Mu Yunjin made a “shh” gesture, signaling Huang Yan to be quiet and not wake Hua Ying, then pointed to the side and spoke softly, “Let’s rest by the roadside for a while.”

Huang Yan nodded.

Moving to the roadside, Mu Yunjin dismounted, led her horse to the side, tied it to a tree, took some feed, and placed it on the ground.

Lei Yan climbed a tree to break off some branches, lit a fire, and, noticing Qiqi still sleeping, tightened the cloak wrapped around her.

Mu Yunjin curled up, sitting by the fire, watching the flames burning in front of her. At this moment, Mu Yunjin felt she missed Chu Li terribly.

“Here.” Huang Yan handed over an oil-paper package.

Mu Yunjin reached out to take it. Huang Yan then stood up to give the rest of the oilpaper packages to Lei Yan, Xiumei, and others. By now, Hua Ying and Qiqi had also awakened, and Huang Yan fetched packages for them too.

Mu Yunjin turned to look at Huang Yan’s bag of oilpaper packages, raising her eyebrows. She opened the one in her hand and brightened at the sight of what was inside.

It was sweet pastries, her favorite.

…

…

After taking a bite of the sweet pastry, before she could swallow, Mu Yunjin smelled the aroma of meat wafting over. With puffed cheeks, she looked ahead and saw that in Lei Yan’s oilpaper package was a fragrant roast chicken. Lei Yan was now tearing off a chicken leg and eating it heartily.

Beside him, Qiqi was also eating a grilled fish, equally fragrant.

Looking to the side, Huang Yan, like Lei Yan, was gnawing on roast chicken.

Mu Yunjin looked down at the sweet pastry in her hand, feeling something off no matter how she ate it, but still quietly continued eating.

After finishing and resting for a while, Huang Yan looked at the gradually dying fire and said to everyone, “Rest is over. Let’s set off now.”

“Mm.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

Before leaving, Lei Yan took extra care to clean up the burnt-out fire thoroughly to avoid leaving traces.

Setting off on the road again, they hadn’t gone far when they passed a narrow mountain path. Huang Yan paused, and after those behind caught up, he carefully instructed, “This mountain path is very narrow, with a deep cliff below. We’ll go through one by one in a line. Everyone, be careful not to startle the horses. After we get around this mountain, it won’t be long before we leave Western Yuan’s territory.”

“Understood.” Everyone responded in unison again.

“Good, I’ll lead, and you follow me in sequence.” Having said this, Huang Yan rode toward the mountain path ahead. The path was rugged and narrow; Huang Yan only dared to let his horse walk slowly through.

Mu Yunjin, Qiqi, and Hua Ying followed in order, with Xiumei and Lei Yan closely behind at the end.

Entering the mountain path, Mu Yunjin couldn’t help glancing to the side and almost shuddered in fright. She didn’t know what kind of place this was, why, while walking on flat ground, they could come across such a cliff, and looking down the mountainside, it seemed endless.

Mu Yunjin felt she should have dismounted and walked this section. Now, riding on horseback, she felt as if she were suspended over the cliff, without any sense of security.

Halfway along the mountain path, Mu Yunjin found this journey excruciating, constantly worried about safety, yet unable to hasten their pace.

“Aoo-aoo—”

In the deep valley, an eagle’s cry split the air, echoing above the deep gorge, breaking the tranquility of the long night.

Hearing this sudden call, everyone looked up toward the source of the sound. They saw that not far from them, at the edge of the cliff, an eagle was circling, coming closer and closer toward them.

“Don’t panic. Be careful not to startle the horses.” Huang Yan remained calm, giving instructions to those behind him in a low voice, continuing to move forward.

Mu Yunjin nodded, her peripheral vision observing the eagle drawing nearer, her brow gradually tightening.

Behind her, Hua Ying stared at the approaching eagle with sharp eyes, knowing deep down that the appearance of this eagle could very likely startle the horses and impede their journey. She had already gathered her true energy, holding a mouthful of venom.

At this moment, the eagle’s cry sounded again.

After the eagle’s howl, it seemed to have discovered prey before it and accelerated toward them. Just as Mu Yunjin was preparing to use her skills, a silver figure had already flown out.

Xiumei, being a crane spirit with a pair of wings, had soared into the air as the eagle approached, hovering in midair.

“You go ahead first.” Xiumei turned to tell the others, then flew to a place further ahead.

The eagle closely followed Xiumei, moving away from the mountainside.

Huang Yan’s expression was unusually serious as he continued walking forward. After the group followed him around a bend, they saw a flash of silver light in the night sky.

Guessing that Xiumei had dealt with the eagle, Mu Yunjin was just breathing a sigh of relief when she suddenly felt the entire mountain tremble slightly.

Thinking it was just her imagination, Mu Yunjin continued following Huang Yan. After a few steps, she heard Huang Yan suddenly shouting, “This is bad!”

Mu Yunjin’s heart sank, followed by countless eagle cries coming from afar. Looking up, through the moonlight, she could see a huge mass of black objects flying toward them.

“Not good, an eagle flock is coming. Master, you and Master Huang go first. The rest of us will stay and handle this.” After speaking, Qiqi had already jumped off her horse and was standing at the cliff’s edge.

Lei Yan and Hua Ying did the same.

Mu Yunjin looked at the approaching flock of eagles, then at Qiqi and the others, hesitation in her eyes. Huang Yan turned back, frowning tightly. “Princess, let’s go first. They know mystical arts; dealing with these eagles shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Mm.” Mu Yunjin nodded, pressing her lips together and continuing.

She had wanted to patiently complete this mountain path, but as the eagle flock sounds grew closer, Mu Yunjin felt increasingly uneasy. As she gradually sensed a black shadow approaching from the corner of her eye, Mu Yunjin turned to look, and her pupils dilated.

She didn’t know what place this was, or why there was such a large flock of eagles. Just as she was pondering, another dense black mass flew over from a distance.

When the eagles approached, Qiqi had already launched her attacks. These eagles seemed to be artificially raised; most avoided Qiqi’s attacks, with only a few being hit and falling into the valley.

Xiumei, flying in midair, was the main target of the eagles. She had set up a protective barrier around herself, preventing the eagles from getting close, but they had surrounded her densely.

Hua Ying conjured thick black mist with both hands, sternly sending it out. The black mist contained deadly poison, instantly eliminating a large portion of the eagles.

But from not far away, batch after batch of eagles kept flying toward them.

Lei Yan continuously shot light balls from his palms, eliminating some eagles, but another batch surged up.

“These eagles seem to be targeting us. We don’t know how strong this flock is. Fighting like this won’t work.” Hua Ying shot out more black mist, biting her lower lip, her face gradually turning pale.

Qiqi also didn’t know where so many eagles had come from. Executing one move after another, she began to feel strained, suddenly regretting not bringing more disciples from the Phoenix Feather Pavilion.

They had eagle spirits in their pavilion who might be able to deal with these creatures.

“Ah—” In midair, Xiumei’s protective barrier was broken, and her body fell downward. A group of eagles chased after her, flying down the cliff.

“Xiumei!” Qiqi cried out in anguish. Just as she was about to jump down to save Xiumei, a golden light flashed beside her. A phoenix-tail whip flew down, wrapping around Xiumei’s waist, catching her falling body.

The phoenix-tail whip was a divine weapon. When the eagles tried to approach Xiumei, they were all scattered by the spiritual energy from the whip, unable to get near her.

“Master, why did you come back?” Qiqi turned to look at Mu Yunjin, surprised.

“I couldn’t leave you all behind.” As Mu Yunjin finished speaking, she exerted some force on her hand. The phoenix-tail whip rapidly ascended, bringing Xiumei back to level ground.

Retracting the whip, the eagles, having found no advantage against these people earlier, became even fiercer. They all gathered together, hundreds or thousands of eagles blocking the moonlight above them, trapping them in darkness.

“It’s good they’re gathered together. Let’s all use our true energy to strike at once.” Seeing this, Lei Yan spoke to those around him.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After speaking, everyone skillfully gathered their powers together. “Attack!”

Upon the command, several beams of light aimed at the eagle flock above and shot forth—

“Bang—” A huge explosion sounded.

Everyone felt as if the mountain was collapsing, with large rocks continuously rolling down from above. While a large portion of the eagles were hit and fell into the valley, some remained, circling overhead.

Now they not only had to deal with these eagles but also constantly watch for falling rocks—a loss outweighing the gain.

“Come toward the exit of the mountain! Don’t linger in one place!” Huang Yan ran over, frowning tightly at the chaotic scene before him.

Hearing this, everyone ran toward Huang Yan.

Huang Yan looked at them intently, bent down to pick up a handful of gravel, and threw it at the approaching eagles. The stones left Huang Yan’s palm simultaneously yet struck the eagles separately.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Mu Yunjin praised Huang Yan while running frantically. This guy had quite a few skills.

Huang Yan pretended to be relaxed, raising his eyebrows. After they ran closer, he turned to lead the way. “Follow me quickly!”

“Ah… Meow!” A sharp scream accompanied by a cat’s cry came from behind.

Everyone halted and looked back to see Qiqi being struck by a huge boulder rolling down from the mountain. Her petite body was unable to move, blood spilling from her mouth, her pair of ears drooping softly.

The eagles, smelling the blood, seemed even more excited and swooped toward Qiqi.

Everyone watched this scene in shock.

At this critical moment, Mu Yunjin had already moved like lightning to Qiqi’s side, using her own body to shield Qiqi from the eagles about to tear at her.

“Sss—” Mu Yunjin felt a tearing pain in her back as eagles bit into her, fresh blood flowing down.

More and more eagles flew close, and soon Mu Yunjin was surrounded by the flock, her body slowly falling toward the cliff.

“Princess…”

“Master…”