Before the city gates of the prefectural city.
Clang!
Clang, clang!
Suonas and golden gongs led the way, followed by great banners bearing the character "Mourning." Paper money fluttered through the air, while wails of grief shook the land for miles.
A procession like a long dragon approached from afar. Those driving carts and those on foot were all clad in mourning clothes, weeping bitterly. The banners of the Four Seas Merchant Guild were plainly visible.
"People from the Four Seas Merchant Guild? Did they lose someone again?"
"Looks like it. A big shot, too. Was it the Fierce Tiger Stronghold again?"
The people near the city gates discussed it animatedly. Some revealed looks of gloating; they had old grudges against the Four Seas Merchant Guild.
Even so, they still made way. Though the core members of the Four Seas Merchant Guild had died one after another and its strength had greatly declined, it remained an existence ordinary folk could not afford to provoke.
Besides, the dead deserved respect. There was nothing wrong with yielding the road to the departed.
"What the hell is the Four Seas Merchant Guild?"
"Since when did these city gates belong to the Four Seas?"
Some were unafraid. Judging by the insignia on their clothes, they were Inner Qi Realm martial artists from the Brocade Dragon Merchant Guild. They shouted, "Whenever they arrive is whenever they enter!"
"Yeah, yeah! Get your asses to the back of the line!"
A crowd of hangers-on joined in the jeering.
As the funeral procession drew closer, their pupils abruptly contracted.
The first carriage came into view. What it carried was neither cargo nor a coffin, but unmistakably a human head!
Not merely a human head, either—it had been superbly preserved, using skilled techniques and precious materials. Though its owner