Black Water City.
Named for being built beside a Black Water River.
This river originates from the foothills of the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, with its source being an underground dark river. The water is deep and chilling, yet it never freezes throughout the year, even during this winter season, as it continues to wind its way onward.
The rice irrigated with this river’s water is glossy, fragrant, and highly nutritious, therefore highly sought after by dignitaries, wealthy merchants, and brokers. A pound of the finest Black Water rice was once sold for two taels of silver.
Because of this, Black Water City was extremely prosperous.
But that is all in the past now.
Due to years of continuous warfare and disrupted trade routes, Black Water City has withered into decline.
Even though the rice fields outside the city remain lush, the rice merchants who once gathered here have almost disappeared.
The last time Zhao Ya and Zui’Er took the mountain path, bypassing Black Water City entirely.
This time, there’s no need to detour. Gazing at the towering city walls of Black Water City from afar, Zhao Ya said.
"Let’s stop for the night in Black Water City."
"Alright," Zui’Er agreed without objection.
And Meng Shiwen wouldn’t have any objections either.
She had spoken little during the journey, spending most of her time daydreaming in the carriage, only occasionally making small talk with Zhao Ya.
The carriage headed towards Black Water City, but before they reached the city gate, they heard voices pleading ahead.
"Lord of the Stronghold, please show mercy beyond the law. How can there be a rule to hand over seventy percent of goods and silver just for passing a city?"
Zhao Ya’s eyesight was excellent, so he could clearly see the speaker was a man in his thirties, despite the distance.
Standing behind him was none other than Tian Heng, whom he had just met yesterday.
But now, Tian Heng’s face was pale, with blood at the corners of his mouth, clearly indicating internal injuries.
Meanwhile, the merchant caravan he was guarding had been seized by a group of people who were currently unloading their goods.
In front of the pleading man stood a burly man, bare-chested even in the depth of winter, revealing his body covered in green tattoos.
Upon hearing the man’s words, the burly man sneered.
"Never heard of it before, but now you’ve seen it, right? Stop babbling. Your men made a move on us, and I spared your lives by only taking your goods. If you keep whining, watch out for your heads."
Gao Cong shivered with fear, secretly complaining to himself.
In previous trades, they often traveled the Black Water City route, stopping there to rest and resupply, without encountering any incidents. But who would have thought this time something went wrong?
As it turns out, just a few days ago, a band of brigands emerged from nowhere, attacked the Black Water City government office, captured the City Lord, and took control.
Afterwards, they began to extort the passing merchants.
However, this group had some rules. Except for a few lone small merchants, they didn’t harm larger caravans, just demanded enough passage fees.
Given the times, this was considered normal, especially since the tolls they demanded weren’t excessive, roughly about ten percent of the goods’ value.
So, the merchants resignedly accepted it.
Although they paid an extra sum in silver, peace and safety were paramount in these times, so they could simply raise their goods’ prices a bit to make up for it later.
Those who still dared to trade outside now were all dealing with high-value goods. So apart from a couple of initial quarrels, things soon calmed down.
But trouble arose only when dealing with the Gao Family’s caravan.
When Gao Cong saw this new group of bandits reaching out for money, he was, of course, unhappy.
To him, every additional copper was his profit.
But he didn’t dare to act rashly, given he was on their turf. So he quietly instructed his men to hide the valuable goods and report underestimated values.
Who would have thought the burly man, despite his coarse appearance, was astute and quickly sensed something wrong. Upon checking personally, he immediately spotted the deceit.
He didn’t get angry, but instead, raised the passage fee from ten percent to thirty percent as a penalty.
Gao Cong couldn’t swallow this insult and shouted a few words.
The burly man was about to hit him when Tian Heng intercepted, and the two began to fight.
Despite Tian Heng being a third-realm Martial Artist, he was injured after just a few exchanges with the burly man.
Afterwards, the burly man raised the passage fee to seventy percent.
Only then did Gao Cong realize the severity of it, so he begged persistently, hoping the burly man would show mercy.
But the burly man ignored him, simply ordering his subordinates to hasten the loading of goods.
Although Zhao Ya wasn’t aware of these inside details, from afar he had guessed most of it, so he slowly approached.
Seeing a lone carriage approaching from the official road, the burly man frowned.
Where did this fool come from?
Couldn’t he see business was being conducted here?
Anyone else would have kept their distance, but this person came straight over. Did he have some backing?
Several thoughts crossed the burly man’s mind, but with Black Water City behind him, his brothers at his side, he felt enormous courage.
With a gesture, someone immediately stepped forward to block Zhao Ya’s carriage.
"Who do we have here? Seeing our Village Chief, why don’t you get down from the carriage?"
Zhao Ya remained composed on the carriage shaft, ignoring the shouts of these few minions, and instead looked towards Tian Heng not far away.
Naturally, Tian Heng also recognized Zhao Ya and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anxiety for him, frantically signaling for Zhao Ya to leave quickly.
But to his surprise, Zhao Ya didn’t pay any attention to these gestures. Instead, he raised his hand and saluted him with a fist in the palm.