The 3rd cart that Elder Yuanshu mentioned was by far the largest of the carts in the caravan. It was more like a house with wheels, as opposed to the other common cloth-covered wagons. With a wooden roof and four pairs of wheels, it was drawn by 8 horses and from what Wu Guang knew, this 20 feet long construction would be used to haul something ordered from the 'Grass Blade School'. The latter being one of the two main powers on the Green Pastures island.
For now, it was empty inside and was used as a residence for Elder Di and so it was logical for him to be there, but in truth, the main reason was also that this wagon was the only one with runes present. The runes themselves were only sealing and concealing ones, so from the side, it simply looked like a big, but normal roofed cart.
After knocking on the wooden door located on the rear of the cart, Wu Guang informed of his identity and waited.
A few moments later, he was invited to enter by Elder Di. Inside the wagon was empty except for a chest and a bed.
Elder Di was currently sitting on the bed, while the woman Wu Guang had fought before was kneeling nearby.
With his newly obtained power, he could easily see through the cultivation and state that both of them had, so on a whim, he did so.
Elder Di was as expected, in a perfect state and had an 8th level of the Soul realm cultivation.
As for the woman, her cultivation had been sealed with an acupuncture method, but still, Wu Guang saw that it was indeed at the 7th level of the Spirit realm. Her state was not bad as her wound was already healed, seemingly by Elder Di.
"Inner Disciple Wu Guang greets Elder"
"No need to stand on ceremony little friend, come closer"
"With Elder's permission then" Said Wu Guang while moving forwards and stopping only when he was two feet away from the bed.
"Hahaha. I see that you have succeeded?"
"Indeed"
"Perfect. I have already spoken with this unruly girl, and she accepted the deal"
"I see, did Elder confirm everything?"
"Yes, I did. There are no problems to proceed right now. Oh, before that, let me introduce you. This here is Lan Yanzhi" Said the Elder while motioning towards the kneeling woman
"Lan Yanzhi greets young master" sensing that it was her cue, the woman spoke and kowtowed
"Mmm, in the future there is no need for such ceremony"
"Ahem... Anyway, we will be setting off shortly. I have already prepared the contract, please check it, and let's complete the process. As for discussing the matters between you two, the road should give you enough time"
"Yes, Elder" Wu Guang nodded while receiving a scroll from the Elder. The scroll was a simple rolled-up parchment and only stated the conditions for this Master-Servant relationship. In truth, the scroll itself had no power at all, as the real deterrence was the ceremony that completed the process. Still, it was customary to write down all the conditions beforehand, to be sure that the accompanying oath will cover all possible situations.
The conditions penned down by the Elder were simple but did cover a lot of situations. In short, Lan Yanzhi would become Wu Guang's servant and follow all his orders until she was liberated or won an official duel against him. The latter normally was something not commonly included but served as a good goal for her to not stop training. Apart from that, she was forbidden from disclosing any matters about him and from fighting if not allowed to do so.
"Everything is fine, thank you, Elder. But, I don't see the point about instilling a consciousness strand"
"Oh, my bad, we will add it right away. I trust miss Lan has no issues with it?"
Even if she had, Lan Yanzhi had no way to refuse anything, so she shook her head.
Seeing this, Elder Di took out a brush and wrote down the last condition. Afterward, both Wu Guang and Lan Yanzhi sealed it with a drop of blood by cutting their fingers. Then both recited an oath before the heavens of following this agreement.
The last part was for Wu Guang to instill a strand of his consciousness into Lan Yanzhi. Although it could normally be used to only sense her location if something happened to her or the strand, Wu Guang would know right away. In truth, with Wu Guang's current consciousness he could even kill her directly, but this was something that no one except him knew.
The instilling process was extremely simple and finished in a few moments. Wu Guang had simply to will for a small strand of his consciousness to separate and by touching Lan Yanzhi's head, will it inside.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
With everything done, Elder Di undid the seal on her cultivation before saying with a smile
"This young lass's holding pouch should have spare clothes, so don't forget about that"
"Do not worry Elder. Then if you permit, we will take our leave"
"No problem. We will depart right after breakfast, which if I am not mistaken should be ready in a short while"
As they were exiting, Elder Di sent Wu Guang a qi transmission
"I have roughly explained her your situation and made her swear an oath of secrecy. So you can avoid hiding the objectives behind your tasks. Still, be careful, even if the oath is there, under torture people tend to talk even if they will die"
In response to this, Wu Guang nodded in response before stepping outside.
Lan Yanzhi's holding pouch was considered as Wu Guang's spoils, so what Elder Di mentioned about him giving her clothes was not a joke. Still, Wu Guang did not need anything inside, so after checking the contents he tossed it towards her.
"I will return you this. Go change before breakfast. We will talk in-depth while traveling"
"Thank you" Lan Yanzhi bowed after catching the pouch and quickly moved towards the forest where Wu Guang had been before.
She returned a few minutes later. Seemingly deciding to adapt to her current status as a servant of a young master, she did not change into a martial outfit. In place of that, she donned a common gray dress, washed up in one of the nearby streams, and combed her hair.
When Wu Guang saw this new Lan Yanzhi, he found that he was a bit mistaken at night. She wasn't a world-shaking beauty, but she wasn't a common past 30 woman either. Her figure and face were both above the average and actually, she was and looked only a few years older than Wu Guang himself.
Elder Di seemingly had explained the situation to everyone, so during breakfast, there were no questions or commentaries about Lan Yanzhi joining. Still, as Kuan Jing could be considered someone close to Wu Guang, a joke about him having a woman nearby and so from now ignoring them was pronounced.
The current Wu Guang would not actually react to such, but as he was now extremely careful to maintain his changes hidden, he joked back that he would prefer a beautiful older sister in place.
________________________________________________________________________
The third day of their journey passed peacefully and they spent the night in one of the villages near the road. Surprisingly, this village more than one hundred and twenty miles from the Sect was part of the ones protected by it. So it's no wonder that they were received joyfully and even a small banquet was celebrated. Wu Guang did not pay real attention, but for the first time, his new self was a bit surprised.
This surprise was mainly because every adult in the village was a cultivator. Granted the most advanced of them was only a 3rd level Spirit realm cultivator, but still, it was something amazing considering that the overall population of the island was comprised of mortals. As asking about this was something normal, Wu Guang did so and found out that actually, most of the present Spirit realm cultivators were ex-disciples of the Sect. They did not have backers or could not return to their families, so after a few of them gathered, the Sect offered them to move into this village. Such a way of life could not appeal to normal martial cultivators, but as they originally came from low backgrounds and their talent wasn't good as to continue cultivating, a lot of them agreed. Given that several dozens of cultivators moved into the village, simply living there helped most young people at least enter the Body realm. Plus any promising youth was sent into the Sect, and so, the amount of Spirit cultivators steadily grew.
And so, this village changed into what it currently was.
Wu Guang also was told that all the villages under the official Sect's protection had similar situations. So even the smallest one had a few ex-disciples from the Sect.
From this information, Wu Guang thought "Huh, so that means that the Sect's power indeed surpasses the other powers on the island by far. Even without taking into account the core members, simply by rallying their unaffiliated ex-disciples, the amount is far above the armies of the three main cities. Granted they are extremely weak, but only a few people in each city have entered the Soul realm. After all, the City Lord Wei himself was only a beginner Soul realm cultivator. And he is considered one of the top experts in Boundary Hill City".