After saying that, the burly man paid Yang Qing and the others no further attention. He curled his fingers and gave another slight flick, and the carriage began moving again.
After they passed through another thick city wall, their surroundings suddenly grew lively.
It was as though Yang Qing and the others had burst out of a world of utter silence and into another world altogether.
Here, voices boiled over in a bustling din.
Many pedestrians had appeared on the streets as well.
But they all went about their own business, paying no attention whatsoever to the carriage that had just appeared.
Some did notice and wanted to approach to say something, but when they saw the burly man accompanying the carriage, their expressions shifted slightly. They all backed away, no longer daring to set their sights on it.
Because of this, only after they had traveled some distance did Yang Qing realize that, at some point, the people around them had thinned out considerably again.
Even the places ahead where people had been standing were now devoid of a single figure.
Perhaps they were nearing their destination.
Sure enough, after traveling a little farther, the carriage slowly came to a stop.
Yang Qing glanced out the carriage window and saw an exceedingly plain, unassuming courtyard to his right.
The courtyard was small, only thirty or forty feet across.
Its gates stood wide open, revealing masses of flowers within, all tended with great care and kept neat and clean.
Yet there was still not a soul in sight.
"Rest here for a while. In an hour, someone will come to take you to see the master."
With that, the burly man actually walked away without so much as looking back.
His pace was so brisk that he vanished from sight