For ages uncounted, Dongbao Pingzhou has known a duality of power: to the north, emperors whose reigns flowed like water, and to the south, the iron-clad Fu family of Laolong City.

Wealth? The Fu family possessed it beyond measure. Tales whispered of three near-immortal treasures, each purchased with a mountain of coin, passed down through generations to the current patriarch, Fu Qi. Recent rumors spoke of their return from Zhongdi Shenzhou bearing yet another half-immortal artifact. “Surely three acquisitions cannot be so easily accomplished!” some exclaimed, but such limitations held no sway over the Fu lineage.

Many were the eccentricities of the Fu family. They kept no formal family tree, and names were bestowed with whimsical abandon. The women of the house held places of high esteem, with many a female champion having served as Laolong City’s lord. Their children, blessed with a thirst for knowledge, amassed the most abundant collection of rare tomes in all of Baopingzhou. Yet, even those branches of the family who ventured beyond Laolong City’s walls never sought imperial favor, nor did they offer their service to any monarch, content to live and die amidst their golden hoard. The heads of the family, throughout history, had always remained detached from the whims of worldly power, aloof in their opulence.

Thus, the wealthy Fu family nurtured countless talented scions. Some mastered chess, calligraphy, and the lute with equal grace. Others penned the most coveted recipes, or published tales of mountain and river wanderings that captured the hearts of all who read them. Still others purchased vast tracts of unclaimed hills to the north, leaving them untouched, forsaking the construction of immortal mansions for reasons known only to themselves.

Indeed, strange and wondrous were the members of the Fu family.

But one unbreakable rule bound them all: Only the strongest amongst them could don the ancestral old dragon robe.

Three hundred leagues beyond the gates of Laolong City lay the Yamshaven Ferry, a place of little beauty or solitude. Nearly a hundred ferries, in every imaginable hue, jostled for space, creating a clamorous, bustling scene. There were the dead ferries of the Mohist artisans and living ferries akin to Kun boats, each more bizarre than the last. The spectacle left Chen Ping’an utterly bewildered as his own vessel descended.

Even before the ferry docked, he overheard a saying that for a common man of the city, a visit to Laolong City was a dream unattainable in a lifetime.

Earlier, Chen Ping’an had tried to survey Laolong City from the ferry’s deck, only to find it veiled by a sea of clouds. His disappointment was short-lived, as the ferry’s master, Liu Baqiao, an old hand from Yamao Hall, sought him out. The rolling clouds, the old man explained, were in truth a half-immortal guardian of the city. Those within the walls would see a clear sky, while those outside would be forever denied a complete view. He then shared with Chen Ping’an a tale of stunning proportions.

Eight centuries past, nearly a thousand rogue cultivators had descended upon Laolong City, two of them masters and ten more among the most adept qi practitioners of the Jindan Yuanying Realm. For decades they had plotted, infiltrating the city and biding their time, waiting for the opportune moment to seize control. That moment arrived when the old city lord died and a new heir was yet to be named. The twelve houses of the Fu family were embroiled in infighting, their strength weakened. Even the ancestral half-immortal artifacts, wielded by two warring cousins, had been weakened, and their unchecked lethality threatened to decimate Laolong City.

But then, an unassuming female qi practitioner appeared as if from nowhere. She was seen dozing amongst the clouds above Laolong City. Upon awakening, she glanced at the beleaguered city, smoke rising from its foundations, and then at the assembled cultivators. With a yawn, she reached out and gathered the thousand-mile sea of clouds into a single bead in her palm, which she promptly devoured. Then, she sneezed.

A storm unleashed from the South China Sea surged northward. The rogue cultivators, mere standard-bearers in this cosmic dance, were swept away like chaff. Even immortals of the middle fifth realm were felled by the gale. The surviving demons fled in terror, pursued by the relentless Fu family for a century thereafter.

Chen Ping’an was speechless.

The old man chuckled. “What, young master, do you doubt my words?”

Chen Ping’an shook his head. Who could believe that a single sneeze could vanquish so many advanced qi practitioners?

The old man stroked his beard and smiled. “I doubt it myself. Even if Qi Zhen, Heavenly Lord of Shengao Sect, or the sword immortals and saints of Fengxue Temple and Zhenwu Mountain joined forces, they could not wield such power. The tale has been embellished over time, of course, but such exaggeration makes it all the more entertaining, wouldn’t you agree?”

Bidding the old man farewell, Chen Ping’an disembarked. Towering structures lined streets so wide they seemed impossible. Yet, the thoroughfares teemed with people. Overwhelmed, Chen Ping’an felt lost. How was he to find a dust medicine shop, let alone Zheng Dafeng? During his conversation with the ferry master, he had inquired about a cross-continental ferry to the Upside Down Mountain, but the old man had looked bewildered. He knew of the Upside Down Mountain, of course, the mountain sealed by Daozu’s second disciple, but he could not fathom why a Taoist priest from other lands would seek to nail such a large spike in their Haoran world.

The old man had never heard of a ferry from Laolong City to the Upside Down Mountain, nor could he pinpoint its location, only that it lay closer to the Nanposa Continent.

Thus, Chen Ping’an found himself a headless fly, forced to proceed one step at a time, traversing the three hundred leagues to Laolong City on foot. Along the way, he inquired of others, confirming his general direction. He soon noticed that the main road was devoid of pedestrians. Carriages thundered past, pulled by magnificent beasts and steeds. Though all were qi practitioners, the streets were orderly, and none dared to run amok.

Old Man Yang, Master Cui, and Wei Bo had all suggested that he should take the Laolong City ferry to the Upside Down Mountain after entering the fourth realm of martial arts. So before that, Chen Ping’an was not too persistent in rushing to the road, but when Chen Ping’an After landing on the ground in Laolong City, for some reason, I especially wanted to rush to Chaoxuan Mountain as soon as possible. What four realms are not four realms, but I lost my obsession.

He had already walked the entire Baopingzhou north to the south, and has already walked thousands of miles away. Chen Ping’an has never been so urgent, so he was in a place similar to an inn on the street, and Chen Ping’an was generous for the first time. , spent ten snowflakes to hire a carriage, two snow-white horses, the coachman was not a young man, but a young girl with a beautiful appearance, with a natural cheerful aura, without any slightest Shame, after Chen Ping’an got into the carriage, he advised his employer to sit next to her. She would introduce the famous shops on both streets on both sides to the guests during the drive, which were greedy food and antiques with amazing prices. She grew up at the ferry outside Laolong City since she was a child and was very familiar with it. She chose Chen Ping’an to take her carriage this time, which was worth the trip!

The carriage slowly passed through the sea of ​​people. After driving into the middle of the street, the girl suddenly whipped her horse and rushed towards the west gate of Laolong City with other vehicles. Chen Ping’an sat behind the girl who was skilled in driving, eating dry cakes, but she didn’t dare. drink wine. Because the sword-raising gourd was wrapped in the cotton cloth behind him before getting off the boat. Wei Bo had reminded that the ten-level immortals and saints above the Jindan Yuanying could still see through the tricks he used and recognize the sword-raising gourd. .

The girl was cheerful and outgoing, talking endlessly, telling Chen Ping’an the historical origins of shops and tall buildings, introducing the amazing gods on the mountain among them, saying what bold words and feats have been done, Chen Ping’an walked through the “Five Realms” The Great Demon “The Rivers and Lakes at the foot of the mountain, until today, I discovered that a place similar to a small town in my hometown, seems to be a god in the fifth realm, is finally not that valuable.

Chen Ping’an asked the girl if she had heard of the dust medicine shop in the city. The girl shook her head and didn’t know, saying that the scene in Laolong City was not very good, because Laolong City was too big, and it was divided into the inner city of the outer city and Fucheng. After passing a city gate, you have to pay a high fee. As long as you are a foreigner, no matter if you are a Jindan Yuanying Old God, you are the same as a Heavenly King. So she has only been to the outer city of Laolong City a few times, and every time she goes Once, the money bag that I finally saved up will definitely be dry.

However, if the Fu family and other five descendants of Laolong City are not only free of money to pass through the border every time, but also can travel in the inner and outer cities to protect the wind. Of course, if you have the ability to buy an old dragon fenyun puppet from the Fu family, you will also You can control the wind with ease, except for the Fujia City, the center of Laolong City, which is the center of Laolong City, you must not pass by the sky and be free of charge. The driving girl asked Chen Ping’an, an old dragon-turning cloud jade pendant, could she guess how much it cost?

Chen Ping’an tried his best to guess at a sky-high price and said a thousand snowflakes.

It’s one million taels of silver.

The girl laughed happily, turned her head and stretched out a palm towards Chen Ping’an, “Five thousand!”

Chen Ping’an was afraid of mistakes in the carriage, so he didn’t care about being shocked and quickly said, “Girl, drive carefully.”

The girl yelled, turned around, and turned her back to Chen Ping’an, but the girl raised her chin high and said proudly, “Young Master, I’m not bragging. Even if I loosen the reins with my hands and close my eyes, the carriage can be safe and stable. I ran to the west gate. But so as not to worry the guests, I pretended to drive seriously. ”

Chen Ping’an whispered, “Don’t pretend.”

The girl laughed, “Okay, let the young master be serious!”

Chen Ping’an looked at the girl’s back and couldn’t help laughing, then turned to look at the prosperous scene of the street on one side. The breeze blew on her face, it was strange. As the way south was wind and sun, Chen Ping’an’s skin was white. After a little bit, I was no longer the black charcoal-like kiln worker.

The girl seemed to have eyes on her back. Knowing that the boy from another country was looking at the street, she turned her head secretly, then quickly turned her head, just glanced at the side face of the boy in the box.

The young man is not handsome, but he really likes his eyes.

The girl suddenly laughed out loud, “Young Master, you are pretty.”

Chen Ping’an was probably infected by the girl’s cheerful emotions and said with a rare joke: “Can you take a few more glances to the girl, can you charge me a little less snowflake money?”

Chen Ping’an has made such changes. I believe that Aliang, Xu Yuanxia, ​​Liu Baqiao, these guys are all the culprits.

The girl smiled and said, “That’s not possible. It’s nearly 600 miles from the shop to the city gate. I have to travel ten times to earn a snowflake money.”

Chen Ping’an nodded and said, “It’s quite hard.”

The girl with her back facing Chen Ping’an shook her head hard, “Young master, what’s the hard work? I have loved running back and forth like this since I was a child. Even if I have my own shop in the future and make a lot of money, I will still drive myself. When we communicate, we can also meet many guests, just like the young master.”

The girl was immediately worried, “But it would cost a lot of money to buy a shop. I think I’m going to last for the rest of my life.”

The girl laughed loudly and said, “It’s hanging!”

It turned out that the little girl ended happily in the end.

Chen Ping’an smiled and helped cheer up, “Make it slowly, you will be richer today than yesterday, tomorrow will be richer tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow!”

The girl suddenly became full of fighting spirit and turned around and smiled brightly at Chen Ping’an.

Because of Fu Nanhua, the young lord of Laolong City, Chen Ping’an actually had a bad impression of Laolong City, and it was no better than Zhengyang Mountain.

But Chen Ping’an likes this girl from the bottom of his heart, of course, not the kind of love between men and women, but the girl has a feeling of sunny flowers and trees. Chen Ping’an is willing to deal with such people, and the young Taoist priests and big bearded men who have been separated are also the same. .

The girl continued to introduce the streets on both sides, and Chen Ping’an followed her fingers and looked at them one by one.

Time passes by the sound of horse hooves.

In less than an hour, Chen Ping’an could already see the high walls of Laolong City, which were much higher than the walls of any pass city they had seen before.

Before the horse was about to stop, Chen Ping’an asked, “Do you know Sun Jiashu?”

The girl turned her head in surprise, “Who?”

Chen Ping’an had to repeat the name on one side, “Sun Jiashu.”

The girl couldn’t help laughing, and shedding it for a long time without saying anything. Until the carriage stopped, the girl suddenly stood up, pointed to the street behind her, swung her arm and drew a big circle, “Young Master, have you seen it?”

Chen Ping’an nodded.

The girl’s eyes narrowed into crescent moons, “From our city gate to the ferry, the three hundred miles of street shops are all his!”

Chen Ping’an stood in the carriage with the girl, a little confused, “It’s all Sun Jiashu?”

The girl nodded vigorously, and was extremely proud, “Yes! They are all from Mr. Sun!”

Then the girl lowered her voice and said mysteriously, “I heard from the shopkeeper that Mr. Sun is so good. Although he is the best business person, he has a first-class Bodhisattva heart and almost the worst temper on the street. People also talked about the good things about Mr. Sun and his elders, saying that a fire broke out in the streets in the early years, burning down two or three thousand shops in the Sun family. At that time, Mr. Sun, who had just become the head of the family, not only did not pursue the matter, but also I paid for everyone to rebuild the store building, and I also heard from many women that Mr. Sun is very handsome, so he is the kindest and most handsome man in our Laolong City!”

There were still a hundred feet away from the city gate, and there were all such vehicles on the road. Then, among the crowd, a young man in white clothes came and walked straight to the carriage where Chen Ping’an and the girl stood. The man has a slender figure and is handsome, but he will not give people the invisible pressure to stand out from the crowd. He is just a clean temperament, like a family who came out of a scholarly family, gentle and elegant.

There were many pedestrians rushing to the road between the gaps between the vehicles on both sides of the road. Someone accidentally hit the man’s shoulder and quickly apologized. The man smiled and shook his head, saying it was okay.

The girl turned her head and looked at Lao Long City and murmured, “Young Master, how could there be such a good and good grandson in the world?”

Chen Ping’an was speechless.

The young man who had been standing for a while finally smiled and raised his head, looked at the two of them, and whispered to the girl, “Thank you.”

The girl was confused, looked down and said in confusion: “What are you thanking me for?”

The young man smiled without explaining the reason, and then looked at Chen Ping’an, “You are Chen Ping’an, I am Liu Baqiao’s friend. I just received his flying sword message not long ago, so I came here to wait for you.”

Chen Ping’an jumped out of the carriage and stood so high and talked too unprofessionally. He asked tentatively, “You can’t be…”

Chen Ping’an finally resisted the name after that.

The man nodded and said, “Yes, I am Sun Jiashu.”

The girl sighed and said helplessly: “Young Master, why do you have the same name as Mr. Sun? How wrong is it?”

The young man smiled and didn’t speak.

The girl said goodbye to Chen Ping’an, the carriage slowly turned around and finally turned away.

Chen Ping’an followed Sun Jiashu to the west gate of Laolong City, and couldn’t help asking, “Sun… Master Sun, is the whole street yours?”

Sun Jiashu did not pretend to be reserved and nodded and smiled, “When his ancestors were the most glorious, the entire outer city of Laolong City belonged to my family. Later, Laolong City became bigger and bigger, and our Sun family lost several big losses. The business became less rich than the Fu family. But the Sun family is still very rich now. Well, even if I, Sun Jiashu, are rich.”

Chen Ping’an secretly glanced at Sun Jiashu. There was no ornament hanging on the man, and he could not even see any wealth.

Sun Jiashu smiled and said, “Old Long Fengyun Pei? No one in our Sun family has it, and I am no exception. In fact, they all want to buy it, but the rigid rules passed down from ancestors are not allowed to make a big move on such trivial matters, and I have not. I had to endure it when I changed the family rules of my ancestors. It was actually very annoying.”

Chen Ping’an wanted to speak but stopped.

Sun Jiashu turned his head and said, “What, I want to say that the twenty snowflakes can be returned to you? Of course not. Friends are friends, and business is business.”

Chen Ping’an scratched his head, “I want to ask Lao Long City is so big, are we going to walk all the way to your house?”

Sun Jiashu didn’t speak and looked at Chen Ping’an with a smile.

Chen Ping’an sighed and confessed, “Okay, if you don’t pay it back, you won’t pay it back.”

Sun Jiashu suddenly said, “No wonder Liu Baqiao said we would get along.”

Chen Ping’an asked curiously, “You are often criticized as a money-lover?”

Sun Jiashu was a little amused and shook his head gently and said, “Liu Baqiao said we both like to be poor and generous.”

What do you say and what, Liu Baqiao said inexplicably.

Don’t say whether it’s generous or not, Sun Jiashu is poor?

Sun Jiashu suddenly said, “I have a special ability, that is, I can see money that a person has passed but has not taken it.”

Then he stopped, turned to look at Chen Ping’an, and said in a word, “The things you gave out are more valuable than the entire Old Dragon City.”

————

In the inner city of Laolong City, there is a secluded alley with a newly opened small medicine shop. However, in the size of a palm, the shopkeeper’s man hired seven or eight beautiful women and pretty women, without exception. , all have long legs. Men do nothing all day long and never worry about the business of the pharmacy. They are busy talking to them and saying some dirty words that claim to be romantic. The women seem shy on the surface, but they roll their eyes when they turn their heads. .

Today, the man took a small stool and sat at the entrance of the alley, eating melon seeds. Looking at the women passing by on the street, the man’s eyes shone, thinking that it was indeed the fragrance of flowers at home was not as good as wild flowers.

Then today another woman walked past the man in front of the man, dressed very fancyly. As for her appearance and figure… the man had already lost the melon seeds, picked up the bench and ran away.