As the setting sun slanted westward, three swift horses galloped along the official road and reached the outskirts of Baisu Town.
Ye Jingtang rode in the lead, a spear wrapped in black cloth hanging beside his horse, with Niao Niao perched on the saddle in front of him. Pei Xiangjun and Luo Ning followed behind in veil hats.
Baisu Town lay more than eighty li east of Jianyang City. It was a sizable town, and Moon-Bearing Pavilion, a major sect of Wu Prefecture, had put down roots there.
Martial sects had all manner of names, but there was still something of an art to choosing them.
Sects whose names ended in words like pavilion, workshop, or tower were mostly based inside cities, where their main business was running shops.
Red Flower House did business on the docks and, strictly speaking, should have been called the "Red Flower Gang." But that sounded rather like small fry in the martial world, so when the great boat gangs formed their alliance back then, they settled on Red Flower House. The red flower represented a spear tassel, while the house signified merchants.
Moon-Bearing Pavilion was essentially a group of martial-world merchants too, but its organization was far more centralized than Red Flower House's. All its personnel were in western Wu Prefecture, and its main business was medicinal herbs and furs. It had many disciples, more than three hundred in the town alone. Calling all of Baisu Town Moon-Bearing Pavilion's territory would not have been wrong.
After Prince Wu's trouble, Jianyang City and its surroundings had fallen into chaos. Baisu Town was quite far away, and conditions there remained fairly normal, though there were not many traveling merchants or martial artists on the streets.
After entering town, Ye Jingtang first found a small inn. Only