!----
On the very day Jiang Yue learned the news, the scouts Master Hu had sent out also discovered the group's presence.
Unlike San Gou and the others, Master Hu grew suspicious the moment he heard the news. He couldn't shake the feeling that some troublemakers were about to come for his hard-won territory.
It wasn't that he was overreacting. From the intelligence, these people were clearly fleeing the Earth Smoke Disaster. Perhaps they hadn't been prepared for such a long journey; most were dressed in rags and looked gaunt, their faces pale with hunger. It was obvious they'd been having a hard time.
Even so, every one of them looked tough and nimble. They were clearly no ordinary bunch of useless layabouts.
If the Earth Smoke Disaster hadn't struck so suddenly, these people wouldn't have been in such dire straits.
They were fewer in number than Master Hu's people. And Master Hu had the protection of the castle to rely on. In theory, a mere few hundred people shouldn't have been enough to frighten him.
But he had only just seized this territory. His position was far from secure, and even he hadn't settled into it yet. He still hadn't shaken the guilty feeling of a thief who expected to be caught.
That was why he didn't even want the three Mushroom People working for him to leave alive.
If a few hundred people got their eyes on him, then even if they weren't a threat this time, who could guarantee they wouldn't spread the word?
Once the news spread, his paradise would be exposed. If other powerful factions set their sights on it and attacked while his position was still unstable, the consequences would be endless.
There was no doubt that with that bastard Qian at the young