Catastrophe on Due West Road

The orcs recovered their strength relatively quickly, and after a night of rest, everyone’s condition had improved significantly.

The wound on Yun Zhao’s shoulder had stopped bleeding, and the lethargy that had plagued her yesterday had largely faded.

They had been trekking through the snowy mountains for several hours, and the journey had been calm and uneventful. Xiao Yan strode forward, crunching through the deep snow with an arrogant swagger. "So much for 'danger lurking in the shadows'—it was clearly just fear-mongering!"

He kicked a shard of ice, which struck a rock face with a crisp, clear chime. "When we return to the Imperial City, I’ll be sure to make this charlatan—"

His words were cut short.

In the distance, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted from the snow-capped peaks. Yun Zhao looked up sharply to see a hundred-meter-tall wall of snow rising like a prehistoric beast awakening, cascading down upon them with a shroud of bone-chilling frost. Her pupils constricted, and her scream tore through the howling wind: "Avalanche!!!"

Qing Xuanche’s scales flared with an eerie green glow as he instantly transformed into a giant serpent dozens of feet long. His tail swept out to catch Wen Lang, while his body coiled like a chain around Yun Zhao’s slender waist. "Hold on!"

Before the words had faded, the ground began to tremble violently. Countless blocks of snow fell like meteorites, slamming into the earth behind them and gouging out deep pits.

Le Fei’s mangled right wing erupted with golden light, and he soared into the air in an instant. Ye Chonglou shifted into his fox form, leaping rapidly forward, while Xiao Yan transformed into a leopard, sprinting across the snow like a bolt of lightning.

"To the left!" Yun Zhao roared over the howling gale, pointing toward a depression in the mountainside.

Qing Xuanche turned instinctively, his scales scraping against the ice with a piercing shriek, but the roar behind them drew closer with every second.

Suddenly, Qing Xuanche let out a pained hiss as his tail was struck by a block of ice, his scales splitting and bleeding. He forced himself to overdraw his supernatural energy, and his serpent form erupted with a brilliant cyan light, propelling him toward the mountain cove like an arrow released from a bow.

Just as the wall of snow was about to swallow them, the three rolled into the crevice in a hair-raising escape. The massive wave of snow roared past the rock face, the sheer force of the air pressure knocking Yun Zhao and Wen Lang to the ground.

"Le Fei! Xiao Yan!" Ye Chonglou followed Qing Xuanche’s turn and narrowly escaped the avalanche, but Le Fei and Xiao Yan, who had not heard Yun Zhao’s warning, had vanished into the white expanse.

Ye Chonglou’s fox tail stood rigid as he rushed to search for them. Wen Lang, having been protected by Qing Xuanche, was uninjured; he checked on Qing Xuanche first, and seeing that he was not in mortal danger, joined Ye Chonglou in the search.

Even with the robust physiques of orcs, they were powerless against a natural disaster that felt as if an entire mountain had collapsed in an instant.

The snowfield was deathly silent after the avalanche, with only the howling, frigid wind carrying fine snow across the blood-stained clothes of the group.

Time ticked by. With no response from Le Fei and Xiao Yan, and not a single trace of them to be found, everyone’s hearts sank.

Just then, a patch of snow shifted. Ye Chonglou and Wen Lang rushed over, and after much effort, dragged a battered Le Fei and Xiao Yan from the drift. The former’s limbs were twisted and deformed, while the latter’s mouth was filled with slush, his fur covered in countless bloody gashes.

Xiao Yan coughed violently, spitting out shards of ice, his amber eyes filled with terror. "This... how could this be..."

Qing Xuanche shifted back into his human form, his face as pale as paper, black blood spilling from the corners of his mouth. "At least you’re alive."

He looked at Yun Zhao, who was swaying unsteadily, a flicker of complex emotion appearing in his cold eyes for the first time.

Yun Zhao stumbled as she grabbed the rock face, black spots dancing before her eyes. Although she had calculated the possibility of danger, she had not foreseen an avalanche, and the lingering fear still gripped her. She forced herself to stand straight, scanning the battered group before her gaze settled on Qing Xuanche. He was kneeling on the frozen ground, his knuckles digging deep into the snow, black blood continuously leaking from his lips as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

To save the group, he had overdrawn his energy; now, he could barely maintain his human form, and his serpent tail twitched uncontrollably behind him.

Yun Zhao rushed over, stumbling and falling to her knees on the frozen earth, her trembling hands covering his blood-stained chest.

"Don't move," she whispered, her voice as light as the wind. A shimmering green light bloomed from her palms. As her healing energy flowed into Qing Xuanche, the color returned to his pale face, and his furrowed brows slowly smoothed out.

However, Yun Zhao’s eyes grew increasingly vacant. A metallic, sweet taste flooded her throat, and the world before her began to blur.

Qing Xuanche instinctively caught the collapsing Yun Zhao and pulled back her sleeve. The others, who had rushed over, were shocked to see that the eerie black line had crept upward by another half-inch.

Only then did they realize that every time Yun Zhao used her powers, she was burning her own life force.

Yun Zhao managed a faint, weak, yet resolute smile. "I told you... I would protect you."

Her eyes swept over the group and landed on Xiao Yan. He instinctively looked away, his ears burning as he recalled his earlier mockery and stubbornness.

Qing Xuanche turned to Xiao Yan and said, "Do not act so recklessly again."

His voice was as cold as ice, yet it could not hide his lingering fear. "If it weren't for her..." He left the sentence unfinished, but the meaning was clear to everyone.

Xiao Yan remained silent for a long time before finally giving a low grunt of acknowledgement. He looked down at his own mangled tail, then at Yun Zhao’s frail, swaying figure, a storm of complex emotions churning within him.

The divination he had once dismissed as a parlor trick had truly saved their lives. The princess who had once been high and mighty, treating them like blades of grass, truly seemed different now.

When Xiao Yan had insisted on heading due west, Ye Chonglou and Wen Lang had not stopped him, partly to test the accuracy of Yun Zhao’s divinations. Who would have guessed she would be proven right?

Whether it was coincidence or genuine precision, they would have to be more cautious in the future.

The cold wind swept past them, ruffling Yun Zhao’s disheveled hair. Her five beast-husbands gathered around her, the atmosphere no longer charged with the suspicion and hostility of before.

Qing Xuanche looked at Yun Zhao. "Do you still have the strength? We need to find a place to regroup." Qing Xuanche, Xiao Yan, Le Fei, and Yun Zhao all required rest.

Yun Zhao nodded.

Qing Xuanche asked, "East?"

"The sun rises in the east," Yun Zhao explained. "The character 'East' symbolizes the direction of the rising sun, representing light and hope. It is considered an auspicious character that brings good fortune and success, promising peace and smooth sailing. Yes, let us head east."

Le Fei asked curiously, "If 'East' means peace and smooth sailing, did that mean it was safe this morning when Xiao Yan suggested it? Or if Qing Xuanche had suggested 'West', would it have been safe to go northwest?"

"Not necessarily," Yun Zhao replied. "Every divination must be determined by the timing, the geography, the five elements of the person being measured, and the changing environment. Look at the terrain—there is a straight exit to the east. Furthermore, Qing Xuanche is associated with Wood, and the character for 'East' is also associated with Wood. Two woods make a forest, and the character 'double' also implies goodness. As for this morning, it was already after sunrise. Had we chosen East then, we would have had to wait for the sunset and endure darkness before seeing the sunrise again. So, had we chosen East then, it would have been highly dangerous."

She added, "If you are interested, I can teach you."

"No, no..." Le Fei waved his hands in refusal. "Just hearing about it makes my brain ache. I don't want to learn something so complicated."

"Enough," Qing Xuanche said, stretching his long legs. "Everyone has injuries of varying degrees. Let’s find a place to settle in first."