He leaned back casually, looking quite at ease.
Lian Li emerged from the carriage and sat side-by-side with him.
Yun Huizhou glanced at him and said, “Once we leave the city, go back inside and sit.”
Lian Li looked at him.
He explained, “The roads outside aren’t as smooth as those in the city. You’ll know why when you’re bounced right off.”
“Alright,” Lian Li replied, though he didn’t actually plan to head inside the moment they passed the city gates.
After they left the city, Yun Huizhou saw that he hadn’t gone in, but he didn’t press him.
He simply drove the horse forward. The horse was quite obedient; once the direction was set, it walked ahead on its own without needing Yun Huizhou’s constant attention.
It would even navigate around large obstacles and deep pits by itself.
Even on the official roads, the path outside the city was much bumpier than within.
After lingering outside for a while, Lian Li sheepishly retreated back into the carriage.
The carriage was much slower than traveling on horseback, so they had stocked up on many supplies inside to prepare for nights when they couldn’t reach a town in time.
***
Yun Huizhou walked over to the campfire carrying a dressed rabbit.
Indeed, on this particular day, they hadn’t managed to reach a town before nightfall.
They had originally planned to gnaw on the dry rations from the carriage to stave off hunger, but Yun Huizhou’s sharp eyes had spotted a rabbit. He had grabbed Lian Li and said, “Don’t make a sound. We’re going to catch a rabbit.”
Lian Li had immediately shut his mouth, even softening his breathing.
During these past few days of travel, Yun Huizhou basically never left his side. Even when catching wild game, he would bring Lian Li along, so Lian Li had gained some experience.
Rabbits and wild pheasants were the small prey they caught most frequently.
In truth, selling them in a town could fetch a decent price, but since neither of them lacked money now, they simply used them to treat themselves to a good meal.
Occasionally, they would bring the catch into a city and have a restaurant prepare it for them.
After returning with the rabbit, Yun Huizhou handled the butchering while Lian Li was responsible for gathering firewood, starting the fire, and preparing the seasonings.
The two had a clear division of labor, and the small wild rabbit was soon finished.
After drinking some water to cleanse the palate, Yun Huizhou spoke. “The next town we’ll stay at is Yinbai Town. We’ll rest there for a few days.”
Lian Li thought Yun Huizhou was deciding to rest for the sake of his health, so he said, “I’m fine. I’ve been in the carriage the whole time and haven’t exerted any energy. I don’t need to rest.”
Yun Huizhou said, “Resting is only one part of it. I have some business to attend to there.”
Lian Li asked casually, “Business? What business?”
Yun Huizhou stared into his eyes and said, “Finding Feng Man.”
“Feng Man?” Lian Li was stunned for a moment before immediately remembering who that was.
He was the one the Five Seas Sect disciple had mentioned—the person who instigated him to find Ma Tie to kidnap Lian Li.
If that disciple was telling the truth, then this Feng Man harbored a great deal of malice toward him.
Yet the grievance between them was merely a brief spat at the Alliance Leader’s banquet.
And Feng Man had been the one to start it.
It had always been the custom for the Champion of the martial arts assembly to sit at the main table with their companions. Even if Feng Man was ignorant of this, couldn’t he have asked someone nearby first?
Besides, with that man’s experienced appearance, it didn’t seem like he was truly unaware.
He had deliberately used Lian Li as an excuse to pick a fight with Yun Huizhou, only to be shut down by Lian Li.
The logic of the situation was never on his side; if he lost face, he had brought it upon himself.
To think he would seek revenge afterward, and with such methods.
Did he not know what kind of person Ma Tie was?
In this whole affair, if that Five Seas Sect disciple was mostly stupid and Ma Tie was purely evil, then this Feng Man was truly malicious.
It was impossible for him not to know that Ma Tie only loved women. He must have known what Ma Tie would do after kidnapping Lian Li and discovering he was a man.
To think of the worst-case scenario, if Ma Tie hadn’t been greedy for the money from selling Lian Li, it was entirely possible he would have just killed him.
Although everything ended without actual harm, Lian Li still felt a wave of lingering fear whenever he thought back to that day.
Four able-bodied adult men, one of whom possessed martial arts—even if those skills weren’t particularly impressive, they were still many times stronger than Lian Li.
Since Yun Huizhou had promised to take Lian Li back to Drunken Dream Island and teach him martial arts, in his heart, Lian Li was already his Junior Brother—one of his own.
To be so calculated against and humiliated, this grudge had to be settled.
Knowing that Yun Huizhou had a plan and was seeking revenge for him, Lian Li didn’t say much more.
After the two finished eating and digested for a while, they both entered the carriage.
The next morning, they entered Yinbai Town.
Yun Huizhou, wearing a bamboo hat, drove the carriage to the best inn in town. Lian Li also wore a bamboo hat and kept his head down as he stepped off the carriage.
Yun Huizhou was generous with his money, so the waiter quickly arranged their rooms and ordered a table of fine dishes from a nearby restaurant.
“How do you plan to find Feng Man?” Lian Li asked him.
The main issue was that Yun Huizhou was looking after him, making it difficult to act alone.
Yun Huizhou simply said, “We just wait here.”
Lian Li didn’t know why he was so certain, so he could only wait with some skepticism.
This wait lasted for four days.
That night, Yun Huizhou stopped Lian Li as he was preparing to go to bed. “I’m going to find Feng Man. Do you want to come with me?”
He paused, then continued, “Since he did this, it’s impossible for me not to retaliate. But this man is narrow-minded and malicious. Since I’m going to find him, I don’t intend to leave him alive.”
Feng Man already disliked him; if the man had targeted him directly, Yun Huizhou wouldn’t have cared as much.
But this man had chosen such a vicious method to target Lian Li, a person with no martial arts skills whatsoever.
If he left him alive this time and only gave him a lesson, there was no telling what cruel tricks he might use against Lian Li next time.
Lian Li stood still. Just as Yun Huizhou thought Lian Li wasn’t going and prepared to leave on his own, Lian Li spoke.
“If you take me along, will it be a burden?”
“No,” Yun Huizhou said. “I told you, even if I’m holding you with one arm, I can still win against many people.”
Lian Li: “Alright, I’ll go. I want to stab him once, too.”
He sat on a stool and lifted his foot, saying, “That day, I didn’t even have shoes on. It hurt like hell. Later, when the scabs formed, it was so itchy, and since it was on the soles of my feet, it was pure torture.”
Yun Huizhou walked over and gave him a gentle pat, signaling him to put his foot down. “Let’s go. Just like when I take you to catch rabbits—don’t make a sound.”
“Okay.”
The two left the inn and headed into the street.
It was already very late. There were few lights on the street, and no people.
Lian Li stood to Yun Huizhou’s left. Yun Huizhou reached out to wrap an arm around his waist, and Lian Li instinctively clung to Yun Huizhou’s shoulder.
Then, like two leaves tangled together being swept up by the wind, the two took to the sky.
The Lightness Skill of this world was truly unscientific; the hang time was far too long.
Furthermore, one could exert force out of thin air. This meant Yun Huizhou didn’t even need to land on a roof or a tree branch to gain leverage before taking flight again.
