The Hustle and Bustle of Life!

The two spent the night at the edge of the woods and continued on their journey the next morning.

Qian Yaoting's route was not the fastest. Rather than taking the main roads, he traveled along smaller paths connecting villages and towns.

As he put it, "On the main roads, all you do is hurry along. You don't get to see anything. On the smaller roads, you might meet interesting people."

Li Long had never traveled like this before.

He had lived in Notting City for nine years and cultivated in Spirit City for nearly another year. Most of his time had been spent in fixed places: branch halls, cultivation rooms, and Soul Hunting Forest.

The outside world had always been a vague concept to him. He had only briefly encountered it during the occasional mission in Notting City, and even then, his experience had been limited to Notting City itself.

This time, after traveling for an entire day, he finally began to see what the world truly looked like.

That morning, they passed through a small town. It was not large; walking from one end of its main street to the other took less than the time it took to burn an incense stick.

Yet there were quite a few people on the street: merchants carrying goods on their backs, women leading children by the hand, and old men leaning against walls to bask in the sun.

The clang of hammering drifted from the blacksmith's shop on the corner. Steam rising from a noodle stall mingled with the scent of herbs wafting from a nearby apothecary, creating a distinct air of everyday life.

Qian Yaoting stopped in front of a noodle stall and ordered two bowls.

The stall owner was a middle-aged woman in an apron. She worked swiftly. When she saw their clothes and bearing, she gave them an extra glance, but did not ask any questions.

When the noodles were served, the broth was milky white, with chopped scallions and several thin slices of meat floating on top.

Li Long picked up his chopsticks and took a bite. The broth was savory and sweet, while the noodles were firm and springy. It was entirely different from the refined but bland meals in Spirit City.

"How is it? The food out here isn't bad either, right?" Qian Yaoting asked vaguely as he slurped up a mouthful of noodles.

"It tastes better than East Courtyard's," Li Long said honestly.

"That's true enough. After all, we're not particularly skilled when it comes to food."

"It's rare for us to come out like this, so we should eat more."

Qian Yaoting chuckled but did not reply.

"Mhm." Li Long nodded.

Then the two lowered their heads and finished their noodles. Qian Yaoting placed several copper coins on the table before getting up to continue the journey.

After they left the town, vast farmland stretched along the roadside. It was the autumn harvest season, and the fields were a sea of gold.

Farmers bent over to harvest in the fields. When they saw the two pass by, they looked up briefly before lowering their heads and returning to work.

Qian Yaoting did not walk quickly. From time to time, he stopped to look at the crops in the fields or crouched by the roadside to examine an unfamiliar wild plant.

"You can't see these things in Spirit City," he said. "You spend all day in cultivation rooms. You probably don't even know when the seasons change outside. It's good to come out and walk around sometimes."

Li Long did not argue.

He truly had not known that it was already autumn outside.

He had no memory at all of when the leaves in Spirit City had turned yellow.

Around noon, they passed a small stream. Qian Yaoting crouched down, scooped up some water to wash his face, then pulled out dry provisions from his pack and sat on a flat stone by the stream to eat.

Li Long sat down beside him, accepted a dry cake, and took a bite.

The cake was very hard, but after chewing it for a while, he could taste the natural sweetness of the wheat.

The stream murmured as it flowed, and now and then, tiny silvery fish flashed through the water.

Qian Yaoting pointed at the stream. "This water is clean, so you can drink it directly. But if it's stagnant water or flowing too slowly, it's best not to touch it."

Li Long remembered that.

Such wilderness knowledge truly could not be learned in East Courtyard's cultivation rooms.

The road became more uneven that afternoon.

The two crossed a stretch of low hills. Every so often, they saw a lonely farmhouse by the roadside, thin smoke rising from its chimney.

At a fork in the road, they encountered a merchant caravan. More than a dozen carriages moved slowly in a line, their goods piled high and tightly covered with oilcloth.

The caravan guards visibly tensed for a moment when they saw the two, their eyes sweeping back and forth between Qian Yaoting and Li Long.

Qian Yaoting took the initiative to step aside and yield the road, nodding at them without lingering.

Only after the caravan had passed did he say to Li Long, "When traveling, try not to clash with strangers. Even if you can beat them, it wastes time. Besides, our status is not such that we should bother arguing with them. It would be beneath us."

"Indeed."

Hearing this, Li Long nodded. He strongly agreed with his senior brother's words.

His status was no longer what it once had been.

The Pope's direct disciple, Spirit Hall's Holy Son.

There was a very high chance that he would become Spirit Hall's future Pope!

He noticed that Qian Yaoting's act of stepping aside to yield the road had been completely natural. It was not a deliberate show of restraint, but more like a habit developed from years of traveling outside.

Even Spirit Hall's young master yielded when it was appropriate, kept a low profile when necessary, and only revealed his identity when the situation called for it.

By evening, the two stopped to rest on the outskirts of a small city.

The city was somewhat larger than the town they had passed through that morning. Its walls were built from rammed earth. They were not high, but they were still fairly intact.

The city gates closed half an hour before sunset. The two entered before the gates shut and found an inn that looked reasonably clean.

The innkeeper was a round-faced middle-aged man. His gaze lingered on them when they entered, but he did not ask questions and efficiently handled their lodging arrangements.

The room was small, with two beds, a square table, an oil lamp, and a thin layer of dust on the windowsill.

Li Long placed his cloth bag by the head of the bed, then sat by the window and looked down at the street below.

There were still scattered pedestrians on the small city's streets in the twilight. A red lantern hung outside one shop, its warm yellow light spilling through the gap in the door.

Qian Yaoting sat cross-legged on the other bed and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

"Which way are we going tomorrow?" Li Long asked.

Qian Yaoting opened his eyes and thought for a moment. "We'll keep heading south. After passing this city, we'll reach the outskirts of Sunset Forest in another two days. Once we get there, I'll slow down. We'll first familiarize ourselves with the terrain around the perimeter before heading deeper in."

Li Long nodded and did not ask anything else.

The oil lamp's flame flickered gently, stretching and shrinking the shadows in the room.

After sitting for a while, he rose and took out the herbal medicine guide Qian Yue had given him from his storage ring. He flipped through it briefly before putting it away again.

The street outside gradually quieted. The lantern swayed in the wind, and eventually its light went out as well.

The two lay down to rest.

Li Long stared at the ceiling for a while, his mind turning over the things he had seen that day: the steam from the noodle stall, the gold of the fields, the clear sound of the stream, and the rumble of the caravan's wheels.

These things were completely different from life in Spirit City. They were less refined and more rough-hewn, but there was a sense of solidity within that roughness.

He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

Early the next morning, the two bought several hot buns from a shop on a street corner in the small city. They ate as they walked and continued south.

Qian Yaoting walked ahead with light steps, while Li Long followed behind, occasionally turning his head to look at the new scenery appearing by the roadside.

The trees along the road gradually grew taller and denser, the fields farther and farther apart, and the air began to carry a trace of moisture.

They were getting closer and closer to Sunset Forest.