A fancy name for the fragments of the Scar of the Land where the elevation was low and the cliffs were carved into stair-like ledges to allow for passage between central plains and southeastern bamboo forests. Despite the latter being, from the perspective of residents of the middle kingdom, populated by nothing but nomadic savages, limited trade still occurred between these two entities.

Outposts were built at these entry points, their crew much better trained and equipped than city militia from the towns further north; they controlled not only the flow of people and goods in and out the civilization but also guarded against any illegal yaren migration towards the fertile central plains… should they be bold enough to even attempt it in the first place. The alternative to getting through the outpost would be to climb the cliffs that constituted the Scar of the Land, a task no sizable tribe nor invasion force would be able to realistically undertake.

“Yet…in recent months…how to say it, haha” said the guardsman and scratched the back of his head awkwardly “We had, despite everything…unwarranted yaren incursions all over the natural border. We don’t know where they are coming from, but they strike at night, kill as many as they can, and retreat beyond the cliffs….”

“I don’t care.” said the hooded girl coldly “…are you going to let me in, or what?”

She wanted to get into a rather sizable refugee camp that grew around the fort. She and her yaren servant were attacked by a wild wolf last night, and he suffered serious injuries. She was looking for a medic to take care of him.

“Fine, as you wish miss…just know, that there are many injured people here, and the medics might not have time to save everyone…”

Not listening to a word he said, she moved past him, leading a donkey to which her unconscious servant was strapped. His state was just as she said, and the guardsman felt a sting of pity in his chest, knowing the boy probably wouldn’t make it.

Now that he thought about it, there was after all something unusual about this young lady…although she was hiding most of her features beneath cloak and hood, not everything escaped the watchful eye of the guardsman. He wasn’t stationed at the gates for no reason! In fact, he considered himself considerably more observant than the average and anxiously awaited promotion on these grounds.

So, for one, her hair was rather discolored, almost gray, instead of the usual black common around these parts of the world. For the other, her eyes were bright red….

Hmm..how was it called? He heard about it a few years ago. When a child is occasionally born like that..?

Ah, that’s right. An albino! That girl was an albino!

Proud of his deduction, he turned around to ask her if he guessed right, but alas, she was already gone in the crowd of refugees.

………..

The camp accepted both yaren and humans, however, Wen Fengli went out of her way to pretend to be the latter before the gatekeeper, just in case her wolf heritage brought her trouble. She discarded her sword and hid it under a sizable rock alongside the road, hoping that it would still be there if she ever needed to retrieve it.

The daggers, however, remained hidden in the backpack, and she thanked Annu for his foresight. However, the thanks giving was very metaphorical, as he was seemingly in a coma, and didn’t respond to outside stimuli. His breathing was shallow, but stabilized, and the wounds inflicted on his body by Jiangshi were slowly but steadily healing.

Therefore, his condition must have had some other, supernatural source….she never saw anyone being drained of Qi by undead before and had no idea how to proceed. Hopefully, the local healer would know….

Ridden by fatigue, hallucinations, and worry for her friend, she spent the evening, night, and early morning of today walking nonstop. Fengli was dead tired, but at least the mental effects of the other day’s qi deviation substituted.

Or at least, she speculated it was qi deviation. But…given the newly discovered nature of her powers, she didn’t know anymore. The fancy blue and violet amulet pressing against the surface of her skin didn’t provide any answers, either.

On the way here, once she was certain she could trust her eyes again, she actually took a single short break and used that opportunity to study the contents of the yearbook. As expected, it contained a lot of names, dates, and additional information written alongside them, such as the orphan’s hometown, living relatives(if any), or whoever it was who brought the child in.

Scrolling through the book’s contents took longer than anticipated. For one, there occasionally were characters she couldn’t read. For the other, she had no idea what characters was her name written in.

No, not Fengli. That she knew very well. The other name, the one she was initially given 10 years ago. The one she hated.

Eventually, she gave up and prioritized Annu’s well-being over instant gratification. In the worst-case scenario, she took the wrong book and would have to make the trip to the dreaded orphanage again.

If only there was someone who could just tell her everything! Alas, such convenient plot developments only happened in heroic epics she used to be quite fond of until certain age. For now, she decided to pull her hood further down, focus on healing Annu, and after that…say goodbye and continue her travels alone, beyond the heavenly steps….

……..

If only Fengli knew how far from the truth she was! For in this refugee camp, there actually was someone who could tell her a lot of things, about many subjects that interested her.

However, in the sea of people, the magical compass- indicating less than 1km distance from the target and its direction needle constantly shifting left and right- was utterly useless. All Xiani knew is that her target was somewhere in this camp now.

Well, no matter. They’d have to leave sooner or later. That’s when she’d set up and catch up to them in the wilds. She’d even prefer it that way, not involving unnecessary witnesses…

Especially cultivators. If Xiani had to subdue the target by force, chances are thick she’d have to use some of the various otherworldly abilities that were at her disposal. And then, if a human cultivator were to see a young woman with unmistakably bunny ears use the powers he believed were reserved only to people of his kind, that would result in a cascading domino of cause and effect, and a lot of blood would be spilled…

Of course, it wasn’t known to her whether there were any cultivators here or not. All she saw were these pesky guardsmen armed with spears, halberds, and clad in laminar armor…..

……..

As a matter of fact, a cultivator was about to arrive~ However, just like a certain wolfgirl and a bunny, he chose to stay incognito and blend in with a caravan of refugees.

Approaching the camp- and it should be noted, it was already the 3rd camp of this sort he screened- he eyed the middle-aged guardsman and jumped off the cart. He wanted to ask the man some questions….

…and luck would have it, the guardsman had the answers for him. Truly, the third time’s the charm! Apparently, not only a red-hooded girl and a sheepboy passed these gates earlier today, both her eyes were red!

Splendid news, splendid news indeed. Chen Mengyao read about yaren kids with exactly the same eye color before~ In the Jianding campaign records, that is. This certified his decision to pursue a couple of kids all the way from Kiyi as a correct one.

Smiling at his own ingenuity, he tipped the guard a rather sizable sum of paper money and instructed him not let the girl out if she ever wants to leave, and notify him immediately.