novelraw Chapter 80: Journey
Chapter 80: Journey
As Meying started to trust this future partner of hers. One day, in one of his messages, the man asked her to leave her clan and run away with him, which she agreed to. Before they escaped, the man asked her to bring the clan's documents from the archives because he wanted to understand her clan, to which she hastily agreed.
The night when the man was going to visit, and she was supposed to escape the clan with him, she was called into the clan's main hall where she saw that the man had been apprehended. She was informed he was demonic and was using her to find all the high-yielding locations of the clan for raids. Enraged, she killed the man.
Even so, the clan did not forgive her; she was given the punishment of disfigurement and was permanently kicked out of the clan.
When Wuyi found her outside a desert town, she was sick, begging, and on the verge of a mental breakdown due to Qi deviation. He had paid a high price to have her healed, and she had been loyal to him ever since.
Similarly, there were eighteen other men who had joined his procession, loyal to him. Most of them were mortals when they began their journey with him. When Wuyi confirmed that they were loyal, he helped them cultivate - now each of them was at Qi Initiate level three or four, except for the scar-faced woman who was already an Adept.
Wuyi provided them with food and helped in their cultivation. In return, he received their unwavering loyalty. Right now, only 15 were with him during this journey. Wuyi had sent Tumu with five warriors on a special mission in a separate direction from where they were traveling.
Yun Ming was still with him too. Wuyi had thought of getting rid of Yun Ming when he recovered. But he later realized that since Yun Ming was from a subordinate clan, not a direct descendant but a servant warrior of the clan, not many tried to track him except Yun Ming's closes family members, who did not have luxurious trackers such as blood jades, diviners, or clan treasures.
Wuyi still had to use a large amount of energy from the Statue of Shadow to make Yun Ming untraceable. He had to do this once every few weeks. Yun Ming would visit Wuyi, and Wuyi would infuse the energy of the Statue of Shadow around Yun Ming so that no bloodline jade or Diviners could trace him either.
At present, no one looked for Yun Ming; just like other members who disappeared, the Yuanjing clan considered Yun Ming dead as they could find no traces of him at all.
During their travel across the vast desert, many mortals and merchants also joined their procession, seeing so many warriors. They came to request to join so they would be safe from desert bandits and tribes. Wuyi allowed them, for some payment, of course.
There were some bandit attacks too, but most of the bandits were mortals; only a few were Qi warriors. But still, their cultivation was below Qi Initiate level five - Meiying and Yun Ming took care of them easily.
After a year of nonstop, constant journeying, leaving behind the harsh, unforgiving desert, Their procession finally ventured into the realm of provincial governance, away from the desert tribes. They had reached the edge where farmlands, towns, and cities not afflicted by the desert began.
The first stop was Kaliyuan, a trading outpost between the desert clans and the central clans of the west and north. Wuyi and his procession spent days here resting and gathering supplies.
The main goal was something else. Wuyi understood that if you wanted respect in this world, you needed a noble title. Now, since he had given up the Yuanjing clan, he was no longer a noble.
He had money and a certain amount of power, but without any noble title, he would not receive the treatment he wanted to receive. For example, every major city they passed through, their carriages were checked, and they had to pay hefty amounts. If his carriages contained a noble crest, none of the provinces in the present empire would have doubted his procession.
Because of this lengthy process, there were times when assassins from Yuanjing were able to track him. To get rid of Yuanjing and to disappear, he wanted a new identity.
He dispatched Meiying and Yun Ming to discreetly gather intelligence on all the noble clans in nearby Huanghou. Posing as wealthy traders, they spent a month meeting with merchants across Kaliyuan. They eventually learned of a few ancient clans in Huanghou willing to sell noble titles for the right price.
Wuyi was surprised it took them so long, given Chao's prior knowledge there were supposed to be many declining noble clans here who would want to sell their title. Once they figured out which clans were ready to sell the titles, they faced another challenge: they realized these clans only met buyers and accepted introductions through trusted contacts.
Yun Ming and Meiying spent a few days trying to find the right contact who could get them introductions with one of these clans. Finally, they found one.
Zhu Dexin, a top merchant in Kaliyuan, agreed for 4,000 gold taels to introduce Wuyi to the clans and facilitate the transaction. Zhu was very shocked when he learned a young sickly pale kid sought to buy a title, not the two warriors who approached. Wuyi was only 12, nearing 13, but looked older; he was still very weak and sickly.
Merchant Zhu assumed Wuyi was some wealthy merchant's son suffering from some kind of sickness and that for proper treatment, he needed a noble title.
After finding the right contact, Wuyi and his group did not waste any more time in Kaliyuan; they decided to get on with the purchase of the noble title.
So the very next day, Wuyi's procession departed with Merchant Zhu. The merchant was astonished again, seeing 15 Qi warriors attending this young master. They all called him "young master," which in general, only noble children are called.