Free Web NovelChapter 317: Chapter 46: Arriving at Shangjing City
Wang Ping looked at the young man before him, amused. It was obvious at a glance that this man had been pampered since birth and had never suffered even a minor setback.
When Wang Ping didn’t answer, a middle-aged man in a pale green robe stepped forward. Bowing obsequiously, he gestured to the young man and announced, "This is the eldest legitimate son of Prime Minister Yang, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites..."
After the introduction, he turned to Wang Ping, his expression instantly shifting from servile to arrogant. He said in a condescending tone, "I have two taels of silver here. Consider it payment from my young master for your Spirit Bird."
As the man spoke, two attendants in pale green cotton tunics, who had been following the horse, silently moved to flank Wang Ping, blocking his escape. Furthermore, these two were Qi Cultivators who had reached the Late-stage of Bone Marrow Cleansing.
"Do you even know its value? You think you can buy it for a mere two taels of silver? I’m afraid you’ve been away for too long and forgotten the rules of the Capital Region!" Wang Ping said, chuckling as he looked at the noble scion on his horse.
"One hundred taels!" the noble scion named his price.
"One hundred thousand taels!" Wang Ping countered.
"Daoist, you must be on your way to Shangjing City. I wonder if you’ve ever heard the saying... making things easy for others makes things easy for yourself." The Qi Cultivator to Wang Ping’s left reminded him softly. His reminder may have been well-intentioned, but it was still undeniably patronizing.
"I am buying this Spirit Bird for one hundred taels today, and that’s final!"
The noble scion’s tone had lost all patience.
A smile touched Wang Ping’s lips. He had been in a foul mood for this entire journey, and now, being provoked by a few mortals, a flicker of killing intent stirred within him. His consciousness instinctively connected to the trail of Spirit Grass he had left behind, assessing the surroundings as he mentally calculated how many people he would need to eliminate to cover up their deaths.
Just then, however, Yu Lian struck. A flash of frigid, sinister energy flared, and a dense Water Spirit Qi emerged. Everything within a five-li radius was frozen solid, including the noble scion and his attendants. Their faces were still fixed in their imperious expressions when the ice took them.
But in the next moment, the frigid energy seeped into their brains, and their arrogant expressions dissolved. Then, they crumbled into piles of red-and-white ice shards. She was erasing their memories!
Wang Ping sighed to himself. ’Yu Lian’s state of mind has been affected these past two days, too.’ He quickly performed a Spell, cleansing his aura from all the Spirit Grass in the area. Before a golden stream of light could descend from the sky, he took Yu Lian, transformed into a streak of azure light, and plunged into a nearby river.
「A dozen breaths later.」
Wang Ping silently reappeared over ten li away. Just then, a faint golden halo attempted to probe him, but it vanished without a trace, crushed by the pressure of his consciousness.
Several minutes later, Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit Consciousness detected a deserted path. He brought Yu Lian to the surface, and they passed silently through a small, dense wood on the bank, landing on the trail.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the water on his clothes automatically evaporated.
"The malice in their spirits was so thick you could almost see it dripping. They deserved to die!" Yu Lian explained before Wang Ping could question her.
"What’s done is done. This case is just destined to remain unsolved." Wang Ping took out his Copper Coins and cast a divination, not blaming Yu Lian for her actions.
’In that situation, killing them was indeed the best option.’
「Another quarter-hour later.」
Wang Ping returned to the main road as if nothing had happened. He took out the letter Xia Yao had sent him and began to read through it, contemplating the situation in Shangjing City.
Though this was his first time in Shangjing City, he was hardly alone and without support. If someone truly meant him harm, he absolutely would not act like a good little boy and let them climb on his head and take a shit.
「Two days later.」
The official road Wang Ping traveled merged into a straight thoroughfare, with an imperial highway running alongside it. Only the Shangjing Region could afford to build such extravagant roads.
At the crossroads, Wang Ping saw a teahouse beside the main road. Behind it lay a village of considerable size, which stretched south along the road to the edge of a river. On the far side of the river were vast tracts of farmland, planted with winter cabbage.
The village buildings mostly had white walls and red-tiled roofs. A heavy scent of incense wafted out from the village, clinging to the air and refusing to dissipate.
’Talk about air pollution,’ Wang Ping griped internally before continuing north. As he passed the teahouse, the scent of incense grew even heavier. An incense burner sat at its entrance, crammed with all sorts of incense sticks and candles.
「Early in the twelfth lunar month.」
The weather in the Shangjing Region had already dropped to several degrees below zero, but the scent of incense in the air, far from diminishing, had only grown stronger.
’So this is Shangjing City!’
Wang Ping stood on a highland upstream of a river, gazing at the distant city—a true marvel of its era.
The river beside him was the Nong River. From here, it was still at least a hundred li to Shangjing City. The riverbanks were lined with dense, fertile farmland that stretched to the horizon, far beyond what the naked eye could see. Dotted amongst the fields were sheds for raising livestock.
Two great roads cut through the farmland, both leading toward Shangjing City.
The city was built partly on the plain and partly up the slopes of two peaks. At the very summit were palaces of red walls and golden tiles, which radiated a golden halo visible to the naked eye that enveloped the entire city.
In the spiritual sense, the city’s golden streams of light were even denser. They were formed from the faith and incense of millions, converging upon the Imperial Palace at the summit before being redistributed to slowly nourish the land.
’The true source of the coming turmoil is most likely here. I can’t imagine what that will look like. Will it be a disaster, or something else?’ As he thought this, Wang Ping’s pace quickened involuntarily.
As the saying goes, a mountain in the distance can wear a traveler’s legs to the bone. Gazing at the majestic palace, Wang Ping walked for three hours before finally reaching the northern district of Shangjing City.
The area outside the city wall was unremarkable, just a vast open space large enough to hold tens of thousands of people—allowing the soldiers on the walls a clear view of anyone approaching. The walls themselves were also plain, just exceptionally high and massive. There was no fee to enter the city, but commoners had to leave before dark. If caught inside after nightfall, the fine was calculated as a percentage of the offender’s personal wealth.
Wang Ping had an identity token from the Daoist Scripture Hall. The soldier on duty carefully verified his identity, asked his purpose for entering the Capital City, and made a detailed record before finally letting him in. He was only permitted to stay for half a month.
He had just entered the city when he heard a commotion behind him. It was a convoy, escorted by, of all things, a ten-man squad of the Imperial Guard. Wang Ping wisely stepped aside. As the convoy passed, he sensed a familiar, frigid energy.
It was the frigid chill of Yu Lian’s Magical Power. ’This convoy, then, is most likely transporting the body of that noble scion.’
Yu Lian twitched her tail inside his sleeve. Wang Ping, his face expressionless, waited for the convoy to pass before continuing on his way. A short while later, following the directions in the internal affairs manual, he spotted the inn they operated here.
