Elder Lu trusted Gold Xiao’er’s ability.
After all, this person was able to burn humans into crisp with a wave of his hand. He couldn’t even do it no matter how hard he tried.
Thus, Elder Lu had a reason to believe that Gold Xiao’er would be able to protect them properly.
Just like his calm expression.
Don’t think too much. Just hug their legs tightly and it will be enough.
Qin Yi knew Elder Lu’s personality. Since Elder Lu wasn’t worried, it meant that he could feel at ease completely.
He relaxed and started having a happy conversation with Gold Xiao’er.
“Brother Gold, there’s a question that I don’t know if I should ask,” Qin Yi said.
Gold Xiao’er looked at him.
Since you don’t know if you should ask, why are you still asking?
This was what he wanted to say but he didn’t voice it out. Instead, he smiled and asked, “What would you like to ask?”
“Brother Gold, the Gold Coast is a famous place to all nations around it but you and your companions don’t know about this place. I’m just a little curious. Are you cultivators that cultivate in your clans most of the time so you don’t know the happenings of the outside world?” Qin Yi asked.
“No.” Gold Xiao’er shook his head. He then replied calmly, “We came from somewhere very far away—that is why we are not familiar with this place.”
“I see.” Qin Yi was enlightened.
However, he was still a little confused in his heart.
He continued asking, “Brother Gold,compared to the mainland, Qin is a poor country. As powerful cultivators, why did you come here?”
“Oh, that’s because Master Deer got sick of staying at home so she wanted to come out and play,” Gold Xiao’er whispered to him.
Qin Yi nodded and didn’t probe further.
To him, this was a normal thing.
These elders had been cultivating in seclusion so it was definitely extremely boring for them.
These elders must have thought to come out together for a walk.
Yes, that must be the case.
…
Everyone chatted with one another and soon, passers-by and merchants started appearing on the path.
“Master, Zhenhai city is right in front,” Elder Lu said.
“Is Zhenhai city big?” Lu Xiaoyuan was a little curious.
Qin Yi opened his mouth to explain, “Zhenhai city is one of the few cities that are almost as prosperous as the Imperial City.”
“Three hundred miles from the Zhenhai city is the border of the country. On the other side of the border, there resides Country Ling. The relationship between the two countries has always been good so Zhenhai city is in charge of holding large-scale trades with Ling.”
“Every year, Zhenhai city will contribute millions of gold coins to the national treasury.”
Qin Yi continued, “However, the military spending of Zhenhai city is high too.”
“Oh? If your relationship with Ling is not bad, why do you still spend so much on the military? Aren’t you afraid that Ling will see you as being untrusting towards their kindness?” Gold Xiao’er was a little curious.
Qin Yi shook his head.
“No. Our country is not the only one that is spending lavishly on the military. Ling is doing the same thing as we are.”
“We aren’t guarding against each other or planning to attack each other. We are doing it for our people.”
Gold Xiao’er raised her eyebrows when she heard this. “For your people?”
“That’s right. There are many sea demons in the sea. These sea demons will come on land occasionally to eat humans.” Qin Yi sighed. He really wanted to exterminate all these sea demons.
“I see…” Gold Xiao’er nodded. Then, he asked curiously, “But if the small towns beside the Gold Coast got attacked, will you be able to reinforce them in time? After all, it’s a long distance away.”
“We don’t have a choice.” Qin Yi shook his head.
“The terrain there is complicated so the troops can’t camp there for a long time. That’s why we place them in Zhenhai city.”
“However, there’s no need to worry too much. We have water guardians from Qin stationed near the sea. Once the sea demons show any signs of coming up shore, they will inform the civilians near the coast to evacuate as quickly as possible. There are also some soldiers in the town who will assist the civilians in evacuating. After evacuating the civilians, we will send our main army to guard the area.”
After hearing what Qin Yi said, Gold Xiao’er nodded and didn’t probe further.
They weren’t familiar with Qin.
However, as a country, they seemed to protect their civilians very well.
Zhou Ye thought about many things.
He felt that a country that cared about its civilians wouldn’t be too bad.
It was his first time meeting Qin Yi but he had a good impression of him. Zhou Ye felt that this country had a good future.
As they chatted, they got closer and closer to Zhenhai city.
Zhenhai city was indeed a big city. Its city walls were thirty feet tall. Soldiers wearing black armor stood on the city walls with expressionless faces.
When they got near the city gates, Elder Lu asked, “Young master, do we need to inform the city lord that we’re entering the city?”
“No need.” Qin Yi shook his head.
“Okay.” Elder Lu nodded.
Zhenhai city was a big city. So, naturally, when you enter the city, the soldiers would inspect your possessions.
However, when Lu Xiaoyuan and her companions passed, they didn’t get inspected.
It was because Qin Yi took out a bronze token from his clothes, and the soldiers let them go obediently.
After they entered the city, Gold Xiao’er turned his head and looked at Qin Yi. “If you do that, the city lord will still know that you’re here.”
“He won’t.” Qin Yi shook his head.
“The token I showed him wasn’t the token of the imperial family,” Qin Yi whispered.
“Before I came out, I went to the Inspection Bureau to borrow this token.”
“The Inspection Bureau is in charge of collecting information. In front of officials with positions lower than a city lord, they have the right to act before asking for permission. As for that city guard, he’s just a soldier so he doesn’t dare to stop us,” Qin Yi explained.
“The officials of the Inspection Bureau always visit various cities. This is a very normal occurrence. No one will suspect anything.”
“Okay.” Gold Xiao’er nodded.
After everyone entered the city, they finally understood what prosperous truly meant.
Every single street was crowded with people. People filled up the streets, giving almost no space for people to walk through.
Yaoyao was currently sitting on a horse. This was the first time she saw such a prosperous scene. She glanced at her surroundings.
Suddenly, a beautiful fan appeared in her vision.
Yaoyao was a little excited. But her expression soon became grave.
She… didn’t have money.
This problem was a little difficult to solve.
“What’s wrong?” Qin Yi noticed Yaoyao’s expression so he asked her.
“I want that fan but I don’t have money.” Yaoyao was very straightforward with her problem.
Qin Yi followed Yaoyao’s gaze and looked at the fan she was looking at.
There were many fans hanging on the cupboard that the owner was displaying. The fan Yaoyao pointed at had a cute little rabbit sewn on it.
The little rabbit was hugging a carrot in her arms.
“Miss Yaoyao, wait for a moment.” Qin Yi nodded at Yaoyao and got off his horse. He walked towards the stall owner.
Soon, Qin Yi came back with that rabbit fan.
He passed the fan to Yaoyao and asked, “Miss Yaoyao, is there anything else you like?”
“Erm…” Yaoyao thought for a moment and felt that this wasn’t quite proper of her.
She wasn’t close to Qin Yi so why should she take Qin Yi’s present?
“Let me give you this. You can take it as the money for this fan.” Yaoyao took out a stone.
The stone was bright and shiny. It looked like a special stone.
Zhou Ye was extremely sensitive. He realized that it was just an ordinary stone. It was at most slightly better-looking than a normal stone.
Qin Yi smiled and shook his head.
“Miss Yaoyao, there’s no need to give me this. This fan is just worth a few copper coins.”
“How can I accept your gift for no reason?” Yaoyao remained firm.
“Alright.”
Noticing how resolute she was, Qin Yi had no choice but to take the pretty stone.
Qin Yi felt that this stone should be worth a few silver coins. However, he didn’t feel that he profited.