Not long after walking out of Tianshui Lake, Ji Yuan said to Yan Fei, "Hero Yan, stand firm." Then clouds appeared under his feet, and he soared into the sky with Yan Fei.
Yan Fei's body trembled slightly, and he stabilized his balance. He saw himself and Ji Yuan slowly rising together. The lake and the big tree under his feet became smaller and smaller, and the world in the distance became wider and wider.
The sound of "Woo... Woo..." of the wind blew past his ears. Even though the earth seemed to be moving slowly, Yan Fei knew very well that the speed of movement at this moment must be lightning fast.
This is a very magical feeling, which is completely different from the feeling of being in the water. Yan Fei asked himself that he has experienced many ups and downs in his life, but this is the first time he has flown into the sky. He couldn't help feeling excited, but he stood very steadily on the clouds.
“Is this what it feels like to fly?”
Hearing Yan Fei's words, Ji Yuan smiled.
"Why? Do you want to learn to be an immortal?"
"Sir, you are asking this question. Who doesn't want to be an immortal? But cultivating immortality is not something you can do just by thinking about it. I know my character and I am not cut out for it. Besides, I am neither good at martial arts nor good at it. How can I be so indecisive?"
Ji Yuan threw his hands behind his back and looked into the distance where the sky and earth intersected.
"The road of martial arts is long, and the potential is limitless. Anything is possible."
These words caused Yan Fei to subconsciously look at Ji Yuan, but he couldn't tell anything from his profile.
This time Ji Yuan used the escape technique, so the speed of flying on the cloud was much faster than the usual flying technique. He did not go straight, but took a detour to fly over the Shuanghua City that Zuyue had passed. Although this city was not as prosperous as Luoqing City, it was not bad, at least the surrounding area was relatively stable. Ji Yuan just flew into the air on the cloud, counted with his fingers, frowned slightly, and swept his eyes around the city.
"Mr. Ji, is the city we just saw Shuanghua City?"
Yan Fei is not stupid either. When he left Tianshui Lake before, he specifically asked about the exorcist. Now he probably came to Shuanghua City to take a look.
"Hero Yan is smart."
"Sir, if you want to go find the exorcist, just go down. I am not in a hurry to go home. Even if you drop me off here and let me go back to Dazhen by myself, it will save me more than a thousand miles of travel."
Ji Yuan thought about it and nodded.
"Well, since we are here, we should go visit and find out. Master Yan, you can come with me. It will take you at least two months to go back by yourself. I promised to give you a ride, so I will not break my promise. Let's go."
As he spoke, a light white mist rose from the clouds below his feet, forming an illusory mist route that slowly fell towards somewhere in the city. Afterwards, the white mist dissipated, and Yan Fei found that he and Mr. Ji were standing firmly on the ground, without any sense of obstruction before.
At this moment, the two of them were in a remote alley where no one was around. Yan Fei looked around and said to Ji Yuan.
"Sir, do you know the way?"
"I know. This way."
Ji Yuan put away the calculator in his sleeve and walked towards the street first. Just now he was not sure where the so-called exorcist was, but he could figure out Pomegranate Lane.
When Ji Yuan and Yan Fei were walking in Shuanghua City, they still felt it was bustling. Occasionally, they would see some ragged people wandering around with their families on the roadside, asking in various stores if they were hiring helpers. These people were obviously refugees from other places, who had managed to get past the city gate guards and perhaps spent the last penny in their pockets.
Yan Fei followed Ji Yuan and moved forward. When he frowned and took his eyes off the third wave of refugees, he finally couldn't help but ask Ji Yuan.
"Mr. Ji, how come the imperial government of Zuyue State can still maintain its rule when the country is in such a dire state?"
There is a peaceful place in the Zuyue Kingdom. Many people who cannot survive in the chaotic areas around it will flee here. There are many refugees and wastelands in the Zuyue Kingdom these days, so even if they are refugees, as long as they are willing to work hard and earn some hard-earned money in the prosperous place, they can buy some seeds and sign a half-selling contract with the landlord to get a piece of land to plant, and they can survive.
This created a vicious circle in many parts of the Zuyue Kingdom, where a deformed and wealthy area developed around a few prosperous areas that completely served one city or a few cities. Outside the influence of the official and aristocratic families in this relatively stable land, no one cared whether there were thousands of famine victims or chaos.
Even the imperial court let all of this go, paying only attention to taxation in wealthy areas and whether someone supported an army to claim to be king or if the people revolted. If so, they would use strong army to suppress them. They didn't care about anything else, not even the mountain bandits. Instead, some of the world's powerful families would occasionally suppress bandits for their own interests. This abnormal state of affairs actually lasted for many years, and it only made life difficult for the people at the bottom of society.
Hearing Yan Fei's words, Ji Yuan glanced at him, then looked at some of the refugees wandering around the city behind him, and answered Yan Fei's question with a slightly sighing tone.
"Because Daejeong is here."
"Because of Dazhen?"
Yan Fei was a little confused by this. He was an expert in martial arts, but he was not very clear about politics. In his opinion, the Zuyue Kingdom should have been overthrown long ago, but even if it had not been overthrown, what did it have to do with Dazhen
"Yes, because of Dazhen!"
Ji Yuan repeated it in an affirmative tone, and then began to explain calmly.
"I have actually discussed this matter with Qing'er. Uh, Qing'er is a backstage person from my hometown. She is considered to be an official in Dazhen and has a unique grasp of the current situation. Dazhen's national strength is growing day by day. Not only are some visionary people in Dazhen aware of this, but people in the upper classes of Zuyue are also aware of this. They have hatred towards Dazhen but are now more afraid of it. Everyone believes that there will be a war between the two countries in the future, and this time may not be too far away. No one wants to sit in the position of the Song family of Zuyue and face Dazhen... Without the high-ranking families raising the flag, relying solely on the peasants' uprising and resistance will naturally not make any waves."
Even though Yan Fei didn't understand politics, he understood something after hearing this. There is a saying that goes "dynasties come and go, but families remain forever." However, while he was still thinking about it, Ji Yuan's voice came again.
"We're here. The person is ahead."
Although the street was noisy, Ji Yuan could still hear the shouting coming from a little distance ahead among the countless noises, and he was suddenly at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
A young man wearing a grey Taoist robe and a Taoist hat was trying hard to sell the items at his stall to the crowd.
"Come, come, if you are passing by, please stop and buy some peace. If you buy my blessing of peace, even if the evil star appears in the future, the sky cracks, the earth collapses, the ten realms rise from the ancient times, and the sun cries and disperses the sun, I can guarantee that you will be safe and sound~~ I also have a matching sachet, you can put scented cotton in it, you can also put the peace amulet in it, it looks good and smells good!"
The young man held a triangular amulet in one hand and a sachet in the other. While he was selling his wares, his eyes were mostly directed towards the women. Besides the fact that young women attracted more attention, he also knew that most of the buyers were women.
"My little Taoist, what is the deep meaning behind the string of words you mentioned, 'Evil Star Appears in the Black Wasteland'?"
A calm but powerful voice came from the side. The young Taoist in gray withdrew his gaze from the woman and looked to the side. He found a refined man in green and a man with a beautiful beard holding a sword standing next to the stall. Both of them looked very impressive.
"Well, this is, of course, a severe natural disaster. It means that if you see evil stars at night, there will be a disaster where the sky will collapse and the earth will collapse!"
"Then what is the meaning of 'Ten Realms from the Ancient Times'?"
"Need I say that? In a disaster, everyone is in danger, bandits and evil spirits come to harm people, so of course everywhere becomes desolate."
Ji Yuan slightly opened his pale eyes and stared at the young Taoist priest intently. The latter had not seen it clearly before, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw his eyes. He even felt a little weak and subconsciously wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeves.
"What about 'The Sun Cries and Disperses the Sun'? Could it be that there will be no sunlight at all during the disaster?"
"Oh, sir, that's a good idea. When the world is in chaos and people are living in misery, it will be like darkness without sun, right? Oh, right, gentlemen, why don't you buy a peace charm? It only costs ten cents and comes with a sachet!"
A smile appeared on Ji Yuan's tense face, and his eyes swept over the amulet in the young Taoist's hand and the amulets on the stall. There was some faint spiritual light, which, although very weak, was not completely useless.
However, Ji Yuan did not buy the amulet, but asked another question.
"Do you only sell amulets? Do you sell items for exorcism? I'm planning to look for a magician."
The young Taoist's eyes lit up and he immediately became more energetic.
"Sell, of course I sell. Not only that, you can ask me to do exorcism! Not only can I exorcise evil spirits and catch monsters, I can also help people determine Feng Shui and find graves. If you ask me, the price will be fair. If you ask my master, it will be more expensive, but his magic power is higher!"
"Oh, but I heard the best wizard in the city lives in Pomegranate Alley..."
When Ji Yuan was halfway through his words, the Taoist burst into laughter with joy.
"Hahahaha, sir, you've found the right person. Pomegranate Lane is where we live. You must be talking about my master. How about I take you there right now!"
As he said this, the Taoist started to pack up his stall.
"Uh, you're not setting up your stall anymore? I can go to Pomegranate Lane by myself."
"Well, forget it. I won't be able to sell many anyway. I'll take you there. Pomegranate Lane is a little remote and hard to find!"
The young Taoist priest was very agile, and in an instant he packed up all the odds and ends on the stall and put them on his back. Nowadays, there are many people who make a living as exorcists. These two masters are so generous, they must have money. If someone steals their business halfway, the loss will be huge.
"Come on, gentlemen. I've packed everything and I'll take you there. By the way, I haven't asked for your names yet."
"My surname is Ji, and this is Hero Yan."
"Oh, my dear little Dao Gai Ruling, I'm so sorry, come on, follow me!"
After Ji Yuan finished speaking, the Taoist priest carried the things on his back and led the two men towards Pomegranate Lane. At the same time, he was secretly happy in his heart, thinking that these two men did not even ask about the price in advance, so they would definitely pay promptly.