Carefree Path of Dreams

It was dawn.

The rain had stopped and the air was humid. The scenery was clear.

A group of carriages were moving steadily along the wet pathway. There was a youth dressed in green and his eyes were glittering. He seemed to be excited and was engrossed in a discussion. “We will be reaching the Secluded Mountain Prefecture soon!”

“Xia country is vast and geographically, it can be separated into 3 Prefectures…… Lieyang, Qinghe and Cangshui counties belong to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture and the Prefecture City is at the heart of it. This city is way more prosperous compared to other counties and the master of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture is the most powerful in the entire Secluded Mountain Prefecture! Legend has it that he is a spiritual knight who can harness nature’s elements!”

His face was flushed with excitement, as though this was his first trip away from home. With a little pride, he added. “I have a small family business in the city…”

“Haha…..Master Yu, you are too humble! How can the scale of your family business be considered small?”

Fang Yuan was dressed in a thick clothing as he rode a green donkey by the side of the carriage. He was enjoying his chat with the youth in green.

Inside, he was still displeased. ‘It looks like Elder Han is still being cautious of me…..Unfortunately, he thinks he can cheat me, but he doesn’t know that he is actually helping me instead….’

After Elder Han had recovered, without hesitation, he sent a few spiritual objects as payment.

However, what made Fang Yuan speechless was that even though after Elder Han had seen him growing the Vermillion Jade Rice, it was obvious that he did not want Fang Yuan to grow stronger. However, the spiritual objects Fang Yuan received from him was not a common type like the Emerald Grass. It was a Thousand Year Frozen Fruit and similar other plants which required a few hundred to a thousand of years for the plants to grow to produce their effects!

Although such spiritual plants were considered precious, Fang Yuan would probably not have the chance to witness these plants to bear fruits. He had no choice but to accept them anyway.

The amount Elder Han paid for his treatment was considerably great in terms of the spiritual plants he gave.

Unfortunately, Elder Han didn’t know that Fang Yuan would be satisfied with just the Vermillion Fruit as growing it successfully would aid Fang Yuan in strengthening his [Botany].

‘Of course……to reduce the time taken for the spiritual plants to grow, the spiritual fertiliser can only help to a certain limit. I will still have to improve my botany skills. Furthermore, there’s no way for me to obtain any more spiritual plants from the Spirit Returning Sect. I hope there will be takeaways from the Prefecture City!’

With that thought, he left the Flower Fox Ferret back in the secluded valley and the Iron-tailed Black Eagle back in the Green Peak to guard these places. On the other hand, he was carefree as he rode a green donkey to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture.

The trip there was relaxing and smooth, although they encountered some troubles along the way. After doing a few good deeds, he was noticed by the hired master who was passing by in a caravan. They were impressed by Fang Yuan’s martial arts skills and invited him to travel together.

This caravan, which was called White Cloud, was also heading towards the Secluded Mountain Prefecture and the youth named ‘Yu Xinlou’ was the hired master of the caravan. Fang Yuan hesitantly accepted their invitation under pressure and joined the caravan. Not long after, they struck up a conversation.

The Secluded Mountain Prefecture City was of a different level compared to the other counties. Disregarding everything else, the young people from the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City would be more well-informed as compared to those in the other counties.

‘Even the disciple in the Spirit Returning Sect might not know about spiritual knights……For myself, if I didn’t read a few books about it, I would probably be ignorant now…..”

Fang Yuan felt slightly ashamed of himself before Yu Xinlou’s voice was heard.

“Brother Fang, since you are able to achieve the 6th Gate by the age of 20, you are considered a talent in this Prefecture City. You might have the chance to get a glimpse of Wu Zong in future…..”

To Yu Xinlou, being a [Martial Artist (6th Gate)] was very impressive to the point it was hard to put in words. In comparison, he himself was not even a [Martial artist (4th Gate)], which meant that Fang Yuan was way stronger than him.

“Brother Yu, you think too highly of me. There are many other powerful people in the Prefecture City. With my cultivation level, how am I considered powerful?”

Fang Yuan smiled and glanced at the old man who was riding the horse carriage.

This old man was a Martial Artist (9th Gate) and had the cultivation level of the 4 Heavenly Gates. He should be the secret bodyguard of this caravan.

As the conversation took place, the old man had been worriedly keeping an eye on him. However, he could neither tell how powerful Fang Yuan was nor could he tell that his own cultivation level had been exposed to Fang Yuan.

‘It looks like…..Yu Xinlou doesn’t know that this old man is the most highly skilled in the whole caravan, but the few inner force experts are all aware…..Hehe, was he raised by a pig?’

Fang Yuan laughed in his heart and pitied Yu Xinlou.

He was not entirely convinced that Yu Xinlou deserved to be the rightful heir to the caravan.

‘With my magical energy, I can make use of the Blood Magic Manual and a small trick from my dream disciple cultivation to hide my cultivation level easily…..’

Seeing that it was effective even against a 4 Heavenly Gates martial artist, Fang Yuan was convinced that his trick to hide his cultivation level was worth it.

At least, without elemental force, no one could see through his concealment.

‘What if I encounter Shi Yutong? The chance of my cover being blown will be 50%…..’

Fang Yuan squinted his eyes and was casually talking to Yu Xinlou. At the same time, in his mind, he was trying to figure out the secrets of his dream world. Suddenly, a cheer was heard. “We have reached the Prefecture City!”

“Oh! We are here already?”

Fang Yuan was surprised. He nudged his donkey to approach the front of the carriage.

After a turn, a gigantic city appeared right in front of Fang Yuan’s eyes.

The first impression Fang Yuan had on the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City were the tall city walls!

Dark and tall, they were majestic structures stuck into the ground. The shortest wall was at least 35 yards in height!

What was the concept behind building such tall walls?

Even a martial artist who had inner force would find it impossible to climb over the tall wall to enter the city!

“This scene is majestic, isn’t it?”

Yu Xinlou saw the scene and smiled wide. “This Secluded Mountains Prefecture City was personally designed and overseen by the first generation prefecture head. The old man was an array master, hence not only are these city walls touching the clouds, their foundations have spiritual arrays carved into them, making them extremely sturdy and without any weakness… There are 3 layers, namely the outer district, inner district, and central district. 10 thousand families live here, making it the most populated place in the northern area of Xia Country!”

“Hmm, this city does live up to its name!”

Fang Yuan nodded his head in agreement. It was the first time he had seen such an ancient majestic city, greatly shocking him.

Especially…..

‘So this city was built by the first prefecture master, the array master? No wonder I could feel a mild pressure…..It seemed that the rumours of his doings are true too….’

“The current prefecture master is a spiritual knight, I wonder how powerful he is!”

Fang Yuan silently sighed.

A true spiritual knight would be different from him or Blood Killer. Having already consolidated his magical energy and obtained elemental energy, he would be able to produce powerful spells with a wave of his hand.

On one hand, an array master could build such big city. On the other hand, a spiritual knight could become powerful through the use of spiritual spells. Harnessing energy from heaven and earth, he could single-handedly match against thousand-men strong troops.

‘If the chance of my cover being blown by a Wu Zong is 50%, then the chance of my cover being blown by a spiritual knight will be near to 100%. I have to be more careful…’

As they got closer to the city, the city wall loomed above them.

Outside the city entrance, the city gates were so huge that it looked like a mouth of a giant monster. The carriage was like an ant compared to the size of the city gate.

Around the city gate and above the city walls, there were many martial artists in black armour patrolling the area. All of them looked fierce and were sharp, making it obvious that they were all well trained.

“Inner power! The weakest martial artist here is probably at the 4th Gate!”

Fang Yuan saw this scene and his heart wavered.

The defence in this city was much stronger than that of in the Spirit Returning Sect.

“These are the soldiers of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture and they are under direct orders from the prefecture master. I strongly urge you all not to provoke them! In this city, you can provoke anyone but not any of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture Master’s men, or else you will die terribly!”

Yu Xinlou reminded everyone in a soft voice.

“Don’t worry, I will be mindful of this!”

Fang Yuan laughed and entered the city with the others after paying an entrance fee.

“Wow!”

After they entered the city, they were welcomed by the lively bustle of the city.

The main road was built with green rocks and was wide enough to fit a few carriages. There was bustling everywhere and there were many stalls on the two sides of the road. There were many street vendors selling different kinds of things; there were too many choices to choose from.

“This city is much more prosperous as compared to the other counties!”

Fang Yuan sighed.

“The Secluded Mountain Prefecture is usually not so busy. Looks like Brother Fang you came at the right time!”

Yu Xinlou laughed and said, “It will be the prefecture master’s 300th birthday soon. There will be many guests who are coming from everywhere to give their well wishes. Also, the Secluded Mountain Prefecture Business Council would be taking this chance to hold a few large-scaled fairs to attract every other businessman from other parts of the country to come here. You can also find foreigners here…..This place will become the busiest in this country!”

“Oh? Really?”

Fang Yuan was surprised.

He lived in seclusion for many years and was clueless about such big events. It seemed that Zhou Wenwu did not know that the prefecture master’s birthday banquet would be one of Fang Yuan’s considerations.

After all, his level was still low and his experience was limited to Qingye City. He would probably not be able to escape the shackles of the Qinghe County.

‘But… 300 years old?’

With Master Wenxin’s inheritance and the Blood Magic Technique, Fang Yuan was rather familiar with spiritual knights.

A normal Wu Zong, even if he doesn’t make any further breakthroughs, can basically live for 200 years, and it’s even longer for spiritual knights, with a lifespan of about 300 years at the initial stages.

‘According to the words of my master, it is extremely difficult for a spiritual knight to progress to the next level. It looks like this prefecture master does not have much progress in his cultivation. Otherwise, he would not be cooped here……It seems like his life is about to end soon? Someone else is going to take over the position as the prefecture master soon?’

Thinking about this, he was shocked.

Seeing how packed the prefecture city was, it seemed that it would not be just a simple birthday celebration.

‘Looks like there is going to be trouble brewing in the Secluded Mountain Prefecture….but how is this my business?’

After rejecting and thanking Yu Xinlou’s invitations many times, Fang Yuan left on his own. Looking at the prosperous street, he smiled to himself……