Chapter Ninety-Six: The Mountain-Guarding Marquis

"The imperial capital of the Heaven Wind Empire is indeed imposing."

From afar, Yi Tian and his group gazed at the capital, which stood on the land ahead like a towering natural barrier. Its grandeur was overwhelming, and within the city they could also see streaks of radiance drifting and rising into the sky. Those were the invisible manifestations of vital energy stirred by the aura of one powerful expert after another.

"Come on, let us see how prosperous this capital really is."

Yi Tian was suddenly interested.

Yi Tian, Yi Shan, and the others of the Reincarnation Battle Team all wore expressions of curiosity, along with a trace of anticipation.

They descended to the ground ten li outside the capital.

Then they walked along the great road leading into the city, wide enough for thirty-six black-scaled horses to ride abreast.

This thoroughfare was crowded with enormous caravans. Some consisted of only dozens or hundreds of beast-drawn carts, while others hauled thousands, carrying vast quantities of goods from every corner of the Heaven Wind Empire to this capital.

Along the road to the capital, the center lane was reserved for passing caravans, while on both sides martial practitioners from every prefecture and district had come in admiration of the capital's reputation.

Among the countless streams of travelers, the six members of Yi Tian's group looked utterly ordinary.

"Make way, make way! The dragon carriage of Marquis Mountainguard is coming! Everyone clear the road at once!"

The next moment, a cold voice rang out from the road behind them. A troop of elite riders came charging forward at astonishing speed from the rear, holding tiger-dragon gold badges and racing straight toward the capital to clear the way for the Marquis Mountainguard behind them.

"Marquis Mountainguard is back."

"Hurry, get all the beast carts to the side. Don't block the marquis's path. We can't afford to offend him."

In an instant, the broad avenue erupted into noise.

Beast cries, whipping sounds, and curses rose one after another in a ceaseless din.

Yi Tian and the others glanced over in surprise.

"What kind of man is this Marquis Mountainguard, to make such a grand display?" Yi Kuang said, displeased.

The marquis's procession was far too extravagant. For nothing more than a mere marquis, he made a show that was no less imposing than that of imperial nobles.

At that moment, a martial practitioner in his forties nearby said to Yi Kuang, "You young fellow know nothing. Marquis Mountainguard is the emperor's most trusted right hand, and he has long guarded Heaven Wind Gorge. His status is even higher than that of many royal dukes who possess little real power."

"Exactly. The marquis's authority in the capital is enormous, and his strength ranks among the very best in the entire Heaven Wind Empire. Rumor has it that he is already a human-tier expert at the Core Pill stage. You'd best not provoke him."

A young martial practitioner who was with the middle-aged man saw that Yi Tian's group were all so young and spoke so carelessly that he feared they might offend Marquis Mountainguard.

Yi Li then asked, "What kind of place is this Heaven Wind Gorge, to require a Core Pill expert to guard it?"

The middle-aged martial practitioner said, "You must be outsiders. Heaven Wind Gorge is one of the deadliest places in the Heaven Wind Empire. Year-round, it is battered by terrifying astral winds. Martial practitioners below the human tier cannot survive there at all. Once they enter, there is no coming back. Only human-tier experts can go in and explore it."

"As for why Marquis Mountainguard is stationed there, the reason is that Heaven Wind Gorge contains a precious land. It is where Wind Spirit Wood grows. You should know that Wind Spirit Wood is a material used to forge treasure talismans. A single Wind Spirit Wood tree that is a hundred years old can be worth ten thousand upper-grade elemental stones. If one were to find a thousand-year Wind Spirit Wood, it might even be exchanged for elemental crystals."

As he spoke, the middle-aged martial practitioner showed an expression of longing.

Yet that longing soon faded. He said, "Wind Spirit Wood is indeed rare and priceless, but Heaven Wind Gorge is home to powerful wind beasts and wind fiends. Even human-tier experts may perish there. It is extremely dangerous."

When Yi Tian and the others heard this, their hearts were stirred.

It was their first time hearing of Heaven Wind Gorge, and they had not expected that even human-tier experts could be in danger there.

What surprised them even more was the immense value of Wind Spirit Wood.

Wind Spirit Wood was truly a heaven-and-earth treasure. Though it was only of the lowest grade, it was still worth a fortune. Among the treasures Yi Tian and the others possessed, only elemental crystals could truly be called heaven-and-earth treasures, while even upper-grade elemental stones were not qualified to bear that title.

Every heaven-and-earth treasure was born only in certain extreme lands between heaven and earth, and was exceedingly rare.

The medicinal herbs Yi Tian and the others usually found in the mountains were merely ordinary plants that had absorbed elemental energy over long years and thus gained potent medicinal properties. They could be used to refine some low-grade pills and were very useful to ordinary martial practitioners.

Above spiritual herbs were precious herbs.

A single precious herb was valuable enough to drive human-tier experts into bloody conflict. Even fragments of its branches and leaves, if combined with a few top-grade spiritual herbs, could be used to refine rank-bearing pills.

Soon, the center of the avenue had been cleared.

Not long after, a troop riding Wind Tiger Beasts charged from the rear toward the capital at the end of the road. Each Wind Tiger Beast stood seven or eight zhang tall, like a small mountain, and moved with the speed of the wind.

"These are Marquis Mountainguard's Wind Tiger Beast cavalry. They can travel ten thousand li in a day and are terrifyingly strong."

Many martial practitioners looked on with boundless admiration.

If one day they could become a rider of the Wind Tiger Beast cavalry, what glory that would be.

It was said that every member of the Wind Tiger Beast cavalry received a monthly salary of one thousand lower-grade elemental stones.

However, to become one of them, one's cultivation had to reach at least the seventh tier, and one's willpower also had to be exceptional. They had to endure strict discipline and restraint. It was not something just anyone could join.

Not long afterward, after more than a hundred Wind Tiger Beast riders had passed, a bronze carriage came rumbling and thundering forward from behind them.

A massive Wind-Stepping Beast, ten zhang long, pulled the bronze carriage. It occupied fully one third of the broad road, yet its speed did not slow in the slightest, keeping tightly behind the cavalry of Wind Tiger Beasts.

Behind the bronze carriage followed several dozen more riders.

At that very moment, Yi Tian and the others' eyes narrowed.

They actually saw the bronze carriage floating three chi above the ground, racing at high speed toward the distance without the slightest vibration.

Yi Tian could not help but feel a surge of surprise.

That bronze carriage was probably no ordinary treasure carriage, but a quasi-treasure vessel of the highest grade.

Clearly, floating runes or restrictions had been inscribed upon it.

Marquis Mountainguard's return to the capital caused a stir among the city's great powers, and many people hurried to pay him their respects.

At that time, Yi Tian's Reincarnation Battle Team quietly entered the vast capital.

Only after entering did they discover that elemental stones were used here as currency as well, even if only in relatively small transactions. Still, this was enough to astonish them.

After all, in Black Dragon City, elemental stones were extremely rare and would never be put into circulation. They were stored as strategic resources and served as a measure of a power's foundation.

The imperial capital of the Heaven Wind Empire was simply too vast.

Yi Tian and the others entered the southern district of the capital, yet even this one district was more than a hundred times larger than Black Dragon City.

The southern district contained countless inns, and high-level martial practitioners could be seen everywhere.

Even the waiters in inns and shops possessed no ordinary cultivation; at the very least, they were at the fourth tier or above.

Low-level martial practitioners were instead extremely rare.

Only boys of fourteen or fifteen counted as low-level practitioners.

Apart from the innumerable inns and taverns of every size, the southern district also had one manor after another. Some covered only several hundred or thousand mu, while others spanned tens of thousands, even over a hundred thousand mu, with hills and water, elegant and refined.

Some of these manors already had owners: they served as the estates or private grounds of powerful clans and major factions from across the Heaven Wind Empire. Others were operated as businesses and rented out to outsiders.

But the price for such rentals was steep. Some cost as little as ten thousand lower-grade elemental stones per month, while others reached four or five hundred thousand.

Naturally, Yi Tian and the others would not wrong themselves. After learning of these conditions, they rented a thousand-mu manor from Myriad Scenery Pavilion for half a year in one stroke. After all, such rental properties were in great demand, and it was common for all available manors to be taken.

It was said that the force behind Myriad Scenery Pavilion was far from ordinary. It belonged to a royal prince of the capital and controlled no fewer than twenty or thirty manors there, earning vast sums of elemental stones each year.

Yi Tian's group settled into Azure Spring Manor.

It was their first time coming to the imperial capital of the Heaven Wind Empire, and they knew nothing of the situation here.

Fortunately, they had plenty of elemental stones, and they quickly learned much about the capital from a steward of Azure Spring Manor. Among the things they learned, Heaven Wind Gorge was by far the most important.