Imperial Capital Maple Leaf City

Outside the Byron Empire's capital, Maple Leaf City, an old carriage rolled leisurely along the wide main road.

On the driver's bench sat a young man and a young woman. The latter was quite young, dressed in a pale yellow, cinched-waist gauze dress. She seemed to be talking about something interesting, her pretty face filled with a joyful smile.

The man wore a cyan martial outfit with two black longswords—one large and one small—strapped to his back. A faint smile played on his lips; while he appeared to be listening to the girl's chatter, he gave off an air of being somewhat distracted.

With such distinctive weapons, there was no doubt that this man was Leian.

As for the girl beside him, she was Aili, a maid he had hired previously.

Ever since she was hired by Leian, the young girl had developed an inexplicable affection for this genius from their small town. When she learned that Leian was planning to leave, she insisted on following him no matter what.

Initially, Leian had been unwilling to bring her along, but the Barry couple was very fond of the little girl.

Considering that he would eventually need someone to look after his parents, having a familiar face in a strange place was reassuring, so Leian agreed to the girl's request.

Of course, before leaving, he made sure to give the girl's family a sum of money.

Later, during their journey, Leian tested Aili's cultivation talent. Upon discovering she possessed superior dark-element affinity, he taught her a manual for practicing Dark Battle Qi.

Because it was Leian's request, Aili was quite diligent in her cultivation, which even made the Barry couple feel embarrassed to be lazy—an unexpected bonus for Leian.

Time passed quickly amidst the anticipation and anxiety of Barry and his family. Now, more than three months had passed since they left Qingshi Town.

Although they had encountered a few bandits along the way, none had strength beyond the sixth or seventh rank, and they were easily dealt with by Leian.

With the imperial capital now in sight, even Leian couldn't help but feel a bit excited, let alone Aili beside him.

Soon, a city wall built of bluestone appeared in their line of sight. The wall was dozens of meters high, its ancient surface marked with mottled traces, giving off a sense of immense weight.

As the carriage moved forward, the city gate gradually became clear, while the walls extended to both sides, disappearing into the distance.

It was rumored that five or six million people lived in the capital, which gave one an idea of the vastness of Maple Leaf City.

"Truly magnificent, worthy of being the capital of an empire!"

Under the watchful eyes of the city guards, Leian drove the carriage through the gate at a steady pace.

The moment they entered the city, all sorts of clamor rushed into their ears from every direction, and they could even hear the occasional roar of a magical beast.

Leian looked around to see a bustling main street filled with heavy traffic and crowds. Among the pedestrians were many warriors carrying weapons and noble-looking mages in robes.

Beside some of these people, one could occasionally spot one or two magical beasts following along. With just a casual glance, Leian saw several seventh-rank beasts, such as a Saber-toothed Tiger and a Golden-patterned Leopard.

"Wow, Master Leian, is that a Saber-toothed Tiger? It's so tall!"

Aili pointed at the Saber-toothed Tiger not far away with one hand while tugging on Leian's sleeve with the other, her face flushed red with excitement.

While traveling, they had rested in several county cities. Although it wasn't their first time seeing magical beasts, they had only ever seen low-level fifth or sixth-rank beasts, which were quite rare. Unlike the capital, where even high-level magical beasts were a common sight.

Since entering the city, Aili's little mouth had barely stopped moving. One moment she was praising the Saber-toothed Tiger for being tall and mighty, and the next she was complimenting the Golden-patterned Leopard for being beautiful, her large eyes unable to take it all in.

Meanwhile, the Barry couple inside the carriage couldn't help but lift the curtains to look around.

The carriage moved with the flow of people and soon stopped outside an inn.

It was a mid-range inn, very suitable for a seventh-rank warrior like Leian who was traveling with his family. After settling the three of them in, Leian left the inn alone to take care of some business.

Since he intended to settle in the capital, a house was essential, so Leian first headed to a real estate agency.

After some inquiries, Leian finally found a courtyard he liked and successfully rented it.

Yes, he rented it, rather than buying it!

Although he had obtained the wealth of the Cleo Family, it only amounted to three or four hundred thousand gold coins when converted. While that might be a significant sum in a county city, it didn't count for much in the capital.

Although this money could buy a small house in the capital's slums, the environment there was dirty, chaotic, and unsafe, so Leian ruled it out immediately.

As for the house he rented, it was a detached building with a small courtyard located on the edge of the capital's West District. It was valued at five million gold coins, with an annual rent of eighty thousand. Leian paid three years of rent in one go.

Don't let the five-million-gold-coin price tag fool you; in fact, there were massive estates in the core areas of the East and West Districts worth tens of millions.

Of course, the most expensive were the manors in the eastern suburbs outside the city. Each of those manors was worth over a hundred million gold coins, and they were rarely available on the market.

It was said that those who lived there were either the empire's top nobles or Saint Realm powerhouses; ordinary people couldn't even get close.

After sighing at the extravagance of the capital, Leian held the keys and continued walking down the street. Soon, he stopped outside a luxuriously decorated building.

"Youquan Chamber of Commerce!"

Looking at the four large characters on the sign, Leian pursed his lips. After a moment of silence, he suddenly turned his head to look at the area not far across the street.

At the end of his gaze stood a majestic and solemn cathedral—a sect that worshipped the Dark Night Goddess, and also the only sect recognized by all nations across the entire Youquan Continent.

It was said that countless years ago, cathedrals of the Dark Night Goddess Sect were spread across the entire Youquan Continent. Not to mention the capital of an empire, even every county city had a cathedral, and there were even permanent sect members stationed in some more populous towns, as they were extremely keen on developing followers.

However, at some unknown point, it was rumored that a major incident occurred within the Dark Night Goddess Sect. Since then, they were no longer as active in developing followers, and cathedrals in some remote areas even fell into decay and closed down.

Nowadays, only some prosperous county cities still retained cathedrals.

Like Hashan County, where Leian was from, it had no cathedral stationed there due to its small population and remote location, which was why Leian only truly felt the presence of the Dark Night Goddess Sect after leaving Hashan County.

Ever since learning about the status of the Dark Night Goddess Sect, Leian was very clear that this Dark Night Goddess must be a god-level powerhouse, or perhaps even the only "King" of the Youquan Continent.

And for the "Youquan Chamber of Commerce" to dare use the name "Youquan," its background was certainly not simple.

In fact, there were indeed rumors circulating in the outside world that the supporter behind the Youquan Chamber of Commerce was the Dark Night Goddess's eldest disciple—Margaret!

A powerful Saint Realm peak powerhouse of the dark element!

The reason Leian came to the Youquan Chamber of Commerce was to purchase information regarding the Yulan Plane.

Especially information about "Beirut." Only by knowing the details of this "future Chief God" could he roughly deduce the current time.

In Leian's eyes, only information sold by a chamber of commerce with a god-level powerhouse background was worth believing.