The gates of the Han mansion were wide open, and nearly a hundred people escorted Han Ning out. Han Sheng'an and his wife constantly reminded her, worried about their daughter's imminent departure.

For the past two months, Mo Wuji had been holed up in his courtyard, fearing assassination, so he wasn't entirely sure how many people were accompanying Han Ning to the capital. Now, seeing nearly a hundred people leaving, he was surprised and asked Ding Bu'er, "Bu'er, are there many people accompanying Miss to Changluo this time?"

Ding Bu'er chuckled and whispered into Mo Wuji's ear, "Besides Miss, only four people are going to Changluo City. Thanks to you, I have the chance to go along. The other two are Peng Maohua and Shao Lan."

"So few?" Mo Wuji felt uneasy. With so few people, security would be difficult to guarantee.

"I heard that Master originally planned to send twenty people with Miss, but the imperial court has decreed that each participant in the Leap Immortal Gate Assembly can only bring four attendants," Ding Bu'er explained.

As the group left Raozhou City, Mo Wuji truly understood why the imperial court limited the number of attendants. The area outside Raozhou City was already packed with people saying goodbye. Clearly, Han Ning wasn't the only one participating in the Leap Immortal Gate Assembly; Mo Wuji saw at least twenty or thirty others.

There were bound to be more he hadn't seen. These people, plus their attendants, probably numbered in the hundreds. And this was just one fiefdom. How many fiefdoms were there in the entire Stellar Transformations Empire, and how many people would that add up to? When Han Sheng'an said that Cheng Yu Country had a dozen participants, he definitely hadn't counted the counties.

Some of these people began to form teams, and after saying goodbye to their families, they boarded beast-drawn carriages and set off. He saw Han Sheng'an arrive and quickly start negotiating with a few people. A moment later, Peng Maohua came over and whispered to Mo Wuji and Ding Bu'er, "Our Han family is teaming up with Cao Hao, the young prince of Wuxue County, Ji Changhe, the direct grandson of Marquis Ji of Fengcheng, and Yang Jun Song, the only son of the manager of Wanpu Trading Company's Cheng Yu branch. Remember, none of these people are easy to deal with, so try not to get into conflicts with them."

Ding Bu'er patted his chest. "Chief Protector Peng, don't worry, I'm not a troublemaker. Since we're teaming up, we're all teammates and should work together."

Peng Maohua nodded. He was just mentioning it casually; Ding Bu'er knew his limits and wouldn't cause trouble. Mo Wuji, too, was different from the rumors. In his memory, Mo Wuji was quite well-behaved, except for being late to the first gathering. He didn't even leave his courtyard, so how could he cause trouble?

Han Ning was also saying goodbye to her family, beckoning Mo Wuji and the others to board the carriage. To Mo Wuji's surprise, Han Sheng'an didn't give him any parting instructions.

"Let's go, let's get on the carriage," Ding Bu'er said, pulling Mo Wuji.

Just then, Mo Wuji suddenly felt a chill. He subconsciously looked back and saw a figure quickly turn and disappear.

He didn't know if this person was targeting him; otherwise, how could he sense discomfort? Thinking this, Mo Wuji didn't dare linger and hurried onto the Han family's beast-drawn carriage.

The carriage was divided into two compartments, with Han Ning and Shao Lan in the inner compartment and the three of them in the outer one. Neither compartment was small, so the five of them didn't feel cramped.

With the coachman's shout, the carriage started moving. Because they were teamed up with three other families, the four carriages set off simultaneously.

Mo Wuji knew a bit about these beast-drawn carriages. The beasts pulling the carriages were similar to horses, but with greater endurance and defensive capabilities.

Of course, they were no match for cars. In Cheng Yu Country, there were bus-like vehicles. Unfortunately, these buses could only operate in Cheng Yu Country or nearby areas. Once they left Cheng Yu Country, there were no roads to travel on.

This was mainly because people here didn't value technological development, and also because of the numerous countries.

Even within a county-level kingdom under the same fiefdom, factions were divided. It would be difficult to build a smooth road that ran through several countries.

However, various countries put a lot of effort into cultivating spiritual herbs and mining minerals; these were the main focus here.

…

Apart from the official road just outside Raozhou, which was relatively wide and smooth, the roads that followed were almost entirely bumpy mountain paths. Fortunately, the carriage's shock absorption was decent.

Along the way, they encountered many beast-drawn carriages heading to the capital. Mo Wuji noticed that apart from a few acquaintances who greeted each other, most people were focused on traveling. Even the other four families in their team, except for the four protagonists who were participating in the Assembly exchanging pleasantries during rest and meal times, mostly left each other alone.

A month later, the convoy stopped at a boundless coastline. When Mo Wuji and the others arrived, the place was already packed with people. Mo Wuji roughly estimated that there were at least tens of thousands of people. Various kinds of beast-drawn carriages were parked everywhere, as well as some flying beasts.

Mo Wuji was about to ask if these flying beasts were like beast-drawn carriages when he saw a huge flying beast approaching from afar and landing in an open area. The airflow generated by its wings could be felt even by Mo Wuji, who was several dozen meters away.

On the back of the flying beast was a huge circular tent. After the flying beast landed, the tent opened and several people flew down from it.

This was indeed a beast-drawn carriage, but much more convenient than the land-based carriages they were riding. Airplanes probably weren't as convenient, which explained why people here weren't very interested in machinery. If they had these flying beasts, who would bother with airplanes? All the time would be wasted on taking off and landing.

"Damn it, when will our Cheng Yu Country have this kind of flying beast carriage? Why do we have to endure days of bumpy roads to get here?" An dissatisfied curse came from near Mo Wuji.

Without turning around, Mo Wuji knew who it was: Cao Hao, the young prince of Wuxue County, who was part of their team. This guy had a bad temper and would curse at anything he wasn't satisfied with. Once, he even got into a fight with a young prince from another country over road space.

"Bu'er, is this thing very expensive? Why doesn't Cheng Yu Country have one?" Mo Wuji asked Ding Bu'er quietly.

He thought that even if the beast-drawn carriage was expensive, Cheng Yu Country, as a fiefdom, should be able to afford it.

Ding Bu'er chuckled. "It's not about the price; it's a symbol of status. Buying this kind of beast-drawn carriage isn't easy, and money can't solve everything. I heard there's a sect that specializes in training these flying beast carriages, called something like…"

"Don't talk too much. Let's go to the hotel to rest and wait for the ship here," Han Ning interrupted Ding Bu'er.

Cao Hao glanced at Mo Wuji and said with a hint of disdain, "Ning Sister, your cultivation aptitude is decent, but your taste is too poor. If I had chosen such trash to go to the capital with me? Hehe…"

Clearly, he had heard Mo Wuji's words, and he was also annoyed that Mo Wuji hadn't bowed to him along the way. In his opinion, Mo Wuji should have been fawning over him given his status.

Han Ning's face darkened, but she didn't retort on the spot. Seeing that Han Ning didn't dare to refute him, Cao Hao was even more disdainful. "Ning Junior Sister, my father told us to team up, naturally not wanting my teammates to be too weak. To be honest, I'm worried about myself. You know, the nearly two-month sea voyage is the most dangerous time."

Mo Wuji, who hadn't provoked this guy, was being called trash. How could he be happy? A county king's son was nothing. On Earth, he was a globally renowned biologist and pharmacologist. How many dignitaries had sought him out?

Mo Wuji smiled warmly at Cao Hao and said, "I think you don't have to worry about yourself at all. Even a pile of shit has its dung beetle day. Eventually, something will visit you, so don't rush."

(That's all for today's update, friends. Good night!)