Chapter 242: Along The Way

After leaving Fengming City, the party continued all the way to the east. They saw more people along the way, and the cities they passed through flourished more than the last. The journey became a lot smoother for Yan Liqiang’s party.

Those nefarious Blackwind Bandits never appeared again, and they seemed to have become nothing more than a distant memory.

On the other hand, the prestige behind Sun Bingchen’s identity as a patrol inspector began manifesting itself again. Every time Sun Bingchen arrived at a new destination, they would be received by local officials. Under such circumstances, it wasn’t easy for anything to happen to their party.

Even so, Yan Liqiang didn’t let his guard down. He was always prepared because he had a vague feeling that the Blackwind Bandits wouldn’t be the only ones who wanted to stop Ye Tiancheng from reaching the Imperial Capital. Aside from openly using brute force like the Blackwind Bandits, there were various ways to kill someone. Sometimes, just a single embroidery needle, a drop of poison, a flying knife, or even a punch or slap from an expert was enough to easily claim someone’s life. Compared to the Blackwind Bandits, these were harder to defend against.

Undertaking a mission like this and being around a bomb like Ye Tiancheng, who could say for sure that he wouldn’t be sacrificed as an innocent victim of a conflict or assassination?

In the face of such crisis and urgency, Yan Liqiang didn’t slack in his cultivation either. Every time they arrived at a new destination that was not in the wilderness, Yan Liqiang persisted in cultivating three to four hours daily as soon as they settled down and as long as the environment allowed him to.

After they left the Hui Clan Gathering, Yan Liqiang’s luggage gained another item — a bunch of incense sticks.

Yan Liqiang lit up an incense stick in the darkness. He stayed low on the ground like a tiger, using only two fingers to support the weight of his body while he steadily stared at the burning end of the incense stick. When his eyesight and fingers hit their limits, he’d recover his strength with Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. This was a method Yan Liqiang had ‘invented’ to train his eyesight and finger strength.

Under this kind of training while traveling east with Sun Bingchen and his party, Yan Liqiang was able to stare intently at the incense stick without blinking over a longer period of time. His eyesight was improving and his finger strength was also rapidly improving. Drawing a bow gradually became easier and his stamina was also steadily improving.

Not only that, Yan Liqiang was also able to significantly broaden the effects and techniques of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, thus gaining better insight. He even had many training ideas that involved combining Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing with other techniques. However, since they were rushing along with their journey every day, he couldn’t implement them and these ideas could only stay in his mind for now.

To Yan Liqiang, meeting the officials along the way and experiencing the customs of various places while traveling by Sun Bingchen’s side were also great benefits.

……

It was the third lunar month of the spring season, the banks of Huichun River were decorated by the red flowers and green willows. The plants were lush and the larks were flying. In the evening, the sunset reflected off the rippling water. A double-decker huge riverboat, about fifty meters long, was drifting on the river. Amidst the undulating voices of the sailors on board, the boat steadily docked at the wharf outside of Hui Provincial City.

After the boat was docked and its mooring rope was quickly fastened, the workers at the wharf quickly moved two wooden staircases to the deck of the huge riverboat.

“We have arrived at the Hui Province’s wharf! Passengers in the cabin, please ensure that you have all your personal belongings with you and prepare to disembark…!”

The sailors on board shouted with their reverberating voices. Upon hearing them, the merchants and travelers in the cabin made their way to the deck of the boat to descend the wooden staircases and get off the boat in succession.

Yan Liqiang also followed the disembarking crowd and came out from the passenger cabin on the second floor. He stood on the second-floor deck of this huge riverboard, took in the beautiful scenery on both sides of the Huichun River, and exhaled deeply.

Today was already the seventh day of the third lunar month in the 13th year of the Yuanping reign. Nearly two months after leaving Gan Province, Yan Liqiang had finally arrived at Hui Provincial City.

Situated right next to the Imperial Capital, Hui Province was also the western gate of the Great Han Empire’s Imperial Capital. Beyond Hui Provincial City, the area toward the east was labeled as the ‘Western Capital Region’ on the map — one of the Imperial Capital’s ‘Four Regions’. This so-called ‘Western Capital Region’ basically translated to the vast region west of Imperial Capital.

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Yan Liqiang had already changed into his new attire. Dressed in a green leather robe and donning a small hat, he also carried a sack on his back, looking no different than a servant boy from a wealthy clan.

Just when Yan Liqiang was observing his surroundings, Sun Bingchen, Liang Yijie, and Ye Tiancheng came out from the cabin in succession.

Like Yan Liqiang, everyone had changed into their new attire.

Sun Bingchen looked like a wealthy merchant. Liang Yijie changed into the martial attire of a courtyard guard and Ye Tiancheng was in the disguise of a bookkeeper. However, compared to Yan Liqiang and the rest, this old ‘bookkeeper’ appeared to be a little ‘unwilling’. Although his handcuffs and shackles were removed, Liang Yijie had sealed a few of the acupoints in Ye Tiancheng’s body. Apart from being able to walk, his arms were limp at his sides. Looking feeble, he was ‘supported’ by Liang Yijie and he couldn’t even speak.

A week ago, when they left Feng Province, Sun Bingchen’s party split into two midway. The other guards continued on with Sun Bingchen’s ensign flags as they paraded ostentatiously through towns, entering Hui Province from another route. On the other hand, Sun Bingchen secretly left the party with Yan Liqiang, Liang Yijie, and Ye Tiancheng. After disguising themselves, the group of four quietly crossed the Hui Provincial border from another route. They boarded this huge boat from a place called Fengming City yesterday and traveled down the river. After two days of travel, they finally arrived in Hui Provincial City.

Yan Liqiang was secretly impressed by Sun Bingchen for choosing to keep things under wraps. Truth be told, although nothing really happened during their journey over the past few days, Yan Liqiang was always on edge. The closer they were to the Imperial Capital, the more Yan Liqiang felt as though he was approaching the dragon’s lair or the tiger’s den. When Sun Bingchen pulled this trick, Yan Liqiang finally knew that he wasn’t the only one who was secretly worried.

“Come, let’s get off the boat!” Sun Bingchen came out from the cabin and nodded.

“Be careful…” Liang Yijie shot Ye Tiancheng a warning look. Yan Liqiang walked in front, followed by Liang Yijie who was ‘supporting’ Ye Tiancheng, and Sun Bingchen walked behind them. The group descended from the deck on the second floor.

“Both of you watch your steps. Don’t fall into the water…” The sailor working on the boat even reminded Liang Yijie on purpose when he saw him ‘supporting’ Ye Tiancheng.

“Thank you for the reminder, Brother. Our bookkeeper easily gets seasick. He cannot even stand up without support after a two-day boat trip…” Before Liang Yijie could even speak, Yan Liqiang had already cleverly replied to the sailor with a smile, just like any qualified servant boy.

The group got off the boat and found themselves on the busy wharf of Hui Provincial City. Hui Provincial City’s river wharf was several times larger than the river wharfs Yan Liqiang had seen before. The crowd stretched as far as the eye could see — boats docked at the wharf were like trees in a forest and goods from everywhere were piled up a like mountain on this wharf.

“Old Master, I will find us a carriage…” Since four of them walking together with Ye Tiancheng in tow was still a little too eye-catching, Yan Liqiang immediately volunteered to find a carriage.

“No need for that. Someone will come fetch us!” Sun Bingchen shook his head.

As soon as both of them finished speaking, a spacious carriage arrived before Sun Bingchen. The coachman jumped off the carriage and asked respectfully, “Excuse me, are you Lord Huang?”

“That’s right!” Sun Bingchen nodded.

A look of relief immediately appeared on the coachman’s face. “I have received orders from our Old Master to pick you up. Please get on…”

Sun Bingchen, Liang Yijie, and Ye Tiancheng sat inside the carriage at the back. Yan Liqiang took a seat beside the coachman.

After everyone was seated, the coachman shook the reins. The carriage turned around and started moving briskly.

Yan Liqiang didn’t expect Sun Bingchen to have already made arrangements in Hui Provincial City. Now, that was how it should be! After all, they were working for the Emperor. It would be inexcusable if they didn’t have a few helpers to provide assistance…

Yan Liqiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief on the carriage. If it were possible, how he wished this carriage could whisk them all to the Imperial Capital in just the blink of an eye. That would end this horrible mission…