The gates of the Han Residence opened; close to a hundred people escorted Han Ning out of the house. The elderly Han couple stood by Han Ning's side, nagging at her. Clearly, this long trip made them anxious for their daughter.
Over the past two months, Mo Wuji was constantly afraid that he might be assassinated, so he hid himself in his small yard. As a result, he wasn't clear about how many people would be following Han Ning to the Royal Capital. Seeing close to a hundred people walking out, he was shocked and immediately asked Ding Bu'Er, "Bu'Er, there will be so many people following Miss Han Ning to Chang Luo?"
Ding Bu'Er laughed, and whispered in Mo Wuji's ear, "Besides the little miss, only four of us will be going to Chang Luo City. Because of you, I managed to jump on this bandwagon. The other two are Peng Maohua and Shao Lan."
"So little?' Mo Wuji started to feel uneasy. It would be hard to stay safe if there were so few people.
"I heard that the Old Duke wanted to find 20 people to follow the little miss. But according to the royal decree, each participant of the Spring Immortal's Gate Conference can only bring up to four followers," Ding Bu'Er explained.
As the whole crowd of people walked to the exit of Rao Zhou, Mo Wuji finally understood why there was a limit to the number of people. There was a huge crowd at the exit of Rao Zhou City; many people were saying their goodbyes. Ostensibly, Han Ning wasn't the only one participating in the Spring Immortal's Gate from Rao Zhou. From what Mo Wuji could see, there were around 20 to 30 people.
If you included the followers, there would be more than a hundred people. Furthermore, this was just from one state. There were other states in Xing Han Empire. If you added them all up, how many people would that be? Initially, Han Chengan said that the Cheng Yu State could send ten participants, and this did not include the participants from prefectures.
Some of the people started to form groups. After bidding farewell to their families, they departed on their beast carriages. Mo Wuji saw Han Chengan at the back, negotiating with a few people. After some time, Peng Maohua came over to Mo Wuji and Ding Bu'Er and said, "Our Han Residence will be travelling with the Wu Xue Prefecture Prince, Cao Hao. There's also Marquis Ji's grandson, Ji Changhe, as well as the only son of Wan Pu Corporation Regional Branch chairperson, Yang Junsong. You need to remember, none of these people must be offended. Try not to be rash when you're with them."
Ding Bu'Er patted his chest, "Don't worry, Chief Guard Peng. I'm not one who finds trouble. Since we're all in the same group, we can be considered comrades. Naturally, we will have to work together."
Peng Maohua nodded his head. He only wanted to give him a gentle reminder. Ding Bu'Er knew how to behave, so he would not mess around. At the same time, Mo Wuji wasn't arrogant like how people had described him to be. Besides the incident where he was late for the gathering, he rarely even left his own yard. How is he a trouble maker?
At this moment, Han Ning finished saying her goodbyes and called Mo Wuji and Co. to board the carriage. What made Mo Wuji suspicious was that Han Chengan did not call for him at all.
"Come, get on the carriage. Let's go." Ding Bu'Er pulled Mo Wuji along.
At that moment, Mo Wuji felt goosebumps all over his body. He turned his head and looked around; it felt as if someone had suddenly disappeared from the crowd.
He didn’t know whether someone was here to deal with him. How could he not feel uncomfortable? Mo Wuji did not dare to stay any longer so he rushed to board the Han Clan’s beast carriage.
The carriage had two compartments. Han Ning and Shao Lan were in the inner compartment while the other three were in the outer compartment. These two compartments weren't considered small. It wasn't squeezy with the five of them inside the carriage.
As the carriage driver shouted "He!", the beast carriage started to move. The carriages from the three other families departed as well.
Mo Wuji understood a little about these beast carriages. It was like a horse carriage, just that the beasts pulling it had more stamina, defense and strength.
Still, the beast carriage could not compare to the speed of a car. On the streets of Cheng Yu State, there were automobiles similar to cars and buses. Unfortunately, these automobiles could only be used within Cheng Yu State. There weren't any roads for them to drive on outside of Cheng Yu State.
The primary reason for this was that the people in this world did not value technology. It could also be due to the poor relations between countries.
With the constant wars between states, it would have been really difficult for states to send out their diplomats to negotiate the construction of an interstate road.
On the other hand, the people here valued herbs and minerals, and thus found innovative ways to improve herb drafting and mineral excavating.
...
The roads just outside of Rao Zhou were still spacious and smooth. But as they travelled further out, the roads were uneven and bumpy. At least the beast carriage's ability to absorb shock was not bad.
Along the way, they met many other beast carriages heading towards the Royal Capital. Mo Wuji discovered that unless they met acquaintances, many people simply cared about their own journey. Even within four families in Mo Wuji's group, the four main participants would only interact during meal time. Most of the time, they would not interact with one another.
After a month, the group stopped by a boundless sea. When Mo Wuji and Co. arrived, there were already mountains of people there. Mo Wuji looked around; the number of people were in the ten thousands. All kinds of beast carriages stopped there. There were even some flying beasts.
Just as Mo Wuji wanted to ask whether the flying beasts were used for carriages, he saw a huge flying beast gliding over from afar, landing on an empty space. Even though Mo Wuji was tens of meters away, he could feel the wind generated by the beast's flapping wings.
On the flying beast's back, there was a huge circular tent. As the beast landed, the tent opened and a few people came out of it.
Indeed, the flying beasts were used for beast carriages, and they were much more convenient than beasts who could only travel on land. Even airplanes would not be as convenient as these flying beasts. No wonder why the people here did not care much for machines. With these flying beasts, who would even bother about building airplanes?
"Damn, when will Cheng Yu State have flying beasts? If we had them, then we wouldn't have taken such a long time to get here," Mo Wuji heard someone cursing from afar.
He did not need to turn his head to know who that someone was. Naturally, it was the Wu Xue Prefecture Prince, Cao Hao. That guy had a horrible temper. Whenever he wasn’t pleased, he would start shouting and scolding loudly. There was one instance where he even argued with another prefecture's prince when his beast carriage got overtaken.
"Bu'Er, is a flying beast carriage expensive? Why doesn't Cheng Yu State have any?" Mo Wuji whispered to Ding Bu'Er.
He thought that no matter how expensive these flying beasts were, shouldn't Cheng Yu State still be able to afford some?
Ding Bu'Er laughed, "This is not a matter of price, but identity. It is not easy to buy such beast carriages, and you can't just buy them with money. From what I heard, there is a sect which specialises in rearing these flying beasts. I think its name is..."
"Don't talk too much. Go to the inn and rest. We'll be staying here to wait for the boat," Han Ning interrupted Ding Bu'Er.
Cao Hao swept his eyes across Mo Wuji and said disdainfully, "Sister Ning, your cultivating ability is not bad. But your judgement is really lacking. How could you pick such a trash, who doesn't know anything, to follow you to Chang Luo? Haha..."
Naturally, he heard Mo Wuji's questions. At the same time, throughout the trip, Mo Wuji never saluted him, which put him in a very bad mood. With his status, Mo Wuji should have been kneeling down and licking his boots every time they met.
Han Ning's face sank, but she did not refute him. Seeing that Han Ning did not dare refute him, he got more arrogant, "Sister Ning, our parents have arranged us to be in the same group. Naturally, we wouldn't wish for our group to have such weaklings. In all honesty, I am quite worried for myself. These past two months have been the most dangerous periods of my life."
He did not do anything to this fellow, yet he was called trash? Naturally, Mo Wuji wasn't happy. A Prefecture Prince could only count as a fart. On Earth, Mo Wuji was a world renowned biologist and botanist. Which people in power did not want to curry his favour?
Mo Wuji laughed and warmly said to Cao Hao, "I think you shouldn't be too worried. Even a piece of shit will meet a dung beetle. You don't have to be too anxious. Even if you do not get into any sect during the Spring Immortal's Gate, there will still be someone who accepts you."