My Sword Has a Way

Chapter 33: Imperial Capital Longyang City

Ah Ling was a little embarrassed at first, but soon became excited and said, "Our Yaoling Mountain is in Yunmengze in the Southern Wilderness. I have listened to my ancestor Yao grandfather telling stories about the outside world since I was a child. He said that the outside world is very big, as big as countless Yunmengzes. In addition to our demon race, this world also has humans, ghosts, demons, and gods. Many of their stories make up the wonders of this world. Then I fantasized that one day I could go and see the beauty of this world myself, so I ran away secretly."

The young man in black looked at the boastful girl in white in front of him in a daze. Seeing the girl's innocent and cute face, he couldn't help but smile and said, "So she ran away secretly."

The girl blushed slightly: "If we don't sneak out, Grandpa Zuyao won't let us out."

The boy asked curiously, "Why? Isn't it nice to see the vastness of the world?"

Ah Ling picked up a half-eaten chicken leg and said, "Grandpa Zu Yao said that the people outside are more cunning than the green vines in Yaoling Mountain. We are not allowed to contact people of other races, let alone humans."

Xu Zhian took a sip of wine with an embarrassed look on his face and said, "Your grandfather demon is right. Not everything in the world is perfect, and human hearts are the worst thing in the world. Don't trust what others say in the future."

Ah Ling smiled seriously and said, "Ah Ling doesn't think so. I think Brother Xu is very good. He is the first human that Ah Ling likes."

The young man in black smiled and said nothing more. Xu Zhian got out of the boat and sat at the bow. The stars were shining in the sky, the moonlight was hazy, and there was an occasional cold breeze that took away his slight drunkenness.

The boy suddenly thought of his younger sister, wondering if she had grown taller, entered the high courtyard, and awakened her sword body. He thought of the handsome boy next door, wondering if he had joined the sage's teaching, and if he still wanted to be a knight-errant. Finally, he thought of the sloppy old Taoist priest, the senior brother who had silently accompanied him for fifteen years, wondering if he was staying at the tavern or traveling around the world.

Xu Zhian raised the wine jar in his hand and pointed it at his reflection in the lake, imitating the old Taoist saying: "Be on your own, wake up on your own, and be happy on your own."

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However, the sky was clear and the breeze was not dry. There was a prosperous imperial capital, Longyang City, which was fifty miles long and was a first-class imperial city.

Three miles outside Longyang City, in a Longyang wine shop, an old Taoist was lying on a wooden table with a plate of drunkard peanuts scattered all over the place in front of him. At this time, the waiter came forward and gently reminded him: "Sir, sir, wake up, the sun is already three o'clock in the sky."

The old Taoist opened his eyes with a groan, and said in a somewhat confused manner: "Is the wine here...?"

The waiter waved his hands, as if trying to fan away the drunken smell on the old Taoist priest: "Sir, we are out of wine. You have drunk all the wine in our shop!"

The old Taoist tried hard to open his eyes, looked at the waiter in front of him and said, "You are talking nonsense! I clearly saw that there is still a lot of wine in this shop!"

Just as the waiter was in a dilemma, the middle-aged man at the next table laughed and said, "I wonder where the long-term bill is, or are you traveling here and staying at the tavern?"

The old Taoist opened his eyes and looked at the two men and one woman at the next table. He couldn't help but smile and said, "I, the old Taoist, travel around the world with only good wine as my companion. I am just a rootless duckweed. But you, on the other hand, have the energy of a dragon. You are invaluable."

The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "Master, you are joking. I am just a commoner. There is no dragon energy. Master, you must have seen it wrong."

The old Taoist sat up, stretched his waist, took out two and a half copper coins from his pocket and shook them twice. Looking at the hexagram on the table, the old Taoist smiled and said vaguely: "Good luck! I have found the money for today's wine."

The old Taoist put away the copper coins and asked the middle-aged man beside him with a drunken face: "How about we make a bet today? If you win, I will agree to one of your requests, no matter how big or small, even if you want to sit on the throne of Longyang City, I can help you realize it. But if you lose, how about you help me pay for the wine?"

The man frowned, and the young man next to him stood up and shouted, "How dare you!"

The middle-aged man waved his hand, and the young man next to him sat back on the bench.

Seeing this, the old Taoist hiccupped and continued, "Let's bet that someone will break into this thousand-year-old imperial capital today and escape unscathed. What do you think?"

Before the man could reply, the woman at the side shouted, "How shameless! Our Daliang State has existed for 1,600 years. Since Emperor Taizu took the throne, no one has dared to break into the Longyang Imperial Capital. Even the gods of Wolong Mountain dare not make such a boast! You, a drunken old Taoist priest, are not afraid of your tongue slipping out of your mouth. Do you really think that the 30,000 tigers in the Northwest Camp are vegetarians?"

The old Taoist sneered: "You are a very eloquent girl, but your brain may not be that good. Don't you know that as a servant, you can't interfere before your master speaks?"

The woman stood up and shouted angrily: "You...!"

Before the woman could say anything, she heard the middle-aged man slowly say, "Since the Taoist priest wants to gamble, I will gamble with you once."

The woman wanted to say something but was glared back at by the man.

The old Taoist said to the waiter beside him, "Go and fill the gourd."

The waiter was a little hesitant, but still took the gourd and went to get some wine.

The old Taoist turned around and looked at the towering city wall, and could not help but sigh: "I want to buy osmanthus flowers and carry wine, but it is not as good as that young man's trip."

The middle-aged man turned around and looked at the heavy ancient city and said, "Back then, I traveled thousands of miles to seek a title, and I received an imperial edict in Guanglingzhou."

After a cup of tea, the waiter looked at the gourd in his hand with a puzzled look, looking up and down, left and right, as if he didn't understand something. The old Taoist took the gourd and took a sip, saying, "Put it on his account!"

The old Taoist pointed at a middle-aged man beside him, then walked away and said, "If it is destined to happen, it will happen. If it is not destined to happen, don't force it."

The middle-aged man looked at the Taoist priest going away without trying to stop him. He just turned around and asked the waiter, "How much is his wine?"

The waiter hesitated for a moment, and the middle-aged man smiled and said, "Just tell me straight away."

The waiter then said, "Fifty taels in total."

The young man and the woman at the side stood up at the same time and shouted, "How dare you, the innkeeper, be so black-hearted! Fifty taels of silver! How dare you ask for it!"

The middle-aged man frowned and said unhappily, "The wine and drinks on your table cost only three taels of silver at most, why is there so much? Are you really running a shady shop?"

The waiter immediately said with a sad face: "This table of wine and drinks is indeed enough for three taels of silver, but that person has drunk three tables of wine and drinks from last night till now!"

The middle-aged man frowned and said, "It's only nine taels, but you want to charge me fifty taels. Do you think I'm a foreigner and you're deliberately bullying me?"

The aura that the middle-aged man revealed at this moment frightened the waiter at the wine shop. The waiter hurriedly explained, looking uglier than crying, "Sir, you don't know, the gourd he just used was filled with more than half a month's worth of my wine! Seven large jars!"

The young man at the side said in disbelief, "Ridiculous! You can't even find a decent excuse to lie. Forget about seven large jars of wine. Can you even carry one jar of wine? I think you are a scam!"

The waiter almost knelt down and kowtowed to the crowd, his face full of grievance and he said: "I...how dare I? Who dares to do such business under the feet of the emperor?"

The middle-aged man stopped the young man from arguing and looked back. The old Taoist had already disappeared.

Besides, the city of Longyang is the most prosperous one in the world. The houses are arranged in an orderly manner, and the north-south streets lead directly to the imperial palace.

Qinglong Street is crowded with people and vendors.