After leaving Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery, Fan Wu was still wearing a Daoist robe.
He did not care much about what clothes he wore. Besides, he had no other clothes. Apart from the plain undergarment he wore beneath, everything he owned was a Daoist robe, so he simply wore one on the road.
After all, he could be considered a "Daoist."
Although he could not even recite a single proper Daoist scripture from beginning to end, he had at least come from a monastery.
Since he had come from a monastery... what else could he be if not a Daoist?
Wearing a Daoist robe while traveling was perfectly reasonable!
"Looks like Prison Dragon County really is incompatible with my horoscope." Fan Wu let out this exclamation.
He had left Prison Dragon County in the dead of night.
In this World of Gods and Anomalies, traveling at night was extremely dangerous. It was easy to run into all kinds of unclean, filthy things.
But Fan Wu had encountered nothing the previous night.
This left him quite relieved.
Behind Fan Wu followed a large Old Green Ox. Man and ox had walked from the middle of the night until noon the next day.
Fan Wu was not tired.
But when he turned around and glanced at Old Green Ox, he still decided to stop and rest. After all, if they kept going, the ox would probably drop dead from exhaustion!
At that moment.
He was on a dirt road overgrown with weeds.
The dirt road did not look like many people passed through it. However, the weeds on the road bore faint traces of wheel ruts.
They were already far from Prison Dragon County.
One step from Fan Wu was essentially equivalent to two steps from an ordinary person. He had not stopped for even a moment all night and had covered more than a hundred li.
Just as Fan Wu took out a piece of dried food and had barely bitten down a few times, his movements paused.
He turned his head and looked toward the other side of the dirt road.
His keen hearing let him hear the sound of hooves striking the ground in the distance, along with wheels crushing through weeds and over the road.
Someone was coming.
Fan Wu did not pay it much attention. It was nothing unusual to encounter passing carts and horses on a road like this.
One bite of bean cake, one bite of dried meat.
In just a few quick bites.
He ate half of the dried food he had brought.
"My appetite has grown." Fan Wu sighed. "If I keep adding points to my [Strength] attribute, I'm afraid eating an entire sheep in one meal—and not even spitting out the bones—still won't be enough to fill my stomach."
Fan Wu praised himself for the idea of bringing more traveling expenses.
Although obtaining that money had been a little troublesome,
at least it would keep him from starving to death halfway along the road.
Just after Fan Wu took several gulps of water, the sound of the carriage drawing near had become loud enough for even an ordinary person to hear.
Then...
a convoy came rolling this way.
"Stay alert! Don't assume you're safe just because night has passed. You might encounter demons and monsters at night, but if you run into bandits blocking the road during the day, it'll be just as dangerous!"
Quite a few people in the convoy carried weapons.
Some had a long saber strapped to their backs, while others had a longbow hanging beside their saddles.
Some even wore a sword at their waists.
The middle-aged man at the head of the convoy rode a tall horse. Holding the reins in one hand, he reminded the group behind him, "At most two more days, and we'll reach Baihe County! The goods we're transporting this time are extremely special. There must not be the slightest mishap!"
"Although an officer from the Imperial Astronomy Bureau is traveling with us to escort the goods, we still can't relax in the slightest. If anything goes wrong, the reputation of our Huwei Escort Agency will be ruined!"
His words immediately made the escorts from Huwei Escort Agency behind him become fully alert.
Especially the words "Imperial Astronomy Bureau"...
They made it impossible for them to let their guard down.
Seeing that all the escorts behind him had become serious, the middle-aged man at the head nodded in satisfaction.
Then he pulled the reins and guided his horse beside a carriage. Facing the carriage, he respectfully said, "My lord, we'll reach Baihe County in at most two days. Please rest assured. Our Huwei Escort Agency has worked with the Imperial Astronomy Bureau for many years and has never had an accident."
The curtain on one side of the carriage was pulled open from within, slowly revealing half a profile.
The person sitting inside parted their lips slightly.
In a soft voice, they replied, "I hope things truly are as Captain Lin says."
That sweet, silky softness nearly made Captain Lin lose control of the tall horse beneath him. His entire body shuddered!
He secretly clicked his tongue in amazement.
Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard the other escorts in the convoy shouting anxiously, "Captain! Captain! There's an ox by the roadside ahead... No, there's a person!!"
"What do you mean, there's an ox and a person?" Captain Lin snapped back to his senses from the shouting. He unhappily peered into the distance, then froze. "There really is an ox, and there really is a person..."
"Hm? Wait! Halt! Everyone stop! That person has a weapon!" Captain Lin immediately grew vigilant. "They're very likely bandits trying to rob the road!!"
The reason Captain Lin had become nervous was that he had seen a large tree beside the road ahead, with a green ox carrying a strange wooden chest standing beside it.
A man leaned beneath the tree, and beside him rested an exaggeratedly long sword!
Just the length of that long sword made Captain Lin feel that it stood a foot taller than he did!
As his voice fell,
the convoy immediately stopped.
The escorts either drew the sabers from their backs or took the bows and arrows hanging beside their saddles.
Every one of them looked tense and wary.
At that moment, every pair of eyes fixed on the person by the roadside ahead.
Under their gaze,
the person stood up.
"Hiss!" The man's sturdy build and towering, pine-straight height made even Captain Lin, a veteran who had roamed the martial world for many years, suck in a breath. He finally understood why the sword leaning beside him was so long.
With such an astonishing height, using an ordinary sword would make it look no different from wielding a dagger.
"Who are you?!" Captain Lin did not pick a fight outright. Instead, he loudly asked a probing question.
Then he discovered that the sturdy man before him had actually ignored his shout!
The other party led the green ox away on his own, without a care!
"Captain... are you sure he's a bandit blocking the road?" one of the escorts behind him asked weakly. "He doesn't seem interested in us? And the clothes he's wearing look like a Daoist robe!"
"A Daoist robe?" Captain Lin froze. Looking at that retreating figure, he murmured in astonishment, "He's actually a Daoist?!"
So this was merely a clever misunderstanding?
"What happened? What's going on up ahead? Do you need me to intervene?" Another voice came from inside the carriage, a voice Captain Lin found very pleasant to hear.
Captain Lin hurriedly replied, "My lord, there was a Daoist ahead just now. I thought he was a bandit blocking the road, but now it seems he isn't. Of course, it's also possible that this is a trap."
"A Daoist?" The person inside the carriage sounded faintly surprised. "Is he traveling in the same direction as us?"
"From what we can see, it seems so." Captain Lin answered every question.
"A Daoist, is he? Follow him and take a look."
"Huh?" Captain Lin froze. He hesitated. "My lord, if this is a trap..."
"Follow him and take a look."
"...Yes!"
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