The trail of destruction had suddenly gone cold. The border towns were left standing with no reports of early cicadas, unusual behaviors, earthquakes, or loud sounds. Nothing. It left the group uneasy, uncertain if Yīn Xiàtiān had taken the sword to Huò Shì Míng Huáng or had fled the region alone. She certainly hadn't come after Làng lately, leaving it a mystery as to what she was actually planning.

Shāng Bù Huàn purchased a few of his favorite shaobing bread for himself and his friends. He tucked them into a cloth, turning to listen to the pair playing music in the plaza. Mù Tiān Mìng and Làng Wū Yáo played the same tune he heard them sing in the mountains though the latter wasn't singing at the moment.

"Say," the merchant leaned on the stall. "Aren't you the one asking around town about earthquakes?"

"Yeah," Shāng turned back to the stall. "Have you heard something?"

"I'll tell everything but those two musician friends of yours need to keep playing," the merchant indicated Mù and Làng playing nearby.

Shāng frowned, turning. "They're not for sale."

"No no no," the merchant quickly shook his head, grabbing for Shāng's sleeve. "That's not what I mean. See those two munchkins sitting on the side?" he pointed at two young boys sitting calmly at the front of the crowd. They rocked side to side, listening to the tune. "Those are our two sons. They're at the age where they can be obnoxious brats. This is the first time in weeks my wife has had some peace. Play a little longer and I'll even throw in some extra shaobing and a place to stay."

"A moment." Shāng parted from the stall. It seemed like a simple trade off for some extra food and information. He approached the pair of musicians, leaning over and quietly explaining the offer. They nodded and Shāng headed back to the stall. "They'll play longer, but we'll be declining the offer to stay."

With the people after them, staying at anyone's place was too much of a risk for a kind merchant family and their desire for a little peace from screaming kids. The Hunting Fox was enough of a problem, but if Yīn attacked in the night, this family would not survive to the next morning.

The merchant frowned a bit but understood. He was a stranger offering musicians a place to stay in an unfamiliar town. It did seem a bit forward, though his desire for some peace and quiet outweighed the risk of strangers in his home. "Are you familiar with the peninsula just past the forest?"

Shāng nodded. The peninsula was several days away but still on the outskirts of the empire. They had long since become part of it but were far enough away that they weren't exactly the die-hard loyal type. As far as Shāng knew, the peninsula hadn't seen any war crimes using a sorcerous sword yet, though other regions that bordered the sea had seen absolute destruction.

"My brother came from trading there recently," the merchant explained. "He said there were no fewer than 3 earthquakes the short time he was there. Some sort of noise too. But he never saw any destruction there until he left. A large crack in the ground across the road that definitely wasn't there before."

Shāng scratched at his chin. That had to be Yīn though until now, she had stayed within the forested regions where they were as she attempted to take Làng for herself. But after the brush was broken, Shāng, Làng, and Mù had retreated high into the mountains, seemingly disappearing for quite some time. She likely had attempted to catch their attention with destruction then moved elsewhere.

Perhaps somewhere where Huò Shì Míng Huán couldn't reach her either.

"I hope that helps," the merchant shoved some more shaobing bread at him. The good stuffed kind too. "Whatever you're after, I hope you find it."

Shāng offered a polite bow, accepting the offered bread and tucking it away. He returned to his companions, standing behind them and keeping a watchful eye for imperials or cicadas. The latter was still a problem given that Shāng couldn't sense the illusions like Làng could, yet with the new information, Yīn's bugs were likely somewhere else.

They had stomped Xiào Kuáng Juàn into the ground, but Shāng wouldn't put it past him to just call more soldiers and use them as fodder until he himself healed. A fight here would be deadly for this town, as Xiào and his imperials cared little for the commonfolk. But the whole time, no one came and in the later hours of the afternoon, they concluded their songs with a bowl brimming with coins.

As night fell and the crickets sang their tune, the trio left the town. They retreated some ways off the path and into the forest, setting up a campfire for the night. Làng stretched out, leaning against a tree as he plucked some notes in between bites of the shaobing. The bread was fresh and delicious, much better than the lumpy soup they'd had before. Not that Shāng wasn't trying to feed them well of course.

It was perhaps the easiest exchange for food. Some notes to entertain some troublesome children while making coins and obtaining information.

"To think that insect freak had retreated south!" Líng Yá said as Làng took a moment to eat the bread. "Man, what a pain."

"It explains why we haven't seen her for a while," Mù picked apart the shaobing before consuming a piece. "It also explains why the town we encountered looked like it had been struck some time ago. But of all places to go..."

"The peninsula is rather remote," Shāng agreed. "She could smash every town from here to there, but it didn't happen. She doesn't exactly strike me as the merciful type."

"I must've struck her harder than I thought," Làng recalled their recent encounters.

"During the last battle?" Mù questioned.

Làng nodded. "Right before she fled, I struck her leg with sound." With the blasting rubble and dirt kicked up with the sonic sword's attack, it was difficult to tell just how hard he'd hit her. She disappeared right after, taking the form of a cicada swarm without making any noise from the injury. He could've easily missed, but he was still certain he'd struck her in that battle.

"I bet that pissed her right off!" Líng Yá added.

"No doubt," Mù agreed. "Especially with the attack coming from Wū Yáo himself."

"Explains why she didn't follow us into the mountains despite our own injuries," Shāng rubbed his chin. "I reason she couldn't find us after she emerged, but still, the peninsula is a pretty odd choice. She could be biding her time, honestly. The summer cicadas will be out soon. It'll be harder for Làng to counter her own cicadas, and we've seen how bad I am at doing it."

Làng frowned at the bread in his hand.

"We'll figure something out," Shāng consoled him. "We have several days to get to the peninsula. And even if we don't, well, we've winged worse."

"I'm starting to think 'winging it' is the only option," Mù agreed. "Our plans haven't exactly gone well lately."

"Well it was much easier to plan when it was mostly imperials," Shāng frowned. "Knock a few heads together, make the Hunting Fox angry, flee with the sword. Huò Shì Míng Huán's assassins make everything a bit more difficult, especially when they start taking their own agenda."

Làng frowned, consuming the last of the bread in his hand. He didn't like this 'own agenda' at all. Imperials were easier to deal with, especially since he had an understanding of them from being trapped on the inside. They were evil, meant to be taken down. Aside from Xiào Kuáng Juàn, they were all idiots anyway. The assassins were more clever, and that made them more of a threat. That didn't mean they couldn't be taken down, of course, and he intended to take Yīn down no matter what.

"She definitely seems to be operating on her own," Mù agreed. "I honestly thought Huò Shì Míng Huán's posse was a bit more loyal than that."

"She's become an obsessive bitch!" Líng Yá pointed out.

"I feel like that's understating things, but yes," Mù said. "Obsessive and injured. That can make someone quite dangerous."

Shāng frowned. Things really were trying to work against them. An obsessive assassin, poorly timed imperial interventions, the arrival of actual summer cicadas. "Dangerous or not, it might just take all three of us to do this."

"Very likely." She stood up, gathering the light blankets for the night. "We should get some rest for now," Mù suggested. "We have a long journey ahead of us."

...

Author's notes

Shaobing bread is what Shāng is often eating in the series. It is a flat bread that can come plain but it also can come stuffed with delicious goodies. The type in the show has sesame seeds on top. The TBF Twitter noted that Shāng's favorite food is shaobing (Làng's is apparently tilapia!). While I love me some dumplings, I had to include Shāng's favorite food at least once.

I am also endlessly amused by the idea of Shāng being an absolute terrible but somehow good cook (headcanon, though I wouldn't be surprised if this somehow ended up being true) and that they earn their funds by singing in plazas. Naturally they'd come across a merchant who wanted some peace and quiet from obnoxious kids at least once.