Chapter 2291 — A Narrow Escape

"That's good, then." A Biao nodded and quickened his pace, saying nothing more.

Since the men conducting the inspection below did not know Sun Jingyan, the matter was simple enough. All A Biao had to do was lead his own people through the inspection, step by step, and then head down the mountain. He had no intention of selling her out.

For one thing, Sun Jingyan's friend Wei Zhao was their savior. A Biao might not be a gentleman, but neither was he a scoundrel, and he would not stoop to repaying kindness with treachery. For another, if Sun Jingyan were recognized by the inspectors, what good would come to their entire adventuring band?

He would be lucky not to be charged with harboring an enemy; as it was, the whole band would suffer for it. So A Biao was hardly about to do something so foolish.

"The inspection down there looks strict. No one says a word out of turn—I will handle it!" A Biao told the others in the group.

"Understood!" The others clearly held their captain in high trust, for none of them asked questions, agreeing at once.

A Biao nodded and led his group forward. After the adventuring band ahead of them had passed the inspection and departed, he brought his people up to the mountain pass.

"Name? Which family arranged your passage up the mountain? What did you go up there for?" The speaker was Lazi. He knew Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan by sight, and although a glance at the group showed neither of them present, he still asked, out of a conviction that caution never hurt.

"My name is A Biao. I am an adventurer from the border town. We paid the Fire Wolf Gang to come up and gather herbs," A Biao said with neither servility nor arrogance.

"Hm..." Lazi nodded and turned to a minor chieftain of the Fire Wolf Gang.

"A Biao, eight people up the mountain in all—six men and two women. The numbers match. Go on, then." The chieftain checked their earlier registration and waved A Biao through.

"Right!" A Biao's heart eased, and he nodded. Then he said to his group, "Let's go, everyone!"

But just as A Biao was about to lead his people away, a voice rang out abruptly: "Hold on!"

A Biao's heart sank, yet his face betrayed nothing. He turned back with a smile and said, "May I ask... is something the matter?"

The one who had spoken was Lazi. He was gazing at Sun Jingyan now, a flicker of dazzled admiration in his eyes. "A Biao, that woman in your group is quite a looker. How about letting her keep our young master Tagan company for a few days? Spirit pills and wonder drugs—you won't lack for any of them!"

Though Sun Jingyan had put on the Thousand-Silk Mask and become another person entirely, she was still lovely—perhaps because she had been beautiful to begin with, and so she remained beautiful even masked. And Lazi, knowing that Tagan Long had been in poor spirits these past two days, meant to find him a pretty little plaything.

A Biao's expression shifted slightly. He had not expected trouble to spring up on the very verge of departure, and for a moment he did not know how to answer, anxious to the point of panic.

"Lazi, are you trying to break the rules?" The Fire Wolf Gang chieftain gave Lazi a cold look. The Tagan family was on good terms with the Red Conch, and the Red Conch were sworn enemies of the Fire Wolf Gang, so naturally he would show the Tagan family no deference. A Biao's group had come up the mountain through the Fire Wolf Gang's channels; if something went wrong, who would use the Fire Wolf Gang's channels to come up the mountain in the future?

The Ulonghot Mountains were an important source of income for the several powers of Ruileida Town, and the Fire Wolf Gang chieftain was certainly not about to let Lazi take A Biao's people away.

"Hmph. Go on, then!" Lazi hesitated a moment, then waved his hand, signaling that A Biao could take his people and leave. Under the circumstances he was loath to make an enemy of the Fire Wolf Gang over such a trifle; it was no great matter, and if a fight with the Fire Wolf Gang delayed his proper business, that would not do at all.

"Many thanks..." A Biao cupped his hands to the Fire Wolf Gang chieftain and breathed a sigh of relief. If Sun Jingyan had truly been taken, the game would have turned ugly.

A Biao's reaction drew no suspicion from anyone else, after all—Lazi had just tried to force his teammate to stay behind, so it was only natural that A Biao should breathe easier now.

What Lazi never realized was that his clumsy blunder had come within a hair of landing an enormous catch, and the Fire Wolf Gang had spoiled it.

Had An Liwen known that this petty Fire Wolf Gang chieftain had done something so **, he would surely have been furious enough to petition the Fire Wolf Gang's gangmaster to punish the man!

"Phew..." Only after they had left the Ulonghot Mountains behind and come to a sparsely peopled place did A Biao let out a long breath. He glanced at Sun Jingyan with a look of sheer good fortune, though he did not say it aloud. He only told his companions, "It seems something has happened in Ruileida Town. We had best not linger here. Let us leave today and return to the border town."

"No problem. We follow the captain," his companions agreed without a flicker of doubt.

"Benefactor, where are you headed? Will you return to the border town with us, or...?" A Biao addressed Sun Jingyan as benefactor too. Though she had not lifted a finger, it was for Wei Zhao's sake, and so the title was not unearned.

"I will go with you, back to the border town," Sun Jingyan said. Having escaped death by a hair, she certainly dared not linger here, and she had agreed with Wei Zhao that she would return to the border town first and wait for him there.

As an adventurer who often traveled between Ruileida Town and the border town, A Biao naturally had his own channels for crossing the border and had no need to seek out middlemen like the local guides.

Now that they had decided to leave, they wasted no time. Taking Sun Jingyan with them, they made straight for their own crossing channel...

Meanwhile, Wei Zhao remained up in the Ulonghot Mountains. Though his heart was anxious for Sun Jingyan's safety, he did not act rashly. He quietly cultivated on the mountain, for he had to make certain Sun Jingyan had left Ruileida Town before he could descend himself; otherwise he might bring trouble down upon her.

Of course, Wei Zhao had no way of knowing that Sun Jingyan had returned to the border town with A Biao and the others on the very first day after descending the mountain, and so he stayed up on the mountain two more days before preparing to set out.

To guard against every contingency, before he moved, Wei Zhao first compressed a bomb of true qi in his left hand.