Gaolin County's annual Autumn Harvest Festival began.
This year's host was Ma Manor.
Colorful flags hung high before the manor gates.
Ma Manor's guards wore matching martial attire, long sabers at their waists, and stood along both sides of the road to maintain order.
Herb merchants, Pill Workshop stewards, martial hall disciples, wealthy local families, traveling traders, and even some Rogue Persons from the Jianghu all came to join the bustle.
Some came to buy medicinal herbs.
Some came to seek pills.
Some came to forge connections.
Lu Chen had come to join the bustle too.
Today, he wore no Scarlet Valorous Guard uniform, only a short black martial outfit with black armor over it. His face and arms were still painted an iron-black color.
From afar, he still looked like a taciturn practitioner of the Iron-Skin Hardening Technique.
He blended into the crowd without drawing attention.
While wandering through the herb fair, Lu Chen ran into an old acquaintance: Master Ge Ye of the Yam Herb Shop.
He approached and cupped his hands. "Master Ge Ye, it's been a while!"
Ge Ye was selecting medicinal herbs. At the sound of that voice, his hands paused.
He turned to look.
The first thing he saw was a young martial artist with iron-black skin, dressed in black armor.
Ge Ye immediately frowned.
"You are..."
Lu Chen smiled. "Don't you recognize me, Master?"
Ge Ye stared at him for a good while, then his eyes suddenly widened a little.
"Lu Chen?"
Lu Chen nodded. "It's me."
Ge Ye looked him up and down, his gaze lingering especially long on his iron-black face and arms. His expression gradually grew strange.
"You brat..."
He reached out and pinched Lu Chen's arm, then leaned closer for a look.
"What in the world have you done