The Journey of Immortal Cultivation

Chapter 1246: Chapter 635: Qiu Niang

Qiu Niang, who had lived in the mountain village for a long time, knew exactly what it was, so her expression immediately changed.

Wolf pack!

This wagon train, how unlucky to have encountered such a massive wolf pack on the snow plains, with numbers reaching into the hundreds or thousands!

After winter sets in, there’s nothing for the wolves to eat on the snow plains. By early spring, they’re famished, their bodies shrunken by two sizes, their fur brittle. But at this time, the wolves are at their most ferocious and cunning, truly daring to attack anything that moves. This wagon train appears to have dozens of large carts, which no wolf pack would dare provoke under normal circumstances. Yet in these early spring days, the wolves, in their desperation for a meal to sustain life, are indeed willing to die for a bite of fatty meat off their prey!

A wolf pack typically has only ten members. Who knows how many miles this wagon train has traveled before attracting such a large-scale wolf pack, trailing behind!

Qiu Niang took a deep breath. With her small body, should she fall alone, she would be gnawed to nothing but bones within fifty seconds. Perhaps the famished wolves might even gnaw on the bones once they’re done. She hasn’t found her official yet; she can’t die!

So she hesitated no longer. Seeing the last few large carts of the train about to pass by, she gritted her teeth and daringly lunged, successfully jumping onto the cart.

This cart was filled with goods, the hard boxes uncomfortable to the touch. She couldn’t bother with that, quickly hiding in a dark corner, curling herself into a small ball, as the driver’s voice was already coming from the front.

The people of this train seemed quite unsympathetic. If they discovered her sneaking a ride, they might think she was a burden slowing the cart down and throw her off.

"A bunch of dog bastards, they’ve followed for sixty miles and still won’t disperse!"

Another aging voice said, "Before spring arrives, these beasts are so famished their eyes are turning green. They definitely won’t let go of an easy meal in hand. Now they’re just hanging behind, slowly wearing down the strength of our oxen and horses. Alas, the nearest village is forty miles away, I think we won’t escape this time."

She caught a slight scent of burnt tobacco, suggesting that the old man in front was smoking a pipe.

The previous person despaired immediately: "You’re saying the same! Today, this hundred pounds of mine is going to feed the wolves in vain? I haven’t even married a wife yet, haven’t experienced pleasure!"

The old man said, "The wild wolves just love to gnaw on young men like you! Twenty years ago, I and Liu’er from the east side of the village went up the mountain, also encountered a wolf. That wolf chased him desperately, precisely because he was a young man!"

The previous person wailed: "Don’t scare me..."

Suddenly, three whistles of varying lengths came from the front, sharp and abrupt, cutting off his words.

Every wagon train has its own codes for long-distance communication. As expected, after the old man heard the whistles, he hurriedly shouted, "Turn east, quickly turn east!"

Qiu Niang, curled up in the cart, indeed felt her body lurch to the right as the ox-carts made a sharp turn.

After the cart steadied, the person in front asked in surprise, "Turn east? But isn’t the east...?"

The old man hushed him fiercely, angrily saying: "Bad luck, don’t say it out loud!"

"What’s the leader mean by this? There’s no one who’s returned from that place."

The old man sneered: "If we don’t go there, in an hour you and I will have no life left. If we head there, there’s still a chance!"

He puffed his pipe a few times, obviously far less calm than he appeared: "Haven’t you heard a phrase? ’Driving a tiger to swallow a wolf!’ There’s no tiger here, though if there were, these many beasts behind could turn and eat it. At worst, we’ll face death, so the leader likely intends to lead the wolves there, hoping we might escape."

Where are they talking about? She just wants to reach a populated place quickly, find someone to save her official. Qiu Niang, filled with suspicion, marked the route in her mind.

After nearly another hour of travel, she could feel the train’s speed slowing down.

The animals pulling the cart were frightened and exhausted, utterly fatigued. Meanwhile, the wolf pack behind, with hope in sight, was energetic and drawing ever closer. Wolves are incredibly patient creatures, skilled at wearing prey down to death.

At that moment, the old man at the front softly called: "We’ve arrived!" His voice was filled with fear yet also held a hint of hope.

She secretly lifted the cotton curtain on the cart window. In the dim moonlight, the front’s mountains were silhouetted, a small village seemingly beginning to appear in her sight within the mountain pass. The turn of the year just passed, every household had red lanterns hanging by their doors. On the village’s stone marker, were carved three square letters: