The following weeks slipped by without any major incedents beisdes a few minor scuffles with some bandits who fled as soon as they recognized the insignia on the breast plate of the armored soldiers escorting the black armored carriage that Hartley and his followers were traveling in. A few fierce beasts tried to sneak attack the group when they camped overnight only to become dinner the following day.
Hartley took the time to cultivate and recover from his aches and pain, both Qin LI and Zhi Ruo also dedicated their spare time to cultivation on the long journey to the Papine province. With Hartley's improved state of focus, his cultivation was now ten times more efficient than the average xanthian and he was already more than half way to the 8th layer of the xanthian realm, Zhi Ruo was at the thin line between the first and second layer and could have a breakthrough anytime while Qin LI continued his steady progress to consolidate his power in the 4th layer.
Soon the Spring was transitioning into summer, the heat during the daytime was starting to rise and the golden sun usually sat high in the cloudless sky. As the road leading the Papine province got busier, the skyline of a majestic city appeared in their vision, buildings reached towards the sky and road networks snaked through the province in every direction, the province consisted of an outer section and an inner section separated by a wall but from what Hartley could see, the outer section of the province looked as affluent as any of the provinces he had been to so far.
Merchants flocked to the city in droves, they rented warehouses and stockpiled goods to be shipped south, from here int the outer section of the province they could quickly travel down to the Cassia province and have the goods shipped to the southern regions, Hartley had inadvertently opened up massive new business opportunities for merchants who didn't have a prayer of getting their goods shipped southward before and had no choice but to take the treacherous journey by land, now, since the removal of the guard captain under the control of the elder prince, the opportunities for business had opened up to everyone, not just the cronies supporting the eldest prince and many merchants were trying to strike the iron while it was hot. There was no guarantee that when the next guard captain assigned to the Cassia province would allow normal merchants to trade freely using the sea route.
Hartley and the twenty four escorts made their way into the province easily as Anguo Chen only had to wave his identity token for the gates to open and the people to give way to the procession of the second prince's forces.
Anguo Chen brought them to a walled private manor inside the inner section of the province, it was peaceful and the manor was situated away from any neighbors or main road, the comfortable days melted away inside the luxurious manner as everyone got back into a normal routine. Zhi Ruo got back to her girlish ways as Hartley would escort her down to the shops so she buy clothes and supplies, the gloom had lifted from her and she was back to her former self for the time being.
On the penultimate day of their stay in the Papine province Hartley left Zhi Ruo cultivating in their room to visit a restaurant with Qin Li and two of the guards, as usual Hartley had ordered and ate a belly full of a delicacies and drank expensive wine, it was late evening when they left the restaurant.
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Hartley was having a trivial conversation with Qin while they passed a dark alley way, just as Hartley had turned his face to answer one of Qin Li's questions, he saw panic on the faces of Qin Li and the guards.
Hartly read the seriousness of the situation from their alarmed faces, Qin Li's axe appeared in his hands glowing green, feeling the sudden danger Hartley quickly turned around, his body twisting following his long sword that appeared in his right hand then snapping it out like a sidewinder snake coiling and striking at the incoming threat. Qin Li jumped forward, his body gushing out wind elemental energy temporarily turning the surroundings neon green, blowing away the two guards like dry leaves in the wind in the process.
Clang! Hartley's sword clashed with the dagger of a dark figure emerging from the shadows, the silent shadow gave off no elemental fluctuations as he parried the sword strike with his right handed dagger, a split second later green sparks erupted as Qin Li's ax clashed with the second dagger wielded in the left hand of the sneak attacker, Qin Li was sent flying back five meters before landing in a heap still rolling away from the action. After stumbling back, the dark figure flashed forward from the shadows skillfully and attempted a high horizontal strike with his right handed dagger aimed at the neck of Hartley. Hartley used his minute movement technique to retreat two steps avoiding the strike then entrapped in the figure in a 50x gravity field careful not to entrap the tumbling Qin Li as well. The figure yelped in surprise as he gave a spastic jerk, his legs wobbled as if he was a disorientated drunkard.
Hartley's next strike, which was a viciously efficient slash from mid-left to mid-right, tore into the black robes of the assassin, the kinetic energy from the strike was blocked by a high level body armor worn under the assassin's outer garments, yellow sparks flew out as the figure was thrown against the the far wall losing his pair of daggers which skittered across the floor with clanging metallic sounds. Even though the strike was blocked by his armor, the assassin's internal organs weren't so lucky, the figure spat out a couple mouthfuls of blood one after the other while the gravity field was still crushing his body down into the earth.
Recognizing that his sneak attack mission was impossible to accomplish at this point the assassin turned away and made an impressive gravity defying leap towards the roof of a nearby building, Hartley was impressed to see the assassin could jump so high even under the influence of his gravity field. Hartley immediately disengaged his gravity field, the desperate assassin glanced over his left shoulder only to find out that his leap was matched by the young handsome youth who now seemed to be standing in mid-air and had dark swirling blue lines twirling around his left fist like a pin wheel, the assassin was helpless in the air without any way to dodge or change direction, his only hope was that his armor would block the punch heading for his undefended back then he could use the momentum of the strike to gain some distance away from the youth and disappear and escape within the dark network of alley ways.
His shocked expression signaled a different outcome from what he had expected, the assassin heard a muffled thump at his back then saw the gory sight of his heart shooting forward out of his chest followed by a spray of blood and bone shards, he screamed like a scalded cat and that was the last thing he saw in his life as his lifeless carcass fell back to the earth with a thud giving rise to a small puff of dust.
Hartley landed back on the ground elegantly. After the short fight Hartley was relived, when the figure first appeared without any forewarning Hartley thought it was another dark arts practitioner, but after the fight he realized it was a high level assassin using a stealth martial scripture comparable to his own. Seems like someone doesn't want Hartley to reach the capital.