After following the trade route for about two hours, a broad river appeared before Li Mu and Lin Qingzhu.
The rushing river washed against the red rocky banks, roaring in waves.
"Brother Mu, we're here. Look, on both sides of the river across from us are vast, dense forests. The one on the left is a willow forest, and the one on the right is a poplar forest, so this river is called the Shuanglin River."
The girl was naturally lively, and traveling with the one she loved filled her heart with joy. Seeing their first destination right before her eyes, she pointed back at the magnificent river while skipping toward him.
A grand wooden bridge spanned the Shuanglin River. As an important hub on this trade route outside Qinglan City, merchant caravans and cultivators out on training journeys all passed through Shuanglin Bridge. Over time, an inn had been set up beside the bridge for passing travelers to rest their feet.
"Big Brother, look. That little girl is quite a juicy one."
At that moment, a three-man group was resting in the inn. Their leader was a burly man with a face full of beard, while the other two were both one-eyed men wearing eyepatches. One of them pointed at Lin Qingzhu as she approached the inn, his words to the bearded man brimming with ill intent.
The Immortal Realm was so vast that it could not be measured. The cities where people gathered occupied only a tiny fraction of it. Countless cultivators and other races lived in the far broader wilderness, and groups like the bearded man's were everywhere.
On trade routes where patrols and troops were stationed, these Rogue Cultivator groups might still obey the empire's laws. But where there were no such forces, they revealed a