Lü Bufan changed into a coarse short tunic and stowed Heavy Sword Wuming inside his Mustard-Seed Object, strapping only the Short Sword he had not used in a long time to his back.
After finishing their wine, Luo Wuya and the old ox Crouching Dragon, now in human form, lay like corpses in the cabin, leaving Lü Bufan to pole the boat alone.
At a river mouth, a floating bridge and water checkpoint had been hastily erected, with an iron chain stretched across the channel through its center. A naval detachment from Guardian City and several attendant martial warriors inspected the occasional boats carrying refugees out of the Great Yunmeng Marsh, their faces grim.
A Second Realm martial warrior squad leader rested his hand on the hilt of the narrow saber commonly used by the navy and looked over the two drunken, rough-looking men in the cabin, then the somewhat dull-looking youth...
"Where are you from? Where are you headed?"
Lü Bufan cupped his hands and produced an official travel document, slipping a small lake pearl over with it... "Sir, we fish and gather clams... Things aren't peaceful in the Great Yunmeng Marsh now, and we daren't keep at it. We just want to go home to Guangling Commandery and live a few quiet days! Those two inside are my uncles from the same clan..."
The squad leader rolled the pearl between his fingers and nodded. "All right, then. But... you have to pay the toll! One tael of silver per person..."
Lü Bufan sighed and fished out several pieces of silver, paying the toll to settle the matter.
The iron chain blocking the channel sank with a clatter. Lü Bufan worked the sculling oar, and the little boat swayed through the river mouth. Then he raised the sail and,