Inner City

Yu City is very large.

If you were to travel all the way from the edge of the outer city to the Inner City, you would even need to ride a horse.

The Nine Stripes Ward where Chen Mu is located is neither too far nor too close to the Inner City area, just right. Plus, with his current strong leg strength, he naturally walks quietly, not wanting to flaunt himself in public, and quickly crosses street after street.

The closer to the Inner City streets, the cleaner and wider they are, and the more prosperous the area becomes.

Of course.

This is only limited to the daytime.

Because during the day, near the Inner City area, there are basically constables patrolling everywhere, and families with a little money and power will hire guards. Thugs and hooligans basically can't survive here.

But at night, this kind of relatively wealthy place is more attractive to thieves. After all, even though it's close to the Inner City, it's still just the outer city. Once night falls, no one cares, including the City Guard.

"Inner City..."

Chen Mu kept heading north, walking quickly along the streets. After an unknown amount of time, he finally arrived at the Inner City of Yu City. This was also his first time coming to the Inner City.

In the past, he had only heard people talk about it, without any direct feeling. Now, looking at it, he couldn't help but feel a little shocked, because the Inner City's walls were much thicker and taller than the outer city's. They were probably far beyond the city walls in his previous life's memory!

The entire city wall was forged from an unknown material. Under the sunlight, it even faintly shone with a metallic luster, and a deep moat was dug around the outside.

"No wonder the Inner City area is a completely different world. With such tall and solid city walls, even if the outer city is in chaos and burned to ashes, it won't affect the inside."

Chen Mu looked up at the towering city walls for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

Then he walked straight to the gate of the Inner City area.

The gate of the Inner City area was also heavily guarded. Anyone entering or leaving had to be carefully inspected, and ordinary people were not qualified to enter at all. Ordinary civilians who wanted to enter had to spend a lot of money to buy a special Inner City Waist Tag.

Chen Mu came to the city gate and showed the City Guard Yamen Runner Captain's Waist Tag to the city gate guard.

The city gate guard glanced at the Waist Tag, then returned it to Chen Mu and said expressionlessly, "Go in, but remember to come out before nightfall. You can't spend the night inside."

Chen Mu nodded, indicating that he understood.

He had learned from Min Baoyi that the Yamen Runner Captain's Waist Tag could enter the Inner City, but he was not qualified to purchase a house and live there for a long time. Even when the Inner City's defense was relatively strict, the Yamen Runner Captain was only allowed to enter and exit within a single day.

Only when one reached the Yamen Director could they be qualified to live in the Inner City for a long time and purchase a house... Of course, if Chen Mu really wanted to go to the Inner City and had enough money to purchase property there, it would be easy to handle by finding Xu Hongyu.

Chen Mu was only thinking about purchasing property in the Inner City for now.

The exaggerated price of tens of thousands of taels of silver for any random mansion made him temporarily retreat.

Entering the Inner City.

At a glance, it was indeed a different world from the outer city.

The wide streets were smooth and flat, without any potholes. On both sides were restaurants and shops, exquisitely decorated. The people coming in and out were either dressed in silk and satin or in clean robes, with leisurely expressions.

Chen Mu was also wearing a blue robe, the most decent long shirt he had bought for ten taels of silver. It was very common in the Inner City, and he didn't attract any attention when he mixed into the crowd.

Continuing inside.

He couldn't see any of those individual small houses at all. All the residential areas in the back streets were high and deep courtyards. At a rough glance, they were at least three or four courtyards deep, and some even occupied a large area directly.

Although it was his first time in the Inner City, Chen Mu was not lost. The Yu Family Martial Hall was easy to find, located on the Yu Family's territory, and the Yu Family occupied a large area in the east of the Inner City area, which he had already learned.

Quickly.

Chen Mu soon found the Yu Family Martial Hall.

Calling it a martial hall, it was actually a very large area, composed of many complex courtyards nested together, and divided into east and west sides. The large area on the east side was the men's section, while the smaller area on the other side was the women's section.

Chen Mu walked around and came to the main entrance of the women's section, walked over and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

After a while, someone opened the door halfway. It was a woman of about thirty years old, with a solemn expression. Seeing Chen Mu standing outside the door, she frowned and sized him up.

Chen Mu quickly explained his purpose.

"Oh, Chen Yue."

The woman nodded, her brow slightly relaxed, but she didn't let Chen Mu in, only told Chen Mu to wait by the door.

After another moment.

The door opened again, and a familiar figure appeared at the door, it was Chen Yue, whom he hadn't seen for five months.

The change in these short five months was very great. Not only had she grown half a head taller, but her somewhat childish baby face had also matured. Although still a bit green, she was more like a young woman. Whether it was her complexion or anything else, she was better than before.

"Brother!"

Chen Yue walked over happily, but she didn't throw herself at Chen Mu like she used to. Instead, she had a bit more of a girl's reserve, just looking at Chen Mu with joy.

Chen Mu looked Chen Yue up and down, revealing a slight smile. He sighed in his heart that the little girl had grown a lot, and seeing her complexion and appearance, she was obviously doing well in the Yu Family Martial Hall, so he was much relieved.

"The Outer City is too chaotic, I haven't been able to find the time. How have you been staying here these past few months?"

Chen Mu habitually touched Chen Yue's head, then led her to a large banyan tree not far away.

Chen Yue was still that somewhat simple and honest look, raising her head and saying, "It's okay, it's just that practicing is very tiring, but I've met a lot of people, Master Yu also takes good care of me... Brother must have worked hard when he practiced the saber."

When she watched Chen Mu practice the saber, she didn't feel anything, she only knew that Chen Mu was very hardworking.

Now that she was learning the sword at the martial hall, she felt the difficulty. After practicing for nearly five months, her swordsmanship was only a minor success, still a bit away from major success, and she heard that the hurdle from major success to perfection was the most difficult, and very few people could pass it.

As long as one can practice swordsmanship to perfection and develop Sword Intent before the age of twenty-five, they will have a different status within the Yu Family Martial Hall, becoming the so-called 'Inner Courtyard Disciple', and the supply of resources will also be greater.

"Yeah."

Chen Mu listened to Chen Yue's words, and said with a peaceful expression: "Practicing is never easy, every drop of sweat brings a point of gain. I was able to practice to my current level, also through enduring the cold and heat."

From Chen Yue, he learned that she was now practicing a Dripping Rain Swordplay, which she had already practiced to minor success, and the Mo Pi Fa had also been cultivated to the point of minor success, and was steadily progressing towards major success. He estimated that in another two or three months, both the swordplay and the Mo Pi Fa would be able to achieve major success.

This progress was indeed very good.

Within a year, being able to practice swordsmanship to major success and Mo Pi Fa to major success was generally relatively rare. Like Ren Yan of the City Guard, he had been practicing martial arts in the Inner City a long time ago, and now it had been more than a year, but he had not yet reached the level where both techniques had achieved major success.