Tan Bin’s ancestors were school teachers, but for years they failed to secure any recommendation to enter officialdom and died in frustration. No one outstanding emerged in the family, so Tan Bin began studying literature and practicing martial arts from a young age. Unfortunately, without a cultivation talent, he couldn’t become a cultivator. In the end, he managed to enter the Fengri City Xuanqing Guard Thousand Households Station thanks to the lingering blessings of his ancestors.

Because he could read and was quick-witted, he was chosen as a clerk when the Black Banner Battalion was established, and later was dispatched as a street scout.

The so-called "street scout" was actually a job wandering the alleys and streets, mainly listening in on the daily gossip and rumors, reporting anything worth attention. Its function was quite limited—rarely useful information came from it. The scout system itself evolved from the military’s recon pickets, but for the jurisdiction of the Xuanqing Guard, it wasn’t exactly suitable.

After Shen Hao assumed the position of Hundred Households Officer at the Black Banner Battalion, he directly abolished the street scouts. Those who had been scouts were retained and assigned to serve as pickets within various banners as before.

Not everyone in the Black Banner Battalion at the Thousand Households Station were cultivators; a considerable number were ordinary people. These didn’t charge to the front in combat, but they were still indispensable.

Cultivators carry True Qi reactions; the lower their cultivation, the easier it is to be detected. Ordinary people, on the other hand, all look similar, so blending in is easy and exposure is much less likely. The best scouts are the ordinary people, not the cultivators.

This time, Tan Bin and two companions received orders to infiltrate the Hengshun Carriage and Horse Company’s convoy, accompanying a shipment of pig iron to Hai Xia. Their mission: carefully record all suspicious people and events along the route.

Tan Bin could drive a cart, and did so expertly, but it was his first time driving a mule cart. Thankfully, the two mules he had were docile, and he didn’t expose himself; after a few days adapting, no one could tell it was his first time joining the convoy.

The four-wheeled vehicle was called a "large cart," with a flip seat for people and a cargo hold at the rear. The maximum load per trip was 1,800 jin, but accounting for distance it was reduced to 1,500 jin this time. Nothing odd about that. What truly puzzled Tan Bin was the iron blocks loaded onto the cart from the warehouse.

Tan Bin had seen iron blocks when he worked as a street scout. Typically, they’re five to ten jin each to facilitate transport—square, packed in thick wooden boxes.

But the iron blocks moved from the Xiaoshan Tielu Manor’s warehouse were oddly shaped: pig iron cut in the shape of stone locks, each weighing roughly fifty jin. They didn’t use thick wooden boxes, just stacked them directly in the cart bed, covered with heavy cloth and tied down.

Fifty jin! And shaped like stone locks? If a cultivator used these for body refinement it would make sense, but for regular people, iron blocks are dragged by cart or horse—who could lift one of these in each hand and walk? Was someone really supposed to carry them like that?

From Li City to Yu City, Tan Bin saw no buyer’s staff along the way. But he saw the corruption at the road checkpoints—just mentioning the carriage company’s name let them pass unchallenged, no inspection of the paperwork let alone checking the goods. These checkpoints were completely useless—absurdly so. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Moreover, it wasn’t just Li City; all six checkpoints along the route were like this. Tan Bin didn’t know whether Hengshun Carriage and Horse Company was truly powerful or those Road Administration Office staff were simply rotten to the core.

Arriving at Yu City, the convoy didn’t enter the town, instead detouring to a small dock south of Yu City. The dock was right on the Bai River, very small, fitting maybe five or six boats total.

At the dock, Tan Bin noticed a batch of unfamiliar faces connecting with the convoy. These people wore fine clothing, jade hanging at their waists, and quality belts. Even from a distance, he could feel a faint sense of pressure.

Thanks to special training, Tan Bin recognized the slight pressure came from the cultivations on those people—they were all cultivators. Although Tan Bin couldn’t determine their exact cultivation level.

Carts were rolled onto the boat, mules unhitched and led to the lower deck. Cargo stored mid-deck; people remained above.

There were no cabins to sleep in—everyone was either on the deck or just lying atop the iron blocks mid-deck. Tan Bin asked a few veteran workers who’d traveled this route; they said going downstream would take no more than two days to reach Hai Xia, much faster than overland.

But when Tan Bin asked about the cultivators, those old hands shrugged; they only knew the buyers sent them to accompany the goods. Not every trip had them onboard—sometimes they only appeared in Hai Xia. Their faces changed too; who’d come next was unpredictable.

Before the trip, Tan Bin studied a portrait he’d been told to memorize. But none of the cultivators at the dock matched the person depicted.

After two days aboard, Tan Bin wretchedly discovered he got seasick. Although there were no big waves, the slight rocking was still very uncomfortable, his head fuzzy and wanting to vomit but couldn’t. Not until he disembarked at the next dock on the second evening did he gradually recover.

Off the boat—now they were in Hai Xia territory.

Though it was nighttime, the dock was brightly lit. They unloaded ships and loaded carts through the night, and set off south along the government road. Around midnight they stopped at a fork, set up camp, and waited for dawn before continuing.

Here, Tan Bin noticed even more unfamiliar faces had joined the convoy—over thirty, all cultivators. They were alert, rotating patrols before and after the convoy, hands always on their weapons, brimming with evil qi.

Guarding against thieves?

Tan Bin kept everything in mind. The thirty newcomers joining at the second dock felt familiar—like soldiers from the military.

At dawn, the convoy didn’t stay on the government road, taking a side path instead. Road conditions plummeted, mules struggled harder, progress slowed down.

On the road, Tan Bin saw several groups of fast riders hanging far behind the convoy, then disappearing quickly. He knew they were horse bandits. Maybe seeing the Hengshun Carriage and Horse Company flag and thirty cultivators discouraged any mass attack.

Looks like Hai Xia isn’t very peaceful.

They spent three and a half days stop-and-go on the side path before reaching a boundary marker—Beach Stone. After Beach Stone, it took another two days to reach Xiaochuan.

The route wasn’t that far, but without a government road, the terrain was terrible and the cargo heavy, making it the slowest, hardest part of the journey.

Xiaochuan didn’t have a town, just a few small villages. The convoy couldn’t enter, so they parked along the road.

Tan Bin looked around for a while and saw no one coming to take the cargo. Why was the convoy stopping here? Several other drivers, also new to this route, asked about it too, but were told not to talk—just wait. Then Tan Bin and all the drivers were told to get off, walk three li east, and not to return unless summoned.

Tan Bin understood this was to get the drivers out for transferring the cargo.