In this rustic village, children barely five or six years old were diligently practicing swordsmanship.

Teng Qingshan and Li Jun exchanged a glance, deeply shaken.

"Well, Shangguan Quan, lead the way to your North Yan Town," Teng Qingshan said. Shangguan Quan smiled and quickly replied, "The town is only a few dozen li from here, it will be quick." He started leading the way, and many villagers in the hamlet greeted him along the path.

When others asked why he wasn't heading to the sea, Shangguan Quan acted completely unconcerned. "Ah, I'm accompanying two good friends to town for a trip."

Having witnessed Teng Qingshan's martial prowess, Shangguan Quan had no desire to antagonize him.

He understood clearly—the entire village combined was no match for this mysterious man.

...

On the wide road, the morning sunlight bathed the land.

Teng Qingshan and Li Jun carried their packs, while Shangguan Quan constantly answered their questions beside them. After a short conversation, Teng Qingshan confirmed one thing: "According to what this fisherman said, Moon Island is only about seven or eight hundred li wide and long. It's about the same size as Jiangning Commandery! The North Sea Continent is equivalent to two large provinces! The difference is massive."

Teng Qingshan was clear—

Moon Island was not the North Sea Continent!

Furthermore, when he asked the fisherman if he knew of the 'Divine Axe Mountain,' the fisherman just shook his head blankly.

"You say the General is amazing? How many Generals are there on Moon Island?" Teng Qingshan inquired.

"Our Moon Island has eighteen towns, and there are eighteen Generals!" Shangguan Quan immediately stated. "Of course, the General of Wuhai Town in the north is also the Island Master of our Moon Island."

"The General is the Island Master?" Li Jun exclaimed in surprise.

In truth, since Teng Qingshan and Li Jun had arrived by boat and their inquiries were basic information, Shangguan Quan had long guessed they were outsiders.

Though surprised, Shangguan Quan was just an ordinary fisherman and dared not harbor any other thoughts: "Our Moon Island's eighteen towns, and their eighteen General Mansions, have existed for over a thousand years. The eighteen Generals also hold contests among themselves. The most powerful General, if they gain the support of the Sword Pavilion, can become the Island Master of Moon Island!"

"The support of the Sword Pavilion?" Teng Qingshan had heard the words 'Sword Pavilion' more than once.

Clearly, on this Moon Island, while the eighteen Generals held high status, the status of the Sword Pavilion was even more supreme!

"Naturally!"

Shangguan Quan's eyes shone with reverence. "The Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion is absolutely the strongest expert on our Moon Island, an invincible existence! Even if protected by ten thousand troops, the Pavilion Master could easily take the enemy General's head! Therefore, none of the eighteen General Mansions dare defy the orders of the Sword Pavilion."

Teng Qingshan and Li Jun exchanged a look.

The status of the Sword Pavilion was indeed transcendent.

"Where is the Sword Pavilion?" Teng Qingshan asked.

Shangguan Quan pointed to the east. "Look over there." Teng Qingshan and Li Jun also looked east. "Do you see those two mountains standing close together over there?"

Far in the east, though extremely distant, two towering mountains were still visible.

"The great mountain to the northeast is where the Sword Pavilion is located!" Shangguan Quan gazed into the distance, his eyes distant. "And the great mountain to the southeast is the restricted area for our entire Moon Island! Legend says... only the most outstanding experts in the Sword Pavilion occasionally have the chance to enter the restricted area!"

"Sword Pavilion? Restricted Area?"

Teng Qingshan looked at the two adjacent mountains far in the distance. Relying on sight alone, Teng Qingshan could not judge how far the mountains were.

"How far is the Sword Pavilion from here?" Teng Qingshan asked.

"About a hundred li," Shangguan Quan smiled. "Our North Yan Town is one of the three towns closest to the Sword Pavilion. In North Yan Town, in places like the taverns, one can occasionally meet disciples of the Sword Pavilion! Every person who enters the Sword Pavilion has exceptionally formidable swordsmanship."

Li Jun asked with a smile, "How formidable?"

"To deal with someone like me, one move is enough," Shangguan Quan replied.

Li Jun was not surprised, but Teng Qingshan secretly marveled. Teng Qingshan had witnessed Shangguan Quan's swordsmanship; to defeat him in one move meant the sword skill must be truly astonishing. "Listening to this fisherman, the entirety of Moon Island seems to have a very long history, passed down through generations. It seems they only focus on swordsmanship! Other techniques like saber arts haven't been researched much. But the strength of this swordsmanship... perhaps none of the Eight Great Sects of our Jiuzhou Continent can match this level of achievement!"

Specializing only in swordsmanship!

Unlike the Eight Great Sects, they didn't need to worry about their status. The Sword Pavilion on Moon Island undoubtedly possessed total dominion over the island.

Over thousands of years, generation after generation, countless people researching swordsmanship—the Sword Pavilion's techniques must have reached an incredible level.

"The distance is too far! More than three months at sea, and for those three months, the wind was almost always favorable. Now, the distance from the Jiuzhou Continent is likely eighty or ninety thousand li!" Teng Qingshan estimated. Being at sea, travel is fast with the wind, but later, even when using the sails to borrow force against the wind, the speed slows considerably.

"Eighty or ninety thousand li from the Jiuzhou Continent—who would have thought such a secluded, paradise-like island, dedicated solely to swordsmanship, existed here?" Teng Qingshan marveled endlessly.

Over ten million people, generation after generation, specializing in swordsmanship!

...

Halfway along their journey.

Teng Qingshan suddenly took out the Iron Leaf Fruit he had acquired from his pack.

"What is this, some kind of jewel?" Shangguan Quan's eyes widened. "It's entirely green, about the size of my fist, and it seems faintly translucent. We haven't heard of any jewel this large on our island."

"A jewel?"

Teng Qingshan smiled. He brought his index and middle fingers together, and with a whoosh!, a strand of earthy-yellow sword light emerged from the tips of his fingers, faintly glittering.

"Xiantian, Xiantian Realm?" Although Shangguan Quan had sensed it earlier, he was still inwardly shocked.

Teng Qingshan looked at the earthy-yellow sword light on his fingertip. In reality, this wasn't formed from Xiantian True Essence, but from condensed Internal Force (Gang Jin)! "What is the sword light formed from Internal Force called? Sword Gang?" Teng Qingshan thought to himself, then smiled, using the finger bearing the Sword Gang to scoop out an egg-sized piece from the Iron Leaf Fruit.

"Brother Teng, what are you planning to do?" Li Jun seemed a bit surprised.

Teng Qingshan smiled slightly, placing the rest of the Iron Leaf Fruit back into his pack. He rubbed this egg-sized piece of Iron Leaf Fruit between his hands, his Internal Force flashing, immediately causing small slivers to fall away. In a short while, this piece of Iron Leaf Fruit became perfectly smooth.

An egg-sized green bead was thus born.

"Xiao Jun, tell me, how much do you think this thing is worth?" Teng Qingshan looked at Li Jun.

"Brother Teng, you mean...?" Li Jun's eyes brightened; she understood. They didn't have Moon Island's currency. Most people valued rare, beautiful things; the rarer, more beautiful, and more incredible something was, the more expensive it would be.

Teng Qingshan had managed to extract this small piece from the Iron Leaf Fruit.

It resembled top-grade jade, emitting a green glow even in the darkness. It was no wonder Shangguan Quan had exclaimed 'jewel.'

"Shangguan Quan, tell us, what is this worth?" Teng Qingshan looked at Shangguan Quan.

Shangguan Quan's eyes gleamed, and he took a deep breath. "At the very least, it's worth one hundred Purple Beads! Perhaps even more." Purple Beads, White Beads, and Gray Beads were the three tiers of currency. Teng Qingshan estimated that one hundred Purple Beads were equivalent to one hundred taels of gold in the Jiuzhou Continent. If it was worth that much, it would be enough for Teng Qingshan to exchange for good food, clothing, grain, and many other necessities.

**

As Teng Qingshan and the others hurried toward North Yan Town, at the military camp stationed by the sea near North Yan Town, a soldier was vigilantly observing from atop a tall tower.

"Huh, what is that?" The soldier stared intently to the south. "A ship?" The soldier’s face changed drastically!

"Impossible, how could a ship appear in the Southern Sea Region of the Nine Bends Ghost Domain?" The soldier could hardly believe it. "Could someone be out gathering treasures by boat? But the Southern Sea Region has countless hidden reefs; under the currents of the Nine Bends Ghost Domain, most ships would have already been smashed to pieces and sunk among those reefs."

"Report to the Deputy General immediately!"

The soldier hurried off to deliver the news.

...

In the town of North Yan.

Amidst the bustling crowds, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun were strolling through the town with Shangguan Quan leading them. Calling it a town, its prosperity was in no way inferior to Yicheng.

"That makes sense. Under the governance of the Sword Pavilion, Moon Island has almost no warfare. They don't even need city walls! It's normal for it to be this prosperous," Teng Qingshan mused, nodding inwardly.

"Sir, that is the 'Nanyang' Treasure Shop I mentioned earlier," Shangguan Quan pointed toward a nearby establishment whose main entrance was five zhang wide and lavishly decorated. The two characters 'Nanyang' on the plaque used the same script as in the Jiuzhou Continent. "This Moon Island definitely has a connection to my Jiuzhou Continent!" Teng Qingshan became even more certain of this.

Despite being thousands of li apart, the written language and spoken tongue were largely the same.

"Guests, what would you like to purchase?"

As soon as Teng Qingshan and Li Jun entered the treasure shop, a handsome youth carrying a sword stepped forward to greet them. The youth was visibly surprised that the bearded man before him carried no visible weapon.

"Do you purchase valuable gemstones here?" Teng Qingshan glanced at the handsome youth.

The handsome youth replied courteously, "We certainly do!"

Teng Qingshan flipped his hand, revealing the egg-sized green bead, then quickly put it away.

The handsome youth’s eyes lit up; he immediately recognized it as a treasure. He quickly said, "Please follow me."

...

In the back hall, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun were seated, while Shangguan Quan stood respectfully to one side. An elder was meticulously examining the bead that had been separated from the 'Iron Leaf Fruit.'

"Tsk tsk, incredible, incredible... such a large bead. Green?" The elder observed it closely, occasionally covering it with a piece of cloth to examine it in the dark. "It faintly emits light on its own—what kind of bead is this? I have never seen one, never even heard of it!"

Teng Qingshan smiled.

Let alone this elder, even he had never seen such a peculiar substance as the Iron Leaf Fruit back in the Jiuzhou Continent.

"And it’s quite heavy," the elder weighed it in his hand. "For such a small piece, it’s nearly a pound! What exactly is it?"

An Iron Leaf Fruit weighed roughly ten jin; this was only a small portion.

"Have you seen enough?" Teng Qingshan frowned slightly.

The elder looked up at Teng Qingshan and smiled, "It is indeed a fine item. State your asking price." It wasn't just a fine item; it was something never before seen on Moon Island. Even an ordinary green bead of this size would be extremely valuable, let alone one made of an entirely unknown material.