Chapter 372 - The Cauldron Beside the Road

Chapter 372: Chapter 372 - The Cauldron Beside the Road

The cauldron shifted as Liu Meng tried to lift it.

Its weight dragged at the edge of the hollow, and she frowned before correcting the flow of Qi.

The next attempt raised it cleanly.

Several figures lay beneath it, and those still capable of moving seemed to have lost any desire to continue the fight.

The auction-house staff cheered again.

Su Bai’s hand relaxed at his side.

He recognized the circulation Liu Meng was using.

The Mountain-Suppressing Cauldron Art had been simplified around what she could safely manage, and she was following those foundations closely.

Her transitions remained slow, particularly when she changed the cauldron’s size, but the artifact answered her.

Lu Canghai had delivered the jade slip.

Su Bai watched her reduce the cauldron and bring it back toward herself.

She caught it awkwardly, adjusted her grip, and looked down at it with an expression that suggested she was already considering what she had done wrong.

The method gave her access to only a small portion of the artifact’s strength. Judging by the condition of the road, that was enough for the people who had chosen to attack her.

Qin Baoshan looked from the cauldron to the flattened ground.

"Sister Liu has been practicing."

Su Bai smiled.

"Let us go down before she mistakes us for the next group."

They descended outside the damaged stretch of road. The staff noticed them first and called a warning.

Liu Meng turned immediately, and the cauldron rose a little from her hand before her gaze settled on Su Bai’s mask.

He lowered it.

"Senior Brother!"

Her expression brightened so quickly that Han Yuelin stopped preparing his greeting.

Liu Meng hurried over, still carrying the cauldron, and only remembered to put it away when she was close enough that Su Bai glanced at it.

"How have you been, Meng?"

"Very well. The technique you sent helped me a great deal."

She looked back toward the road.

"I still make mistakes when I change its weight and size. But it is much easier to control than when I tried using it without a method."

"I saw. You have made a good start."

Liu Meng smiled at the praise.

Behind Su Bai, Han Yuelin cleared his throat.

"Junior Sister, we came too."

She looked past Su Bai and immediately straightened.

"Senior Sister Ji. Senior Brother Han. Junior Brother Qin."

Qin Baoshan returned the greeting without appearing offended. Han Yuelin sighed as though he had endured a considerable hardship, though the smile on his face spoiled the effect.

Ji Ruyue glanced toward the subdued attackers.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Nothing serious. They did not reach the carriage."

Liu Meng turned back toward Su Bai.

"How did you know we were here?"

"Master told me you returned after receiving the warning. He sent us to help."

She looked at the four of them again. The pleasure of seeing familiar faces softened into something quieter as she understood why they had come.

"You should have left me a message," Su Bai added.

"I heard you had gone to the Eastern Region. I did not know when you would return."

"I came back sooner than expected."

He looked toward the cultivators beside the hollow. The auction-house guards were already securing them while keeping a sensible distance from the places where their weapons had fallen.

"We should continue once the carriage is ready. There may be more involved than the people attacking travelers along the road."

Liu Meng nodded and led them toward the staff.

A familiar young woman stepped forward from beside the carriage. Xiao Ran bowed to Su Bai with an expression that combined relief and obvious pleasure.

"Young Master Su. It is good to see you again."

"It is good to see you too."

He glanced at the carriage behind her. Its broad body had been designed to carry valuable goods without subjecting them to every bump in the road.

Protective inscriptions ran along the frame, and there was enough room inside for the staff, their belongings, and a table that could be folded away during loading.

They had chosen something practical for the journey.

Once the guards finished dealing with the attackers and checked the harnesses, the carriage moved again.

Su Bai joined Liu Meng and Xiao Ran inside while the others remained close enough to watch the road and speak through the open window.

"What happened before we arrived?" he asked.

Liu Meng explained that they had encountered several groups during the journey. Some tried to stop the carriage outright. Others followed until they thought the escort had become careless.

She had been forced to bring out the cauldron more than once.

"There are more demonic cultivators along these routes than I remember," she said. "Even the places where we usually stop have become less reliable."

Su Bai thought of the broken trees and damaged slopes they had passed.

"How many of those places did you leave looking like the road behind us?"

Liu Meng hesitated.

"Some."

Han Yuelin looked in through the window.

"That answers it."

Her cheeks reddened slightly.

"I am still learning how much force to use."

"You stopped them reaching the carriage," Su Bai said. "We can work on the road afterward."

The answer earned him a small smile. It did little to ease his concern about the number of attackers. A road full of opportunistic raiders could explain some of the encounters, but he had already seen how easily scattered groups concealed more deliberate assignments.

Their presence alone did not prove that the southern activity matched what Ning Shuang had described.

But it gave him reason to check.

"Do you have a map of your kingdom?" he asked.

Xiao Ran took one from a case beneath the table and spread it out. The auction house had marked its branches and the roads used to transport goods between them. Smaller settlements appeared along those routes, with rivers, hills, and stretches of woodland indicated where they mattered to travelers.

Su Bai studied it before speaking.

"In the Eastern Region, we found reason to believe some demonic groups were preparing locations around mortal settlements. I do not yet know what the formations are intended to do."

Liu Meng’s attention sharpened.

He explained the survey work and the marks left behind, then described how communication interference could prevent reports from reaching the people expected to respond. He kept the source of the information to himself and made clear which parts remained uncertain.

"The groups we encountered here may have different assignments," he said. "But we should assume the residents could be in danger until we know more."

Ji Ruyue had drawn closer to the carriage to listen. Han Yuelin’s earlier amusement faded, and Qin Baoshan looked ahead along the road before returning his attention to the map.

Xiao Ran reached for the writing tools kept with it.

Su Bai used a separate sheet to note the places that seemed worth checking.

The map could show him isolated settlements and nearby terrain, but it could not tell him whether the actual ground met the conditions used by the demonic survey groups. He would have to inspect those places himself.

Liu Meng identified which settlements she knew well. Xiao Ran supplied what she could about the routes, including where residents had recently begun traveling farther for supplies.

Together, they narrowed the places that could be examined without losing days wandering through the kingdom.

Su Bai marked them as possibilities.

"We should begin with these," he said. "If the warning named any locations more precisely, we can compare them once we reach the people who received it."

Liu Meng nodded.

"I will arrange officials to pass on what they know."

"Quietly," Ji Ruyue said from beside the window.

Liu Meng looked toward her and agreed.

A public search could tell the demonic cultivators exactly where the investigators intended to go. The auction house already had reason to ask about unsafe roads and interrupted trade. They could make use of those ordinary concerns while learning what had changed.

The carriage continued south.

By the time the kingdom’s boundary came into view, the light had softened over the fields.

The people at the crossing recognized the auction house’s insignia and gave way for the escort.

Beyond them lay roads Liu Meng remembered from childhood and settlements whose names meant little to Su Bai yet.

He folded the sheet of possible sites and looked toward the land ahead.

They had caught up with her before she entered Nanhe Kingdom.

Now they needed to find out whether they had arrived before the people gathering there finished their work.