Sewing (Thanks to Knight A-Guang)

Horses, torches, their own people.

Someone had come to meet him. That should have been good news, but Xu Feng was surprised. He opened the [Map] and checked his position. He was nowhere near the main road.

This was a back trail. Worse, it was not on the retreat route—or the way to the Yellow River Wild Ferry—at all.

That made this group's appearance here suspicious!

Xu Feng was wary of them.

What he did not know was that they were even more wary of him. They were afraid of him, too!

Old Owl always made thorough arrangements. None of the people he had sent this time were hangers-on.

Hangers-on were fine for making conversation, but ask them to do this? Three words: not a chance.

They would not even come to watch.

Never mind waiting beside the Yellow River Wild Ferry at night.

Even for something many times safer, those hangers-on would scatter the moment they heard about it!

Half the men who had actually come were runners from the Escort Agency.

Once they took the money, their reputation mattered more than their lives.

They were men who had traveled the martial world and encountered strange things. At the very least, they could keep their nerve.

The others were local Baiyi.

In other words, temporary workers for the county yamen!

But these temporary workers were different.

They were capable men who served as the link between orders and action. The clerks gave instructions, the constables passed them on, and the Baiyi did the work. These men were the ones who actually got things done.

Yet even this group did not dare approach Xu Feng.

The horses balked, and the men frowned.

The torches shook badly. Only when they saw that Xu Feng cast a shadow did they relax a