Even the most advanced internal martial arts techniques could never enable someone to open their meridians and cultivate inner strength in just a dozen days. Henry Clark only asked such a question because he knew nothing at all.

Samuel Bennett, feeling helpless, could only explain all the basic concepts of martial arts to him once again, urging him to keep practicing diligently—though who knows how much Henry Clark actually absorbed.

…………

And so, the days passed by one after another.

In the blink of an eye, it was already late summer, early autumn.

During these fifty days, Henry Clark naturally hadn’t finished practicing “Reversing Heaven and Earth,” but because he was impatient, on the twenty-fifth day, he secretly brought Samuel Bennett into the secret chamber and had him copy everything from the twenty-some stone tablets into simplified Chinese.

After that, Henry Clark practiced the basic internal skills while also skipping ahead to look at the various techniques in the later sections.

As the day to leave for Luoyang approached, Henry Clark simply bound together all the pages that Samuel Bennett had copied for him, making his own “manual” to carry with him. After all, no one in this world besides him and Samuel Bennett could understand these things, and since the paper and ink of this “manual” were still very new, even if someone else picked it up, no one would ever guess it was some ancient, peerless martial arts manual—so he wasn’t worried about losing it.

Meanwhile, during these days, while guiding Brother Clark through the basics of martial arts, Samuel Bennett also ended up reviewing all those fundamentals himself. And, truth be told… it was very effective. His current martial arts skills had improved compared to when he first arrived in Hangzhou—he’d broken through a bottleneck.

In addition, he received a reply to the letter he’d sent back to the The Bennett Family via carrier pigeon. The Head of the Bennett Family also sent along an invitation to the Young Heroes’ Gathering in Shu, which had been sent to the Righteous Sect, and in the letter instructed Samuel Bennett to take good care of the The Clark Family family’s young master, and to bring honor to the The Bennett Family at the gathering.

And so, the two of them were more or less ready, and were set to depart that very day.

Unexpectedly… on the day of departure, something went wrong—Samuel Bennett never imagined that Henry Clark would actually buy the wrong ticket to Luoyang.

Here, it’s worth briefly introducing the transportation and communication situation in Great Ming.

First, for communication and logistics, the usual method was through official channels, known as the “courier relay.” In Great Ming, any county of reasonable size would have a relay station, basically covering the whole country. Ordinary people could send letters and packages at these stations, though there were limits on the weight and size of items. If you wanted to ship a whole cartload of goods, you’d have to find your own way—official resources weren’t available for that, and even if they were, the price would be much higher than hiring your own cart and people.

As for the “Carrier Pigeon Guild” mentioned earlier, that was a communication method only available to people of the martial world or those with wealth and influence—ordinary folks would never be served by them.

As for transportation, whether you were driving a carriage, riding a horse, or traveling on foot, taking the official road was naturally the safest choice. The official roads were wide, the conditions relatively good, and there was a relay station every few dozen li along the way. Relay stations were divided into “official” and “civilian” types—the former served only government officials, while the latter were open to the general public. Of course, both were run by the government, so if you took the official road, you’d be paying the authorities, unless you could travel hundreds of li a day and always reach a town to stay at an inn, or were willing to sleep rough on the streets.

In addition to traveling on your own, there was another option: taking a “High Rail Guild” coach.

This so-called “High Rail Guild,” though nominally a martial world organization, was known by all to be operated behind the scenes by the authorities.

Every leader of the guild bore the surname Gao and the given name Tie. Rather than a real name, it was more like a title tied to the position. The guild never got involved in martial world disputes, so hardly anyone knew what Chief Grant looked like. Not that it mattered—since the person could be replaced at any time.

The High Rail Guild’s only business was “passenger transport.” They assigned drivers and various types of vehicles to shuttle travelers back and forth across the land.

Whether you were a martial artist, an ordinary citizen, or a bored young noble wanting to experience life, as long as you bought a “ticket,” you could ride their coaches.

For many people seeking to visit relatives or find a master in the mountains, buying a horse and hiring a carriage was expensive and troublesome, while walking was too slow and staying on the road too long cost even more money. So the High Rail Guild’s coaches became an excellent choice.

This time, Samuel Bennett and Henry Clark had originally planned to buy a “High Rail ticket” straight to Luoyang, making the journey much easier. From one relay station to the next, they wouldn’t have to navigate themselves, nor would they need to keep hiring new drivers or swapping horses (on such long trips, hired drivers generally wouldn’t follow their employers across several provinces, and the same horse couldn’t pull a carriage at the same pace for such a long distance, so these journeys usually required changing drivers and horses several times, with haggling at each stop). By following the High Rail Guild’s coaches, they wouldn’t have to worry about any of these hassles.