e-booksonline Chapter 139 Heading to the Border Town
Chapter 139 Heading to the Border Town
After the five of them finished packing, they stood in the training room and looked at each other.
No one speaks.
The sky outside the window darkened, and the streetlights lit up one by one, their orange light seeping in and casting patterns of light and shadow on the stone surface.
On the morning of the day of departure, it was still dark.
A considerable number of people had already gathered at the school gate. It wasn't a deliberately organized send-off; it was spontaneous. Zhao Tiejun, the burly military man who had fought alongside him in the secret realm, stood at the very front, followed by a dozen or so people—military personnel, independent cultivators, and scions of powerful families. They stood in a row, without banners or flowers.
Zhao Tiejun, dressed in a faded military training uniform, carried a heavily bladed sword on his shoulder. He walked up to Lin Chen, took out a folded parchment from his pocket, and handed it to him. The parchment was badly worn at the edges, with deep creases, and in some places even worn through, revealing the pattern on the reverse side.
"The terrain around Qing Shi Border City is complex, with mountains and forests." His voice was still loud, but a few decibels lower than usual. "This path is one I used when I was a merchant in my younger days. It can bypass the outposts and sentries of the evil thugs and help you sneak into the city. If you can't stay in the city, there's a hunter's village on the outskirts of the border city. The villagers are reliable, and you can stay there. I know people there; just tell them my name."
Lin Chen took the map, unfolded it, glanced at it, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket.
Thank you.
Zhao Tiejun waved his hand and said nothing more. He stepped back and gave Lin Chen and his group of five a standard military salute. The dozen or so people behind him saluted simultaneously, arms raised, palms outstretched, their movements perfectly synchronized.
Lin Chen did not return the greeting. He was not a soldier. He simply nodded to them.
After bidding farewell to their classmates, the five boarded the academy's special spirit steed carriage, reserved for long journeys, and drove out of the city gates of Xingwu University. The spirit steed was a tamed low-level demonic beast, resembling a fine horse with strong hooves, dark brown fur, and hooves fueled by spiritual energy; traveling a thousand miles a day was no problem for it. The coachman was a taciturn old man who hadn't uttered a word since boarding, only asking about their destination before cracking his whip, and the spirit steed began to gallop off.
Once outside the city gates, the road widened and the crowds thinned. The skyscrapers of Xingwu City were gradually replaced by rolling hills, which in turn were replaced by undulating mountain ranges. The bustling city life and noisy crowds receded into the distance, replaced by the rustling of the wind through the weeds and the clatter of steeds' hooves on the gravel road.
The closer they got to the border, the more pronounced the foul, pungent odor in the air became. It was a difficult smell to describe—not stench, but a cloying, putrid odor, like something slowly rotting. Inhaling it made their throats tighten and their stomachs churn. Su Ling'er took a small porcelain bottle from her medicine box, poured out five Heart-Clearing Pills, and placed one under each person's tongue. The bitter taste of the pills overpowered the foul odor, and the frowns on their brows eased.
A three-day journey.
They traveled during the day and rested at roadside inns at night. The inns were very basic, with mud walls and thatched roofs, drafty from all sides, and thin layers of straw on the beds. Five people squeezed into one room. Su Ling'er and Chu Fan slept on the floor, Leng Feng sat by the door all night, and Lin Chen and Su Muyue each occupied a bed.
No one slept soundly.
On the evening of the third day, the Spirit Steed carriage stopped in a mountain hollow on the outskirts of Qing Shi Border Town. The driver said that the border was just ahead, and the Spirit Steed carriage could not cross there; they would have to walk the rest of the way on their own.
The five people got off the bus, carrying their bags, and stood at the exit of the mountain pass, looking towards the distant border town.
The sun was setting, its last rays casting a dark red glow on the stone walls of the border town. The walls weren't high, only about three or four zhang (approximately 10-12 meters), constructed of bluestone, the cracks overgrown with withered grass and moss. A dozen or so martial arts soldiers stood at the gate, their armor worn and their expressions weary. Some dozed off, leaning on their spears, others slumped against the gate wall, lost in thought. The people entering the town were few and far between; no one queued, no one checked them, and the soldiers didn't even bother to glance at them.
The people all looked unwell. Some had sallow complexions, some had sunken eyes, and some walked with a slight forward lean, as if they might collapse at any moment. Several people had unfocused eyes, vacant stares, drool at the corners of their mouths, and walked with stiff, strange gait—clearly, their minds had been corrupted by a low-level soul-controlling Gu, leaving them mentally unstable and like walking corpses. The pharmacies along the street were closed, with white "Closed" signs pasted on their doors; most shops were also shut down, their roller shutters pulled down, covered with crooked words written in charcoal—some cursing, some begging for medicine, and some simply drawing a large "death" character.