Early in the morning, under the shade of the trees, sat a tall, gentle-looking young man with short black hair that fell over his black eyes, wearing black clothes.
It had been a whole day since he had left the city, and the war between his brothers was at its fiercest. He looked at his ring, then took out the spirit of the fire serpent and made it enter the ring.
When the spirit entered, communication took place between them, and what he saw inside the ring was a large collection of alchemical treasures, such as rare plants and the nuclei of some demons and monsters.
There were also books on alchemy, many books. When Yan Tzu saw this, he smiled as he thought, "From today on, I will aspire to one thing, which is to be the best among the best."
Because of his family, he did not have the opportunity to travel around the world.
In fact, he never left the city alone, as most of the trips were in a commercial convoy, and he was usually accompanied by one of the family elders.
He stayed in the city for two years without leaving because of his father's illness, and even when he announced that he was done with the family, he still had hope for tomorrow.
But now he wanted to achieve the impossible. He wanted to make a name for himself.
He decided to change his name after his mother told him that he did not name him, but rather one of the clan elders named him, as he suggested his name to him in order to get closer to the leader.
This is the reason he changed his name, because the name is important in this world, and the more famous your name is, the stronger you are.
He wanted a name for himself, a name of his own.
He got up and decided to go to the royal capital. On his way he found a group of people fleeing from the north.
The group consisted of two families who were heading to the Moon City, which was the nearest city as it was only four days away.
He was sitting in the carriage with the men.
Although he could run faster than the speed of sound and reach the city in half an hour, he did not want to rush.
All he wanted was adventure.
"Where are you from?" asked one of the men in the carriage. "My name is Yan Tzu. I used to live in the north, but now I want to head to the capital." He smiled and spoke politely. He had the manners of a merchant, so he couldn't help but talk. He spent the time chatting with the people present. He tried to find out the latest developments in the city.
He thought about collecting money
. "A lot of money."
Money that would allow him to say that he was the best in the world.
"Tell me what happened in the city.
Did something else happen besides the brotherly war?" Yan Tzu said.
He wanted to know how his brothers were doing, Even if he pretends otherwise.
"The situation is not reassuring, everyone wants to write their name in this war, the only sane one among them is their middle brother," said the old man whose bones were visible and whose features had become unrecognizable due to the many wrinkles and his white beard that completed his appearance.
He was the perfect meaning of the word old.
Yan was surprised by this, as this was the first time in his life that he had been praised at all.
Unlike the past when he was praised by the monkeys who wanted to climb the Zheng family tree, this time he was praised not because he was the second son of the Zheng family, but because he deserved praise.
"The middle son is the smartest," said a middle-aged man.
Yan was surprised.
Why did they call him the smartest? Even when he escaped the clutches of war, it wasn't because he didn't want the throne. There was no one to support him to claim it. Everyone saw him as just an ordinary son compared to his brother.
"How can he be a genius when he couldn't even compete for the throne?" Yan spat out everything he had inside at these words, he felt that it was just a misunderstanding from these men but the old man said with a smile, "Why would he want the throne? Think about it, he has the same origins in his family but no one supported him, isn't it strange, despite his brothers' talent, it was unreasonable that he wouldn't be supported at all, I mean he has good martial arts and is known to be a good merchant and on top of that he is a high-class alchemist and has a gold-grade fire spirit, all these talents, who has them, do you know what they are called?" Yan replied, "Beast." The old man smiled and showed his yellow teeth dyed black and said, "Well done, beast, with all these talents why would he think of leading one family in the northern world?"
What the old man said might come from an incomplete picture he had of Yan, but Yan at that moment liked that picture, the picture of someone who could do things that others couldn't do half of what he could do...
In the evening, the wagons stopped in front of a lake on the edge of the forest and they decided to camp there.
Yan Tzu was tired from everything so he decided to sleep and because the camp was on the main road they were safe from the beasts but only the danger of bandits remained.
Inside the ring, a piece of green emerald glowed, Yan was unaware of its existence… Moments later, the glow stopped, but in Yan's dream, the situation was different. He was dreaming in a strange world, sitting on a throne, and there were a group of people standing in front of him. Yan didn't know what was happening, but he concluded that it was just a dream, of no significance, so he went along with it. One of the people who was dressed as a Taoist and held a sword said, "Your Majesty, the undead have spread throughout the southern cities of Sichuan, Huan Xian, Lu, and things have gotten out of control." Yan looked at him, thinking, "What do you mean by undead? Are they people who died and came back again or what?" But he said to the person, "What do you suggest we do, respected?".
"I suggest… we build walls. The dead are stupid. We can lock them in a place and eliminate them all at once." "That's a good suggestion, Your Majesty." Some of them said as they bowed to Yan. Then Yan said, "How much will this cost?" "Half of the treasury, Your Majesty. Since we lost half of the south, which used to bring us most of our products, such as wheat, wool, and animals, we are now in a major crisis that we may not recover from even after ten years." An old man wearing golden clothes embroidered with red patterns said. Yan was thinking, although this was just a dream, it was a wonderful dream. Perhaps he could show his business and leadership abilities. Things that he could not do in reality, he could do in his dream. "Losing three important cities is a big deal, but we must get rid of our enemies. Even if it lasts for a hundred years, we must get rid of the living dead. As for the treasury, we can rebuild it if the situation stabilizes.
" Yan said this and then looked at the ceiling. He saw a statue of a dragon and a tiger fighting.
The tiger was wounded and the dragon was trying to devour him.
Yan said without realizing it, "Am I the tiger?" The wounded one or the dragon? Everyone looked at each other and said in one voice (Your Majesty, you are the dragon!!).