The fleet slowly approached the freight wharf of Tian Nan Prefecture City, which lay crouched like a colossal beast along the broad, sea-like river.
The closer they drew, the more they felt the majestic aura and suffocating prosperity radiating from this giant city that dominated an entire prefecture.
The wharf itself was like a noisy, enormous town, its scale even surpassing the whole urban district of Lin Hai County.
Dozens of trestle bridges built from huge blocks of bluestone stretched deep into the muddy, turbulent heart of the river like the savage tentacles of primeval beasts.
Every trestle was packed with people as dense as ants. Thousands of bare-chested, dark-skinned laborers, their muscles knotted, shouted deep, rhythmic work songs.
They carried loads as heavy as mountains on their shoulders and in their arms. Sweat streamed down their bronze backs, gleaming with an oily sheen beneath the afternoon sun.
Boat-company managers and foremen in uniforms of various colors, their voices booming, waved account books or whips as they shouted orders and coordinated the vast, noisy loading and unloading operation.
Savvy peddlers pushed creaking wheelbarrows, nimbly threading through the gaps while hawking cheap tea, coarse cakes, and inferior tobacco that could briefly perk one up but damaged the body.
There were also sword-bearing martial guards with wary expressions, richly dressed merchants ordering their servants about, and even, from time to time, a few young cultivators with extraordinary auras wearing garments marked with sect insignia, faint arrogance in their eyes...
The overlapping waves of sound, the smell of sweat, the scents of cargo, the fishiness of the river, and the aroma of cooking oil blended into a searing, rough, brimming heat that rushed into their faces and nearly drove away the winter chill.
The river was even more spectacular, with a thousand sails racing across it and vessel prows joined to sterns.
Massive government ships flew their banners, ornately decorated passenger boats carried the faint sounds of strings and bamboo instruments, plain but deep-draughted cargo ships piled up like towers, and light, nimble fishing boats dotted the water between them.
There were even several merchant ships with peculiar sails and foreign monsters carved into their prows, clearly from distant overseas barbarian lands, drawing everyone's attention.
Between the larger ships, countless little sampans and black-canopied boats darted about like water striders, ferrying scattered passengers or small consignments of cargo. The boatmen's shouts and the creak of oars never ceased.
" My... my gracious mother..." Wang Meng gaped, his eyes bulging like bronze bells, leaving only pure amazement on his face. "The prefectural city is still just as astonishing no matter how many times I come."
Even Sun Yun, usually cool and self-possessed, could not suppress the deep shock that swept across her clear eyes. She subconsciously tightened her grip on the hilt at her waist.
Chen Yuan drew a deep breath, and that complex, intense atmosphere flooded into his lungs and organs.
This was the aura of the prefectural city: filled with noise, competition, sweat, ambition, and endless opportunities. It made one's heart race and blood boil.
Amid the pilot's flags and shouts, the fleet struggled with all the strength of nine oxen and two tigers before finally coming to a steady stop at a relatively crowded berth.
Zhou Tai and Li Wei immediately got busy. They jumped off the ships and began handing over complicated documents to the wharf tax clerks and inspection officials who had long been waiting nearby, checking the quantity and categories of the cargo, and arranging reliable men to oversee the unloading. For a while, they were so busy their feet barely touched the ground.
Li Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead. Seeing Chen Yuan and the other two gazing around curiously nearby, he thought for a moment, then waved them over.
"Senior Brother, is there something you need us to do?" Chen Yuan asked.
Li Wei nodded, his expression turning somewhat solemn. "The document handover, cargo verification, and storage arrangements will take until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest to finish. We can't all just stand around waiting, Wang Meng."
"Right here, Senior Brother!" Wang Meng immediately answered.
"You're fairly familiar with the prefectural city. You accompanied me here several times in the early days, so I have an important task for you." Li Wei pulled a small money pouch and a list from his robes and handed them to him.
"This is the list. Go to the Hundred Elixir Pavilion in the prefectural-city market and purchase these medicinal ingredients the martial arts school urgently needs. The storeroom is nearly empty."
"While you're there, ask at the Thousand Forge Workshop whether that batch of training blades we commissioned has been finished. If it has, arrange a time to collect them."
"This is the money for the purchases. Spend it carefully. Don't let someone hoodwink you into buying defective goods again like last time, then come back and get scolded."
Wang Meng took the pouch and list. The grin faded somewhat from his face as he thumped his chest and promised, "Don't worry, Senior Brother! Leave this little matter to me. I'll handle it properly, and this time I'll keep my eyes peeled."
"Mm."
Li Wei nodded, then looked toward Chen Yuan and Sun Yun. "Junior Disciple Brother Chen, Junior Disciple Sister Sun, the two of you have just arrived in the prefectural city and don't know your way around, so let Wang Meng take you to the market while he's there. You can broaden your horizons and familiarize yourselves with the roads and surroundings."
"Remember: observe more and speak less. Don't cause trouble. Follow Wang Meng's arrangements in everything. Come straight back once the purchases are done, and don't linger."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
Chen Yuan and Sun Yun answered in unison.
Wang Meng carefully put away the money pouch and read through the list once, then flashed Chen Yuan and Sun Yun a broad grin. "Let's go, you two junior disciples. Senior Brother will take you out to broaden your horizons!"
The three of them struggled their way out of the noisy, ear-ringing wharf district thick with the stench of sweat and truly stepped onto the streets of Tian Nan Prefecture City.
If the wharf was the hottest rim of a boiling cauldron, then the prosperous scene within the city was the cauldron itself, enough to simmer anyone's ambitions and dreams.
The sight before them delivered another powerful visual and psychological shock to the few people from the small county.
The streets were astonishingly broad, paved uniformly with enormous bluestone slabs polished smooth as mirrors. They were more than spacious enough for more than a dozen carriages to race side by side!
Shops stood in endless rows on both sides of the streets, buildings rose at varying heights, banners fluttered, and signs and shop pennants stretched as far as the eye could see.
The architectural styles varied widely. There were Central Plains structures with flying eaves and bracket sets, solid and weighty frontier architecture, and even buildings with foreign domes or elaborate carvings interspersed among them.
Restaurants and teahouses bustled with noise, while enticing aromas of food and wine drifted everywhere.
Silk shops and jewelry pavilions dazzled with brilliance. Their windows displayed a bewildering array of goods, and richly dressed customers went in and out.
The weapon shops shone with cold light, displaying every kind of saber, spear, sword, halberd, axe, battle-axe, hook, and fork. Some even had special counters displaying weapons and armor carved with Runes, their prices high enough to make one click their tongue.
Even more eye-catching were the shops specializing in cultivation manuals, pills, talismans, wondrous objects, and materials. Their facades were often decorated in an antique style or shrouded in mystery. The guards standing at their entrances had deep, heavy auras and sharp gazes that silently turned away ordinary people who had come merely to watch the excitement.
The crowd surged like a tide, shoulder rubbing against shoulder.
There were wealthy merchants in silk robes, shop assistants and apprentices in short jackets hurrying along, martial artists in snug outfits with sharp, capable expressions, and honored personages riding in splendid carriages surrounded by powerful guards...
People of every status, ethnicity, and dress mingled together, forming a ceaselessly surging human tide.
The tremendous din blended with the sounds of carriages and horses, hawking, haggling, laughter, and scolding... It battered their eardrums without pause.
Now and then, lavishly decorated carriages drawn by four or even six divine steeds rumbled past amid a cluster of fierce-looking guards. Pedestrians hurriedly scattered, stirring up a small commotion.
There were also roving heroes riding tall horses, weapons on their backs and defiant auras about them, roaring past and leaving behind a trail of dust along with gazes of envy or apprehension.
Chen Yuan's emotions surged, making it difficult for him to calm down.
Compared with this place, the most prosperous East Market in Lin Hai County was practically a market in some impoverished backwater village.
The city's prosperity, vitality, and omnipresent sense of power all stimulated his senses intensely. They made him feel insignificant, yet also filled him with infinite longing.
He keenly noticed that martial artists made up an extremely high proportion of the people on the streets, and their cultivation was generally not weak.
People in the Qi and Blood Realm were everywhere, while those in the Skin Grinding Realm were also common. Occasionally, he could even sense several auras like blazing furnaces—clearly the unintentional leakage of experts in the Sinew Changing Realm or even the Bone Forging Realm.
Here, his cultivation at Minor Accomplishment in the Skin Grinding Realm was nothing particularly outstanding. He had to be even more cautious.
"Come on, over there. The largest and liveliest Vast Sea Market in the prefectural city is ahead, on that Heaven-Reaching Street."
Wang Meng excitedly pointed toward an even broader main road, where the crowd was packed shoulder to shoulder, and shouted. There seemed to be a huge plaza at the end of the street.
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