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Today's Qingdu had long been adorned with chrysanthemums throughout the city.
Autumn outings, climbing heights, and chrysanthemum appreciation had become prevailing customs. Many families and friends went out of the city for excursions, laying grass in the wilderness as seats, gathering for drinks, and feasting while climbing to enjoy distant views. The spectacle was quite grand.
Due to the large number of people leaving the city today, the City Guard Army at the various gates of Qingdu merely conducted a simple check on the travel permits and let people pass through.
It was just past the hour of Si.
Among the rumbling of carriage wheels, a rather simple gray-canopied two-shaft carriage swayed out from within the West City Gate of Qingdu.
In the driver's seat sat a young man in coarse linen clothing. His face was handsome, with a smile on his lips. His hands, slightly unfamiliar with the reins, drove this single-horse carriage.
On the official road, carriages would occasionally speed past him, leaving his behind, or wealthy young masters in splendid attire would gallop by, easily overtaking him.
"It's really slow."
Lin Yue glanced helplessly at the horse pulling the carriage. Though it was a bit skinny and the carriage speed wasn't fast, it was cheap, costing only four qian of silver to rent for a day.
So many people rented carriages today. If it weren't for knowing someone at the carriage shop, he probably wouldn't even have been able to rent this broken one.
He had quite a bit of silver; he could have rented a better one, but it wasn't convenient to show it now.
Not in character.
At such a critical moment, it was better not to draw attention.
Once a bit further from the city gate, Lin Yue opened the curtain of the carriage, turning back to check on Su Ziqiu, lying in the carriage compartment.
The Soul-binding Water he fed her last night hadn't worn off; she remained unconscious. She was likely to remain so for at least another two to three hours.
The distance to the mountain with that cave was only about twenty li.
A large section of the road was official roads, which wouldn't take long. The second half of the mountain road was more rugged but still wouldn't take too long, less than an hour to reach the vicinity of that mountain.
...
The sun was high in the sky. The autumn wind began to rise.
At this time, the golden sky stretched for ten thousand miles. The autumn wind resembled yellow ocher, dense clouds like painted scrolls, smearing open a wonderful ink painting of cloud-breaking sun.
Under the vast autumn sun, the carriage arrived at a wild area between the mountains.
The rugged mountain road had shaken the carriage for a long time. It finally stopped at the foot of a low hill.
"We've finally arrived."
Lin Yue pulled the reins hard. After stopping the carriage, he observed his surroundings.
This mountain wilderness was obviously sparsely populated. He hadn't seen any Qingdu autumn tourists head this way along the road.
After confirming there was no one, he drove the carriage into a wide Poplar Forest. After going in a certain distance, he stopped the carriage, tying it under a tall poplar tree.
This was merely to simply hide the carriage.
If tied near the official road, it would be easily spotted by passersby; if someone stole it while he was away, he'd have to walk back.
"Time to go."
Lin Yue lifted the carriage curtain, leaned into the compartment, took out half a piece of green-grey Elixir from his bosom and put it in his mouth. He then gently carried the unconscious Su Ziqiu out of the compartment and put her on his back.
For these three months, Su Ziqiu hadn't had proper meals, only consuming vegetable porridge with medicinal powder daily. Naturally, she was extremely thin and weak, indescribably light.
Barely one meter six in height, she weighed only about sixty jin.
Without the mystical properties of the Imperial Family's bloodline, she probably would have died long ago living like this.
Lin Yue had at least practiced the Daoist's sect's health preservation methods. His Martial Arts Training and Breathing and Exhaling Technique were exceptional, resulting in a body much better than ordinary people, with great physical strength. Carrying a sixty-jin person up a mountain posed no difficulty.
In the Poplar Forest, the only sound left was that of fallen leaves crushed underfoot.
Sunlight pierced through layers of leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
An autumn breeze occasionally blew through, making the shadows sway continuously.
Lin Yue, carrying the unconscious Su Ziqiu, walked silently for a while through the Poplar Forest. Suddenly, he slowed his steps, his body trembled slightly, and he knelt down on one knee.
In the next moment, his face turned ashen; he opened his mouth trying to breathe, but failed to draw air.
Then, rolling his eyes, he collapsed headlong, landing on his side on the leaf-covered ground.
Su Ziqiu fell to the side as well.
The two lay quietly on the ground, motionless, as if they were two corpses.
Only the gentle autumn wind swept through, stirring the branches and leaves.
The shadows from the trees shifted gradually.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Su Ziqiu slowly opened her eyes, finding herself not looking at the familiar hated bed curtains, but at dappled branches and leaves blocking the sunlight.
She paused, finding it extremely difficult to turn her head, only to see that she was in a Poplar Forest.
"Where... am I?"
Su Ziqiu opened her mouth; a voice barely audible squeezed out.
She barely turned her head to look in another direction, catching a glimpse of a familiar figure.
It was Lin Yue, lying unconscious not far from her.
Su Ziqiu was stunned.
This damn fellow, how did he fall?
She observed closely, discovering Lin Yue's face was pale, lacking any blood, lying on the ground barely breathing and motionless.
What's going on?
Su Ziqiu felt a bit bewildered yet couldn't suppress her excitement.
Though she didn't know the situation, with him in this state, it was the perfect opportunity for her escape!
She tried to turn over, but her entire body was weak and limp; her legs, paralyzed from the waist down, refused to move.
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