The next day at the Si hour, the convoy set off right on time.
Nothing eventful happened along the way. About a month passed until, on this particular day, they were only a few days' journey away from the next small town.
In the middle of the imperial highway, flanked on both sides by dense forests, stood a young man. His expression hovered between a smile and a smirk, the corners of his lips tilted slightly upward. With his arms crossed over his chest, he cradled an ornate, flashy-looking treasured sword in his embrace.
Sensing that the newcomer meant trouble, the scar-faced head escort halted the convoy, dug his heels into his horse's flanks, and rode forward to negotiate.
"May I ask why the young hero is blocking the road? This territory should belong to Black Whirlwind, and our escort agency's tribute for this year has already—"
Before the head escort could finish speaking, his head was severed from his shoulders. His startled mount shrieked and bolted wildly into the forest.
"Too noisy! Nobody move. I'm going to check the cargo. If you don't have what I'm looking for, I'll let you all leave." The young man shouted angrily.
Seeing the head escort lose his head within a mere few breaths of stepping forward, the remaining dozen or so solo escorts knew the intruder possessed extraordinary skills.
Though panic gripped their hearts, they did not lose their composure. Instead, they quickly formed a battle array and charged forward.
Having spent years working the escort trails, the men of the Weiyuan Escort Agency were no ordinary folks.
Yet the young man completely disregarded them. He waited until the escorts were right upon him before forming a hand seal with one hand. The sword he had been cradling against his chest suddenly flew out of its scabbard, swept back and forth in a single flash, and then returned to the sheath.
From start to finish, the young man took only a fraction of a moment.
The charging escorts seemed not to see him as they kept rushing forward, only tumbling from their horses one by one after passing him completely.
A glance at the escorts' bodies would reveal a single bloody hole in every chest—the flying sword had claimed their lives in the span of a single breath.
The escorts sitting atop the wagons were scared out of their wits, not daring to step forward again.
The scene froze. Aside from the sound of a gentle breeze rustling the leaves, the entire convoy was dead silent.
Passengers who had curiously poked their heads out to watch the excitement clamped their hands tightly over their mouths, terrified that the slightest sound would draw the attention of this god of slaughter.
After a long while, the escort on the lead wagon finally spoke in a trembling voice.
"Young hero, please feel free. We won't move around anymore."
"Very good. I am only looking for what I need." With those words, the young man leapt a few times into the midst of the convoy, threw open the cargo crates, and began rummaging through them...
The moment he saw the head escort killed, Li Yu knew instantly that the other man must be an immortal cultivator.
Others might not have seen it, but Li Yu had felt the fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from him.
Without a word, he vaulted straight out of the wagon and scrambled headfirst into the forest where the young man couldn't see him.
Throughout the chaos, the three surnamed Wu, who had been engrossed in the spectacle, hadn't even noticed that Li Yu had slipped away.
He ran wildly through the woods for nearly half an hour, completely exhausted, and was now scooping up water from a small stream to quench his thirst.
"That person shouldn't have noticed me," Li Yu thought with lingering fear, hesitating as he pondered. "Before he struck, I didn't sense any spiritual sense probing the area. Furthermore, my escape relied purely on secular martial arts—there was no spiritual energy fluctuation whatsoever. Plus, having run for this long, I should be safe."
Just as Li Yu guessed, the roadblock youth had never imagined that an immortal cultivator would be hiding among the escort party.
Therefore, he hadn't bothered to scan the area with his spiritual sense. Besides, the items he was looking for possessed no spiritual energy of their own, so even a spiritual sense probe wouldn't have found them.
After finishing his water and figuring out his bearings, Li Yu hurried toward the small town where the convoy had been heading.
If things went as the young man had claimed—that he would spare the rest of the convoy—then Li Yu only needed to wait in the town, observe the situation of the convoy, and decide whether or not to continue hitching a ride.
Traveling swiftly through the forest, he reached the small town in just two days. By frequently employing his lightness skill along the way, Li Yu was utterly exhausted.
Finding an inn near the city gate, Li Yu checked in.
After eating a meal and taking a bath, he sat down on a stool in his guest room and poured himself a cup of hot tea provided by the inn.
Recalling what had just happened, Li Yu could only offer a bitter smile. He could never have imagined that an immortal cultivator would stoop to robbing escort wagons. If he hadn't run so fast, he probably would have met a miserable end as well.
Since the fellow would even rob an escort wagon, if he discovered that someone had spiritual energy, he certainly wouldn't mind killing them to see if they carried any valuable treasures.
Besides, with such a disgraceful act as robbing a wagon train witnessed by a fellow practitioner of immortality, silencing them with murder was simply common sense to prevent anyone from wagging their tongues.
Li Yu never expected that the very first fellow immortal cultivator he encountered in this life would be a highway robber!
That swordsmanship of his was definitely some kind of spell, effortlessly slaying a dozen or so martially skilled escorts.
No wonder heaven and man existed in different realms; immortal cultivators truly could treat mortals as mere ants.
Though still lingering with fear, Li Yu's heart surged with excitement as he fantasized that he, too, would surely be capable of such feats one day.
With a firm conviction, Li Yu lay down on his side to sleep, his left hand resting in a position ready for drawing a blade.
Early the next morning, Li Yu sat down near the front of the inn's main hall where he could see the town's main street. He ordered some breakfast, watched the bustling flow of people in the small town, and figured the escort convoy should be arriving within the next couple of days.
Suddenly—
With a heavy *thud*, a flashy treasured sword was placed on the table right in front of Li Yu, and a young man sat down across from him.
"Brother, may I sit here?" the youth asked with a smile.
"Of course. The inn is open for business; any vacant seat is free to be taken," Li Yu replied.
"No, no, no. I came specifically looking for you, brother." The youth continued with a smile.
"May I ask what business you have with me, brother? We are complete strangers, so I'm unaware of what advice you might have." Although inwardly shocked, Li Yu forced himself to remain calm.
"I noticed spiritual energy swirling around your person, brother, so I figured you must be a fellow practitioner. That's why I came over to say hello."
"I am here on business with my family elders. I never expected to run into a fellow daoist in this remote little town."
"Heh, who's to say otherwise? I merely scanned the inn out of habit with my spiritual sense, and I truly didn't expect to run into a fellow daoist."
Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief internally, figuring the other man most likely hadn't recognized him. Otherwise, he wouldn't approach him like this. He decided to probe the other's intentions first before figuring out his next move.
"Since you aren't cultivating in the mountains, Daoist Friend, but came to this remote little town just like me—could it be that you were dragged along as a laborer by your family elders, too?"
Li Yu intentionally fabricated a nonexistent elder, thinking that if the other party wanted to do him harm, they would hesitate out of caution.
"Haha, then Daoist Friend, you really have it rough! To tell you the truth, this small town is a necessary stop on my way back to my family clan," the youth said casually.
"Might I ask where your immortal hometown is, Daoist Friend? If I happen to pass by in the future, I must drop by for a cup of tea."
"My name is Guo Yanlin. My family is just a small cultivation clan in Anyang County, completely not worth mentioning. Hearing you say you came accompanied by elders, Daoist Friend, I wonder if you are also a clan cultivator?" the youth asked with a puzzled look.
Clan cultivator? Li Yu had never heard of any such thing as clan cultivators. Since the other man dared to reveal his background, he definitely hadn't recognized him, which immediately set Li Yu's mind much more at ease.
Since the question had been asked, and to avoid betraying his ignorance, he had no choice but to play along.
"I am Wu Yu, hailing from a cultivation clan near Ning'an City." Li Yu casually borrowed the surname of the old man from the wagon.
"Hahaha, that's wonderful! I frequently go to Ning'an City on behalf of my family to purchase spiritual materials. We are bound to meet again in Ning'an City. I'm in a rush to return to my clan, so I won't disturb Daoist Friend any longer. I'll take my leave first." With those words, the youth stood up, bowed with cupped hands, and prepared to leave.
Li Yu also stood up, cupped his hands to bid the youth farewell, and muttered something about seeing him next time.
Yet, out of Li Yu's sight, the youth wore a sinister smile as he strode away.
Seeing the young man depart and his figure vanish from sight, Li Yu finally relaxed, figuring he had surely bluffed his way through.
After sitting for another hour with nothing to do, he took out the *Foundational Posture Manual*, waiting for the escort wagons to enter the city while pondering the cultivation method for the 2nd Layer of Qi Refining.
For the next two days, Li Yu alternated between waiting for the wagons and reading.
By the third day, still having seen no sign of the escort convoy, he figured they must have met with disaster, and could not help sighing a few times in lament.
"I might as well head straight to the next major city. There are bound to be other escort agencies going to Ning'an City there, and I can just find another one." Realizing he would wait in vain for the Weiyuan Escort Agency convoy, Li Yu had no choice but to make other plans.
He checked out of the inn, settled his expenses for the past few days, asked the inn waiter for directions, and set off for the next major city.