Watching them cross the bridge with no trouble, Colin Kerr hurried over to Liam Willow and eagerly said, "Scholar Liam, let me carry you across." As he spoke, he tried to scoop him up in a bridal carry.
"No need, General," Liam replied quickly, dodging to the side. To everyone’s astonishment, he picked up a large stone and staggered onto the wooden bridge by himself. His clumsy but determined display of masculine resolve made Ivy Shen, already across, secretly cheer him on.
"Go Liam! I’ll be waiting for you over here!" Suddenly, in Ivy’s eyes, Liam looked just like a pure and chaste little white rabbit.
"Wife... I’m coming—coming right now!" Hearing Ivy’s encouragement, Liam got super excited, and even sped up a little, still clutching the stone.
"General!" The others quickly called out to the dazed Colin.
"Let’s just piggyback each other!" Colin snapped, grabbing a random attendant and immediately climbing onto his back. His irritation grew—he hated that woman, yes, ever since meeting her, Liam had started acting cold toward him.
A few hours later—
After crossing the Weight Bridge, the group kept moving forward. Strangely, there wasn’t a single obstacle along the way.
"Let’s camp here tonight and wait for daylight before heading out," Colin called to everyone. Watching the moonlight grow darker, he figured it was safer to move in the morning—this place was way too dangerous.
"Yes, sir!" The remaining guards responded loudly. Everyone relaxed—some ate, some drank water, some just flopped down to sleep. Clearly, everyone was exhausted after today.
"Wife, I’ll protect you. You just relax and sleep." Liam gently laid his outer robe on the ground for Ivy to use as a mat, then sat beside her to stand guard.
"It’s fine, you should rest too."
"I’m not tired, you go ahead and sleep." After saying this, Liam glanced anxiously toward the depths of the peach forest. Adrian Night had just gone in to scout, and no one knew what was happening inside. Lucian Vane was checking the area for danger, and as for Caleb Miles, he was always vanishing into thin air. That left only Liam idle—so of course he couldn’t let Ivy be at risk.
The moonlight grew deeper and deeper. The once warm, cozy peach forest suddenly turned eerie and chilling—a weird, unidentifiable sound rose out of nowhere, jolting everyone awake.
Just then, Adrian Night and Lucian Vane appeared at the same time, shouting to the group, "Run!" They grabbed the still-sleepy Ivy and the dozing Liam, pulling them forward. Right then, a thunderous crash erupted overhead—giant stones rained down like a storm, and the air filled with agonized screams throughout the peach forest.
Ivy and Liam snapped awake at the sound of those screams. Looking over, she saw Adrian and Lucian’s faces streaked with dust—clearly they’d just barely escaped.
Looking back, Ivy saw that only Caleb Miles, Colin Kerr, Lynn, and five guards had kept up with them. Everyone else had just been buried by the stone rain.
"What the heck just happened?" Ivy’s heart pounded with panic. There had been over a hundred people, and now, in less than a day, only a handful were left. How could the Poison Peach Forest be so terrifying?
"We’ve all been played!" Adrian Night’s eyes burned with murderous fury. In his heart, he cursed Gideon Gu—if I make it out alive, I’ll tear you limb from limb!
"What?" Colin gasped, "What do you mean, played?"
"Adrian’s right. Just now, I went to investigate with him and found that this Poison Peach Forest is basically a living hell. Master Xuanluo might hate being disturbed, but he’s never harmed anyone. Everything we saw today—the traces, the traps—it’s all a deathtrap. So we’re sure: Poison Peach Forest was created by someone to massacre martial artists. Master Xuanluo would never be here!" Lucian Vane said gravely.
"What? Then... then let’s get out of here!" Colin blurted out, panicking at Lucian’s words.
"We can’t go back," Adrian said coldly.
"Huh? What do you mean, we can’t go back?"
"The exit’s sealed off by boulders. We can only go forward—who knows if we’ll ever get out." Adrian was starting to regret trusting those Jianghu rumors. Honestly, he should’ve been suspicious from the very first stage!
"So... you mean we could die here at any moment?" Colin was getting worried. He’d just become the martial champion and a general—his glory days hadn’t even started, and now his life might be cut short. Talk about a rip-off!
"All we can do now is keep moving forward." With that, Adrian strode ahead. If they wanted to rest, they’d have to wait for daylight—night here was even more dangerous than the day!
***
PS: Thanks so much for your understanding and support, everyone! Two updates today, over three thousand words total—basically as much as other people’s three chapters! I really do write more than anyone else!