Seeing that the scholarly-looking stranger outside seemed a little frightened, one of the older men in the group spoke.
"Don't be afraid, stranger. We're no vicious villains. We just don't want to let bad people into the village. Come, come, please step inside!"
Yi Shuyuan made a show of hesitating for a moment before finally entering the village gate.
"Thank you, thank you."
Yi Shuyuan clasped his hands in greeting as he offered his thanks.
The village gate slowly closed again behind him, prompting Yi Shuyuan to glance back repeatedly, looking uneasy.
Everyone looked Yi Shuyuan up and down but saw no weapons.
"Stranger, where's your hometown? Are you traveling far from home?"
Although they had let Yi Shuyuan in, they clearly had not lowered their guard. They remained clustered around him, refusing to give way, still poised to question him.
Yi Shuyuan hurriedly reached into his robe, rummaged around, and pulled out a document.
"My hometown is in Moon Province. This is my travel pass."
Although Great Yong had regulations concerning travel passes, enforcement was actually fairly lax. Strict inspections only occurred under certain unusual circumstances.
Still, having a travel pass was certainly more convenient than not having one, particularly at a time like this.
The travel pass Yi Shuyuan took out actually bore only Yuanjiang County's seal.
But Yi Shuyuan could transform things. By the time he unfolded the travel pass, it also bore Wu Prefecture's seal, along with those of four or five counties.
This made the travel pass look thoroughly filled out, covered with official seals.
The villagers could not really make sense of official documents or seals, but the mere presence of such a document put them considerably more at ease.
"So this is a travel pass?" "So many stamps?"
Seeing the travel pass being