Chapter 286 Narrow Path

After the three of them had a full lunch, Lin Changning carried Yue'er in one arm and set off. Fortunately, he had a good sense of direction. After going out and getting a feel for the direction, he led the people slowly up the cliff.

Lin Changning carried Yue'er in one arm, while Li Mingshu followed closely behind. The three of them walked for half a day and rested for half a day. By evening, Lin Changning looked at the somewhat gloomy weather and became worried.

"It looks like it might rain today. We need to hurry and head towards the other cliff, otherwise it will be hard to find a place to take shelter from the rain."

Li Mingshu, leaning against a tree and panting heavily, nodded and said, "Then let's hurry up and go. Your wound can't get wet. Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain first!"

Lin Changning nodded while holding Yue'er. Not only should she not get wet in the rain, but Yue'er is also young and easily catches a cold if she gets wet. It was already a miracle that she didn't catch a cold or get a fever after falling into the lake the other day.

Lin Changning hesitated as he watched Li Mingshu struggling to keep up behind him. His older sister was clearly exhausted, but there didn't seem to be any place nearby to take shelter from the rain.

At this moment, Yue'er suddenly struggled to get down: "Uncle Lin, Yue'er can walk by herself, can you carry Mommy on your back?"

Lin Changning hesitated for a moment before putting Yue'er down: "Sister, let me carry you on my back."

If it's the moon, you can tuck it under your armpit.

It's inevitable that there will be some discomfort.

Li Mingshu shook her head: "I can walk. You're injured, don't open your wounds!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he glared at his daughter, looked up at the sky, and in the moonlight, he quickly climbed up the tree. Standing at the highest point, he looked around.

To their west, there appeared to be a cliff, and the places below the cliff were most likely to contain caves.

Lin Changning jumped down, supporting himself on the tree with one hand, startling Li Mingshu so much that her face turned pale: "You're still injured, how could you be so reckless? Xiao Liu!"

After Lin Changning came down, she wiped the dirt off her hands and said, "It's alright, sister."

After saying that, he pointed to the west and said, "After walking for about half an hour, there is a cliff over there. There should be a cave below where you can take shelter from the rain."

After saying that, he picked up Yue'er with one hand and led Li Mingshu quickly down the cliff.

The two walked for almost an hour before finally reaching the foot of the cliff. Lin Changning breathed a sigh of relief and led the two forward.

Sure enough, in one corner of the cliff, there was a cave of moderate size. Lin Changning and his men had just entered when a torrential downpour began outside.

Lin Changning looked inside the cave and saw that the innermost layer of the cave was covered with a layer of straw, and there was a fire that someone had once burned nearby. There were even two bows and arrows placed on the innermost side.

"This must be a temporary resting place for hunters when they go into the mountains to hunt. I'll light a fire and rest here tonight. Tomorrow I'll go out to find some food, and after we eat, we'll continue on our way. We should be able to reach Songhe County by the morning after tomorrow at the latest. Once we get there and meet up with the caravan, we can go straight back to Taiyuan."

Li Mingshu sat panting on the innermost straw, while Yue'er got off Lin Changning and ran over to cling tightly to her mother.

"good."

Seeing Li Mingshu panting heavily, Lin Changning hesitated for a moment and said, "If you really can't keep up, then rest a little more tomorrow."

Li Mingshu was different from her after all. She had a poor constitution and rarely went out, so it was normal for her to not have the physical strength to keep up.

Li Mingshu shook her head at Lin Changning's worried gaze: "It's alright, Xiao Liu, I can manage."

Lin Changning nodded to indicate that he understood. After tidying up the fire, he took out some small fish that were left over from lunch, intending to heat them up and hand them to the two of them. However, when he turned his head, he found that the two of them had fallen asleep.

The two, one big and one small, lay on the haystack, with Yue'er nestled in Li Mingshu's arms, sleeping soundly.

The firelight illuminated the mother and daughter's faces, making them appear to be sleeping soundly. Lin Changning sat by the fire watching over them, glancing at Li Mingshu and Yue'er a few times before sighing.

They are all pitiful people.

Lin Changning leaned against the cave wall, grabbed a handful of straw to cushion his back, and unconsciously fell asleep while holding his sword in one hand.

Around midnight, Lin Changning suddenly heard voices through the sound of rain and was jolted awake.

After stomping out the fire, he gently nudged Li Mingshu and Yue'er, and they hid behind a rock in the cave.

He drew his sword and casually took the bow and arrows left behind by the hunter in the cave.

They watched the outside of the cave warily.

The sound was getting closer and closer. Lin Changning gripped his knife tightly, placed his bow and arrows beside him, stared intently at the cave, and listened carefully to the sounds outside.

"We've searched for three days and haven't found the body. How are we going to go back and explain this?"

"It's also possible that he fell into the lake and drowned."

"Come on, didn't you see the woman's footprints on the shore? The person is definitely alive, it's just a matter of whether that little brat who was shot by an arrow is still alive?"

"What bad luck! I've been looking for them for two days and haven't found them anywhere, not even dead. And today I got soaked to the bone."

"Alright, second brother, stop complaining. There seems to be a cave over there. Let's go take a look, make a fire to dry our clothes, rest for tonight, and continue searching tomorrow!"

Lin Changning secretly looked outside and heard about seven or eight voices, which must be the people who attacked them that day.

Lin Changning's shoulder was aching slightly, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes. After telling Li Mingshu and Yue'er to hide, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, waiting for the others to approach.

The one with the loudest voice stepped into the cave first. Just as he was about to warn the others to be on guard after seeing the fire that had just been extinguished, an arrow shot out from the darkness and struck him squarely in the chest.

The black-clad guard shouted before he died, "Ambush!"

The guards behind him turned to find cover, but Lin Changning caught the slowest one and shot him in the back with an arrow.

Li Mingshu covered Yue'er's mouth in fear and hugged her daughter tightly behind the rock.

Lin Changning carefully counted from the shadows; there were about five or six people left, so he could only use one arm now, but he should still be able to fight.

Under the cover of darkness, Lin Changning stealthily made his way out. The night was pitch black, with dark clouds obscuring the moon. In the absence of light, a guard hiding outside the cave suddenly felt a figure pass by, and the next moment he was decapitated.

However, this also exposed Lin Changning. Several guards saw Lin Changning and quickly drew their swords to attack.

Two of them were using daggers, one was using a knife, and the remaining two were using swords. Lin Changning was wielding a knife in one hand and quickly engaged in combat with the group of people.

Upon first meeting, he knocked the daggers out of the hands of the two guards wielding them, and then swiftly struck them both in the heart with two slashes.

The remaining three exchanged a glance, sensed something was wrong, and tried to run away.

After Lin Changning became entangled in a fight, he delivered another cunning slash, drawing a thin line of blood on one of the men's necks.

The remaining two people turned around and tried to run away, but Lin Changning endured the pain, picked up the bow and arrow on the ground, and shot an arrow with great force. The arrow pierced through one of the people's bodies and pinned him to a cliff.

Lin Changning felt as if his wounds had reopened, but with only one person left, he couldn't let him escape, so he gritted his teeth and fired another arrow.

"Whoosh~ Buzz buzz buzz~"

Another arrow that hits the bullseye.

After hearing the sound of someone falling to the ground in the darkness, Lin Changning breathed a sigh of relief, grimacing as he clutched his shoulder, and his face turned pale.

"Hiss... the wound has reopened..."