55: Chapter 54 Arrival in Jinyang City!

"Brother Po! Good thing you stopped me and didn't let me touch this fish!"

Liu Jianren and Sun Po stood in the crowd, watching these uninvited guests who suddenly barged in.

The group of people in front of them were dressed in brown uniforms and fully armed with live ammunition.

They wore sabers at their waists, the crossguards painted with an abstract pattern of the character "Li" and inscribed with the two characters "Qianniu".

Although firearms, as technological products, were useless against mystic realm monsters, they had the highest priority when dealing with humans.

Including many Card Makers who lacked self-protection methods, they would still be sent straight to the Western Paradise by a single bullet.

Sun Po was also somewhat angry.

Logically speaking, they should have already arrived at the port of the Grand Canal in Jinyang City.

But as a result, although they reached the port, they were stopped by these people and made to line up on the deck.

A moment later, one of them ran back from below the cabin and reported to the leader, a stout man with a big beard:

"Commander An, all the fish have been disposed of!!"

The stout, bearded man nodded and stepped out from the crowd. His voice was deep, and his Yanhuang language was somewhat clumsy:

"Recently, the fish-ization disease has been prevalent on the Grand Canal. I am Commander An, leader of the Li Family Qianniu Guard, and I need to conduct a routine inspection of the people on the ship."

Hearing this, the people on the ship began to whisper among themselves.

"fish-ization disease? Having lived by the Grand Canal for so many years, I've never heard of any fish-ization disease?"

"Commander An of the Qianniu Guard? I've heard of this person; he is quite upright. Although he is a foreigner, he has won the deep trust of the Li Family's second young master."

"The Jinyang Li Family is a super family among the Five Surnames and Seven Clans. We can't afford to offend them, so just obediently cooperate."

"What right does the Li Family have to set up private inspections? Do they ignore the authorities?"

"Hush! You must know that our entire four central provinces are the sphere of influence of the Jinyang Li Family, and the authorities tacitly approve of this. If you talk like that, watch out..."

The Li Family's Qianniu Guards seemed not to hear the commotion of the crowd and simply carried out a bronze mirror, setting it up at the bow of the ship.

"Every crew member and passenger just needs to step forward and walk past it once!"

Looking at this mirror, Sun Po was also extremely curious.

It was his first time seeing such an appliance in this world, and he just didn't know what function it had.

Sun Po, Liu Jianren, and Xu Xiu walked forward, and the mirror showed no reaction whatsoever.

When it was the turn of a pot-bellied, businessman-looking man to walk past the mirror,

suddenly,

the bronze mirror began to radiate a misty golden light.

As everyone looked over, inside the bronze mirror, the perfectly fine businessman had changed his appearance.

In the mirror, he had turned into a monster with scales growing on his face, slightly webbed fingers and toes, and a body covered in slime.

"This! This mirror! This is sorcery!!"

The businessman shouted in panic, trying to run away.

Commander An frowned:

"Take him away!"

The fat businessman was still crying out and shouting:

"Commander An, I am the manager of the Gaoping City Sun Chamber of Commerce! I even visited you last month!"

"Sorcery! It's sorcery!!"

Another man was dragged out. Sun Po remembered him;

he was precisely the man who caught the big fish and wanted to take a photo with it.

His wife also turned into a monster covered in scales and slime in the mirror, and was similarly dragged away.

Panic began to spread among the crowd.

Sun Po noticed that those who had been most enthusiastic about grabbing fish during the day were all taken away.

After everyone was screened, Commander An led his people away.

By this time, well over half of the people on the entire ship were gone, and even most of the sailors on board had been taken away.

Fortunately, the ship had already reached the port by then, so there was no need to worry about the ship being unmanned and unable to sail.

However, this fish-ization disease also cast a layer of gloom deep in Sun Po's heart.

He raised his eyes to look at the bustling pier and took a deep breath.

No matter what, Jinyang City—the venue for the provincial competition—had arrived.

...

Jinyang City was the ancestral land of the Jinyang Li Family, the center of the entire four central provinces, and also the city with the most mystic realms among all four central provinces.

In reality, the various major family forces throughout the Yanhuang Ancient Country were each towns of demons, big and small.

The larger a family was, the more mystic realms it needed to suppress.

Therefore, apart from the authorities, the Five Surnames and Seven Clans were definitely the forces with the greatest number of mystic realms, or rather, the largest number of suppressed mystic realms.

This was also why the authorities could allow the Five Surnames and Seven Clans to monopolize mystic realms, enjoy privileges, and even tacitly permit a certain degree of autonomy.

That was because when the authorities were stretched too thin, no other force besides them could handle these mystic realms.

Universities followed the same logic; many universities existed as training camps and demon-suppressing caverns for certain families.

For instance, "Xuanyuan Jiaotong University", ranked second in the Yanhuang Ancient Country, was built by the Xuanyuan Family, which ranked first among the Five Surnames and Seven Clans. It was rumored to be located inside the top-ranked B-grade Xuanpu Mystic Realm.

There was also "Shennong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine", ranked third, which was built by the Jiang Family, ranked third among the Five Surnames and Seven Clans, and was likewise located in a mystic realm.

Besides that, places like "Xian Qin Heavy Industry College" and "Jiuli Army Academy" were also built by one of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans, and all were situated within mystic realms.

As for the competition venue for S Province's Gaokao provincial competition— Li Tang Wanbang University, established by the Jinyang Li Clan—it was likewise within a mystic realm.

Moreover, "Li Tang Wanbang University" was not only a top institution of higher learning in the Yanhuang Ancient Country,

but it also enjoyed immense fame even among the world's five major countries.

As one could tell from its name, Li Tang Wanbang University was the most inclusive among these top institutions.

There, you could not only see signature cards from the Bald Eagle Federation such as dragons and demons,

but also region-specific cards unique to the Sakura Island Company Divine Kingdom, such as Ibaraki Doji and Yuki-onna.

This made Jinyang City the major city with the most frequent international exchanges in the Yanhuang country.

Therefore, it was also far more prosperous than Gaoping City.

Needless to say about the dazzling array of goods, the most peculiar thing was that several people wearing intermediate Card Maker badges were constantly shouting out sales pitches on the roadside:

"Hengshan Mystic Realm!! Today features the miraculous scenery of Songtao Golden Summit! 50,000 per person! Tickets not included! Come and you enter right away!!"

"Hanging Temple Mystic Realm!! Led by a purple card Card Maker!! 80,000 per person, tourists just need not to run around and follow instructions! First-class experience!!"

A big city was indeed a big city. Sun Po never expected that

intermediate Card Makers in Jinyang City had fallen to shouting pitches on the streets?

The mystic realms of Jinyang City could already be operated as tourism projects?

And, it seemed someone actually paid for it?!

Before long, the man shouting pitches for the Hanging Temple Mystic Realm pulled a whole cartload of people away from the pier.

Liu Jianren beside him was like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, finding everything novel.

"Whoa! Brother Po! Look! This big black guy!"

Sun Po looked in the direction of Liu Jianren's hand,

and saw several dark-skinned, stalwart men nearly two meters tall, dressed in coarse linen clothes, following respectfully behind a young man draped in red and purple.

Even before coming to Jinyang City, Sun Po had heard that there were Kunlun slaves inside Jinyang City,

who were a unique race from the Lion Tribe Alliance among the Five Great Countries, having advantages in strength and endurance compared to the people of the Yanhuang Ancient Country.

Therefore, many children of noble and prominent families bought them to be domestic slaves.

"Hey! Brother Po, and that too, look at that little mustache! And that head, it's killing me! Hahaha"

But Liu Jianren's uninhibited laughter drew the other party's attention.

Soon, a young man stepping on wooden clogs, sporting a half-moon hairstyle, and wearing a small mustache right above his lip walked angrily toward the two of them.