Chapter 415: Divine Capital
Four spirit cranes and the purple carriage painted a scene of an immortal arriving. It slowly passed Feiyun standing to the side.
There were four maids with their hair tied into a bun around a precious stone. With their spirited eyes, they resembled the maids of a god.
Dongfang Jingshui slightly glanced at Feiyun while they were passing each other. Who knows if he recognized the guy?
Perhaps not. After several years, Feiyun was no longer the kid wet behind the ears. He was gallant and muscular with a cultivation countless times higher.
The other young prodigies also walked by without taking a look at Feng Feiyun.
“Such haughtiness.” One of the guards snorted.
Feng Feiyun quietly said: “Those are famous prodigies so naturally, they’ll be arrogant. Let’s go.”
They went down the mountain and said goodbye to Yu Chan then. She and Lan’er boarded a ship belonging to the Supreme Beauty Pavilion and headed for the capital. Before leaving, Lan’er was begging for Feng Feiyun to visit Supreme Beauty and wouldn’t stop until he agreed. She left in excitement.
The waves splashed as the ship was leaving.
Feiyun stood by the shore with his emotions still running amok. Shui Yueting’s statue appearing at the Jin Dynasty, wasn’t this too much of a coincidence?
She and Dongfang Jingyue looked so familiar. In other words, Jingyue was also exactly like that statue. The seniors from the Yin Gou Clan had to notice this so they surely have tried and investigate its origin as well.
This was one of the four great clans that had great influence in the capital. They surely found more clues due to the resources at their disposal. Perhaps this was the best place to start.
Feiyun currently had two clues. The first was the shrine at the river. The second was the Yin Gou Clan.
“Young Lord Feng, looks like you’re famous again today. You must be in a good mood.” Xiangcen came back with the two maids and stood behind him. Her expression was one of displeasure. Clearly, she knew what had happened on the platform.
Feiyun had no intention of answering.
“We must keep a low-profile this time at the capital yet you offended the Furious Faction just because of an unrelated woman as well as half the nobles here. This is not good for us.” Displeasure turned into anger.
“You don’t need to worry about my business.” Feiyun said flatly.
With that, he boarded the ivory ship. The other cultivators also returned after taking a look at the divine statue. The ship was about to start again to head for the capital.
Xiangcen’s smile was quite cold, she became annoyed especially when he treated her like air. She felt that the best course of actions was for him to listen to all her plans.
“Rumble!” The ship began to move. Waves and ripples splashed everywhere like flowers.
It only took half a day through the river to reach the capital from the Faith Convent. The ship could reach the capital before nightfall due to its speed.
“I have just received a message. Wolong Sheng is already in the capital and wants to see us tonight.” Xiangcen said.
He was the best disciple at the Destruction Cave and was naturally talented to reach his current status. Even though he wasn't a historical genius, his battle prowess should be quite similar at the same cultivation level.
Moreover, this person was older since he was from the same generation as the members of the upper list.
Feng Feiyun asked: “What’s the hurry?”
“I don’t know.” She said.
Feiyun thought about the black jade box inside his spatial stone. The evil energy was too thick. Just what item was Feng Mo bringing to the cave?
It had forbidden seals like the writings of ghosts. Feiyun couldn’t open it either.
***
Central Royal was the number one prefecture among the eight in the dynasty. Others couldn’t compare to it at all, whether it be size, energy density, or population.
This one and Earthchild made up one-half of the dynasty and eighty percent of the population. The majority of clans and sects concentrated in these prosperous central plains.
It was divided into 148 counties. Each county was boundless with several billion inhabitants each. Thus, talents came in waves.
It was firmly in the grasp of the court due to the lords present at each one. Below a county was a city, canton, town, and village. [1]
Each level and order were under the control of the court. This prefecture was indeed the core of the dynasty. Even if the other seven were drowned in chaos, as long as Central Royal was fine, the dynasty would continue to stand strong.
Thus, even though Earthchild and Northern Frontier have separated themselves, there was no sign of urgency. People still came and went in this prosperous place as if it was peacetime.
The capital was situated at the Big Dipper spot of Central Royal in Divine County. This was indeed the heart of the dynasty. Virtually all great powers had some spies here in the form of branches and mansions. No one could really know the capital in full; this great city had everything and everyone. One would be hard-pressed to find a similar location.
Just the inner city alone had three hundred millions cultivators. This was not including the huge outskirt spanning for ten thousand miles. The total population would be the same as a large county.
Those who wouldn’t excel in the city would stay outside. It had the biggest slave and beast markets in the entire dynasty. All of these shops, markets, and auctions were too big to be held inside.
Feiyun got off the ship and saw the biggest slave market in the world, Earth’s End. There were slaves bound with iron chains or imprisoned in cages as far as the eye can see. There were burly Jiang warriors and beautiful slaves, even children and old people were here.
“Nobles in the capital will have thousands of slaves. The number of slaves also represents their status and position.” Xiangcen said.
Feiyun naturally understood the cruelty of this world. The weak shall be enslaved by the strong. Even some cultivators would be sold to be the most wretched servants if they had offended someone they shouldn’t have.
It was a deepwater dock after leaving the ship. The Jin River flowed to this place and was as wide as an ocean. There were many boats and ships here. Even though a red ivory warship would be a rare sight in the southern regions, there were several dozens anchoring here.
Feiyun had a taste of the prosperity of the capital just now. This was only a tiny place in the outskirt.
A carriage dragged by a pull slowly came over on the road. The old carriage driver got off and instantly kneeled before Feiyun in horror: “I deserve death for being late. Young Lord, please forgive me.”
The Feng had several hundred properties and more than ten mansions in the capital. It was the nineteenth strongest power right now in the dynasty. The number of properties they owned here was actually quite embarrassing.
Alas, they have only risen recently so there was a limit to their reach.
The old carriage driver was the chief attendant in one of the mansions. He was an intermediate Immortal Foundation and came here to greet after finding out that the young lord was visiting the capital.
“I only got here recently, stand up.” Feiyun said.
Feiyun and Xiangcen boarded the carriage and they headed for one of the mansions in the capital. The four guards and two maids also had their own carriages. The group headed for the capital’s gate.
They were here at last.
Feiyun could feel the powerful waves of spirit energy underground as if there was a dragon hibernating. It was several times thicker than other areas.
‘So these are the dragon veins in the capital.’ He thought.
The so-called dragon veins here were only a type of spirit veins. They were more powerful than ordinary ones but weren’t real dragon veins. A real dragon vein would span for an entire continent.
The main street inside the capital could contain several dozen bulls running side by side. Cultivators and carriages were everywhere. The cities in the southern regions were simply fireflies compared to the sun that is the capital.
After cross many streets and sects, they finally made it to the mansion. More than one hundred maids and servants were waiting outside to greet him. They wore tidy clothing and instantly kneeled when they saw the carriage. This was the Feng Young Lord after all, a real big shot in the family.
The mansion would be his home in the capital.
1. This will not line up with the western sub-divisions completely in terms of size