A calm man’s voice spoke from the city gate, “By command of the city lord, we will assist Officer Zhao. We will naturally offer our services.”
A white-robed Confucian scholar and a monk of azure Buddhist robes walked out from the city gate. The voice belonged to the scholar.
Officer Zhao didn’t dare to neglect the cultivators and hurriedly thanked them with a smile.
The scholar took out a mirror while the monk took out an alms bowl. After a brief chant and incantation gesture, they tossed the magic tools into the air.
Suddenly, the magic tools began to circle in the air. The lens spouted out an azure mist, covering an entire tortoise. As for the alms bowl, it released a yellow light and began to sweep past the wolf cavalrymen.
In a short span of time, the light from both the magic tools quickly swept through the entire caravan, thoroughly scanning each person present.
In the blink of an eye, the thirty carriages and two hundred people were inspected without a problem found.
“Good, you can all enter the city. Ah yes, I must tell you something. Mistress Fang has already made a contract with the largest inn in the eastern city, the Cloud Ease Inn. You may head there after you deliver your goods.” Officer Zhao’s expression relaxed and he didn’t make matters more difficult. After having his say, he waved his hand and signaled them to enter.
Zhang Kiu saluted him before leading the caravan into the city.
After passing through the gates, Han Li discovered that the city was far larger than he expected.
At a glance, the city had an innumerable amount of buildings. He couldn't see the end of them. In addition, the city was well planned when it was constructed. Although the buildings were of different styles and materials used to build them were highly varied, they were evenly arranged with ten meter wide stone roads lined between them.
Such a large city was naturally bustling with excitement. The streets were filled with people where it was nearly overcrowded.
Han Li was stunned at the scene, but he soon discovered most of the people on the streets carried a weapon on them and wore heavy expressions.
When the blue-robed woman in the carriage saw this, she sighed and muttered, “It seems the matter about the beast wave is true. Otherwise, the villagers outside wouldn’t have all rushed into the city. There is a large pressure on An Yuan City.”
When Han Li heard this, he came to a sudden realization.
With so many people, it would be difficult for the caravan’s tortoises to make it through. Fortunately, Officer Zhao had already considered the matter and sent several soldiers to clear a path for them. They forcibly dispersed the crowd to make way.
Even so, the tortoise carriages moved slowly. After travelling for almost two hours, they eventually made their way past ten streets and arrived at a street with rarely few people, stopping in front of a decorated archway that was several stories tall.
Behind the archway were several heavily guarded storehouses with many armed attendants standing nearby.
The following process went exceedingly smooth. The Heavenly East Enterprise handed over their goods to the storehouse officials for inspection. Afterwards, Zhang Kiu received a certificate from them and led the caravan to the west side of the city.
Now having restored his ability to move, Han Li made a sudden proposal to Zhang Kiu when they were halfway to the inn. He wanted to explore the city for a bit before meeting back with them.
When Zhang Kiu heard this, he frowned. Then after some thought, he agreed and said, “Junior Martial Brother Han, you’ve yet to meet the mistress and have yet to officially enter the organization. I won’t restrict you much, but you should take note that many shady characters are now present in An Yuan City. It isn’t very safe, and there can’t be much worth seeing in this small remote city. If you have matters to attend to, I hope you’ll return to the inn quickly when you’re done.”
Zhang Kiu may have a fierce appearance, but he spoke with tactful words.
Han Li smiled and agreed. Then, he nimbly left them, turning a street corner and disappearing from sight.
Zhang Kiu looked in the direction that Han Li disappeared and stroked his chin, wearing a pensive expression.
“What? Does Benefactor Zhang think that Brother Han won’t return?” Standing at his side, Nan Qizi asked him with a smile.
Zhang Kiu wryly laughed and said, “I’m not worried about that, he already signed the blood curse contract. It’s only that Junior Martial Brother Han seems to be a person with a deep history. He’s rather mysterious.”
Nan Qizi smiled and added, “He is so young, yet he was able to cultivate such an astonishing body refinement technique. It is impossible that he came from humble origins. And from his bearing, it is obvious he isn’t from the Heavenly Origin Region like us.”
“Oh, I know that as well. But so long as he doesn’t have a relationship with any of the other great powers in the Heavenly Origin Region, our Heavenly East Enterprise won’t interfere even if he had a problematic history. If we properly nurture this person, it is possible for him to cultivate the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts. In that case, he will certainly turn into Mistress Fang’s strongest soldier.” Zhang Kiu’s expression turned heavy
Nan Qizi glanced at the scarred man with a mysterious smile, “The fifth layer of the Vajra Arts? If Benefactor Zhang truly thinks that, he will an existence on even grounds with Core Formation cultivators.”
Zhang Kiu chuckled, “I am holding my hopes rather high. From how young he is and his current cultivation, the possibility of cultivating to the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts still exists. With some luck, he will far exceed common body refiners like me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so eager to have him sign a blood curse contract in the Azure Sifting Desert.”
“That’s reasonable. Alright, enough of that person. The goods have been delivered. That means that Mistress Fang’s contract with me and my martial brothers have been fulfilled. We will now take our leave.” Nan Qizi bowed to them and uttered a few words of farewell.
“Oh? You won’t visit the mistress again? In that case, I hope your travels go well!” Failing to keep them any longer, Zhang Kiu bid them a respectful farewell.
The Goulou Mountain cultivators promptly left.
A soldier to the side looked at the departing cultivators and sadly said, “It is truly a pity. If our enterprise was able to have our own cultivators, it would be great.”
The scarred man sighed, “It is wishful thinking to have our own cultivators. Although our Heavenly East Enterprise is one of the three great merchant unions in the Heavenly Origin Region, we still struggle to acquire spirit stones every year. It isn’t enough to hire cultivators all year round. And Qi Condensation cultivators possess about the same strength as body refiners like us. There isn’t much use in employing them. Foundation Establishment cultivators use an astonishing number of spirit stones year-round as well. It is only when our enterprise has a large order that they are willing to spend spirit stones on them. As for Core Formation cultivators and above, that is something that we can’t even consider. High-grade cultivators require rare materials or magic tools that are far beyond what we can afford. Even if our enterprise manages to somehow foster a mid-grade cultivator, they will eventually leave.”
“That is so. Even body refiners like us will immediately depart to dangerous areas when they finish their cultivation, in search of rare medicines that can create spirit roots. After all, when one becomes a cultivator, nor only can they cultivate immortal techniques, but their lifespan increases as well. Over the years, it is impossible to know how many funerals we’ve held for body refiners, yet they still journey outside.” The soldier sadly sighed.
Zhang Kiu then waved his arm, “Enough of that. This has nothing to do with ordinary people like us. Let us return to see the mistress.”
The soldier immediately shut his mouth.
Thus, the party immediately set off, quickly immersing themselves in the busy streets.
…
At that moment, Han Li was standing on a street, looking at the seven blazing suns in the sky and letting out a gloomy sigh.
Ever since he left the Azure Sifting Sands and entered the grasslands, he immediately sensed the astonishing spiritual Qi in the air.
The spiritual Qi in this world was several times greater than what he found in the mortal world. If he was able to find a suitable place of cultivation, it was possible that the spiritual Qi could be over a dozen times greater.
It is a pity that he already dissipated his Nascent Soul. The Ice Phoenix’s restriction is still present on his body, so he wasn’t able to absorb any spiritual Qi, leaving him helpless in this regard.
He then set his sights on the road and looked around him as he walked forward.
The stores on the streets were about the same as he would find in the mortal world, with nothing out of the ordinary.
But suddenly, he stopped and looked at a store in front of him. After some hesitation, he entered and looked around.
There were tables made of sandalwood that shined with the cold light glinting off the weapons they displayed. This was a store that specialized in weapons.
It wasn’t very large, only having two attendants, but there were many customers that visited this store to begin with. Naturally, the two were mortals.
When Han Li entered, he saw that despite the store’s unremarkable exterior, business was treating them quite well and his heart stirred.
When one of the attendants was finished dealing with another guest, he took notice of Han Li and hastily rushed over to him with a smile, “Customer, do you see something you like? Take a look at this gold plated nine ring saber. It was forged from black iron. Not only can it cut through metal, but it is rather heavy. It is an ideal weapon for dealing with wolves.”
The attendant noticed Han Li was eyeing a large ringed saber. It was pitch-black and appeared remarkably heavy.
