu Ban? He had been riding a massive mountain python...
Yun Qi had been practicing his sword techniques downstream by the river, but now he used his movement technique to sprint ahead of everyone else.
"Master Cheng!"
Someone spotted Yun Qi and the others coming to help.
Relief washed over them, and they collapsed to the ground.
This seemed to be a signal, as the rest of the group also lost their strength and fell, including the two mounts.
The people tied to their backs were scattered, their condition unknown.
"Take them away quickly! I'll check for any pursuers!"
Yun Qi shouted as he leaped over the wounded and corpses, continuing forward.
Bai Gou'er, his loyal dog, naturally followed, ears perked up, running alongside Yun Qi as they scouted the direction from which the group had come.
After running for a while, Yun Qi kicked off the ground, leaping nearly fifteen meters into the air.
His "Dragon Chariot" appeared beneath his feet, lifting him into the sky as he scanned the surroundings.
After scouting for about ten kilometers, Yun Qi saw no sign of pursuers.
He knew that if the group hadn't been sure they had shaken off their enemies, they wouldn't have returned to the market.
Still, he had to be cautious.
The bloodstains on the ground didn't need to be dealt with—the heavy rain would soon wash them away.
Bai Gou'er barked a few times, signaling that there were no enemies nearby, but also alerting Yun Qi to something else.
Yun Qi descended and found that some of the fleeing people had lost their shoes and armor in their haste.
He picked up these items and called for Bai Gou'er to return to the market.
They arrived at the largest hut—or rather, tent—in the market.
It was constructed using wooden poles and straw mats, connected to the canopies of over a dozen trees to form a massive roof.
The inside of the tent was filled with the smell of blood and medicine.
A row of bodies lay on the ground.
Yun Qi knew that those placed on the ground were already dead, but he hadn't expected so many.
A quick glance revealed over twenty corpses! The entire Seven Mile River Market only had about a hundred permanent residents!
As his eyes swept over the scene, Yun Qi suddenly froze, his gaze fixed on one of the bodies.
It was a young man with thick red hair.
Normally, his hair would be wild and unruly, like a messy bird's nest, but now, soaked by the rain, it clung to his face.
"Brother Lang..."
It was Hu Jinliu!
The young man who had welcomed Yun Qi during a snowstorm now lay here as a cold corpse.
Yun Qi found it hard to believe.
Ever since he had heard that Yun Qi was running a stall in the Seven Mile River Market, this young man had always sought him out whenever he returned from the front lines.
He spent more time in Seven Mile River than in his own assigned district, West River.
Knowing that Yun Qi liked collecting gold ore, he would always bring small pieces he had scavenged from the front lines.
He was a talkative fellow, always sharing stories from the front lines while Yun Qi listened with a smile.
And every time he left, Yun Qi would give him some talismans or enchanted arrows.
But now, this fiery young man lay cold on the ground.
"This time, it wasn't just people from our market. People from various villages and different markets were also caught up in it. When we fled, we all ran together, but we got separated and ended up in mixed groups."
Some of the wounded could still speak.
Seeing Yun Qi standing motionless in front of Hu Jinliu's body, one of them explained.
"What about Uncle Wolf Mountain?"
Yun Qi asked softly.
The man shook his head.
"He was injured. In the chaos, he joined another group. I don't know if he made it out."
"How did things get this bad?"
Yun Qi asked again.
The man glanced around the tent.
Most of the people were here, so he began to explain.
"It was at Rotten Peach Mountain. Cough, cough!"
The man had internal injuries and spoke haltingly.
He looked at Yun Qi, knowing he was an outsider, and added a bit more detail.
"The peach blossoms are about to bloom. The peach blossom miasma from Rotten Peach Mountain is a top-tier resource. Both our Redwood Ridge and their Hundred Barbarians Mountain have secret methods for refining the miasma. But while the peach blossom miasma is valuable, the peach mud miasma from the same mountain is highly toxic. Even first-level cultivators dare not breathe it in, and second-level cultivators wouldn't touch it carelessly."
Only the western valley entrance, where the Peach Blossom River flows, is safe.
The flowing water and river breeze dilute the peach mud miasma there, making it the only place we can gather the peach blossom miasma.
Every year, our two factions fight over the best spots to collect it.
This year, with the war going on, it was even more brutal.
Cough, cough!
""But we've been fighting over the miasma for years.
There are rules.
If you can't win, you just give up.
How did so many people die? And why did you have to flee like your lives depended on it?
"Someone else asked. It was the one-armed man who had commented on Yun Qi's sword techniques earlier. He specialized in weaponry and didn't know much about refining miasma, so he hadn't gone to Rotten Peach Mountain."
There were too many variables this time!
"The man, a burly fellow, began to cry."
In previous springs, we've never had rain this heavy!
"The rain triggered a flash flood in the mountains, churning up the peach mud from the ground. The flood, mixed with the peach mud, rushed out of the valley, bringing the peach mud miasma with it! The rain suppressed the miasma, weakening its potency, but it was still deadly. All of us were affected—some went blind, some fainted, some vomited uncontrollably, coughing up their lungs. Cough, cough! Those who were in low-lying areas near the valley entrance died on the spot!"
"But what about these sword wounds?"
Someone pointed to the injuries on the survivors.
The survivors' eyes turned red with anger.
"It was the people from Western Shu! We don't know when they arrived. When the peach mud miasma surged out, we immediately tried to flee. Both our side and the Hundred Barbarians Mountain knew how dangerous the miasma was. No one would fight under such conditions."
But then, a group of Daoists barged in.
They weren't from Miaojiang or the Southern Wastelands.
You could tell by their robes—they were from Western Shu.
They immediately attacked the Hundred Barbarians Mountain side.
The Hundred Barbarians Mountain forces were caught off guard and accused us Miao people of ambushing them.
Our ancestors had a pact: if the miasma overflowed during collection, we were to avoid fighting and flee separately.
They accused us of breaking our ancestors' rules.
"We naturally tried to tell the Western Shu people to stop and warned them to flee before the miasma fully dispersed, not to risk their lives for a momentary advantage. But those lunatics accused us of colluding with demonic sects and even turned on us!"
"Lunatics! Bastards!"
The tent erupted in curses.
Yun Qi's eyes narrowed, a cold glint hidden within.
"How many of them were there? How could they slaughter both your sides like this?"
Someone else asked.
The man shook his head in pain.
"There weren't many of them, but their leader was a woman. She wielded a crimson flying sword. That sword was some kind of treasure—even the miasma didn't dare approach it. She was completely unaffected by the miasma and used that sword to cut through us like we were vegetables."
Today marks the third day on the Sanjiang list! Thank you all for your support!
Here's the second chapter.
Please vote and recommend! Comments and messages are welcome!
(End of Chapter)