He Yuan drove the carriage for three more hours before encountering a small settlement. He hid the Wei family members in a shallow cave outside the village, changed his disguise and entered the village with his carriage.
It was still quite early but a few homes had their lights on. Out here in farming villages such as this one, the citizens tended to go to bed early and wake up even earlier.
By now the emperor and empress must have figured out something was wrong. They may very well be soldiers sent out to capture them at this moment so he couldn't dally.
After pawning off his carriage, getting a new one and food, he was going to take them through a mountain path. It might take longer to reach his master's mountain this way but at least they wouldn't leave tracks.
The only sounds that could be heard on the almost empty streets of the village was the sound of the horses' hooves and carriage wheels as He Yuan walked along.
They were a few people rushing about as the skies turned clear. The sounds only increased as He Yuan rode closer to what he guessed was the market after asking for a general direction from a passerby.
Stalls were opening and it was a bit noisy as people rushed about to put up their wares. Soon, he found a merchant ready to set off to the next village to sell his goods.
The merchant's carriage looked sturdy enough and the horses looked healthy. It might not be as fast as his but it was good enough to serve him and the Wei family for the next few hours.
He Yuan made a quick deal with the merchant and exchanged his fast carriage for the merchant's, accepting a few additional coins. After that was cleared, he bought some hot steamed buns from a vendor and proceeded outside the village.
"Luo Luo!" Xu-di called out when He Yuan arrived at their hiding spot. She'd been feeling restless from the moment he left and now she could breathe easy.
General Wei had regained control of his limbs but chose to keep silent and stare at this son of his with a guarded look.
They all gobbled up the food and set out again. When they got close enough to the mountain path, He Yuan had the Wei family get off the carriage and continue up the rocky mountain whilst he rode the opposite way.
There was a cliff on the way he was headed. H planned to let the horses loose and then push the carriage off the cliff. After that, he would cover his 'tracks' as meticulously as he could.
This was enough to distract the soldiers when they got here. If possible, they would keep going down this path in search of the 'traitors' but by then, they would be long gone.
Once everything was done, He Yuan followed a different route to catch up with the Wei family. He was so glad that Wei Luo's master often took him out on trips to gather experience so Wei Luo was quite familiar with the terrain of a ton of places.
They travelled for almost a week, taking stops at some villages but the closer they got to his master's mountain, the less villages they entered and settled instead for camping out in the wild.
It was quite hard for Xu-di and the twins who had spent all their lives as pampered nobles but they swallowed their complaints and pressed on.
Finally, they arrived at the foot of the mountain. He Yuan took out a signal flare and lit it up as it was forbidden for anyone to go up or down the mountain without permission.
"Brat!" An old, raspy voice called out.
The entire group turned around in shock, when did the old man appear behind them?
He Yuan smiled and ran up to the man to hold his arm. "Master." Wei Luo was quite close to his master so he had to act same. He wasn't even worried about anyone in the realms finding out he was the wrong soul.
888 had told him a natural halo would automatically cover his soul and ordinary people would never realize the difference. If a taoist priest was called to deliberately check though, that would be a different issue.
Again, He Yuan wasn't worried. They couldn't detect any strange situation so why would they call a taoist priest in the first place?
"So you still know how to come back hmm?" The old man used his walking stick to knock He Yuan's head.
" Master Shi." General Wei cupped a fist at the old man and the women paid their respects appropriately. This Master Shi had a renowned reputation as a peerless medicine master.
Normal people can only hear of him and never set eyes on him throughout their lifetime. It was the Wei family's luck that Master Shi took an interest in Wei Luo and carried him away to teach.
Master Shi nodded at general Wei with a grave look and sighed bitterly. "It was the Wei family's misfortune to-" He sighed again and shook his head.
They all got the message 'the Wei family's misfortune to give birth to such an unfilial daughter'. General Wei just smiled wryly and said nothing. Even now he still couldn't believe the Wei Yun'er now was once his sweet little daughter.
It was all his fault. If he didn't spend all his time on the frontline and came home more often, maybe he would have been able to protect his daughter and all this wouldn't have happened in the first place.
Master Shi shook his head again and led them up the mountain. He Yuan was tasked in cleaning and settling the Wei family down in one of the courtyards.
Once everyone had freshened up and had a good meal, He Yuan rushed over to Wei Luo's room in glee. He'd been itching to go through his medicine scrolls and books. He needed to carefully relearn everything.
Actually, he didn't need to do this as he had Wei Luo's memories but He Yuan knew that after completing the task he'd leave Wei Luo's knowledge behind.
But if he learned it for himself, Wei Luo's knowledge would naturally become his too. For this line of work, any skill he could acquire might help him in the long run. With Wei Luo's readily available memories plus his hard work, He Yuan was sure he would master whatever Wei Luo knew in no time.
For several months, He Yuan diligently studied Wei Luo's books, tended to the medicinal garden in order to identify the ingredients and even subtly used the Wei family members as test pigs to practice diagnosis and acupuncture.
The more he knew, the more fascinated with medicine He Yuan became. It was like a whole world of possibilities opening right before his eyes. Amidst all these, he actually did not forget his main mission.
The emperor had sent people over to this mountain to probe master Shi but his master turned them away with a sneer and his nose in the air. What could the do?
Xian Taiwen couldn't possibly use force. Master Shi only needed to lift his finger for loads of people all over different nations to come over to fight on his behalf. The amount of people who owed him favours was not small, even the late emperor, Xian Taiwen's father, was indebted to master Shi.
Xian Taiwen was a cautious person so after that first confrontation, peace reigned on the mountain once more.