However, this still wouldn't reduce him to begging, after all he was a prince of a nation. This status alone was worth a lot of money. People could let him owe for a while—as a prince, he still had his income and would eventually pay it off.
But after this mess, the Fourth Prince only had what was publicly his—those properties granted by the king. Only these others didn't dare demand, and he didn't dare sell.
This time, the Fourth Prince only considered it negligence by his subordinates. His hatred toward Xiaoyao wasn't very high. Although he was also angry, he hated his negligent subordinates most.
If he knew this was originally Xiaoyao's calculated scheme against him, he would definitely direct overwhelming hatred toward Xiaoyao, making Xiaoyao sneeze even while sleeping—well, just sneezing.
"Achoo..."
Xiaoyao rubbed his nose, wondering who was thinking about him?
"Young brother, drink some cold remedy tea—ancestral secret recipe, effective with one drink," The old man in front of Xiaoyao said opportunistically. Xiaoyao was currently at a herbal tea stall.
"No need, I don't have a cold. Someone just missed me. By the way, uncle, why are you setting up a stall here? Is there business selling herbal tea here?" Xiaoyao shook his head and looked at the old man with some curiosity.
"Business isn't great, but it's enough to get by," the old man said somewhat bitterly.
"Your stall here definitely won't have good business. Although medicinal materials are cheap here and your raw materials cost less, everyone here knows alchemy. Any random pill solves problems—who would drink herbal tea," Xiaoyao shook his head. This old man brought it on himself, selling herbal tea here without thinking about what kind of place this was. Who knows which genius thought of this method.
Xiaoyao hadn't left Lingyue County yet. He was still wandering around inside, and in the most bustling places at that. However, others still couldn't find his presence. Even if the Young Miss stood in front of him now, she might not recognize him.
He had already used disguise techniques to simply make himself up and slightly used cultivation methods to change his physical characteristics. Ordinary cultivation methods couldn't achieve this—even Emperor-level experts would find it very difficult. But Xiaoyao's cultivation method was very unique, allowing him to do this easily and even continue changing his body to greater degrees.
Physical characteristic changes plus disguise techniques meant even being looked at face-to-face wouldn't necessarily reveal him, let alone in such a bustling place with surging crowds. How could others discover this "stranger" among the masses?
As mentioned above, even if the Young Miss came, she couldn't find him. Guxing might be able to sense something. Xiaoyao's current appearance was truly incredible—too different from his original self.
Now, Xiaoyao was actually a short, chubby little fat man. That he could change his bones and flesh this way was something no one would believe—that the person before them was Xiaoyao.
Although Xiaoyao wasn't the extremely handsome, tall, rich type, he was quite tall and had a very pleasant appearance—well, the very pleasant kind. While he didn't have the potential to make people infatuated, he was above average.
Now, this little fat man image wasn't very ugly, but the difference from the previous Xiaoyao was still significant—very, very much so.
Xiaoyao disguised himself only because he wanted to continue staying here, wanting to look around and see if there was anything that might surprise him.
Although he had already prepared most of the advanced pills, he also wanted to try to see if he could find materials for top-tier pills. While these were things that could only be encountered by chance, searching was still better than not searching.
Previously, it was the Fourth Prince's people buying medicine, so he had no opportunity to access these things. Having come here, he couldn't possibly enter a treasure mountain empty-handed—how could he do such a thing?
As for Guxing's side, they were participating in the Dragon Gate Tournament themselves and didn't need him much. Last time in the New Moon Empire, they hardly needed him either. Now it would be the same. Of course, if he could make it in time, he would still go, but if he really couldn't make it, there was no need to force it.
At the same time, Xiaoyao had already notified Guxing, saying he had some matters that delayed him and would come later.
Being beside Guxing at most meant cheering her on—he couldn't do much else. Here was different—he could prepare the pills Guxing would need in the future. Such opportunities would be hard to come by later, so naturally he couldn't let it pass.
Yes, this was about the opportunity regarding the Fourth Prince—the Fourth Prince had given him such an opportunity. Letting it pass would be too wasteful. Therefore, even if he stayed here for a year or two, he had to complete this matter.
Now, only a month had passed—not very long. Even the Dragon Gate Tournament preliminaries hadn't ended yet. The finals would only begin a month later.
As the final event of the Dragon Gate Tournament, this time wouldn't be like before with massive eliminations, but one-on-one eliminations. Simply put, it would be in duel format to showcase a person's strength.
Many people came to watch the Dragon Gate Tournament finals. These people came from various countries, sects, academies, and clans. In short, basically all levels of people had representatives coming.
Some came to observe, some came to watch the excitement, some came to recruit talent, and some came to gamble...
In short, these visitors all came with their own purposes!
To receive and arrange for these people while preparing the best environment for the Dragon Gate Tournament, the Great Tang Empire spent considerable time and effort. Naturally, the preparation time was longer.
If Xiaoyao rushed over now, he could still make it for the beginning. If he continued staying here, he could only catch the final few matches, or perhaps not even those.
However, even if he was late, it was because it was necessary. As for the competition there, Xiaoyao felt there was no need to watch. He had confidence in Guxing, and this competition was much safer than before.
Previously, competitions involved unexpected life-and-death struggles. Now it was in an arena with audiences and referees. If anything happened, people would intervene. Basically, no dangerous incidents would occur. The Great Tang Empire wouldn't allow accidents either—they would station experts there.
Therefore, if Xiaoyao could feel at ease letting Guxing go even in the previous situations, there was even less to worry about now.
Leaving the old man's herbal tea stall, Xiaoyao continued strolling the streets. Along the way were all medicinal material vendors—some with good quality at reasonable prices, some with inflated prices, and others passing off inferior goods as superior. The situation here seemed quite complex, but thinking about these being street stalls, it was quite normal.
Here, most people would still choose to go to one place—the medicine shop opened by that family here. The prices there were fair and the quality was quite good. For those without keen eyes, the safer choice was to buy there for guaranteed quality.
These street stalls were generally browsed by experts, because there were often some good medicinal materials here. Some materials weren't very precious but were quite rare. Medicine shops didn't have these, so if urgently needed, one could only try their luck here.
Xiaoyao also found several interesting things here, but nothing of particularly high value. As expected, there were no top-tier medicinal materials here. Even if there were, others would have selected them—how could it be his turn?
Xiaoyao had long anticipated this result and didn't mind. He continued browsing, even entering shops, though medicinal materials were generally rarely displayed and were kept in medicine cabinets. Unless it was something particularly good, Xiaoyao generally wouldn't notice.
How could Xiaoyao still discover things if they were in medicine cabinets?
Using his nose—his nose could smell many things. Although he had never smelled top-tier medicinal materials, that feeling definitely wouldn't be wrong!
What feeling? This kind of thing could only be understood, not expressed, because even Xiaoyao couldn't explain it clearly!
For alchemists, identifying medicines by smell was a very important skill. So Xiaoyao knowing this wasn't particularly unusual. Because of this, even when the few good things he found were discovered by others, it didn't attract too much attention, because some people felt they could do the same.
Huang Family Medicine Shop?
Eh, could this be the Huang Family Medicine Shop from Qingyun City?
When Xiaoyao saw this medicine shop's plaque, he was stunned for a moment. Thinking of the Qingyun City Huang family he had dealt with many times, he wondered if this could be the Qingyun City Huang family. But soon this thought was dismissed by himself.
Although the Huang family of Qingyun City was indeed a very good medicine shop, they shouldn't have such great strength—not that they lacked the strength to do business here, but lacked the strength to own such a large shop here.
This Huang Family Medicine Shop had a very large scale, almost an entire courtyard compound. This was in Lingyue County's central area. Even the Fourth Prince couldn't afford property nearby, which showed how expensive shops here were. Even if rented, the rent would be terrifying.
Although the Qingyun City Huang family was also very wealthy, they didn't seem to reach this level. Moreover, the Qingyun City Huang family seemed to only operate within the Heavenly Wind Kingdom, radiating outward from Qingyun City as the center, reaching areas that even the Heavenly Wind Kingdom generally didn't cover.
This medicine shop was definitely among the top in Lingyue County and shouldn't be related to Qingyun Province!
"Young sir, would you like to buy something?" Seeing Xiaoyao standing at the entrance in a daze, a shop assistant came to greet him. Although they were among the top here, there was no reason to refuse business that came to the door. They also needed to draw in customers who were hesitating whether to enter.
"Let me first see what you have here?" Xiaoyao nodded and walked in.
"Young sir, it seems this is your first time in our Lingyue County!" the assistant asked with a smile.
Xiaoyao nodded and replied: "Yes, first time here..." Still brought here by kidnapping…