Chapter 28: Sudden Incident at Midnight

An Xiyan and her group had already left the small town two days ago. At night, they mostly camped out in the wild.

He Lianrong and her son slept inside the carriage, while An Xiyan and her little brother shared a tent. Qingzhu and his father shared another.

An Xiyan still had plenty of tents stored in her space. She purposely chose inconspicuous ones—dull gray, all-season tents that didn’t attract attention and were also easy to set up and take down.

Inside, she laid thick moisture-proof pads, a blanket underneath, and topped it off with a lightweight down quilt. For the current weather, there was no need for a sleeping bag at all.

Little An Xixuan’s favorite activity was rolling around inside the tent. He thought the tent his sister brought out was the most fascinating thing in the world.

If the conditions allowed, he would’ve wanted to sleep in the tent forever.

Watching An Xixuan still rolling around, An Xiyan smiled and said, “Little brother, it’s getting late. Go to sleep now, or you’ll have trouble waking up in the morning.”

An Xixuan pouted but nodded reluctantly. “Okay, sister, I got it.”

He then obediently lay down on the blanket, pulled the quilt over himself, and forced his eyes shut.

An Xiyan turned to look at the red-tailed fire fox, lazily sprawled on the blanket. “Little Jiji, it’s your turn to keep watch. Don’t slack off, okay? If there’s any movement outside, let me know immediately.”

Then she took out a big meat bun from her space, coated it in oil to preserve it, and handed it to Little Jiji.
“Here—your midnight snack for tonight.”

Little Jiji’s fox eyes instantly lit up at the sight of the meat bun. In the blink of an eye, he snatched it from An Xiyan’s hand.

Hugging the bun with his two front paws, he gave An Xiyan a happy little bow. “Thank you, Master! Little Jiji will go on watch right away, hehe!”

“Go on, go on,” An Xiyan waved him off, not forgetting to add, “And zip the tent for me on your way out. I’m too lazy to get up.”

Little Jiji grinned ear to ear and nodded at her. “Got it, Master! Goodnight, Little Xuanxuan!”

An Xixuan quickly sat up a bit and peeked out with his little head, sounding a bit reluctant to part. “Goodnight, Little Jiji. See you tomorrow.”

“Mhm, see you tomorrow.”
With that, Little Jiji darted out of the tent at lightning speed, hugging the bun tightly. The soft rustling of the zipper followed.

An Xixuan had grown quite close to Little Jiji over the past couple of days. Even though he—

Even though An Xixuan couldn’t understand what Little Jiji was saying, with some guessing and observation, he could more or less figure it out.

When An Xiyan saw that Little Jiji had zipped up the tent, she was very satisfied.
Although this little fox was a bit silly, it was honestly quite endearing.

Most importantly, it was obedient and a fast learner. Once something was taught to it, it could quickly and skillfully apply it.

She believed it wouldn’t take long before she could train Little Jiji into a perfectly well-rounded companion.

An Xiyan lay happily on the blanket, turned on her side, and looked at An Xixuan beside her with a soft smile. Her tone was gentle as she said,
“Little brother, goodnight.”

“Mhm, goodnight, sister.”
An Xixuan smiled back sweetly, then closed his eyes in contentment.

Moments later, his quiet, soft snoring began.

Only then did An Xiyan turn off the flashlight. The tent was instantly shrouded in darkness. Outside, everything was silent, with only the chirping of insects audible in the night.

Around midnight, Little Jiji was lying on the ground, ears drooping, eyes half-closed in a light doze.

Suddenly, his head snapped up. His ears pricked sharply.
In a flash, he darted up a nearby tree.

Peering into the distance, he spotted three carriages approaching fast, their torches blazing as they rolled in this direction.

His eyes spun rapidly and glinted with cold light. Without hesitation, he shot down from the tree and ran to An Xiyan’s tent, swiftly unzipping it with his nimble claws.

“Master, bad news! Wake up quickly, Master!” Little Jiji cried out urgently.

An Xiyan had already woken up the moment she heard the zipper. Now, hearing Little Jiji’s warning, she immediately sat up and quickly put on her outer clothes.

“What’s going on outside?” she asked while dressing.

Little Jiji pointed his paw toward the approaching carriages.
“Master, three carriages are coming this way. I smelled a very strong scent of blood—it’s definitely not good people.”

An Xiyan’s eyes darkened with suspicion. She immediately instructed, “Go wake Uncle Meng and Qingzhu. I’ll head out now.”

Little Jiji nodded and vanished from the tent in an instant.

An Xiyan picked up An Xixuan’s outerwear, wrapped him in it, and carried him out of the tent.

She headed to where the carriage was parked and knocked urgently on the side of the carriage.
“Aunt Meng, Tangyuan, wake up quickly—there’s trouble outside!”

Inside the carriage, Tangyuan and her mother were startled awake—

The mother and daughter quickly dressed and opened the carriage door. He Lianrong glanced around anxiously and asked, “Miss, what’s going on?”

By this time, Qingzhu and his father had also arrived after being woken by Little Jiji. Both were holding long swords and scanning the surroundings with alert eyes.

An Xiyan released her wood-type ability and said calmly, “Three hundred meters away, three carriages are headed our way. Little Jiji says those people have a very strong scent of blood on them.”

“I focused and sensed carefully—about fifteen people. Most of them have steady and powerful auras. I suspect they all know martial arts, and they’re not weak.”

He Lianrong’s family turned even more serious upon hearing this. Tangyuan immediately climbed into the carriage and retrieved their weapons.

These were soft swords, specially custom-made for them by An Xiyan’s lady mother—thin as silk, sharp enough to slice iron like mud.

“Mother, here you go.”
Tangyuan handed her mother’s soft sword to her and quickly wrapped her own around her waist.

When not in use, the soft sword looked just like a regular belt—very inconspicuous and easy to overlook.

It had no offensive power while inactive and wouldn’t hurt the wearer. Only when activated did it reveal its true might.

Thinking about this, Tangyuan couldn’t help but admire their lady’s ingenuity. To design such an exquisite and brilliant weapon was simply remarkable.

He Lianrong fastened the soft sword around her waist, her expression solemn.

She looked seriously at Tangyuan. “From today onward, even when sleeping, we must keep the sword on us. In case something happens, we can react immediately.”

“Yes, Mother. I understand,” Tangyuan nodded.

Even if her mother hadn’t said anything, she would’ve done the same. Having a weapon at hand meant a little more security and a little more peace of mind.

An Xiyan, holding the soundly sleeping An Xixuan in her arms, said quietly to the others,
“Let’s hide for now. If those people don’t bother us, we’ll wait until they’ve left before coming out.”

“But if they do… then we’ll crack their skulls open. Little Jiji is very sensitive to good and bad people. If he doesn’t like someone, they’re probably no good.”

Tangyuan’s family nodded solemnly.

Right after, An Xiyan led everyone to hide in a patch of tall grass not far from the carriage.

Fifteen minutes later, the three carriages rolled to a stop right beside An Xiyan’s.

A fierce, sinister voice sounded,
“Deputy General Zhao, looks like there’s another carriage parked here.”