Chapter 217: Bafang City

Poyanghu is eight hundred miles long. Following the lake down, it goes straight to the East Sea coast through the Min River.

"Boatman, are you going to Bafang City?"

"Ten taels of silver for the upper cabin, five taels for the lower cabin, and one tael of silver for the deck."

"How long will it take to get to Bafang City?"

"Four hours."

"The deck is fine."

"This young master, to board the ship, besides giving money, you must be a martial artist. If you are not a martial artist, our ship is not allowed to board."

"Why is that?"

"Martial artists don't need to pay the city entry tax. Although we are taking the waterway, we also have to pass through the inner rivers of several cities. If you pay the city entry fee, I'm afraid it will be delayed for quite some time."

The teenager listened to the boat boss's words and was silent for a moment. His right foot tapped lightly, and he leaped onto the ship's deck.

"Boat boss, is it okay now?"

"Okay!"

Seeing the teenager leap and land steadily on the deck, the boat boss's smile was a bit more enthusiastic than before.

"This is the road fee."

"Good, young master, you can sit by the pole."

The boat boss collected the money and greeted a few words before entering the cabin.

The teenager didn't go to sit by the railing. It was only six hours, and he wasn't unable to stand.

For him now, it wasn't that he couldn't bear to spend ten taels of silver to go to the inner cabin, but that there was no need. On the deck, he could still enjoy the scenery along the way.

This teenager was naturally Lin Chen, who was going to the Canglan Wu Yuan.

Taking a boat from Linhu Village down along

Boat captains rarely carry passengers across boundaries; for one, they are unfamiliar with the waters of other regions, and for another, carrying passengers across boundaries easily causes dissatisfaction among local boat captains.

This was already the sixth boat he had taken.

During this time, he had also stayed in inns in the county towns along the way, arriving here without any waves.

Now, he only needed to travel for another four hours to reach Bafang City in Donghai Dao.

Although Bafang City was not the region where the Canglan Wu Yuan was located, it was the most prosperous county town for trade between Donghai Dao and other regions.

Following the route his master had arranged, Lin Chen would no longer need to take a boat once he arrived in Bafang City, switching to land travel to head straight for Canglan City, where the Canglan Wu Yuan was located.

There were not many people on the deck.

To be precise, there was only Lin Chen.

An hour later, someone walked out of the cabin.

"The deck is still more comfortable; staying in the cabin is too stuffy."

"I think the boat captain should charge ten taels to stay on the deck and five taels to stay in the cabin."

"What if it rains or blows?"

Lin Chen only glanced at the three youths who came out before withdrawing his gaze; the older one among the three was an Organ Cultivation martial artist, while the remaining two were only in the Open-Acupuncture Stage.

There is still a difference between the Qi and blood containment of the Open-Acupuncture Stage and the Organ Cultivation Stage; Lin Chen still had that much discernment.

"This young brother is smart to choose to stay on the deck. Is the young brother also heading to Bafang City to participate in the Canglan Wu Yuan's assessment?"

"No."

Seeing the other party asking, Lin Chen did not maintain a cold demeanor, smiling and shaking his head.

"Lin Lin Shixiong, isn't that a waste of breath? If he were going to participate in the Canglan Wu Yuan's assessment, why would he stay on the deck? He would have gone to the second-floor cabin long ago, or chartered the whole boat directly."

The slightly younger youth beside the man who asked curled his lip. The one who was the Lin Lin Shixiong immediately glared at his Lin Lin Shidi before looking at Lin Chen. "Young brother, please don't mind; my Lin Lin Shidi has no ill intent."

Lin Chen nodded, not taking the words to heart.

He didn't want to play out some plot of being discriminated against and then slapping faces; they were just fellow passengers on the same boat, and once they got off, they might never meet again in this lifetime.

"I have heard of the Canglan Wu Yuan, but I haven't heard of an assessment in Bafang City. Even if there is an assessment, shouldn't it be held at the Canglan Wu Yuan?"

Hearing Lin Chen's words, the man smiled. "Not just anyone can enter the Canglan Wu Yuan; only those who are already academy disciples or geniuses who have obtained the academy's disciple letter can go there. Those who want to enter the Canglan Wu Yuan can only take the assessment in Bafang City. Only after passing the assessment can they head to the Canglan Wu Yuan for the second round of re-examination."

"At this time every year, Bafang City is incredibly lively. My two Junior Brothers and I are also going to watch the excitement and see those martial arts geniuses. What should I call you, young brother?"

"My surname is Lin."

"Since Young Brother Lin is going to Bafang City, you can also watch the excitement. By the way, where is Young Brother Lin from?"

"Jiangnan Dao."

Hearing that Lin Chen was from Jiangnan Dao, the man realized. "No wonder Young Brother doesn't know about the Canglan Wu Yuan's assessment; your Jiangnan Dao is too closed off."

"What do you mean closed off? Jiangnan Dao's martial arts have always been at the bottom, and Jiangnan Dao has many mountains; it's a place of poor mountains and treacherous waters, and there is little interaction with the outside world."

The Lin Lin Shidi on the side interjected again. Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, but he was not angry; he just experienced the feeling his master had spoken of—that martial artists from Jiangnan Dao would face discrimination when they went out.

"You can't say it like that. Now that the imperial court has announced the matter of the demon race, Jiangnan Dao paid a huge price back then so that our Daliang could wipe out the demon race in one fell swoop. The withering of martial arts experts is what led to the decline of Jiangnan Dao's martial arts."

Lin Chen smiled and did not continue the conversation.

……

……

The boat moved quickly across the lake, and the passengers who had been staying in the cabin all walked to the deck during this time. However, the passengers in the second-floor upper cabin did not need to; the second floor was already open, just with an extra sunshade. More than three hours later.

Standing on the deck, Lin Chen saw a towering city ahead.

Bafang City had appeared in his line of sight.

"Gentlemen, we will arrive at Bafang City in a quarter of an hour."

The boat captain's voice came, and at this moment, the passengers in the cabin also walked out one after another, including many passengers from the upper cabin.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu, Bafang City is almost here!"

Several young men and women figures walked out of the upper cabin, six in total—four men and two women. Lin Chen only glanced at them and discovered that these few were highly likely to be Organ Cultivation martial artists.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu will definitely be able to pass the exam and enter the Canglan Wu Yuan in one go this time."

The man called Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu had a look of arrogance on his face. "I accept the auspicious words of you Junior Brothers. Once the assessment is passed, I will drink and rejoice with all you Junior Brothers and Sisters."

"Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu will definitely have no problem. Your elder brother is a disciple of the Canglan Wu Yuan. With Elder Brother Zhu there, passing the assessment is an easy matter."

"That person, move aside."

Several people came down from the upper cabin, and one of them looked at Lin Chen, who was standing at the very front of the deck, and spoke.

Lin Chen looked at the few people and was just about to say something when the man who had been chatting with him along the way tugged on his sleeve. Lin Chen looked at the man and finally silently moved aside from the front row of the deck.

"Young Brother Lin, those who are qualified to participate in the assessment have extraordinary family backgrounds. This one even has an elder brother who entered the Canglan Wu Yuan; the worst in his family is likely an Intermediate-Rank martial artist. This is not someone we can afford to offend."

Seeing Lin Chen move to the side, Ji Qing lowered his voice.

"Thank you for the reminder, Elder Brother Ji."

"When you are out and about, it's better to avoid trouble than to cause it. Bafang City will be very lively these few days, and there will be many children of powerful families; people like us can't afford to provoke them."

In Ji Qing's view, Lin Chen only spent one tael of silver to stand on the deck when taking the boat, so he figured his family background was just ordinary, and that he had exhausted his family's money to cultivate to the Organ Cultivation Stage. If he wanted to break through further, he, like himself, could only rely on his own efforts.

……

……

The wharf of Bafang City stretched for a thousand zhang, with merchant ships coming and going in an endless stream.

As a city where three rivers converge, the prosperity of Bafang City could be glimpsed through these lined-up merchant ships and the massive scale of the wharf.

The wharf of Bafang City was very long, and among them, there were wharves specifically for martial artists' pleasure boats to dock.

At this moment, at this wharf, several youths were standing there, and among them, the one being held in the middle was a youth wearing a cyan martial arts uniform.

All those who came ashore, when they saw the pattern embroidered on the youth's chest, had looks of envy on their faces.

A red sun and a blue sea!

The symbol of the Canglan Wu Yuan.

This person was an official student of the Canglan Wu Yuan.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu, your younger brother has come to Bafang City this time and will definitely be able to successfully pass the martial academy assessment. Two martial academy disciples in one family—besides the Zhu family, there are not many families that can achieve this."

"If it were previous years, it would be better, but this year..."

Zhu Xing shook his head, a look of worry in the depths of his eyes. He had used his connections to ask the instructor, and this year, there were as many as five thousand students signed up for the Canglan Wu Yuan. If it were just an increase in the number of students, it wouldn't be anything, but among them, there were more than twenty who could absolutely enter the martial academy.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as these twenty-plus people had the intention, the martial academy would be willing to send out a disciple letter.

These people chose the Canglan Wu Yuan at the last moment, so they had to pass the assessment according to the rules to enter the academy. The academy only recruited sixty disciples each year. This time, considering the existence of these geniuses, they added forty more spots, but the difficulty was still much greater than before.

After all, besides those twenty-plus people who were bound to occupy a spot, there were many who could have originally passed the assessments of other martial academies who also signed up for the Canglan Wu Yuan.

And the reason for all this was because of that person.

The model student of Daliang martial arts, Lin Chen from Jiangnan Dao.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Zhu, it seems like more disciples from your academy have arrived."

The person on the side reminded him. Zhu Xing looked in the direction the person who reminded him was looking, and when he saw the person who had arrived, there was a look of surprise in his eyes.

Why did this person come?

"Junior Brothers, excuse me for a moment."

Zhu Xing dropped these words and walked in that direction. These Junior Brothers beside him were not students of the Canglan Wu Yuan, but were here in Bafang City to participate in the Canglan Wu Yuan's assessment this time, and they were from the same prefecture as him.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Qu."

"You are..."

"Zhu Xing."

"Haha, Lin Lin Shidi Zhu, why did you come here?"

Qu Feng looked at Zhu Xing before him, and upon hearing the other party report his name, he also remembered that there was such a Lin Lin Shidi.

An extremely ordinary Lin Lin Shidi in the martial academy.

"I came to pick up my younger brother; he also signed up to participate in this year's martial academy assessment."

"I see... that is indeed not bad. If he can enter the martial academy, it can be considered a fine story."

Qu Feng nodded, but his attitude could not be considered enthusiastic. Not to mention whether Zhu Xing's younger brother could pass the martial academy assessment, even if he did, it wouldn't count for much.

"Lin Lin Shixiong Qu, did you come to the wharf to pick someone up too?"

"Hmm."

Zhu Xing originally wanted to ask who Lin Lin Shixiong Qu was picking up, but seeing Lin Lin Shixiong Qu's attitude, it seemed he didn't want to say much, so he didn't ask. Anyway, he would be able to see in a moment.

(End of Chapter)