Hearing Li Yan's declaration, Strategist Ji felt greatly comforted. 'Perhaps after I've recovered, I won't need to venture into that dangerous place again. I hope this child can reach the peak of the first layer of Qi Condensation as soon as possible. Then, after I break through to the fourth layer, I might still have to go and investigate the place marked on the map.'
With this thought, Strategist Ji stood up, preparing to go back and rest in peace. Just as he stood up, he saw Li Yan with a look of hesitation, as if he wanted to say something but was holding back. He smiled and said, "Is there anything else?"
Li Yan mustered up his courage and said, "Teacher, this disciple would like to go into the city."
The smile on Strategist Ji's face, which was still there a moment ago, froze. He then raised his eyebrows and asked, "For what matter?"
Li Yan quickly replied, "Please don't be mistaken, Teacher. This disciple just wants to go into the city to give some silver to a fellow villager in the city, so they can take it to my parents back home. Also... also, this disciple would like to go out for a walk. I have been cultivating in the valley all this time, and recently I feel that my state of mind is unstable, and my progress has been a bit slow. So, I thought that going out for a walk might help my state of mind."
Strategist Ji was silent upon hearing this. In his heart, he wished that Li Yan could spend all twelve hours of the day cultivating. Even then, he would still think the cultivation was too slow. But what Li Yan said now was also well-founded. If he were to refuse, this boy would inevitably feel resentful, and his cultivation would likely be half as effective.
He then smiled at the apprehensive-looking Li Yan. "Mm, that is as it should be. You may go then. However, have Chen An and Li Yin accompany you. The two of them are familiar with the city's affairs, and since you have been cultivating here all this time, you are not familiar with many people and things in the city. With them accompanying you, it will be easier to handle matters."
Li Yan's apprehension was real. He truly did not know what the result of such a request would be. If his teacher were to become suspicious at this time, then his hopes of escaping would be extremely slim. When he heard that he was allowed to go out, his heart leaped with joy. However, Strategist Ji's next words made his heart sink.
When he heard the end, how could he not understand? This was not for his consideration at all. It was clearly arranging for two people to supervise him at all times. It would be extremely difficult for him to escape. He estimated that Chen An and Li Yin would definitely be instructed not to leave his side for a single step. He had originally planned to find an opportunity to hide and escape after wandering around the city for a while, but now this idea seemed so naive.
"Thank you, Teacher!" Li Yan said, a look of joy on his face as he bowed.
"Mm, then you go and pack up. I will go and instruct Chen An and Li Yin. If you have any matters, you can just have the two of them handle it," he said, then turned and went out the door.
Li Yan stood in place for a moment in silence, then also turned to get the silver from the chest. He thought to himself, 'I can only take it one step at a time. If there is a chance, I will definitely take it. But I have to take this silver with me no matter what. If I can escape, I can use it for future expenses. If I can't escape, then I will give it all to Li Shan or Li Yu, to be brought back to my parents by someone from the village.'
When Li Yan arrived at the mouth of the valley, Chen An and Li Yin were already standing there with their hands clasped. And inside the valley entrance, the stone door of Strategist Ji's room was already closed, the black wooden plaque hanging on the handle outside the door. But he knew very well that if he were to try to escape from the valley at this time, the Strategist Ji in the room would definitely appear before him in an instant.
"Young Master, shall we enter the city now?"
Li Yan's thoughts were interrupted. He looked up and saw Chen An looking at him with a fawning smile. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Of these two before him, one was slick, the other was meticulous. How could it be easy to escape from their sight?
"Let's go!" With that, he strode forward towards the square outside the valley entrance.
"Young Master, are we riding horses, or just walking there?" Chen An asked, catching up from behind.
Li Yan stopped and turned his head. "Oh, we can ride horses? Then why does Teacher walk?"
"Of course, it's just the Lord's preference. This two-li journey is not too far anyway," Chen An replied.
"Alright, then let's ride horses," Li Yan said after a moment's thought.
"Yes, Young Master," the two replied with a bow.
As Li Yan stood in the square outside the valley and looked back at the three large characters "Strategist's Manor" outside the valley entrance, he felt as if he had returned to the human world. Although this square was still the same square, the two rows of stone houses were still the same, and the soldiers standing guard or resting, and the few women who could enter the valley every day, were still there, it felt like two different worlds, two different kinds of air. At the same time, he also felt that after leaving the valley, the spiritual qi here was almost zero, and the feeling of being able to breathe fresh air had also disappeared. But he still liked the air here, because it had the scent of freedom.
The soldiers in front of the stone houses looked at Li Yan standing in the center of the clearing. Although this was only the third time Li Yan had met them, they still felt a sense of mystery.
Chen An and Li Yin had already led three fine horses out from the woods behind the stone houses. Each one was strong and healthy, clearly a good horse from the army.
On the winding mountain path, with lush trees on both sides, it was late autumn, and the view was a mixture of dark green and golden yellow. The sunlight sprinkled down from the crowns of the massive, towering trees, shining on the three slowly moving riders. The sound of horse hooves echoed through the mountain forest.
Although it had only been two months in the valley, his mindset had changed a lot. He had long since regarded the world outside the valley as a vast blue sky. As for whether he could soar freely like a bird from now on, he was at a loss.
In a short while, they had passed through the forest path and turned right onto the main road.
The three of them spurred their horses towards the north gate of Green Mountain Pass. During this time, Li Yan had deliberately tried to pull away from Chen An and Li Yin's horses several times, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But with his shoddy riding skills learned in the village, he could never shake them off. These two were clearly veteran soldiers from the army.
Although Li Yan was now at the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage, he had not learned any immortal arts, and even his martial arts were just a few crude village moves. Although he felt that he might be able to kill these two by using spiritual power to drive his crude martial arts, firstly, it was broad daylight. To fight with two soldiers of the dynasty in military uniform here would only attract more soldiers. There would be no other possibility. Secondly, he only imagined that spiritual power might greatly increase the power of those few village moves. He had never tried to practice them in the valley. If he let Strategist Ji know that he was practicing some mortal martial arts for no reason, he would inevitably become wary of him. Thirdly, these two were clearly battle-hardened soldiers. He had no confidence in facing such people, let alone facing two of them at the same time. The chances of winning were really not very high.
After a few secret observations, Li Yan could only helplessly give up the idea of escaping outside the city.
The journey of about two li was covered in a flash on horseback. They passed some pedestrians and merchant caravans who were also heading towards the city gate. And so, soon they saw the north city gate in the distance. At this time, two rows of soldiers were inspecting some merchants and pedestrians entering and leaving Green Mountain Pass.
Although their three fine horses were not galloping, they were still quite fast and rather conspicuous. The city guards had already gathered their weapons and were watching.
It wasn't that Li Yan was deliberately doing this. He was sandwiched between Chen An and Li Yin, and their speed had forced him to speed up a lot. According to his personality, the lower the profile, the more it suited him. He began to pull on the reins to slow down. Even so, he still galloped to the front of the city gate.
"Who goes there? To gallop so fast, are you not afraid of violating military law?" Among the city guards, one had already drawn his saber with a clang and leaped to the front of the crowd. The soldiers behind him instantly planted their spears, and the tips of several long spears glinted coldly, pointing straight at the necks and bellies of the three horses.
Li Yan only felt a dazzling cold light before his eyes. If his horse were to gallop forward another two steps, then a long spear could pierce through its neck and skewer him like a candied hawthorn. At this moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and forcefully pulled on Li Yan's horse's reins. The three warhorses' front hooves reared up, and with a few neighs, the three horses retreated a few steps and stood still.
"I say, Old Liu, you've got too much fire in your heart, haha," Chen An laughed as he jumped off his horse. Only then did Li Yan see clearly that Li Yin was holding his horse's reins with one hand and his own horse's reins with the other, stopping both horses at the same time.
"Oh, I was wondering who it was. It turns out to be 'Manager Chen' who got promoted to the Strategist's Manor. Are you trying to barge through the city gate?" the man who had leaped out earlier said sinisterly.
"Old Liu, I've been demoted from a squad captain to a manor guard. What are you still nagging about? I'm accompanying Lord Li into the city on some business. Lord Li accidentally lost control of his horse's speed. Please forgive us, please forgive us! Hehe."
"Lord Li? Which Lord Li? Huh..."
Li Yan had already gotten off his horse by this time, feeling ashamed in his heart. His riding skills were truly terrible. He had almost barged through the gate. He dropped the reins and looked up at the military officer standing in the middle of the road, about to apologize. But when he saw the man's face, he was also stunned.
The officer on duty was Liu Chengyong, whom he had seen when he first entered the city. Liu Chengyong also seemed to recognize him but was not sure, as they had only met once.
"Here, this is Lord Li's waist token," Chen An said, holding the reins with one hand and taking out a waist token from his person with the other, tossing it over.
Liu Chengyong reached out and caught the waist token. He looked down and saw that it was a Deputy Defender's waist token. This was several ranks higher than his own Subordinate Ninth Rank, Upper. He was shocked and quickly looked up again at the apologetic-looking Li Yan.
Seeing Liu Chengyong looking at him, Li Yan quickly cupped his fists in a salute. "Greetings, Captain Liu. I was just not skilled in riding just now and have disturbed everyone. I apologize."
"You are? You're that boy from Li Family Village in the Great Green Mountains?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Liu Chengyong knew he had misspoken and caused trouble. He quickly clasped his hands in a salute. "This subordinate was reckless. This subordinate knows his crime. Please punish me, my Lord."
This stunned Li Yan for a moment. He then hesitantly looked at Chen An and Li Yin beside him. Li Yin was holding a horse's reins in each hand, his expression serious and still silent. Chen An glanced at the bowing Liu Chengyong, who was waiting for his punishment, with a look of surprise, and then stepped forward and bowed. "Young Master, please forgive Captain Liu's slip of the tongue. Have you two met before?"
"Yes, the first time I came to Green Mountain Pass to enlist, it was Captain Liu who inspected and let me pass. But why is Captain Liu doing this?"
Chen An was worldly-wise. After a moment's thought, he understood Li Yan's confusion. He came to Li Yan's side and said in a low voice, "Young Master, you are now a Deputy Defender, which is Captain Liu's superior. The waist token he was shown just now is yours. It's just that since it was issued, you have rarely gone out, so it has been kept at Lord Ji's place. Lord Ji only gave it to me this subordinate when we were leaving today, for convenience in handling matters in the city. And Captain Liu just had a slip of the tongue, so..." Chen An looked at Li Yan with some difficulty. He had been tormented by this young master's temper recently. Who knew if he would suddenly erupt today? He couldn't help but worry a little for Liu Chengyong.
The twenty soldiers on duty at the Strategist's Manor were also selected from various battalions in the army. He had also been in the second squad of the Third War Battalion before and was an old acquaintance of this Liu Chengyong. They had cooperated on the battlefield many times and had even rolled through life and death together. It was just that now Liu Chengyong was loyal to Marshal Hong, while he was more inclined towards Strategist Ji.
After hearing this, Li Yan's face showed a look of sudden realization. Although he knew he had a position in the army, he had no idea what he did or how high his rank was. Now it seemed that he was higher than this city gate captain. He had no idea that he was not just a little higher than Liu Chengyong, but actually two or three ranks higher. When Marshal Hong had given him this official position in the beginning, it was just a nominal title. He knew that he would walk a different path in the future. It was just a favor to give Strategist Ji more face. And Strategist Ji also had his own plans. Not to mention a position of Subordinate Eighth Rank, Lower, even if it were the position of Strategist, if Hong Linying had the ability to arrange it, he would have no problem. It was just another matter whether Li Yan could live to enjoy this official position.