Leaving Meng Jingzhou behind had truly improved his luck by leaps and bounds.
On the way to the nearest city, Lu Yang bravely fought off mountain bandits and rescued two young ladies from wealthy families. After bidding farewell to the profusely grateful pair, he sternly and righteously rejected their requests for him to marry into their households, drifting gracefully away.
Later, he ran into a caravan heist and lent a helping hand. The escort agency's young mistress was deeply moved, explaining that this was her very first time leading an escort mission. Had this accident caused the delivery to fail, their agency's reputation would have suffered a severe blow. Seeing his extraordinary prowess, she even invited Lu Yang to join their agency as chief escort.
Naturally, Lu Yang refused her as well.
Finally, Lu Yang spotted a young woman hosting an open martial contest to find a husband. She had widely invited heroes and champions from all walks of life, declaring that whoever defeated her would win her hand in marriage.
The moment Lu Yang saw this, he quickened his pace and hurried on his way.
"I'd long heard that the women of Huangzhou possess heroic martial spirit and travel about often. Today I finally got to see it with my own eyes."
The people of Huangzhou were bold and unrestrained, and their women were no different. Unlike most Central Plains maidens who remained sheltered in their boudoirs, Huangzhou women did largely the same things as men.
With Meng Jingzhou by his side earlier, Lu Yang had never had the chance to witness any of this.
"What a shame. Old Meng's blessings are too thin to see such sights," Lu Yang gloated, pitying him with sheer amusement.
"Then again, public security in Huangzhou really is terrible. Nowhere else has this many mountain bandits and caravan robbers."
Having cleared every maidenly hurdle, Lu Yang successfully arrived at the neighboring city. It was built of colossal hewn stones, rough-hewn and imposing—reminiscent of Demon Quelling Pass, yet subtly different.
"Yuanshan City."
Lu Yang looked up, murmured the city's name under his breath, and walked through the gates.
The Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce dealt in intelligence. When it came to learning about the local situation, the most convenient method was always buying an intelligence dossier from them.
However, even the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce did not dare sell just any information. For instance, intelligence regarding the Five Great Immortal Sects—particularly the Dao Seeking Sect—was strictly never for sale.
The news that Yun Zhi had defeated her peers at the Grand Immortal Sect Tournament and simultaneously thrashed every immortal sect master in attendance fell far outside the chamber's sellable scope.
Lu Yang had noticed that almost no one in the outside world knew of Eldest Senior Sister's existence. Without special channels, people didn't even know the name Yun Zhi. Even if someone happened to know of her, they merely assumed she was an ordinary Dao Seeking Sect disciple who possessed nothing remarkable enough to draw anyone's attention.
Lu Yang guessed this was partly because Eldest Senior Sister rarely made a move, and partly because the chamber simply dared not sell anything about her.
As for the other four immortal sects, the chamber offered bits and pieces here and there.
For example, the Hanging Temple's numbers had hit an all-time high, with their total headcount officially exceeding twelve people.
Another example was that the Abbot of the Hanging Temple, in order to comprehend the true essence of the Buddhist Dharma, had taken up cultivating Silent Chan—meaning he now exclusively beat people up without uttering a word.
When it came to the imperial court, the chamber sold reports selectively as well.
News like Daoist Buyu and the Minister of Justice being locked in the same jail cell, which had forced the entire Ministry of Justice to relocate its offices, had never been put up for sale by the chamber.
Lu Yang arrived at the chamber and purchased the most comprehensive intelligence report on Huangzhou available. The very first piece of news left him dumbfounded.
"The daughter of the Huangzhou Provincial Governor held a birthday banquet. The governor issued invitations to every major faction to send representatives with blessings and congratulatory gifts. At the banquet, young talents from various factions pulled out all the stops to showcase their potential and win the young lady's favor. Currently, the Huangzhou Provincial Governor has been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes, and the various factions have been arrested on suspicion of bribing influential persons."
Thoughtfully, the chamber had attached the relevant legal statutes and precedent cases at the end as a cautionary warning.
"The newly appointed Huangzhou Provincial Governor has taken office and delivered an address titled 'Rectifying the Atmosphere of Unhealthy Winds in Huangzhou,' mandating all Huangzhou officials to study it."
"The Barbarian clan's coming-of-age ceremony was held as scheduled. The Barbarian youth Man Gu survived seven days in the wilderness, hunted nearly a hundred Golden Core stage demon beasts, and took first place."
"That kid Man Gu only said he was going home to visit relatives. Turns out he went back to join the coming-of-age ceremony!" Realization struck Lu Yang. He hadn't seen Man Gu in quite a while and had wondered why a family visit took so long.
He had heard a bit about the Barbarian clan's coming-of-age ceremony before. It required Barbarians nearing adulthood to be dropped into the most perilous wilderness. Surviving there for seven days counted as passing the trial. If one managed to hunt demon beasts during that time, one would receive an even higher evaluation, with final rankings determined by the quantity and quality of the beasts slain.
"The Barbarians still keep that tradition?" The Immortal Fairy sounded mildly surprised. That was a tradition she had left behind for the Barbarians back when she sheltered their ancient race; she hadn't expected it to survive to this day.
"The Corpse Driving Sect's tournament has concluded. The victor is Huang Ming, newly turned eighteen, early Golden Core stage, accepted by the Corpse Driving Sect Master as a closed-door disciple. The runner-up is Zhao Po, newly turned eighteen, early Golden Core stage."
Lu Yang paused on this entry for a few extra seconds. Reaching the early Golden Core stage right as one turned eighteen showed staggering talent. Even among the Five Great Immortal Sects, cultivation speed like that was rare—second only to him and Meng Jingzhou.
"Two geniuses. A Golden Age really is upon us," Lu Yang remarked with a sigh. In the ancient golden age, these two would have been fully qualified to serve as stepping stones for the Immortal Fairy's rise.
"Seven Emotions Valley has developed a new curse. Anyone afflicted will hear the buzzing of mosquitoes in their ears whenever they sleep or enter secluded cultivation; covering their ears will not block the sound, leaving victims prone to severe irritability."
"Seven Emotions Valley... If I recall, they're also a first-rank sect in Huangzhou who specialize in curses," Lu Yang murmured to himself. He didn't know much about them.
"White Paper Hat Man (real name unknown, true identity unknown): bounty set at one million spirit stones. White Paper Hat Man split himself into two people, pretended to be captured to collect the bounty, and made a leisurely getaway. The Huangzhou yamen has now raised the bounty to two million spirit stones."
"Rising star of the barbecue scene, Try Again Barbecue Shop, has established roots in Huangzhou with thirty branch locations currently open and booming business. According to the shop, they love barbecue and hope to spread its flavors across all of Huangzhou, with plans to open even more locations."
"Corpse Driver's Home, Qingming Inn Chain... Why on earth are there advertisements in here?" Lu Yang grumbled, slightly annoyed. He had paid good money for intelligence, so why was it laced with commercial ads?
To be fair, the Try Again Barbecue Shop blurb was an advertisement as well, but seeing as he collected a sixty-percent profit cut, he decided not to hold a grudge.
"Wait, why isn't there any intelligence on Body Integration stage battles?"
Lu Yang wasn't dazzled by the dizzying array of Huangzhou news; he still remembered that his original purpose in buying the report was to find clues about the living corpses in Jianshi Village.
"Oh, found it. There really was a recorded clash between Body Integration cultivators two months ago."
"Let's see what happened... Two Body Integration True Monarchs suffered an emotional fallout, filed for divorce, and threw hands over child custody."
Lu Yang: "..."
Lu Yang pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer agony, genuinely beginning to wonder if that mob of living corpses had just wandered off and gotten lost.
Chapter 407