Chapter 1192
Within Yingchuan Prefecture, three riders galloped abreast through the wind and snow. Following the map's directions, they left the relatively broad official road and turned onto a narrow mountain path.
Around noon, the goose-feather snow still showed no sign of stopping. The three riders' vision was blurred, making the already rugged mountain trail even harder to traverse. Fortunately, none of their mounts were inferior horses. They were fine steeds from the capital's Daoist academy, said to be descendants of flood dragons. Though their bloodline was thin, they crossed mountains and rivers as if walking on level ground. Apart from their respective Passage Documents, the most important thing they carried on this journey was an official document personally drafted by the Attendant Official of the Ministry of Personnel in their capital, sealed by the State Protecting True Person, then inspected, approved, and endorsed by Ruzhou's largest Daoist temple.
At the head rode a young woman wearing a black gauze crown and a thick, warm jade-green Daoist robe.
Her brows curved gracefully and her cheeks were full. She looked slender yet well-fleshed, riding a pale yellow steed.
A pair of embroidered shoes peeked out beneath her robes, lightly resting on golden stirrups.
The two riders behind her were a man and a woman. The man rode a black horse, dressed in an elegant plain blue Daoist robe, with a bamboo-woven conical hat on his head and a sword on his back.
The woman was broad and powerfully built. Her skin was already dark, and against the snowy day, she looked even more like a lump of charcoal. Yet she was dressed flamboyantly, in a rouge-red dress patterned with gilt roundels, its cuffs embroidered with luan birds.
As a maidservant, she was not very old, though her build was rather too