Inside the largest teahouse in Xiushui City, in the Qingyun Empire of Central Continent’s Eastern Region, a group of blue-robed cultivators entered, grumbling and cursing.
“Outrageous! This is the first time I’ve ever seen a mortal city charge cultivators an entrance fee—and accept nothing but spirit stones!”
“Exactly! One mid-grade spirit stone per person. Ten people, ten stones. Has Xiushui’s city lord gone mad with poverty?”
“Don’t remind me. Apparently, the city lord isn’t running things anymore. His son is. He introduced the new rule a few days ago.”
“I think he knows there’s something valuable in Xiushui and is doing it deliberately. Haven’t you heard? Even the Yaoshang Sect has arrived.”
“The Yaoshang Sect?”
At that name, the other patrons were startled. Who did not know that Yaoshang was the foremost sect of the immortal cultivation world? Whatever had drawn even its disciples to Xiushui could hardly be ordinary.
“Yaoshang, and the Taixuan Sect and Tianluo Dharma Sect that arrived a few days ago… Could there be an immortal’s tomb here?”
“What immortal’s tomb? If there really were one, cultivators would have overrun the entire city by now. There wouldn’t be anywhere left for mortals to stand!”
“I heard they’re here to capture a demonic creature. Didn’t several people disappear from the city recently? Supposedly, it carried them off.”
“Since when has Xiushui’s city lord loved his people so dearly? He’s even willing to pay immortals to exterminate a demon?”
“You haven’t heard? One of his concubines disappeared a few days ago too. That’s why he hired cultivators. As for the Yaoshang Sect…”
The speaker stopped, but everyone understood the unspoken implication. Even if they had truly come to hunt a demon, anything that warranted Yaoshang’s involvement had to be a powerful one. If the others could secure a share of the spoils, their reputations among Central Continent’s cultivation sects would rise considerably.
As each man pursued his own calculations, a young, casual voice drifted from a corner.
“I hear cultivators can cleanse their marrow and refine their bodies. The further their cultivation advances toward perfection, the more extraordinary their beauty becomes. I wonder what the immortals of the Yaoshang Sect look like?”
Everyone: “…”
Most of those present were sect cultivators or independent practitioners. Naturally, cultivation came first. Even their private calculations concerned how to turn parts of the demonic creature into magical treasures. For someone to suddenly focus on cultivators’ appearances seemed rather vulgar.
Yet when they turned toward the speaker, they found themselves at a loss for words.
Seated by a window in the corner was a youth in crimson brocade embroidered with gold. He looked seventeen or eighteen, his skin so fair it seemed almost sickly. His brow bones were perfectly shaped, lending depth to his dark eyes. A small shadow beneath each slightly upturned outer corner suggested the shape of a peach blossom. His nose was high and straight, his vividly colored lips faintly curved.
His jewelry was studded with spirit stones and precious jade, an extravagant display of wealth. Combined with his proud bearing, it suggested no ordinary background.
Yet there was not the slightest trace of spiritual energy about him. Whatever his wealth or birth, he was merely a mortal. No wonder he cared only whether the immortals were beautiful. Truly, ignorance knew no fear.
Worse still, the elderly servant beside him answered with complete seriousness.
“They must be exceptionally beautiful. Why else would they be called immortals?”
Anticipation immediately lit the youth’s face.
“If only I could see them for myself.”
“There will be an opportunity,” the servant replied.
“If only I could marry one and bring him home.”
“That is not impossible either.”
Everyone: “…”
Faced with the pair’s matter-of-fact expressions, the others could only stare. These were cultivators of the Yaoshang Sect! Never mind marrying one—even meeting one was hardly something an insignificant mortal could arrange on a whim.
At last, someone could not help asking, “May I ask who this young gentleman is?
The youth immediately cupped his hands in greeting and grinned.
“Zhong Yue.”
“Never heard of you.”
“Impossible.”
The man scoffed. “Why so arrogant, young fellow?”
“Because you were all cursing me just now.”
The youth smiled and introduced himself again.
“I happen to be Xiushui’s young city lord—the one driven so mad by poverty that he charges you all to enter.”
The man: “…”
Everyone: “…”
The entire teahouse fell deathly silent. Looking at the youth’s radiant smile, they found him utterly detestable.
【Aren’t you afraid they’ll beat you up?】
The little electronic voice sounded in his mind right on cue.
The youth—Song Liang—replied cheerfully, 【I am the young lord of Xiushui City, under the jurisdiction of the Qingyun Empire. A properly appointed public servant. Even if they wanted to attack me, they wouldn’t dare do it in front of so many witnesses.】
He had entered this instance seven days earlier. Unfortunately, his randomly assigned role was a sickly young city lord—a cannon-fodder villain—whose frail body had forced him to spend seven days in bed. Only today had he finally gone out.
Not because his health had improved, but because the system had told him Xie Yun was coming. The coordinates pointed to this very teahouse. Yet he had spent the entire morning drinking tea and listening to gossip without seeing anyone who might be Xie Yun.
Song Liang: 【Your main system isn’t running a scam, is it?】
3085: 【Of course not!】
Song Liang spread his hands. 【Then where’s my husband?】
3085: 【…】
While the little electronic voice stammered helplessly, the cultivators studied Song Liang’s lavish appearance with mounting resentment. Every ornament seemed to have been bought with the hard-earned wealth squeezed out of them.
Someone demanded indignantly, “Do you charge the Yaoshang Sect an entrance fee too?”
“I’d charge an immortal venerable,” Song Liang replied casually.
“…”
He really had gone mad with poverty.
The man could not help asking, “Aren’t you afraid the Yaoshang Sect will make trouble for you?”
“Not particularly. Major sects tend to value their reputations, and they can spare a few spirit stones. Independent cultivators, on the other hand, are poor and full of complaints.”
The independent cultivators: “…”
Paying a fee only to be insulted—and by a mortal boy without a scrap of cultivation—was infuriating. They gritted their teeth but dared not act. They were not fools. A city like Xiushui could hardly lack resources and backing. Besides, members of Yaoshang and other major sects were in the city. If they attacked rashly, those sects would intervene out of regard for the Qingyun Empire.
Thus, when the Yaoshang disciples arrived, they found more than half the teahouse glaring furiously at a mortal youth with no cultivation, as though he were some particularly loathsome demon.
Before they could examine him more closely, the youth suddenly stood. As though he had spotted something delightful, his eyes lit up, and he headed out of the teahouse.
Shortly after he left, every cultivator in the city sensed two tremendous surges of spiritual energy overhead. Their terrifying pressure became a dazzling light that blanketed the sky above Xiushui, eclipsing even the midday sun.
The powerful energy immediately activated the city’s protective formation. Even those cultivators who had taken to the air to investigate were trapped within. They could only watch a streak of seven-colored radiance fall from the sky beyond the city.
Meanwhile, Song Liang was eagerly running toward the dense forest outside the walls, following the system interface’s directions. Every so often, he checked his reflection in the screen, worried that his hair might have become untidy.
3085 could not resist a jibe.
【Stop preening. You’re handsome enough. Hurry up—ten meters ahead. Your husband is right there.】
Song Liang approached, anticipation fluttering in his chest.
“I wonder what he looks like in this instance.”
3085 sounded scornful. 【If he isn’t as handsome as he was last time, will you stop liking him?】
“Of course not.” Song Liang smiled. “Whatever he becomes, I’ll still love him.”
Then he parted the bushes before him and looked into the center of a patch of cracked, scorched earth, as though a fierce fire had swept over it.
There lay a fluffy bundle of pure white fur.
Song Liang: “?”
Before he could react, 3085’s voice rang out in his mind, astonished and delighted—
【Host, your husband’s turned into a dog! Do you still like him?】
Song Liang: “…”
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