Demon, come and cultivate for me.

Zhou Chu didn't say a word, but listened attentively to Xie Qi's storytelling.

Zhou Chu's understanding of this world is limited to the memories of the original body.

Unfortunately, the original owner of this body had a much narrower perspective, having only ever been to Wuyang City. He had never heard of any of the things Xie Qi was talking about.

After seeing the map of mountains and seas, Zhou Chu learned the names of the states of Yan, Lu, Qi, Qin, Wei, and Chu. Geographically, they were somewhat similar to the states of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of his previous life.

However, these states have existed for thousands of years, much longer than the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

The constant conflicts and wars among the nations, coupled with the rampant evil spirits that plagued the people, made life extremely difficult for the common folk.

If Zhou Chu didn't have the incredible cheat code "Tai Xu Wu Xiang Tu", he might still be working as a shaman on Guniu Mountain, helping mountain demons wreak havoc on the village, living a life of uncertainty.

According to Xie Qi, the Crown Prince intends to emulate the reforms of the Qin state, and is determined to ensure that the people of Yan have a place to live, land to cultivate, food and clothing to eat, and protection from evil spirits.

The King of Yan disagreed with the Crown Prince's idea. He believed that the most urgent task for the Yan state was to recruit talented people and strengthen its army in order to avoid being swallowed up by powerful states.

The crown prince served for twenty years and had his own faction in court, forming two separate factions with the court officials who supported the Prince of Yan.

But in the end, he is still not as strong as the Prince of Yan, who is at the Grandmaster level.

With a difference of one realm in cultivation, even if they outlive each other, the Crown Prince might not be able to outlive his father, the Prince of Yan.

The Prince of Yan believed that the Crown Prince's ideas were too naive and that he did not understand the importance of a strong army.

In an attempt to change the Crown Prince's mind, the Prince of Yan gave him an army and ordered him to march north to resist the northern barbarians. He hoped that the Crown Prince would suffer some hardships in the war and perhaps then he would understand his father's intentions.

The departure date is set for early next month.

The martial artists recruited to the capital by the Crown Prince could see him once before he went on a campaign.

Having lived for so many years, this was the first time Zhou Chu had ever met such important figures as the king and the crown prince, and he was quite excited just thinking about it.

During the remaining days of the journey, Zhou Chu only managed to kill a few ignorant early-stage demons.

The closer you get to the capital, the fewer monsters openly cause trouble.

Since that night, Xie Ning, whether out of shyness or something else, has not come to see Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu was naturally happy to have some peace and quiet. He listened to Xu Yuan boast about how glorious the Xu family had been in the past and to Chen Xiangzi tell stories of strange tales from various countries, which broadened Zhou Chu's horizons considerably.

What impressed Zhou Chu the most was what Xu Yuan said: the reason why the martial arts realm of royal family members and aristocratic family members improves faster than that of ordinary martial artists is not necessarily because they are more talented than ordinary martial artists. The biggest reason is that they have enough resources of pills.

The most important of these is the Qi-Strengthening Pill, made from the inner core of demonic beasts. Taking it can greatly accelerate cultivation speed.

With the help of the Qi-stabilizing pill, many disciples from aristocratic families can reach their peak realm in their twenties or thirties.

For ordinary martial artists, relying solely on their own willpower and arduous training, breaking through to the middle realm at the age of forty is considered exceptionally talented.

Monster cores can be used to refine medicine, monster hides can be used to make armor, and monster bones can be used to make arrows and weapons.

Monsters are treasures from head to toe, which is why the government offers large rewards to warriors who slay them.

The demon corpses collected from various counties were transported to the capital.

The royal family in the capital had a special place to break down the demon corpse into various materials, which were then distributed to departments such as the alchemy department and the weapons bureau for further processing.

In fact, these procedures were all designed by the Crown Prince himself, which is one of the few times that the Prince of Yan agreed with the Crown Prince's actions.

Zhou Chu realized that, in most people's eyes, the Crown Prince was a wise and benevolent heir apparent.

He grew increasingly curious about the crown prince.

On this day, the group set off as usual at daybreak.

Around 9:00 AM, the outline of a massive city came into Zhou Chu's view.

Looking at it from a high vantage point, the city was as large as five or six Wuyang cities combined.

Xie Qi cracked his whip and said, "Speed ​​up! We need to reach the capital before evening!"

The soldiers were exhausted from their long journey.

With their destination within reach, everyone mustered their energy.

"I, Xu Yuan, am back!"

Xu Yuan, mounted on his horse, shouted loudly ahead, his excitement overflowing.

Sitting in the carriage, Xie Ning lifted the curtain, peeked out at the capital city of Jicheng ahead, then looked at Zhou Chu's back before lowering the curtain with a complicated expression.

Continuing onward, the group merged from the side road onto the main road.

The official road was smooth and wide, which greatly improved the speed of travel.

There were many pedestrians passing by.

The soldiers, with command flags on their backs, galloped wildly on their horses.

Wealthy families rode in luxurious carriages, moving slowly along the road.

Warriors carrying swords and knives, merchants pushing carts and carrying loads...

A diverse array of people made up the bustling capital of the Yan Kingdom.

Standing beneath the city wall, Zhou Chu truly understood what grandeur meant. The walls of Ji City were fifteen or sixteen zhang high, more than twice the height of Wuyang City. Every five steps atop the wall, a soldier stood solemnly.

It truly lives up to its reputation as the capital city.

Xie Qi had government flags placed on the carriage, so he was not stopped or asked to pay the city gate tax when entering the city, and entered the city smoothly.

Zhou Chu, Xu Yuan, and Chen Xiangzi were sent to the official post station by Xie Qi.

The Crown Prince had already arranged for staff to receive them at the inn, specifically to arrange their accommodation.

The person who greeted us was an elderly man with white hair and beard, accompanied by several capable subordinates.

His subordinates all called the old man Mr. Cheng.

Although the official post station could not compare to the Golden Palace Tower in Wuyang City, it was a hundred times better than the mud-brick houses of Zhou Chu.

After settling them in, Mr. Cheng took his leave without mentioning when the Crown Prince would summon them, saying only that he would inform them in advance.

After Mr. Cheng left, Xu Yuan said he would take Zhou Chu out to see the prosperity of the capital.

Zhou Chu had been working hard for several days and wanted to get a good night's sleep to recharge.

Unable to resist Xu Yuan's persistent pleading, and with Chen Xiangzi also chiming in, Zhou Chu had no choice but to agree.

Zhou Chu had someone help him move the ten large chests of silver to his room and set up an array in the room before he felt at ease leaving with the two of them.

The inn was located on the outskirts of the eastern city. If you went out and walked east, you would find a large number of wealthy people's residences.

The three strolled along and arrived at the gate of a grand mansion.

Xu Yuan looked at the two large characters "Liu Mansion" on the plaque above the gate and couldn't help but sigh.

"This used to be your Xu family's residence?" Zhou Chu guessed about 70-80% of the truth from his disappointed expression.

Xu Yuan looked around and said, "Not only this house, but this whole street belongs to our Xu family."

Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye; things have changed.

As they were talking, a group of young men in bright clothes and riding spirited horses appeared at the street corner, galloping towards them.

The horse was carrying a bow and arrows and prey, clearly indicating that it had returned from a hunt.

One of them looked at Zhou Chu and his two companions, recognized Xu Yuan among them, and shouted:

"Hey, isn't this the Xu family's child prodigy?"

When he spoke, he deliberately drew out the word "prodigy," and his tone was somewhat playful.

The others stopped their horses and looked at Xu Yuan with ambiguous smiles on their faces.

Xu Yuan put away his melancholy expression, regaining his usual nonchalant demeanor, and turned around to say:

"It's your Grandpa Xu, Liu Dashan, Li Erleng, Zhang Caigou, and a few other nobody. How come you murderers are still alive?"