The main road, which stretched out of the village, had been eerily pale in the night. Suddenly, several figures appeared at the end of the road. The figures were shrouded in darkness, extremely tall, and their faces were not visible. A faint voice could be heard from them.

"It was just nearby a moment ago, how could it have disappeared?"

"Look more carefully, it must be nearby and not far away."

"Things that are thousands of years old are hard to find. If we get this, we won't have to worry about our lord's hopelessness in achieving a breakthrough."

Zhang Xu had excellent hearing, and the conversation of the group reached her ears without any obstruction, carried by the wind. It seemed they were looking for something, and considering that Xiao Mumu had just woken up, she feared that these people were after Xiao Mumu. Zhang Xu quickly crawled into the dense foliage nearby.

Seeing that these people were about to reach the base of the big tree, Zhang Xu quickly covered her mouth and nose, afraid that her breath might be leaked out.

A few wisps of fragrance drifted on the wind, transforming into halos that enveloped her completely, creating a scene of wind and moonlight.

The group walked to the tree, glanced at the swaying leaves, and shook their heads: "It's windy here, there's no wind."

Zhang Xu covered her mouth and nose, watching the group slowly walk away. Just as they were about to disappear, Zhang Xu's grip on the branch suddenly went limp. Hearing the sound, the group immediately turned around.

:"who?"

The sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking filled the village. Hearing the noise, the group stopped, hesitated for a moment, then flicked their sleeves and rushed into the darkness.

Zhang Xu breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the tree trunk, and looked towards the village where the lights were on.

"You managed to make a fuss in such a short time?"

Before Zhang Xu could react, her thoughts still lingering on the group of people, a voice suddenly rang in her ears, causing her to loosen her grip and tumble down the tree, landing hard on her feet.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

When she saw the person standing in front of her with his arms crossed and looking at her with a mocking gaze, she was immediately furious. Was this person deliberately trying to scare her?

Zhang Xu tumbled down to the ground beneath the tree, her face covered in mud, with a few withered leaves stuck in her hair, looking as disheveled as a little kitten. Yan Chenghuan couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of her.

Yan Chenghuan crossed his arms, a broad smile spreading across his face. His eyes shone with a thousand stars, and his robes swayed in the moonlight, like a freehand landscape painting, in which a figure descended into reality, stepping on countless clouds. Zhang Xu, who had been about to speak, suddenly swallowed the words.

"Rong Yue is still at the farmer's house. Let's go back. It won't be good if we're late and someone finds out."

How could that be?

When Zhang Xu woke up, there was nothing beside her. At this moment, Rong Yue was lying properly on the kang (a heated brick bed). Seeing the dim light, Rong Yue mumbled, "Xu Xu, where did you go just now?"

Zhang Xu looked at her but didn't notice anything unusual. She seemed to be in a dazed state, as if she had just fallen asleep and realized that the person next to her was gone: "Oh, I just... got up in the middle of the night."

"Go to sleep. We can see your uncle tomorrow if we travel a little further."

Rong Yue pulled her to lie down on the kang (a heated brick bed). The crowing of roosters outside indicated it was already past midnight. After what had happened that night, Zhang Xu couldn't fall asleep anymore. What was going on in this strange village? Where had Rong Yue gone? When she woke up, there was no one beside her, and she had looked around the yard but couldn't find her.

Rong Yue kicked off the thin quilt covering her body, turned over, and revealed the mud and withered grass on her back.

Zhang Xu grabbed the withered grass behind her and was immediately startled.