劍問蒼天 - 第144章 偶遇 - 清風書屋

The others were not so worried as he. Ming Li and the Wild Wolf Daoist both wore troubled, brooding looks, while Xiao Wan seemed not to take the crisis—which still sounded rather distant—to heart at all. To her, playing with Little Grey by day and now and then looking after Ming Li and talking with him, the days passed with a certain relish.

Still, at Zhou Yixuan's insistence, the group at last journeyed north. By Zhou Yixuan's reckoning, the farther from the south the better—at least life would be easier. But as more and more refugees from the south appeared along the road, the situation in the tidings seemed to worsen by the day. The monstrous beasts and alien tribes out of the Ten Thousand Savage Mountains swept all before them, devouring everything in their path, and were gradually pressing into the heartland of the Central Plains.

A few days earlier, one report among the many even said that the monstrous horde had reached a city only a few hundred li behind them, which sent Zhou Yixuan and Xiao Wan and the rest hurrying on their way in alarm. Though it was learned soon after that the report was a rumor, the fear and dread in people's hearts could be seen from this alone.

Late one night, the group camped in the open, built a fire on a small hilltop, and sat around it—all save Ming Li, who sat some distance away.

Little Grey leaped out of the darkness with an armful of wild fruit—where he had picked it, no one knew—and with two or three bounds was up on Ming Li's shoulder, where he settled himself and began to eat with gusto.

Zhou Yixuan glanced over that way, pondered a while, looked at Xiao Wan and the Wild Wolf Daoist beside him, and said, "There is something I must tell you."

Xiao Wan found this odd, glanced at Zhou Yixuan, and said, "Grandpa, what is it?"

Zhou Yixuan was about to speak when Little Grey, perched on Ming Li's shoulder, suddenly seemed to catch something and began chattering loudly. All were startled, not knowing what had happened, and rose one after another to stand behind Little Grey and look where his waving hands and feet pointed. There, in the dim light, along the old road at the foot of the hill, came a group of people—men and women, old and young—all looking utterly exhausted, yet still trudging onward.

Zhou Yixuan watched for a long while, sighed, and said, "Refugees from the south."

The others were silent; no one spoke. After a moment Zhou Yixuan said, "That is just what I meant to say. What exactly is happening in the south, I do not know, but that a host of monstrous beasts and savage tribes have come forth killing everyone they meet—that cannot be wrong. These past days we have all seen people fleeing north in droves. I think we too must quicken our pace and run north."

Xiao Wan frowned and said, "Grandpa, going north is right enough—we have always drifted about anyway. But the north is so vast, and they say these monstrous tribes move terribly fast. Do you know a good place to hide?"

Zhou Yixuan glared at her and said, "Have you not heard what people have been saying these days? Among those beasts are some of considerable cunning—some with keen noses, some with sharp ears. Hide in a tree, hide in a cellar, flee into the deep mountains—they will find you out and eat you all the same. With such accursed monsters about, where am I to find a place to hide?"

Xiao Wan's face fell. "Then what are we to do? Are we all to be eaten by those fiends sooner or later?"

Zhou Yixuan gave a snort. "Nonsense. I, the great Immortal Zhou, with my wondrous foresight, shall never die in the mouths of such beasts. I have long since reckoned it out: in all the world today, there is but one place that is safest of all."