Page 739 of Doted By The Regent King

On the fifth day of the second month, Wufu bid farewell to Madam Zhou. Under her reluctant gaze, he left Huayang County and set off for Changan with Ah Jiu.

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Ah Jiu said, "Don’t worry, as for Madam, I have arranged for someone to secretly protect her. Nothing will happen."

Wufu glanced at him sidelong and snorted, "Indeed, some people’s men lurk around like ghosts; it would be difficult for anything to happen."

A flicker passed through Ah Jiu’s eyes, "You know?"

"You might fool the family, but not me, the Six Officials," Wufu huffed lightly.

What she had done in her previous life, Ah Jiu didn’t know, but she was aware. The training she had undergone was beyond his imagination. She had even received specialized training in sensory perception and awareness. So how could she not know about any new addition in the household?

Luckily, that Hidden Guard knew his limits and did not appear where he shouldn’t. Otherwise, she would have dealt with him long ago.

"Wufu always surprises me," Ah Jiu said with a smile. "All these secrets of yours, it’s like I can never fully uncover them."

Wufu scoffed, discontinuing the topic and asked, "How do we proceed?"

For this journey, Wufu had only brought Purple Jade and Jadeite, while Ah Jiu had almost everyone on his side, including Bai Xiaobai.

Ah Jiu took out a map from a drawer nearby and spread it out on the small table in front of the two of them.

"We’ll start on land, taking a boat from the Li River in the prefecture city, then by waterway, here, to the southwest part of Hanzhong. From Ba Mountains, we’ll land and continue on land to Guanzhong," Ah Jiu’s slender finger moved across the map.

Wufu looked at the detailed map before her, radically superior to the one she had bought from the bookstore.

Undoubtedly, Ah Jiu’s map was more thorough with even the distances between mountain ranges clearly marked. It also indicated some hidden streams, something Wufu’s map lacked completely.

However, Wufu wasn’t surprised. With Ah Jiu’s status, possessing such a map wasn’t unusual.

If she had capable people under her command, they could traverse these mountains and rivers from north to south and similarly produce such a map.

"This journey truly is like Tang Seng’s quest to the Western Heaven. It’s quite unordinary!" Wufu stated with a hint of toothache.

Her statement was somewhat exaggerated. Tang Seng’s pilgrimage to the Western Heaven covered a distance of eighty-one thousand miles. The trip from the Shu Region to Guanzhong wasn’t nearly as far, but it was not exactly short either.

Despite the journey not being long, Wufu knew that it promised to be as full of challenges as the eighty-one tribulations.

"You should mention which parts of the road are the least safe," Wufu said, propping her chin on her hand.

Although these weren’t times of chaos, many places within the Nanyue Region had become quite unsafe after last year’s drought, especially the Northwest—a word that spelled chaos.

Times of disorder give rise to heroes as well as to bandits and brigands. Wufu didn’t believe the journey would go smoothly.

Ah Jiu looked at her and asked, "Are you afraid?"

"It’s not about fear," she retorted with a glance, "but rather being prepared. One should not simply stroll to their death blindly, right? I quite value my prime years."

Ah Jiu laughed heartily and said, "With Wufu traveling with us, this journey will undoubtedly be extremely interesting."

Wufu rolled her eyes at him and lowered her head to study the map until Ah Jiu handed her a dossier.

"This is information gathered by my people. Take a look at it too."

Wufu’s eyebrow raised as she looked at him. Seeing he wasn’t joking, she took the dossier without hesitation and began to read.

However, the further she read, the deeper her brows furrowed, until she turned the last page and looked at Ah Jiu. It took a long while before she said somberly, "So, is it still possible to get off this ride now?"

Damn, if it isn’t eighty-one tribulations, it’s certainly forty-nine!