A yellow horse that was as thin as a match was tied to a tree, snorting weakly. A few black crows perched on the branches were making annoying noises.
An inconspicuous old man slowly turned around from behind the tree. He tightened his belt and had a helpless look on his face. He couldn't even defecate in peace. He raised his head and shushed the crows a few times. However, the crows were indeed birds that lived near the city. They were more experienced than the old sparrows on the Spring God Lake. They were not afraid of the bluffing old man under the tree at all.
The old man was not angry at this. He picked up the reins with one hand and led the horse forward slowly. He weighed the ragged money pouch in his hand. There were not many copper coins left. He glanced at his beloved horse that accompanied him along the way. The yellow horse was nicknamed Little Yellow. It was like the old man's own son, never being ridden. If there were only reeds that could be used as a mattress, Little Yellow would have slept on it first.
Alas, a poor man's ambition was short, and a thin horse's hair was long. In fact, the silver that he carried with him was enough for food and clothing. From the north to the east, the old man ate and slept in the open. He did not have any expenses. It was only when his stomach was full of wine worms that he went to the downtown market or a roadside wine stall to buy a bottle of wine to satisfy his cravings. However, along the way, he met a few pitiful people and spent the silver like splashing water. In the past, the young master said that people in troubled times were not as good as dogs in peaceful times. However, now that the world was peaceful and prosperous, not everyone could be lucky enough to raise a dog in peaceful times. The old man who could not even defecate was from Western Shu. In this life, he had traveled to many places. He did not consider himself a Jianghu hero who helped people in distress. Indeed, when he traveled outside, he was more generous than the rich. Even if he was the richest in the world, how could he compare to the Emperor and his young master? If he compared his life experience, he was not sure. There was no worst, only worse.
On this trip, he spent a large sum of money to cross the river, not to pay the cheap ferry fare of a few dozen copper coins. The two boatwomen on the boat were a pair of mother and daughter. The boatman was the head of the family. He had a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks. After rowing for a while, he said that he was tired and asked his wife to take over. He squatted at the bow and played dice. He was addicted to gambling. Before they reached the shore, the man's eyes were sharp, he saw the old man's money pouch and asked him if he wanted to eat some meat. At first, the old man thought it was some carp that could be fished up from the river. Since there was still half a pot of wine in the wine pot, he agreed. But when he saw the mother and daughter expressionlessly took off their thin and mended clothes, the old man was scared. Only then did he realize that they were prostitutes on the ship. He hurriedly stopped them, and when they reached the shore, they threw away the majority of the money and ran away as fast as they could. When the old man traveled with the young master in the past, when he came across bold village women who exposed their breasts to feed their babies, he would stare until the young master pulled him away. If he really wanted to do something serious, the old man really couldn't do it. Moreover, the mother and daughter were so young that they could be his daughter and granddaughter. Especially the little girl's real age was only thirteen or fourteen years old. On top of that, because her family was poor and couldn't afford to eat, she looked like an eleven or twelve year old girl from a rich family. If he did this kind of thing, wouldn't he be punished by the Heavens?
Taking ten thousand steps back, the Prime Minister's gatekeeper was a third-rank official. Even Grand Secretary Zhang's gatekeeper couldn't compare to the Beiliang Palace where I, Old Huang, lived, right? Although I, Old Huang, was only a horse feeder in the Prince's Mansion, according to this saying, not to mention third-rank, I should be a seventh-rank official. If I really wanted a woman and went crazy, would it be difficult? I, Old Huang, had woven more than ten pairs of straw sandals for the young master, so I wouldn't be lacking in any way. When we were traveling, the young master unintentionally brought up this matter, saying that when we returned to Beiliang, he would help me find a wife to warm my bed. When Old Huang thought of this, he laughed foolishly, subconsciously swallowing his saliva. Of course, he didn't dare to defile a beautiful maiden. A middle-aged woman still had her charm and whatnot. He also admitted that he wasn't worthy. However, at that time, I, Old Huang, still hoped that there would be a fair and tender maiden rolling in the sheets. Wah, I was just being polite with the young master. Why did the young master take it seriously?
Old Huang slapped his face and muttered to himself, "Old Huang, who asked you to pretend to be a master? Back then, you didn't become a blacksmith but practiced swordsmanship. Wasn't it so that you could get close to those heroines? Why did you become stupid after practicing so much? Why did you ruin such an ambitious and beautiful original intention?" The young master was indeed knowledgeable, but he wasn't sour. His words were especially comfortable. Every time he stole a chicken or duck or nibbled on cucumbers or roasted sweet potatoes, when he was in a good mood, his words were beautiful. Old Huang clearly remembered a saying that in the world, there was a kind of person whose heart was higher than the sky and whose life was thinner than paper. He thought about achieving great things all day long, but unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to do so. Old Huang felt that this was a great truth. Even a boor like him, who didn't know how to read, understood it. Hey, was he praising him, Old Huang, for having the strength to do the things he wanted to do?
Old Huang was secretly happy when he thought about it. When he grinned, people would notice that he was missing two front teeth and was very leaky. The old man and the skinny horse walked slowly, but in this world, as long as one walked, no matter how long the journey was, there would always be an end. Wouldn't they be able to see the majestic city as soon as they looked up?
Martial Emperor City wasn't originally called Martial Emperor City, but Overlook City. It was a vassal city of a royal family in Dongyue during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was named after a line in a poem written by Sage Zhang when he traveled to the Eastern Sea thousands of years ago: Donglin Stone Platform to See the Vast Sea.
Later on, Wang Xianzhi, who was a nobody, fought again and again in the Jianghu. He was highly regarded by the royal family of Dongyue and was taken in as their son-in-law. They wanted to use Wang Xianzhi's invincible strength to rebel and usurp the country. After they failed, they hoped that one person would die to atone for the crime of the whole city. After the city was besieged, as a member of the royal family, he committed suicide in front of 60,000 armored soldiers. The Emperor of Dongyue was still unwilling to let him go. Of course, he didn't say that he wanted to exterminate his entire family. After all, if he did so, wouldn't the Emperor's own family be killed?
However, the massacre of the entire city was unavoidable. Coincidentally, Wang Xianzhi had just returned from a battle with the contemporary Sword God, Li Chungang. He didn't waste any words with the Emperor and directly killed his way from the outside of the city to the outside. He carried the City Lord's corpse back into the city and then killed his way back to the outside of the city. He killed his way back to the outside of the city three times. On the last time, he killed his way to just 30 steps away from the East Yue Emperor's tent. He killed all the elites of the Eastern Yue Sword Pool who had been the Imperial Guards of Dongyue for generations. Wang Xianzhi forced the Emperor to make a vow to the city by himself. That was how the Martial Emperor City became independent during the Spring and Autumn Period. The older Wang Xianzhi got, the more profound he became, occupied the Eastern Sea and looked down on the Jianghu. He was truly invincible.
In the end, when the Liyang Dynasty unified the country, the old Emperor, who had established an unprecedented great cause, personally rushed to the Martial Emperor City to have a private talk with Wang Xianzhi. One was the Emperor who ruled the world, the other was an ordinary man who claimed to be able to kill the Immortals of the Earth. The world only knew that the two of them had a pleasant conversation. Neither the Emperor nor the ordinary man was angered. After that, even when the Martial Emperor City secretly killed the Jianghu people, the imperial court only turned a blind eye to it.
Nowadays, Wang Xianzhi rarely fought with others. The world no longer expected anyone to be able to defeat this martial artist who was so conceited that he could fight with Ancestor Lu five hundred years ago. The new Sword God, Đồng Thái, and Tsing Yi, Cao Changqing, were all legendary figures. However, in the Martial Emperor City, they only fought until they were undefeated. Everyone had already regarded them as deities. Ordinary experts weren't worthy to meet Wang Xianzhi, let alone Wang Xianzhi. As for Wang Xianzhi, who used human strength to prove the Heavenly Dao, if he really wanted to kill someone, even the Immortals of the Earth, as long as they hadn't ascended, would be unable to defeat Wang Xianzhi.
The old man walked to the towering city gate. The people of the Jianghu who entered the city together with him were all experts with boundless elegance. If they weren't those who had red hair and iron arms, it felt like they could blow people away with just a sneeze, then they were those who stood out from the crowd. If they were to fart, the entire Jianghu would say that it was fragrant.
The old man was like an inferior horse. Both of them were starving. It was really unsightly. Most importantly, before this old man entered the city, he purposely slowed down his pace, allowing a young heroine in luxurious clothes to walk in front of him. While he was staring at her charming swaying buttocks, he took out an ivory comb and combed his messy gray hair. Since this beautiful heroine in exquisite clothes dared to come to the Martial Emperor City alone, she definitely wasn't an ordinary young lady who only knew how to play zither, go, calligraphy, and painting. Sensing the gaze behind her, she turned around and glared. However, when she saw that it was an old man who was leading an inferior horse that was even worse than a mule, she didn't bother about it anymore. She snorted coldly and went straight into the city.
The old man said to himself, "If my Young Master and that brat Wen Hua saw this young lady, my Young Master would probably cheat Wen Hua of his money again, right?"
After entering the city, the old man walked along the central city's main road until he could see the top of the city wall. Then, he sat down at a roadside wine stall and poured out all the copper coins in his money pouch onto the table. He grinned and said, "Waiter, bring me a pot of good yellow wine and boil it for me."
The waiter was a local of the Martial Emperor City and had never looked down on foreign martial artists, let alone an old man like this. He rolled his eyes and said, "This amount of copper coins is barely enough to exchange for a mouthful of yellow wine."
Old Huang smiled foolishly and said, "It doesn't matter. I'll just take a mouthful. Give me a small bowl, and I'll treat it as a bowl of wine."
After he finished speaking, he ignored the waiter's look and raised his head to look at the top of the city wall. He said softly, "Young Master, the situation is tense. But this time, Old Huang won't talk nonsense."
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