45 A Year Later - 45
After a month on the road, Zhou Fan had finally made it to the next city on his path.
While the previous month couldn't be called dangerous, it was extremely hard to travel. During the entire duration, Zhou Fan was no different than a mortal.
Therefore, after walking across the ground barefoot for 18 hours a day, his feet were nearly destroyed. Luckily, Zhou Fan didn't have the ability to completely seal up his quick recovery.
Along the way, he had run into multiple travelers and even a few caravans.
One of the caravan owners was so kind as to give him a robe after seeing the state of his clothes. Although it was everything but elegant, Zhou Fan didn't mind as he continued his journey.
When he made it to this city, the guards looked at him with disgust as he walked past. Since there was no toll, Zhou Fan was able to walk straight through.
When he made it inside, Zhou Fan took a rest while sitting against a building. Since this wasn't exactly a wealthy part of town, no one bothered him.
As he rested, Zhou Fan almost fell into his thoughts. However, he managed to stop himself before he did. If he had a chance to think, he would surely talk himself out of his current actions.
All of a sudden, the sun that was shining on Zhou Fan's face was blocked. Looking up, he saw a child holding out an apple. Although he didn't speak, Zhou Fan knew his intentions.
"Thank you." He said as he took the apple and ate it. Although he could have lived without it, it gave a refreshing taste after so many days of struggle.
Seeing him eat it, the kid walked back to his parents who patted him on the head. On the road, Zhou Fan had to survive on wild berries and the occasional bread from passersby's, so it was a nice snack.
If anyone who knew him in the past were to see Zhou Fan right now, they wouldn't recognize him a bit. He was so skinny that nearly every bone in his body was visible.
If he were to take off the robe, one could see spiky spinal bones on his back. Although he still looked young, his face seemed as if it had aged a hundred years.
After an hour of rest, Zhou Fan stood up and continued to walk. He made it through the city unobstructed, but just as he was leaving, a caravan waved him towards them
Seeing them, Zhou Fan walked over.
"Where are you going young man?" The owner said with clear pity on his face.
"East." He said while pointing towards the almost fully rising sun.
"What a coincidence." The owner said. "We're going that direction too. Would you like to join us?"
"If it's not too much trouble." Zhou Fan responded.
"Hop on." The owner said while pointing to one of the wagons without a roof.
Zhou Fan gave a quick thank you and climbed into the wagon.
Not long after, the caravan started to move out.
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In what seemed like a blink of an eye, a year passed.
Zhou Fan had long parted with the caravan, and with a few more kind strangers and a lot of walking, he had made it to the last kingdom in the sword empire.
Over the year, Zhou Fan had traveled through thousands of cities, 50 kingdoms, and almost three empires if you count the sword empire.
At this point, Zhou Fan had grown accustomed, and almost happy, with his new life.
His understanding of the dao had reached a much higher level than before. Even then, he still felt as if he only took a small step along an endless river.
Right now, Zhou Fan was walking out of the final kingdom between him and the mortaniel empire. The journey through the sword kingdom was one of the hardest due to how tough the people here were. Of course, there were still a few kind people who would give him food on his journey.
There was a reason why Zhou Fan didn't buy any food, besides the fact that he didn't have money. He had a feeling that when he ate less, he became closer to the dao and comprehended it even faster than before. Therefore, throughout his entire journey, he had not spent a penny on food.
Feeling the constant starvation, he felt as though there was no worse pain to be experienced.
Although getting a bone or five broken can be considered to hurt more, the pain of starving is a different feeling. It's as if your body is empty and hollow. The feeling of watching your body decompose was also an indescribable horror, along with actually feeling it decompose.
After another month of travel, Zhou Fan finally stepped into the mortaniel empire. Looking at the luxurious city before him, he could tell that this place would be the best to be at.
One look and even a cow could tell that it was prosperous. Not to mention, from his memory, this was one of the lower ranked kingdoms within the empire.
As he walked through the gates, the guards nodded at him, trying to hide the disgust on their faces.
Although such a look may be disheartening for others, Zhou Fan had long gotten used to it. He could still remember when his face would burn up everytime he got such a look in the past.
Nodding at the guard, Zhou Fan walked into the city unobstructed.
Within the morantiel empire, there were no toll fees. Even the imperial capital was free for all to enter. Of course, everything was much more expensive there and almost every resident was filthy rich.
Zhou Fan explored the kingdom and was astonished at how much gold there was. On the walls, on the statues. When he took a look into the rich area, even the walkways were made of gold.
Like every other kingdom, Zhou Fan simply wandered through. This time, however, there were many more people who offered him food. For the first time in the last year or so, he felt full. At some point he even had to reject someone offering him food.
