“Spent some spirit stones to buy a Huiyuan Pill and recovered for the most part,” Samuel Cooper said respectfully.

James Carter glanced at Samuel Cooper again and nodded to himself. Since everyone was still not safe, recovering sooner meant having more strength.

This time, James Carter stayed in the room for more than a day. The time he had said he would leave had to be postponed.

The gains were tremendous. James Carter had also tried out some applications of feng shui and formations, with very good results.

William Harper frowned slightly and said unhappily, “Your Highness, all one hundred soldiers are below the fifth level of Qingyun!”

James Carter had already known in his heart that it was impossible to send out soldiers with strong combat power. He didn’t care too much about this and simply asked, “How is the recruitment of soldiers going?”

“No one has come to sign up at all. Even after improving the benefits, still no one has come.” As soon as Samuel Cooper mentioned this, his mood soured.

“Your Highness, I suspect someone is interfering behind the scenes. Otherwise, with so many refugees in Changtian City, recruiting some soldiers shouldn’t be a problem.”

These words shook James Carter internally. Being sent from the capital to serve as county magistrate here already meant being thrown into a place full of danger. Now it seemed that those people in the capital still hadn’t let him go. Clearly, they wanted to push him to his death.

This wasn’t something the Seventh Prince could do alone; the other princes must also have the idea of killing him in Jinling County.

William Harper’s analysis was something James Carter completely agreed with. There were all kinds of forces in Changtian City, and if they joined hands in secret to target him, it was entirely possible. For the princes, whether or not he had the power to compete, eliminating him was naturally the best outcome.

If it were the original prince, facing this situation would have meant certain death. But now things were different—he had so many means at his disposal, so it wouldn’t be so easy to kill him!

“It’s nothing serious. We’ll grow stronger as we fight!” James Carter said with a smile. In front of his subordinates, James Carter needed to give them confidence. Only when everyone had confidence in him could anything be accomplished.

Ever since His Highness was injured, it was as if he had become a different person. Both Samuel Cooper and William Harper saw a sense of maturity and steadiness in the current James Carter.

Hearing James Carter speak this way, the two of them felt much more at ease.

Handing the ring sent by Huangfu Cai to William Harper, James Carter said, “Distribute these weapons. At the very least, we need some combat power.”

At this point, he also took out the set of repeating crossbows for fifty people and handed them over, saying to William Harper, “Although they’re all Qingyun-level people, as long as ten people work together well, these repeating crossbows should be able to inflict damage even on those at the Linguan level.”

William Harper respectfully accepted these items. They were extremely important now. Along the way, almost all of His Highness’s savings had been spent, and many weapons and pills had been purchased. Fortunately, they were close to their destination.

The distance from Changtian City to Jinling City was over ten thousand li, and most of the journey was through mountain roads. Only those above the Linguan level could fly on swords. Half of James Carter’s team was still at the Qingyun level, so they could only ride horned steeds and gallop all the way.

Horned steeds were different from horses on Earth. When they ran, it was as if they were riding on clouds and mist. According to James Carter’s observation, their speed on these mountain roads could reach a hundred li per hour.

The saddle was an ordinary small magical artifact, a type long popularized and specifically used on horned steeds. Its only function was to make the rider feel as if they were sitting on a very stable platform, allowing them to cultivate.

This kind of saddle artifact required only a small amount of true qi to operate; even someone at the first level of Qingyun could use it easily.

Everyone had set up protective shields. Sitting atop the horned steeds, there was hardly any sense of bumpiness.

Evelyn Green and Lucy Clark were very competent. Each of the two women took out a lotus-shaped magical artifact, cast a spell to activate it, and placed it on their horned steed. The other supported James Carter as he mounted his horned steed.

The palace had many rules, and the two women followed them thoroughly, faithfully fulfilling their duties as maids.

James Carter knew he had come to a place where imperial power was supreme and the hierarchy was strict. The imprint of this mindset was already deeply ingrained in everyone’s hearts and hard to change. He didn’t deliberately try to change it either. Even though he could have mounted the horned steed himself without any problem, he still let Lucy Clark help him up.

James Carter’s saddle artifact was the highest grade, made in the shape of a house. Once inside, the comfort level was far beyond that of ordinary saddle artifacts.

After settling James Carter, the two women once again took out lotus-shaped artifacts, placed them on their own horned steeds, and leapt onto them.

The one hundred soldiers sent by the prefect, nineteen guards, plus Samuel Cooper, William Harper, and the two women—this was the entirety of James Carter’s force.

The entire escort was under the command of the chief guard Thomas Baker. James Carter did not interfere in this matter. Seeing that Thomas Baker handled everything in an orderly fashion, James Carter’s opinion of him improved.

With the best saddle artifacts along the way, James Carter felt no bumpiness at all, and from time to time, he observed the feng shui along the route through the faint protective shield.