Lingxu, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi slipped into the city unnoticed.

The hidden formations of Feiyun City were, in his eyes, as good as non-existent.

After entering the city, Li Guanqi didn't immediately head to the auction house.

Instead, he changed his appearance into that of an unremarkable middle-aged man and walked the streets.

He wanted to gradually understand the subtle aspects of Feiyun City.

Although Qianqiusui was problematic now, Feiyun City was genuinely bustling.

Even though it covered an area of a hundred miles, the layout of each street extended into the city like a spider web.

The shops at every major intersection were incredibly lively.

Moreover, the goods on each street were dazzling, and you could even find specialties from places like the Luo Xia Region!

This was something unimaginable in the past.

The numerous herbal medicine shops specializing in the sale of natural spiritual plants were frequented by many alchemists.

Li Guanqi frowned slightly; he didn't find too many problems with just a cursory glance.

But after a while, he noticed a hint of bitterness on the faces of these merchants.

Li Guanqi's eyes flickered, and then he came to a wine shop.

The owner was not young, and when he saw Li Guanqi, he greeted him with a smile.

"Esteemed guest, what would you like to buy?"

"Although my shop is a bit out of the way, it is definitely a well-established brand in the city, and all the wines are made with the finest ingredients."

Li Guanqi twitched his nose slightly, and the aroma of the wine was indeed not bad.

Of course, this was only in comparison to those for ordinary people and low-level cultivators.

Li Guanqi casually picked a slightly more expensive wine, the worst among the spirit wines.

"This one, then. Give me a twenty-斤 jar. It smells quite good."

The owner was even more delighted and personally helped to fill the jar.

"Esteemed guest has a good eye! This wine is our best-selling one, mainly because of its high cost-effectiveness."

With a sale made, the owner's gaze towards Li Guanqi became much gentler.

Li Guanqi leaned against the counter, looking at the passing caravans, and asked softly.

"Hey, boss, I see the city is quite lively, but why don't the shop owners have smiles on their faces?"

The little old man was sealing the wine jar, and sighed softly after glancing outside.

"Young man, are you a newcomer from out of town?"

Li Guanqi nodded.

"Isn't it almost the end of the month? Time to pay the tribute tax."

Li Guanqi frowned; it was the first time he had heard this term.

"Tribute tax?"

The old man held the wine jar, ready to seal it, and sighed.

"Yes, to be paid to Yun Ding..."

"After working hard all year, ninety percent of the money earned goes to the tribute tax."

"Do you think we make money? We do."

"But most of the money we earn is handed over, and in the end, we're just barely surviving, not starving to death, but not making any real profit either."

"Shops in the city want to transfer... but no one dares to take over."

Li Guanqi could understand everything before, but he didn't quite understand the last sentence.

"What do you mean, no one dares to take over?"

The old man sealed the wine and leaned closer to Li Guanqi.

"The shop deeds in the city can only be rented with Yun Ding's seal. Transferring the lease? Don't even think about it. If you don't do it, there will naturally be plenty of people who will."

The old man composed himself, feeling that he had said too much to an outsider.

"Haha, listen to this old man's rambling, esteemed guest, take care."

Li Guanqi smiled, waved his hand to take away the wine, and handed two low-grade spirit stones to the other party.

The old man happily accepted the spirit stones, and the smile on his face was even brighter.

As if a stone pressing on his heart had suddenly been lifted.

At this point, although Li Guanqi had anger in his heart, he could still suppress it.

At least Qianqiusui didn't squeeze these merchants to death when managing Feiyun City.

It was more like... making these merchants work for her?

With a sway of his body, he disappeared on the street and found a noisy restaurant not too close to the city center.

The waiter saw that Li Guanqi was a person with an extraordinary temperament.

Although his appearance and dress were very ordinary, these waiters were very shrewd.

In this Feiyun City, where dragons and tigers were hidden, they never dared to underestimate anyone, even the beggars on the street!

He greeted Li Guanqi warmly and led him to a relatively quiet window seat.

Li Guanqi smiled and casually stuffed a small piece of gold to the waiter.

The waiter was even more respectful and hurried down to tell the kitchen to start serving the dishes.

Li Guanqi drank the wine he had just brought, listening to the discussions from all directions.

The reason he didn't choose the big restaurants in the city center was because everyone in those places put on airs, pretending to be elegant.

On the contrary, in this kind of restaurant away from the city center, there were all sorts of people.

Gradually, the noisy discussions around Li Guanqi were gradually filtered down to only a few voices.

"Hey, don't mention it. This morning, I brought a cart of spirit herbs from the Southern Region, and the teleportation array took seven days back and forth."

"When I entered the city, they directly charged me one and a half percent of the value of my goods as an entry tax! This trip was almost a waste."

A merchant-like man sighed repeatedly and poured a mouthful of strong wine.

The strong man at the same table sighed and said.

"I'm the same, this trip was a waste."

"If it weren't because Feiyun City has a close relationship with the Sword Master and wants to maintain its relationship with Guanyun Pavilion, I wouldn't bother running here."

Another man echoed.

"Yes, although Guanyun Pavilion's intelligence hasn't increased in price, the Guanyun Jade Pendant is even harder to get than the Tianji Jade Pendant of Tianji Pavilion back then."

Li Guanqi listened for a long time, and almost everything was related to these things, the taxes were extremely high.

Li Guanqi frowned.

"What is Qianqiusui collecting money for? To cultivate confidants?"

"That shouldn't be... she should be very clear that she can't resist me!"

However, at this moment, an inconspicuous, shrunken man was boasting to the woman next to him.

"Hey, Xiao Fang, you don't know, that Qianxing Master raised a man, and is completely infatuated with him every day."

The plump woman picked up a dish and said with disbelief.

"That woman is a peerless beauty, which man can fascinate her?"

"Are you trying to trick me?"

The man had a mouthful of yellow teeth, was sallow and thin, and glanced around with a lewd look.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, he whispered.

"I saw it with my own eyes, Qianqiusui listens to that pretty boy!"

"The man told Qianqiusui to raise tariffs last month, and look, they immediately raised them."

"And I think that kid looks a bit like the youngest son of the Meng family in the city..."

After the man finished speaking, he shook his head to himself, as if denying himself.

"That kid was a sickly person a few years ago, it shouldn't be him, right..."

Li Guanqi held his wine glass, his eyes flickering, and murmured softly.

"The youngest son of the Meng family in the city? Listens to him?"

A dangerous aura appeared on Li Guanqi's face.

"A mere Feiyun City clan disciple can make the proud Qianqiusui listen to him?"

Li Guanqi smelled a hint of conspiracy.

Although he didn't know if this news was true, he felt that the news from this kind of inconspicuous little character was more likely to be true.

He got up and left the restaurant, and Li Guanqi sent a message to Ji Yuchuan.

"Get me a list of the major families in Feiyun City."

"Also, there is a Meng family, focus on them."

Li Guanqi looked up at the magnificent and architecturally impressive Yunding Auction House in the center of the city, his eyes narrowed.

Then, he flashed and instantly disappeared in place.