The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

However, after cultivating for these few days, Jiang Ning's internal energy had become a very pure wisp, much better than before when it was barely bigger than a hair.

After finishing the rabbit leg, Jiang Ning stood up, drew his sword, and began practicing swordsmanship inside the cave.

The cave was spacious, with a large interior space, enough for him to stretch out.

Maodou was already fast asleep nearby.

Inside the cave, besides the crackling of the campfire, there were only snores and the sounds of sword practice.

……

Apart from the torrential rain seven days ago, the weather has been clearing up since then. Three days ago, Jiang Ning made a special trip through a county to see if the government had taken any action. However, he didn't see the bounty for him because of inconvenient transportation or because the government hadn't reacted yet. This reassured him, and he stopped deliberately avoiding large cities in the following days.

He was sitting on Maodou's back, and Maodou was carrying him in a southeast direction.

Previously, when he was riding Maodou, he didn't have a saddle, which made riding Maodou very uncomfortable. He bought a saddle in the county he had passed through and put it on Maodou's back, which made it much better.

The shopkeeper was completely dumbfounded when he saw him put the saddle on the back of a donkey.

As Maodou ran, it let out cheerful chirps. Its big front teeth gleamed in the sunlight, and the bells around its neck jingled melodiously.

Five more days passed during this journey before he finally arrived in Xiangyang.

During the journey, he did not encounter any similar incidents to the one where Xu Yaozu forcibly abducted a woman in the street. The journey was relatively peaceful, probably because he passed through mostly villages.

However, when he passed through one of the villages, he discovered that the villagers were about to drown a woman under the village chief's instructions, and he stopped them.

After questioning, it was learned that the woman was already married, but had an affair with another man after marriage, which was eventually discovered by her husband.

Fearing exposure, the woman conspired with her lover to poison her husband, but the husband discovered their plan.

In a fit of rage, the husband accidentally killed the adulterer and, in fear, told the local village chief, who was also their clan leader, what had happened.

When the village chief learned of what had happened in the village, he organized the villagers to put the woman who had been having an affair into a cage and prepare to throw her into the river to drown.

This is their tribal rule.

Jiang Ning confirmed the truth of the matter with the woman, so he stopped interfering.

He has no say in this matter, nor does he want to.

The woman was initially grateful to Jiang Ning for saving her, but after Jiang Ning gave up on saving her, she started cursing at him.

After this interlude, nothing else happened, and Jiang Ning continued his journey until he arrived in Xiangyang.

Compared to Xi'an, Xiangyang was not as prosperous. After all, Xi'an was the capital of six dynasties, and it could only be compared to Jiangnan, Luoyang and the capital.

But Xiangyang is also a large city.

Today is May 12th, which is close to the date he had calculated before.

Jiang Ning led Maodou around the city of Xiangyang.

Unlike in Xi'an Prefecture, there were significantly more martial arts figures in Xiangyang City. You could see people carrying weapons every few steps. Some looked fierce and menacing, while others walked in groups of three or five. Compared to them, Jiang Ning's attire was much more ordinary.

Previously, when he massacred Xu Heqing's family in the Xu residence in Xi'an Prefecture, his newly bought clothes were stained with blood. However, he later washed them clean, and the smell of blood on his body was not so strong. Now, you can't tell at all that he killed so many people.

What's odd is that he's leading a donkey.

It wasn't that no one led a horse into the city, but everyone else was leading a horse, so it seemed rather strange that he was leading a donkey.

Along the way in Jiangning, I noticed that the buildings on both sides of the road were decorated with lanterns, and some streets were already decorated with lanterns and calligraphy and paintings.

According to Yue Buqun, the lantern festival in Xiangyang will begin in three days, so they may have already arrived in Xiangyang.

Jiang Ning planned to find an inn to stay in first, and then ask passersby if they had seen Yue Buqun and the others.

Yue Buqun and his group of dozens of people were quite conspicuous together.

"Oh? Junior Brother? What brings you to Xiangyang?"

Just then, a familiar female voice rang out from behind him. Jiang Ning turned around and saw a woman carrying a lantern in a small alley next to him, looking at him with a surprised expression.

"Senior Sister Du?"

Chapter 39: It really is you!

Jiang Ning was also surprised.

Unexpectedly, I ran into Du Lanyin as soon as I entered the city.

At this moment, Du Lanyin walked over, looked at Jiang Ning, covered her mouth and laughed, "When I first saw you, I wasn't sure, and I was afraid I would mistake you for someone else. I didn't expect it to really be you. Wearing this outfit, I thought you were some young master out for a stroll."

Jiang Ning asked, "Where are Master and the others?"

Du Lanyin said, "We went to visit a friend. We only arrived the day before yesterday. The lantern festival is still three days away. Master took us to stay at an inn, and we've been playing around in the city for the past few days."

Jiang Ning nodded knowingly.

"Why did you bring a donkey? It doesn't suit your style. A horse would have been much better."

Du Lanyin looked curiously at Maodou behind Jiang Ning and wanted to reach out and touch it, but perhaps understanding Du Lanyin's words, Maodou turned its head away and wouldn't let her touch it.

"It's called edamame, and I bought it in Huayin County."

Jiang Ning explained.

Du Lanyin slightly widened her eyes and pointed at the edamame.

"Did you ride it all the way to Xiangyang?"

Jiang Ning nodded.

Du Lanyin chuckled, looking at Maodou with curiosity, and then reached out to touch the bell under its neck.

However, the usually docile Maodou seemed to have a temper, shaking its head back and forth and refusing to let her touch it. Du Lanyin pouted, put her hands on her hips, puffed out her cheeks, and stared at it with a sullen look.

Jiang Ning laughed and reached out to pat Maodou's head.

"Come on, junior brother, I'll take you to the inn. Junior sister and senior brother are there."

Du Lanyin led the way.

"it is good."

Jiang Ning nodded.

The inn where Yue Buqun and his companions were staying was not far from Jiangning; they arrived there in no time.

Before even entering the inn, Jiang Ning heard a familiar voice.

"Five champions, six six six..."

As soon as Jiang Ning entered the inn, he saw four or five people gathered around a table on the first floor. They were Linghu Chong, Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and Ying Bailuo. The four of them were gesturing and talking around the table, which was filled with bowls of wine. Yue Lingshan stood next to Linghu Chong, watching them play.

The voice we just heard was made by Linghu Chong.

"Senior Brother, Junior Sister Ling Shan~"

Du Lanyin called out.

The group of people who were playing the game turned around and spotted Jiang Ning.

"Junior brother, you've come to Xiangyang too?"

Linghu Chong and the others asked in surprise. Then Linghu Chong beckoned to Jiang Ning and said, "Come on, we're playing a drinking game. Junior Brother, why don't you join in?"

Besides drinking, Linghu Chong also used to gamble. Half of the pocket money Yue Buqun gave him was spent on buying alcohol, and the other half was spent on gambling dens.

When Yue Buqun found out, he was furious and punished him severely several times, but to no avail. It wasn't until Jiang Ning's strength caught up with his that he began to cultivate diligently again and gradually gave up gambling. However, he did not change his love of alcohol. Yue Buqun strictly ordered him to drink less, but he still couldn't change. In his words, without alcohol, it would be better to be dead than alive.

Now that Yue Buqun has gone to visit friends at the inn, Ning Zhongze has gone with him. Linghu Chong is so bored at the inn that he plays a drinking game with Lu Dayou and the others, and the loser has to drink.

"No, senior brother."

Jiang Ning smiled and shook his head.

Linghu Chong curled his lip and said it was boring.

"Wow, what a big donkey."

Lu Dayou saw the edamame outside the inn and exclaimed in surprise.

"It's called edamame, and my junior brother bought it in Huayin County."

Du Lanyin answered first.

"Junior brother, didn't you go on a training expedition? Why are you in Xiangyang?"

Gao Genming asked.

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "It was on my way. I thought that Master, Mistress, and all the senior brothers and sisters were here, so I came to take a look."

"Oh."

Gao Genming nodded.

Yue Lingshan said, "My father and mother are not here; they went to visit friends."

Ying Bailuo asked curiously, "Where did you go on your trip down the mountain? Was it fun?"

Jiang Ning shook his head: "There's nothing fun about it."

"Junior brother, you have no idea, Master has been mentioning you all the way here, using you as an example to scold me. It's driving me crazy."

“You’ve only been down the mountain for a short time, and your master’s wife is already talking about you. She tells us every day that it’s your first time coming down the mountain, and she’s worried that you won’t have enough to eat or wear, and that you’ll be bullied. My fellow disciples and I are tired of hearing it.”

Linghu Chong shook his head and sighed, "My master's wife never cared about me this much when I went down the mountain."

"Of course there is."

Yue Lingshan covered her mouth and laughed, "Every time you go down the mountain, your mother worries about you, you just don't know it."

"Really? My master's wife still dotes on me."

Linghu Chong chuckled, his eyes lighting up when he saw the clothes Jiang Ning was wearing.

"Wow, junior brother, you look really good in that outfit! Where did you buy it?"

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "I bought it in Xi'an Prefecture. If you like it, I'll buy you a set next time."

"Alright, junior brother, I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Linghu Chong's eyes lit up, and he gave Jiang Ning a thumbs up.