"Tuanzi, do you know how to hunt?" Hua Cai stared in the direction they should have left, gritted her teeth, and began planning her life of sleeping in the open for the next two weeks.
The little ball of light fell limply onto the pillow, its voice filled with utter helplessness: "Boss, I'm a system. I can't even touch anything here. Where am I supposed to hunt for it?"
Flowers are picked and gazed at the sky.
"However, I know there's a town nearby."
The system's voice was tinged with smugness.
To avoid the crowds and reach Bright Summit as quickly as possible, we should have taken a shortcut with the flowers we had picked. It was truly a place where there was hardly anyone around.
Hua Cai rode her pillow, winding and turning, until the pillow was about to get angry, when she finally saw the shadow of a town.
"Let's go, let's pack some dry food." Hua Cai perked up, tore a strip of cloth to cover the horrifying finger hole on her neck, and patted the pillow's head.
From a distance, it looks like just a small town, but to Hua Cai's surprise, there's actually a nice inn there.
The innkeeper wasn't surprised to see Hua Cai lead the horse in. The servant greeted her skillfully, suggesting that people going up and down the mountain often stopped here.
Having prepared three days' worth of provisions, Hua Cai took a nice bath and went to bed early, planning to go up the mountain to scout the way in the early hours of the next day when there were fewer people.
Ever since she overused Soul Absorption recently, Hua Cai's sleep has been exceptionally good. With the system's wake-up service, before dawn the next day, Hua Cai quietly left the inn with her pillow.
Following the path she remembered, she made her way to the outer edge of Bright Summit. Hua Cai glanced at the rugged path, pulled her pillow into the dense forest, and found a good spot to tie up the horse.
"Good boy, eat when you're hungry, and hide it well, okay?" Hua Cai squatted down and placed a bundle of hay from the horse's back in front of the pillow. Before leaving, she didn't forget to threaten him a couple of times: "This is the headquarters of the Demonic Sect. The people inside are no pushovers, especially that one that flies incredibly fast and loves to suck blood."
The pillow paused in its chewing motion with the hay, then turned its head in alarm.
"Yes, that's right, he's the kind who'll eat anything when he's hungry, especially a handsome and intelligent horse like you. He'd love that the most. If he finds out, your unrestrained life will be over." Hua Cai pressed her advantage with a threat.
The horse shook violently, as if it wanted to bury its head in the haystack.
Hua Cai smiled slightly, patted the horse's head, grabbed the bundle from the horse's back, and went up the mountain.
She didn't know the exact location of the main altar at Bright Peak, but she hadn't thought about visiting it.
Perhaps it was still early, and Yang Xiao of the Ming Cult had just received news that the Eight Great Sects were about to besiege Bright Peak. The Eight Great Sects had only just unified their battle objectives, and neither side had yet launched an operation. Hua Cai was not so unlucky as to encounter people from both sides.
Three days passed quickly, and Hua Cai's already not very nice clothes became tattered again.
Of course, it still can't compare to her treasured ripped outfit.
When Hua Cai stumbled back to the foot of the mountain, Pillow had eaten all the grass within a meter around it, and the horse was pitifully huddled together. It was amazing that a horse could perform such a difficult move.
As if hearing footsteps, the pillow buried its head under the hooves.
Hua Cai chuckled and slapped the horse's head: "Let's go, stop pretending to be dead."
"Neigh~~" Pillow excitedly stood up from the ground, wanting to run around Huacai a few times, but almost got its breath caught in the reins.
For the next ten days or so, Hua Cai did not go up the mountain again.
Both sides have begun to move their forces one after another. The probability of being discovered if they go up the mountain at this time is extremely high. Given his current state of being powerless, appearing on Bright Peak at this sensitive time would mean certain death no matter which side he encounters.
This place might even be a good spot for gathering information.
As time passed, the side effects of Hua Cai's overuse of Soul Absorption gradually disappeared.
Unable to practice martial arts, Hua Cai had nothing to do. Apart from occasionally going out for a stroll to see if there was any news she needed, she spent almost all her time sleeping to rest. In just a few days, she felt like she had gained weight.
Pinching her soft, tender face, Hua Cai paced around the room with a melancholy air.
Why is the female lead moving so slowly? If she waits any longer, she'll gain even more weight, and how will she manage to drag such a big guy like Zhao Qiang away from Bright Peak?
"Manager, five guest rooms." A clear voice rang out, and Hua Cai, who was spinning around, suddenly stopped, her heart skipping a beat.
They've arrived.
Hua Cai peeked through the small crack in the window and saw a group of six people at the counter downstairs: a young nobleman in white in front, and five others behind him.
"Gentlemen, my little shop only has three empty rooms left," the shopkeeper's cheerful voice rang out.
"It's alright, Min... Chief Zhao has a room by herself, we can squeeze in." Zhao Qiang, standing behind Zhao Min, looked at the person in front of him with affection.
Flower sweat collection.
The female lead is dressed as a man now, hey! Can you be any more blatant with that look in your eyes? Are you going to just shout it out loud—"I love you, my dear girl."
"Alright, then you can squeeze in. Waiter, lead the way." Zhao Min shrugged indifferently, flicked open the fan in her hand, and followed the waiter upstairs.
Hua Cai quickly closed the window, stood by the bed holding her breath, and listened as the footsteps grew closer and closer. Several figures walked past the window and entered the room next to Hua Cai's.
As the sounds over there gradually quieted down, Hua Cai's mind raced. Seeing the waiter's figure walking past the window, she quickly stepped forward and opened the door.
"Waiter, cough cough, here's some money. Please pack up some pastries for me, cough cough." Hua Cai took out a large piece of silver and handed it over.
Her voice is completely different now, so she's not afraid that people on the other side will come looking for her because of her voice.
The waiter recognized the beautiful woman who had been staying at the inn for half a month. Even though he knew her voice was strange, he still felt a little uncomfortable hearing it again.
Looking at the silver in his hand, the waiter quickly took it: "Okay, please wait a moment."
The waiter responded and left. Hua Cai glanced in the direction of Zhao Min and the others' room, coughed lightly twice, and closed the door.
That night, when all was quiet, after confirming with the system several times that the female protagonist and her group were asleep and wouldn't come out, Hua Cai carried her bag of snacks and a bag of bottles and jars and left the inn.
When they went up the mountain again, Hua Cai did not follow the previous path. Instead, she took the pillow to the bottom of a cliff.
The woven vines hanging in the air above are like a net covering your head, and directly below the vines is a thick layer of straw mat.
"Good boy, get off." Patting the horse's neck, Hua Cai pointed to the slope at her feet.
The pillow reluctantly moved to the edge of the slope, its four legs trembling as it slowly made its way down the slope, where it remained motionless.
Hua Cai smiled with satisfaction, took off the bundle from her body and hid it in a pile of grass to the side, then walked around the fault line and found a suitable spot to climb up.
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