The lake was neither large nor small, but just right.
Fishing boats occasionally glided across it, its autumn waters clear to the bottom.
The longer one looked, the more one liked it, reluctant to leave.
A market stood beside the lake.
Quite a few people sat inside a small eatery, eating fruit and chatting.
The specialty here was steamed Reeves's shad.
The scales were the most praiseworthy part of the steamed Reeves's shad.
People here did not scrape off the scales, but steamed them along with the fish.
They picked up the scales, dipped them in the delicious juices, and put them in their mouths.
This eatery was particularly interesting, too.
Its owner was no ordinary mortal, but half a practitioner.
The customers who frequented the eatery were practitioners as well.
Most did not come here to eat.
Instead, they came to make trades or inquire about news.
To put it plainly, this place was more like a black market.
It simply lacked official recognition.
Whenever ordinary people wanted to come here to sample the delicacies,
the somewhat fearsome-looking fellow at the entrance would scare them away.
There were also powerful officials and nobles who insisted on taking a look inside.
Yet the eatery's owner was not afraid of them.
If he really encountered someone overbearing and unreasonable who displeased him,
they would suffer injured muscles and broken bones at best, or be beaten to death at worst.
Still, for this eatery to have stayed open until now, it naturally had strength and backing of its own.
"White Jade Capital?"
"Word's spreading like mad outside that an outsider took Dragon-Tiger Mountain's White Jade Capital away. White Jade Capital recognized him as its master. If someone could kill this man..."
"Stop dreaming. How could an ordinary person even get near someone