Chapter 3 – Mercenary Town
Chapter 3 – Mercenary Town
The scent of green bean soup and scallion pancakes wafted in the air as Luo Xiao, and Jiang Yao walked past a stall selling the snacks.
It was at this time that Luo Xiao's stomach was unable to hold back, and a loud growling sound could be heard from deep within, causing Luo Xiao to be shocked.
The free hand, the one that was not being held in Jiang Yao's hand, was touching his stomach in dismay. Why was it suddenly so loud? That was immensely embarrassing.
Jiang Yao was a cultivator who had all his senses heightened, hearing Luo Xiao's stomach growling like this, he could not help but chuckle.
"Are you hungry?" He asked teasingly, and while Luo Xiao did blush because of the words, he quietly nodded his head. He did not need to lie to Jiang Yao.
Sensing that his lover was hungry, Jiang Yao had already started leading him towards the stall, and not long after, Luo Xiao was happily eating two scallion pancakes alongside a bowl of green bean soup.
Jiang Yao was at the point where he did not need to eat food to sustain his body. He was close to reaching the rank of an immortal.
Even so, he would eat if the food was cooked by Luo Xiao, or if they were dining together, but when they were on the walk like this, he usually skipped it.
They had arrived at the Mercenary Town late last night. It was so late that it had been impossible to look for a caravan by then, and thus they had gone straight to an inn where they had spent the night.
Luo Xiao had been tired because of being on the road all day, so Jiang Yao did not make things difficult for Luo Xiao and instead allowed him to sleep right away.
They had a long time ahead of them, Jiang Yao was not in a hurry. But while Luo Xiao had slept all night carefully, Jiang Yao had been having a horrible sleep.
Luo Xiao was within his arms, sleeping, looking so innocent and enticing, but Jian Yao was unable to touch him. It was, indeed, a challenge for any healthy man.
The bittersweet feeling of holding your loved one but doing nothing was hard to describe, but when he saw the naive and clueless look of Luo Xiao, Jiang Yao's heart melted.
"Eat up," he said as he gently ruffled Luo Xiao's hair. Seeing his hair ruffled, Luo Xiao sent a disgruntled look at Jiang Yao. He quickly finished the food, after which he tidied his hair and took Jiang Yao's hand again out of habit.
Together they moved through the town towards the south exit. This was the place where all the caravans would gather.
"Where are we going this time?" Luo Xiao could not help but ask, and Jiang Yao looked at him smilingly. "The western regions of our continent."
"That's quite a large region, do you know our destination in more detail?" Luo Xiao asked with a frown, and Jiang Yao laughed out loud.
"Well, we are going to the Beast Ridge, and that one is very long. We are going to have you trained in actual combat, and on the way, we will pick up another Moon Anise."
Luo Xiao nodded his head, this made sense.
"The Beast Ridge ends next to the Myriad Sand Kingdom, so my plan is to find a caravan travelling to the Myriad Sand Kingdom and start from there."
Once again, Luo Xiao nodded his head. Jiang Yao knew that he never would question his decisions, so he had made the best travel plan for them so that all goals could be achieved.
As they left the Mercenary Town through the southern gate, Luo Xiao's eyes widened in surprise.
Everywhere he looked, all he could see were caravans. There were hundreds of them!
The caravans varied in size; some were a few carriages big; others were up to five hundred carriages big.
The carriages were not used to transport goods, as all products had long since been stored within storage treasures; no, these carriages were all solely for the people who were travelling with them.
Each carriage could carry a full group of ten people, so the larger caravans were simply bigger than some villages.
The majority of these carriages did not contain ten people though, they usually included a family of parents and kids, as most of the caravans belonged to a family.
Much like some families were located in the cities, others were merchants and travelled all over the continent. These families often held lesser power than the ones rooted in the cities, but their information network was impressive, and no one wanted to offend them.
Jiang Yao had no interest in joining one of the massive caravans; he was looking for a medium-sized one with a hundred to two hundred carriages.
After looking around all the way until it turned to noon, they finally found a caravan that was going towards the Myriad Sand Kingdom.
This particular caravan was led by a group of merchants. Their family name was Zhou, and they had been running caravans for the last thousand years. Although they were not the most prominent family within the caravans, they held a certain elevated position, and their reputation was flawless.
When they saw Jiang Yao and Luo Xiao coming towards them, the leader, Zhou Liqiang, was shocked. The luxurious clothes they wore were not something to be belittled, and the aura they carried with them was so overwhelming that they could not be ordinary people. What could they possibly want to do with their caravan?