The Journey

Hearing this,

Fang Hu no longer had any doubts. To persist for so long and perform like this—

Every bit of it proved that Fang Yue had truly crossed the threshold.

Four days—oh, no, three days. He had entered the path in just three days.

Top-tier aptitude!

I was just about to take on a disciple, so how did I end up taking in a little genius?

Fang Hu still found it hard to believe. His hand unconsciously pinched at his chin, but unfortunately, his beard had been trimmed too short to grasp. Otherwise, he would have pulled out several hairs.

"Huff, huff... Uncle Fang Hu, what are you and Er Gou doing?"

While he was still dazed, Fang Yue's clear voice rang out.

Fang Hu abruptly came back to himself. At that moment, he was still pinning Fang Ergou down, while Fang Ergou was pinning down Wildcat.

The father and son looked as though they were merely fooling around.

Ahem, ahem.

Fang Hu hurriedly coughed to cover his embarrassment, then casually scooped Er Gou up and pressed him onto the stone table beside them.

"Er Gou wasn't obedient today. His skin's itching for a beating. He didn't practice properly, so he needs a good lesson."

As he spoke, he fiercely smacked Fang Ergou's backside several times.

Fang Ergou's mind was completely muddled at the moment. He had no idea what had happened today or why he had been beaten out of nowhere.

All he could do was cry out, "Ow! Ow!"

After several slaps, Fang Hu found the feel rather satisfying and gave him a few more.

Only then did he point at the teapot beside them and say to Fang Yue with a smile,

"Fang Yue, you must be thirsty. Drink this pot of tea."

"Thank you, Uncle Fang Hu."

Fang Yue picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup. It was slightly bitter, but he drained it in one gulp.

After finishing the tea, Fang Yue set down his cup and was about to wash up when Fang Hu's voice sounded.

"Wait. Drink the rest too."

Fang Yue's eyes immediately filled with confusion.

Normally, he drank one cup of tea after training.

Why did he have to drink an extra cup today?

Wasn't the other cup for Fang Ergou?

He looked at Fang Hu, puzzled.

"If I tell you to drink, then drink. All this tea was brewed for you today. Er Gou already drank his earlier." Fang Hu looked at Fang Yue with a chuckle.

"Huh? Dad, when did I drink any? Why don't I know about that?"

Fang Ergou scratched his head. When had he drunk medicinal tea? Had he drunk some in the house just now?

Probably not!

"I said you drank it, so you drank it. Why are you arguing back?" Fang Hu snorted coldly and glared at him.

Fang Ergou immediately drooped his head, looking like a quail. "Oh, oh. Then I guess I drank it. Drank it."

Then Fang Hu turned back and smiled at Fang Yue, ignoring Fang Ergou's resentful gaze after having his medicinal tea taken away.

"Hurry and drink it. Otherwise, the effects won't be as good."

Fang Yue naturally knew that Fang Ergou definitely had not drunk any. The medicinal tea that should have gone to Fang Ergou today had been given to him.

Over the past few days, he had also learned that this was medicinal tea—and certainly no ordinary medicinal tea.

Though he could not taste any herbal flavor, the tea's effects were powerful.

After every training session, his muscles and bones would be utterly exhausted, as though he had followed his father and elder brother into the fields to rush through the harvest and done heavy labor for days on end.

In that state, if he lay down to rest, he would not be able to get up without sleeping for three days and three nights.

But after drinking the tea, that sensation would slowly fade away.

That was precisely why he could fully recover by the next day and continue training.

That alone was enough to show that this tea was extraordinary.

Usually, he got one cup and Er Gou got one cup, but today both cups had gone to him.

Though he found it somewhat strange and did not know why Fang Hu was doing this,

he knew that Uncle Fang Hu would never harm him.

So he poured himself another cup and drained it in one gulp.

After the two cups of tea went down, a strange sensation arose before long.

The discomfort in his exhausted, aching body began to slowly dissolve.

"Mm, not bad. Train hard these next few days. In a few days, come with me to Xiahe County Town."

Fang Hu patted Fang Yue on the shoulder and encouraged him.

"Mm, all right, Uncle Fang Hu."

Ten days later, early in the morning.

Today, Fang Yue only studied new characters. Because his learning ability was outstanding, the twenty new characters he learned each day had now increased to thirty.

By now, Fang Yue had mastered nearly six hundred characters.

He could speak them, write them, and understand their basic meanings.

However, compared to the three thousand basic characters, Fang Yue was still half-illiterate.

The road to literacy was long and arduous; he still needed to keep working hard.

"Fang Yue, this is your first time traveling far from home. There are some things I need to tell you about the road."

On the road leading out of Big Willow Tree Village, Fang Hu led Fang Yue and Fang Ergou as they drove a donkey cart loaded with dozens of pelts, some animal bones, and some processed herbs.

There was quite a lot of cargo, filling more than half the cart.

There were also rations—flatbreads—and several gourds of drinking water.

The journey was over two hundred li. Since they were bringing cargo, it would take three or four days.

For the next few nights, they would mostly have to sleep out in the wilderness.

The journey was somewhat long, and in these times, there was no shortage of common folk who could no longer make a living and took to the hills as bandits.

When traveling abroad, one always had to be cautious.

Fang Hu was highly experienced, and he explained everything in an orderly fashion.

For instance, never eat food given by others; never drink water once it had left your sight.

Keep important valuables on your person. If they encountered a lone elderly person, child, or woman traveling the road, they had to be especially alert and avoid making contact casually whenever possible.

There was much more of the same.

Along the way, whenever they saw wild fruit that could be eaten, poisonous plants, or venomous insects, he taught Fang Yue on the spot how to avoid or deal with them.

"And if you encounter a Taoist wearing Taoist robes, stay far, far away from him."

Fang Hu emphasized this final warning.

"Mm, I understand, Uncle Fang Hu." Fang Yue nodded.

Everything Fang Hu taught was practical, especially for someone leaving home for the first time.

This era was not the world he had once known. The wilderness here was true wilderness.

Even on the official road leading to Xiahe County Town, they could often encounter fierce beasts.

Wild boars coming down from the mountains, tigers and leopards roaming freely—both were possible.

Besides, compared to wild beasts, people were even more dangerous.

These days, if something happened outside and one or two people disappeared, it hardly counted for anything. All one could do was accept their bad luck; it would become an unsolved case with no leads.

Even though Fang Yue had never left home, he had heard Fang Mu speak of such things.

Whenever villagers wanted to go to the County Town to buy something, they usually traveled in groups of twenty or thirty.

Even so, incidents had happened before.

He had heard that only around Shanyang Prefecture City, within a radius of two or three hundred li, were there truly no bandits, and everyone could live and work in peace.

"We'll spend the night here."

Seeing that dusk was approaching, Fang Hu pointed to an open patch of ground ahead.

This place was close to the Xiahe River, so fetching water and washing up would not be difficult.