The Prosperous Walls of Yinling

“Om Uma Mota Doya She!” Li Huowang silently recited, and following the instructions of the technique, he mobilized the qi in his dantian.

Then he raised the bronze coin sword in his left hand and stabbed fiercely at the emerald-green bamboo shoot in front of him.

The next moment, the copper coins on the sword trembled slightly. They scattered in the air, then, guided by the red string, embedded themselves one by one into the bamboo shoot.

Li Huowang lifted the hilt again, and the old coins quickly returned, reforming the blade of the coin sword.

When the bronze coin sword was reassembled, the bamboo shoot over a meter tall in front of Li Huowang was already split into several pieces.

Next, Li Huowang turned his gaze to a black rock covered in moss. He gripped the sword and slashed at it.

The next moment, Li Huowang felt a strong force transmit from the blade. At that instant, it felt as if he was not the one swinging the sword, but the sword leading his hand.

Just as the bronze coin sword was about to hit the stone, it completely dispersed. As the empty hilt passed over the boulder, the copper coins, strung on the red line, re-coalesced and sliced through a rotten tree several meters behind the stone.

“This sword is useful. Extremely useful.” A hint of joy in his heart, Li Huowang looked at the bronze coin sword before him, thinking to himself.

Compared to the other things he owned, this item was clearly much more practical, and most importantly, it had no side effects.

This coin sword could, to some extent, make up for his lack of long-range attacks.

The scene made the Xiucai watching from the side burn with envy. He had struggled so hard to learn his divine ability, yet this man had mastered it better in such a short time just by reading.

Thinking of this, the Xiucai, burning with envy, greeted him with an excited expression. “Master’s divine abilities are unrivaled!! Peerless under heaven!”

Faced with the man’s flattery, Li Huowang’s expression was as if he had eaten a fly. This man hadn’t studied; he couldn’t even flatter properly.

“Master, what divine ability should I learn next?” The Xiucai’s eyes were full of eagerness, asking the question he cared about most.

Li Huowang looked at the young man before him without answering. The reason he had let him learn the technique earlier was twofold: to drive away the violent energy inside him, and to have him test the technique first to see if there were any hidden dangers.

Now that the goal was achieved, Li Huowang knew he had to consider how to handle this cheap disciple.

Li Huowang understood that, given his current personality, directly telling him he was expelled from the sect probably wouldn’t work. He had to think of a more roundabout way.

“Learn characters. Your next step is to learn to read.” Li Huowang’s words made the Xiucai freeze. This was not what he had expected.

“Do you know why I learned this technique faster than you? Because I recognize the characters.”

“So what if I don’t recognize characters? I can still learn divine abilities! I can even cultivate immortality!” The Xiucai’s tone was indignant.

“You won’t learn? Fine. Don’t blame me for not teaching.” After Li Huowang finished speaking, he turned and left.

“Master, I was wrong!” Extremely nervous, the Xiucai fell to his knees with a thud before Li Huowang, heavily knocking his head three times. “I’ll learn!”

When Li Huowang walked out of the bamboo grove, the Xiucai behind him was already frowning, carefully holding a piece of paper covered in characters and memorizing them by rote. He had never worked so hard in his life.

Seeing her master emerge, Mantou trotted up beside Li Huowang on her little paws, wagging her tail, sniffing at the hem of his robe.

Li Huowang patted her dog head and said to the others waiting by the ox-cart, “Let’s go. Move faster. We need to get into Yinling City as soon as possible.”

Amidst the rolling of the cartwheels, Li Huowang reopened the map in his hands. According to it, not far ahead was a major city of Liang, Yinling City.

From what he had gathered, this city was one of the most prominent in the entire country, a fiefdom of a prince of Liang.

Of course, Li Huowang didn’t really care what the city was like. His main concern was that after passing this city, it wouldn’t be far to Niu Xin Mountain.

Once they reached Bai Lingmiao’s hometown, this arduous, long-distance journey would finally come to an end.

“Brother Li, I’ve never been to Yinling City before. I only heard my great-uncle say that the people in Yinling City are incredibly wealthy. When he was young, he caught a chicken-foot deer, sold it in Yinling City, and when he came back, he built three large tiled-roof houses!”

“He said Yinling City was huge and beautiful, and the food was especially delicious. When I was little, I often wondered how good it could taste.”

Bai Lingmiao, her eyes covered by a white silk ribbon, held onto Li Huowang’s clothing with both hands, chattering incessantly. It was completely different from how she used to be.

As she talked, Li Huowang listened silently. One in front, one behind, a well-matched pair.

With Bai Lingmiao’s voice, like that of a lark, a towering, oppressive city wall gradually appeared before them.

As they followed the crowd to the foot of the wall, his entire body covered by the wall’s shadow, Li Huowang looked up and almost thought it was a mountain before him.

“This wall… this wall…” Gouwa stared, tongue-tied.

“This wall is really big!” Yang Xiaohai supplied the rest of the sentence for him.

“Gabbing again.” Gouwa put his arm around his wife’s waist and hurried to keep up with the cart.

In the barbican before a long queue of people, soldiers with a “conscript” chest tattoo were inspecting everyone one by one.

Compared to Qingqiu earlier, it was visibly much stricter here. Everything had to be checked before they could be let through.

Everyone couldn’t help but feel tense, pulling the black gauze hats on their heads tighter.

As soon as they entered the dozen-meter-long barbican, Li Huowang noticed that even their voices echoed here, a testament to its size.

“What’s your business in the city?” The inspecting soldier’s tone was very cold.

“Honored sir, we are opera performers. Please be lenient.” With a flattering smile, Lü Zhuangyuan handed over the travel documents. The silver beneath the papers was thrown to the ground.

Seeing that they had official travel documents bearing an official seal, the soldiers who were about to search their belongings stepped back.

“Pass. Next.”

This reply let Li Huowang, who was standing near the ox-cart holding the Black Tai Sui, breathe a sigh of relief.

The moment they entered, Li Huowang immediately heard the exclamations of surprise around him, but that was only natural. On both sides of the wide streets stood several buildings several stories high.

Between these buildings was a lively, vibrant scene, like a living painting.

Facing this bustling and entirely unfamiliar sight, even the well-traveled Lü Zhuangyuan seemed a bit at a loss. This group of people stood in the middle of the road, unsure which way to go.

Many people saw their actions and a hint of contempt crept into their eyes. Another group of country bumpkins who had never been to a city before.

“Don’t panic. Same as always. Find an inn to settle down in first.” Li Huowang walked ahead, and the others quickly followed.

Li Huowang looked at everything before him with a complicated expression. He never imagined he would find such a prosperous place in this world.

He had thought this insane world didn’t have a single good patch of ground in it.