Chapter 430 (2/2)

Maojin was a rough person but it was the same throughout the group. They were smart too, not the kind with brawn but not brains. To persuade Shao Xuan, he had to pull out the pros and cons for extra persuasiveness.

Guang Yi could not recognise Maojin, thinking he was Maoda. However, this did not affect the conversation because he agreed. Since they were not familiar with King City, and the Black Bears seemed to be trustworthy, it might not be a bad idea to ask them for help. However, the person who would make the decision was Shao Xuan so Guang Yi did not interrupt. No matter how many looks Maojin gave, Guang Yi was silent.

Shao Xuan thought for a moment. “Since you know King City so well, I want to ask you about a person first.”

When he realised Shao Xuan was interested, Maojin quickly said, “Tell me.”

Maoda sat down too when he heard this.

“Do you know this person, Ji Ju?” asked Shao Xuan.

When they heard ‘Ji’, both their expressions fell solemn. “The royal surname, ‘Ji’?”

“Yes.”

The brothers looked at each other hesitantly. Anything related to the royal surname could mean trouble. However, it could also be a huge opportunity!

Maoda rubbed his palms and thought about it. “If you’re talking about Ji ‘Golden Grain’ Ju, we have heard of him. But we haven’t met him physically before.”

“Golden Grain? Ji Ju?” Shao Xuan was surprised to hear that the old man had a nickname.

Maoda nodded. “I heard the fields under Ji Ju’s care are often golden and produce grains favoured by both the aristocrats and tribesmen. His grains were better than other people, hence he was named ‘Golden Grain’. He had been called this since he was young. Ji Ju is a very powerful person in King City. However, I haven’t heard any recent news about him.”

Maojin added, “Now that you mentioned it, I think so too. I used to receive news about Ji Ju every year but since last year, every time we went to King City, we never heard anything about him.”

“I heard, Ji Ju seemed to have found something good.” Maoda touched his chin, eyes bright.

When he finished, Maoda looked at Shao Xuan. “What about this- we’ll help you seek for more information when we arrive at King City.”

“Thank you,” said Shao Xuan.

They walked for nine days.

“We’re arriving soon, that’s King City territory,” said Maoda, pointing ahead.

While the city walls and buildings could not be seen, they could see different-coloured crop fields and short houses.

“These lands belong to the aristocrats. The slaves live in the shorter houses,” explained Maoda as he instructed the party to walk on the main road. Here, if they did not take the main road, they could be viewed as hostiles and killed here. That was because everywhere else was private land owned by slave masters.

There was not a blade of grass on the soil road about twenty meters wide. Perhaps due to the high traffic, the soil on the ground was packed very tightly. Even the wagon wheels left light marks.

Many people travelled on the path in big and small parties. There were groups of guards in armour on both sides of the road. They were all holding metal weapons with a solemn face, their eyes piercing like daggers as they glared at every person on the path. They looked like they would not hesitate to stab a person to death with their spear if something was wrong.

Some people grew very anxious as they walked, almost tripping themselves over.

The Black Bear team stood out here, people in front quickly moved to let them pass. The guards recognised them by their bears, one of the guards even chatted happily with Maoda. Maoda had handed over two animal hides and the guard was so happy his eyes were two lines. The furs sold by the Black Bears were always of good quality.

The head of the guards even helped them clear a path, making the smaller merchants in front make way.

This was already the norm for everyone, no one thought it was not appropriate. Even the frustrated ones swallowed their words. Even Guang Yi, who was here for the first time, did not think there was anything wrong. The universe had its rules.

The party travelled ahead. Shao Xuan thought he’d arrive at King City soon but they had to walk for half a day before seeing the City walls.

Anba City would never allow these bears to enter but King City did. This was power. They were not afraid of these giant bears causing trouble and had absolute certainty that they were in control.

The city walls were made of giant rocks, every rock was about five meters long and three meters wide, more than one meter thick. Shao Xuan could tell they were middle-grade rocks and in some places, for example near the city gates, they used high-grade rocks.

It was a luxury to use such good rocks as a mere city wall.