Dafu Temple was a famous temple with hundreds of years of history, while Shuying Nunnery had several imperial princesses or dowager consorts who had taken their final refuge there. Over the many years, the mountain paths here were different from ordinary narrow and steep mountain roads – they could be considered quite wide. However, today after the rain, there weren’t many pilgrims on the road.

Chen Guang walked on the outside, quietly protecting Qiao Zhao.

The road was slippery after rain. Since the General had entrusted him with the task of protecting Third Miss, he naturally wouldn’t be careless.

As they walked, Chen Guang suddenly stopped, his ears twitching.

“Why aren’t you walking?” Binglu pushed Chen Guang.

“Don’t make noise!” Chen Guang was rarely so serious and stern.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you—”

Binglu was angry, but was stopped by Qiao Zhao.

“Miss, look at him—”

Qiao Zhao didn’t speak, just gently shook her head.

Chen Guang suddenly crouched down, pressing his ear to the ground.

Binglu was greatly puzzled and tugged at Qiao Zhao’s sleeve, while Qiao Zhao stared intently at Chen Guang.

During this pause, Princess Zhenzhen’s group had already put some distance between themselves and them.

“Not good, it’s a landslide!” Chen Guang leaped up, his face already ashen. With lightning speed, he swept up Qiao Zhao in his arms and shouted at the stunned Binglu, “If you don’t want to die, follow me and run!”

Chen Guang carried Qiao Zhao and ran frantically, but not in the direction down the mountain – instead, he fled diagonally up the mountainside.

Although Binglu didn’t understand his intention, at this moment, she had only one thought: no matter what, following Miss would be right!

There was no path on the diagonal slope, and it was slippery from the rain. Chen Guang reached out with one hand and pulled Binglu up.

The rumbling sound from the mountain had already reached them, the mountain path trembled faintly, followed by the sound of rocks accompanied by water flow and tree branches tumbling down.

Chen Guang ran while loudly warning the people on the mountain path: “Run quickly, it’s a landslide!”

Princess Zhenzhen’s guards also heard the commotion and immediately protected Princess Zhenzhen as they ran downward, with all others who heard the noise following suit.

Chen Guang saw this was bad and shouted loudly: “Don’t run down, don’t run down!”

But when people are in extreme terror, how could they still listen to such reminders? Watching those people run farther and farther away, while the rockslide chased after them at even greater speed.

“They’re finished, they’re all finished!” Chen Guang stamped his foot, couldn’t spare any more attention for them, and carried Qiao Zhao as he ran upward.

Chen Guang’s martial arts were excellent. Even carrying a person didn’t affect his speed at all, and he could still pull Binglu along from time to time.

Binglu had been practicing martial arts with Chen Guang every day for these past months, so her agility was far better than ordinary women. Under Chen Guang’s pulling and tugging, she could barely keep up.

The three ran in one breath to near the mountain peak, where the trembling sensation from the landslide had disappeared, and only then dared to stop.

Binglu bent over gasping heavily, saying with lingering fear: “That was terrifying, I thought we were done for today.”

Chen Guang quickly put Qiao Zhao down and secretly adjusted his breathing.

Through this sudden change, Qiao Zhao looked somewhat pale. She steadied her mind and thanked Chen Guang.

Chen Guang grinned: “Third Miss doesn’t need to thank me. Our General already said that if I let you get hurt by even a single hair, I should bring my head to see him!”

Qiao Zhao’s heart warmed.

Although she appeared calm on the surface, who wouldn’t fear death? Today, if Chen Guang hadn’t protected her, no matter how clever she was, she couldn’t have escaped.

Shao Mingyuan—

These three characters flashed through her mind, but she didn’t think further, instead gazing down the mountain: “How are Princess Zhenzhen and the others?”

Binglu covered her mouth, her face full of terror: “Miss, look down there at the foot of the mountain!”

Qiao Zhao looked in the direction Binglu pointed and saw the mountain base piled high with boulders, blocking the road completely. Where could they still see any trace of the travelers, including Princess Zhenzhen’s group?

Qiao Zhao’s expression gradually changed: “Those people—”

Chen Guang withdrew his gaze and shook his head: “They should all be buried.”

Ordinary common people aside, those palace guards were just fancy pillows – they looked tall and imposing, in normal times, but when encountering sudden situations, they were so stupid. How could you run downhill during a landslide? That’s the fastest way to die. They didn’t even know such common sense!

Wait!

Chen Guang paused at this thought.

This wasn’t common sense. The Northern Territories were full of snow-capped mountains, and avalanches were very common. The General had explained to them many times how to escape when encountering an avalanche.

Chen Guang no longer felt contempt for those guards; he only sighed with emotion.

“Then Princess Zhenzhen—”

Chen Guang sighed: “She probably couldn’t have survived.”

Qiao Zhao fell silent for a moment.

Speaking of it, there had never been a princess as unlucky as Princess Zhenzhen.

Last time she encountered heavy rain and injured her leg, this time she encountered a landslide, and they didn’t even know if she was dead or alive.

“Let’s go see if there are any people still alive. Perhaps someone is just pinned by their legs – over time, they could die from excessive blood loss.”

Chen Guang blocked Qiao Zhao: “Third Miss cannot go!”

“Eh?”

“This kind of landslide might not happen just once. It’s too dangerous for you to go down rashly. Moreover, look – the mountain base is already piled high with boulders. Even if we went, we wouldn’t have the ability to move these boulders to save people.” Chen Guang’s expression was resolute, showing an unprecedented authority when facing Qiao Zhao, who brooked no argument. “In any case, I absolutely will not let you take such risks!”

Qiao Zhao gazed at the mountain base for a long time without speaking, once again feeling the insignificance of individuals.

“Then what about us? Are we just going to stay here forever?” Binglu couldn’t help but hug her arms.

After running all this way, her throat was parched, but the terror of brushing shoulders with death made her heart feel cold, wanting only to shiver.

Chen Guang looked in the direction of Dafu Temple.

They had run diagonally upward and had already deviated from that direction.

“Landslides on Luoxia Mountain are rare events that happen once every in decades. Under such tremors, Dafu Temple couldn’t possibly not have noticed. Let’s head in that direction first.” After Chen Guang finished speaking, he took out an oiled paper package from his chest. Opening it revealed something with an odd design.

He swung the oddly designed thing, and immediately sparks shot into the sky, then burst open like fireworks.

“This is for emergency communication. If any of our people happen to see this, they can relay the message to the General.”

“Then let’s go.” Qiao Zhao took one last look down the mountain and sighed softly.

Shao Zhi, who had been out on business, suddenly saw the Shao family army’s unique distress signal light up in the direction of Luoxia Mountain. His expression immediately changed, and he led two subordinates racing their horses in that direction. When they reached the foot of the mountain and saw the clothing corners faintly visible under the buried rocks, they couldn’t help but be greatly shocked.

“Xiao Liu, quickly return and report to the General that there’s been a landslide on Luoxia Mountain and our people are in danger!”

With such a situation, their three-person force alone couldn’t rescue anyone.

“Orders received!” The young man called Xiao Liu galloped away on horseback. After entering the city, his speed didn’t slow at all. Upon reaching the entrance of Marquis Guanjun’s residence, he leaped down and ran inside while shouting, “Open the doors quickly!”

At this time, Shao Mingyuan wasn’t in his room, but standing in the courtyard with some confusion in his heart.

Miss Li should have arrived by now according to schedule, but still hadn’t come. Could she have encountered some trouble?

Thinking of the violent storm not long ago, Shao Mingyuan felt an ominous premonition growing in his heart.

“General, there’s been a landslide on Luoxia Mountain, with many people buried at the mountain base!”