I cleared this mountain, I planted these trees

The largest carriage in the center of the convoy was far more exquisite than the freight carts behind it.

Its body was painted a deep chestnut brown, with dark gold copper fittings reinforcing all four corners. A palm-sized crystal window was set into each side, its frame carved with intricate patterns of trailing vines.

A young man in a dark blue brocade robe sat beside the window, holding a black stone between his fingers before placing it near a corner of the board.

His features could hardly be called handsome, and his brows and eyes carried a gentle, unassuming air. With a pair of thin silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, he looked less like a Soul Master than a bookkeeper who spent his days doing accounts at some trading house.

Opposite him sat a young woman with her hair arranged in twin looped buns, a delicate jade hairpin tucked among the strands. She had a sweet face and wore a pale mauve skirt and jacket. Seeing that her stones were only one move away from being trapped in a hopeless position, she immediately widened her eyes and brazenly reached out to retrieve the stone she had just placed.

"That move doesn't count. I made a mistake just now."

The young man shook his head helplessly and adjusted his glasses without saying anything, clearly long accustomed to her cheating like this. He waited for her to play again, then unhurriedly picked up a black stone and placed it in the upper right corner, sealing the last sliver of an opening in the encirclement of her white stones.

The situation on the board became clear once more. The position the woman had just thought salvageable returned to a dead end in the blink of an eye.

She stared blankly at the board for a couple of seconds, then dropped her remaining stones back into their container with a miserable expression. "I'm done, I'm done. You won't even go easy on me."

The young man laughed, lifted the board, and set it on the low table beside them. Then he undid the latch on the crystal window next to him and pushed it outward a palm's width.

A breath of cool, dry autumn air flowed through the gap, carrying the scent of fields and earth into the carriage and sweeping away the slight stuffiness their game had generated between them.

The young man turned his head slightly, looking through the gap at the fields slowly receding outside and the faint outline of hills along the distant horizon. He remarked, "A little farther ahead, and we'll reach the Desolate Gold Plains."

"Hmm?" the woman answered without looking at him, busily grabbing a handful of roasted melon seeds from a half-open food box beside her and bringing them to her mouth.

The young man grew serious and turned to look at her. "Once we get back to Heaven Dou City this time, let's get married."

The woman abruptly froze, her cheeks flushing scarlet in an instant. At a loss, she clutched the candied fruit in her hand and asked softly, "Why bring that up all of a sudden?"

The young man smiled gently. "I'm not very talented. I'm already thirty, and I'm still a Soul Elder. I probably won't break through the rank-fifty bottleneck in this lifetime. There's little point in continuing to travel around accumulating merits. Before we left, I already submitted a transfer request to the sect. Once we return, I'll become a manager at the auction house in Heaven Dou City and settle down for good."

After hearing this, all the coy petulance faded from her face, and tenderness rippled through her eyes. She brushed the crumbs from her hands, shifted over to sit beside him, and took the hand resting on his knee, interlacing their fingers. "Then let's get married. I happen to be tired of running around too."

"All right." The young man clasped her hand tightly in return, his eyes brimming with warmth.

Well, it was fortunate Su Lin hadn't awakened some kind of far-hearing skill. Otherwise, if he had heard these two frantically stacking buffs inside the carriage, he would definitely have taken to his heels without a moment's hesitation.

The journey afterward became rather dull and tedious. Aside from stopping at towns along the way to replenish their dry provisions, they spent all their time on the road.

After the convoy crossed the Desolate Gold Plains, the terrain gradually changed from broad, level fields to rolling hills. The vegetation on either side of the road also shifted from vast stretches of farmland to low shrubs and sparse pine woods.

The lingering unease in Su Lin's heart grew stronger still.

No, we can't keep following them. Something's bound to happen sooner or later.

He spread out the simple map he carried, lifted the carriage curtain, and looked at Sean riding alongside him. "Uncle Sean, once we reach Sanming Town up ahead, let's part ways with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's convoy," he said gravely.

"Huh? All right!" Though Sean was thoroughly puzzled, unable to understand why they would abandon the shelter of a sturdy mountain like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and travel alone instead, he had always followed Su Lin's decisions unconditionally. After nearly a year together, he had developed considerable trust in Su Lin's judgment and knew the boy never made decisions without reason.

"Has something gone wrong?" Xiao Wu sat down beside Su Lin, puzzled. These past few days, she had kept feeling that he seemed unsettled.

Su Lin raised a hand to rub his aching brow and sighed softly. "I've had a bad feeling all this time. Hopefully, I'm imagining it."

Ever since joining the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's convoy, he had kept feeling that something was going to happen. It was just like having an exam the next day in his previous life without having read a single page of the textbook: his heart raced, and he had nothing to fall back on.

Xiao Wu wasn't worried in the slightest and even reassured Su Lin instead. "Don't worry. Didn't Uncle Sean say so? The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is a major sect with Titled Douluo holding the fort. Nothing will happen."

Su Lin could only nod reluctantly. They would be parting ways soon anyway; he only hoped nothing would happen over these last dozen or so li.

The convoy traveled another dozen or so li before the terrain ahead narrowed somewhat. The hills on either side gradually closed in toward the main road, forming the mouth of a valley that was not particularly steep or treacherous.

The rocky walls on either side of the road were covered in low moss and withered yellow vines. Here and there, rain-scoured grooves showed on exposed rock, casting shadows of varying lengths beneath the slanting afternoon sun.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A dense barrage of sharp, urgent whistles suddenly erupted from the wooded hills on both sides, piercing the ears.

Immediately afterward, a deafening roar came from ahead. "Enemy attack! Bandits!"

Sean's expression changed. He immediately spurred his horse over to the carriage window and urged anxiously, "Young Master Little Lin, a large band of bandits is blocking the road!"

Su Lin leaned inside the carriage, bracing himself against its wall to steady his body. The corner of his mouth twitched despite himself. "I knew it..."

Sean's heart was pounding too. In all his years, this was the first time he had heard of bandits daring to attack a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect convoy in broad daylight. Once that pagoda banner was raised, who within hundreds of li had the guts to lay a finger on it?

Things really were getting ridiculous these days. Someone actually dared to rob a sect with Titled Douluo holding the fort. Were they really choosing money over their lives...?

Sean had originally intended to lead everyone back amid the chaos and avoid this calamity, but the bandits lying in ambush among the hills had no intention of sparing any travelers following the convoy.

Another dense volley of arrows whistled through the air, shooting straight toward all the groups following at the rear.

"Pikachu."

Su Lin called softly, and a golden figure leaped out through the carriage window in an instant, hovering in midair directly in front of the carriage. All its short golden fur stood on end, and dense lightning surged from beneath its coat, weaving together in an exceedingly short time into a translucent golden Electroweb that enveloped the carriage, Sean, and the dozen or so guards.

More than twenty arrows struck the web of lightning in succession, deflected or shattered the instant they touched it.

But the other travelers following behind, who had no Soul Beasts to protect them, were not so fortunate. Many who were still watching or had already turned their carts around to leave were turned into hedgehogs by that volley of arrows.