A vast towering mountain range, as if carved by the hand of creation, split an entire continent from south to north into two. Both the Jin Kingdom and the Yin Kingdom had their steps of conquering the continent halted at the mountain foothills on either side, unable to expand further due to the natural barrier.
This place was both the border between the two countries and the dividing line of the whole continent.
With the sun rising and setting, through mountains and rivers, the three martial brothers from Linglong View travelled one stretch after another. They finally arrived in this area and stopped at the foot of a sunlit snow mountain.
On one side were continuous rolling snow mountains, and on the other was a sudden steep cliff wall.
Melted snow water spread thinly over the rocky ground, so shallow that it could not even cover the soles of the feet. Yet due to years of erosion, it had carved countless caves at the base of the towering cliff wall, which looked deep and dark at a glance.
Yet people could constantly be seen throwing out skateboards, stepping on them and jumping into those deep caves, disappearing underground along with the flowing water.
The three martial brothers stood on a higher rocky area in the flowing water, arranged in order of fat, thin, and strong.
In fact Yu Qing was not thin either. He had a fairly standard build. It was just that he could not stand up to the contrast with his two senior brothers and appeared rather small and weak between them.
The fat bodied Nan Zhu still stood straight, with his hands crossed over his big belly. Because of his large stomach, he always gave the feeling of leaning backwards. His expression was forever serious, always looking as if he wanted to lecture someone.
Yu Qing, with his ponytail and a tender little moustache on his lips, had his arms crossed in front of his chest. His head swayed curiously left and right as he watched people one after another whizz past on skateboards.
Mu Aotie, with his square head and angular facial features, also had his arms crossed in front of his chest. His head was slightly tilted and his chin raised a little, which made him seem to be scrutinising people with the corners of his eyes and gave off a cold, aloof feeling.
The sound of clacking wooden clogs came over.
A half monster wearing shorts and short sleeves that exposed his arms came splashing over barefoot in wooden clogs. He had a human body but a cat’s head.
His body was very sturdy, and his cat head was also large, as big as a lion’s head. A long cat tail dragged behind him.
It was clearly the after effect of failing the first human transformation during cultivation advancement. His appearance was fixed like this, and it was basically very difficult to fully transform into a human again. Therefore he was called a half monster.
In the jianghu this place’s cat monsters were called big cats, because their original forms were indeed very large. One could tell just from the head being as big as a lion’s head.
They did not actively provoke people, and outsiders generally did not dare to provoke them either, because they came from the幽崖.
The big cat in front of them had a mottled coloured head, commonly called a flower faced cat. He stood in front of the three, threw down the large pile of skateboards he carried on his back with a clatter, then casually pulled out a sesame stalk like dried plant from the basket at his waist.
He grabbed it from the top, stripped off the leaves and branches in one stroke.
Snap. He pinched off the tender end with one hand, then pinched off the hardened bottom, put it in his big cat mouth, took out a fire starter to light the other end, and then puffed clouds of smoke while facing the three. A pair of large agate like eyes stared at them.
He was so tall that even the big built Mu Aotie had to raise his head slightly to meet his gaze.
The three did not know what he meant by blocking in front of them, so they stared at each other with big eyes and small eyes.
The big cat took out a bamboo hat as big as an umbrella from the pile of skateboards, showed the pattern on the hat to the three, then put it on his own head. He lifted his hand to remove the big smoking stick from his mouth, blew smoke towards their feet, and tilted his head to gesture.
The three immediately looked down together and saw that there was also a simple pattern on the ground, exactly the same as the one on the hat. They instantly understood the meaning. The three dazed ones immediately retreated a few steps together to return the spot to him.
Because there were many big cats selling skateboards nearby, they understood at a glance.
The big cat put the big smoking stick back in his mouth, dragged the pile of skateboards to a dry place, set out a chair and sat there waiting. The tail behind the chair swayed and flicked from time to time, occasionally dipping in water and flicking twice.
“Have you watched enough?” Nan Zhu asked Yu Qing.
Yu Qing followed one skateboard with his eyes and stroked his little moustache. “It should not be too difficult.”
Nan Zhu raised his chin towards the big cat selling skateboards to indicate buying, and took out ten taels of silver first.
Mu Aotie also took out ten taels of silver.
Both went to buy a skateboard each from the big cat. They did not buy one for Yu Qing. Each paid for their own.
Along the way, the three had nearly come to blows again over who would pay. Later they reached an agreement that each would pay for what they needed themselves, and collective expenses would be split equally among the three. Even the position of sect leader could not take advantage here.
“Just one board and it actually costs ten taels of silver.” Yu Qing muttered, but he still paid and bought one. He was really poor now. The silver he had robbed from Tao Yongli’s accomplices last time had mostly been spent on expenses during this round trip.
The young martial uncle had given Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie one thousand taels of silver each, but not a single copper coin to Yu Qing. You are good at earning money, right? You refuse to talk about that hundreds of thousands of taels, right? Then bear it yourself.
“Follow closely.” Nan Zhu called out, threw down his skateboard, stepped on it, twisted his fat body and slid away on the water.
Mu Aotie followed closely behind.
Yu Qing braced himself, threw his down and followed. With a whoosh he slid out close to the ground, twisting and turning to adjust direction. From time to time he had to stretch a foot outside the board to touch the ground and control the direction. He spotted which cave the two senior brothers entered and slid in after them.
As soon as he entered the cave, the view instantly became much darker. Fortunately glowing fluorite stones were embedded at intervals on the cave walls, serving as both lighting and road markers.
The terrain wound and curved all the way downward, and the flowing water followed the terrain downward as well.
The sliding speed was very fast. At first it made Yu Qing’s heart pound with fear that he might not turn in time and crash into the cave wall.
However just when the speed was about to get out of control, a stretch of shallow water beach would appear. Rushing over the water surface had a buffering effect and slowed him down.
With his cultivation, Yu Qing quickly grasped the balance knack and gradually relaxed and became at ease. The rest of the way he slid freely and happily.
After sliding for what seemed like dozens of miles, a picture of an underground world suddenly appeared before his eyes. His feet rushed into a river, and inertia helped him slide across the water surface to reach the opposite bank.
As the river slowed down, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie easily lifted their feet onto the shore, ignoring the skateboards washed away under their feet.
Yu Qing, who followed closely onto the shore, shouted, “Just throw it away directly? Was it not said that this is the best way to enter and leave?”
He had already conveniently fished the board into his hand.
Mu Aotie looked coldly indifferent and said nothing. Nan Zhu said calmly, “There is collection downstream. When leaving you can get one for free without spending money.”
So that was how it was. Yu Qing immediately waved his hand and threw the skateboard back into the river. Only then did he have the leisure to face the underground world before him,幽角埠.
It was a very large underground space. Scattered openings in the dome let in daylight like huge light pillars, outlining the hazy contours of this underground world, a city.
A huge underground city.
People kept coming from behind on skateboards crossing the river. The three did not want to block the way, so they walked and looked.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie had been here before when travelling in the jianghu. This was Yu Qing’s first time. He had heard of its great name for a long time and looked around full of curiosity.
There were no city walls. Several winding rivers flowed through the city. Shops and houses lined both banks of the rivers. The architectural style was not too different from the human world, perhaps with more ancient charm.
Most of the plants in the city were glowing fluorescent plants.
Passing under a dome opening and standing in a pillar of natural light, Yu Qing looked up and felt as if he was at the bottom of a ten thousand zhang deep abyss. The edges of the openings were covered with colourful flowering plants, which looked rather dreamy under the light and shadow.
Each dome opening was different. Some were round, some were flat, some looked like cracks, and some had water curtains splashing down continuously.
It was said that those with ability could also fly directly down from the openings to幽角埠. However the outside was not easy terrain. The mountains were steep and undulating, far less convenient than sliding in from underground. Saving those ten taels of silver might not be worth it.
Above the city, dreamy star clouds flew around, constantly shuttling back and forth and drifting repeatedly without stopping.
What made up those star clouds were things called “cloud light insects” released by 幽崖, similar to fireflies. They formed lines of text that drifted back and forth above shops of various sizes.
“Thirty ten thousand taels to buy one ‘Ice Soul’!”
“Nine million nine hundred and ninety thousand taels to sell one ‘Evil Spirit Pill’!”
Yu Qing, who had stopped and looked up, muttered to himself while watching the text drift overhead. His eyelids twitched. Something worth ten million taels was directly ten thousand taels cheaper. If he could buy it he would profit. Then he thought again that he did not know if he would ever see nine hundred thousand taels together in his life.
He feared that even if he sold himself he could not scrape together nine hundred thousand taels. Feeling he was thinking too much, he stared at other drifting texts for a while.
It was said that these were announcements sent to幽角埠 by 幽崖 after people with buying or selling needs paid fees to 幽崖.
Shops with goods to sell or wanting to buy, if they found the price suitable after seeing the message, would go to 幽崖 to complete the transaction.
Of course, individuals who did not want to publicise and wanted to quietly go to a certain shop to buy or sell could do so freely.
In 幽角埠, the various forces had reached an agreement. Even if the emperor’s seal was stolen and brought here to sell, as long as it was not stolen by a shop in 幽角埠, it was compliant and normal. No external force could disturb the normal trading in 幽角埠. Once the goods left 幽角埠, you could handle them however you wanted.
Also, the shops in 幽角埠 did not distinguish between types of trade. As long as your connections were wide enough to get the goods, you could do any kind of business you wanted.
In the end, the competitiveness between shops depended on who had wider sources of goods, more varieties, and whether the prices could satisfy people.
Many people came and went in the city. It felt like a gathering of demons and monsters. Many people wore cloaks or covered their faces.
Looking at the shops on both sides of the street, Yu Qing walked into the nearest one.
As soon as the shopkeeper raised his eyes, he immediately greeted enthusiastically, “What would the honoured guest like to buy?” He pointed back at the dazzling samples on the shelves behind him, then brought out categorised item lists and told Yu Qing to point out whatever he wanted.
Yu Qing waved his hand to indicate he was not here to buy things. “Shopkeeper, let me ask you. Do you know where ‘Miao Qing Hall’ is?”