The Return of Stars to the Jianghu

"My name is Qi Yuan. Martial artists of the sixth rank and above can discern the level of another's true qi. Only grandmasters can conceal their true qi, making it undetectable to others. There are only a handful of grandmasters in the world, and they are all quite old. Furthermore, Westerners have historically rarely practiced true qi. It is certainly true that you do not possess true qi," the man replied to Luo Yifei.

"In that case, a sword is useless to me. A musket is more useful."

“This Miss Lin Lei is a friend of mine. Her father wants this gun, so naturally I have to put in a good word for her.” Qi Yuan looked at Luo Yifei. “We are also heading southeast, so why don’t we travel together? Firstly, we can look after each other on the road, and secondly, I can teach you some Qi cultivation methods. Since you rented this sword from the museum, you must be doing so to obtain cultivation techniques. As far as I know, the rental fees for museums in the West are not cheap.”

“Since that’s the case, then I have no choice but to comply.” Luo Yifei had to compromise, but he put on a happy expression. He then continued, “May I ask if my backpack can be returned to me?”

"Of course," the middle-aged man in red waved his hand, and another man in red took Luo Yifei's backpack.

"Gentlemen, it's lunchtime. Please finish your meal before you leave. There's no rush," the middle-aged man in red said to Qi Yuan and his group.

Luo Yifei ate lunch with everyone. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and was really hungry. He ignored the others who were eating and chatting and kept eating on his own. Fortunately, no one talked to him.

After finishing their meal and resting for a while, they headed down the mountain together.

The middle-aged man in red and his daughter Lin Lei watched them descend the mountain and disappear from sight.

The middle-aged man in red arrived at the thatched hut where Luo Yifei had woken up and met the man in black, Shi Hao.

"Shi Hao, is your old man still not giving up? He's been in seclusion for ten years, and we all thought he was enjoying his retirement. Now he's back to stirring up trouble."

“The patriarch is prioritizing the greater good. In these turbulent times, the patriarch has gone to great lengths to ensure that we, the younger generation, can secure a peaceful future. Naturally, we, the younger generation, must work even harder.” Shi Hao, the man in black, replied to the middle-aged man in red, seemingly unperturbed that the other man referred to the patriarch as an old man.

"Don't think I don't know what you're plotting. What's the use of the Sleepless Clan mining there? You'll be wasting your time if you can't build an altar. I don't care what you want to do to Qi Yuan, whether you want to delay him or take his life. You should never have dragged my daughter into this." The red-clad middle-aged man's cold gaze was accurately transmitted to the black-clad man, Shi Hao.

“If your daughter hadn’t saved Qi Yuan, she would never have been hit by my arrow. My arrow was not fatal.”

"So you're still alive. But whether you survive or not depends on yourself. I've removed your arrest warrant, and it looks like the authorities will be here soon. I'll send someone to escort you out."

When Shi Hao was escorted down the mountain by the Red-Clothed Sect members, Luo Yifei and the others had just boarded a carriage at the foot of the mountain and had not gone far.

Looking back from inside the carriage, Luo Yifei seemed to see soldiers escorting the man in black, Shi Hao, onto a prison cart.

As Luo Yifei traveled south, he gradually became acquainted with his companions. Their leader was named Qi Yuan, the other men were called by names that sounded like foreign languages, and the women had surnames that were not commonly found on Earth.

Two inseparable brothers are named Ji Mi and Bi Li; a burly soldier is named Wei Er; a scholar-like scholar is named Qiao Zhi; a憨憨 (simple and honest) fat man is named San Mu; a woman in green is named Qing Wei; and a woman in white is named Hua Xi.

"Wanfeng Lake is just ahead, at the border of four countries. Once we cross the lake, we'll reach the Southern Han," Qiao Zhi said to the group.

Luo Yifei thought about the map. The Qi Kingdom was to the northwest of Wanfeng Lake, the Later Tang Dynasty was to the northeast of the lake, the Nanzhao Kingdom was to the southwest, and their destination, the Southern Han Dynasty, was to the southeast.

Luo Yifei didn't know where he was going. He heard that only the Southern Han was free from war, so he decided to go to the Southern Han with them. He didn't know where Shen Lixi and the others were, or if they were in the Southern Han.

As dusk fell, the group stopped their carriage by the lake. Instead of lighting a campfire, they rested in the carriage. For seven days, they cautiously and safely reached the border.

When they arrived at the place, they did not see a single border soldier.

"Is there no border guard stationed at the junction of these four countries?" Luo Yifei couldn't help but ask.

“Of course there are some in the distance, but most of Qi’s troops have been transferred to the northwest, so there are naturally fewer guards here. With fewer people, some places can no longer be patrolled,” Grand Scholar Qiao Zhi explained to Luo Yifei.

"How did you know that border patrols couldn't reach this area?" Luo Yifei pressed.

"It takes more than a day to get here from both border posts. The day shift workers can't even make it back to hand over the night shift, so naturally they can't patrol here."

"Didn't the Qi Kingdom consider setting up another border post?" His experience over the past few days told him that Qiao Zhi would definitely tell him, unless Qiao Zhi didn't know either, so he kept asking Qiao Zhi a lot of questions about the Floating Life Continent.