In March, Qingshan Town was already dotted with greenery.
It was a fine time for all things to recover, and it was the busiest season for the town, with horse-drawn carriages flowing in and out like a stream.
The events that took place in Southern Town had settled down, but whenever people spoke of the Thousand Medicinal House again, they couldn’t help but carry a hint of fear.
In the early spring season, countless mercenaries who had rested for a winter swarmed into the Magic Beast Mountain Range in groups to begin a new journey.
In front of the Thousand Medicinal House in Qingshan Town, a caravan slowly pulled away.
Yan Qingshan stood atop a carriage, bidding a lingering farewell to Xiao Yixian, who was waving to him from the entrance.
From the time he woke up on his sickbed until now, nearly a year had passed since he came to this world.
It had been over a month since he returned from the Magic Beast Mountain Range.
In the spring of this second year, he finally chose to say goodbye again and embarked on a journey to travel the continent.
Before Yan Qingshan left, the situation in Qingshan Town shifted again.
The Thousand Medicinal House occupied the interests in Southern Town formerly held by the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, standing alongside the other two major mercenary groups as one of the three major forces in town.
Although the Thousand Medicinal House had no Dou Shi to oversee it, its network of relationships spanned the entire town and the surrounding settlements.
After the pharmacy introduced a brand new, superior healing medicine and a paralyzing poison powder with startling efficacy, the voices of doubt gradually vanished.
Yan Qingshan wasn’t worried about Xiao Yixian staying behind.
During his days at the pharmacy, he had taught her almost every self-defense method he could and had left behind contingencies so that no one could act against her.
The strongest person on the surface in the entire town was only a 1-Star Dou Shi.
The contingency Yan Qingshan left behind—forget a Dou Shi—could easily bury the entire town along with her.
However, using that contingency would cause Xiao Yixian’s poison body to activate prematurely, so he repeatedly warned her not to take that thing out lightly.
…
Wu Tan City, one of the smaller cities in the Jia Ma Empire, was located in the northeastern province.
It sat between Ling Yan City in the northern province, the Magic Beast Mountain Range in the northeastern province, and Black Rock City in the eastern province.
Wu Tan City was not a large city within the empire.
The strongest person in the city was merely a high-level Da Dou Shi close to becoming a Dou Ling.
Within the city, the three strongest families—Xiao, Jia Lie, and Ao Ba—controlled and split most of the interests.
Wu Tan City naturally had an imperial City Lord and officials, but for such a small city that was neither economically prosperous nor a vital pass, as long as the taxes and the empire’s interests were guaranteed, there was no need to be too meticulous.
To be honest, most towns in the empire were in similar situations.
Imperial power did not reach the rural areas; local gentry shared power and self-governed.
Families like the three major clans of Wu Tan City, who controlled most of the interests, were not few, and they formed the lowest level of the empire’s ruling class.
Wu Tan City was just a small city in the entire Jia Ma Empire, but its number one family, the Xiao family, was not without fame in the empire.
The Xiao family was once a first-rate family in the empire.
The family head, Xiao Lin, reached the rank of Dou Wang and was a life-and-death friend of Nalan Jie, one of the current ten strongest experts and an important imperial official.
But with Xiao Lin’s death and no successor in the Xiao family, they now lacked even a single Dou Ling.
Unable to protect their interests, they fell into decline, and their influence retreated from the Jia Ma Sacred City back into Wu Tan City.
Even so, the Xiao family remained the number one family in Wu Tan City, occupying more of the city’s interests.
The other two families, Ao Ba and Jia Lie, were dissatisfied, but because of the marriage contract between the Nalan family and the Xiao family, they didn’t dare to target the Xiao family too much.
The marketplace in Wu Tan City always opened extremely early.
Although the sun had only just revealed a smear of red dawn on the horizon, the entire street was already very lively.
A caravan of about a hundred people and twenty carriages, guarded by protectors, slowly stepped onto the market streets of Wu Tan City.
“So this is Wu Tan City!”
The scale of this caravan was not large and was inconspicuous among the people traveling through Wu Tan City.
On a carriage in the middle of the group, a person lifted the curtain to reveal a face that still carried a hint of youthful innocence.
Perhaps due to the lack of sunlight, the face appeared fairer than that of some women.
A servant driving the horse turned around.
He looked even younger than Yan Qingshan, but aside from his face and small stature, he didn’t look like a youth at all.
He smiled at Yan Qingshan and said, “Physician Yan, you’re awake.
We’ve arrived at Wu Tan City.
Would you like to get down and walk around?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“No, sitting on the carriage is quite nice.”
Yan Qingshan shook his head but lifted the curtain and came outside, sitting on the other side of the carriage frame.
Seeing this, the servant beamed with a fawning smile, trying to please Yan Qingshan with great enthusiasm.
“Xiao Liu, are you familiar with the Xiao family?”
Yan Qingshan sat on the frame and scanned the area casually, asking naturally.
This servant was named Ye Xiao Liu, a worker in the merchant group.
“Who doesn’t know the Xiao family of Wu Tan City?
Look over there, that’s the Xiao family’s marketplace.
See those Xiao family guards?
How grand and majestic they look!”
Ye Xiao Liu pointed toward a marketplace diagonally ahead to the left.
His eyes shone as he spoke of the guards.
“The Xiao family guards have the best equipment.
Being a guard is much more respectable and safer than being a mercenary.”
“My greatest wish in this life is to join a big family as a guard after I promote to Dou Zhe.
Unfortunately, I’m only at the 4th Stage Dou Zhi Qi.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to become a Dou Zhe.”
“Xiao Yan is here!”
“Quickly, come welcome the Third Young Master!”
“The Xiao family’s little monster has arrived!”
“The Third Young Master is so handsome!”
…
The marketplace ahead suddenly erupted in noise.
Yan Qingshan focused his gaze into the distance.
A youth of about eleven or twelve, surrounded by a group of boys and girls, arrived at the marketplace.
Everywhere he passed was filled with cheers and praise; the occasional words of dissatisfaction were drowned out by even more laughter.
The youth also responded to this scene with great familiarity, meeting the cheers and praise with a face full of smiles.
Surrounded by flattery, he seemed like the best-performing star of the show.
But few noticed that he seemed a bit agitated, and the smile at the corners of his mouth was a bit stiff.
“Physician Yan, did you see that?
That is the Xiao family’s Third Young Master, a true favorite of heaven, a legendary figure in the empire.”
Ye Xiao Liu pointed at the youth entering the marketplace and spoke with envy.
“I heard this Xiao family Third Young Master has extraordinary talent.
He started cultivating at age four, reached 9th Stage Dou Zhi Qi at ten, and became a Dou Zhe at eleven.”
“This year, he turns twelve, though he hasn’t had his twelfth birthday yet.
I believe after several months of cultivation, he’s long past being a 1-Star Dou Zhe!”
“More importantly, this Xiao family Third Young Master has a marriage contract with Miss Nalan Yanran, the daughter of one of the empire’s three major families.”
“Twelve years old, I see.”
Yan Qingshan glanced at the departing Xiao Yan from afar, muttered a mysterious sentence, and went back into the carriage.
“Xiao Liu, I’m going to cultivate.
Don’t let anyone disturb me for now.”
“What a strange person, cultivating all day long…
Hia!”
Ye Xiao Liu’s excitement for chatting was suddenly cut off as he lost his teammate.
Not daring to take the initiative to pester Yan Qingshan, he muttered a few strange words and dejectedly resumed driving the carriage.
‘It looks like Xiao Yan’s cultivation has already started having problems.
He’s been a Dou Zhe for several months, yet his Qi Cyclone still hasn’t stabilized.
But is there still three years before it truly begins?
That’s fine.’
Inside the carriage, Yan Qingshan sat cross-legged.
The slight abnormalities in Xiao Yan naturally hadn’t escaped his eyes.
Passing through Wu Tan City this time, he also intended to confirm the specific timeline of the plot.
Xiao Yan was just twelve.
Having broken through to Dou Zhe for so long and still having an unstable aura, it was clear that Yao Lao had already begun to awaken.
Next would be the three years of being a “trash,” but that had nothing to do with Yan Qingshan.
Once he confirmed the specific time point, he had achieved his purpose for coming to Wu Tan City.
His plans became a bit clearer.
Closing his eyes and sitting cross-legged, he began a deep level of cultivation again.
‘Strange, such a strong soul fluctuation.
An Alchemist?’
The carriage Yan Qingshan was in slowly passed by the marketplace.
As they passed Xiao Yan’s group, a beautiful eleven- or twelve-year-old girl beside Xiao Yan turned her head to glance at the carriage, a look of doubt in her eyes.
…
Black Rock City, a large city situated in the eastern province of the Jia Ma Empire, ranked among the top of all large cities in the empire.
The heart of Black Rock City was its most prosperous and bustling economic center.
Bidding farewell to the merchant group, Yan Qingshan arrived at this flourishing center.
People and carriages moved like water, giant wing-birds flapped to and fro, and many mercenary teams entered and exited, creating a massive clamor.
In a prime location where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, those capable of occupying a space to open a shop were either “local snakes” or “crossing dragons.”
The Miteer Auction House was the largest commercial guild in the Jia Ma Empire, the Miteer family’s base, and an important chain commercial center across many cities of all sizes.
As one of the three major families of the empire, the Miteer family’s business spanned the entire Jia Ma Empire, and there were even significant chain branches outside the empire.
The Miteer family had a long history, dating back hundreds of years within the Jia Ma Empire, and their relationships were intricate.
According to some rumors, this filthy rich family even had some connections with the imperial family of the Jia Ma Empire.
At the front desk of the Miteer Auction House, a figure almost entirely shrouded in a black robe, making it impossible to tell if they were male or female, paused for a moment before walking into the appraisal room nearby.
The appraisal room was very empty.
A middle-aged man was inside.
Hearing the movement, he looked up and frowned upon seeing the black robe clearly meant to hide the person’s identity.
He then caught a glimpse of the storage ring on the person’s fair right hand, and a professional, enthusiastic smile immediately appeared on his face.
“Sir, are you planning to have a treasure appraised?”
“Yes.”
From beneath the black robe, a somewhat dry, aged voice drifted out lightly.
The person raised their right hand, which bore the storage ring, and a golden crown inlaid with countless gems appeared on the counter.
Upon seeing the golden crown, the middle-aged man’s expression grew solemn.
He picked up a magnifying glass nearby and examined it carefully.
His expression changed slightly, and when he looked up again, he was full of gravity.
“Sir, please wait a moment.
Have a seat while I go find our chief appraiser, Old Mr.
Zheng.”
(End of Chapter)