The roads near the ship district were always so clean and tidy, standing out from the rest of the city. In Ash City, Chen Jing was more familiar with those thatched huts, those shacks, those dirty alleys, and those pipe-like lanes.

Although, from Chen Jing's aesthetic point of view, the beautification here was just so-so, far inferior to the level of a small third-tier city before his transmigration—more cleaning and tidying than decoration, more paved stone slabs than trees and flowerbeds, and stone benches along the streets for people to rest—even so, only the central dock and the area near the main road in the ship district had this level of beautification.

Meijing Dojo is located at the intersection of the boat area and the chick area.

But it looks more like the boundary between the modern and the past. Along the smooth road are high-end residences, shops and hotels, while an area that appears out of nowhere, like a park, is like a naughty child sticking a little flower on a circuit board. The simple and elegant buildings remind Chen Jing of the temples in many period dramas.

Three flags are planted on the building of the Meijing Dojo. The tallest flag is a flag representing the former Song Dynasty. The plain flag with a green background has the Chinese characters for "Song" embroidered in gold and red.

Chen Jing knew that this flag was called the Great Moth Flag, a symbol of the state within the military, almost equivalent to the national flag.

Therefore, the reason why the Song Dynasty used green as the background for its flag is because, according to the Five Elements theory, the Qin Dynasty belonged to the Water element, and the Five Elements generate each other, with Water generating Wood. Therefore, the Song Dynasty, which succeeded the Qin Dynasty, belonged to the Wood element, and its flag should have a green background.

Even at the city hall, Chen Jing did not see the old Song Dynasty's large worm flag, but he did see it at the Meijing Dojo.

Beside the Great Insect Flag are two flags, one tall and one short. According to the old customs of the Song Dynasty, the second tallest flag on the left side of any Taoist temple or sect should be the Sword Command Flag, which symbolizes the "Sword Pavilion," the state religion of the Song Dynasty. The Sword Command Flag is a square rhombus shape, with a simple straight sword printed on it, and a landscape pattern next to the sword.

The shorter side usually displays the sect's or dojo's own logo. If it's a very small dojo, it may not have its own logo, or even display a flag, or the surname of the local leader.

The flag of the Meijing Dojo is very special. The design is a flame held up by two hands, which seems to be flickering on the cool-colored background.

Chen Jing's gaze passed over the flags and searched for something on the eaves.

His heart sank slightly; he still couldn't find the Xie Zhi sculpture.

Moreover, the architectural style of this building is quite different from the scene Chen Jing saw in the Source of Darkness.

Thus, Chen Jing's main suspects in Ash City were now limited to the prisoners still in the High Wall District.

Just as Chen Jing was about to turn and leave, an old man suddenly called out to him.

"Young man, do you wish to enter and cultivate?"

Chen Jing looked at the old man, who was dressed in plain white clothes. He was thin, with withered but strong arms, and a simple straight sword was tucked crookedly at his waist.

Chen Jing shook his head: "No, old man, I was just looking around."

The old man looked at the empty Meijing Dojo and said, "If you want to train, go in. Young people, don't think too much. Just be ambitious."

Chen Jing nodded politely, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

As he walked away, he seemed to hear a sigh of regret behind him.

"Is this some kind of young man who wants to join the Meijing Dojo but can only watch from the sidelines due to other objective reasons?" Chen Jing thought to himself, then put the thought out of his mind.

It was just a passing episode.

...

Chen Jing arrived at the high-walled area where the garrison was located. It seemed even more strictly controlled than the river area. Chen Jing didn't know if he could sneak in with a token from the Black Hand gang.

He thought for a moment, adjusted his state, activated noise invisibility, and headed towards the heavily guarded intersection.

As if taking a leisurely stroll, Chen Jing entered the heavily guarded high-walled area.

The high-walled area is guarded by professional soldiers. They are nominally part of the city guard, but they are not responsible for general security issues. Instead, they are responsible for defending against monsters.

On the surface, they are directly under the municipal government and governed by Lord Liu Hua. The city council allocates funds and provides them with food and pay. They are not anyone's private army, but the army of Ash City.

But in reality, any system needs people to implement it. When the city council is full of Lu Gang's cronies, when City Lord Liu Hua becomes Lu Gang's spokesperson and mouthpiece, and when the highest commander of the garrison in the High Wall District, the captain of the city guard, is Lu Gang's younger brother Lu Tie, all of this is meaningless talk. The city guard is practically just one of the peripheral forces of the Black Hand gang.

The soldiers here present a strange scene, with equal emphasis on melee and ranged weapons, especially bayonet training. Chen Jing walked over and saw several soldiers who were not on duty practicing using bayonets.

As for long-range shooting target practice, there is very little of it. This is due to the environment of Ash City. Ash City is shrouded in fog all year round. When there are more monsters and they invade the city, the fog becomes even thicker, which greatly limits the use of long-range weapons.

The buildings in the high-walled area are generally low, presenting a contrast to the tall walls. Chen Jing had occasionally heard Uncle Zhang, who guarded the city, mention that the true "body" of the high-walled area was inside and beneath the high walls.

However, Chen Jing was not interested in the underground part; the scene he saw in the Source of Darkness was clearly an open-air scene.

Chen Jing walked around the high-walled area for a long time, and he still didn't feel tired despite using noise cloaking. However, he still didn't see the Xie Zhi sculpture.

Even the prison that Chen Jing originally thought it was, there were no xiezhi sculptures there, and not even many people were seriously guarding it.

Chen Jing walked over and heard them talking about how many prisoners had been taken away, truckload after truckload, and now there were hardly any people left in the prison.

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