Once outside the city gates, Wang Xuan saw that Cai Yan was all alone, without even a horse or other mount. He quickly said with anticipation, "Zhaoji, our journey to Donglai County is long, at least tens of thousands of miles. Why don't you come and ride with me?"
Don't assume that dragon-scaled horses are ordinary horses just because Wang Xuan and his companions each have one, or even the horses pulling the carriages for the players.
Actually, this is a kind of mythical beast with incredibly powerful blood and energy. It can travel three thousand miles a day and can even fight against ordinary innate masters!
The dragon-scaled horse that Wang Xuan was riding was the strongest of the dragon-scaled horses, so it was no problem to carry two people.
Chapter Fifty-Six Unicorn
"Are dragon-scaled horses that rare? I have a better mount." Miss Cai Yan ruthlessly shattered Wang Xuan's fantasy.
The young lady took out a small jade flute, about half a foot long, from her spatial ring and gently blew on it.
A beautiful flute melody then drifted out, captivating Wang Xuan so much that he couldn't help but murmur, "Who secretly played the jade flute, scattering its sound across Luoyang in the spring breeze?"
Cai Yan merely glanced at Wang Xuan before ignoring him and continuing to play her jade flute.
After about half a day, Cai Yan suddenly stopped and looked up at the distant sky.
Wang Xuan's heart stirred, and following Cai Yan's gaze, he saw a strange beast flying towards them from the sky.
The strange beast was entirely milky white and resembled a half-grown foal. However, it had a single horn on its head and a pair of wings under its flanks, allowing it to fly in the sky like a bird.
"That's a unicorn!" Wang Xuan stared blankly at the strange beast in the sky, feeling incredibly embarrassed.
He even invited Cai Yan to ride with him, but how could his dragon-scaled horse compare to a unicorn?
The Dragonscale Horse is only a second-tier exotic beast, with strength comparable to a martial arts master at the innate level. The Unicorn, on the other hand, is a third-tier exotic beast, with strength roughly equivalent to a master who has achieved enlightenment through martial arts.
It's like someone driving a tractor inviting someone driving a sports car to go for a drive...
Sure enough, it's best to kill our own dragon-scaled horse. It made Wang Xuan lose face in front of Miss Cai Yan; what use is it now?
"Speaking of which, if I were to kill my Dragonscale Horse, Zhaoji, would you invite me to ride a unicorn with you?" Wang Xuan teased.
The dragon-scaled horse beneath him seemed to sense a chill and neighed.
“Unicorns are sacred beasts, and I won’t let a man like you ride one!” Cai Yan chuckled, then waved for the unicorn to come over quickly.
The unicorn, like a nimble sprite, gracefully flew through the air, circled above their heads once, and finally landed in front of Cai Yan.
Cai Yan stroked the little unicorn with a face full of affection, and the unicorn also acted affectionately towards her. The two of them were like family members, very close.
After they had been cuddling for a while, Miss Cai Yan rode her unicorn and showed it off to Wang Xuan, saying, "This is my partner, Little Snowball. When I first saw it, it was just a tiny little thing, curled up like a little snowball, so I named it that."
"Hopefully, when they encounter enemies, this little guy won't cower like a ball." Wang Xuan remained calm, showing no envy or jealousy whatsoever... That was impossible!
This is a unicorn! It can rival a third-tier expert who has entered the Dao through martial arts. Even Wang Xuan's cheap father, Wang Yun, is only at the third-tier level of Dao cultivation!
Looking at the unicorn snowball and then at Cai Yan, Wang Xuan suddenly realized that he had overlooked something.
With a thought, he glanced at Cai Yan using the power of the half-finished Heavenly Dao within the Heavenly Dao Talisman, and couldn't help but feel a chill.
It turns out that Miss Cai Yan also possesses cultivation. She has reached the second level of martial arts, the Innate Realm, and is even at the peak of the Innate Realm. She could enter the Dao through martial arts at any time!
It's infuriating to compare yourself to others! Wang Xuan was not only outmatched by Miss Cai Yan in terms of mount, but also in cultivation level, which completely eroded his confidence in front of her.
Feeling deeply hurt, Wang Xuan lost all interest in flirting and set off with Cai Yan, Li Dian, and Yue Jin towards Donglai County.
The main world is incredibly vast, roughly a thousand times the size of Earth. The distance from Luoyang City to Donglai County is over ten thousand kilometers; even if Wang Xuan and his companions traveled day and night, it would still take them a very long time to reach their destination.
They traveled eastward for two days and arrived outside Hulao Pass.
Hulao Pass is a strategically vital stronghold. Controlling Hulao Pass allows one to advance westward towards Luoyang and keep an eye on Guanzhong. To the east, it poses a threat to the fertile Central Plains, making its strategic value extremely high.
Months earlier, Cao Cao, using the name of the Han emperor, had already rallied the warlords of the land to attack Dong Zhuo and rescue the emperor. The warlords responded enthusiastically and agreed to a meeting at Suanzao.
Although the allied forces of the feudal lords had not yet attacked due to the long distance, Hulao Pass had already begun to prepare for battle, fearing that spies from the feudal lords of Guandong might infiltrate the pass. Wang Xuan and his group were thus stopped.
Fortunately, Wang Yun had already made arrangements before Wang Xuan set off. Without Wang Xuan needing to appear in person, Li Dian took out a letter and went to visit the garrison commander of Hulao Pass.
After some maneuvering, they successfully left Hulao Pass and headed east.
After leaving Hulao Pass, we traveled more than 20,000 kilometers eastward and were already close to Suanzao City.
Wang Xuan gazed into the distance, his pupils rapidly turning a shimmering golden light. He was using his Golden Eyes of Fortune to observe the fortune of the allied forces of the feudal lords.
In the sky ahead, seventeen dragon-like creatures could be vaguely seen flying about. Each dragon-like creature represented a powerful lord; the stronger lords could transform into dragons, while the weaker ones could only transform into pythons.
These serpents, wary of each other yet forced to huddle together, forming a united force to peer towards the west.
"The Suanzao Alliance should be a meeting of eighteen warlords to oppose Dong Zhuo, so why are there only seventeen here?" Wang Xuan wondered. He wanted to take a closer look, but the dragons and snakes seemed to sense something and all looked at him.
Wang Xuan immediately let out a muffled groan, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. His cultivation was ultimately too weak. Even with the protection of a supreme treasure like the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth, which blocked most of the backlash from his luck, the remaining trace was still too much for him to bear.
"Wang Xuan, what's wrong?" Cai Yan was startled when she saw Wang Xuan vomiting blood and quickly asked with concern.
After spending these past few days together, the relationship between Wang Xuan and Cai Yan has rapidly warmed up. Although they are far from reaching the point where she will marry no one but Wang Xuan, they can be considered good friends.
Wang Xuan gave a wry smile and said, "I couldn't help but peek into the fortunes of the warlords of Guandong just now, and as a result, I suffered some backlash from their fortunes."
"You really aren't afraid of death, daring to even observe the fortunes of those warlords!" Cai Yan said angrily. "Without reaching the Celestial Realm, trying to spy on the fortunes of warlords like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao could very well cost you your life!"
"Your strength had only just broken through to the Innate Realm when you went to check on that huge group of fortunes. It's a miracle you're still alive!"
Chapter 57 Encountering Liu Bei on the Way
After being scolded by Cai Yan, Wang Xuan could only offer a wry smile. He couldn't very well say that he had a treasure to suppress his luck, could he?
They traveled several hundred miles further and were now very close to Suanzao City. Cai Yan suggested that they take a detour to avoid the allied forces of the feudal lords.
Wang Xuan hesitated. He did want to meet those feudal lords, but if they rushed over rashly, they might be treated as spies and dealt with.
But he was unwilling to leave just like that. The coalition of heroes against Dong Zhuo was a rare and grand spectacle!
The world's top warriors can split mountains and shatter peaks with a single swing of their swords, and their roars can change the very fabric of the world!
Those top civil and military officials have also gone far in the path of immortality and martial arts, able to manipulate wind, thunder, water and fire, and suppress the eight wastelands with their magic!
Although Wang Xuan knew that the martial arts level in the main world was very high, he had never seen it with his own eyes and had no idea just how high it was.
This is a perfect opportunity to witness the clash of the world's top experts and broaden one's horizons.
If he misses this opportunity, he doesn't know when he'll have another chance.
Just as Wang Xuan was hesitating, dust suddenly billowed up ahead, as if countless ferocious beasts were galloping towards them.
At this time and in this place, it's impossible that some ferocious beasts have come here; it could only be an elite human army!
When Wang Xuan was observing the fortunes of the various lords in Suanzao City, he noticed that one lord was missing. It seemed that someone had arrived a step too late, and now Wang Xuan had just happened to run into him here!
Only a dozen or so breaths later, a group of elite cavalry appeared on the horizon.
This group of cavalry, numbering several hundred, was tasked with scouting enemy positions. They spotted Wang Xuan and his companions from afar, immediately turned their horses, and charged towards them.
Although Wang Xuan was surprised, he was not afraid. After all, he had Li Dian and Yue Jin, two experts at the Transcendent Realm, protecting him. Several hundred cavalrymen could not do anything to them.
“Young Master Wang, these people are clearly up to no good. Let’s back down for now,” Li Dian suggested.
However, Le Jin had a completely opposite view to Li Dian. He retorted, "We were just passing through. If we run away after seeing these people, it will make us seem guilty, and the scouts will probably think we are spies sent by the enemy."
Wang Xuan thought about it and felt that Yue Jin's opinion made more sense, so they stood there quietly without leaving. If these scouts still wanted to attack them, then there was nothing they could do but have Li Dian and Yue Jin escort them out.
Suddenly, a group of scouts appeared ahead, their horses' hooves shaking the ground. They quickly rushed over and surrounded Wang Xuan and his companions.
The general leading the scouts glanced at them and roared, "Who are you? Why are you lurking near our army?"
Suddenly, the general spotted the unicorn Cai Yan was riding, and his eyes widened in disbelief. He thought to himself, "I never expected to find a unicorn here! If I seize this unicorn and present it to my lord, I will surely receive his reward!"
Thinking this, the man's expression changed, and he pointed his spear at Wang Xuan and the others, shouting angrily, "No need to say anything more, you guys must be spies sent by Dong Zhuo! Brothers, kill these men!"
At a single command, hundreds of elite cavalrymen roared in unison, "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!"
The armies of the main world are incomparable to those of the Water Margin world. Although there are only a few hundred elite cavalrymen here, each of them possesses at least the eighth level of the Acquired Realm cultivation.
Even more terrifying is that every cavalryman's armor and lance are engraved with countless Dao patterns. Once engaged in battle, the power and killing intent of hundreds of elite cavalrymen can be integrated through these Dao patterns, resulting in extremely frightening destructive power.
At least Wang Xuan, a master of innate cultivation, felt his breathing become labored and he almost suffocated when he was overwhelmed by the military aura of the hundreds of cavalrymen in front of him.
Even Cai Yan wasn't much better off; the young lady's face was pale, and there was a hint of panic in her eyes.
"Are there really some fools who don't know their own mortality, forcing us to start a massacre?" Wang Xuan sighed inwardly. It seemed he was about to inexplicably provoke another group of enemies.
The few hundred cavalrymen in front of them were not a threat; Li Dian and Yue Jin could wipe them all out by working together.
What's terrifying is the feudal lords that these hundreds of cavalrymen represent!
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of cavalrymen had already charged up to Wang Xuan, only a few hundred paces away.
Li Dian and Yue Jin stepped forward at the same time. They leaped into the air and defied gravity, suspending themselves in mid-air.
"Not good! The Divine Martial Daoist has appeared out of nowhere! This is clearly a Transcendent Realm expert, and there are two of them!" The leading general's eyes widened in horror, and he immediately ordered the attack to stop.
Two experts at the Transcendent Realm were more than enough to wipe out their entire group. Their deaths were not the problem; the fact that they had needlessly provoked a formidable enemy for their lord was simply unwise.
Seeing the enemy retreat, Wang Xuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and arrogantly cursed, "You bunch of brutes, how dare you attack us? Do you know who I am?"
"If you were to harm even a hair on my head, my father wouldn't even need to retaliate; your lord would tear you to pieces!"
The general on the other side was already fearful, and now that Wang Xuan had reprimanded him, he felt even more that disaster was about to befall him.
How could he have been so bewitched? He hadn't even figured out the other person's identity yet, and he was already thinking of stealing the other person's unicorn to present to his lord?
Anyone with a little common sense knows that someone who can ride a unicorn must be someone of extraordinary status.
Moreover, the young master and young lady were accompanied by two powerful experts at the Transcendent Realm, so they must have an extraordinary background!
Just as the cavalry commander was feeling extremely uneasy, dust billowed in the distance, and a large contingent of troops was rushing towards them.
The army was still some distance away when Wang Xuan heard a thunderous roar from within the ranks: "Who are you, you villains, daring to block the army's advance? Take a spear from Zhang Yide of Yan!"
"Clang!"
A dazzling light flashed by, a spearhead thrusting from mid-air by a top-tier expert!
Li Dian and Yue Jin were shocked and joined forces to resist the attack.
"boom!"
The dazzling spear light exploded in mid-air, even scattering the clouds in the sky. Li Dian and Yue Jin, on the other hand, fell from the sky in a sorry state, clearly having suffered some minor losses.