Yize sat comfortably on the driver's bench and gave the reins a snap. He did it more to make himself feel like he was doing something than for any real purpose. Huichen ignored him and continued trundling along, the mule pulling the cart through the forest at the same rate he'd been walking at ever since they'd left home.

It was enough to make him feel a bit superfluous. If Huichen could count money, he could practically handle the whole trip by himself.

No, that wasn't entirely true. Yize straightened up and took his bow in hand. There was a paw print leading off to the side of the road, straight towards a break in the undergrowth. He wasn't going to stop the cart to examine it in detail—that would be a good way to invite the trouble he wanted to avoid—but Yize knew the sign of a predator when he saw one, even from a distance.

In a way, it was comforting. With every mile he had traveled north on the way to Jiaoqu Town, the forest had felt just a little bit stranger. By the time he'd reached the place, the hair on the back of his neck had been standing straight up. Before leaving, Yize had considered trying to sneak in a hunt in order to earn some extra cash, but once he saw the Northern Waste with his own eyes he abandoned that idea without hesitation.

At least he'd learned from the experience. The wilderness had changed around him on the way north because the ordinary forest gradually gave way to whatever brand of hell had created the Northern Wastes. Now that he was on his way back south, everything began to look a bit more familiar with every step Huichen took. Familiar enough that he could recognize the signs of danger.

Yize drew an arrow from the quiver on his back. He touched it to his bowstring just firmly enough to feel the string slide in place. No point putting any extra strain on himself and his bow before he had a target to aim at.

The thick trees and thicker undergrowth made it almost impossible for Yize to spot any predators that might be lurking in ambush. He closed his eyes and focused his attention on his surroundings.

He could hear the steady sound of Huichen's hooves, the old mule not bothering to break stride even if it did sense its drivers' nerves. A few branches overhead rustled in the breeze. Other than that, there was no sound. The chirping and chattering of birds and small furry animals that had accompanied Yize throughout his journey had gone silent. Nobody wanted to draw the attention of whatever was waiting out there in the woods.

Yize took in a deep breath. It was enough to confirm that he and Huichen could both use a thorough wash soon, but he couldn't pick up any other scents.

Yize had spent enough time in the woods to trust his intuition. If he ventured into the woods to take on whatever was waiting for him, he'd be signing up for a quick bout of life and death combat. With all the work he'd been doing training to fight, there was a chance he might even win. He liked his odds better if he stuck to the cart with his bow ready and waited for his opponent to come to him.

Yize might be on a long journey through the woods, but he wasn't on a hunt. He didn't have to bring back valuable skins in order to make ends meet. All that he needed to do was to make sure that he finished driving the cart to and from Li Village. His sect leader wouldn't thank him for risking his cargo in the pursuit of a valuable pelt. If he got himself killed trying to do something foolish, he'd probably end up docking his pay.

Muchen was practical like that. He was a strange guy, but he wasn't that hard to work for once you got used to him.

Yize took a deep breath and let it out slowly, loosening his muscles. If he tensed up, he wouldn't be able to react as quickly to a surprise attack. He kept that same pressure on his bow string, not quite drawing it back, as Huichen kept the cart moving along the road.

He let out a sigh of relief when he heard the shrill cry of a mockingbird. It was a brash, annoying sound that had kept him awake on more than one occasion, but the fact that it felt safe enough to call out was music to his ears. A songbird soon joined in, and before Huichen had taken more than ten paces they were once more surrounded by the ordinary noises of the wild.

Yize tucked his arrow back into his quiver and set his bow beside him on the bench, then leaned back against the bench and forced himself to relax. This business of long distance travel was exhausting in a whole different way from his usual hunts. Sure, he'd spent this much time out in the forest before, but back in Li Village he knew the whole mountain like the back of his hand.

Where to look for prey, safe spots to camp for the night, the no go zones to be avoided at all cost. He knew them all. It wasn't perfect—Yize felt a familiar ache at the thought of his father's death—but he more or less knew the risks he was up against and what he had to do to get through the day.

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Out on the road, every day he was facing an entirely new situation. Maybe someday he'd have the same comfortable familiarity with these roads as he did with the forest around his home, but that day was a long way off. He couldn't just glance at a tree and check to see if anything had changed. He had to examine his surroundings and guess when he was facing danger, when he was near water, when it was safe to relax, and when he needed to run.

It was nerve racking. He'd wondered more than once how a city slicker like Muchen had made a living of such long journeys, but the memory of the brief glimpses he'd seen of Xinyi's unfathomable strength had answered those questions.

The other thing he'd come to accept with his second trip under his belt was that while the road was unfamiliar, it wasn't actually as dangerous as the deep wilderness near his home. Humans didn't make for reliable enough prey for any predators to specialize in roadside ambushes. If anything, the semi-regular passage of people strong enough to make their own way through the wilds had encouraged the local predators to find safer hunting grounds.

Yize frowned as he glanced down at the seat beside him. The cash box was locked underneath that ordinary plank of wood, holding more silver than Yize had ever seen in his life before he'd started working for Muchen. He had been alarmed when he'd seen how casually the other man spent his money, but he had to admit that he could earn the silver to support his spending.

Yize enjoyed the distilled liquor he'd learned how to make. It warmed his stomach on cold nights, and the burn from drinking such hard alcohol was more invigorating than a gentle sip of wine. Still, he would have balked at paying more than fifty wen for a glass. He never would have imagined it was possible to charge even ten taels for a jug of the stuff, let alone twenty five. He still had a hard time believing just how eager Miss Xiaodan had been when he arrived in Jiaoqu Town. The bartender had practically thrown her silver at him in her eagerness to get the liquor off of his cart and into her bar.

Yize shook his head at the thought. He knew he would have to get used to handling large sums of silver if he was going to keep doing this work, but he still had a hard time picturing himself quoting a price of twenty-five taels with a straight face. At least with a steady customer in place, he didn't have to worry about negotiations.

He did wonder, though, if Muchen's greed had led him astray when it came to selling their perfume. He knew that the stuff didn't cost much to make, basically requiring nothing more than some flower petals, some seed oil, and his sister's time. Maybe the quality of it was worth five taels. Certainly the few regular customers he'd managed to land seemed to think so. But as he returned from his second consecutive trip with most of the perfume that he'd brought with him still unsold, he couldn't help but feel frustrated.

He did his best to look on the bright side. He'd be arriving at Jiulu City soon enough, giving him another chance to move his wares. He hadn't had much success on the outgoing leg of the trip or on either leg of his previous trip, but logically speaking he should be getting better at making sales with every attempt.

He stopped in the forest just outside the settled area surrounding the city. It was late in the afternoon, not nearly enough sunlight left in the day to reach the commercial district and set up his stall. Instead, he decided to save on the inn fee and spend another night out under the stars.

He hopped off of the cart and froze for a moment in indecision. If he started making camp right now, then it would be too dark to move around freely by the time he was done. He'd have a perfectly good excuse to skip his exercises, go straight into his evening meditation, enjoy his meal, and go to sleep.

Was it a perfectly good excuse, though? Yize thought back to the grin on Xinyi's face the last time she'd put him through "remedial training."

He sighed, giving his bedroll an affectionate pat where it lay in the back of the cart before abandoning it to walk over to the center of the clearing. He held both hands in front of him, crouched into a solid horse stance, and began to count.

Setting up camp in the dark was a pain. It wasn't made any easier by the full-body soreness that set in almost immediately after he had finished his exercises. Still, Yize was in a good mood.

Soreness was a sign that you had been working hard. And he needed to work hard if he was ever going to catch up with Zihan, let alone measure up to Xinyi's standards.

He was still only at five open meridians, though the next one wasn't too far away. He'd gotten a little complacent before at the gap in cultivation between himself and his sister. Zihan's addition to the sect had shown the price of slacking off, as he had suddenly found himself far from the top of their little group of elders.

Once he had a fire going, he lowered himself into a meditative pose with a relieved hiss. As much as he tried to convince himself that soreness was a badge of honor, it was still a relief to be off his feet. He waited a moment for his mood to settle before he began to cultivate.

He took a deep breath, hunting for the spiritual energy in the air. As usual, he went through a brief moment of fear as nothing happened, but on the third breath he could feel the warmth of the spiritual energy entering his body and flowing through his meridians. He had already enjoyed tremendous physical benefits from his improvement in cultivation—there was a time when he would have thought of a solo trip to the Northern Wastes as suicidal rather than just a little dangerous—and he was eager to reach the foundation building stage and get a taste of real cultivation.

He felt his heartbeat pick up and took a deliberate breath. Spiritual energy was a tricky prey. Not dangerous, at least not so far, but wary. He had found through practice that it was best to relax and let it come to him, but in the heat of the moment it could be hard to hold fast to his plans.

Any eagerness, any attempt at outright pursuit would only drive away his quarry. Yize remained still and breathed once more. The energy flowed into him, strong and steady. He allowed himself a smile. Progress was only a matter of time.