Entering the City Gates (3)

She took out the jade bottle from her scented pouch carefully.

“Senior, what do you think of this?”

The long-faced woman took the bottle, uncorked it, and sniffed. She did not expect that this person would be in possession of such a valuable item. She retrieved a small jade bottle from her sleeve and carefully dropped one drop in, then gave Zheng Wan two stones that were as smooth as jade and pushed a gleaming, golden wooden tag about half the size of a palm over to her.

“Channel your spiritual power in.”

Zheng Wan had not worked in vain for the past half a year. With the lightning-struck wood, she managed to stabilise her cultivation level in the Gateway stage. It was just that there was too little vital energy in the mortal realm, making it unsuitable for cultivation after all. However, one’s soul power was not restricted to one’s environment, therefore, under Granny Jin’s supervision, her soul power had made great progress.

When she pointed at the middle of her brows with her left hand, a luminous ray shot out and went straight into the wooden tag. A moment later, the words “Zheng Wan” appeared on it. A small “Other” flashed in the upper right corner, then disappeared.

“This tag can only be used for one month. After that, you will need to pay fifty Yuan beads every month before you can move around the city. If this tag is lost, you will need to pay two hundred Yuan beads to get a replacement.”

Zheng Wan was dumbfounded as she listened to this unconventional money-grabbing method. Fifty Yuan beads every month, and two hundred Yuan beads for a replacement; these groups of old cultivators were really… not at all acting in a way befitting of a sage; there was a heavy stink of profit-seeking.

She asked, “And mortals do not need to pay?”

“Naturally,” said the long-faced woman matter-of-factly. “They are so poor. All right, off you go.”

Seeing that Zheng Wan was still in a daze, she even gave a kind reminder, “In two months, the main orthodox sects will be recruiting new disciples in the major cities. If you can enter a sect, your status as an unregistered resident will naturally be settled by the sect for you.”

Only then did Zheng Wan break into a sincere smile.

“Thank you, Senior.”

Zheng Wan put away her things and turned to leave, but the long-faced woman suddenly called out to her, “Young cultivator, us cultivators fight with the Heavens for our Way. Matters of the heart… there’s no need to force them.”

Zheng Wan had long realised that although this person looked a little mean, her nature was extremely kind and gentle. She nodded.

“Mm!”

The long-faced woman watched the young cultivator’s tears melt into a smile before walking off, then said to somewhere behind her:

“Enough of the good show. Still not coming out?”

“Eldest Sister,” Li Siyi walked out thoughtfully. “Little Junior Brother did indeed make a trip to the mortal world earlier, could it be that…”

The long-faced woman glared.

“You had better not talk about other people’s affairs. Bring the things here.”

Li Siyi handed the items to his biological sister; he was still determined to look for Little Junior Brother to find out what actually happened.

After Zheng Wan parted with the woman, she went back to the city gates, and indeed passed through without any issue.

Zheng Zhai, Madam Wang and Li Jin were waiting at a spot not far from the city gates, their faces full of worry. When they saw her coming, they breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

“Wanwan, I just inquired about it. Fighting is not allowed in the city, and all cultivators need something called ‘Yuan beads’.”

Zheng Zhai wiped his forehead. The sun above his head had caused him to sweat profusely. When they were in the moral realm, it was already late autumn, so they were all wrapped in fur clothes. However, it was the height of summer here, and the heat made one’s entire body burn up.

This patriarch of the Zheng family was a top leader with power and wealth in the mortal world. He never thought that he would actually be stumped by issues with money after coming here. Seeing that they would have to depend on his daughter for everything, he couldn’t help but feel an emptiness in his heart.

Ji Wang also looked at Zheng Wan eagerly, like a child waiting to be fed: “That’s right, Wan’niang, we have no money. What should we do?”

“No matter. I used an item to exchange for some with a Senior just now. Let’s first find out more from someone familiar with this place.”

Banking on her status as a cultivator, Zheng Wan randomly stopped a mortal to ask about the situation.

Unexpectedly, she frightened the mortal. At the age where all his hair was white, he actually immediately fell straight to his knees and kept kowtowing to her, “Immortal, immortal spare my life…”

Zheng Wan and Zheng Zhai exchanged looks and frowned in unison. This display only demonstrated that living here as a mortal was worrying. Immortals and mortals… there seemed to be a huge gap between the two.

“It’s all right, old gentleman, I merely want to ask some questions.”

Zheng Zhai leaned over and helped him up.

He yielded great power in the mortal realm, but right now, he also had quite a way with low, soothing words. He calmed the old man, who then said, “If the immortal has any inquiries, this old man will tell you everything I know without any reservations.”

“Then, you shall be our guide today.”

Zheng Wan thought for a moment, then tentatively took out one of the jade accessories that had just been treated like garbage by another. “This will serve as your wages.”

She thought she was going to be spurned again, but the white-haired old man actually took it with great gratitude and really began to act as their guide.

To be old and not die is to be a thief; this old man had knelt so readily from the beginning—naturally, having lived as a mortal In this city for so long, he had his ways.

First, he led Zheng Wan and the others to the Eight Treasures Shop. Zheng Wan exchanged more than half of her cherry dew and bought a map, rented a house, and even bought two mortal servants to wait on them.

The old man looked at their appearance and guessed that they were visitors from another realm, so he went ahead and told them a lot about the local customs and practices, which the group listened to in stunned stupefaction.