Winds Fill the Tower Before the Mountain Rain

The Earth Dragon Carriage was a rather awkward means of transportation. For those truly short on money, walking or renting a horse-drawn carriage offered better value than renting an Earth Dragon Carriage. Wealthy merchants and nobles, meanwhile, would rather travel in more powerful and safer vehicles pulled by Hundred Year or even Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. As a result, Earth Dragon Carriages mainly served travelers within cities. The Earth Dragons' broad, sturdy feet provided an exceptionally comfortable ride, and for short-distance travel, passengers were not so sensitive to the price.

Compared to the exhaustion Huo Yuhao had felt when he had traveled alone to Star Dou Forest, the broad-footed, steady Earth Dragon had indeed been of great help throughout this journey. Unless they encountered especially rugged and muddy roads, the experience of traveling by carriage had been quite pleasant for both Huo Yuhao and Huo Yun'er.

After traveling for five straight days, Huo Yuhao was still in fairly good spirits, but Huo Yun'er was ill and advanced in years, and she was clearly running low on energy. Fortunately, they were no longer far from Shrek City.

To be honest, the journey had not been peaceful. Even though they had mostly traveled along official roads whenever there was no special reason not to, they had still run into bandits twice. Fortunately, the driver was a level-twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster. The moment he displayed his one white and one yellow Soul Ring, the Earth Dragon pulling the carriage cooperatively shot two streams of thick smoke from its nostrils, ultimately forcing both groups of restless bandits to retreat.

"Master Li, it isn't very peaceful hauling carriages these days, is it? Two bandit attacks in five days. You don't earn this money easily."

Huo Yuhao handed him a Leaf Cigarette. The driver Huo Yuhao called Master Li immediately accepted it with a cheerful grin, but instead of lighting it, he tucked it behind his ear.

"The past two years have been worse than before. It feels like things are about to descend into chaos. Xing Luo is doing better than most, after all. With the climate here, people can grow three crops a year, so nobody starves to death no matter what. But Tian Hun and Dou Ling don't seem nearly as peaceful. I still keep in touch with quite a few friends from junior Soul Master Academies, and they all say carriage work is getting harder and harder. They're thinking about switching professions, or coming to Xing Luo to make a living."

Perhaps because he knew Huo Yuhao was also a soul master, Master Li did not speak with the usual arrogance of a soul master. Instead, he chatted with Huo Yuhao like an ordinary middle-aged neighbor in his forties.

"That's why Xing Luo is still the best. We have mountains, water, and a good climate. Our generals can fight, and as long as ordinary people can peacefully farm their land, they won't starve. Naturally, it isn't as chaotic here as it is in Tian Hun and Dou Ling."

Huo Yuhao knew exactly what topics to discuss with an older man like this. Sure enough, after hearing his words, the man immediately seemed to have found a kindred spirit and began speaking with excitement.

"That's why even a dog ought to be born somewhere good. Let me tell you, our Xing Luo—"

While repeatedly nodding to show his agreement, Huo Yuhao considered the hidden value in the man's words.

One had to learn to notice the subtle signs. Perhaps it would bring him a generous reward someday. After Huo Yuhao had first stormed Ashina Castle, he had wandered the streets of Ashina like an idle vagrant for some time. Back then, he had heard that Ashina was suffering from a salt shortage.

Ashina lay deep in the mountains, so the salt it produced could only have been mountain salt. In ordinary times, it still needed to trade with outside merchants to meet its needs. Now that it had suddenly begun to lack salt, it was highly likely that Ashina and the Interior Ministry Army had already entered a standoff and perhaps even experienced small-scale clashes. They needed sufficient salt for disinfection. Ordinary merchants were the most sensitive to danger and were unwilling to continue doing business in Ashina, which further worsened Ashina's salt shortage.

This information had not only told him that the Interior Ministry was moving more and more frequently and often engaging Ashina soldiers in small-scale conflicts, but had also helped him contact a bold merchant who wanted to profit from the war in Ashina. He had made a tidy sum from it. That was why Huo Yuhao had developed the habit of recording anything he learned.

Although he did not know why the conditions outside all three empires had begun to worsen, Huo Yuhao had already made up his mind. Once he had established himself in Shrek City, he would avoid leaving unless he needed to hunt soul beasts. Master Li, who hauled the carriage, was a level-twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster with a Hundred Year Soul Ring, yet even he felt that this line of work was becoming difficult. One could imagine how dangerous it was for ordinary people to leave the city.

Long-distance hauling, especially with an Earth Dragon Carriage, had always been a coveted job. Unlike drivers who worked within cities, these masters who traveled long distances wore many hats. At the very least, they also worked as caravan guards, so their income was quite high. In a good month, they could earn more than twenty, sometimes nearly thirty Gold Soul Coins. Even when business was poor, they could still make around ten Gold Soul Coins a month.

That was no small sum. Whether in Xing Luo or the other two empires, the annual subsidy given to soul masters was only one Gold Soul Coin in total. It was not much for soul masters, but for a single man who lived by working the fields, one Gold Soul Coin was basically enough to cover a year's expenses.

For these low-level soul masters, long-distance hauling had always been somewhat dangerous work. A little risk was simply part of the job. Greater risk meant greater profit. Take this trip, for example. Though they had encountered bandits twice in just five days, it still did not amount to much in Master Li's eyes. Yet from that, one could imagine that the danger faced by those friends of his hauling carriages in Tian Ling and Battle Soul was likely no small matter.

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao could not help recalling his Divine Child. He always liked reading all sorts of books in his study and was especially fond of poetry from that mysterious western land. Whenever the mood struck him, he liked to recite poems, so Huo Yuhao had passively memorized a few lines as well.

"As clouds rise over the stream, the sun sinks behind the pavilion; before mountain rain arrives, wild winds fill the tower."

Huo Yuhao could not help thinking of that line. He had once asked the Divine Child what it meant. The Divine Child had told him that before the mountain rain arrived, fierce winds had already filled Xianyang Tower. It meant that on the eve of major changes in the situation, many signs would appear around people in other forms.

"Shrek City is almost here, kid. What are you spacing out for? Don't tell me you thought we still had another day to travel."

Master Li's voice pulled the distracted Huo Yuhao back to the Right Track.

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