The Upper Dan Sect was located in Hu Mountain Country, in the southern part of Zhongzhou. For an ordinary person, a round trip from Shang’an Prefecture would take nearly three months.
On the morning of the tenth.
After breakfast, urged on by the Yu Cheng Taoist, Wang Ping began to pack his belongings. He packed two sets of gray-blue Daoist robes, four sets of undergarnts, an iron sword, and at least four pairs of shoes into a travel pack.
Lastly, there was money for the journey—one hundred taels of silver. This sum would allow Wang Ping to travel quite comfortably.
When he finished packing and was ready to set off, the Yu Cheng Taoist was nowhere to be found. Wang Ping waited anxiously for Half an Hour. Just as the winter sun was about to break through the clouds, he perford a divination for himself before finally stepping out of the courtyard gate.
Upon reaching the front hall, so of the junior brothers who knew him quickly gathered around, calling out, "Senior Brother."
Wang Ping gazed at the transford front hall, feeling as if a lifeti had passed. The once-deserted training grounds and courtyard were now bustling with people, and a never-ending stream of worshippers ca from the mountain base to offer incense.
As he reached the renovated main gate, his three senior brothers and his junior brother, Wang Kang, who had been waiting for a long ti, surrounded him.
His Eldest Brother gave Wang Ping so standard insect repellent for his travels. His Second Brother slyly fitted a hidden weapon onto Wang Ping’s right wrist for self-defense. His Third Brother gave him his own steel sword, and Junior Brother Wang Kang presented him with a water flask made from a section of bamboo.
Stepping out of the main gate, Wang Ping discovered that the path up the mountain had been rebuilt at so point. The once-muddy trail was now a flight of stone steps that snaked into the distance for miles.
The once-desolate mountain path was now busy with people, and there were even pavilions for resting at regular intervals.
At the foot of the mountain, a bustling market had appeared. At the entrance to the mountain path, so dignitaries and nobles were selecting sedan chair bearers. When the vendors and laborers gathered there saw Wang Ping in his Daoist robes, they bowed from a distance. Even the dignitaries nodded to him in acknowledgnt.
Qianmu Temple’s efforts to spread its teachings over the past two years had been very successful; at the very least, the surrounding regions had beco devout followers.
Following his mory, Wang Ping walked out of the north side of the market and finally saw a familiar river. The small path along the riverbank had beco an official road.
Once clear of the market, he gazed at the village on the southern bank. That was his old ho.
The small village, once a cluster of low earthen huts, had transford into a fortified village lined with tile-roofed houses. A massive waterwheel stood out conspicuously downstream by the canal.
Wang Ping only paused to watch for a mont before turning away from the village.
...
「Eight days later.」
Wang Ping left Nanlin Road and entered the territory of Mozhou Road. He had been traveling on a tight schedule, but when he reached the nearest county town along the official road, he found its gates were already closed.
Many others were in the sa predicant as Wang Ping, including a southbound rchant caravan. The caravan’s chiefs were gathered in the only pavilion outside the city gates, eating dry rations.
Wang Ping didn’t pay the caravan much mind. He walked to the edge of a temporary camp about a hundred ters away and bought a bundle of dry firewood from the camp’s owner.
As he got a fire going, cheers erupted from the distant county town. The residents inside were likely celebrating sothing. The sound of the cheers made the travelers and rchants, forced to camp in the open, feel a pang of hosickness.
"I’m hungry..."
Yu Lian protested.
Wang Ping took out so jerky he had bought especially for Yu Lian. She gobbled it down in two bites, her small eyes darting around before she retreated back into his sleeve.
"I see a lot of bad people!" Yu Lian said, not yet ready to sleep.
"Mm."
Wang Ping acknowledged her, then took out a piece of hardtack and began toasting it over the bonfire. Two foul-slling beggars nearby had been eyeing the lone Wang Ping for so ti. When one of them saw him take out the food, he swallowed hard, and survival instinct drove him to crawl forward.
"SHINK."
A cold glint of light flashed. Before the crawling beggar could register what had happened, a sharp pain shot across his cheek. He instinctively stopped, only to see an unsheathed sword pointed coldly at him.
"Take it and eat it over there. Don’t bother ."
Wang Ping tossed a small piece of the hardtack to the beggar and spoke indifferently.
The two beggars were stunned for a mont, then, like animals fighting over scraps, they scrambled for the piece of food and tumbled away into the darkness. The other onlookers watched this unfold in silence.
At that mont, the cheers from the county town sounded particularly jarring.
"Sigh."
An old man sighed. "A County Magistrate hasn’t been assigned to Yuanning County in seven or eight years. Life in the surrounding villages is getting harder and harder."
"Isn’t that the truth? I heard there were riots in several downstream villages before the new year!"
Once the topic was broached, the conversations flowed like an unstoppable flood.
Wang Ping listened quietly, and what he heard was yet another reminder of this world’s cruelty. Ordinary people not only had to bear the burden of heavy farm work and corvée labor but also faced oppression and exploitation from the powerful. If they weren’t careful, they could even be devoured by so troublemaking Little Demon.
Yu Lian nudged Wang Ping’s fingers again with her small head.
"I’m fine."
Wang Ping replied softly, finished the now-softened hardtack in one go, then took two gulps of water from the flask his junior brother had given him. He then sat down to ditate and rest.
「Late that night.」
As if sensing sothing, Wang Ping opened his eyes. The bonfire in front of him had burned down to embers, and most of the people in the camp were asleep. In the distance, two night watchn patrolled the periter of the rchant caravan, holding torches aloft.
Everything seed normal.
Wang Ping’s gaze shifted to the camp owner’s thatched hut, where firewood was piled. He picked up the sword resting on his lap, rose, and leaped into the moonless darkness behind him. Two breaths later, he landed atop a distant old tree, crouching to lt into the night.
By the moonlight, Wang Ping saw five or six people erge from the camp owner’s thatched hut. They moved brazenly through the sleeping crowd, rummaging through luggage for valuables. Their movents were clumsy, yet they didn’t wake a single person, because the camp owner had already used an intoxicating incense.
The rchant caravan had noticed the situation in the camp long ago, but they rely watched with cold detachnt.
Judging by their practiced movents, this was clearly not their first ti pulling such a heist. And considering Yuanning City had closed its gates early...
"You bastards! I’ve finally caught you!"
A woman’s voice rang out from Wang Ping’s left. He then saw a longsword, wreathed in flas, slash through the dim night sky toward one of the thieves’ heads. But when the seemingly earth-shattering strike landed, its power was only enough to knock the man unconscious, not kill him.
Then, from Wang Ping’s right, another person charged out with equally impressive montum, seemingly holding a cauldron. But upon reaching the camp, this person, like the woman before, set their weapon down gently, rely knocking another thief out.
After all the thieves were tied up, the woman who had charged in first pointed in Wang Ping’s direction and shouted, "You! Heartless Little Daoist! Get down here!"
Wang Ping knew the woman was talking to him, but he showed no intention of coming down.
After a standoff that lasted several breaths, the woman snorted, took a packet of powder from her pocket, and scattered it. A mont later, the sleeping travelers began to stir and wake up...
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