Black Dragon City

After cleaning up the bandits, the group started moving forward. Slowly the woods cleared and a majestic site greeted them. A towering mountain range, with peaks soaring into the skies came into their view. The feeling that mountain range gave them was that of a dragon ready to soar into the heavens.

"'Black Dragon mountain range', what a fitting name." Sighed Zhao Ying with emotions.

Zhao Yun nodded.

"Brat, this mountain range is not an ordinary one. I suggest you don't go too deep into the mountain before reaching Martial King Realm." Ling Yun's voice drifted into his ears suddenly.

Zhao Yun stopped surprised. This mountain range, though majestic, only housed one dark beast. Then why would Ling Yun forbid him from entering too deep?

The boy voiced his confusion to the old ghost residing in his mind.

"If my guess is correct then, a black dragon, one of the pureblood emperor beasts, descendant of the primordial dragon died here. The mountain range you see before you is most likely its corpse which has turned into these mountains with the passage of time." Ling Yun stated.

'Sssss' Zhao Yun sucked in a cold breath. This huge mountain range was actually a dragon corpse? That too of a descendant, then what would be the size of Primordial dragons? The book about herbs and beasts only mentioned that Primordial dragons are the ancestors of 90% of beast species. Due to their lustful nature, the dragons had a lot of progeny, but there was no mention of their true size, as it was said that they could morph into any size they wanted. Only in death would one witness their true form. From the looks of things, it was probably true.

"Then what about that dark beast that was spotted?" Zhao Yun questioned.

"It was probably only the gatekeeper of the deeper arts of the mountain range. His duty would be to safeguard it. It made its appearance probably because someone intruded into that territory." Replied the old man.

Zhao Yun licked his lips. A dark beast was only a guard. This concept was too far for the current him. No wonder the old man asked him to enter the deep regions only after reaching Martial King Realm, despite knowing that due to the particular nature of his cultivation, his battle power would at least be in martial saint realm. That is to say, only those who are in martial saint realm power could enter the deep regions. Just thinking about such a dangerous area near his base of operation sent down chills down his spine.

Ling Yun guessed his thoughts and said, "The deepest area is probably a holy land for dragon type beasts. These types of beasts though greedy and lustful in nature, have a pride second to none. They would never attack creatures weaker than them well not until they were provoked too much." Ling Yun explained.

Zhao Yu sighed in relief after hearing this. Although the books about the herb and beasts described various beasts in extreme detail, for some unknown reasons, the direct descendants of the primordial beasts were an exception. There was always a lack of information about them.

"Little Yun, should we enter the city?" Zhao Ying's voice broke his discussions with Ling Yun and only then did he realise that at some point of time, a massive city walls had come in front of him.

Zhao Yun took a deep breath upon seeing those massive walls. Although he had lived in the capital city of the Qin Empire, the city of Black Dragon was still a trade city located near the massive and resourceful mountain ranges. There was nothing to even compare their grandness.

What shocked him even more was that among the hundreds of cultivators he could see around himself, over half were at foundation forging realm. This scene surprised him a little. As shouldn't the number of high level cultivators be less than the low level ones?

"Young Master, the mountain range is filled with resources and so with dangers. Thus, high level warriors are more common here. Many of them have come here to find resources and also to brave these dangers in search of opportunities to break through their bottleneck." As if seeing the boy's confusion, Zhang Yu who was the most travelled member of the group explained.

Zhao Yun nodded with a helpless expression. After all that what happened in the clan, most of the members of the clan refused to call him with names they used to earlier. Now most of them started calling him master. Under his vehement opposition, they finally agreed to address him as the Young Master.

Although being a young teen, he did enjoyed those admiring gazes, but sometimes, he felt sad when he sensed the growing distance.

What made him gratified was that the truly close ones, such as the ancestor, Zhao Ying couple and his parents were still acting naturally. He was still worried though. As his strength increased, he would gain many allies but at the same time, the distance between him and the weaker ones would slowly grow up too. This further affirmed his decision to do all he can to search for treasures so that his friends and family would be able to keep up with him.

Turning his head and noticing the anticipating gaze of every one, Zhao Yun chuckled. He took out the black robe and mask from his luggage and put them on. He started releasing his aura and kept it at the peak of foundation forging realm.

Seeing his actions, most of the members looked confused. Only Zhao Lin and Zhang Yu gazed at him in appreciation. They seemed to know of the reason the lad did this.

Zhao Yun after completing his actions said softly, "Follow me."

He strolled towards the City Gates. A Long line had been present when the group approached the gates. Many were in Initial or middle stages of the foundation forging realm. Noticing the aura released by the cloaked figure, each and every one of them parted ways for the group to enter. At the same time merchants and other powers quickly took note of all the Zhao Clan members. After all these kinds of experts were very rare. At the same time they were not to be provoked. So they took note of his companions so as to not offend them accidentally. At the same time, stronger the expert was, the richer they were thus the bigger their business with them would be and to do hat, followers were the best middle men.

Only now did others understand the purpose of the show Zhao Yun put on. When the group reached the city gates, a guard captain hurriedly made his way towards them. He bowed to Zhao Yun and said politely, "Senior, I, Zhi Feng, captain of the Black dragon legion welcomes you to our city. If you need anything just orders and this one would fulfil all the reasonable demands."

Zhao Yun was surprised a little and then he understood. In the surrounding kingdom, core realm warriors had exalted status and were in seclusion for most of the time, thus peak level foundation forging realm warriors had the highest status in the outside world. No wonder that even the captain of an entire legion was alarmed with his arrival.

'Have I overdone it?' he mused.

In Ling Yun's voice he spoke, "When you say it like that then I do have something we need from you." After a little pause he continued, "We are a group of traders who have decided to settle our base of operation here in the Black Dragon City. I hope you can help my clan members to locate a suitable place for us to settle down and also to conduct business."

Zhi Feng sighed in relief. He was just a mid-level foundation forging realm warrior at level 4th of the realm. If the person in front was unreasonable and forceful then it would have been problematic for him.

He replied enthuastically, "Of course, it would be my pleasure."

Zhao Yun nodded and turned towards Zhang Yu and whispered, "Grandpa Zhang, I would leave it up to you."

Zhang Yu nodded. He took the members of the Zhao Clan with him and followed behind the soldier arranged by Zhi Feng to search for their residence. Zhao Ying and the others soon followed behind.

Zhao Yun held his mother and father's hand and smiled towards them. He entered the city and then vanished from the spot. Zhao Fan and Guan Rou kept on moving. Soon Zhao Yun met them again in his undisguised self. The trio toured the city while Zhao Yun would occasionally buy some herbs that he needed for the medicines. What surprised him was that the value of the herbs required for the Mortal Moulting liquid was too cheap. The high grade version of the medicine required 12 herbs. Among which the rarest would be dragon blood grass. To his delight, this grass was so abundant in the mountain that people treated it as horse food. He was speechless to the point of going insane. A portion of the medicine for one person to reach peak of tempering realm would require 9 vials of the high grade liquid. According to his calculations, one vial would only cost him 50 coppers.

In the surrounding kingdoms, the currency was same. With copper coins is the lowest denomination while platinum being highest. 100 coppers were equal to 1 silver and 100 silver was equal to 1 gold while 100 gold equalled 1 platinum.

He took note of these herbs and found that almost every herb he required was available with the street vendors who were probably the adventurers who were selling their loots. After accompanying his parents and buying some gifts for them, Zhao Yun felt satisfied. Seeing the happy smile on his mother's face, he felt gratified.

Not long later, a servant found him and informed him that the resident has been chosen and he had been tasked to lead the way.

"Mom, dad, shall we go to our new home?" he asked his parents.

"Sure." Zhao Fan replied. Guan Rou smiled and nodded.

With that the group followed the servant towards the centre of the city.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your name is Zhao San right?" Zhao Yun questioned the servant. He had a little impression of the guy as although many members of the young generation of the clan stood for the clan, Zhao San was the firmest and the most decisive. Zhao Yun admired the guy's bravery and loyalty.

"Yes young master" Zhao San replied with a flushed face. Clearly excited by being recognised by this legendary figure.

Zhao Yun laughed wryly. "Where is our residence?" He asked.

"Replying to young master, the captain Zhi Feng gave us a very nice place to settle in the inner district. Although it was expensive with 100 platinum coins, the area is at least 20 times that of the previous Zhao Clan." Zhao San replied.

Although he was a little surprised by the cost, Zhao Yun was not too worried. From the bandits they had killed, they have collected around 100 platinum coins let alone the Zhao clan assets were around 500 platinum. Furthermore for him money was just a wordy possession a strong warrior would never starve and if he too strong then his generations would never starve. What caught his attention was something else.

"What is the inner district you mentioned?" he asked Zhao San.

"The city is divided into two districts. The outer district is the one we are currently at. Here there are taverns and market places. Almost 95% of the business of the city happens here. Thus it is often known as the business district." While they were on their way, Zhao San slowly explained the layout of the city. He continued, "The other one is the inner district. It is also the residential district. Here the members of the Black Dragon legion and their family, the important families of the city and the city lord resides. Also if a strong warrior wants to live here, he can pay fees of 10 platinum coins to gain a residence. The residence we bought thus cost 90 coins."

Zhao Yun nodded in understanding. Not just anyone can spend 100 platinum coins to buy a residence.

"The city lord of this back dragon city is Long Xiao. He's a 3rd level golden core state cultivator. He's also the blood brother of the emperor of Holy Dragon Empire, Long Xian." Zhao San continued. "His residence is at the dead centre of the city and it is very near to ours. I presume this is to keep an eye out for spies."

Zhao Yun smirked. With passage of time, he was getting used to his strength. It won't be long before he gained complete control of it and start learning arts. By then not even all the emperors of the kingdoms together would be his match. With his current strength he could guarantee his family's safety in the kingdoms.

While talking, Zhao Yun was impressed with the information gathering ability of Zhao San. While he was searching for the house, he warmed up to many people and gathered much useful information about the city. It would have taken Zhao Yun days to get to know the city but with the help of Zhao San he became quite familiar with it. If he had not known him from before, Zhao Yun would have suspected that the guy was a local from here.

By the time they finished chatting, Zhao San had brought him to the inner sector of the city. He brought the group to the residence they had bought.

When Zhao Yun saw the residence, his eyes lit up with surprise. It was truly more than 20 times the previous Zhao Clan. Hundreds of courtyards were spread around the area. There was a main building with even bigger courtyard presumably for the head of the family or group. There were artificial hills and training grounds. Each courtyard whether big or small had a garden and a pond with some fishes swimming in it. There were fruit trees spread around the residence. If Zhao Yun had to compare then this was 100 times much better than the previous one.

"Truly worth it." He let out a sigh of praise.

Zhao Fan and Guan Rou nodded in acknowledgement.

Zhao San was happy to see the young master praise the new home. He said, "Young Master, Master and the others are waiting for you in the main hall."

Zhao Yun nodded and made his way to the largest building situated near the biggest courtyard.