Heading Out of the City

The next day, Lin Fan settled everything at home, then glanced at the quietly functioning formation that protected the residence.

Before he left, Su Qingwei carefully packed his oilcloth bundle. It held only a little dried food, a few emergency healing pills, and a map and letter of introduction provided by the Azure Elixir Hall.

"Be careful in everything you do at home." Lin Fan looked at Su Qingwei, his expression gentle, then turned to Lin Ruoruo. "I'm going to the Azure Wave Medicine Market, five or six hundred li away, to buy high-grade medicinal materials. I won't be gone long. Remember, you must not step outside the residence. Stay home and study music, chess, and etiquette with your teacher."

Lin Ruoruo nodded obediently. Beside her, Mao Mao, the Golden Rat crouched on the ground and squeaked twice, his little paws clutching her clothes as if he were adding his own warning.

"Brother, I'll remember."

Lin Fan did not linger.

Dressed in a fitted black outfit with the bundle slung across his back, he reached the residence gates and walked straight out.

Before long, he had passed through the Commandery City gate and reached the open official road beyond it. Lin Fan narrowed his eyes slightly and drove the vast, powerful Inner Qi within him into motion.

Hum!

Hot, forceful Inner Qi coursed through his limbs and bones. Faint white vapor rose around him, and the ground beneath his feet shuddered, kicking up a ring of dust.

Experts of the Three Qi-Force Realms could travel extremely fast if they were willing to spend some Inner Qi. A journey that took ordinary people several days by carriage or horse took them only a short while.

The cost was roughly one measure of Inner Qi per fifty li. If they carried a