One day in the early afternoon, Ji Kang was sitting cross legged on the roof. He was almost halfway through one of his two daily meditation sessions, when he saw a messenger arrive at the gate of the courtyard.

The messenger handed off a letter to one of the servants, who brought it directly to Shen Lan. Ji Kang immediately felt an instinct that this involved him somehow.

As it turned out, Lu Wu’s beating of Xiang Chang didn’t go unnoticed by the sect elders, or rather, didn’t go unnoticed by one particular elder. Geng Yazhu was miffed that Lu Wu had found trouble with his brand new A grade talent disciple, and apparently he wasn’t the sort who was above interfering in his junior’s conflicts.

By exerting his influence in the sect bureaucracy, Geng Yazhu managed to get Lu Wu assigned to a mandatory sect mission that would take him away from the mountain and out into the wider world.

To Ji Kang this seemed like blatant sabotage from an elder, as while out on a mission cultivation time would be severely curtailed and it was possible they would fall behind their peers.

But Shen Lan was entirely indifferent, not at all inclined to oppose this mission, so Lu Wu was officially ordered by the sect to leave the mountain and of course, he in turn ordered Ji Kang and Yu Shuren to accompany him. The mission didn’t specifically prohibit Lu Wu from seeking the aid of fellow disciples, and the two of them were bound by the contract to obey him.

Ever since his conversation with Shen Lan in her library, Ji Kang had only exchanged a few casual sentences in passing with his master. This was as expected, after all she agreed to take the three of them as disciples as part of a transaction so it wasn’t surprising that their relationship was distant.

The three of them were issued provisions for the road and packs filled with camping goods they might need, as well as a little over five hundred taels of gold, which weighed a total of 32 catties, that were a necessary component for their mission.

On the day of their departure, they were finally filled in on the specifics of their mission. The three boys were to travel 450 li by foot to Zaotong, a small river town on the Nanbei river. In Zaotong they would meet up with a young relative of a certain elder whose letter was the ostensible purpose of the mission. From there they were to take a boat downriver to Anwong, the capital of the Nation of Zhu.

Once in Anwong, they had two goals, their cover goal that they were free to announce and their secret goal. On the surface they were going to escort the young man they met in Zaotong in delivering a letter from the previously mentioned elder, to Mo Xinyue, the matriarch of an influential noble family living in the city. The second goal was to make contact with the Azure Grove Sect’s head of intelligence in the city, one Li Chun.

Once they made contact with Li Chun, they were to deliver five hundred taels of gold, which would act as operating funds for Azure Grove Sect’s circle of spies in the city, and they would receive a sealed intelligence report from Li Chun that they were to bring back to Azure Grove Sect. The rest of the gold Ji Kang and company had been given was meant to act as travel expenses to and from Anwong.

In order to travel from Anwong back to Azure Grove Sect they were to take a ship around the coast then back up the Hua river, which was the name of the river the Azure Grove Sect and Jidong were beside. In Jidong they just called it Changjiang, meaning long river.

The mission was not expected to be particularly dangerous as long as they weren’t caught in the act of conducting espionage within the borders of Zhu, but if they were caught it was likely that they would be imprisoned indefinitely.

Needless to say, Ji Kang was entirely unamused by this turn of events whereby his own scheme had backfired on him like this.

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According to Ji Kang’s calculations, this trip would take approximately three and a half weeks. Three days to walk to Zaotong, one week by boat to Anwong, a day or two in Anwong completing their mission and waiting for their boat which would take them to the Hua river and upriver, passing Jidong and continuing to Azure Grove Sect. That last leg of their journey from Anwong to the Azure Grove would take two weeks, since they would be going upriver rather than down.

The silver lining in Ji Kang’s opinion was that while on board the two boats they would hopefully have plenty of free time with which to cultivate.

As Ji Kang, Yu Shuren and Lu Wu were leaving the mountain, going south Ji Kang was struggling to adjust his backpack so the straps wouldn’t be digging in so hard.

This was the first time he had used such a large bag. Including the blanket rolled up and tied to the top of the bag, it was taller than his torso and just as wide. Ji Kang hadn’t had a chance to examine his appearance while wearing it yet, but he imagined that he cut quite the ridiculous figure with his thin lanky build contrasted with the enormous pack. Yu Shuren had the exact same bag carrying almost the same things, but on his bear-like back the proportions weren’t nearly so absurd.

The situation wouldn’t be nearly so bad if they didn’t have to carry the gold for the mission. Adding that weight on top of all the gear they were taking because they expected to sleep outside several times during the trip, Yu Shuren and Ji Kang were carrying about 70 catties between them. With every step the load seemed heavier, eventually even their enhanced strength would be worn down.

The two of them hadn’t been surprised when Lu Wu announced he wouldn’t be carrying a pack, they had just silently divided his load between them.

As they walked into the port town at the base of the mountain, which the three of them had passed through when they arrived at the sect just four months ago. Ji Kang now knew the name of the town was Fengliang, and just as he had guessed when he first saw it, the main reason for the town’s existence was to supply the needs of Azure Grove Sect.

A large sect like the Azure Grove needed a considerate amount of imported goods in order to exist. Enough food for all the outer and inner disciples who hadn’t yet advanced far enough to have lessened appetites was a massive amount of goods on its own, there was also all sorts of luxury items and mundane bulk goods, like raw iron, that were nonetheless helpful for cultivators.

About to enter the outskirts of Fengliang, Ji Kang suddenly looked back towards the mountain. From afar the mountain was truly unremarkable, all the buildings were disguised by the tall bamboo and none of the numerous trails was wide enough to cut a noticeable gap from even this relatively short distance.

“I’ve been wondering about something” Ji Kang broke the silence.

“Oh? What is it?” Yu Shuren asked.

“Ever since we first arrived I’ve been looking around for our sect’s namesake, the so-called “azure grove”, but I’ve never seen anything that could be reasonably called that. All the bamboo here are shades of green all over. So where does the name come from?”

Lu Wu and Yu Shuren had both stopped when Ji Kang first spoke and now they all stared back at the sect mountain. They both showed perplexed expressions.

“That’s surprisingly not a bad question. Maybe our sect has a hidden land? Or there’s an illusion formation?” Lu Wu gave his input.

“Hmm, perhaps, but why would they name the sect after a hidden area? Surely something like that would be concealed.” Yu Shuren disagreed.

“I’ve been thinking about this on and off since we got here and haven’t found any definitive answers yet. It’ll probably remain unexplained for us three for the foreseeable future. After all, no one tells the messengers anything.” Ji Kang gave a resigned sigh, and turned to start walking towards the port again.

“Hmph! If I had known Elder Geng was so petty I would have reconsidered the beating I gave that fool Xiang Chang. Becoming a spy and a messenger at the same time truly is a new low.” Lu Wu made sure to continue leading the trio through the town as he lamented the perceived drop in status this mission represented.

Yu Shuren and Ji Kang echoed his sigh, but for a different reason. This trip would absolutely cost them in terms of cultivation time, and would almost certainly have a degree of danger. Geng Yazhu truly didn’t waste whatever influence he had exerted to accomplish this, with one stroke he had punished them for attacking his disciple and also materially harmed their chances in the inner sect tournament.