Lai City, located in the heartland of Western Jin, had always been renowned for its prosperity. If even Lai was like this, then there was no need to check out the other cities. Thus, Wei Yuan stopped lingering any longer and quickened the pace of the march. The cavalry force covered several thousand li per day and reached Hanyang Pass in just over ten days.

Unlike the time he entered Western Jin, Wei Yuan chose to pass straight through the city on his return. Xu Zhongxing, the garrison commander of Hanyang Pass, turned a blind eye to this, and Wei Yuan hadn’t sent a formal notice either. Thus, the two sides simply passed each other by and avoided any encounter.

Although Wei Yuan was now a military commissioner of Western Jin, the Xu Clan’s ancestor and the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s Immortal Lord were still duking it out in the Beyond. As an official of Western Jin, he had to give the royal court some face no matter what. That was why he had chosen to avoid a confrontation with Wei Yuan. He also stopped enforcing the border closure as strictly as before, preventing all merchant caravans from traveling westward.

In truth, there was little point in sealing the pass now. Ever since the trade route through the State of Zhao had been opened, some caravans had already begun to chart a course through it. Blocking the trade route through the State of Zhao should have been the responsibility of Yuan Qingyan, Commandery Administrator of Ningxi, but unfortunately, all the checkpoints...