Chiyang Prefecture is located in the southern part of Qi State. This area is rich in mineral resources, and most of the people in the region are engaged in iron smelting. The furnaces burn all year round.

Looking down on the Qi territory from high altitude, this place is a fiery red.

Hence the name Chiyang (Red Sun).

As the saying goes: “Qi State’s armor is in Chiyang, and Chiyang’s soldiers are in Nanyao.”

Nanyao City is where the Lian family has operated for many years.

It is better than the prefecture capital, even though it is not the prefecture capital.

When many people mention Chiyang Prefecture, they can only think of Nanyao City and cannot recall which city is the prefecture capital.

The city lord of Nanyao City is never transferred elsewhere and must be surnamed Lian, which shows the Lian family’s status in Nanyao City and the entire Chiyang Prefecture.

The Lian family is not native to Qi State. They migrated to Qi State after their former state was destroyed.

They opened up mountains in Chiyang Prefecture to extract copper and established themselves, building Nanyao City from scratch.

Now it is famous throughout the world.

There are five recognized holy sites for weapon-forging masters in the world, and the one in Qi State is the Lian family of Nanyao.

The carriage galloped on the wide road. During breaks from practicing Dao techniques, Jiang Wang occasionally lifted the curtain to look at the scenery outside the window.

He thought of something strange to him: the official roads of Qi State did not have array patterns engraved on them. Moreover, along the way, many Qi State citizens were picnicking in the fields.

He could see clearly that many of them did not have cultivation.

In fact, he noticed this when he entered Linhai Prefecture, but at the time, he was focused on preparing for the exploration of the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm and therefore ignored it.

Now that he thought about it, he could not help but ask, “Why don’t the official roads in your Qi State need to be engraved with array patterns? And the people of Qi State can go out at will. Aren’t the fields dangerous?”

The driver of Jiang Wang’s carriage was from the Chongxuan family, who had been driving for the Chongxuan family for generations.

In noble families like the Chongxuan family, there were many such hereditary servants, who were far more reliable than ordinary hired servants.

He did not dare to neglect Chongxuan Sheng’s guest but was indeed puzzled: “What danger is there in the fields?”

Jiang Wang pondered for a while and then asked, “Are there no ferocious beasts in Qi State?”

The driver scratched his head: “Around here, there are mostly deer and foxes, which don’t count as ferocious beasts, right? There might be some tigers and leopards in the mountains over there.”

Jiang Wang was silent.

He also wanted to ask where the Qi State cultivators obtained their Meridian Opening Pills. But the driver would certainly not know the answer to this question.

He did not even know what a ferocious beast was.

In Zhuang State, almost the first thing every commoner had to remember before going out was “Do not leave the official road.”

Because the fields were full of danger, with ferocious beasts roaming freely.

Even the official roads were not absolutely safe, and merchants traveled between places at the risk of their lives.

Cultivators in various parts of Zhuang State had to regularly patrol the areas near their settlements to clear out hidden dangers.

But in Qi State, ordinary people could freely go picnicking and traveling in the fields.

They were both ordinary people, but just born in different countries, their lives were so different.

This was a life situation that Jiang Wang envied.

He casually summoned a cloud crane and wrote down his recent experiences, picking out some interesting ones.

At the same time, he informed his sister that he had successfully explored the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm and secured a supernatural power for his inner palace, telling her to work hard. Of course, he skipped the dangers and only mentioned the fantastical aspects.

He also talked about the delicacies of Qi State to tempt An’an’s appetite. A letter was already full.

Jiang Wang thought for a while and then wrote a letter to Ye Qingyu, repeatedly thanking her for taking care of Jiang An’an. He gave a rough account of his progress in cultivation and discussed some issues in the application of Dao techniques.

Because he had found ferocious beasts in many countries along the way, with the exception of Yun State and Qi State. So, at the end, he casually asked where Yun State obtained its Meridian Opening Pills.

With the two letters written, the driver reminded him that Nanyao City was almost there.

Jiang Wang then stopped writing and watched the cloud crane disappear into the clouds.

Now that he had temporarily stopped in Qi State, he was not worried about the cloud crane getting lost. But Qi State and Yun State were thousands of miles apart, and the round trip would probably take more than ten days.

Nanyao City was tall and majestic. Even before getting close, he could feel the heat. The entire city was filled with a scorching feeling.

The streets were bustling and noisy.

The people of Nanyao City were generally tall and burly, with reddish-brown skin.

Perhaps because they lived by the furnace all year round, the people here had fiery tempers. Jiang Wang occasionally saw people bargaining with merchants, so fiercely that it seemed like they were about to fight.

“Will you sell this for fifty knife coins?”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“I saw someone else sell it for forty knife coins!”

“Then go find someone else!”

“I’m looking for you!”

“I won’t sell it!”

Jiang Wang silently lowered the car curtain.

The currency circulating in Qi State and its affiliated countries was mainly knife coins, supplemented by gold and silver.

Zhuang State used knife coins for historical reasons, which had nothing to do with Qi State and was different from the ring coins commonly used in the Dao-affiliated countries.

The knife coins of Zhuang and Qi States were completely different in form and detail. Of course, Qi knife coins were much sturdier than Zhuang knife coins.

Nanyao City was different from all the cities Jiang Wang had seen since entering Qi State. The temperament of the entire city was somewhat distant, probably inheriting the customs of that former state that had been annihilated in the river of history.

Qi State was vast and rich in resources and had conquered and destroyed many countries, turning them into Qi territory. Therefore, many different customs could be seen in Qi State, but none of them detracted from the strong rule of Qi.

Sitting in the Chongxuan family’s carriage, naturally, there would be no troubles. Jiang Wang arrived at Lian Que’s house smoothly.

This guy lived in the central city area of Nanyao City, and his house was spacious.

Hearing the report, Lian Que quickly rushed out of the door.

He had probably been waiting for a long time. He didn’t exchange pleasantries upon meeting but dragged Jiang Wang towards the family sword furnace.

The so-called sword furnace, as the name suggests, was the place where the Lian family specialized in forging swords. The Lian family had different weapon-forging furnaces for forging various weapons.

The one Lian Que wanted to use was naturally the best one. And only this furnace could represent the Lian family’s sword furnace.

It was said that the fire of this furnace was brought by the Lian family’s ancestors when they migrated from their former state and had been burning ever since. It had a sense of historical weight that had endured through the years.

When people spoke of the Lian family’s sword furnace, it was this one.

Outsiders could not easily enter, but with Lian Que leading the way, it was a different matter.

Especially since Jiang Wang was the owner of the sword this time. According to the rules, he was qualified to enter the sword furnace to observe.

As he went deeper, Jiang Wang became more and more surprised.

He had thought that Lian Que would just forge a passable magic weapon for him, but judging from the sword furnace alone, it was far from possible.

Before even getting close to the sword furnace, he first saw broken swords stuck in the ground like a forest.

He could not tell whether these broken swords were good or bad, but he felt that each one was sharp and intimidating.

Following Lian Que along the path in the sword forest, he made seven turns and eight bends, roughly following some kind of array. Then, his eyes lit up, and he saw a huge, fiery red furnace.

This furnace was about the size of an ordinary house, and the stove faced outward, like the huge mouth of some kind of monster.

The fire in the furnace burned almost constantly, occasionally leaping up.

Boom boom! Boom boom! Boom boom!

What he felt was not the fire in the furnace but the heartbeat of an ancient beast.