What a lucky world!

Chapter 104: Adventure in the Capital City
The spring mountains are green and the spring water is rippling.

The spring breeze is warm and the spring days are long.

A rider on a white horse came from the north and went to the south, galloping like the wind and rustling like the stars.

The one riding the horse was a young man with his hair tied up casually. The hair was blown by the wind as he galloped, like a flag of progress.

Dust flew as the horses' hooves passed by, but few of the fellow travelers complained. They just looked at the backs that flashed by, making them feel nostalgic for their youth.

……

The man riding the horse galloping was naturally Zhang Mu who had come down from Qianyuan Mountain.

There are fourteen states under heaven, of which Shenzhou occupies nine. In the past, Dayu collapsed, and various warlords fought for power until Dayun emerged and re-established its rule.

After the establishment of the Dayun Dynasty, the ancient system of prefectures and counties was implemented, dividing the country into 36 prefectures. Later, due to population growth, the prefecture-level administrative division was added within the prefectures and counties, forming the current three-level administrative structure of prefectures, prefectures, and counties during the Dayun Dynasty.

Lanling City is the seat of Lanling County, and Yongning Prefecture belongs to Taiping County. Although the two counties are adjacent to each other, they are thousands of miles apart, so Zhang Mu had no choice but to ride his horse.

Today, Zhang Mu no longer sees the refugees fleeing the disaster on the official road, carrying the elderly and children as they did during the disaster in the past. Instead, all that comes and goes are merchant caravans and wealthy people. It seems that the world is at peace, and no one knows where those disaster victims went.

Zhang Mu came down the mountain before noon and rode his horse until dusk, when he finally saw the big city ahead - Yongning City.

When I was in Wan'an County, I always heard the escorts in the escort agency talk about the capital of Yongning Prefecture. It was indeed a prosperous place, far from being comparable to a small county town like Wan'an County.

Zhang Mu turned over and got off the horse. There was a small bag tied to the side of the saddle, and Xuan Ji's head was exposed in the small bag.

"Are you awake?" Zhang Mu smiled.

"Meow." Xuan Ji yawned. Zhang Mu had agreed with her not to talk in public and just act like an ordinary little cat.

"It's getting late. Let's go to the Divine Weapon Pavilion to get the weapon my father made for me. We will stay in Yongning City for one night before we set off." Zhang Mu whispered the arrangements to Xuan Ji. Xuan Ji nodded and put the weapon back into her pocket.

Zhang Mu led his horse to the city gate, registered with the new identity arranged by Wei Wuyou, paid the entrance fee, and entered the city.

It was already dusk, and the streets were bustling with activity, far more lively than Wan'an County. This was Zhang Mu's first time in this world's "big city," and he walked along, his horse in hand, looking around, filled with curiosity and wonder.

Suddenly, Zhang Mu raised his eyebrows and clapped his hands. A suppressed cry of surprise rang in his ears. Zhang Mu looked over and saw a beggar, about sixteen or seventeen years old, glaring at him with his hands covered. Seeing Zhang Mu looking at him, he immediately lowered his head and slipped into the crowd.

"It's really a big city. The pickpockets are all very professional." Zhang Mu complained in his heart. He didn't take this little episode to heart. Instead, he walked around for a while and finally found a restaurant that looked pretty good and had his dinner first.

Before going down the mountain, Shisanniang gave Zhang Mu three hundred taels of silver notes, so he was not worried about money.

Finding an empty table by the window, Zhang Mu ordered a few Qi and blood dishes, and asked for a steamed spirit fish for Xuan Ji.

Zhang Mu and Xuan Ji had just finished eating when Zhang Mu suddenly heard a soft and sticky voice.

"Big brother, your cat is so cute, can I pet it?"

Zhang Mu raised his head and saw a small head of a little girl with a pair of pigtails popping up from across the table.

The little girl looked about four or five years old, with red lips, white teeth, and a pair of dark, round eyes. She looked very cute. Zhang Mu looked at the little girl's bright clothes and guessed that she was a guest's child. She was also very cute, so he smiled and said, "I can't promise you that. You have to ask her!"

The little girl rolled her eyes, as if pondering Zhang Mu's words. After a moment, she looked at Xuan Ji who was eating fish and asked softly, "Kitten, kitty, can I touch you?"

Xuan Ji glanced at the little girl and was a little impatient with the human cub who disturbed her meal, but when she saw Zhang Mu's eyes, she sighed softly and shook her tail in front of the little girl.

The little girl smiled brightly and raised her hand to touch Xuan Ji's tail. Suddenly, a hand reached out from the side and grabbed the little girl's hand.

"Sir, is anyone here?" The speaker was a scholar in a blue robe, who looked similar to Zhang Mu. He held the little girl's hand with one hand and did not let go, then sat down naturally.

This scholar looked ordinary, but his eyes were as black as ink and extremely bright, which was totally inconsistent with his plain appearance.

"Brother, what are you holding me for?" The little girl pouted and looked at the scholar in green clothes, saying aggrievedly, "I don't know you."

Zhang Mu also frowned, looked at the scholar in green, and said, "Do you know this little girl?"

The scholar in green looked at the aggrieved little girl again and smiled: "I don't know her."

"Then let her go," Zhang Mu said, "otherwise, when her parents come, they might start a fight with you!"

The scholar in green shook his head and said to Zhang Mu, "If I help you, how will you thank me?"

Zhang Mu felt strange when he heard this. He looked back and forth quickly between the scholar in green and the little girl, then asked, "Then I want to know what you helped me with first?"

At this time, the little girl interrupted and said, "Let me go... I don't know you..."

At this time, Zhang Mu also found something wrong.

The little girl spoke quite loudly, but not only her parents, but even the people at the next table seemed unaware and continued drinking and chatting as if they couldn't see what was happening here.

The scholar in green robes glanced at the food on the table and licked his lips inconspicuously. Just as he was about to say something else, the little girl he caught spoke again, but this time her voice was different. It was no longer the soft and tender voice as before, but a deep male voice.

"Boy, let me go!"

The scholar in green suddenly grabbed a chopstick and thrust it fiercely at the little girl. The chopstick pierced the little girl's throat like a sharp sword, but not a drop of blood flowed. The next moment, the little girl suddenly transformed into a ray of light, broke free from the scholar's grasp, and landed not far away. She transformed into a vicious dog the size of a tiger, roaring at the scholar.

"Meow!" Xuan Ji was startled and jumped directly into Zhang Mu's arms. The scholar in green clothes made a sword flower with the chopsticks in his hand and muttered, "How dare you show your teeth..."

Zhang Mu, however, was worried that the scholar in green would be at risk, so he quickly reached out and grabbed him to his side. With just one pull, he felt the hand he was holding was soft, tender, and as if boneless. He was startled. The scholar in green also froze for a moment, stunned. But at that moment, the vicious dog suddenly pounced on him.

"Be careful!" Zhang Mu shouted. Suddenly, a silver light pierced the second-floor floorboards from the upstairs private room, descended from the second floor, and pierced the vicious dog's body. As the silver light sank into the ground, a token with the word "Zhen" (suppress) engraved on it became faintly visible. The next moment, the vicious dog, as if bound by something, could not break free. It then transformed into light and was absorbed into the "Zhen" token.

The scholar in green frowned and whispered to Zhang Mu, "Follow me." Then he turned and left. Zhang Mu then realized that he didn't even know when the other party broke free from him.

After taking a look at the token with the word "Zhen" on the ground, Zhang Mu took out a few taels of silver and placed them on the table. He caught up with the scholar in blue and walked out of the restaurant.

(End of this chapter)