I have a little bit of talent

"I'm sorry. I just saw you talking with my junior brother, and I couldn't help but think of my brother's teachings to me. I just laughed. Please forgive me if I disturbed you."

After all, it was his fault, Fang Mu bowed and apologized.

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Ming and Sun Rongyuanbao's ugly expressions immediately disappeared. They looked at Fang Mu and laughed.

"I see. It seems that I have wrongly blamed you, little brother. I am a rough man and I don't understand any great principles. I usually say whatever I want to say, regardless of the occasion. I can't change my bad temper."

Tieshan also laughed heartily.

"Come, let's have a drink together. Meeting by chance is also fate."

The Tieshan brothers drank a cup with Fang Mu, and they gradually became familiar with each other.

When they learned that Fang Mu was coming from Yangzhou City to Yanzhou, Tieshan and his men were greatly surprised. After all, the distance between Tongyang City and Yangzhou City was nearly a thousand miles, almost spanning half of Yangzhou. And it was not easy for a young man like Fang Mu to travel a thousand miles alone.

"To get from Tongyang to Yanzhou, you have to cross the Luoxia Mountains. It's risky to travel alone. It's not as safe as the official road. When we came here, we encountered bandits robbing us. Since you want to go to Yanzhou too, you might as well wait a few more days. If you travel with us, we can have someone to look after you."

Seeing that Fang Mu had left home alone at such a young age, Tieshan was concerned about his personal safety while traveling through the mountains, so he invited Fang Mu to join a team.

"Brother Tie and I hit it off right away. I'm lonely, so I'll trouble you all."

Fang Mu readily agreed, thinking that Tieshan was a good person and someone he could get along with.

Boss Xie and other merchants did not refuse. After all, one more or one less person would not affect them, and they would not have to pay any more. There was really no need to object.

Everyone enjoyed the delicious food and wine while chatting. When they were full, Fang Mu, Tieshan and others agreed to meet at the west city gate in three days, and then they went their separate ways.

In the next few days, Fang Mu started to wander around Tongyang City. He visited all the places of interest in the city, and even went to several brothels and brothels in the city to listen to some music.

Of course, I went there with the attitude of appreciating the experience and didn't have any other thoughts.

"The scenery in Tongyang is really nice, and the girl is no less beautiful than those in Yangzhou."

Fang Mu sat leaning against a chair, enjoying the singing and dancing of the courtesans on the stage. Their graceful figures moved and their songs were lingering, attracting the attention of other guests in the building, their eyes shining. However, Fang Mu just watched with a smile on his face, drinking a glass of wine from time to time.

Although the woman on the stage was quite beautiful and her manners were alluring, Fang Mu had seen many more scenes than this on the Internet in his previous life. He came here just for the sake of novelty and was not moved at all.

……

Back in the inn room, Fang Mu prepared for the evening practice as usual. Since he decided to practice, Fang Mu has used most of his time every night to practice Qigong and sharpen his soul, leaving only one or two hours to sleep and restore his energy. It has become a habit.

As the soul grew to nine inches, no matter how hard he worked on it these days, he couldn't increase its strength. The vast energy of heaven and earth that penetrated into the soul couldn't cause the slightest change.

"We have hit a bottleneck. If nothing unexpected happens, it will probably take some time before we can make some progress."

Fang Mu was not discouraged. Everyone would encounter bottlenecks in their practice, so how could he be an exception!

Moreover, his soul is about to be fully developed, and is much better than those practitioners who have practiced for hundreds of years. It is unlikely that anyone would believe Fang Mu's achievement at such a young age.

Although there was no progress in his cultivation at this time, Fang Mu did not stop and continued to practice silently. As the saying goes, water drips through a stone, and the key to cultivation is long-term persistence. Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles. Any great practitioner, in addition to talent, must also have a persistent heart to pursue the Tao.

It is obvious that Fang Mu has now embarked on the true path.

……

Soon, three days passed in a flash.

Fang Mu got up early, washed up, went to the first floor of the inn to find the innkeeper to check out, and then went straight to the west gate of Tongyang to meet up with Tieshan and others.

The inn where Fang Mu lived was not far from the West City Gate, and it didn't take long for them to reach their destination. Tieshan and his fellow apprentices, Boss Xie, and others had obviously been there for a while, and were all gathered outside the West City Gate.

"Sorry for keeping me waiting. I almost missed the time because of oversleeping," Fang Mu apologized.

"No, we are used to getting up early and setting off. Now that we are here, let's get ready to set off."

With a wave of Boss Xie's hand, the entire caravan began to set off.

The caravan was not large, with only a dozen people. In addition to the three Tieshan brothers and Boss Xie, there were also a few cooks pushing carts loaded with goods to be transported back to Yanzhou.

The people in the caravan were obviously people who traveled between the two states for business all year round, and their steps were not slow. Tieshan was at the front of the team, while Zhao and Sun were at the end of the team, guarding the caravan one in front and one behind, and cooperating with each other tacitly. It was obviously not the first time for them to do this.

Fang Mu walked in the middle of the team with Boss Xie, talking as they walked.

"Thank you very much, otherwise I would have been very uncomfortable on this long journey."

"Why are you being polite? When Master Tie invites me, how dare I disobey your order? However, it is indeed dangerous for you to travel alone through the Luoxia Mountains. Although this trade route has been opened for many years and the wild beasts in the mountains have long been driven away, bandits have often appeared in the past two years. You must be on guard."

"Bandits?" Fang Mu was curious.

You have to know that the Great Zhou Kingdom has been peaceful for a long time, and has always attached great importance to people's livelihood. Although most of the people in the Great Zhou Kingdom are not rich, they are still guaranteed to have enough food and clothing. Even if there is a disaster year with a poor harvest, the government offices will open warehouses to provide disaster relief, and very few people will starve to death or freeze to death. This makes the people of the Great Zhou Kingdom extremely trustful of the government and the court. For many years, there have been very few bandit problems in the local area, and even if they did appear, they were quickly eliminated by the government. At least Fang Mu has only heard of the word bandit over the years, but has never seen it.

"I have been doing business for decades and have passed through the Luoxia Mountains no less than a hundred times. There was no trouble before. It only appeared in the past two years. The government offices of Huaicheng and Tongyang City have sent out yamen runners to look for it, and even asked cultivators to help search, but they couldn't find any trace of it, so we can only let it go."

Boss Xie sighed and said, "So in the past two years, those of us who make a living by trading have to hire warriors to help escort us, in order to deter robbers. But even with warriors escorting us, every once in a while someone is still robbed, losing both their money and their lives! The entire caravan, along with the warriors who escorted them, disappears, and not even a corpse can be found."

"After this business trip and returning to Huaicheng, I plan to quit my job and start some other business in Huaicheng to make a living."

"Thank you, Boss. Please don't say that!"

"Why?"

"This is very unlucky!"

Fang Mu said with a serious face.

As they were talking, the caravan had already arrived at the foot of the mountain.