Marriage Alliance, Ambush

Misty Prefecture, Wild Wolf Ridge.

Wild Wolf Ridge lay more than three hundred li north of Biyun Mountain, named for the wolf packs that gathered within it.

That day, Zhou Chun, who had originally been serving as an assistant instructor at the Mu Family of Biyun Mountain, traveled over mountains and across rivers with several Mu Family cultivators on Ink Scale Colts, arriving at this mountain ridge.

Their purpose was simple. A Mu Family cultivator had discovered a pair of Demon Wolves that had recently given birth within the ridge, and they intended to seize several wolf pups and tame them into Spirit Pets.

The reason they had brought Zhou Chun along was to prevent any unusual reactions after the pups were removed from their den. With him there, he could handle any such situation in time.

To put it plainly, they had hired him as a wolf-pup nanny.

For this, they had already advanced him ten Spirit Coins as travel pay.

At this time, the group of five arrived beneath a mountain peak on three Ink Scale Colts and stopped. A middle-aged Mu Family man leading the group spoke up.

"The wolf den is on the ridge a dozen or so li ahead. The Ink Scale Colts would make too much commotion if we took them over, and we might alarm those beasts. Fellow Daoist Zhou, you and Ziying stay here and watch the Ink Scale Colts. Once we succeed, we'll send a signal for you to come over."

Hearing this, Zhou Chun was naturally happy to take it easy and immediately replied, "Then I wish Fellow Daoist Mu a victory at the first stroke of the banner."

The group dismounted together and went their separate ways.

After the middle-aged Mu Family man left with two cultivators of his clan, Zhou Chun and Mu Ziying casually threw some raw meat to the three Ink Scale Colts and began chatting idly.

As they chatted, Mu Ziying suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, I heard that several young cultivators of your Zhou Family have recently entered marriage alliances with several Cultivation Families in Misty Prefecture. Don't you have any thoughts in that regard?"

Zhou Chun was startled by her words. He could not help staring at her in astonishment, never having expected her to ask such a private question.

Their relationship had not reached the point where they could discuss such matters, had it?

Seeing that he merely looked at her in surprise without answering, Mu Ziying also realized something. She lowered her head slightly and said softly, "If Fellow Daoist Zhou feels it is inconvenient to answer, then pretend Ziying never asked."

Seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately shook his head and said in a muffled voice, "I do not know why Fellow Daoist Mu suddenly asked such a question, but I truly have never considered seeking a dual-cultivation companion."

Heaven knew that after transmigrating, he had only just escaped being pressed into marriage. Why would he entertain such thoughts again?

Wasn't being free and unrestrained on his own wonderful enough?

Even if he truly had to marry someday, he would wait until he had enjoyed enough freedom alone and grown lonely and solitary before considering finding a companion.

After hearing his answer, Mu Ziying immediately nodded. "Ziying understands. Thank you, Fellow Daoist Zhou, for answering honestly."

Then she lowered her head and fell silent, seemingly lost in some private worry.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun could not help muttering to himself inwardly.

If he had not yet come to his senses before, Mu Ziying's words now seemed to have helped Zhou Chun understand why she had suddenly brought this up today.

That was because Zhou Chun had recalled that among those recently entering marriage alliances with other families were precisely two clan cousins, one male and one female, who had been sent as assistant instructors to other families just like him over a year ago.

Then, recalling how the Mu Family had always assigned the beautiful young Mu Ziying as his contact after he arrived, and how she taught his beast-taming lessons, everything seemed crystal clear.

So she was also being pressured into marriage by her family, which was why she laid her cards on the table with me today?

Thinking this, Zhou Chun could not help feeling deep sympathy for Mu Ziying.

He understood very well how great the pressure of family members urging marriage could be. Even many highly educated people from his previous life could not withstand it and compromised, let alone in this conservative, feudal world.

It would have been fine if Mu Ziying herself possessed exceptional aptitude. The Mu Family certainly would not be in such a hurry to marry off a female cultivator who might achieve Foundation Establishment in the future.

But as Zhou Chun knew, Mu Ziying's Spiritual Root aptitude was actually low-grade. At nineteen, she had only reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

That meant she had little chance of achieving successful Foundation Establishment in the future.

In that case, the Mu Family elders would certainly want to take advantage of her current youth and beauty to find her a good match.

But sympathy was sympathy; Zhou Chun clearly did not possess the noble sentiment of sacrificing himself to save another.

Thus, after staring at the girl's slender, graceful figure for a few moments, he shook his head slightly and lowered it to count ants as well.

Just as each of them was lost in their own thoughts and both remained silent, a fireball suddenly flew into the air and exploded.

This was the signal they had agreed upon beforehand, but had it not appeared far too quickly?

Feeling that something was wrong, Zhou Chun did not immediately rush over to meet them. Instead, he raised a hand and sent the Red-beaked Sparrow he had been raising all this time to investigate.

After some time passed, the Red-beaked Sparrow flew back and chirped away as it communicated the intelligence it had gathered to Zhou Chun.

After hearing the Red-beaked Sparrow's report, Zhou Chun's expression changed sharply, and he blurted out, "Not good! Fellow Daoist Mu and the others have run into trouble. That is a distress signal!"

Mu Ziying's expression also abruptly changed upon hearing this. She anxiously asked, "Then what should we do? Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you know who their enemies are?"

"The enemies are cultivators as well. They are most likely Rogue Cultivators venturing into the mountains, and there are as many as six or seven of them."

As Zhou Chun explained the situation, his brows knit tightly, as though he was struggling to make a decision.

When Mu Ziying heard that the enemies were cultivators and outnumbered the Mu Family cultivators who had entered the mountain by more than double, her face immediately went pale. She did not know what to do either.

After a while, Zhou Chun suddenly made up his mind. He raised his head and said to Mu Ziying, "How about this? Fellow Daoist Mu, you stay here and watch the Ink Scale Colts. Do not move about recklessly. I'll go take a look at the situation. If I can help Fellow Daoist Mu and the others withdraw, that would naturally be best. If not, I can at least see clearly who the enemies are!"

"Then I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Zhou. You must be careful as well."

Mu Ziying looked at Zhou Chun with eyes full of worry, but she also knew this was the best course of action.

She was only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining and had no chance of being of any help in such a matter.

Zhou Chun was a valued guest of the Mu Family, and the Mu Family had a duty to protect him. How could they possibly expect Zhou Chun to risk his life to save them?

Now that Zhou Chun was willing to help of his own accord, both she and the Mu Family ought to be grateful.

After making these arrangements with Mu Ziying, Zhou Chun immediately hurried toward the battlefield.

Half a quarter-hour later, he climbed a large tree and looked down from above, finally seeing the situation on the battlefield clearly.

The situation was extremely unfavorable for the three Mu Family cultivators.

The enemies they faced did not seem to be ordinary Rogue Cultivators. Not only were they all at the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refining or above, but they also wielded fine magical artifacts. Some had even tamed Spirit Pets.

At this moment, the three Mu Family cultivators were besieged by enemies several times their number. Though they resisted with every ounce of strength, they were no match at all.

"Who exactly are you people? Do you know that we are cultivators of the Mu Family of Biyun Mountain? You are harming us without reason today. Are you not afraid of retaliation from my Mu Family?"

The middle-aged Mu Family man roared in fury. His face was filled with rage and unwillingness as he glared at the enemies opposite him, utterly unable to understand their actions.

The two sides clearly had neither grievance nor enmity, did not know each other, and had no conflict of interest. Why did these people seek to kill them the moment they met?

Yet the enemies who heard his roar acted as though they had heard nothing. They did not answer him at all, merely sneering now and then or looking at him with disdain, their eyes carrying the gaze they would give a dead man.

From afar, Zhou Chun's heart sank when he saw this. He knew there was no hope of rescuing the three Mu Family cultivators.

He suspected these people were not ordinary Rogue Cultivators, but likely members of some Rogue Cultivator group or a Cultivation Family with the strength not to fear the Mu Family.

Moreover, they had attacked the Mu Family cultivators with lethal intent for no reason. Either these people had a grudge against the Mu Family, or there was some treasure on Wild Wolf Ridge and they feared news of it leaking out, so they wanted to silence all witnesses.

No matter which it was, if Zhou Chun tried to save them, he would certainly draw these people's frenzied pursuit.

Thus, he quickly climbed down from the treetop, intending to return and tell Mu Ziying to leave at once.

But just as Zhou Chun descended from the tree, an eagle circling in the sky suddenly fixed its gaze upon him and let out a sharp, fierce cry.

"Not good, they have accomplices outside!"

On the battlefield, one cultivator who heard the eagle's cry instantly changed expression. He looked up at the eagle with shock and fury, then followed its guidance toward Zhou Chun's direction and shouted.

At the same time, Zhou Chun's expression changed wildly as well.

He looked grimly at the eagle in the sky. He had never expected that, as a cultivator from a Beast Taming Family, he would be pecked in the eye by an eagle today.

There truly are countless capable people and strange talents in this world. I must take today's events as a warning in the future!

With this thought in mind, Zhou Chun raced back toward Mu Ziying as quickly as he could.

When he arrived, he did not wait for Mu Ziying to ask what had happened. He leaped onto the back of an Ink Scale Colt and shouted, "Run! The enemies are coming after us!"

With that, he spurred the colt and charged away.

Although Mu Ziying had countless doubts in her heart, she could only follow suit, mounting a horse and fleeing with him.

Two people and three horses galloped at full speed all the way, not daring to stop for even a moment.

To make the horses faster, Zhou Chun and Mu Ziying even cast the Light Body Technique upon the Ink Scale Colts.

If the Wind Riding Technique could have been cast on others, they would likely have used that as well.

When the enemy pursuing Zhou Chun saw the two of them riding Ink Scale Colts into the distance, his expression immediately became extremely ugly.

He stared grimly at their retreating figures and hesitated for a moment. Then he suddenly clenched his teeth and shouted, "You think you can escape?"

Before his words had faded, he slapped the Storage Bag at his waist, retrieved a magical artifact shaped like a bamboo leaf, and tossed it before him.

Driven by spiritual power, the artifact instantly expanded until it was as large as a board, radiating a hazy white glow.

Then he sprang upward and landed on the enlarged bamboo-leaf artifact, directly controlling it as it flew toward Zhou Chun and Mu Ziying.

A flying artifact!

It was actually a flying artifact!

On the back of an Ink Scale Colt, Zhou Chun's expression shook as he saw the enemy behind them flying in pursuit on a magical artifact. He was immensely astonished.

Among Qi Refining cultivators, few possessed flying artifacts.

First, flying artifacts were difficult to refine and demanded high-quality materials and great skill in artifact refinement. Second, for Qi Refining cultivators, such artifacts consumed far too much spiritual power and had little practical value.

After all, when Qi Refining cultivators traveled outside, they saved every bit of spiritual power they could. How could they bear to use a flying artifact simply for travel?

Yet to pursue and silence them, the enemy had actually brought out a flying artifact. It left Zhou Chun groaning bitterly in his heart.

Though Ink Scale Colts ran quickly, they were clearly still no match for a flying artifact.

With an ugly expression, he repeatedly looked back at the enemy drawing ever closer. In the end, he finally made up his mind and shouted to Mu Ziying, "Fellow Daoist Mu, the thief is coming at us fiercely. We must split up and run. Let life and death rest with Heaven's decree!"

With that, he deliberately turned his horse in another direction, and he and Mu Ziying fled along separate paths.