## AST: Chapter 50 – The Prosperous Hundred Miles City

“We will arrive at Hundred Miles City shortly, and after that I will bring all of you to the “Yu He Inn” to enjoy the great food there!”

Looking at how happy Qing Yi was, Qing Shui concluded that the “Yu He Inn” should be one of the top grade inns of Hundred Miles City.

Soon, they could see the huge city walls of Hundred Miles City looming in their sight. When the horse carriage stopped at the City Entrance, Qing Shui could not compare the sight in front of his eyes to the ones in the period dramas he had watched in his previous life.

The City Walls were 15m high, and about 30m thick. Qing Shui exclaimed in wonder as he determined the toughness of the walls. All the walls were carved from huge slabs of Lazurite Stones, and every slab weighed at least a few thousand jin. However, what truly amazed Qing Shui was that he could find no cracks when he examined the city walls!

“Truly, this is the skill of both a master architect and master constructor!” Hidden in the depths of his mind, there too was information regarding the arts and skills of architects and construction. It was just that he had yet to unlock them.

Not only were the city walls solid and tall, the enormous black metallic gates looked incomparably thick and heavy, emitting a slight air of oppression.

“That steel gate would require the strength of at least 20 humans to open it.” Qing Yi added in explanation as she saw Qing Shui looking at the gate.

Standing on both sides of the entrance were 30 guards standing at attention. They wore yellow martial guardsmen uniforms, wielding sharp swords in their hands.

There were two guards that were responsible for checking the belongings of those entering and exiting the city, and every visitor who wanted to gain entry would have to pay a toll of 1 copper coin! For those who rode on a horse carriage, they had to pay double, while merchants with caravans had to pay up to four times the price!

Very quickly, it was the turn for the Qing Clan’s carriage to pay the toll fee. Much to Qing Shui’s surprise, the two guardsmen merely waved them in as they stepped aside, allowing the carriage to gain entry to the city free of charge. “Mother, why don’t we need to pay the toll fee?”

Qing Yi lightly smiled, ”Although we are not an extremely powerful clan, we still have some slight fame and prestige over here in the Hundred Miles City. After all, they would have to give us some face due to your Grandpa being at the peak of Houtian Realm. Also your second uncle too, who had recently broken through to the 10th Grade of Martial Commander.”

After entering the city, Qing Shui’s eyes began to shine with excitement. The spacious streets were about 50+ meters wide, and the roads were all paved with marble. It was so vast that Qing Shui couldn’t see the end of the street with a single glance.

To think that Hundred Miles City could be prosperous to this extent. Just building the city walls, as well as the marbled streets would need to expend an untold amount of wealth and manpower. The shops and inns on the streets were neither simple nor unsophisticated, they all looked extremely affluent.

Merchant shops littered both sides of the streets as the crowd gave rise to a bustling atmosphere. The streets were extremely spacious; other than horse carriages, there were also other exotic looking ferocious beasts pulling on merchant carts.

Wondrous sights in every direction left Qing Shui captivated. He was focusing his attention everywhere, as if loathe to miss anything of interest. Randomly, he focused his attention onto a strange looking beast that was pulling a carriage.

“Woah woah, this big fellow, what is he? How is he so enormous?” Qing Shui pointed to a red-colored beast that was roughly comparable the total mass of five bulls.

“This is a fire bull. Don’t be fooled by its humongous size, as it actually has a gentle personality. Although it’s speed could only be considered average, it’s strength and endurance level are extraordinary, so fire bulls are usually the choice of most people when it comes to selecting beasts of burden.” Qing Yi smiled as she saw Qing Shui’s curiosity as she explained the details to him.

The horse carriage the Qing Clan was in, proceeded onwards till they arrived at an even more luxurious street. Qing Shui felt that this place was the focal point of Hundred Miles City. There were many more people, residences and shops when compared to the street he was at earlier. Of course, they followed the same layout. Pedestrians had to walk close to both sides of the street while the central lane was for horse carriages, or those who mounted steeds or beasts.

The carriage stopped in front of a huge building. Curiously, Qing Shui looked around and saw four big words written on a plaque hanging near the doorway: “Qing Clan Medicinal Business”. So this place was the location of their very own family business!

The building was five stories high, and it possessed neither grace nor beauty. When looking upon it, one could only feel a dreary, dull feeling emitting from it.

“Let us go and take a look, since this will be our residence during the time we are here.”

Qing Shui, Qing Shan and Qing Shi followed Qing Yi to a building nearby, the moment they entered, Qing Shui’s eyes started sparkling. What a spacious field, the length and breadth should be at least 100m or more. To think that our Qing Clan was rich enough to own such a big plot of land in the Hundred Miles City, seems that we do have some status here after all.

Opposite the plot of land, there was a garden about 200m in length and breadth, which was surrounded by a low wall of stone.

Qing Shui wandered into the garden and discovered that this was the place used for planting of the medicinal herbs. Upon discovering that there were a plethora of herbs being planted here, a huge smile appeared on his face.

What made him so excited was not the number of herbs that they were cultivating, but it was the many different varieties that they had here! 8-Immortal Grass, 8-Immortal Flower, Night’s Fragrance, Great Earth Root, Goat-Horned Ginseng, Violet Hibiscus…

This garden which belonged to the Qing Clan was called the Hundred Medicine Garden, which Qing Shui noticed as he saw the name of the garden written near the entrance.

Initially, Qing Shui planned to buy some herbal seedlings, and it seemed that now there was no need for him to be so troubled over it, considering the many different varieties of medicinal herbs in the Hundred Medicinal garden. The smile on his face got wider and wider. Seems like the plot of land in his realm of the Violet Jade Immortal would no longer be so bare and empty.

There were two youths that were currently busy working inside the Hundred Medicinal Garden. They were digging holes, planting crops and weeding out various bad plants. Qing Shui was here to look for people of the Qing Clan, and not these ordinary workers. Only now did he realize that there were such a small number of Qing Clan members working with Qing Yi regarding this medicinal business. There was a storage room for storing all the harvested herbs, but it seems that the Qing Clan Medicinal Business was targeting the common-grade herbs market.

“Qing Shui!”

Hearing someone call out his name, Qing Shui turned his head and realized that it was his 3rd uncle, Qing Hu!

“3rd uncle, this place is so good! It is much more prosperous compared to our Qing Village.” Qing Shui laughed as he walk towards his 3rd uncle.