"Brother, have you noticed anything amiss?"
By the time Fang Qianyuan returned, Jiu Qilin was sitting cross-legged beside a campfire near the carriage, warming some wine. He had eaten dry rations with the others and chatted about everything under the sun, showing no sign of anything unusual. In private, however, he sought Fang Qianyuan out again and asked the question with a somewhat grave expression.
"What is it?" Fang Qianyuan asked.
"The Baili Household's people seem overly cautious, as though they know some danger is coming," Jiu Qilin said quietly.
"I haven't noticed," Fang Qianyuan said, shaking his head gently.
In truth, he simply did not care. Whatever demons, monsters, or life-and-death crises might arise here, none could threaten him.
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it, then." Hearing his reply, Jiu Qilin muttered to himself, but could hardly say anything more.
Just then, Wild Crane Daoist and the two rogue cultivators traveling together, one old and one young, returned from their patrol and sat beside their campfire. The older rogue cultivator's surname was Lin, and everyone called him Old Lin. The younger one was surnamed Lu, and his name was Lu Mingying.
He was said to have come from a minor aristocratic clan. Unfortunately, the Lu Household had been without an Earth Rank Expert for years and had long since declined. Born into a Collateral Lineage, he was effectively no different from a grassroots rogue cultivator.
Ordinarily, a scion of such a declining aristocratic clan could still join a sect and seek advancement. Many disciples in the various sects came from precisely such backgrounds.
But Lu Mingying's life had been truly troubled. He had lost his parents at an early age, then suffered oppression from his relatives, who coveted his inheritance and his place in a sect. In the end, a paternal