Ten days later.
Those ten days were a mad rush. Aside from a brief stop in a remote town to buy a carriage for Clara Night and send her off with Aiden, they barely paused their journey.
In the carriage, Ivy Shen’s stomach felt awful. This wasn’t a smooth asphalt road—the constant bumps made her dizzy and weak, so much so that she barely had the strength to speak.
"Mistress, we’ve arrived," Lynn, the driver, suddenly announced. The horse let out a long neigh, and the carriage came to a stop.
Hearing this, Ivy quickly lifted the curtain and was the first to hop out. The moment she landed, she was stunned by the sight before her.
Holy crap, how is there a mountain this tall right in front of me?! And wait—what's with all this peach blossom perfume? The whole mountain's basically drowning in pink, like someone rage-quit painting and just dumped a bucket of pastel everywhere. It's so pretty, it's almost an attack on my eyeballs.
"To enter Poison Peach Valley, you have to climb the mountain first," Adrian said, glancing coolly at the sea of peach trees.
"Huh? The entrance’s up on the mountain?" Ivy was confused, but honestly, she was kind of excited. She had her own plans—who cares what everyone else was scheming? What mattered was that she had to meet Master Xuanluo and get back to the 21st century, because that was her real home!
"Lynn, just bring the dry rations," Adrian ordered, then strode off ahead.
Lynn quickly packed up the food and water, and Ivy and Lucian Vane followed after him up the trail.
The road to Poison Peach Valley was strangely silent. Everyone was so quiet, Ivy felt weird about it. She glanced back at Lucian Vane and was surprised to see him frowning deeply, obviously troubled by something. Up ahead, Adrian’s cold profile looked even more frosty than usual. What was up with these two?
"Mistress, something’s not right," Lynn said from the rear, gripping his sword tightly.
Ivy hustled over to Lynn’s side. She hadn’t said much to those two 'icebergs' lately, but Lynn was always super friendly—ask him anything, and he’d answer in detail. So, curiosity totally won: "Lynn, what do you mean by that?"
"Miss Shen, it’s safer if you stick close to Adrian," he said, quickly shifting back a step to better protect her.
"Eh? What’s that supposed to mean?"
"Every year around this time, masters from all sorts of martial sects and skilled fighters hide out here. They don’t care about Yvonne’s contest—they’re just here to snatch the Peach Immortal Elixir from anyone who earned it the hard way. So this road should never be this quiet." Lynn frowned, carefully scanning the area.
"Wait, for real?" Ivy’s jaw dropped, then she bounced back fast. Oh, that explains it! If everyone wants to come here, why are there so few contestants in Lark City? Turns out, the real pros don’t bother with singing contests—they just cosplay as highway robbers!
"No wonder the trip’s been so smooth. So, you’ve all been waiting here?" Adrian’s cold voice cut through, snapping Ivy out of her daydream. Not far ahead stood a massive crowd, all dressed identically, brandishing swords and knives that looked seriously expensive. The whole scene was… intense.
Just as Ivy wondered who these people were, a familiar, enthusiastic shout made everyone freeze.
"Wife… wife, is that really you?!"
She looked up. Not far away, Liam Willow stood there in his red robe, looking so cute it could cause a sugar rush. He was so excited to see Ivy that he nearly launched himself at her, but just as he started, someone yanked the back of his robe. Liam spun around—and the man behind him flashed a dazzling smile. The shocker? It was none other than Caleb Miles, the abacus-toting merchant who’d vanished after losing the Lark City finals!
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PS: Our pure-hearted Liam Willow finally appears! What’s his reason for coming here? And why is Caleb Miles here too? The plot thickens, folks! Want to know more? Then keep reading—hehe~