Fei pulled sharply on the reins and his massive warhorse immediately surged forward after them. The sheer size of the beast alone was enough to make ordinary horses panic.
It was nearly three times larger than a normal mount, standing so tall that even armored cavalrymen looked small beside it. Its body was built like a moving fortress of muscle and dense bone, weighing nearly one and a half tons even without equipment.
Thick black veins pulsed beneath its dark hide while its breathing sounded deeper and heavier than that of ordinary animals. This was no common battlefield horse anymore. It had long surpassed that category entirely.
The creature possessed the carrying strength of more than a dozen trained warhorses combined.
Heavy luggage, weapon racks, travel supplies, water containers, blankets, spare equipment, and massive chests filled with gold had all been strapped across specially reinforced side harnesses without the use of any carts.
Even so the beast moved as though carrying almost nothing. Nearly two to three hundred kilograms of weight hung across its sides, yet the horse still accelerated with frightening power the moment Fei gave the command.
Its hooves shattered loose stones beneath every stride. Wind exploded backward across the courtyard road as the enormous animal charged forward like a living siege beast.
The speed was monstrous for something of its size. Nearly eighty miles per hour across open terrain. Fast enough that ordinary travelers became little more than blurs along the roadside.
Trees and hills swept past rapidly while dust clouds erupted far behind them in long rolling trails. And the truly terrifying part was its endurance. Bing was terrified all this time. She tightly held on to Fei and kept her eyes closed.
Ordinary horses would collapse long before maintaining such speed for extended periods. This beast simply continued running. Its breathing remained stable. Its movements remained powerful. Its pace barely weakened.
The enormous muscles beneath its dark body moved with frightening efficiency while Fei controlled it calmly from above.
Even heavily loaded the creature still felt unstoppable.
Villagers along distant roads often mistook it for some demonic beast rather than a horse whenever it thundered past.
Children screamed. Travelers scattered aside. Merchants pulled their wagons off the roads entirely.
Because the sound alone was terrifying.
It did not sound like galloping. It sounded like repeated explosions striking the earth. Still compared to Luo He's dark cloud shuttle, even this monstrous mount seemed slow.
Far above the land, the black lamina carrying Luo He and Jin Mulan cut through the heavens like a flying imperial blade wrapped in molten gold, crossing mountains and rivers with impossible speed.
Fei occasionally glanced upward while riding and could barely keep sight of them at all.
That realization only made Fei seem even more absurd in his mind. Because the horse beneath him was already terrifying beyond reason for this era.
Yet Luo He still moved so much faster that comparison itself felt ridiculous.
Even with the dark cloud shuttle, the journey still took considerable time. They stopped three separate times along the way so Fei and the others could rest.
And the horse to recharge, reorganize supplies, and recover from the brutal pace of travel.
Even then, it still took nearly four hours of travelling alone before they finally reached the outer territories surrounding the Yue capital. Overall, the journey lasted more than six hours.
And for that era alone, such travel speed sounded unbelievable. Entire merchant caravans normally spent days or even weeks crossing similar distances safely.
Yet Luo He still looked mildly dissatisfied afterward. Because from his perspective. They had been moving slowly. The only reason the dark cloud shuttle maintained such restrained speeds was because Fei's war horse.
It could not realistically sustain anything faster over long distances while carrying supplies, gold, weapons, and passengers. So Luo He intentionally matched their pace.
Otherwise the black cloud shuttle could become something truly terrifying. Even while protecting Jin Mulan and Little Lin inside layers of spiritual force, Luo He could already push the shuttle more than the speed of sound.
The spiritual barrier surrounding the craft reduced air resistance, stabilized movement, and protected the passengers from the violent pressure that should normally tear apart the human body at such velocity.
That alone already sounded absurd. But Luo He knew the shuttle's true limits were even higher. If he traveled alone without passengers. Without luggage.
Without worrying about comfort or safety.
Then the dark cloud shuttle could become monstrous beyond reason. If Luo He poured everything he possessed into the artifact shuttle.
Every reserve of mental force. Every fragment of concentration. Every ounce of spiritual energy. He believed he could push the shuttle to nearly Mach five or six for continuous bursts.
At those speeds, mountains would become blurs beneath him. The black lamina would no longer resemble transportation. It would resemble a flying weapon.
A black streak cutting through the heavens faster than most people could even perceive. The terrifying part was that Luo He himself did not even seem impressed by this possibility.
To him, it was simply inefficient unless absolutely necessary. Because at such speeds, a single mistake in concentration could turn both rider and shuttle into burning debris scattered across the land.
Still the mere fact Luo He considered such velocity possible at all made people like Fei increasingly certain that his understanding of the world no longer followed ordinary logic anymore.
The journey afterward was swift and mostly uneventful. By the time they finally reached the Yue capital, the group was already exhausted from continuous travel.
Fei's monstrous warhorse looked like it had survived a military campaign, while Bing nearly collapsed the moment she stepped off the saddle.
The mansion waiting for them had originally been granted to Luo He by the Yue Emperor for his position as a minor palace official. Calling it luxurious would have been generous.
Still for ordinary nobles, it was already considered impressive. The estate sat within a respectable district near the outer administrative quarters of the capital.
Stone walls surrounded the property, while red wooden pillars and dark tiled roofs gave it the familiar appearance of a traditional noble residence. It had enough servants, enough space, and enough privacy for their stay.
More importantly it was free. Which automatically increased Luo He's opinion of it. "I enjoy imperial generosity when it costs me nothing," he declared proudly while walking through the courtyard with his hands behind his back.
Jin Mulan ignored him completely. Still, the mansion had one flaw Luo He immediately noticed. The toilets were terrible. Unfortunately, that was true almost everywhere outside the Flame Kingdom's capital.
Compared to the systems Luo He remembered from his own knowledge, most sanitation across the kingdoms felt primitive beyond belief.
Noble families hid the problem behind perfumes, incense, and expensive decorations, but underneath all that the reality remained unpleasant.
Thankfully, Luo He had already adapted long ago. Especially after spending so much time traveling.
Using forests, riversides, temporary camps, and roadside facilities during journeys had slowly destroyed most of his original standards.
At some point he simply accepted that survival and comfort were very different things in this world. Surprisingly once he got used to it, it no longer felt particularly difficult.
Human beings adapted frighteningly quickly when they had no better choice.
Though Luo He still firmly believed civilization itself peaked around proper indoor plumbing.
Most of the servants assigned to the mansion had remained with the estate regardless of who owned it.
They maintained the property well over the years, keeping the courtyards clean, the gardens trimmed, and the halls properly prepared despite the residence spending long periods nearly empty.
Still the moment Luo He returned, the atmosphere of the mansion immediately became chaotic again.
Because Luo He, being exactly the kind of man he was, had apparently reorganized nearly the entire servant structure during his previous stay in the Yue capital.
Not according to experience. Not according to noble recommendations.
And certainly not according to proper household procedure.
No he selected servants almost entirely based on skill and whether he found them entertaining to look at.
"It's genuinely fun interviewing beautiful women," Luo He once admitted proudly. "You should try it sometime." He said to his wife.
Jin Mulan had nearly thrown a cup at his head after hearing that. During his free time in the capital, Luo He had apparently spent several afternoons casually interviewing servant candidates like a bored nobleman shopping for decorations.
The most ridiculous part he took the process very seriously. He would sit in the courtyard drinking tea while candidates lined up one after another before him.