Farewell (3)

About two weeks and a few days later, a carriage stopped at a newly built building, and four people got out of it.

"Hmm, it really looks good~", one of them said as he looked at the façade of the building. It was Gao Ting.

After so long, his new workshop, as well as his new home, was finally ready. On hearing this news, he decided to visit the place immediately, and Long Ming, Wu Qinlao and Wu Yuying accompanied him.

"Really, whether intentional or not, it's quite similar to your old workshop, old man," Long Ming said in surprise, observing the place.

Just like the old workshop in Cui Shi, the first room was also a place of exhibition and commerce. It was followed by his work area, where there was already a complete set of tools and objects needed to carry out his profession.

There was also a backyard with a sapling, and upstairs was his bedroom, kitchen and small office.

It was a curiously nostalgic place for Long Ming, which showed how identical the place was.

"Of course, I was quite fastidious when building my new little house... It's identical to what my father's workshop was like...", Gao Ting said, his last words having a melancholy but happy tone. None of them said anything in response, still exploring the place.

"I'm glad you like it, Senior Gao," Wu Qinlao said.

"Hehe, this place really isn't bad... Why don't we have a little party tonight to celebrate the completion of my new house? You don't have to worry, I'll pay for things, just don't expect anything too expensive," Gao Ting suddenly asked, looking quite expectantly at the trio, especially Long Ming.

"All right, old man," Long Ming accepted the offer with a smile on his face, making Gao Ting heave a sigh of relief.

"A party is a good idea, but I'm afraid doing it at such short notice will end up upsetting a lot of people," Wu Qinlao commented. In his opinion, it was necessary to wait a few days in advance so that everyone could prepare.

"People? Don't be crazy, only you three, Xie Meng Fei and Wu Feng are invited to my party. Wu Qinlao, even though you built this house, and I'm very grateful for that, don't expect me to buy dinner for your whole family. I'm too poor for that!" Gao Ting said jokingly, causing Wu Qinlao to let out a small laugh before deciding to return to invite his wife and brother to the party.

Long Ming returned to Jianshang and went to the stable where he had left his horse. As for Wu Yuying, she stayed in the workshop to help Gao Ting tidy up the place. And so several hours passed, until night fell and Gao Ting's modest feast began.

They were all gathered in the back courtyard of the workshop, sitting on their chairs around a table where there was a fried wild boar and some rice.

They chatted peacefully for the rest of the evening, enjoying all the food Gao Ting had bought and even a bottle of alcohol that Long Ming had also bought.

"And what did you think of Long Ming, Wu Feng?" at some point Gao Ting asked Wu Feng, curious to know his conclusion of the result of all the training he had done with Long Ming.

"He's a very talented boy, indeed. Honestly, I'd be very grateful to have him as my disciple," Wu Feng spoke honestly, while looking at Long Ming with great respect.

His words surprised everyone, and even Wu Qinlao looked shocked. Long Ming was a little embarrassed by his words so he added: "Thank you very much for such compliments, Senior Wu. But I've already taken too much advantage of your good will, I feel I already owe you too much. And becoming your disciple would be a debt I could never repay."

His words caused Wu Feng to feel disappointed, but he didn't want to dwell on the subject any further and Gao Ting soon changed the subject of the conversation. Soon, hours passed and everyone returned to the Wu residence, with the exception of Long Ming and Gao Ting.

"I'll be right there, old man," Long Ming said after the two of them had gone to the entrance of Gao Ting's house. Next to the door, Long Ming's horse was already eating the grass on the ground.

"Are you leaving already? Don't you want to stay here a while longer, kid?"

"No, I've stayed long enough. And Xian Wu is a long way from here, so the sooner I start my journey the better," Long Ming had already told Gao Ting his plans before, but decided to repeat them to convince him to leave as soon as possible.

The continent was extremely large, as you can imagine, so travel between cities in the same kingdom took weeks, if not months, and travel between kingdoms is often even longer, to the point where it could cost a person their entire life.

The journey from Jianshang, in the Jian Dian kingdom, to the nearest city in the Xian Wu Empire would take years at least!

Therefore, Long Ming decided to travel to the capital of the kingdom, to take a flying ship to the capital of the nearest kingdom, then repeat this process until he arrived in Xian Wu. Despite this, Long Ming estimated that it would still be a long journey, taking anywhere from six months to almost two years.

"... Ahh, all right. Take care, kid. And if you happen to be in the neighborhood, don't hesitate to visit me, okay?" Gao Ting said with extreme seriousness, while staring Long Ming in the eye.

"Don't worry, old man," Long Ming said, then hugged Gao Ting before saying goodbye.

After uttering a few last words of affection, Long Ming approached his horse and climbed onto it.

"Ah, Long Ming!" Gao Ting suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of Long Ming, who was about to ride out of town.

"What is it, old man?", Long Ming questioned.

"Take good care of your weapon, you hear? I'm too old to make a new one for you!" he said.

Long Ming was quiet for a while, before letting out a sigh and smiling, he said, "That's all right, old man!" Then he said goodbye and rode away.

Long Ming had already obtained a map from that information organization, so he already knew how to get to Jian Dian's capital, so he rode straight there.

As he was no longer following Gao Ting, he no longer needed to match his horse's speed to Gao Ting's horse's speed, so he started riding as fast as he could, covering around thirty meters per second.

Long Ming felt completely relaxed as he felt the wind rushing past his face and the sound of his horse's footsteps on the ground. He liked to travel, and at these moments, it was as if he were completely free of all the problems of the living, just being carried by the wind to distant and unknown places.

Weeks later, on the outskirts of a forest, there was a quiet market town with several villages around it.

During the afternoon, Long Ming entered this town and went to a stable to leave his horse.

"Hey kid, tell me a bit about this town," Long Ming said to the child who was working there, looking after the horses; in his hand was a silver coin which he handed to the child.

"Of course, sir! What exactly do you want to know?" the child asked excitedly, looking enthusiastically at the silver coin in his hand.

"Hmm, I don't know. What do you find most interesting about this place?", Long Ming asked with a smile, while looking at the child's excited face.

"Well...", the child then began to describe everything she loved most about the city, including famous establishments and local notables.

As Long Ming had expected, it was a simple mortal city, so there was nothing of interest apart from the small bourgeois family that ran it.

Even so, he decided to rest there for a while. Although he liked traveling a lot, spending so many weeks traveling, practically non-stop, was quite tiring. Especially for someone as social as Long Ming, who likes to talk and interact with other people.

After thanking the boy and bidding him farewell, Long Ming began to walk through the town, paying close attention to other people's conversations as he made his way to the town's inn.

"Hey, did you hear that Mr. Chi hired a mercenary to defeat that monster?" At some point, Long Ming finally heard something interesting.

On the way, he even approached passers-by to make sure he was on the right track and soon arrived at the inn.

"Hello, dear customer!" as Long Ming entered the inn, a sweet voice greeted him. Soon afterwards, he noticed a young woman standing in front of him, who must have been the innkeeper.

"Hi, I want to rent a room for a few... Five days," Long Ming said as he approached her.

"Sure, it'll be ten bronze coins or one silver coin."

Long Ming nodded in agreement and handed her a silver coin. Soon after, she took him to his room while advising him on the inn's services. In short, he was entitled to lunch and dinner, as well as a bath in the inn's tub (although he had to pay an additional 1 copper coin).

After listening to the attendant's instructions, Long Ming decided to take a long bath before changing his clothes and resuming his walk through the city.

After about fifteen minutes, Long Ming finally got out of his bath and changed, this time wearing a modest outfit that wouldn't attract too much attention in that place, so he went downstairs and asked the attendant where there was a restaurant.

The attendant soon recommended a popular restaurant in the area and Long Ming headed there. Soon after, he noticed a small wooden building with a few tables in front of it and a sign reading "restaurant" above the entrance.

"Hello, sir," a man greeted Long Ming as he entered the building. Long Ming returned the greeting and then ordered some soup.

Observing his surroundings, Long Ming realized that he was the only customer. Minutes later, that same man handed him a bowl of soup, which Long Ming happily took.

"Your soup is very good, my lord. It's been so long since I've been traveling that I'm missing food like this," Long Ming said in gratitude, enjoying the taste of that soup.

"Haha, thank you very much, boy. I can confirm that the cook will be very happy that you enjoyed it," the man said, equally happy that Long Ming had enjoyed it.

Long Ming noticed that this man seemed quite communicative, so he decided to talk to him too. He soon got onto something and they both started talking about the city.

After a few minutes, Long Ming said goodbye to the man and went to a bar to drink.

Unlike the restaurant, the bar already had a few people in it, so Long Ming grabbed a bottle of alcohol and somehow got along with them. As Long Ming drank with his new friends, the hours passed and, before he knew it, it began to get dark, so he returned to the inn.

'It's been a long time since I drank so much', he thought as he walked, his mind slightly intoxicated from the dozens of bottles he had drunk. However, thanks to his superhuman cultivation and stamina, he was still in great condition.

When he got to his room, he sat on his bed in the lotus position and began to meditate. After a few minutes, the drunkenness disappeared and Long Ming was completely sober again, so he began to study for a few hours before deciding to go to sleep.