The three-day wait passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those three days, Jiang Fa spent almost every moment in the training yard apart from eating and sleeping.
The ghost-head saber had felt awkward at first, but now he wielded it as naturally as an extension of his arm.
The cold iron patterns on its blade had been polished to an ever darker gleam, and he had not neglected the third level of the Mountain-Breaking Stance.
Every morning and evening, he practiced the mnemonic Zhao Zhong had taught him three times. His use of Penetrating Jin had improved further since three days ago.
Though he was still far from the realm of "transmitting force through objects," at least his force no longer scattered without a trace the instant it passed out of his palm.
At the hour of the Rabbit on the third day, before dawn had fully broken, Jiang Fa strapped the ghost-head saber to his back and left the martial hall.
Outside the southern city gate, the sky was barely light. The poplars lining the official road were bare, a few icicles hanging from their branches and swaying gently in the morning wind.
A caravan was already packed and ready to leave.
Five mule carts stood in a line, their beds piled with crates tightly wrapped in oilcloth.
Two or three escort hands stood beside each cart, all dressed in short gray cloth jackets with sabers at their waists, chatting in little groups.
At the head of the procession, a burly middle-aged man was checking the mules' reins.
He wore a fitted black martial outfit and a palm-wide cowhide belt, with a nine-ring broadsword hanging on his back. The iron rings along its spine gleamed coldly in the morning light.
This was Xing Lieshan, one of the escort captains of the Weiyuan Escort Agency.
Xing Lieshan was well known in Qingshan County's escort trade. Supposedly, he had served in the army in his younger years, then returned home after his discharge, where the Weiyuan Escort Agency's chief had paid handsomely to recruit him as an escort.
He had traveled north and south for over a decade, working his way up from escort hand to escort captain. If he had not led a thousand escort convoys, he had led eight hundred, large and small, without a single major mishap, earning him the title "Iron Backer" in the trade.
He was blunt, loud, and hot-tempered, but fiercely protective of his men, and the escort hands all respected him.
"Look sharp, all of you!"
Xing Lieshan roared at the top of his lungs, "Master Lin personally entrusted us with this shipment! If anything goes wrong on the road, I'll skin you bastards!"
The escort hands answered in a ragged chorus, some still yawning.
Jiang Fa approached the rear of the convoy. From afar, he spotted Xu Feng's rotund figure leaning against a mule cart, half a sesame flatbread in his mouth and grease all over his lips.
Zhao Chuan stood beside him in a brand-new gray martial outfit, a willow-leaf saber at his waist, looking down as he adjusted his trouser legs.
"Jiang Fa!"
Sharp-eyed Xu Feng spotted him from a distance and waved the flatbread in his hand vigorously.
"Over here, over here!"
When Jiang Fa walked over, Xu Feng immediately pulled an oilpaper parcel from inside his robe and thrust it into his hands.
"Saved this for you. Sesame flatbread, still warm."
Jiang Fa took the flatbread and bit into it. The fragrance of sesame mingled with the chewiness of wheat dough in his mouth. It did still hold some warmth.
"Where's Senior Brother Lin?"
He asked as he chewed.
"Senior Brother Lin went to Lin County yesterday."
Zhao Chuan straightened and brushed the dirt from his hands. "Something urgent came up at the trading house, so he left overnight. Since this is your first time escorting a caravan, before leaving he specifically told Zhao Chuan and me to look after you."
"Oh?" Jiang Fa frowned slightly.
Xu Feng swallowed the last bite of flatbread and wiped the grease from his mouth with his sleeve. "Can't be helped. Senior Brother Lin has a large household and business, and he's always tangled up in little affairs. Otherwise, with his aptitude, he'd probably have broken through to late dark force long ago."
As the two were talking,
Xing Lieshan strode over.
He looked Jiang Fa up and down, his gaze pausing briefly on the ghost-head saber on his back.
"You're the Junior Brother Jiang Young Master Lin mentioned?"
"That's right." Jiang Fa hurriedly cupped his fist in salute.
"Good!"
Xing Lieshan clapped Jiang Fa hard on the shoulder and declared heartily, "Young Master Lin told me about you. Said you're no ordinary fighter, and you reached An Jin in a year despite having inferior root bones. I've been in the escort trade for over a decade, and this is the first time I've heard of something so rare."
The slaps left Jiang Fa's shoulder slightly numb. He gave a dry laugh. "You flatter me, Captain Xing."
"It's not flattery. It's the truth."
Xing Lieshan's smile faded as he turned to business.
His expression grew more solemn, and he said gravely, "This shipment is top-grade silk and porcelain, worth a considerable sum. The road probably won't be peaceful. Since Young Master Lin picked you personally, I trust you. But let me lay down the unpleasant words first: escorting isn't fighting alone. It's about cooperation and rules. This is your first escort job, so listen, watch, and ask questions on the road. If anything happens, discuss it with me first. Don't try to show off on your own. Understood?"
"Understood." Jiang Fa nodded.
"Good."
Then he called toward the front of the convoy, "Little Liu! Come meet someone!"
A young woman rode over at his call.
She was about eighteen or nineteen, riding a tall chestnut horse. She wore a close-fitting dark green martial outfit, with a flexible silver-thread armor belt around her waist and a pair of mandarin-duck short blades slanted across her back.
Her features were distinctly heroic, with swordlike brows sweeping toward her temples, bright, keen almond eyes, a high nose, and tightly pressed lips. She carried a cold pride that kept others a thousand miles away.
Xing Lieshan introduced her with a smile. "This is Miss Liu Ying of the Flying Swallow Martial Hall. She's held a post at our Weiyuan Escort Agency for years. An An Jin martial artist. She'll be joining us on this escort job."
He turned to Liu Ying. "This is Jiang Fa, an Attendant of the Lin Lineage, Young Master Lin's junior brother, and a disciple of the Zhao Clan Martial Hall. This is his first escort job. I hope you'll look after him, Miss Liu."
Liu Ying's gaze lingered on Jiang Fa's face for a moment. Her expression remained cold as she nodded without expression, then turned her horse and returned to the front of the procession.
Xing Lieshan said helplessly, "Don't mind her, Brother Jiang. That's just how the girl is. She treats everyone that way. Don't take it to heart."
Jiang Fa waved a hand. "It's fine."
Seeing this, Xing Lieshan clapped his hands and turned toward the head of the convoy, roaring as he walked, "Get on your damn horses! Move out!"
The mule carts slowly rolled onto the official road leading to Lin County.
The journey from Qingshan County to Lin County took roughly two days along the official road.
Along the way, they had to pass through two woods, cross a stone bridge, and travel a stretch of desolate mountain road over ten li long.
Xing Lieshan clearly knew this route extremely well. He adjusted their formation from time to time, stationing experienced veteran escorts at the front and rear and placing Jiang Fa, the novice, in the middle.
The first four hours after leaving the city were fairly peaceful.
Vast fields of winter wheat stretched along both sides of the official road, their seedlings gleaming gray-green in the morning frost.
Occasionally, farmers carrying shoulder poles passed on their way to the early market. At the sight of the escort convoy's banner, they moved well off to the roadside, lowering their heads and not daring to look too closely.
Xu Feng rode a short-legged mule, his backside jolted sore. All along the road, he complained that the mule was too thin and the saddle too hard.
Zhao Chuan, on the other hand, was full of spirit. He kept urging his horse to the front of the procession to look around, only settling down after Xing Lieshan bellowed at him twice.
Liu Ying rode alongside the procession, always maintaining a distance neither too close nor too far.
Her horsemanship was excellent. Under her control, the chestnut horse advanced and retreated with ease, while her vigilant gaze swept their surroundings throughout the journey.
Jiang Fa traveled in the middle of the procession with the ghost-head saber across his knees, equally watchful.
He had no experience escorting goods, but he possessed the vigilance he had honed in Black Wind Ridge.
That tension, the sense that a ferocious beast might spring from the bushes at any moment, felt much like this.
Around noon, the convoy passed through a dense grove of locust trees.
The woods were not particularly deep, but interlocking crowns screened most of the sky. As the official road passed among the trees, the light abruptly dimmed, with only a few shafts of sunlight filtering through gaps in the branches and leaves, flickering between light and shadow.
At the very front, Xing Lieshan reined in his horse, his right hand instinctively settling on his saber hilt.
"Stay sharp."
He lowered his voice, his gaze sweeping the woods on either side like a hawk's.
The convoy slowed. Mule hooves rustled through fallen leaves, and cartwheels creaked as they rolled over loose stones.
Several veteran escorts rested their hands on their weapons. Even the usually grinning Xu Feng lost his smile and tightened his grip on the short saber at his waist.
Jiang Fa swung down from his horse, the ghost-head saber already gripped firmly in his hand.
His gaze swept the woods, then abruptly stopped on a clump of bushes on the slope to the left.
Behind those bushes was a faint glint of metal reflecting the sunlight.
He frowned.
That's not a weapon.
It's an arrowhead.
Jiang Fa barked a warning: "Watch the slope on the left!"