Chapter Ten: Heroic City of a Thousand Tides

  In the crowd, Qin Yun looked around at everything with a curious gaze.

  The farthest place he has been since he can remember is Dajing Town, and in Qin Yun's mind, a town with thousands of households is already very big and prosperous.

  But standing on the dock outside Qianchao City, he only realized how narrow his previous vision was. The insights gained from books were far less shocking than what he saw with his own eyes!

  The docks here are dozens of times larger than those in Dashun Town, with thousands of sails and hundreds of boats rushing across the vast river surface. Large ships loaded with goods and passengers docked here, and tens of thousands of sailors and workers were busy bustling about.

  The road to the distant Thousand Tide City was crowded with people, all sorts of carriages shuttling back and forth, powerful knights, majestic swordsmen, wealthy merchants, and cunning thieves... a motley crew of all kinds!

  Qin Yun walked forward aimlessly with the crowd, just like those country boys who had just arrived in the big city.

  However, unlike most naive young men, he remained sufficiently vigilant in unfamiliar environments, holding his luggage close to him, giving no opportunity for some ill-intentioned individuals to make a move.

  In this long backpack, he packed all his belongings - nearly a hundred taels of silver, spare clothes, the Qingfeng sword and more than ten silver beads.

  Just as Fang Wentian had guessed, Qin Yun did not know the origin and true value of these silver pearls, otherwise he would absolutely not have taken them out to give away so easily.

  Sixteen silver pearls were given to Qin Yun by the red carp, which would occasionally bring them from somewhere and give them to him after playing with him in the cold pond. Over time, they accumulated to this many.

  Qin Yun had once shown the silver pearls to Qin Yang, but Qin Yang couldn't see their history either. He only said that the spiritual energy contained within these silver pearls was extremely precious and told Qin Yun to keep them well for future use.

  This time participating in the Qin family's ancestral return selection, he will also have to worship the Sword Sect to learn the Supreme Sword Dao. Qin Yun knew that the cost was absolutely not small, and a hundred or so pieces of fragmented silver might not even be enough for living expenses, leaving only fifteen silver beads as his last capital.

  So Qin Yun was extra careful, in case he was robbed and had it stolen from him, that would be a disaster beyond consolation.

  The Senchou Castle is just ahead!

  Looking at the majestic city standing in front of him, gazing up at the towering city wall that was over a hundred feet high, Qin Yun felt suffocated - it was simply too massive!

  A long moat stretched out in front of the city gate, and Qin Yun walked across the wide suspension bridge with a sense of reverence and trepidation, under the gaze of several fully armed soldiers on both sides, and entered the city of Qianchao through the city gate.

  The bustling scene in the city and the dock is different, looking around at the towering buildings, stacked up like scales, don't know how many families live inside. The stone-paved road is clean and tidy, with shops and restaurants lined up on both sides of the road, all hanging flags, people coming and going, the shouting voices of the shopkeepers calling out to customers rising and falling.

  Even the beautiful and saucy young women on the street, when they notice Qin Yun's silly expression and his looking around in all directions, some of them would boldly throw him a flirtatious glance, causing the young man to blush bright red before bursting into laughter and running away.

  All of this brought Qin Yun an unprecedented sense of freshness.

  However, after experiencing the initial shock, he gradually adapted to it.

  After all, Qin Yun had been practicing martial arts since he was a child and had a strong and resolute temperament. He had also received Qin Yang's painstaking teachings for over a decade, which made him completely different from the ignorant and illiterate country folk. He wouldn't be easily bewildered by the grandeur in front of him.

  Strolling along the main street for a short while, Qin Yun saw a weapon shop with swords and knives hanging at its entrance, so he walked in.

  Mo Tieyi's hundred-refined iron sword was damaged during his battle with the white-robed girl, and he couldn't bring out Qing Feng Sword to show others, so he didn't have a suitable weapon in hand and wanted to buy one again.

  The armory wasn't very large, with walls on both sides adorned with a dazzling array of weapons, including knives, guns, hammers and axes, but the most abundant were swords.

  There was a faint sound of clanging and banging coming from inside, probably a workshop behind the store.

  The shop owner was a thin old man, when Qin Yun came in, he was serving two customers who were buying swords.

  Seeing Qin Yun, the old man greeted him with a smile: "Guest, please take a look around, if you need anything, just let me know."

  Qin Yun nodded and began to read on his own.

  There were many swords placed on the shelves behind the counter, with varying lengths and styles. However, even Qin Yun could tell that these swords were all ordinary goods. Not to mention comparing them to the Qinghua Sword, they weren't even as good as that broken fine iron sword.

  After looking for a while, Qin Yun pointed at one of the swords and asked, "Boss, how much is this long sword?"

  The sword he chose was roughly the same size and shape as a hundred-refined iron sword, this kind of long sword is the most common, of course, the quality of the sword can also be different from cloud to mud.

  The old man on this side had just agreed with the customer, and hastily turned his head to look at him and replied: "Customer, this ten-tempered iron sword is sold for twenty-five taels of silver."

  Twenty-five taels of silver! Qin Yun was taken aback at once.

  He wasn't someone who didn't know the price of rice and firewood, one or two silver coins could buy dozens of kilograms of good white rice in Dajing Town. The wild animal hides he hunted in Yunwu Mountain were sold in the town, each time for no more than a few pieces of broken silver at most.

  Such an unremarkable iron sword actually costs twenty-five taels of silver, completely beyond Qin Yun's expectations.

  A tenfold tempered iron sword is already so expensive, how much would a hundredfold refined steel sword be worth?

  Thinking of this, Qin Yun's heart was bleeding.

  "Boss, can you make it cheaper?" he asked hesitantly.

  The old man smiled and shook his head: "Guest, you may not know that this is a century-old shop, we have always been honest with everyone, young or old, and never haggle over prices."

  As he spoke, the old man walked over and took down the long sword, placing it in front of Qin Yun: "This ten-tempered iron sword is three feet seven inches long, three fingers wide, and weighs six catties and three taels. Made from high-quality iron materials, although there are many impurities on the blade, its quality is solid and sturdy, making it more suitable for novice swordsmen to use."

  The century-old shop owner has seen countless customers of all shapes and sizes, and has long since developed a discerning eye. Of course, he could tell Qin Yun's general identity at a glance.

  But as the saying goes, "harmony generates wealth", the old man would absolutely not despise Qin Yun for being stingy with his money, even if Qin Yun tried to haggle over prices, he wouldn't get angry and still enthusiastically introduced.

  But not everyone was like the old man, as soon as his words fell, someone next to him sneered: "Even a ten-tempered iron sword has to be bargained for, without money you still want to learn swordsmanship, it's better to go back to the countryside and farm early!"

  The one who spoke with a sneer was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a white changshan with a golden silk sash around his waist. He had a handsome and arrogant appearance, and the look in his eyes when he gazed at Qin Yun was full of disdain.

  Next to the proud young man was a beautiful green-robed girl, and they also came to buy swords, but the long sword they bought was placed in an expensive purple sandalwood box, absolutely valuable.

  Qin Yun seemed as if he hadn't heard anything and said to the shop owner, "Thank you, boss. I'll take this sword. Also, please get me a scabbard for it."

  If it were the former Qin Yun, he would have had to fight with his opponent, but after experiencing that great change and learning about his own life, he became much more mature overnight.

  The passion of youth settles deeper in his heart.

  "The scabbard is free..." The old shopkeeper smiled slightly and quickly took out a scabbard to match.

  He didn't want to offend the guests and even more unwilling to see both sides clash in his own store, hoping Qin Yun would leave quickly.

  Qin Yun nodded and took out the silver from his backpack, counted it and placed it on the counter, picked up the iron sword that had been prepared for him, turned around and left.

  "Hey kid, I'm talking to you!"

  The proud man beside him suddenly got angry, in his view Qin Yun's disregard for himself was simply a naked insult, and he couldn't help but take a step forward and stretch out his hand to grab Qin Yun's shoulder.

  That beautiful girl, however, frowned and lightly scolded: "Qin Er Ge, you should stop while you're ahead!"

  As soon as she spoke, the arrogant man immediately withdrew his hand.

  The man apparently feared the beautiful girl and smiled awkwardly: "I was just joking with him..."

  "Others didn't provoke you..." The beautiful girl shook her head, but her eyes fell on Qin Yun who had just stepped out of the Wu Pavilion: "I'll go back first!"

  The proud man had a deep hatred in his heart, he finally found an opportunity to ask the other party out, originally wanted to show off in front of the beauty, but did not expect to get a slap in the face.

  His heart was extremely narrow and he didn't dare to vent his anger on the beautiful girl, but instead hated Qin Yun.

  Qin Yun never thought in his wildest dreams that he would somehow inexplicably offend someone and make an enemy.

  He grasped the iron sword he had just bought and rushed towards the Qin family's ancestral mansion.

  The Qin family is a prominent clan in Yan Yunzhou and one of the renowned families of the Great Yan Dynasty, with its roots in Guiyang County, where Qinfu Thousand Tide City is located.

  However, in Qincheng City, it's not just the Qin family that dominates. The Wu, Fang, and Dugu families also stand together as four pillars.

  The Wu family is an old rival of the Qin family, with frequent struggles between the imperial court and the clan, and for hundreds of years, neither side has thoroughly suppressed the other, with open and secret struggles never ceasing.

  The Dugu clan was the weakest of the four families and had intermarried with the other three, remaining completely neutral.

  The Fang family, however, is the most special. The Fang family is loyal to the Great Yan imperial family, the Yan family, and has control over the 50,000-strong Yan Yun Iron Cavalry stationed in Qianchao City, as well as the city's defense authority, making their position relatively transcendent.

  These things were learned by Qin Yun through casual conversations with sailors on merchant ships, who frequently traveled to and from Qianchao City, some of whom had even settled down in the city and were quite familiar with its situation.

  Qin Yun had little interest in the grudges and struggles between the four major families, those things were simply too far away for him.

  Of course, it's better to have some understanding than none at all; otherwise, blindly rushing into trouble is not good.

  After inquiring of several passersby and traversing nearly half of Qianchao City, Qin Yun finally found the location of the Qin Clan Manor.