Chapter 67: Running East

By the next morning, the caravan yard had begun to take shape.

The entrance had been widened, most of the first section was level, and several tethering posts stood along one side. The second water trough was still unfinished.

Lin Yuan checked the work once and returned to Wandering Cloud Tavern.

There was no reason to spend the morning watching people move dirt.

Blackstone was already busy.

Several merchants from the previous gathering remained in the settlement, while new travelers continued arriving from the east.

The western road was still unsafe for loaded wagons, but people had learned to work around it.

Some left their wagons in Blackstone.

Some stored their goods.

Others hired cultivators to carry valuable items west on foot.

The small arrangement from yesterday was continuing too.

Qiao had sold more of Luo Cheng’s herbs, and the merchant carrying ordinary tools returned to ask about leaving his goods behind.

This time, Lin Yuan simply pointed toward Qiao and Gao Rui.

"They know how it works."

The merchant went to them.

Good.

If every small transaction still required Lin Yuan, he hadn’t created an opportunity.

He had created another job.

The rest of the day passed quietly.

Near sunset, the caravan-yard workers packed away their tools.

Lin Yuan walked past the site on his way back toward the tavern.

A few Ironhoof Beasts were already tethered beside the unfinished yard even though it wasn’t officially open.

He didn’t bother stopping them.

They weren’t blocking the road.

That was enough.

Lanterns began appearing around Central Blackstone.

Merchants closed their stalls.

Smoke rose from a cooking fire near the market.

For a while, everything felt ordinary.

Then the bell rang.

Clang.

Lin Yuan stopped.

The sound came from the western watch platform.

Another strike followed.

Clang. Clang.

Then the bell began ringing without pause.

Conversations around the market broke off.

Several cultivators turned toward the western road.

A tethered spirit beast pulled hard against its rope.

Lin Yuan was already moving.

By the time he reached the western edge of Blackstone, several people had gathered near the watch platform.

The lookout pointed into the fading light.

"Three people coming in fast!"

Lin Yuan followed his hand.

At first, he saw only movement beyond the lanterns.

Then three figures appeared.

Running.

One stumbled.

The other two caught him and dragged him forward.

Behind them came a rough sound from somewhere off the road.

Low.

Heavy.

Branches cracked.

A cultivator beside Lin Yuan drew his sword.

Another moved to the opposite side of the road.

"Spirit beasts?"

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes.

"Looks like it."

The travelers reached the lantern light.

Two men and a woman.

All cultivators.

All exhausted.

One man’s sleeve was torn open.

The woman saw the people waiting ahead.

"Get everyone away from the road!"

Lin Yuan raised his voice.

"Move the wagons back! Keep the beasts under control!"

Merchants immediately began pulling their animals away.

Several cultivators spread out along the road.

Farther behind them, Su Mei and Xiao Lan were already moving customers inside the tavern and clearing space for the injured.

The three travelers passed through the line.

One nearly collapsed after reaching safety.

Then something broke through the darkness.

A spirit beast.

Large.

Low to the ground.

Dark, coarse fur covered its body. Its shoulders were scarred, and dirt streaked one flank.

Lin Yuan didn’t recognize the species.

The beast slowed when it saw the cultivators waiting ahead.

Another shape appeared behind it.

Then a third.

Three beasts.

The woman behind Lin Yuan struggled to catch her breath.

"They followed us from the western trail."

"Why?"

"We don’t know."

The largest beast kept glancing behind itself.

Its breathing was uneven.

Its body remained tense.

Then it suddenly charged.

The cultivator beside Lin Yuan moved first.

His sword flashed.

The beast twisted away.

Another cultivator attacked from the opposite side, forcing it toward the road.

The beast rammed him with its shoulder and sent him stumbling backward.

Lin Yuan stepped in.

Qi moved through his body immediately, smooth and full. Since reaching Peak Qi Refining, calling on it had become almost instinctive.

The beast turned toward him.

Lin Yuan slipped past its claws and drove a Qi-reinforced palm into its ribs.

The impact knocked it sideways.

It skidded across the dirt, recovered, and rose again.

The beast was tougher than he expected, but not beyond what he could handle.

It lunged.

Lin Yuan stepped past the charge and struck behind its shoulder.

The beast lost its balance.

A nearby swordsman followed with a cut across its flank.

Then the other two rushed forward.

"Two more!"

Lin Yuan was already moving.

The second beast leaped.

He planted his feet.

The impact shoved him back half a step.

This time, he held his ground.

The beast snapped toward his shoulder.

Lin Yuan shifted with the charge, hooked an arm against its shoulder, and drove it down onto the road.

Dust burst outward.

The creature rolled and scrambled back to its feet.

The third beast reached another cultivator.

Steel flashed.

A shallow cut opened along its side.

It retreated.

But not west.

None of them moved west.

The largest beast kept circling, searching for a way past the cultivators.

Toward the east.

Straight through Blackstone.

Lin Yuan finally understood.

They weren’t trying to hunt.

They were trying to get through.

The largest beast charged again.

Lin Yuan waited.

At the final moment, he shifted aside and struck beneath the side of its jaw.

The beast staggered.

Its front legs buckled.

It hit the dirt hard and slid several feet.

The other two stopped.

For a heartbeat, everything went still.

Then one turned south.

The other followed.

Both disappeared into the darkness beyond the road.

Nobody chased them.

The largest beast remained down for several breaths.

One cultivator lifted his sword.

Lin Yuan stopped him.

"Wait."

"It’s still alive."

"I can see that."

The beast struggled upright.

Its legs shook.

Even wounded, it looked west once and immediately turned away.

Then it limped south after the others.

No one tried to stop it.

Lin Yuan watched until it disappeared.

That bothered him more than the fight itself.

The three travelers were brought to Wandering Cloud Tavern.

None of their injuries were serious.

Mostly exhaustion, bruising, and shallow cuts.

Su Mei brought water.

Xiao Lan found clean cloth for the worst wounds.

Fang Yu came from the inn and helped arrange places for them to rest.

After the travelers had recovered enough to speak, Lin Yuan sat across from them.

The woman drank half a cup of water before answering.

"We were coming east from near Red Cliff."

"From the damaged road?"

"North of it."

Several people nearby went quiet.

"We didn’t go far," she continued. "We were looking for another way around the broken section."

"Did you find one?"

"No."

"What happened?"

She looked toward the window.

"We started seeing beasts."

"How many?"

"At first, only a few."

The man beside her spoke.

"Then more."

"Different kinds," he continued. "Not one pack."

Lin Yuan’s attention sharpened.

"What kinds?"

"Ashfang Wolves. Two small horned beasts I didn’t recognize. Something larger farther north."

The woman nodded.

"We saw more than a dozen before sunset."

"Moving together?"

"No."

"Same direction?"

"East."

Lin Yuan leaned back slightly.

The earlier reports had involved particular groups abandoning their territory.

This was different.

Beasts that normally had nothing to do with one another were all moving east.

"What made those three attack you?"

"They didn’t at first," the woman said.

"They were running too."

The man touched his torn sleeve.

"We got in their path."

Lin Yuan fell silent.

The beasts hadn’t chased them because they were hunting.

They had simply refused to turn back.

"Anything else?"

The woman hesitated.

"There was a tremor."

"Strong?"

"Not enough to knock us down."

The man continued.

"Then we heard something underground."

Lin Yuan already knew what he was going to say.

"Stone cracking?"

The man’s expression changed.

"You’ve heard it?"

"Others have."

He nodded slowly.

"That was what it sounded like."

The woman added,

"After that, more beasts started moving."

"From where?"

She pointed loosely northwest.

"That direction."

North of Red Cliff.

Again.

Lin Yuan looked through the window toward the western road.

Tonight’s fight hadn’t been large.

Three beasts.

No serious injuries.

No damage to Blackstone.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

The beasts hadn’t come because they wanted prey.

They had run toward a settlement full of cultivators because turning back had seemed worse.

And now it wasn’t only one species.

Whatever was happening north of Red Cliff was beginning to reach Blackstone.