Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 852: Chapter 648: Hill’s Little Scheme

An Yanfei led the way and spoke lightly, ”Those treasonous families have been completely wiped out, including the hopes they planned to disperse, the future Great Witches.

His Majesty the Emperor was furious, directly sending the most lethal Court Maiden Death Knights to hunt down the main culprits. The other two of the Three Great Sorcerers also felt physically harmed and took action, not to mention the three leaders of the Black Cavalry. The outcome was predictable.

Perhaps there will still be families with the same surname in the future, but... compared to now, they will probably just share the surname.

The An Family was relatively lucky. An Pengfei’s desperate struggle also brought good fortune to the family. As long as the members of the An Family could pass the loyalty ceremony presided over by the Great Witch, they could leave Benevolence City with their possessions following the Family Head.

Even those of the An Family staying elsewhere were called back to participate in the ceremony. Some were unlucky enough to be affected, because there is a bottom line for corruption in the loyalty test, and crossing it also counts as treason.

As for the real traitors... as soon as An Pengfei recovered, he returned directly to the Black Cavalry to personally lead the pursuit against them.”

An Yanfei suddenly turned his head and suppressed a hint of redness at the corner of his eyes, ”Great Mage Polanio, you can probably tell, I don’t really like An Pengfei.

This is quite normal. Although the An Family had us children with potential grow up together, we could only stay in our own small yards, living lonely days. Meanwhile, An Pengfei and the real legitimate children could return home every day and even complain about their parents’ strictness!

An Pengfei is not a bad person, but there would always be conflicts between the proud and arrogant young master from the main household and us children with a hint of being under someone else’s roof.

Some children, after benefiting from the Family Head’s lineage when they grow older, forget their past sorrows. But some people, like me, choose to leave the family after reaching adulthood and join the Royal Faction.

The An Family... is considered relatively open-minded for a noble clan and won’t hold grudges over these issues.

An Minyi started out the same as us. I always remember him as a child yearning for the outside world.

But whether due to fate or not, his talent as a Swordsman was very good. He was promoted to an official professional at a very young age, and An Pengfei came to recruit him.

He was originally hesitant, but his father ordered him to follow An Pengfei.

He loved his family dearly. However, we all felt that his family didn’t love him, yet nothing could stop him from flying into the fire.

Later, after staying by An Pengfei’s side for a long time, he became more extreme, and our friendship ended completely.

Actually, these matters have nothing to do with the Eldest Young Master An, but... we can only place our resentment on him. I think An Minyi feels the same.

I don’t know if An Pengfei learned about this from someone. He went almost madly to hunt down An Minyi’s family. Speaking of which, he is indeed very loyal, fully intending to send An Minyi’s disgusting father down to accompany him.

An Minyi’s father taught him all kinds of twisted ideas from a young age and had him perform those disgusting acts by An Pengfei’s side, and in secret, he cultivated other sons. He thought that after staying by the future Family Head’s side for so long, An Minyi might not be so loyal to him anymore.

An Pengfei sent the whole family neatly down. Yesterday, I burned incense for An Minyi, hoping he would be a little happier.”

Hill blinked. The thinking of the Shulong People... seemed a bit off, somehow?

”Oh, and His Majesty the Emperor permitted the An Family Head to serve as the first Prefectural Governor and establish a new city on a piece of land in front of Benevolence City.

That plain is actually at the confluence of a major river and a branch, formed hundreds of years ago when two rivers merged. It is a good location, quite suitable for rice cultivation.

There are also hills next to it that could be developed into tea gardens and terraces.”

An Yanfei revealed a smile on his face. Although his feelings for the An Family were faint, he still hoped for the betterment of the family. This sorcerer of the An Family gestured for the guards to open the fence ahead while speaking with a hint of amusement, ”Because it requires a lot of effort from the An Family, His Majesty the Emperor graciously named the new city Lin’an.”

When did it become Hangzhou? This was the first thought that flashed through Hill’s mind upon hearing this.

Fortunately, he had the sense not to voice it aloud.

Hill also showed a slight smile, concealing his guilt, believing as long as he didn’t speak, there shouldn’t be any problems... right?

Not knowing what kind of curse was in the wavering eyes of the Great Mage behind him, An Yanfei pushed open the gateway, revealing to Hill a large square built with three docks connected by steel plates.

”I noticed Mr. Polanio has a great fondness for local specialties everywhere, and not necessarily the most valuable rare objects or artworks. This place will surely satisfy your desires.

Although the starting bid here is relatively high, given Purwell’s internal space, there shouldn’t be any concern over this matter.” An Yanfei smiled at Hill and said, ”Mr. Polanio, please feel free to choose according to your heart! I need to assist in the auction. Don’t worry about the time issue, someone will come here to notify you to board the ship later.

If Mr. Polanio wishes to board the ship earlier, that’s not a problem. Simply present the invitation at the entrance, and a dedicated attendant will guide the way.”

Hill smiled and expressed his gratitude to An Yanfei.

”Ah! Mr. Polanio really doesn’t need to be so courteous. The gift last time was extremely important to me.” An Yanfei clasped his hands lightly in front of his chest and solemnly bowed to him before leaving. If Hill left directly after the auction, this might be their last meeting, and these words could only be said now, ”I could have advanced early on, but for a sorcerer of the artifact-making faction, the level of the resonating mechanical artifact during an upgrade affects whether we can hope to become a Great Witch in the future.

Mithril is the most replaceable rare universal material, and many hard-to-find high-level materials can be substituted with it.

If it weren’t for your gift, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to rely on the An Family, and the family wouldn’t provide us with resources for at least ten years.

Thank you very much, Mr. Polanio, you saved my future.

Just hope that the next time you come to the Shulong Empire, you’ll have a more enjoyable trip.”

An Yanfei’s face turned red with gratitude as he quickly left.

Hill remained silent for a few seconds. Visiting Shulong again truly felt like a frightening blessing, both for him and the Shulong Empire.

He suppressed the notion that the Shulong Empire might still be unlucky and began to stroll through the market, which had a very rural fair atmosphere.

Just as An Yanfei said, there were indeed things that piqued his interest here, but most of them were impossible for Hill to purchase.

The lingering bloody smell on the goods informed Hill of how filthy their origins were.

The Natural Consciousness had been sounding alarms ever since entering here. Those merchants behind the stalls appeared affable and attentive, yet upon seeing Hill, most of them were filled with malice.

Hill looked around and estimated that only those seemingly official stalls could spark his interest in shopping.

As for those scrutinizing glances... Hill directly raised Elminster’s Radiant Orb.

All prying and eager attempts vanished instantly, even if they didn’t know Hill’s identity, the pirates understood the implications of the Radiant Orb.

Don’t be fooled by those pirates boasting to the heavens, if they truly could handle a Legendary Great Magician, who would risk their lives on the sea!

Hill coldly surveyed the area, minding his own business to find his target. However, these representatives from pirates across various continents seemed not very well-informed and had poor relationships with each other.

Hill had already spotted both the demon elves from Moonshadow Island of the Ferun Great Land and the Arcane Brotherhood from Luskan. When he appeared, both parties stood quietly, bowing behind their stalls, not daring to utter a word.

It seemed they already knew who owned Purwell.

Unaffected, Hill walked over to a stall flying the flag of Pezelak, a country from the Maztica Continent, and carefully examined the goods and seeds: there were peppers, tobacco, coffee beans, beans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs.

Pezelak was the most famous agricultural country on that continent resembling the Americas, and their representative goods were indeed noteworthy. Although sold by the ton, Hill bought a set, excluding tobacco.

Next were various interesting feather products. Even if they weren’t strange objects, they were still very beautiful, especially the feathers of the Sun Peacock, which made Hill chuckle.

Although these golden feathers were not as beautiful as the manifestation of Lansendel, they were still from a high-level magical beast, and making feathered skirts out of them would certainly be lovely.

Hill happily cleared out all the feathers, which carried no resentment, suggesting that even if there were bird magical beasts that died in their hands, they were of the initiative attack type, with some clearly exchanged with magical creatures. Hill truly liked them.

Hill was most delighted to acquire many original seeds of spice plants. Remembering the bitter times when he nearly went bankrupt making spice sachets, he couldn’t hesitate to leave any behind!

With his culinary desires satisfied, Hill glanced at some stalls of Shoulong merchants and directly purchased some medium-grade silk cotton and porcelain. The items used by the An Family for trade were of such high quality that they were unsuitable for gifts, and he had intended to buy them while traveling in Shulong.

He then decided to stop shopping, boarded the building ship, and found an attendant to go to his VIP room.

Though the pirates’ goods were genuinely quite good, he couldn’t purchase them, even if a few stalls contained strange objects glowing with magic aura that caught his attention.

Hill pursed his lips. Purwell... didn’t really need to leave so early, did he?

Though a bit like entrapment, a pirate with malicious intent is a dead pirate after all!

With his decision made, Hill exuded an aura, and after the auction started, he collected all the art pieces he had set his eyes on.

The Shulong Empire’s master artists... are truly outstanding!