Mountain Valley Outside the City

Li Yan had by this time followed Military Advisor Ji to the gate of the Military Training Grounds. Just as they stepped outside, Military Advisor Ji glanced at the crowd waiting in the distance and stopped at the gate. Li Yan, who had also come out, was about to tell his teacher that he would go over and inform Li Guoxin of the situation before leaving, but before he could speak, Military Advisor Ji turned to him with a smile and said, "Are there any among those waiting who brought you here?"

Li Yan quickly replied, "Teacher is perceptive. It was an elder of mine who brought your disciple here to enlist."

"Oh, then go and tell him. Then leave with me," Military Advisor Ji said.

"Yes, thank you, Teacher, for your kindness." Li Yan was overjoyed to hear this. He bowed to Military Advisor Ji and strode towards the crowd.

The soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the Military Training Grounds heard their conversation and already knew that this young man had become a disciple of Military Advisor Ji. They knew how difficult it was for Military Advisor Ji to choose a disciple, and they were all envious of Li Yan. One of them, a small headman, stepped forward, saluted Military Advisor Ji with cupped hands, and said, "Congratulations, Military Advisor Ji, you have finally achieved your wish." Military Advisor Ji nodded with a smile, then continued to stand there with his hands behind his back.

After congratulating him, the small headman consciously retreated to his post, thinking to himself that he must find an opportunity to get close to Military Advisor Ji's newly accepted disciple. With a teacher like Military Advisor Ji, he could foresee that this young man would definitely grow into an extremely powerful figure in the future. If he could build a good relationship, it would be a backer in the army. But at the same time, he shook his head slightly, thinking that there must be many people with the same idea as him.

Regardless of what the small headman was thinking, Li Yan had by this time quickly arrived at the waiting area. He knew that he shouldn't keep his teacher waiting for too long, so he had to make it short. He pulled Li Guoxin, who was eagerly approaching, to the side of the crowd and whispered to him. At first, Li Guoxin was quite calm, but as he listened, his mouth slowly widened, and he made "heh, heh" sounds in his throat, unable to speak.

By the time Li Yan finished speaking, he was standing there dumbfounded. Li Yan had to call out to him a few more times. Seeing that he was still responding with a blank "oh, oh," he knew that he was in the same state as he had been earlier, and couldn't help but feel ashamed.

Seeing that Uncle Guoxin wouldn't be able to react for a while, he had no choice but to salute him, turn around, and quickly walk towards the carriage to retrieve his package. He turned back and walked towards the gate of the Military Training Grounds.

Li Yan came to his teacher and bowed, saying, "Disciple has finished explaining to my cousin in the clan."

Military Advisor Ji smiled upon hearing this. "That's good. Then come with me back to the residence." After a slight pause, he continued, "But I usually don't like being surrounded by attendants, so it will just be the two of us going back together."

Li Yan felt a little strange upon hearing this. He had heard from the adults in the village about the kind of pomp and prestige that officials had when they went out, and that some strict ones even had the streets cleared of people. However, he didn't think too much about it, after all, he had never seen officials traveling with attendants.

After the two finished speaking, Military Advisor Ji waved his sleeves and turned to walk along the wall of the Military Training Grounds in one direction. His sleeves fluttered by his side, and his feet moved forward as smoothly as flowing water.

Li Yan looked at his teacher's back

</di>

shadow, and was now truly dumbfounded. Walking? Just walking on foot? Not only were there no attendants or guards, but there wasn't even a carriage or horse? Li Yan smiled wryly, thinking that this was different from what he had heard in the village, especially what Old Scholar had said about officials traveling. It wasn't the time to think too much about it. He quickly tightened the package on his shoulder and hurried to catch up.

Soon after the two of them left, the crowd in the waiting area erupted. When Military Advisor Ji was standing at the gate just now, some people had already recognized him. Seeing Li Yan come out with him, and Military Advisor Ji saying something to Li Yan, who then walked towards them and pulled someone to the side of the crowd, this attracted the attention of many people. Some busybodies quietly moved closer. Although Li Yan was only speaking in a low voice to Li Guoxin, it wasn't a private whisper. Those who were a little closer could still hear some of the content if they concentrated. Especially Li Guoxin's surprised and dazed expression. Even those who originally didn't think anything of it would want to know the reason after seeing that expression.

Li Guoxin only regained his senses some time after Li Yan turned and left. He thought to himself, "So that person was Military Advisor Ji. But is what Li Yan said true? What is all this? Li Yan became Military Advisor Ji's disciple and even got some Deputy Commandant of Defense position. Heavens, is this true?"

Li Guoxin wasn't someone who had never seen the world. He had some knowledge of the positions in the military camp. He remembered that this seemed to be a lower eighth rank. This wasn't something that someone who had just enlisted could get. Even a veteran soldier who had fought hundreds of battles would find it difficult to be promoted without a few great merits.

Li Guoxin's heart was in turmoil at this time. For a moment, he didn't know what he should do. Gradually, he suppressed these shocks and his heart began to return to calm. But he still had a question in his mind: why did Military Advisor Ji take a liking to Li Yan? Li Yan grew up in the village since he was a child. It could be said that he watched him grow up. He didn't see anything outstanding about him. Li Yan's biggest characteristic was that he had more calmness and composure than his peers, but this shouldn't be the reason why Military Advisor Ji took a liking to him.

Just as he was thinking to himself, the people who had heard some of the conversation next to him were also surprised and told their guesses to the people next to them. As soon as Military Advisor Ji left, the crowd exploded. Many people felt that this was impossible. How could someone who had just come to enlist hug Military Advisor Ji's thick leg so easily? This was too unbelievable. Even more people directly surrounded Li Guoxin and asked him about it. Li Guoxin's head was as big as a bucket for a moment. He quickly replied a few words, squeezed out of the crowd, and fled to untie the carriage and leave quickly. He also needed to find an inn to stay in and digest this news. He would get up early tomorrow morning and rush back to tell Li Yan's parents, no, to tell everyone in the village about this news. This kid had soared to the sky in one step.

And after those who were left behind confirmed the reliability of the news, many people also began to have ideas. They wondered if they should also find some connections to find out more about this matter. Then, would their family members and relatives also have the opportunity to hug this thick leg? For a time, the people here all had their own thoughts and pondered their own plans.

Li Yan and Military Advisor Ji had by this time arrived at the inner city of North City Gate. Military Advisor Ji's feet were silent. He seemed to be strolling leisurely, but he was walking extremely fast. Fortunately, Li Yan had followed the adults into the mountains to hunt since he was a child, so he could still keep up. Although he wasn't using all his strength, he was already using seventy to eighty percent of his strength to keep up. Looking at his teacher's effortless appearance, he couldn't help but feel more longing for the future life.

Seeing that they had arrived at North City Gate, Li Yan couldn't help but be stunned. Could it be that the Military Advisor's residence was near this city gate? But he immediately knew that he was wrong, because his teacher didn't have the slightest intention of stopping or turning.

When the two of them arrived at the city gate, there were seven or eight soldiers led by a small squad leader who were checking the passing pedestrians. Li Yan looked over and saw that it wasn't Liu Chengyong's group of soldiers. It seemed that they had changed shifts and gone back.

The small squad leader saw Military Advisor Ji coming and quickly saluted with cupped hands. Military Advisor Ji nodded slightly and went straight past the teams being inspected, and Li Yan followed closely behind.

After Military Advisor Ji and the two of them left North Gate, the small squad leader looked at Li Yan's back and muttered to himself, "Strange, this person's face is very unfamiliar, but he's not one of the guards in Lord Ji's residence. I wonder who he is that he can follow Lord Ji like this."

After Li Yan followed Military Advisor Ji out of the city, he was confused. Outside the city, there was only one main road extending north, and both sides of the road were continuous rolling mountains, with an unknown depth. Could it be that his teacher's residence was in a town dozens of miles away? He had heard that there were also garrisons there, but this was too far. It would be extremely difficult to travel back and forth every day without a carriage or horse. Although dozens of miles wasn't difficult for him, he thought that it would be a bit boring to do this often.

On the road, Military Advisor Ji didn't speak, as if he was thinking about something. He just walked forward unhurriedly, and Li Yan could only follow closely behind, thinking wildly as he walked.

About two miles outside the city, Military Advisor Ji suddenly slipped and walked towards the western mountains on the left. Li Yan took a closer look and saw that there was a mountain road extending into the western mountains. This main road was the one they had taken to enter the city today. There were many small roads like this that led into the mountains, so he didn't pay much attention to them. But now they turned into one.

This western mountain range was much deeper than the eastern mountains. The eastern mountains were about several hundred miles deep, and beyond that was the flat Central Plains terrain, where one could gallop on horseback. But from here to the west, no one knew how far it was. The people here only knew that they could enter about four or five hundred miles to the west, and beyond that, there were many unknown demon beasts roaming around. Those who entered would die nine out of ten times. Even the top experts in the martial world wouldn't dare to go too deep.

Marshal Hong had once led his subordinates deep into about four hundred miles, and had already encountered many unknown poisonous insects and beasts. Even though he retreated decisively, most of his subordinates were killed or injured. His own face was swept by the tail of a ferocious beast, leaving a hideous scar. If he had dodged any slower, the beast's tail would have pierced into his brain through his temple, and he would have died on the spot.

Military Advisor Ji led Li Yan up the steps along the path. They walked

</di>

among the towering trees, with dense shrubs under the trees. It was now approaching dusk. The days in early autumn were still longer, but even so, the sun was setting in the west. However, the sky was still bright, but under the layers of dense green leaves on the tall canopy, the light was already a bit dim. From time to time, the calls of tired birds returning to their nests echoed crisply among the tall and empty trees.

After walking upwards for about a mile, climbing the last few stone steps, a very large open space appeared in front of them, about a hundred feet in diameter. This open space was surrounded by layers of towering trees, with only a passage two or three people wide left at the stone steps they had just come up.

It was difficult to find such a large flat area in the mountains. This place should have been artificially leveled. On the field, on both sides of the exit of the stone steps leading down the mountain, there were rows of tall bluestone houses, about four or five in each row, lined up in a row. Although they were simple, they looked clean and tidy. The huge field in the middle was also paved with flat bluestone fragments. In some places, there were sandbags and sand pits, but they were all uniform.

Li Yan stepped onto the flat ground and saw that there were eight soldiers standing in two rows, holding halberds, vigilantly staring at the entrance of the steps. When they saw Military Advisor Ji, they all saluted neatly and then stood upright on both sides, only glancing at Li Yan a few times without asking any questions.

Military Advisor Ji nodded slightly to them and walked straight inside. But after taking a few steps, he stopped again and turned to one of them and said, "Oh, go and call everyone else out. I have something to say."

"Yes," one of the soldiers replied and quickly walked to the middle of the open space, saying loudly, "The lord is back, everyone come out!" After a short while, more than a dozen people came to the center of the field from the bluestone houses on both sides.

After Li Yan stepped onto the platform, he had been following behind his teacher. He had just seen that in addition to the eight soldiers at the entrance of the stone steps, there were also many people going in and out of the bluestone houses on both sides. There were also wisps of smoke rising from the roofs of two of the houses, and a burst of fragrance was coming from afar. But at this time, the light was already a bit dim, and the lights from those rooms were not enough for him to see clearly from a distance.

After these people stood still, Military Advisor Ji also came to the center of the field and turned back to beckon Li Yan. Li Yan walked over. He only realized when he walked in front of these people that in addition to the eight soldiers just now, there were also twelve soldiers wearing the same standard military uniform. And besides them, there were actually three middle-aged women here.

Among these people, the three middle-aged women and the two soldiers standing in the middle of the team were curiously staring at Li Yan, while the rest of the people were standing there expressionlessly.

"This is my newly accepted disciple, Li Yan. He will be living here from now on," Military Advisor Ji said, pointing to Li Yan. Then he said to Li Yan, "This is where I live. Those twenty soldiers were sent by the marshal to be responsible for guarding, and the remaining women are responsible for our food and washing our clothes."

Li Yan looked at them, but he was surprised to find that some of them were looking at him with strange eyes, which made him a little confused.