Chapter 65: The Harbor of a Thousand Roads
The deeper they wandered into Rivergate City, the more Mistforge began to feel like a distant memory.
It wasn't that Mistforge lacked life.
It simply lived to a different rhythm.
Mistforge rang with the sound of hammers striking steel, furnaces roaring beneath chimneys, and carts carrying ore from the mountains. Every street there seemed built around the forge, every conversation somehow returning to iron, tools, or cultivation. It was a city that produced.
Rivergate...
Connected.
Every street seemed to lead toward another culture.
Another kingdom.
Another way of living.
It felt less like a city and more like the meeting place of countless worlds.
The first thing Jin Wei insisted they experience was the food.
"You haven't truly arrived until you've eaten from the docks."
Within minutes, everyone found themselves standing before rows of steaming food stalls.
The scents were completely unfamiliar.
Golden fish crackled inside enormous iron pans filled with bubbling oil.
Long skewers of river shrimp were brushed with fragrant herbs before being roasted over charcoal.
Tentacles of giant spirit octopus slowly caramelized above open flames, the cooks expertly slicing pieces away as customers waited.
There were grilled eel wrapped in fragrant leaves, thick fish stews simmering inside black clay pots, stuffed mussels seasoned with mountain spices, smoked river crab, seaweed rolls filled with minced fish, and warm fish sandwiches layered with vegetables that Yun Che had never seen before.
One elderly woman proudly advertised crispy lotus-root chips served beside spicy fried catfish.
Another sold steaming dumplings filled with shrimp and freshwater herbs.
Even the bread tasted different.
Everything carried the faint freshness of the river.
Yun Che sampled almost everything.
"This..."
He said after taking another bite of a fish sandwich,
"...is surprisingly good."
Jin Wei looked horrified.
"Surprisingly?"
"This stall has been here longer than my grandfather."
Lin Xia quietly tasted a shrimp skewer.
A few seconds later...
She bought another.
Nobody commented.
While the others enjoyed the food...
Lin Xia's attention wandered elsewhere.
Specifically...
To the people.
Her notebook had already appeared in her hands again.
Every few minutes another page filled with sketches.
"I don't even know where to begin..."
she whispered.
People from every corner of the kingdom—and many from beyond it—walked these streets.
Elegant scholars from the eastern provinces wore long flowing robes with wide sleeves embroidered with delicate cloud and crane motifs, their garments layered one atop another to create graceful silhouettes.
Mountain hunters from the northern ranges preferred thick leather coats lined with monster fur, reinforced around the shoulders and knees with sturdy plates designed for climbing frozen cliffs.
Merchants from the southern islands wore brightly colored wraparound garments resembling long robes tied with broad sashes, their sleeves shortened for work aboard ships. Their wooden sandals clacked rhythmically against the wet stone streets.
Visitors from distant eastern kingdoms wore beautifully patterned kimono-like robes secured by wide belts embroidered with spiritual thread. Every fold seemed carefully arranged, almost ceremonial.
Forest clans dressed almost entirely in treated leather, woven bark fibers, and moss-colored cloaks that blended naturally into woodland surroundings.
Others wore sleeveless tunics over loose trousers, heavy wool cloaks clasped with carved bone pins, scale-lined jackets made from aquatic beasts, or armor woven entirely from flexible bamboo strips strengthened by Ki.
Every style reflected the homeland from which it came.
Every stitch told a story.
More fascinating still...
Almost every garment contained runes.
Simple waterproof runes glimmered along collars.
Compound temperature inscriptions followed cuffs and inner seams.
Expensive robes carried miniature garment formations anchored to jeweled clasps, cleansing dirt and regulating the air around their wearers.
Lin Xia could barely keep up.
"This city..."
she murmured.
"...is a tailor's dream."
Then came the footwear.
She almost laughed at herself for becoming so excited over shoes.
Yet there were simply too many to ignore.
Simple leather boots.
Tall cavalry boots reinforced with metal toes.
Light cloth shoes worn by scholars.
Wooden sandals raised above muddy streets.
Heavy iron boots designed for ship laborers.
Plant-fiber sandals woven from river reeds.
Crystal-soled footwear that shimmered beneath every step.
Scaled boots crafted from monster hide.
Flexible split-toed shoes favored by martial artists.
Even children's shoes varied wildly depending upon where their families had come from.
She had never imagined a person's homeland could be guessed simply by looking downward.
The buildings fascinated her just as much.
Rain never seemed to damage them.
Tiny rune arrays had been carved directly into roof tiles.
Water separated around windows.
Drainage channels guided rain effortlessly into underground reservoirs.
Wood remained perfectly dry.
Stone walls resisted moss despite constant moisture.
Some wealthier homes even carried glowing formations that gently warmed entrances during colder storms.
Instead of fighting the rain...
The city had learned to live with it.
While Lin Xia studied clothing...
Yun Che's attention remained fixed on the city's machinery.
He slowly walked along the docks with eyes full of wonder.
Mistforge forged remarkable weapons.
Perhaps the finest practical weapons in the kingdom.
But...
Its imagination had always remained grounded.
Swords.
Spears.
Armor.
Shields.
Tools.
Rivergate thought differently.
Massive wooden cranes swung cargo through the air using giant counterweights and intricate pulley systems.
Rows of capstans allowed dozens of workers to raise anchors that weighed several tons.
Winches thicker than tree trunks slowly pulled entire ships toward repair docks.
Enormous iron chains linked mooring posts to merchant vessels.
Dry docks held half-finished ships whose ribs rose from the ground like the skeletons of gigantic sea beasts.
Shipwrights bent massive timbers using steam chambers before shaping them into elegant hulls.
Sailmakers stitched enormous canvas sheets across wooden frames.
Coopers assembled hundreds of barrels for fresh water, salted fish, oil, wine, and medicinal herbs.
Rope makers twisted fibers into cables thicker than a man's arm.
Signal towers overlooked the harbor, their colored flags conveying messages to incoming vessels.
Navigation beacons stood at the harbor entrance, guiding captains through dangerous currents.
Floating repair platforms drifted between anchored ships.
Cargo warehouses stretched for entire streets.
Everything worked together.
Everything had purpose.
Yun stopped beside a crane whose counterweight was much smaller than its cargo.
"That cannot balance the load."
The dock engineer glanced at him. "It doesn't."
He tapped the central axle. A faint Weight inscription flashed beneath the housing.
"The stone only gives the system something stable to adjust."
His attention shifted toward the guards and adventurers filling the harbor.
The variety of equipment astonished him even more.
Some warriors wore armor carved from living wood whose branches still slowly grew.
Others fought inside crystal breastplates that glowed with internal light.
One cultivator possessed flowing armor made entirely from moving water.
Another appeared wrapped in living vines reinforced by hardened bark.
There were breastplates woven from giant insect shells, helmets sculpted from polished coral, shields grown from enormous mushrooms, and gauntlets forged from black volcanic glass.
Weapons proved even stranger.
Swords of ice.
Spears formed from compressed wind.
Stone hammers floating beside their owners without visible support.
Living whips made from thorny vines.
Bows grown from spirit trees.
Metal chains that moved like serpents.
Even blades formed entirely from condensed lightning.
Yun Che felt as though an invisible wall inside his mind quietly shattered.
Yun Che had always known that steel was not the world's only material.
Knowing was different from standing before an entire harbor built from wood, rope, water, wind, steam, runes and coordinated human labor.
For the first time, he understood how narrow his idea of craftsmanship had remained.
High above the bustling streets...
Lei Zhenyu observed something entirely different.
His eyes rarely lingered upon merchants or machines.
Instead...
He searched the crowds.
Sword.
Sword.
Sword.
Every cultivator carrying a blade immediately drew his attention.
A wandering island swordsman wearing a weathered travelling cloak and carrying two curved blades.
A scarred mercenary whose greatsword looked almost as large as its owner.
An elderly man carrying nothing but a bamboo sword.
He notices the elderly bamboo-sword carrier and sensed nothing from him. Lei approached him, expecting a hidden master, only for the man to say.
"I use it to knock fruit from trees."
Lei remained suspicious because no ordinary fruit-picker walks like that.
He continued his watch of all swordsman and women he came across.
Every stance.
Every step.
Every grip upon the hilt.
Lei quietly memorized them all.
To him...
Every stranger represented another lesson.
Perhaps...
Another future duel.
Rivergate's greatest wonder, however...
Was neither its ships nor its markets.
It was its people.
A towering River Scaleborn negotiated peacefully with a human merchant over crates of dried fish.
Several elegant Jade-Coil Naga glided through the rain-swollen canals with graceful ease, their serpentine tails barely disturbing the water as they carried baskets of pearls and medicinal river plants.
Whitewing Clans resembling white swans walked proudly through the streets wearing beautifully embroidered robes.
Broadbill Riverfolk merchants loudly argued over cargo prices while waddling from ship to ship.
Children of different races chased one another through puddles without caring who belonged where.
Yun Che had read about the riverborn clans. He had seen crude illustrations of naga merchants and white-winged people in old travel records.
Knowing they existed had not prepared him for watching them argue over fish prices, carry children on their shoulders or complain about the rain like everyone else.
---------------------
By midday, the rain had softened into a fine mist that drifted through Rivergate like a silver veil.
Jin Wei suddenly clapped his hands together.
"I've been showing you everyone else's businesses all morning."
He puffed out his chest proudly.
"Now it's time to show you ours."
Yun Che raised an eyebrow.
"Your family has a business here too?"
"Of course!"
Jin Wei grinned.
"You think merchants become rich by owning one shop?"
"My family has been expanding for years."
"They're finally entering shipbuilding."
Bao Kun nodded proudly.
"It took forever to convince Uncle Jin."
"He kept saying ships eat money faster than monsters."
"They do," Jin Wei admitted. "But they also earn it."
As they walked, he explained that their family had deliberately chosen Rivergate instead of Goldriver City.
"Goldriver is where all the great merchant houses compete."
"The biggest merchant families already control most of the kingdom's waterborne trade."
"And the Lord of Goldriver owns a large share of the import and export business."
He lowered his voice conspiratorially.
"Starting there would mean every move we made would be watched."
"So Father chose Rivergate."
"Less attention."
"More room to grow."
"So, Father bought a controlling share in one of Rivergate's older shipyards," Jin explained. "They have the craftsmen. We provide the capital, materials and trade contracts."
Yun Che nodded appreciatively.
"That... actually sounds sensible."
"It occasionally happens."
The streets gradually widened as they approached the heart of the city.
Then...
Lin Xia stopped walking.
"...Oh..."
The others followed her gaze.
Stretching across the immense river was a bridge unlike anything any of them had imagined.
It reached so far into the distance that the opposite end appeared softened by rain and mist.
The bridge measured nearly a kilometer in length.
Forty meters wide.
Rows of market carts travelled across it side by side without crowding.
Massive stone towers anchored both banks, while two reinforced pillars rose from the river near the bridge's centre. Inside them rested iron gears larger than houses, connected to the movable central span.
Jin Wei smiled proudly.
"Rivergate's Skywater Bridge."
Yun Che slowly walked closer.
"...It moves?"
"It has to."
Jin Wei pointed toward the center.
"The middle section can separate."
"Huge gears beneath the bridge rotate the supports."
"Formation arrays reduced the span's effective weight, while the gears raised it high enough for the largest ships to pass."
"When the largest ships arrive..."
"...the center rises so they can pass beneath."
Yun Che simply stared.
Even with memories from another world...
Seeing such engineering combined with cultivation left him speechless.
The gears weren't merely mechanical.
Thousands of formation lines glowed faintly across their surfaces, strengthening the metal, reducing friction, and distributing force throughout the bridge.
Cultivation...
Had not replaced engineering.
It had expanded it.
Lin Xia slowly ran her fingers along the carved railing.
"I've seen bridges..."
She whispered.
"But never one that feels..."
"...alive."
The constant hum of formations beneath their feet almost resembled a heartbeat.
For several minutes...
None of them hurried onward.
Eventually, they crossed into one of the city's industrial districts.
The smell changed immediately.
Salt.
Fresh-cut timber.
Hot metal.
Boiling resin.
Dozens of hammers echoed across the waterfront.
Workers hauled enormous bones using cranes while blacksmiths forged rivets the size of a man's forearm.
"This is it."
Jin Wei spread his arms dramatically.
"Our family's future."
Before them rested an unfinished ship so enormous that it almost resembled a fortress lying on its side.
Its skeleton stretched across an entire dry dock.
Scaffolding climbed its flanks like vines upon a mountain.
Hundreds of craftsmen moved across the framework with practiced coordination.
Yun Che slowly circled the vessel.
"...This isn't wood."
"Mostly not."
Jin Wei smiled.
"The frame uses refined steel."
"The ribs are reinforced with the bones of Deepwater Leviathans and Ironback River Dragons."
Bao Kun proudly slapped one of the exposed ribs.
The deep metallic sound echoed through the dock.
"Storm-resistant."
"Impact-resistant."
"Flexible enough to survive the river twisting beneath it."
"And the bones naturally guide Water Qi."
Jin Wei nodded.
"Exactly."
"Traditional wooden ships work."
"But these survive storms that would tear ordinary vessels apart."
Yun Che looked upward.
The vessel's curved ribs reminded him of enormous whale bones.
It was beautiful.
Not because it was elegant.
But because every beam, every plate, every support existed for a purpose.
He found himself mentally sketching the materials and the shape into his mind for future use.
A sudden cheer erupted from somewhere nearby.
Then another.
More voices quickly followed.
Jin Wei blinked.
"What's happening?"
The group hurried toward the gathering crowd.
People had formed a large circle near one of the flooded training platforms extending into the river.
As they pushed through...
Yun Che immediately recognized the white-and-blue robes.
Lei Zhenyu.
"...Of course."
Shen Rui sighed.
"I leave him alone for half an hour..."
"...and he finds another duel."
The young swordsman stood calmly upon the river itself.
Thin streams of Lightning Qi flowed beneath his feet, allowing him to stand effortlessly atop the gently rippling water.
Opposite him stood his opponent.
Or perhaps...
Flowed.
The being towered nearly three meters tall.
Its body appeared entirely composed of translucent blue liquid.
Light refracted through smooth limbs that shifted almost imperceptibly with every movement, as though the creature had no fixed form.
Its narrow face rose into an angular crown of crystalline spikes resembling frozen waves.
Dark, deep-set eyes glowed from within its watery head.
Instead of skin...
Its entire body shimmered like a flowing river held together by will alone.
Its left arm slowly lengthened.
Water condensed.
Compressed.
Hardened.
Within seconds...
The arm had transformed into a massive curved blade of gleaming azure water.
The surrounding spectators applauded excitedly.
"A Waterfolk warrior!"
"Against a lightning swordsman!"
"This'll be good!"
Lei slowly drew his sword.
His expression remained perfectly calm.
Across from him, the Waterfolk warrior smiled.
Its voice sounded strangely musical.
"You wished to test blades."
"So let us test them."
Lightning danced faintly across Lei's sword.
The river beneath them rippled.
Standing on the shore, Shen Rui slowly closed his eyes.
"...Unbelievable."
Lin Xia looked toward him.
"What?"
He pointed toward the river.
"He's fighting..."
"...a Waterfolk..."
"...on water."
Silence.
Then Bao Kun blinked.
"...When you put it like that..."
Shen Rui rubbed his temples.
"That's like challenging a fish to a swimming competition."
Jin Wei burst into laughter.
Yun Che couldn't help smiling.
Only Lei Zhenyu...
Could look at an obvious terrain disadvantage...
And sincerely think,
"Yes."
"This seems perfectly fair."
Meanwhile, out upon the rain-speckled river, lightning began to crackle through the grey afternoon sky as the towering Waterfolk raised its liquid blade.
The duel...
Was about to begin.