"It's nothing major... there's a small cave abode ahead that happens to need a few hands to explore."
Hu Quan'an had thin brows and large eyes; when he smiled, he looked somewhat strange. "Your family used to make quite generous annual offerings. You must have wanted something from this old man... Help me settle this matter, and whatever you ask for, this old man will grant it all. How about it?"
"If an Immortal Master has orders, my Fang Family will certainly go all out. Why speak of requests?"
Fang Jingchun shook his head, refusing to give a definite answer.
If they truly made a request, would that not confirm that their family had some little secret?
"Mm."
Hu Quan'an sat back down, his gaze passing through the gaps in the carriage toward the Fang Family as he mused, The Fang Family's martial Gong is quite good... They are useful enough in the mortal world, but I wonder what fortuitous opportunity they are hiding. They are far too evasive.
Several days later.
The convoy rested on level ground upstream from a stream. Tents were erected, and curling smoke rose from cooking fires, drawing many refugees over. Their eyes gleamed green as they stared toward the source of the food's fragrance, but several armed escorts shot them hard looks, and they shrank back, not daring to approach.
"These refugees... are growing more numerous by the day."
Seeing this, Fang Yixin furrowed his brow and issued a few orders.
At once, several servants carried out a basket of black buns and recruited the strongest group of refugees to stand night watch in their stead.
"Recruit the strongest group and stir up conflict among them... Let them hate one another. For the time being, they should not unite and rush our carriage camp..."