Chapter 416: The Unexpected

Looking around, on the rooftop of a wooden building not far from the inn, the young girl spotted yet another body.

And she recognized the person at a glance, one of the town's few Heaven-Human experts, known as the "Poison Widow."

The young girl's brow furrowed even deeper. She immediately moved to the Poison Widow's side to examine the body's condition.

But she found, just as with the Yin Wind Old Devil, that there was no identifiable cause of death whatsoever.

Continuing her search around the inn, the young girl found over a dozen more bodies in succession, three of which were experts no weaker than the Yin Wind Old Devil and the Poison Widow.

All of them had clearly died the previous night, with no wounds and no signs of poisoning. The cause of death was entirely a mystery.

At this point, the young girl understood why nothing had happened at the inn the previous night. All of these people had died silently, without a sound.

What was more, she had not sensed any of it at all.

With that realization, the young girl looked toward the inn and suddenly recalled what had happened the previous afternoon. A chill ran down her spine.

What had taken place was clearly connected to Cao Gaoshan and the others. And if they had wanted to kill her at that moment, she would likely have ended up just like the Poison Widow and the Yin Wind Old Devil.

"Who could have done this?"

The young girl's expression was unpleasant. Li Musheng's image surfaced in her mind.

Even so, she had quietly investigated the group's situation the day before, and Li Musheng had appeared to be a perfectly ordinary person.

But after this, the young girl no longer felt the slightest inclination to underestimate any of them. The martial world was vast, and it was hardly short of experts whose backgrounds she could not read, deeply concealed for all their power.

With that thought, the young girl swept her eyes over the bodies around her once more, suppressed the startled unease in her heart, and returned to the inn.

Before long, Cao Gaoshan, Cang Yinyue, and the others came down one after another, having rested for the night and ready to continue on toward White Emperor City.

Cao Gaoshan had already hired a local guide the previous day, someone in the area who worked specifically as a guide and was familiar with the desert terrain. With him leading the way, they would have no trouble reaching White Emperor City.

But what caught Cao Gaoshan somewhat off guard was that, though he and the man had agreed to meet at the inn that morning, half an hour had passed and the man had still not shown up.

"Is this guide you found reliable?"

Li Musheng frowned at Cao Gaoshan. Cang Yinyue and Shen Anran also turned their attention toward him, while the large black cat paced restlessly about the main hall, clearly growing impatient.

"I quietly looked into him beforehand. He has spent years accompanying merchant caravans through this desert and is highly experienced. And besides, no one in this town aside from him would have anything to do with us, let alone agree to guide us."

Cao Gaoshan looked somewhat at a loss. After waiting this long without the man appearing, he was beginning to feel anxious, and he rose to his feet, intending to go and look for the man himself to find out what was going on.

But just then, the young girl, who had been sitting behind the counter, turned her eyes, suddenly stood up, and asked Cao Gaoshan with a strange expression, "Is the person you're looking for named Zhang San?"

At those words, Cao Gaoshan stopped and turned back to look at the young girl behind the counter, "You know this person too, little girl?"

"This town is so small, everyone runs into everyone eventually. How could I not know him?"

As the young girl spoke, she stepped out from behind the counter and walked slowly toward Li Musheng's group.

But what came next was something startling. She delivered an unfortunate piece of news to the group.

"Zhang San is dead."

"Dead? Wasn't he perfectly fine yesterday?"

Cao Gaoshan went briefly blank, finding it difficult to believe the young girl's words.

The young girl pointed toward the area outside the inn and said, "Quite a few people died nearby last night, and Zhang San was among them."

As she spoke, the young girl swept her gaze over Cao Gaoshan and the others one by one, as though trying to read something from their expressions.

But to her disappointment, both Cang Yinyue and Shen Anran, along with Li Musheng, all wore expressions of pure bewilderment.

Cao Gaoshan, Cang Yinyue, and the others genuinely had no idea why people had died outside the inn. Li Musheng had a rough idea of the cause, since he had casually set up illusory traps in the area the previous night.

But the so-called experts in this town were so weak that he had not needed to act personally at all. As a result, he had no idea who had actually been killed, and certainly had not realized he had accidentally killed the guide they had worked so hard to find.

The young girl, of course, understood perfectly well that Zhang San had been no good man. The man had pretended to guide travelers while secretly slaughtering an untold number of merchant caravans with his own hands behind the scenes.

That Zhang San had come near the inn the previous night had not been for any innocent purpose.

"I will go take a look."

At this, Cao Gaoshan said a few words and his figure flickered away at speed.

Before long, he returned and gave Li Musheng a quiet nod, clearly having confirmed Zhang San's body for himself.

By now Cao Gaoshan had naturally figured out that the people who had died outside the inn must have been Li Musheng's doing, and that this was exactly why their group had passed the night in such complete calm.

"Well, since the guide is dead, find another one."

There was nothing else for Li Musheng to do about it. He could hardly bring the man back to life.

At those words, Cao Gaoshan looked rather troubled. First, there were very few people familiar with this desert region. Second, no one in the town seemed willing to act as their guide.

For the time being, he genuinely had no easy way of finding a suitable replacement.

But at this point, the young girl studied Cao Gaoshan and the others for a moment, then asked thoughtfully, "Are you planning to head to White Emperor City?"

At those words, Li Musheng turned and glanced at the young girl, raising an eyebrow, "Eavesdropping on other people's conversations at such a young age. That's not a good habit to have."

But the young girl lifted her pale chin and crossed her arms, "I'll be honest with you. I happen to be planning a trip to White Emperor City myself, recently."

At those words, Cao Gaoshan's expression shifted with sudden interest, "Are you familiar with the routes through this desert, little girl?"

He then went on to extend an invitation, "Why not travel with us, little girl? We could look out for each other along the way."

With Zhang San dead, and this young girl clearly no ordinary person, having her guide them would solve his most pressing problem.

But the young girl only gave a soft laugh, "Having me guide you is no problem at all, but I am not going to work for free."

With that, she settled into a leisurely pose and proceeded to describe the desert's extreme and treacherous conditions to Cao Gaoshan and the others in vivid detail, making clear that without a guide, outsiders attempting to cross the desert to reach White Emperor City faced odds nearly impossible to overcome.

In doing so, she made her own importance unmistakably clear.

"Go on, then. How much do you want?"

Li Musheng narrowed his eyes slightly. He could see at a glance that this young girl intended to drive a hard bargain. But as long as they made it to White Emperor City safely, money was not a problem for him.