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"Flying?"

As they disembarked, Luo Yi and his companions had already noticed the conversation of the Feng surnamed businessman from afar.

Despite the crowded scene, for these three strong characters, focusing their minds meant they could concentrate in even the noisiest environment and hear the voices they wanted to listen to.

Weichi Peng felt utterly fascinated by the businessman’s claim, but Luo Yi felt his worldview starting to crumble.

He had also seen that icy blue jadeite, including in other parts of the docks. Although enchanted jade trades were rare at the docks, he could still see them in several places, and he had indeed sensed very special elemental powers in those jadeite pieces.

It was his first time seeing, and also hearing about, the engraving of a magician’s power into jadeite, then making it available for ordinary people’s use!

How could that be possible?

Even magicians, in the summertime, rarely indulged in using spiritual power to conjure ice to cool off, as maintaining even a tiny amount of elemental power to dispel the heat required extremely advanced techniques and specialization in the water element.

In the entire sorcerers’ realm, only a handful of people could manage it.

As for the idea of inscribing power into jade for the enjoyment of the common folk, to him, it seemed utterly fantastical!

Does this mean that magicians could directly store their power in jade, and ordinary people, or even warriors, could use the power of magicians?

How could that be possible...

Yet he had indeed seen those magical jadeite stones, and the Feng surnamed businessman’s convinced demeanor made him suddenly doubt his life.

"Can it really make ordinary people fly up?" Weichi Peng asked, curious.

"Yes, it can..." Wei Gongcheng responded with a smile, "But that thing has just been researched, production is very limited, and it’s estimated that it won’t be widespread for sale anytime soon. It’s currently only available for demonstration at the academy’s exhibit."

"Truly magical!" Weichi Peng was so captivated he even forgot the pain of his wounds, hurrying to say, "Show me."

Luo Yi opened his mouth to object, insisting that was simply not possible. In the sorcerers’ realm, flight was considered a high-level technique. But seeing the other party’s assurance that they could witness it right away, he immediately shut his mouth.

If he could see it immediately, arguing further seemed pointless.

Thus, the group that had disembarked followed their respective guides from Lyuzhou, marching mightily towards Lyuzhou City. It was clear that most on the ship had been invited by Lyuzhou businessmen to witness the sights of Nan Ming.

The first thing that shocked them was the city gate of Lyuzhou.

After two years, compared to the original city gate of Lyuzhou, now there were four Gate Deities, with the one belonging to the South Gate, the Celestial Wolf, being the most majestic.

The fifteen-zhang tall city wall was incredibly imposing, with a massive metal wolf’s head perched at the top surveying all life, as if it were heaven itself!

"Hiss..."

Many people were stunned in place at their first sight of those walls. So tall and formidable, even the most well-traveled merchants of the Central Plains had never seen anything like it, and even influential figures like Weichi Peng and Luo Yi were momentarily overwhelmed.

"How... how was this achieved?" Weichi Peng swallowed and asked.

He had been to Yundu before, a city famed for its ten-zhang high walls and the strongest magic array capable of keeping a million soldiers at bay!

But here, the walls of Lyuzhou made the mighty Yundu look like nothing more than a little puppy by comparison.

Not only were these walls taller, but their design was also many times more majestic, especially the giant metal wolf’s head which, at a single glance, instilled a sense of fear and inviolability!

"Reinforced concrete, along with some unique talents of the Gate Deity."

"Reinforced concrete?" Luo Yi looked at the other party, curious.

The walls of Yundu relied on a magical array for support, consuming a great deal of power and requiring over a hundred magicians to station themselves there daily to prevent collapse.

Before him now... he felt no magic array at all.

But without an array, how could such a towering wall be maintained?

"Gate Deity?" Luo Yi nodded; he had heard rumors of a Gate Deity in Lyuzhou two years prior, reportedly having the ability to identify demons and guard the city. At the time, ninety percent of magicians didn’t believe it, but the current situation suggested there might be some truth to it.

Perhaps the Lyuzhou Gate Deity did have some mysterious prowess.

"You’ll understand once you’re in," Wei Gongcheng said with a smile.

Now, without his mask and black dragon robe, he was virtually unrecognizable, no different from an ordinary person in the bustling crowd, far from the prominent and well-known City God of Lyuzhou.

The three of them queued up like everyone else, but when they reached the gate, they weren’t questioned about their origin—naturally, the Gate Deity had recognized Wei Gongcheng early on.

Once inside, the outlook of Lyuzhou City shocked Weichi Peng and his companion once again.

After two years, the appearance of Lyuzhou had seemingly changed completely from Weichi Peng’s memory.

What was once a modestly styled Jiangnan Water Town had become vastly more grand.

The road by the city gate seemed to have been widened by more than twice, the ground of Lyuzhou completely laid with white stone slabs.

Even the luxurious residents of the Capital City would drool over it.

Even more eye-catching were the two buildings towering into the clouds in the southern part of the city, visible at a glance!

Weichi Peng was stunned. That must be... at least a hundred zhang tall?

"What is that?"

"Oh, that’s called the Observing Stars Tower, which is currently exclusively allocated to the Warrior Army and Daqing Mountain Land Farmers by Lyuzhou.

" Wei Gongcheng spoke leisurely, "Lyuzhou City is small, and most areas are private property.

Over the years, to ensure the housing rights of the military and land farmers, we can only build upwards. "

The two people were stunned upon hearing these words, which sounded rather forced.

We can only..... build upwards?

Doesn’t this sound like it was done under duress?

"Mister Wei, shouldn’t you explain..... how this was built?" Luo Yi tried to maintain his composure.

"Didn’t I just mention it?" Wei Gongcheng smiled and said, "Steel and concrete, ah, it was researched and developed by two magicians from the Engineering Department of Yellow Character Courtyard in the Yin Yang Academy here in Lyuzhou."

Luo Yi: "...."

"Isn’t Lord Luo curious to know what kind of magicians we are cultivating here?" Wei Gongcheng smiled and said, "Come on, I’ll take you for a good look."

Luo Yi did not speak; he vaguely felt that the magicians mentioned by the other party might not be the same as what he understood, but..... it seemed they did not disgrace the name of magicians!

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"Brother Feng, weren’t you leading us to look at fabrics? Where is this?"

"This is the Yin Yang Academy of Lyuzhou.

" The merchant surnamed Feng said proudly, "All those exotic merchandise you saw earlier were basically researched and developed by the masters here. Today is the first day of the lunar month, and each time at this point, the academy will hold a creative showcase. It’s a rare opportunity, so I brought you all here for a visit. As for the fabrics, there’s no rush.

My Fire Silkworm Silk will look even better at night! "

"Great, great!" Everyone had been eager to witness the academy that the other party claimed had created so many marvelous items—to see what exactly it was all about.

The academy had expanded once, and now the fa?ade was more than three times larger than before. But it couldn’t handle the crowds, and a long line had formed. The group had to queue up for two full hours and still hadn’t been allowed in.

"Brother Feng, isn’t this crowd a bit too much? It looks very spacious inside; why can only a hundred people go in at a time?"

"Of course, there are many..." The merchant surnamed Feng chuckled, "Nowadays in Jiangnan, everyone is looking forward to new and fresh items from the Lyuzhou Academy.

On the first day of the lunar month, merchants from Yangzhou, Yunzhou, and Nanyang City come here to visit, looking for good projects to invest in. "

"Invest?"

"Yes, that’s what we call it here..." The merchant surnamed Feng said in a low voice, "The masters here generally work in groups of three or five to research a novelty. But of course, this research naturally requires financial support. The academy will provide some subsidy based on the masters’ ideas, and once the product shows some success, it will be showcased to attract outside merchants to invest."

"That’s quite an interesting approach." A few of the wealthy merchants’ eyes lit up, "If a merchant invests, does that mean the novelty becomes exclusively owned by the merchant in the future?"

"That depends on how you invest..." The merchant surnamed Feng chuckled, "If you spot the potential at an early stage when the project is still unclear and are willing to bear the full research costs, then whatever is researched and developed would belong solely to you.

You can choose to operate exclusively on your own or select distribution channels, all depending on your choice.

However, ten percent of the profits must go to the master! "

"Ten percent?" The merchants were taken aback, "That low?"

"Low?" The merchant surnamed Feng laughed, "Not every project here is profitable. If you invest in the wrong one, you have to bear all the risk on your own. The master responsible for the research won’t be accountable. Even if it’s a good project with immense value, its success relies on your distribution channels.

The master, on the other hand, does not worry about anything but collecting money; ten percent is certainly not low. "

"Then.... you can choose to invest in projects that seem very profitable right from the start...." A chubby merchant said naively.

Before the merchant surnamed Feng could retort, another merchant beside him gave him a disparaging look, "If you’ve thought of it, do you think others are fools?

If I’m not mistaken, those projects that look valuable at first glance must be sought after by thousands; how would you get the exclusive operational rights? "

"Haha, Brother Zhang has a quick mind." The merchant surnamed Feng laughed, "Indeed, the more mature a project is here, the more fiercely it will be fought over. Normally many people would partner up to secure the investment rights, unless someone can offer a sky-high price. But so far, in Lyuzhou, the only ones who can afford a hot project’s sky-high price are the Nanyang Shen Family; others simply don’t have the capital. "

The crowd was taken aback—Nanyang Shen Family....

As natives of Jiangnan, they were not unfamiliar with it, but they never expected that, after such significant changes, the Nanyang Shen Family still seemed to stand at the climax of Jiangnan.

A group of merchants exchanged glances, feeling uneasy. This almost implied that the Nanyang Shen Family..... had pledged allegiance to Chen Qing!

This was really not good news.....

"Finally, it’s our turn....." The merchant surnamed Feng smiled, "Come on, opportunities like this are rare.

My Fire Silkworm Silk was snatched up thanks to the keen eyes of my two partners.

Many people are now envious. There are plenty of opportunities inside to pick up bargains; as long as you have the vision, massive profits are not an exaggeration.

Gentlemen, you must keep your eyes peeled!

Having heard this, everyone swallowed hard, looking towards the academy with boundless anticipation. That feeling..... was like having a surprise packed inside a box, waiting to be unwrapped by them, filled with subtle excitement....

This model was genuinely a stroke of genius. This Lyuzhou..... truly brimmed with endless business opportunities!