He'd rather run than be turned into a cannon fodder for the broken engagement.

Leng Huan was startled and quickly turned her back, pretending to lean against the wall and close her eyes to rest. At the same time, Fu Xun also leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

A moment later, the door creaked open, and a man stood backlit. Seeing that the goods in the room were behaving themselves and there was nothing unusual, he shouted, "Behave yourselves!" He then closed the door and turned to leave.

Leng Huan breathed a sigh of relief.

Once the footsteps had faded away and the outside was completely quiet, she began to untie the rope again, finally managing to bite open the knot with great effort.

Exhausted and covered in sweat, she leaned against the wall to rest. The knots had loosened, and Fu Xun quickly untied the ropes binding her. Afraid they would escape, the ropes had been wrapped at least a dozen times, binding her like a dumpling.

"Brother Huan, let me untie you." Fu Xun had originally intended to untie her ropes first, but when he came to his senses and saw Leng Huan trying to get closer to him, he had no choice but to let her.

The rope was indeed difficult to untie. Fu Xun first untied Leng Huan, then stood up and leaned against the window, carefully observing the courtyard. There were four people walking back and forth keeping watch.

-

"Thank you." Xu Huanqing untied the ropes binding her. "We don't have anything else on us, so we dare not make any rash moves. Those people will check on us several times during the day." Leng Huan continued to help others untie their ropes.

So, we have no choice but to escape tonight! Otherwise, we'll alert the enemy.

“Young Master Leng, I’m afraid we’ll be sold into the city tomorrow.” Xu Huanqing also hurriedly untied the other girls.

"Understood. Does Miss Xu know who the thief intends to sell him to?"

"I don't know, they just said he's a big shot, someone with power and influence."

They quickly untied everyone; there were three girls in total, plus the two of them, making a total of five people. Leng Huan narrowed his eyes. Since they dared to capture cultivators as furnaces, they must have extraordinary power.

Moreover, this is a complete human trafficking network! Fu Xun stepped back to her side and whispered, "There are four people patrolling at the moment, but there are still ten people in that house over there."

Leng Huan sensed the auras and found two people in the middle stage of Qi Refining and two in the late stage of Qi Refining outside. Inside the house, there were two people in the late stage of Qi Refining and the rest were in the middle stage.

He touched the storage bag in his arms, wondering why the thief hadn't searched them. The truth was, they both looked like weaklings, and besides their faces, they had nothing of value.

The bundle was tattered and torn, so it probably didn't contain anything of value. The bandits only did a cursory search, and since Leng Huan had his storage bag close to his abdomen, they weren't interested in men and didn't search him thoroughly.

She and Fu Xun exchanged a glance and nodded. Fu Xun also nodded and whispered, "Brother Huan, we can only break out under cover of night."

At this moment, one of the women, who had been silent and had a cold demeanor, spoke up: "I am Qi Ruxing from the Qi family of Dongjun. As long as I escape, I can send a signal to let my family come to rescue me."

Qi Ruxing had the aloof, mature woman vibe, and her voice matched that, sounding calm and serene. Leng Huan couldn't help but glance at her again; there were so many beautiful women in this world.

The other one was a shy and demure young lady from a modest family, with exceptionally beautiful eyes and a graceful figure; no wonder she was also a target of thieves.

Fu Xun frowned and tugged at Leng Huan, signaling her to tone it down, then nodded to Qi Ruxing: "In that case, our chances of winning are much higher!"

"..." Leng Huan wiped his mouth and quickly echoed, "Then we'll have to rely on Miss Qi then..."

—

The group began to rest and recuperate, waiting for the thieves to fall asleep before making their move.

The entire courtyard was shrouded in a concealment array. The night was pitch black, but through the cracks in the windows, one could see several spirit horn carriages in the courtyard. Like the carriages that Leng Huan and his group had hired, each carriage was pulled by two spirit horn horses.

They waited and waited, and the moon was high in the sky, but the guards still hadn't gone to sleep. They were drinking, playing drinking games, and dice games. Clouds drifted across the sky, and dark clouds gradually obscured the moon.

The group grew anxious as the hour of Yin approached, but the group still didn't go to sleep.

Fu Xun's gaze darkened. Apart from him and Leng Huan, only Qi Ruxing was at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, while the other two were at the early stage of Qi Refining, not much better than ordinary people.

"Two Explosion Talismans, two Wind Control Talismans, two Blazing Sun Talismans, and two Concealment Talismans for each person. The first thing to do after we leave is to ride horses straight to Dongjun City. Once we arrive, the city gates will be almost open, and we can enter the city. Miss Qi will lead the way." Fu Xun distributed the talismans. "Huan Ge and I will cover the rear and stop the bandits."

No one had an opinion.

Qi Ruxing pondered for a moment: "Yes, but it's about seventy miles from here to the county town. Can the two of you hold them off?"

Leng Huan touched the stack of talismans in her sleeve. "Yes." She could simply discard all the talismans at worst. Besides, she herself was at the late Qi Refining stage. Although the original owner had zero combat experience, Leng Huan wasn't afraid; in fact, she was eager to put it to the test. As long as there wasn't a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, it would be fine.

At the same time, he secretly resolved to establish his foundation as soon as possible, because the Qi Refining stage was too weak!

But the opposing force outnumbered them several times over, and neither Fu Xun nor Leng Huan wanted to take any risks. They decided to wait until the opposing force was exhausted and asleep.

Finally, only two people remained awake while playing rock-paper-scissors.

Leng Huan circulated her spiritual energy for a full cycle, adjusting herself to her optimal state. She exchanged a glance with Fu Xun, gently opened the window with the concealment talisman affixed to it, and nimbly slipped out.

Concealing himself, he quietly circled around to the other side of the main house. The window was open, and he saw several thieves lying haphazardly inside, snoring loudly.

Her eyes hardened, and she conjured seven explosive talismans and seven blazing sun talismans, unleashing a critical strike and area-of-effect attack. She channeled her spiritual energy and instantly hurled them into the house. Without looking back, she leaped several meters away. Several explosions followed behind her, and the next second, a blinding burst of flames erupted. Screams of alarm rippled through the house, then turned into screams of agony—

"Ahhhhh!!"

"What happened?!" The man on night watch outside jumped up in shock and was about to rush inside when, before he could even touch the door, a burst of air, carrying with it blazing fire, erupted with devastating force.

That person was in the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and was instantly blasted away.

The thatched hut had been engulfed in flames, and the fire, aided by the wind, spread to the neighboring houses. The next house was where goods were stored, and the people outside were in a panic.

Taking advantage of the brief moment of chaos, Fu Xun and the others jumped out of the window and hid behind the house. As the fire spread, Qi Ruxing took the lead, feigning terror and screaming, "Ahhh!!!"

"Help! Fire!" the women screamed in terror.

This shout dispelled the thieves' suspicion that the goods were the culprit. The goods could not be lost, otherwise they would not be able to bear the wrath of the manager!

The night watchmen, disregarding their companions trapped in the flames, rushed to the small hut to rescue the hostages. But as soon as they stepped inside, they were met with the combined power of five Explosive Talismans and five Blazing Sun Talismans.

"Bang—" The hut was overturned, and the mud walls collapsed instantly. Of the four night watchmen, only the one who was blown away and injured had survived because he was a step too late.

At the same time, Qi Ruxing had already led several people away on spirit horned horses. Fu Xun, riding his horse to meet Leng Huan, controlled the horse with one hand and stretched out his right hand, "Brother Huan, give me your hand!"

Leng Huan glanced at the few people who hadn't been killed in the explosion. Without delay, as Fu Xun rode his horse past her, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Using his arm strength, she lifted herself up and mounted the horse, landing steadily behind Fu Xun.

"Giddy up!" The two men and one horse galloped off.

"Stop! Don't run!!" The two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, covered in soot and burned, crawled out of the burning room where they were sleeping. They were barely alive and stared at them with bloodshot eyes as they fled.

They quickly spurred their last two horses and relentlessly pursued after them.

Leng Huan turned around and found they were still giving chase. Fu Xun was controlling the horse ahead. She grabbed Fu Xun's waist with one hand, and with the other, she pulled out the last two explosive talismans and the blazing sun talisman, and recklessly blasted them over their heads—

"boom!!"

"what!"

Unexpectedly, they had so many talismans. The two thieves were a beat too slow to react and were hit squarely by the blast. Their screams disappeared immediately after they were heard. The spirit horse, startled, let out a terrified neigh and ran away!

The two thieves were blown to pieces, fell off their horses, and died.

-

Leng Huan finally breathed a sigh of relief, activated the talismans, and began to move. Her spiritual power was almost depleted, so she withdrew her hand and continued to hold Fu Xun's waist, afraid of being thrown off the horse. The cold autumn wind blew across her face.

Looking back at the courtyard, which had been completely engulfed in flames in an instant, she seemed to hear the crackling sounds of the fire, which illuminated half the sky. In the distance, she could see several half-dead thieves escaping from the inferno.

In the chilly autumn night, only the whistling wind and the clattering of horses' hooves could be heard.

Fearing they might run into a Foundation Establishment stage manager, the group rushed toward the city gate through the night. The night road was difficult to travel, and with the deep mountains and dense forests, they were also afraid of getting lost. It took Qi Ruxing and the others two hours to finally reach the city gate.

As dawn broke, a group of disheveled young people wearily passed through the city gate guards' inspection. Fortunately, Qi Ruxing showed the soldiers their identification tags, and they were able to enter the city amidst the strange looks of the crowd.

Unexpectedly, things went smoothly, and without even needing to send a signal, Qi Ruxing led his men straight to the Qi family.

-

Hall.

The group of people, disheveled and exhausted, slumped in chairs, sitting in a row.

"Ru Xing!" A moment later, a lady rushed in from outside. "My son, you're finally back!" When the lady saw Leng Huan and the others, she was immediately shocked: "What's going on with you all?!"

"Mother, it's a long story. We were all kidnapped, and it was only with great difficulty that we managed to escape together."

-