Chapter 147: One Day in Ji City

After about a month of sailing, Bai Lang finally saw the capital of Great Yan—Ji City. "Sure enough, in a world with martial arts and land immortals, this city could be built as spectacularly as a wonder." Bai Lang sighed.

What appeared before his eyes were almost filling his field of vision with blue lines; the passenger boat Bai Lang was on floated on the Huai River, which was over six li wide, and on such a wide river surface there were city walls. Indeed, at the confluence of the three rivers, the surfaces of all three rivers have city walls.

On the Huai River city walls there were one large and four small, five huge water gates, through which the rushing river water flowed. Walls reaching six zhang high joined with the land walls to form a spectacle like a mountain range—this is the center of Great Yan's ten-thousand-li territory, Ji City.

Outsider ships naturally couldn't just casually enter the water gates; that's the rule—unless they had an imperial edict's permission. Thus outside the water gates of the three rivers there were continuous docks, so beyond the towering majestic city walls there also stretched tens of li of market districts.

This city outside the city had no proper walls, nor did it have the city's straight, grid-like main roads dividing it; this outskirts simply, after building roads of regulated width according to Great Yan's statutes, grew wildly on its own.... Likewise, it also gave headaches to the magistrates of the three neighboring counties outside Great Yan.

Great Yan's Ji City is one prefecture and six counties, with a population numbering in the millions—no one knows exactly how many. This is the most prosperous place in Great Yan, also a place where fish and dragons mix; it has Great Yan's strongest experts, and likewise the most numerous, strongest, and worst gangs...... Everyone here makes money through side doors, and of course half of Great Yan's constabulary and bailiffs are also here——the various criminal cases and other incidents occurring here in a year make up half of Great Yan's......

Bai Lang disembarked at the dock; the boat owner had earned quite a bit from this trip, and soon, if his luck held on the return voyage, he could continue to earn a large sum—running three trips a year, in two or three years' time he could recoup the boat's costs. Bai Lang also politely waved goodbye to the boat owner, not minding how that fellow was so frightened he almost knelt down.

The young Innate Expert kept his energy inwardly gathered as he walked along the bustling dock—here everything was blue-stone paved paths, considered the dock of the wealthy; next door there could be gravel-paved paths for ordinary folks' docks, and even a stretch of mud for boatmen's docks and slums. Both sides of the dock's main road were lined with inns and warehouses, north-south general stores, brothels, and chaste houses; behind the street-facing houses were layer upon layer of residential dwellings—this place likely had at least several hundred thousand people.

This place raked in gold daily, undoubtedly a point of contention for all kinds of gangs. Ji City's three rivers combined have dozens of docks, among which gangs making a living are as numerous as cow hairs; every day someone gets burned alive, every day corpses are thrown into the water. For example, as Bai Lang walked along the road, feeling a bit hungry he turned into a side alley and approached a wonton stall to get a bowl of wontons.

And it was precisely this action that allowed him to enjoy a good show up close.

"Boss, add more lard, yes yes yes, also more scallions! I'll tip you, won't cheat you out of your cost." Bai Lang naturally sat on the bench and told the boss to hurry up with the wontons. Such a big man sitting here eating drove away several customers silently.

Before the wontons arrived, Bai Lang saw several people walking past on the main road a few steps away from the alley entrance—they seemed somewhat distinctive; Bai Lang could tell from their aura that they were from the underworld. These youths were young men, their martial arts not bad, with divine light shining in their eyes, their temples slightly bulging, and their hands and feet having large knuckles.

Bai Lang also praised, "Not bad martial arts." These youths were all at least cultivators who had opened the Small Heavenly Circuit, and could be called martial artists. Bai Lang seemed not far from attempting a breakthrough to Innate, his skill surpassing that of Bai Shaobao from years past.

This is quite normal, after all this is Ji City, the capital of Great Yan, where martial heroes from all over seek fame and fortune; everyone wants to go to the capital, dressed in fine clothes and riding spirited horses, to spend lavishly.

Those youths swaggered down the street, while passersby instinctively avoided walking straight into their path. "Beggars, vendors, flower girls—if you look closely, there really are plenty of people doing business on this street. Old folks, kids, men, women—this place truly is bustling." Bai Lang's wontons had arrived; he looked at the bustling crowd outside and casually sighed.

Those youths chatted and laughed as they walked, meanwhile glancing left and right at the people doing business on the street. When they reached the alley entrance near where Bai Lang was, an anomaly occurred.

From the flower basket slung over the flower seller, the flowers flew out directly, their petals turning into weapons that reflected a metallic sheen, spinning as they shot toward those people. Meanwhile the vendor brandished his pole, flinging the cargo hanging from both ends toward them, and then the pole became like a spear, thrusting straight ahead.

The old man exhaled and struck out with successive palm strikes, while the child simply rolled on the ground, a blue‑glowing dagger thrusting upward from below, staying within three cun of those people's lower three pathways.

Bai Lang watched the scene, his hand scooping wontons without pause, only hesitating when about to put them in his mouth. "What a splendid show, street‑side assassination? Is this really how exciting daily life in Ji City is? Boss." As Bai Lang spoke those words, those youths had already reacted, each displaying their own martial arts to counterattack.

One exhaled like thunder, blowing the metallic‑colored petals away; another drew the soft sword at his waist and in the blink of an eye struck out dozens of blows, knocking away the flung cargo and blocking that thrust; yet another likewise rolled on the ground, spinning like a top but with an edge like a blade wheel.

Likewise, the pedestrians on the road, as if well‑trained, all shrank back and fled, skillfully avoiding the center of the clash; even those unlucky enough to be caught up curled their bodies and performed a series of lazy‑donkey rolls, struggling to pull themselves out of this eerie environment.

In just a few breaths the scene shifted again—the pedestrians who had been rolling outward suddenly flung up a barrage of hidden weapons and white smoke, even some strange bugs. Those who had launched the assassination—beggars, flower sellers, etc. —were instantly struck by this sudden volley and collapsed to the ground.

Those pedestrians, however, did not engage the besieged youths hand‑to‑hand; they looked like a gang. Bai Lang still hadn't put the wonton in his mouth; his nose twitched slightly. "Boss, I always feel there's something in your wonton......"

The wonton stall's boss was a middle‑aged man, not tall, with an ordinary appearance. "Customers are joking, I've been vending here for twenty years—who says there's anything in my wonton besides the meat filling?"