Zhao Ming cupped his hand, his weathered face breaking into a welcoming smile. "Welcome aboard."
Mo Xuan returned the courtesy and asked: "When do we leave?"
"As soon as everyone is ready." The merchant turned toward the convoy, his eyes sweeping over the carriages and workers. "We have a long road ahead of us."
Mo Xuan looked toward the road disappearing into the distant mountains.
The eastern gate slowly opened as the first rays of sunlight appeared beyond the mountains. One by one, the convoy began moving.
The seven carriages rolled onto the mountain road, their wheels pressing deep into the damp earth left behind by the previous night's rain. Several guards rode alongside the convoy in a loose formation, while two others pushed ahead of the group, scanning the road for anything out of place before the rest of the party arrived.
Mo Xuan walked near the middle of the procession, having deliberately chosen a position that let him observe both the front and rear of the convoy without drawing unnecessary attention to himself. The merchant convoy was larger than he had initially expected.
Apart from the seven cargo carriages, nearly twenty people were travelling together, most of them ordinary merchants and hired workers going about their business with the unhurried familiarity of routine. The guards, however, were a different matter entirely. There were six of them in total — four ordinary martial practitioners with sturdy builds and well-worn weapons, and two who carried faint traces of Soul Power, though neither struck Mo Xuan as particularly strong. He observed them quietly, saying nothing, cataloguing their movements and postures
The convoy leader, Zhao Ming, had arranged his guards with clear intention. The strongest cultivator among them stayed near the front, while the other capable fighter held the rear.
That meant Mo Xuan was the strongest cultivator in the convoy.
The first day passed peacefully. The road gradually carried them away from the territory directly controlled by the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, and with each mile, the landscape shifted subtly around them. The mountains grew less imposing, the roads rougher and less maintained, and the villages they passed became increasingly sparse, sometimes little more than a handful of huts clustered along the roadside.
By afternoon, they entered a long stretch of forest, and Mo Xuan's attention sharpened almost immediately. The trees here grew far denser than anything near the sect, their branches knitting together overhead and blocking out much of the sunlight, leaving the road below covered in shifting patches of shadow. He could sense faint fluctuations of Spiritual Energy threading through the trees — nothing overwhelming, but enough to confirm that several low-tier Beasts were lurking somewhere nearby, watching, waiting.
A few hours later, the convoy stopped beside a small clearing to rest. The merchants busied themselves preparing food while the horses were fed and watered, and the guards rotated through short breaks in shifts. Mo Xuan settled beneath a tree slightly apart from the rest of the group, preferring the quiet distance to the noise of casual conversation. He had barely closed his eyes when a shadow fell across him.
He looked up to find one of the younger guards standing there — a man named Liu Chen, perhaps twenty years old, with a broad sword strapped across his back and an easy, curious expression. "Can I sit with you?"
Mo Xuan thought for a bit before nodding.
Liu Chen dropped down beside him, stretching his legs out with a satisfied sigh. "You're quite calm and quiet. Is this your first mission?"
Mo Xuan opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure of how to answer
Sensing that his companion wasn't in a talkative mood, Liu Chen didn't press further. He sat quietly beside him, pulled out his ration, and ate in peace, apparently content with the company regardless of the lack of conversation.
Night eventually settled over the forest, and the convoy made camp for the evening. Several fires flickered to life around the carriages, casting long shadows against the trees. The merchants gathered close to the flames to eat and talk amongst themselves, while the guards spread out along the perimeter, alert despite the apparent calm.
Mo Xuan remained beneath his tree, eating his ration in silence before settling into his nightly cultivation. He cycled through several rounds of breathing and energy circulation, letting the forest's ambient Spiritual Energy settle into his meridians — until he opened his eyes and immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The forest had gone too quiet.
He stood at once, his expression hardening. Across the clearing, Liu Chen noticed the sudden shift in his posture. "What is it?"
Mo Xuan didn't answer right away, listening instead to the faint rustling sound drifting from somewhere behind the convoy. He extended his Spiritual Sense outward, and his expression changed the instant it brushed against what was waiting in the darkness. "Beasts."
Liu Chen was already on his feet. "How many?"
"More than ten," Mo Xuan said, his eyes narrowing as he tried to pin down the exact number moving through the trees.
Even though Liu Chen couldn't sense anything himself, he trusted the warning without question — this was, after all, a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect standing beside him. He immediately signalled for the other guards to grab their weapons.
The commotion drew Zhao Ming out of his carriage at a near-run. "What happened?"
Before anyone could answer, a howl echoed through the forest.
Then another rose to join it. Then several more, until the sound seemed to come from every direction at once.
The merchants' faces drained of colour. Mo Xuan drew his sword slowly as the darkness between the trees began to shift and ripple. One by one, pairs of green eyes blinked into view, scattered through the underbrush like scattered embers.
Liu Chen swallowed hard. "That's..."
Mo Xuan recognised them before Liu Chen could even finish the thought: Forest Fang Wolves— low-tier Beasts. One or two would have posed no real threat. But there were far more than that emerging from the shadows, and more still slinking out from between the trees with every passing second. The wolves had surrounded the convoy completely
Thirty pairs of eyes glowed between the trees.
The Forest Fang Wolves slowly stepped out from the darkness, their bodies low to the ground, their sharp fangs exposed as they surrounded the convoy.
The merchants backed toward the carriages.
Forest Fang Wolves were low-tier Beasts, but they were known for hunting in groups. One wolf was manageable. Ten could become troublesome.
Thirty...
That was another matter entirely.
"Everyone stay close to the carriages!" Liu Chen shouted, tightening his grip on his sword as the other guards scrambled into defensive positions around the merchants.
Awooooo!
The largest wolf threw its head back and howled, and the rest of the pack answered in a deafening chorus that seemed to shake the very trees. A heartbeat later, they attacked.
Five wolves leapt toward the convoy simultaneously, jaws wide, claws extended.
"Defend!" Liu Chen charged forward to meet them, his sword sweeping through the air in a wide arc.
Clang!
His blade caught the first wolf's claws, but the impact sent him staggering backwards, off balance for just a moment too long. Two more wolves seized the opening, attacking from opposite directions at once. Liu Chen barely managed to block one — the second tore across his shoulder, and blood splashed across the churned earth.
"Liu Chen!" One of the other guards rushed forward to help, but he was too far to close the distance in time.
The wolf's jaws opened wide, ready to finish what its claws had started — but before it could bite down—
Whoosh!
A sword flashed through the darkness.
The beast's head flew clean off its shoulders, its body collapsing limp into the dirt a moment later.
Everyone froze in place.
Mo Xuan stood several meters away, his sword extended, with a thin line of blood dripping slowly from the blade. "Stay behind the defensive line," he said, his voice carrying an eerie calm that felt entirely out of place amid the chaos.
Liu Chen stared at him, still catching his breath, utterly dumbfounded.
Another wolf lunged the moment the words left Mo Xuan's mouth. He shifted his body sideways without hesitation, letting the claws pass mere inches from his chest before stepping forward into the opening. One clean slash, and the wolf collapsed beside its companion.
A third beast charged from behind, and Mo Xuan leapt clear of its path, landing lightly on the ground before immediately activating his movement technique — the Cloudwalk Script. A faint rune flickered into existence beneath his feet, and his body blurred forward, closing the distance in an instant. The wolf's claws struck nothing but empty air where he'd been standing a heartbeat earlier.
Mo Xuan reappeared beside its head. His sword descended.
Clang! Slash!
The beast fell, joining the others in the dirt.
Three wolves lay dead before the guards had even fully processed what was happening.
Mo Xuan allowed himself a brief, faintly irritated frown. So much for keeping a low profile, he thought dryly. That plan didn't even survive a single day.
The guards stared at him, still frozen, clearly stunned by what they'd just witnessed. Seeing their hesitation, Mo Xuan raised his voice sharply. "What are you all standing there for? Attack!"
The command jolted them back into motion, and they surged forward together, weapons raised to meet the remaining wolves head-on.