"Sorry for the trouble, Miss Yuzhu."
Xu Taiping did not stand on ceremony and immediately sat down cross-legged.
"Young Master!"
"Young Master, are you all right?"
By then, Nanxing, Elder Zhang, and Zhai Mo had all come up to Xu Taiping.
Behind them followed the refugees who had hidden in the Stone Fortress earlier.
"I'm fine."
Xu Taiping shook his head, then looked at Elder Zhang and asked:
"Elder Zhang, how long has it been since the rat swarm dispersed?"
At his question, Elder Zhang immediately took a lit stick of incense from his sleeve and held it out before Xu Taiping.
"Young Master, this incense has only just started burning. Not even a moment has passed."
Hearing this, the taut expression on Xu Taiping's face relaxed a little. Then he turned to Gongshu Nanxing and Zhai Mo.
"In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea at most, the third wave of hunting will begin. This time, we have to flee north."
"Flee north?"
Zhai Mo pointed toward the western exit in surprise.
"But, Young Master, we're less than a li or two from the western exit now. If we move quickly, we can reach it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!"
"That's right, Young Master. The exit is right before us. Why should we flee north?"
Gongshu Nanxing was equally puzzled.
They did trust Xu Taiping, but not to the point of following him blindly.
Gu Qingcheng, on the other hand, who had often contradicted Xu Taiping before, was uncharacteristically silent. She simply stood to one side, quietly working something out on her fingers.
"I can't reveal the specific reason just yet."
Xu Taiping shook his head helplessly.
Nothing the Lotus Eye foresaw could be revealed to anyone else before it