“That’s Heavenly Spiral City, the royal capital of Heavenly Spiral Kingdom. It’s at least five times larger than our Jade Dragon City,” Gu Mengzhong introduced.
Lin Jin smiled, musing, ‘How is it only five times larger? This place must be at least ten times bigger.’
Looks like this trip really did broaden his horizon.
With only a little distance left to cover, they decided that it was time to get off Senior Mo’s back. Since it was Lin Jin’s first time here, it was wise to keep a low profile, especially given how he was an outsider.
Gu Mengzhong agreed. After all, the imperial city of Heavenly Spiral Kingdom must be a nest of dragons and snakes, with all kinds of people one could imagine.
“United Continent has dozens of countries, chief among them are three premium countries. Heavenly Spiral is the greatest of them all so it is unsurprising that their Beast Appraisal Association is the most prominent one on the continent. Their Beast Appraisal Association even founded the Heavenly Spiral Academy, a sacred place for beast appraisers all around United Continent. Many have traveled here from all over the world due to its reputation, only to be refused entry. Heavenly Spiral Academy only accepts students that manage to make it through their assessment phase. Even the weakest student has to be an official beast appraiser. Apprentices could only try for the assessment after obtaining their official qualification.” Gu Mengzhong knew quite a bit about the establishment. Aware that Lin Jin’s destination was Heavenly Spiral City’s Beast Appraisal Association, he decided to divulge some of his knowledge.
Lin Jin smiled. “Master Gu, since you’re acquainted with Appraiser Tan Xun, his daughter is currently studying in Heavenly Spiral Academy. I even brought her a letter from him.”
The two men entered the city merrily.
Even the city gates of Heavenly Spiral City exuded a mighty atmosphere. The doors were towering and the roads were spacious, allowing countless people to stream easily in and out of the city. The city guards at the gates donned striking armors and their pet beasts stood tall and mighty by their sides. They were all Rank 3 cloud lions
Meanwhile, Lin Jin even noticed Rank 4 beasts perched on top of the city walls.
Amazing.
At intermediate countries, Rank 4 beasts all served as guardians of the nation. Here, Rank 4 beasts practically littered the streets.
Senior Mo transformed into the smallest size he could and followed behind Lin Jin, but his mind was focused on the cultivation method Lin Jin had taught him during their journey. Admittedly, Senior Mo was a pretty diligent learner.
Right after the two men and the lizard entered the gates, a customer sitting at a nearby tea stall fixed his eyes on Senior Mo.
“A dragon beast?” The customer was dumbstruck by the discovery. It was obvious that he dabbled in beast appraising as well. This world may have thousands of species but only a handful of them were considered premium.
Dragons were one of them.
“Hmm… No dragon horns, scales dark as ink, hue like steel, and has four limbs with four claws. Large head, short body…” the man mumbled to himself. This is an earth dragon. Earth means ground, and the ground has stone, sand, mud, and jade. Its scales had the same quality as jade so it might just be a jade dragon. That’s good stuff right there.”
The man then turned to Lin Jin and Gu Mengzhong.
“These two men look somewhat exhausted so they must have traveled here from afar. It looks like it’s their first time here too so that makes them nice and fat sheep.” With a brilliant thought in mind, he grabbed a sparrow from the insides of his sleeve, mumbled something into its ears before releasing it into the air.
After releasing the sparrow, he emptied his cup before grabbing a handful of walnuts from the table. With everything in place, he started tailing the group.
After a bit of stalking, the man’s accomplices arrived.
“There are fat sheep?” a bald man among the newcomers asked.
The man smiled and signaled with his eyes. “Those two over there. Shopkeeper Wei, you’re the expert. What do you think of that jade dragon?”
The bald man immediately looked in the direction his accomplice was indicating and nodded. “That’s quality stuff. Jade dragons are rare even among dragon breeds. Only Jade Dragon Kingdom produces them and they’re being controlled by the royal family so only a handful manage to get out into the market. It goes without saying that the rarer they are, the higher their value. Many people in our Heavenly Spiral City are interested in these creatures. Jade dragons are Rank 3 at birth but I’ll need to appraise this one’s rank at a close distance with an amulet. This won’t be easy.”
“These two fat sheep are foreigners who had just entered the city. Now’s a good time for us to strike because a chance like this hardly ever comes by,” the first man added.
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The bald man shifted his attention to the two foreigners. Just as he was scheming, the younger man of the two suddenly turned back to look at them.
Since he already had a guilty conscience, the baldie was shocked but he quickly averted his gaze.
“He’s sharp! No, it must be a coincidence. I’m at least a hundred feet away and the street’s so busy. He couldn’t possibly have noticed our presence. It would make more sense if the middle-aged scholar beside him noticed us instead,” the bald man mumbled to himself. When he came to a realization, his anger rose.
‘B*stard, how dare you try to frighten me?!’
And he made a decision.
They would do it!
A person who could own a jade dragon beast surely wasn’t average, but since he didn’t put it away with Beastmaster Scroll, he probably wasn’t anything special. After all, all skilled men practiced Beastmaster Scroll.
Though, there was a possibility that he chose not to use the skill. Instead, he intentionally unleashed it in order to show it off to passersby.
Of course, this gave thieves like them, who specialized in stealing pet beasts, an opportunity. It didn’t matter who that traveler was. Even if he was a relative of Jade Dragon Kingdom’s royalty, they couldn’t care less.
This was Heavenly Spiral Kingdom and they were the local snakes of Heavenly Spiral City. There was a saying that even the strongest dragon cannot defeat a snake in its own lair. Hence, they had to seize this rare opportunity.
And so, the bald man instructed his subordinates and the stalker from earlier, “We’ll take this business. We had a buyer from a few days ago who was looking for a rare dragon beast and his offer was pretty lucrative. If we can seal that deal, the profit can last us for an entire year.”
Everyone else’s eyes lit up and they seemed eager to try.
“Same old rules. Keep your eyes peeled and work quickly. Don’t cause unnecessary trouble.” Possessing a decisive personality, the bald man acted immediately after making a decision.
His accomplices were all veterans in this field so they went to work at once upon receiving the shopkeeper’s orders.
Further up ahead, Lin Jin retracted his gaze.
“Brother Lin, what’s wrong?” Gu Mengzhong asked.
“It’s nothing.” Lin Jin had sensed someone eyeing him and this sensation had begun the instant they entered the city. However, Heavenly Spiral City was so crowded that it was normal for him to attract attention. After all, he was dressed somewhat differently compared to the locals here.
“Just a little further and we’ll be able to see Heavenly Spiral City’s Beast Appraisal Association Headquarters. That place sure is extravagant,” Gu Mengzhong said with a smile. The two carried on forward when all of a sudden, someone came rushing at Lin Jin from the front. Had it been anyone else, they would have clashed head-on, but Lin Jin was agile enough to turn and avoid him.
That man was stunned but he reacted quickly by dropping the package in his hands. There was a loud smash. It sounded like the shattering of porcelain.
The man immediately took on a hostile demeanor and he shouted at Lin Jin, “You country bumpkin, don’t you have eyes? You just destroyed my family heirloom, so pay up!”
As he spoke, several other people appeared behind the man and they quickly surrounded Lin Jin and Gu Mengzhong.
Anyone with eyes could tell that this was a staged accident and Lin Jin and Gu Mengzhong were aware of this too.
They frowned at once.
To think Heavenly Spiral City was this unruly!
Although Jade Dragon City was much smaller, they had never seen such unsightly acts in broad daylight.
Lin Jin prepared himself for a verbal spar with these men when he suddenly turned around and grabbed someone by the wrist.
It was someone hiding behind them, ready to strike at Senior Mo. This man was holding an amulet with tons of complex scribbling on it. It emitted an ominous dark aura that had the shape of a strange beast’s face.