Chapter 484: Chapter 220: Difficult Journey, Yucheng’s Ordeal, Li Xuanling 2
Xia Hong’s eyes flickered slightly, calculating in his heart while continuing to pull the cart forward.
Soon, the group headed west for another three to four kilometers.
“Look, we’ve reached Long Mountain!”
Suddenly, Ma Yong pointed to the west excitedly and shouted.
Many in the group looked up in the direction he pointed, and their expressions slightly shifted.
In the dim snowy night, a mountain range stood against the western horizon.
Although it was still over ten kilometers away, everyone could see that the mountain wasn’t too high, at most just over a thousand meters;
though not tall, the mountain range undulated, stretching from north to south, roughly fifty to sixty kilometers long, clearly made up of numerous small hills piled together, winding and undulating like a giant ancient dragon, lying across Pingxi Plain.
Not just Ma Yong, there were over fifty people in both caravans, few of whom had been to Long Mountain before. Most people looked up at Long Mountain with a sense of relief on their faces.
After so many days on the road, they finally saw their destination.
“It’s strange, we’ve reached Long Mountain, but we haven’t encountered Yucheng Camp’s caravan. Today is only the eleventh. Could they have reached Long Mountain so early?”
Ma Yong muttered softly, unheard by others, but Xia Hong caught it clearly, a trace of thought rising in his eyes.
The caravan had traveled over forty kilometers west, long into Yucheng territory. Now able to see Long Mountain without encountering Yucheng’s caravan, it wasn’t surprising if they had reached Long Mountain early.
It’s not surprising at all!
The Beehive and Yang Lu, these two, so far from Long Mountain, obediently prepared their supplies and sent them over from afar; Yucheng Camp, closest to Long Mountain, must have prepared supplies early and sent them there.
As Long Mountain drew closer, Xia Hong learned from Ma Yong that they were about to move out of Yucheng Camp’s sphere of influence and enter Long Mountain territory.
Just before entering Long Mountain territory, as dawn approached, Peng Bo and Chen Yingyuan halted the team, ordering everyone to rest on the spot and resume the journey at night.
Just like the previous eleven days, the group used pre-prepared wood to cover the four large carts, forming four wooden cabins, where they lit fires to eat and rest.
Peng Bo and Chen Yingyuan both remained in the small cart, not getting out.
With only four hours of daylight, as soon as night fell during a nap, the group quickly packed their belongings and continued pushing the carts forward.
Entering Long Mountain territory, the vegetation cover suddenly increased significantly. Although not as dense as Redwood Ridge, it was much better than Beehive, and far better than the prior areas of Yang Lu and Yucheng.
A higher vegetation cover meant less snow accumulation on the ground, allowing for a much faster progress.
“Chen Yingyuan is precise with timing. Today is April 14th. At this pace, we’ll reach the foot of Long Mountain by the fifteenth, just in time for the assembly. And it’s not just him, Peng Bo is accurate too.”
The precise timing suggests that Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo must have visited Long Mountain many times. If other camp leaders are the same, then it might mean all leaders arrive simultaneously.
It makes sense, as many of these leaders once served as hostages at Long Mountain…
“Ugh!”
Deep in thought, Xia Hong suddenly sensed something.
He gently raised his head, nonchalantly looking forward, his gaze slightly sharp.
There were people, quite a few!
Xia Hong scanned the dense forest on both sides ahead, then lightly sniffed the air, and his expression immediately became cautious.
“The smell of blood?”
“Did you smell it too?”
“It’s up ahead.”
“What’s going on?”
……
The thick scent of blood wafting from ahead was overwhelming; not just Xia Hong, others quickly noticed it too.
In contrast, Peng Bo and Chen Yingyuan, in the enclosed small cart, only realized it after hearing the voices of others.
The two stepped out of the cart, looking ahead, their expressions immediately heavy.
A hundred meters ahead, a solitary, broken small cart stood on the snowy ground, its hub and main axle completely broken, with only the upper compartment left intact.
In the snow around the cart lay sixteen corpses, bodies pierced with numerous arrows, and scattered weapons stuck in the nearby snow.
Snow continued to drift from the sky, barely covering the bodies on the ground.
This alone proved that the battle here hadn’t ended long ago.
Xia Hong, at the back of the group, focused on the flag atop the small cart, his gaze narrowing at the “Yucheng” characters.
“There are people in the cart, and many in the surrounding forest, this is…”
Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo, less capable and with inferior perception than Xia Hong, probably hadn’t noticed the people in the distant forest.
But everyone knew there were people inside the cart.
The reason was simple: inside the broken cart was a lit stove, with a shadowy figure occasionally visible through the window, clear to everyone’s eyes.
“Has Yan Chuan encountered trouble?”
“It shouldn’t be; who could handle him this deep into Long Mountain territory?”
Hearing the slightly fearful voices of Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo ahead, Xia Hong immediately deduced Yan Chuan as the leader of Yucheng Camp.
No wonder they hadn’t encountered Yucheng’s team.
They actually stumbled into trouble!
But as Peng Bo said, who would target him this deep into Long Mountain territory?