Chapter 4063 Within the Royal City

The slovenly Taoist priest's charade completely disoriented the three of them.

The bearded man said excitedly, "I didn't expect this young man to be not only kind and righteous, but also filial. It's really touching. How about this, we travel together for the rest of the journey. We also need to go to the capital of Guanxiong Kingdom. It will be good to have someone to look after us along the way."

“Then we won’t trouble you all. We’ve only just met, and we have a lot of things to do. We’d be afraid of interfering with your business. We have some business to attend to in the North City tomorrow, so you can take your leave first,” the disheveled Taoist priest said with a smile.

"That's fine too, maybe we can meet in the capital." The bearded man said with a smile.

After arguing with the three men, the slovenly Taoist priest returned.

I know that the reason the slovenly Taoist priest didn't want to travel with them was because he was afraid of being exposed. If these three people suddenly decided to play with the lighter until it ran out of gas on the way, they would definitely cause trouble for the slovenly Taoist priest. Separating from them would save a lot of trouble.

That night, our two groups rested in this grove of trees.

The next morning, the three merchants from the Kingdom of Pierced Chest greeted us and set off ahead of time. We waited until they had been gone for a while before heading towards the northern city.

At this time, the north gate of the city had been opened, and pedestrians came and went in an endless stream.

This northern part of the city isn't very big; the roadsides are lined with small vendors selling all sorts of strange and unusual things.

Last night, the slovenly Taoist priest tricked us out of a lot of green stone shells. Little Fatty kept complaining that he was hungry, so we went to a food stall and bought some snacks and drinks.

The drink was a thick porridge, which tasted pretty good. There were also some foods similar to steamed buns. With so many of us, and Little Fatty being such a big eater, we didn't even finish one or two green stone shells.

It seems that the cost of living in this country is not high, mainly because the green stone shell is quite durable.

Since the people of the country with pierced chests don't look much different from normal people, and we were wearing local clothes, no one would think we were any different from them. The people here don't care much about hairstyles; they have long hair, short hair, bald heads, and so on.

We walked around the city, and no one paid any special attention to us.

This is the best situation. Unlike the people in the other countries, who all have strange appearances, we were easily spotted as soon as we entered their territory, like lice on a bald man's head.

As we walked, we observed the situation in this small town, deepening our understanding of the people of Guanxiong.

As we passed a blacksmith shop in the city, we saw a burly man who was half-naked.

At this point, we noticed the difference. The blacksmith with his bare upper body had a hole in his chest, a transparent opening that looked big enough to fit a fist. It was because of that hole in his chest that the people of the Pierced Chest Kingdom were the strongest among the five kingdoms of the Fire Domain. Every person from the Pierced Chest Kingdom could absorb the power of heaven and earth through that hole in their chest to improve their cultivation.

In other words, almost everyone in this Kingdom of Pierced Chests is a cultivator.

The slovenly Taoist priest gave us some of the green stone shells he had swindled from the three merchants. He then separated from us and wandered around, buying any strange or unusual things he saw with the green stone shells.

I reckon this kid must have bought something from the Kingdom of Piercing Chest, and he's going to use it to fool our people once he gets back to our space.

I know exactly what he's thinking; he's a complete jerk.

We strolled around the northern part of the city and met up with the slovenly Taoist priest again; he now had a carriage with him.

It was called a horse-drawn carriage, but that wasn't really the case, because the carriage wasn't pulled by horses. The animal pulling the carriage looked rather strange; it had the body of a horse, but the head of a goat, and it even had horns on its head. It looked quite docile, though.

“We still have a long way to go to reach the capital of Guanxiong Kingdom. I spent five taels of green stone shells to buy a carriage. We can take the carriage, and that way we won’t be tired at all,” the slovenly Taoist priest said with a smile.

"Okay, okay, I'll drive," Little Fatty volunteered.

"You can stay out here and cool off. I'll drive the carriage. You all sit quietly in the back." With that, the slovenly Taoist priest sat in front of the carriage, controlling four strangely shaped creatures, and carried our group towards the capital of the Kingdom of Pierced Chest.

This is good, because in the Kingdom of Piercing the Chest, those who can ride in a carriage are generally of high status, which saves a lot of checks.

The key is that you don't have to walk, and you can rest well in the car.

After wandering around the northern part of the city, we left and continued towards the capital.

Although the Piercing Chest Kingdom is the most dangerous of the five isolated kingdoms in the Fire Domain, we feel unusually safe.

As long as you don't fight with these people from the "Chest-Piercing Country," you won't feel any danger. The current safety is just the calm before the storm.

Once we actually get to Zhaoyao Mountain and go looking for the Zhaoyao Wood, the situation will probably be completely different.

We traveled quickly in the carriage that the slovenly Taoist priest had bought.

On the way, we saw many villages and cities of all sizes, and finally, after three days, we arrived at the capital of the Kingdom of Guanxiong.

Actually, we saw the legendary Zhaoyao Mountain quite a distance away from the capital city of Guanxiong.

Zhaoyao Mountain looks magnificent and grand, with a layer of white snow on its summit.

Right in front of Zhaoyao Mountain, there is a large city, which is the capital of the Guanxiong Kingdom.

Fortunately, when we arrived at the city of the Pierced-Chest Kingdom in the afternoon, the city gates were still open, allowing people to pass through.

We drove our carriage and entered the royal city without any checks or inspections.

This royal city is quite different from the small towns we've visited before. It's enormous, with buildings standing side by side, including grand restaurants, theaters, and taverns—you can see them everywhere.

In this light, the Kingdom of Pierced Chest is indeed the most prosperous of the five kingdoms.

The Kingdom of Guanxiong, with its highly advanced civilization, is the most powerful entity in this Fire Domain.

After entering the royal city, we first found an inn to stay in. For all of us, it only cost two taels of green stone shells.

After settling in at the inn, we need to slowly plan what to do next and see if there's any way to get closer to Zhaoyao Mountain, and ideally, find out what's going on around it.