After walking for about half an hour, they reached their carriage. Wang Lei proceeded to check whether the bandits took their stuff but luckily all the things were here.
Besides the gold coins which were scattered on the wooden floor of the carriage everything appears to right where they were— it seems the bandits were so disappointed that they did not even bother to take anything with them.
Wang Lei shook his head with a bitter smile on his face wondering whether they were lucky or unlucky that they were poor. After checking that everything was here, Wang Lei opened the storage pouch to see if there is any food left.
A while later, Wang Lei found some dried meat wrapped up and gave it Shenyan and said, "Shenyan, here you go."
Shenyan grabbed the food instantly before stuffing it in his mouth like a starved beast.
"Hmm, this is good, you are not going to have some?" Shenyan asked.
"No, I'm good… I'm not that hungry." Wang Lei replied with a smile on his face.
Shenyan did not pay attention to Wang Lei anymore and proceeded to take large bites from the meat as he resumed his savage eating.
Wang Lei watched this with a bittersweet smile on his face before saying, "We need to hurry and make our way to the capital— it seems we are pretty close to the capital according to what the old coachman said earlier," he paused for a while before continuing, "The old coachman said that we were only three to four days away from the capital before we were suddenly attacked, hopefully we can make it in time for the Academy's examination since it appears that we have to walk now since the wolves were cut loose by the bandits."
Wang Lei finished talking feeling an incoming headache since it was going to take more than four days to get to the capital at this rate if they walked to the capital on foot.
Shenyan only listened to Wang Lei's speech in silence, not knowing what to say but he still did not stop his hands from moving as he stuffed his face with the dried meat which appears to be more delicious now compared to when he had it earlier.
A few minutes later, right after Shenyan finished eating and was about say something, they all heard a rumbling sound approaching.
They both got out of the carriage to see what was making that noise, but then they saw a carriage pulled by spirit beasts heading their location and it seems to belong not to a true rich family but a moderate rich family instead due to the appearance of the carriage.
Just as they were excited and were going wave them to stop and see if the other party were willing to take them with them, the carriage sped passed them before they could even react.
"Ah." Both Wang Lei and Shenyan released a surprise sound.
Luckily for them, one of the members in the carriage recognized Wang Lei and soon their carriage stopped, and a figure came out of the carriage and approached them.
…
A few days later.
"Brother Liu, thank you for bringing us along on your trip." Wang Lei said politely to the individual in front of him.
"No need to be so polite, I just saw a friend and lend a hand, that's all." Liu Xing replied with a humble smile.
"Still, we need to thank you… if not for you… we would have had to walk to the capital instead." Wang Lei said.
"Alright. Still, I am surprised that the both of you survived an attack from the bandits." Said Liu Xing with surprise and curiosity on his face.
"Haha, we were just lucky that's all, it's not like we didn't almost die just now… it was a close call." Wang Lei laughed slightly before speaking with a frown on his face as he thought about what happened a few days ago.
"You're right." Liu Xing nodded as he replied and then he continued, "Anyway, you never introduced your friend over there. Well, since we were in a hurry, I never bothered to ask before, but I thought now was a good time to ask."
"Oh, that's right, this is Shenyan, who started living with us four years ago and he even helps with our family restaurant, this time we were both going to register in the academy." Wang Lei introduced Shenyan.
"Oh, is that so." Liu Xing looked at Shenyan while sizing him up before continuing, "Well, it appears that we are all going in the same direction then. I was going to deliver some goods before heading to the academy in a few days myself."
"Oh, you are going to register too?" Wang Lei said with a surprise look on his face since this fellow's family was rich, he did not expect that he would also choose to register in the academy.
Liu Xing's family is a merchant family that sells all of kinds goods and products including food products, so Wang Lei's father, Wang Zhong always sends Wang Lei to the branch of the Liu Family's merchant store in the North City to purchase some goods for their restaurant.
"That's right." Liu Xing replied before continuing, "I know what you're thinking but although my family is rich, compared to the aristocratic families we are nothing, so it is better to make some connections while I attend the academy— especially with the Leng family as it will be good for my family's growth." Liu Xing explained to Wang Lei.
After pondering for a while Wang Lei replied, "You're right, that makes sense."
"Anyway, I will leave you guys to do your own thing since we have already reached the capital, I will take my leave now, see you in a couple days" Liu Xing said as he drove away in his carriage with a few guards protecting him.
"Shenyan, let's go find some inn to stay in for these few days before we proceed to the academy to register." Wang Lei suggested to Shenyan.
"Alright." Shenyan replied immediately.
After walking around the capital city for a while, they were awed by the appearance of the buildings which appeared grander that the ones in their hometown, North City.
There were structures which were more unique compared to others and after asking around they found out that those structure were the most important building in the capital city which— the Auction Houses, Weapon stores, Alchemy Stores, Artifacts and Treasure Stores and many others.
These buildings had so many floors compared to six-building of the Cultivation Manual Pavilion in North City— their appearances are also seemed more exquisite compared to the North City's Cultivation Manual Pavilion.
After asking around about places where they can rent to stay, they found a cheap inn that cost one gold coin a night to stay in— which was rather expensive compared to the inns in North City which cost a couple silver coins for a few days but in the capital, the prices of things and accommodation skyrocketed so much that Wang Lei fainted when he heard a specific inn say that their inn cost ten gold coins a night.
After settling down in their room, which was a double bedroom, Wang Lei decided to ask what was on his mind this entire time.
"Shenyan, how did you defeat those bandits before?" Wang Lei asked with a solemn expression on his face.
"What?" Shenyan was startled by this sudden question from Wang Lei that came out of nowhere.