As midnight approached, the wind and rain showed no sign of letting up.
The darkness had grown even thicker than before.
In the darkness, a somewhat dispirited troop pressed forward through the wind and rain. They were hard to spot unless you looked closely, and their pace was not slow. Aside from splashes of water beneath their feet and the scrape of armor against armor, there was no other sound.
Miao Shu watched the shadows at the edge of her vision.
For some reason, unease stirred in her heart.
She tried to persuade them again. "This place seems ominous..."
The Ninth-Rank Wudafu said coldly, "How so?"
Miao Shu couldn't explain. She lowered her eyes and pressed her lips together. Another Martial Gall Warrior, still bearing his injuries, tried to smooth things over. "...A Literary Scholar's premonitions surpass ours. If she truly thinks something is wrong, we'll need to be twelve times more vigilant on the road ahead."
Miao Shu said, "I mean, could we..."
She still wanted to change course and take the route they had considered earlier.
The Ninth-Rank Wudafu merely snorted.
"Have you detected any sign of enemies ahead?"
Miao Shu focused her senses for a while, then shook her head.
There wasn't so much as an animal ahead, let alone an enemy.
In weather like this, anything with sense had crawled into its den.
"Then why change course?" the Ninth-Rank Wudafu asked.
He followed up, "On the strength of your premonition alone?"
Miao Shu tightened her grip on the reins and looked up, speaking softly.
"What if?"
The Ninth-Rank Wudafu gave a cold sneer.
"Have you forgotten that our troops just suffered a defeat? Morale is low, and we're marching through wind and rain. The strain on our bodies and minds is considerable. Changing course now would