Chapter 334 Wild Fox Valley

Chapter 334: Wild Fox Valley

That warm, moist touch swept past in an instant—gone as quickly as it came—yet it was like a single spark splashing into a vat of oil.

The candle flame flickered uneasily, and the crisp medicinal scent in the air seemed to ignite from that sudden contact.

It rose and thickened, growing ever more potent and enveloping, seeping into every breath without resistance.

Cheng Ge's entire body went rigid. His eyes darted about in panic, and in the end, he couldn't help but cautiously lift his gaze—

Only to find himself staring straight into Cui Ji's unfathomable eyes.

Both of them froze in that moment, as if time itself had been stretched into eternity.

They stared at each other without blinking, and all sound around them rapidly faded away, leaving only the sound of their increasingly frantic heartbeats, thundering in resonance within the silent tent.

Cheng Ge felt his throat parched beyond measure; even swallowing had become extraordinarily difficult.

The air around them seemed drained of all moisture, growing thin and scorching, each breath carrying a searing heat.

Their overlapping shadows swayed gently against the tent wall with the candle's flicker, their outlines blurred and indistinguishable from one another.

Cui Ji gazed at Cheng Ge without blinking, his eyes clearly reflecting Cheng Ge's image in that moment.

The shell of restraint and self-control was visibly cracking and crumbling inch by inch.

And beneath that ice lay a scorching undercurrent, ready to erupt and consume everything in its path.

The hand that had been loosely resting on Cheng Ge's nape unconsciously tightened its grip, bit by bit.

The searing heat of his palm penetrated through skin and straight into the bloodstream, a sense of undeniable possession climbing with wild intensity.

He slowly leaned in closer, and Cheng Ge watched helplessly as that sharply defined face grew larger and larger in his field of vision.

He could even count his lowered lashes, could feel his warm breath brushing against his own lips that had just been applied with medicinal balm.

His heartbeat had long since spiraled out of control, slamming violently against his ribcage, as if it might leap out of his throat at any moment.

His eyes unconsciously widened, and he even forgot to breathe.

He could only passively feel their scorching breaths intertwine and merge completely, no longer distinguishable from one another.

Just as their lips were a hair's breadth apart—

A smooth serpent head slowly emerged from the slightly gaping collar of Cheng Ge's robe.

It seemed to have been roused by the unusual heat and rapid breathing between the two, poking out half of its small body with curiosity.

It tilted its head, a pair of pure vertical pupils carrying a hint of inquisitiveness.

Its crimson forked tongue flicked out, the split tip just grazing Cheng Ge's lower lip.

Then its gaze settled on the two of their mouths, watching quietly.

Cheng Ge: "…"

Cui Ji: "…"

Cheng Ge snapped back to his senses as if scalded, turning his head away and letting out a couple of feigned coughs.

He fumbled to raise his hand, pinching Star Frost's curious little head and stuffing it back into his robe without ceremony.

"That… it's, it's getting late…" His gaze wandered.

He didn't dare look at Cui Ji at all, his voice even stammering from nerves. "We should, we should sleep!"

With that, without waiting for Cui Ji's response, he flipped over and lay down as if a wild beast were chasing him.

He yanked the blanket up to cover half his face, squeezed his eyes shut, and held his body stiff as a board.

Cui Ji watched his string of transparently clumsy attempts to cover things up, the dark undercurrent in his eyes surging a few times before finally dissolving into a barely perceptible trace of helplessness.

He said nothing, only carefully replacing the lid on the small porcelain bottle and setting it aside.

Then he lay down beside him and reached over to adjust the blanket that had been tucked in too tightly, making sure it wouldn't smother him.

The tent fell back into silence, broken only by the occasional faint crackle of the candle flame.

Cheng Ge kept his eyes tightly shut, but his eyeballs rolled restlessly beneath his thin eyelids.

That contact that had been cut short moments ago kept replaying in his mind.

After a long while—so long that Cheng Ge assumed they had both fallen asleep—

He turned over extremely slowly, facing his body toward Cui Ji's direction.

In the darkness, he hesitated for a moment before speaking in the faintest whisper: "Cui Ji…"

"Mm." The person beside him responded almost immediately, with no trace of drowsiness, as if he had been waiting for something.

At the same time, a sturdy arm reached over and naturally drew him into an embrace.

Cheng Ge's toes unconsciously curled beneath the blanket as he felt the warm chest and heartbeat against his back.

He took a deep breath, his voice still very soft: "Have you… ever thought about pulling off something big?"

Cui Ji's arm around him tightened almost imperceptibly. He opened his eyes, his gaze landing on Cheng Ge's face.

He said nothing, merely using his silence to signal him to continue.

Cheng Ge licked his lips, which still seemed to carry the coolness of the balm and a certain scorching heat, and lowered his voice:

"Our grain supplies were raided, and the whole camp is tightening its belt… so could we go and take theirs instead?"

Cui Ji's brow twitched slightly. He reached out and gently brushed his fingertip across Cheng Ge's cheek, the touch warm. His voice was unreadable: "Go on…"

Cheng Ge hesitated for two seconds before continuing: "A few days ago, I went through your notebooks and maps and found a place… called Wild Fox Valley."

Cui Ji's hand paused slightly. Wild Fox Valley—he naturally knew of it.

It sat on the vague border between the Northern Di and the Great Zhou, but due to its extremely treacherous terrain, mostly sheer cliffs and dense forests, there was almost no passable route, let alone room for large-scale troop deployment.

So in the eyes of traditional military strategists, it wasn't considered a strategic location of any note.

On maps, it was marked with comments like "extremely perilous terrain, rarely visited by man," and almost no one had ever set foot there.

Cheng Ge watched Cui Ji's expression closely by the candlelight, and seeing that he hadn't immediately dismissed the idea, his confidence grew.

He instinctively pressed closer to Cui Ji, nearly burying his entire head into the crook of his shoulder and neck.

His warm breath brushed directly against Cui Ji's ear as he whispered in a secretive tone:

"I know the terrain there is dangerous and hard for an army to traverse, but about a dozen li from Wild Fox Valley, there's a relatively flat river valley called Xiangma River."

Cui Ji's expression sharpened. Because Wild Fox Valley served as a natural barrier, Xiangma River was used as the Northern Di's main grain transport route.