Immortal Travel of Longevity

Heading south along the road from Qingshan City, they passed through Tongbao Prefecture and eventually reached the Borderland of Weidi.

Notably, the Borderland of Weidi remained remarkably peaceful, with riots and bandits a rare sight.

But it was only upon arriving at the Borderland...

...that one could truly witness how Weidi's stability was so firmly maintained.

Tens of thousands of soldiers guarded the Borderland of Weidi, their great camp pitched directly on the border line. At the boundary separating the territories, countless corpses of outlaws were piled upon the ground, stacked into one small mountain after another.

Yu Hongjin's face paled at the sight.

"So many dead bodies..."

Yunxiang covered the girl's eyes. "Children shouldn't look at such things."

Only then did Yu Hongjin look away.

It seemed...

The border crossing between Weidi and Yan Land was far from peaceful.

"Halt!"

Before the mountain pass checkpoint.

The horse carriage was stopped.

A group of Wei Army soldiers marched up and surrounded the carriage.

Yunxiang fished a Token out of her belongings, grabbed some loose silver, and handed them over together.

"You've worked hard, soldiers," Yunxiang said. "Please, buy yourselves some tea."

The Wei Army officer took a look, confirmed their identities, then returned the Token and pocketed the silver.

"I thank the young lady on behalf of my men."

After saying this, the officer shouted, "Let them pass!"

With that, the soldiers blocking the road dispersed.

Chen Changsheng turned to the officer and asked, "May I ask, sir, is Yan Land peaceful these days?"

The officer shook his head, then gestured for Chen Changsheng to look at the nearby piles of corpses.

"These bodies are all bandits from the deep mountains ahead. The trade routes opened up a few days ago, bringing merchants from both regions through here. That gave those outlaws an opportunity—they rob anyone passing by and kill anyone they encounter. They're utterly ruthless. They even chased people all the way to this Borderland. To save lives, we had no choice but to cross the border line and strike them down, piling their corpses here to deter other scumbags."

Chen Changsheng understood upon hearing this. He cast his gaze toward the distant mountains.

This landscape was completely different from Weidi behind them.

The mountains in Weidi stood distinctly, one after another, but the mountains of Yan Land were layered upon each other like endless barricades.

"Does no one guard the borders in Yan Land?" Chen Changsheng asked.

The officer shook his head. "Look at these endless mountains. They're filled with countless bandits. With a natural defense like that, why would they ever need soldiers to guard their borders?"

Chen Changsheng gave a slight nod. Returning his attention to the officer, he cupped his hands. "Thank you for the explanation."

The officer nodded. "By the rules, I have to let you pass. But whether you actually go through is up to you. Once you cross this checkpoint, the road ahead is a narrow path between life and death."

"Thank you for the warning," Chen Changsheng said. "But if it's only mountain bandits, I believe we can handle them."

The officer nodded in understanding.

There had to be a highly skilled martial artist sitting in this carriage; otherwise, they would never dare venture into Yan Land.

The horse carriage slowly drove out of the checkpoint and entered Yan Land.

The roads in Yan Land were far more wretched. In truth, there were no roads here at all—it was just earth trampled by people and rolled over by carriages until, over time, a path formed.

Many roads in Weidi started out the same way, but they had designated people to maintain them, paving them with gravel and stone slabs or filling in the potholes. The road beneath their feet right now, however, was completely neglected.

Sprawled by the door of the horse carriage, Lihua let out a yawn.

It opened its eyes, suddenly realizing that the natural essence of the surrounding vegetation was much richer here.

It looked up and blinked. "So many mountains! So, so many."

Lihua looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, "Chen the Good Man, are we going into the mountains to become bandits?"

"Just passing through," Chen Changsheng said.

Lihua paused, looking ahead as it murmured, "Passing through?"

The road was full of potholes, making the horse carriage jolt violently and shaking Lihua all over the place.

"So awful," Lihua muttered.

Chen Changsheng took a look and nodded. "It is a bit, but once we pass this stretch of mountains, the road should get much better."

Yu Hongjin poked her head out and said, "That man earlier said there'd be bandits on the road."

"There probably will be," Chen Changsheng agreed, "and quite a few of them, at that."

Yu Hongjin looked out. "There shouldn't be that many, right? When we passed through here many years ago, there weren't any bandits."

"You've traveled this road before?"

"When Sister Yun and I came to Qingshan City back then, we traveled right through these mountains."

"How many years ago was that?"

Yu Hongjin counted on her fingers. It felt like a very long time ago—decades, in fact.

Today, this place had long since transformed into a completely different landscape, a completely different world.

Before long, the horse carriage drove onto the mountain path.

The mountain road was treacherous. Going up a steep slope only to immediately descend another took a heavy toll on the horse. After walking for about half an hour, the exhausted beast had to stop by the roadside to rest.

"Let's take a break."

"The horse can't walk anymore," Chen Changsheng said.

He glanced back into the carriage and asked, "Are you hungry, Miss Yun?"

Yunxiang poked her head out and shook her head. She glanced up at the sky and said, "I'm afraid it won't be easy to cross this mountain."

She paused before suddenly adding, "This road is somewhat familiar, though. It seems to be the exact same one from all those years ago. But back then, it wasn't nearly this awful. I was watching along the way just now; there are far too many potholes. They don't look like they formed naturally over time. Instead, it looks as though someone deliberately dug them out."

Chen Changsheng nodded. "They were dug out on purpose."

Yu Hongjin blinked. "Why would they dig it up like this?"

"To block certain people," Chen Changsheng explained. "On the road, merchant caravans are the most lucrative targets. They carry goods and travel with horse carriages. On a decent road, they might be able to flee, but on a road like this, once bandits set their sights on them, they'd be unable to escape even if they had wings."

"How sinister of them!" Yu Hongjin exclaimed.

"They probably had their eyes on us the moment we stepped onto this mountain path," Chen Changsheng said.

Hearing this, Yu Hongjin went on high alert, scanning her surroundings.

Chen Changsheng fed the horse some forage.

Lihua patted the horse's head and said, "Eat up quickly, horsey. You need a full belly to have the strength to work."

Before long, they set off once again.

Chen Changsheng drove the horse, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. Suddenly, he caught sight of a few silhouettes flashing through the woods. Faint glints of light reflected off them—undoubtedly, they were carrying armaments and sharp blades.

Lihua was equally sharp-eyed, spotting the moving figures lurking within the forest's shadows.

It hurriedly tugged at Chen Changsheng's sleeve. "Chen the Good Man, Chen the Good Man! There's people! Over there, over there!"

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