Teng Yunlong reminded them, "Prepare plenty of animal pelts to wrap the Bi Han Blades later. The hunters can sell the pelts in the city; that shouldn't draw the attention of bandits." Teng Yunlong placed immense importance on this transaction, as it involved a very large sum of silver.

For a great salt merchant, this might be merely a drop in the ocean, but for Teng Family Village, it represented nearly the entire strength of the settlement.

"Grandfather, rest assured. Anyone who dares lay a hand on the Bi Han Blades, I’ll kill one for every one that comes," Teng Qingshan stated.

"Good!" Teng Yunlong chuckled, clapping Teng Qingshan on the shoulder, then he stood up. "Alright, I need to go help your father with his work now. You head back first. Have your mother bring your father his lunch later."

"Mmm."

Teng Qingshan glanced at his father, who was concentrating intently on forging weapons nearby, then turned and walked out of the weapon shop.

The next morning, it was still quite dark, and most people in Teng Family Village hadn't woken up. The members of the hunter team, along with the village elder, the spear master, and other key figures, had already gathered outside the weapon shop.

"Ten Bi Han Blades bound together, divided into eighteen bundles, with the last bundle containing twelve Bi Han Blades!" Teng Yongfan commanded from the side. "Qingshan, you all use the animal pelts to wrap every single bundle of Bi Han Blades securely, then place them in cloth sacks. From the outside, they must not look like weapons!"

The members of the hunter team carefully began wrapping.

The large quantity of pelts obtained from past hunts were brought out, and in a moment, all one hundred and eighty-two Bi Han Blades were packed away.

"Yongfan, Qingshan," Teng Yunlong approached, looking at the two of them. "You must be extremely careful on this journey! Do not allow a single mistake!"

"Yes, Grandfather," Teng Qingshan replied with a smile.

Teng Yongfan also said, "Master, just wait for the silver we bring back."

"Qingshan, let's move out!" Teng Yongfan declared. Teng Qingshan immediately gave the order. The hunter team members, carrying sharp long spears and some even bearing bows, departed. Teng Yunlong, Teng Yongxiang, and a group of clan members watched from a distance, their hearts filled only with hopes for a smooth journey.

...

After traveling for half an hour, the sky had fully brightened.

On the wide road, the hunters of Teng Family Village moved forward with purpose, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

"Father, look," Teng Qingshan pointed ahead, where vague shapes of bodies could be seen by the roadside. "Everyone, be cautious." Teng Yongfan muttered low, as the group continued forward carefully. As they drew closer, everyone clearly saw them: twelve bodies in total, all men.

The dried blood had long since turned black, and these twelve had clearly been thoroughly robbed.

"They were robbed. Judging by the state of the bodies, this happened sometime late last night," Teng Yongfan observed briefly. "Good. Stop looking, let's keep moving."

As they walked, Teng Qingshan inquired, "Father, no one has come to collect their bodies?"

"Of course someone will collect the bodies! So many people die every day in this world; if the bodies weren't collected and burned, plagues would break out," Teng Yongfan said, his expression unchanging after glancing at the corpses. He smiled faintly, "The people from the nearest village will find them when they come out to till the fields and will see to their removal."

Teng Qingshan frowned. "If the bandits are this rampant, we might run into them on our way?"

"Qingshan," a middle-aged man beside him laughed, "these bandits choose their targets when they kill. If the targets are few in number but rich, they will certainly rob them! If there are many people, but they carry a large fortune, they might even band together to attack. But for poor hunters like us, who don't look like we have much money, and who would cause them more casualties to kill—it’s not worth their trouble. They won't bother!"

Teng Qingshan nodded inwardly.

Bandits also calculated whether an action was worthwhile. Poor hunters had little gold or silver but were notoriously difficult to deal with; bandits rarely provoked them.

"Let's hurry up. It’s best to reach the city early," Teng Yongfan urged.

As they advanced, they gradually began to see people laboring in the cultivated fields lining the road.

Teng Family Village was not exactly close to Yi City, nor was it too far. Traveling on foot usually took nearly two hours to arrive.

Outside the gates of Yi City, a hunting party clad in animal hides appeared—it was Teng Qingshan and his group. They had set out before dawn, and now, as the world was fully illuminated, they finally reached Yi City. It was fortunate that they had not encountered any bandits along the way.

"We're finally here!" A smile touched Teng Qingshan's face. This was his first time entering a city.

Because the times were so chaotic, the children of the manor were never allowed into the city.

"Two copper coins per person," the guards at the city gate said listlessly. The entrance fee was collected selectively; for rough, poor hunters like these, the guards were too lazy to argue and only collected the minimum entrance charge.

After paying sixty-two copper coins, Teng Qingshan and his group finally entered the city.

"Haha, it’s so lively in the city," Teng Qinghu next to him exclaimed, eyes shining. "Qingshan, look how many people are on the streets. The roadside is packed with vendors, stretching as far as the eye can see! Tsk, tsk. When have we ever seen so many vendors and so many fun things back in our village?"

Teng Qingshan also felt the prosperity—the cries of street vendors, the calls of inns and taverns soliciting guests, a constant buzz of activity.

"Hey, once inside the city, unless absolutely necessary, do not resort to fighting," Teng Yongfan cautioned. "Even if you run into some bastards and have to fight, remember, absolutely no fatalities! Killing outside the city might be manageable, but once you kill someone within the city walls, if you are even slightly slow in escaping and get caught, you’ll be thrown in prison, and your life will be over."

Everyone understood that the government's power was confined within the city walls. As for the outside, no matter how rampant the bandits or brigands became, the lofty City Lord was too lazy to bother with them, nor did he have sufficient manpower to police the area.

"This time, no one wanders off. After we sell the goods, we'll stroll around briefly, and then we head back, understood?" Teng Yongfan instructed.

"Understood," the clansmen nodded one by one.

Normally, a trip to Yi City would involve a good amount of fun, as entering the city was rare. For instance, they might visit a gambling house for a couple of rounds. But this time, the amount of silver involved in this delivery was too great; no one dared to let their guard down.

**

On a quiet, wide street with few passersby, Teng Qingshan's group proceeded.

Teng Qinghu beside him laughed, "Qingshan, don't let the sparseness fool you. At night, this street becomes the liveliest spot in all of Yi City. See that three-story building? Do you know what kind of place it is? Haha, you'd never guess. The women there, their faces are so tender—you could squeeze water from them!"

"Haha..." The other clansmen roared with laughter.

"Qinghu, boy, have you actually squeezed those madams?" Teng Yongfan chuckled.

Teng Qinghu rubbed his nose. "This place is good, but it’s too expensive. Just a cup of tea inside costs one tael of silver! I heard that arranging time with a woman is frighteningly expensive, obscenely so."

Teng Yongfan laughed heartily. "Qinghu, think about it. The three brothels nearby are the highest-class establishments in Yi City. And they are built right next to the major Commercial Association Halls. Why? Their clientele are those wealthy great merchants, not people like us."

"Qinghu, if you want a taste of a woman, go to that tofu shop on the front street; one session costs only a string of cash," the clansmen teased.

"Go away, go away!" Teng Qinghu laughed and swore. "I haven't even gotten married yet."

"Alright, enough talk. We're almost at the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall," Teng Yongfan said.

In his past life, Teng Qingshan had seen many modern metropolises—cities so vast that traversing them by car took an hour or two. Could this Yi City compare? Of course, what he saw in his past life were buildings of steel and concrete, whereas the structures here were filled with ancient flair, offering a unique flavor.

"All the Commercial Association Halls are in this area, and the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall occupies the largest plot of land," Teng Yongfan pointed ahead. "That's the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall."

Teng Qingshan swept his gaze over it and gasped inwardly.

The main gate of the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall was easily over ten zhang wide, easily allowing twenty or thirty people to walk abreast. The two towering, golden-hued cyan stone lions guarding the entrance only amplified its majesty. Teng Yongfan sighed, "Qingshan, those two stone lions are made of Cyan Gold Stone. At that size, each lion must weigh tens of thousands of jin. Those two alone are worth several thousand taels of silver!"

The Yangzhou salt merchants were truly rolling in wealth; it was no exaggeration.

"Get away from here," one of the four burly guards at the entrance of the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall barked at Teng Qingshan's group.

"We are here to deliver goods. The goods ordered by Master Li of Jiangning Commandery!" Teng Yongfan stated.

"Master Li of Jiangning Commandery?" One of the guards frowned. "You wait here; I will report this."

Teng Qingshan and the others waited quietly at the entrance. After only a short while, two men in black rushed out, glanced towards the group, and upon seeing Teng Yongfan, one called out loudly, "You must be from Teng Family Village. Come in." With that, he turned and walked ahead, and Teng Qingshan’s group quickly followed.

Outside the Commercial Association Hall, they had only seen the tip of the iceberg of its extravagance; only upon entering did they realize the lifestyle of the giant merchants.

"Good heavens," Teng Qinghu's eyes widened.

Teng Qingshan also sucked in a breath. The path was paved entirely with massive bluestones; how much manpower must have been required to cut and lay so many uniform stones? The various plants and flowers lining the path were mostly not native to Yi City, clearly transplanted from elsewhere. There were also large ponds and various water features, including artificially constructed flowing springs.

"Even the luxurious villas of later generations could not surpass this," Teng Qingshan mused inwardly. "And this is merely one Commercial Association Hall."

The Yangzhou salt merchants were the foremost under Heaven; only the great merchants of Yuzhou could compare to them.

The structures within the Commercial Association Hall were large manor houses.

"Be careful, every one of you. If you break anything here, you won't be able to afford to replace it," the black-clad man leading the way warned. "Also, some of the surrounding manors are inhabited by people who are as important as our own Master. If you offend any one of them, none of you will leave here alive. Be cautious."

"Yes, we understand," Teng Yongfan replied with a smile.

But the clansmen were visibly more reserved. The Yangzhou salt merchants were a super-wealthy consortium connected to the Eight Great Sects of the Nine Provinces. If they killed a few people, even the Yi City Lord probably wouldn't interfere.

"This is the place," one of the black-clad men said. "For small business like this, just speak to the steward. Don't use the main gate, or you might disturb the Master, and you'll be in serious trouble. Follow me; we'll use the back entrance." He led them down an alley between two large manors to the courtyard gate of this particular residence.

Many servants and guards were stationed here.

"Oh, you've arrived." The cavalry leader who had placed the order at Teng Family Village was sitting regally in a chair, glancing at Teng Qingshan and his group. "Come in. Take all the goods out and place them on the ground."