Leaving the City: Part Two

"A test?" Wei He asked, bewildered. "Indeed. Such a gapless gathering is a rare opportunity. Jiang Yan comes from a prominent lineage and will even mobilize his family's resources to hire experts for us to spar with. So if you can, try your best to secure an invitation." Cheng Shaojiu was genuinely looking out for Wei He. He felt it would be an absolute pity if someone with such grit and insight was limited by slightly weaker aptitude. Wei He smiled. A test? A bunch of brats playing childish games. Although the premise of this gapless gathering sounded quite tempting. He still had his own arrangements. "Many thanks for the recommendation, Senior Brother. But knowing my own inferior aptitude, I won't force myself to attend and make a fool of myself." He replied with a calm expression. "Now, don't be willful. This kind of opportunity will be immensely beneficial to your future if you can gain some practical combat experience from it," Cheng Shaojiu persuaded. "It's not being willful, I simply have my own arrangements. Thank you for your kind intentions, Senior Brother." Wei He politely declined once more. Cheng Shaojiu tried persuading him a few more times, but to no avail. In the end, he went back to tell Jiang Yan and the others. "It seems this Junior Brother Wei actually has a good measure of himself." Xiao Ran couldn't help laughing. "I've seen plenty of people like this, trying to climb up by latching onto any branch. Senior Brother Cheng must have been constantly pestered by him and unable to save face, which is why he brought it up with us, right? But if he thinks he can squeeze into our circle this way, he is sorely mistaken." Imitating the posture of his elders, Jiang Yan smiled calmly and indifferently. "True. Senior Brother Cheng might find it hard to say no, but we don't have that problem." Xiao Ran agreed from the side. He also looked down upon these trash without any aptitude. To take so long to learn something so simple—why even bother learning martial arts if you are that stupid? Wouldn't it be more productive to go back to farming and get a better harvest? Jiang Su offered no comment, simply too lazy to bother, and went back to practicing her skin grinding. Cheng Shaojiu was left speechless and could only offer a bitter smile. He wanted to explain that Wei He was not that kind of person, but judging by their expressions, any explanation would be a waste of breath. They looked down on Wei He entirely. Rather than letting him in just to be humiliated, it was better to drop the matter altogether. Preventing any sudden surges of hot-headed anger that might spark trouble later on was also for the best. Still, a soft sigh escaped his heart. He felt a sense of regret that Wei He was missing out on this opportunity. One had to know that this gapless gathering was a prime chance to increase experience in fighting against experts. Because of the gapless gathering, there were even connections with the core disciples under other martial masters. It was of immense help for broadening one's understanding of various martial arts and increasing combat experience. Pity. Wei He, however, felt no pity at all. After finalizing matters with Third Senior Brother Cheng Shaojiu, and taking advantage of the fact that the Cheng family side hadn't started official work yet, he took on a short-distance escort job, planning to go out and gain some experience first. This was a temporary hiring job from the Changfeng Escort Agency. The pay was decent: five hundred taels for a one-way trip, plus one shi of rice and ten catties of smoked pork, all completed in a single day. The job involved escorting cargo from the inner city to an earthen fort near Mingde Temple outside the city. The reason he took this job was precisely because it passed by Mingde Temple, which was also the place where Wei He's parents had gone missing. No matter what, he intended to go investigate. Leaving the city alone made him worry about danger. But following along with the large convoy of the Changfeng Escort Agency offered a much higher safety margin. Wei He had also made inquiries. The jobs of the Changfeng Escort Agency weren't like those in the storybooks of his past life, where every single transport run met with disaster. For a major escort agency like Changfeng, having an incident occur even once every ten runs was a rare occurrence. Many bandits and mountain outlaws would show them some measure of respect. Paying a bit of road toll allowed safe passage. Therefore, he didn't believe he would necessarily run into trouble this time. The probability of an incident was very small. And conveniently, Wei He also planned to use this opportunity to see with his own eyes what the heavily-feared area outside the city was actually like. Three days later. Wei He changed into a short outer cape prepared by the Changfeng Escort Agency. The gray cape bore the characters "Changfeng" on it, making it look both fabric-efficient and presentable. Since they were only temporary hires, it was impossible to custom-tailor a full matching outfit for everyone. Instead, this sort of short cape-like garment could be worn by anyone regardless of height, weight, or build. It could also be collected and reused every time—a permanent solution. The wide gateway of Feiye City's tall gates slowly passed overhead. He followed behind the lengthy escort convoy, a crude short saber slung at his waist. This wasn't meant for fighting, but rather for clearing away brush, weeds, and poisonous insects. The rumbling sound of wooden wheels continuously drifted from the front. Wei He fished a water skin out from his arms, then took out a paper package, plucked a small piece of golden air-dried meat from it, and popped it into his mouth to chew carefully. This was the Silver-Kiss Black Snake Meat he had just drawn from Senior Brother Cheng. Although it was dried and slightly lacking in nutrition, eating a palm-sized chunk was enough for a single meal. It was truly filling. Over these past few days, Wei He had unhesitatingly drawn a whole month's worth of rations—namely, the contents of that paper package in his bosom. According to Cheng Shaojiu's estimation, this package of meat jerky should last at least a month and a half. Yet he could never have imagined that, given Wei He's rate of consumption, it would be eaten clean in ten days at most. Wei He took a sip of water, swallowed the meat jerky in his mouth, pulled down his collar, and checked his chest. The black color of the boundary-breaking pearl clearly showed signs of resurfacing. An area the size of a grain of rice had already begun to change color. This Silver-Kiss Black Snake Meat truly had extraordinary effects. If he had kept eating money worm meat previously, it would have taken at least two weeks to reach this level. And now, discoloration appeared in just three days. The gap between the two shortened by goodness knows how much. Not bad, not bad. Keep it up, and maybe I can fill it up again in two months, Wei He thought, full of anticipation. Having experienced qi and blood at the ox hide tier, he felt even more curious about the subsequent realms of qi and blood transformation. At this moment, the escort convoy plodded leisurely and steadily out of the city gate, following the gray official road as it headed toward the distant expanse outside the city. Wei He seized the opportunity to walk beside the convoy, gazing around at the scenery outside the city. Outside Feiye City. Not far from the city walls lay neat patches of cultivated farmland, where farmers could be seen far off urging oxen to plow. The fields were like sliced tofu blocks, one after another, stretching out in a circle along the official road toward the horizon's edge. Beyond the perimeter of the farmland lay dense mountain forests and rolling hills. Farther beyond the hills stretched a continuous, unbroken mountain range. Old escort guard Chen Shiniu walked on Wei He's right, an experienced veteran specifically assigned to show him the ropes. Seeing Wei He's fresh, wide-eyed expression, he immediately chuckled. "Did you think danger was everywhere outside the city, and that nobody dared step out the gates?" "A little bit." Wei He nodded; he was indeed somewhat surprised. "It is dangerous outside the city, but not right here. At least within ten li of the city walls, it's safe. Once you pass ten li, heh." Chen Shiniu squinted ahead at the official road, the wrinkles on his face swaying and shaking with his stride, loose and undulating. "When I first went on an escort run in my youth, I thought just like you. Mountain bandits and horse thieves everywhere, ferocious beasts and poisonous insects lurking around—dangerous as hell!" "Yet, you see, once you've been out here, you realize that whether it's dangerous or not depends entirely on who you are." "Uncle Chen, what do you mean by 'who you are'?" Wei He asked, not understanding. "Take us, for instance. The Changfeng Escort Agency is one of the three major escort agencies in Feiye City. We've established ties with every local territory outside, and we've shared sworn cups of wine with many prominent lineage leaders and gang chiefs. Everyone gives us a measure of respect. So walking this road, the main things to worry about are wild beasts and poisonous insects. Take precautions against those, and it's actually quite relaxed." Chen Shiniu laughed. "And as for these surrounding fields—don't look at them as if these farmers are just working hard to till the land; in truth, ninety-nine percent of these fields don't even belong to them." "Whose then...?" Wei He asked smoothly. "The lords in the inner city," Chen Shiniu replied, a trace of unspeakable envy in his expression. "Ah, the inner city—now that's a good place, all kinds of enjoyment, fine wine, and good tobacco, everything you could want. Only everything costs money." "Nowadays, I tell ya, even money doesn't work as well as it used to," an escort guard nearby chimed in, shaking his head. "Last year, one tael of silver could buy a jar of sheep-bone wine; now, a tael can only buy half a jar." "Ain't that the truth? Money gets less and less valuable by the year," another guard chimed in with a sigh. "That's why the boss converts part of our wages into rice and meat now, to keep everyone from complaining, right?" Chen Shiniu laughed. "The boss is benevolent." "True, true, the boss is indeed generous." Instantly, a chorus of flattery toward the Changfeng Escort Agency rose all around. Wei He listened in silence, saying nothing more, simply acting as an onlooker. At the same time, he kept himself fully alert from head to toe, observing the surrounding situation. To cope with this escort run, he had tucked hard wooden boards against both his chest and back specifically to guard against long-range arrows, flying stones, and the like. As long as he wasn't hit in vital head locations, the wooden boards would cushion the impact on other areas, allowing him to significantly lower his injury rate. The escort convoy marched on. Because it was a short run that only took a single day to make a round trip, the distance was merely ten li back and forth. Right at the boundary of the city's defense perimeter. Wei He had remained vigilant the entire way, yet found no use for it. Everything outside the city was peaceful. On the official road, groups of wealthy young masters out for spring outings could be seen from time to time. There were also city patrol soldiers who occasionally marched past. The former were fine, no different from what one saw inside the city. But the patrol soldiers seen afterward left Wei He somewhat silent. These patrol soldiers were sallow and emaciated, walking with listless steps; some carried weapons, while others were completely empty-handed. They wore yellow undershirts with very tattered, crude gray leather armor thrown over the outside, which could only protect their chests and backs at most, leaving everything else exposed. Wei He even saw that the shoes worn by these patrol soldiers were actually tattered cloth shoes with their toes sticking out! Only the squad leader leading the team was dressed somewhat decently, though to a very limited extent. That is, his weapon was intact, his leather armor was a bit newer, and he had swapped his footwear for a pair of black cloth boots—and that was all. Depending on soldiers like these, Wei He found it impossible to believe that Feiye City's safety could rely on them for maintenance. The convoy kept moving forward, the handcart escorted in the middle emitting the vibrating sound of grinding over road stones from time to time. Gradually, as the afternoon sun approached, the escort agency convoy finally reached its destination. According to the rules, they were supposed to rest briefly at the location and resupply before heading back. Seizing this gap in time, Wei He exchanged a few words with Chen Shiniu and headed toward Mingde Temple alone. Since everything within ten li outside the city was considered safe, how on earth had his parents gone missing right at Mingde Temple? Since he had come here, Wei He intended to investigate promptly.