It took a great deal of effort for Cheng Yun to describe what kind of place this was to her.
Thus, Heroine Yin looked at him with eager eyes and nodded. "I understand, but how long am I going to stay in this ghost... honorable place?"
"How long? Hmm... I can only give you an accurate reply tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Then is there food here?" After seizing the Void Arrow, Heroine Yin had traveled day and night to break through a siege for more than half a month. During this time, she had clashed with renowned martial artists in the pugilistic world more than once, and her meals and lodging had been very rushed. After escaping the encirclement, she only had time to take a bath, change into a fine and clean set of clothes, and then she shattered the void and came here. Right now, she was extremely hungry.
"There's nothing here," Cheng Yun said, shaking his head. "There are hotels outside, but you have to pay."
"Then..." Yin Dan still looked at him eagerly. "Can you return my blade to me first? I spent a full two silver blocks on it."
"..." With a wave of Cheng Yun's hand, that Wild Goose Feather Blade, which looked like it had been through countless battles, flew back into her hand.
This move still gave Heroine Yin a profound shock. Therefore, after she took back her long saber, she no longer showed the fierce and murderous intent of a tiger or wolf as she had previously, but instead stood silently in place and stared at them. She looked like an elementary school student waiting for the teacher to assign a task.
The Old Mage coughed and said, "We should solve the language problem first. We can't keep relying on the translation program to communicate after you leave the node space, can you?"
"That's true." Cheng Yun nodded and said, "You must have a way to solve this since you say so?"
"As long as I copy all the language systems of your realm to her." The Old Mage smiled, tapped his crystal ball staff, and looked at Yin Dan again. "This ranger, could you walk a little closer?"
"I'm not that stupid!" Heroine Yin shook her head and said.
The Old Mage looked helplessly at Cheng Yun, and Cheng Yun instantly understood, controlling the node space to send Heroine Yin over.
"..." Heroine Yin, who had inexplicably appeared beside the two of them, could not help but wear a complicated expression on her face—
To think that she, Yin Dan, was originally considered a somewhat famous figure in the pugilistic world. Wherever she went and reported her moniker, even if she wasn't treated respectfully as an honored guest, she wouldn't have been subjected to this kind of treatment no matter what. She never expected that after borrowing a holy artifact to shatter the void, she, who should have ascended to the Upper Realm, would inexplicably appear in such a boundless and barren place and run into these two freaks. She didn't dare to display even the slightest bit of her martial arts skills.
Forget it, forget it. Even if these two people aren't the predecessors rumored in the pugilistic world to have once shattered the void, they are still big shots with strong backgrounds in the Upper Realm. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to hold important positions in a place like this, Heroine Yin calculated inwardly. Since everyone who shatters the void goes through this, I, Yin Dan, had better not offend them, so as to avoid stirring up trouble when I reach the Upper Realm in the future.
When I shattered the void, I took an oath—to leave that world behind, forget the past of the pugilistic world from then on, and live an upright life in the Upper Realm.
Thus, Heroine Yin actually closed her eyes and stopped looking, lest she reflexively draw her blade out of conditioned reflex.
A moment later—
"Hey, this, this... is this too magical?" Heroine Yin's face was full of astonishment, and along with it, her yearning for the Upper Realm increased quite a bit.
"Alright." Cheng Yun stood in front of her holding his mobile phone. "Now, let's continue the registration."
"Oh, okay." Heroine Yin stood straight.
"Name Yin Dan, gender female, no problem, right?" Cheng Yun looked her up and down, finding it hard to imagine that a girl less than one hundred and sixty centimeters tall was actually a pugilistic big shot.
"No problem."
"Good, where do you come from?" Cheng Yun asked.
"I come from... where do I come from?" The heroine was somewhat confused. "I just came from there, didn't I?"
"Where is 'there'?" Cheng Yun felt a bit tired. "People who come to this place don't necessarily all come from the same place! You need to let me know where you are from so that I can let you leave this node space."
"I... I was born in the Songshi Kingdom... in Biyu County, Hengzhou Prefecture... in a small village in what's-its-name town. Then most of the time I settled down in Hengzhou Prefecture, and finally the place where I seized the void token and shattered the void seemed to be..." Heroine Yin frantically searched her memory. "...Right, in the forest west of the Dwarf Kingdom, neither the volcano nor the coast should... Hey, why are you looking at me with that weird look?"
"I'm asking what the name of the world you came from is, Heroine." Cheng Yun was quite helpless.
"The world... what's its name?" Heroine Yin was dumbfounded for a long time. "It's just called the world! What other name do you need..."
"Fine, that's understandable." Cheng Yun nodded. "Then your continent... I mean, does the earth have a name? Like our Shenzhou, Jiuzhou, and so on."
Heroine Yin was dumbfounded for a long time again. "It's just called the earth! Are you teasing me on purpose?"
"I get it." Cheng Yun silently typed the four characters "Songshi World" into the mobile spreadsheet, raised his head, and saw that the heroine was fishing a four-fold folded piece of paper out of her bosom. She carefully unfolded the paper—the paper quality was thin and poor, making a rustling sound—and handed it to him.
"What is this thing?" Cheng Yun looked down. There were quite a few printed words on it, and a scent of printing ink hit him in the face.
The problem was that he didn't recognize a single one of those words.
"A travel pass, issued by the government." Seeing him take the paper, the heroine abruptly stepped back. "Genuine! It's enough to prove that I'm a pugilistic person with a clean record."
"What kind of pugilistic world do you mix in if you don't have a criminal record as a pugilistic person?" Cheng Yun muttered, then casually handed this travel pass to the Old Mage. "Old sir, take a look."
"Pugilistic people don't necessarily have to commit crimes. The government has the laws of the government, and the pugilistic world has the rules of the pugilistic world," Heroine Yin retorted with dissatisfaction. "As long as we don't go too far, the government has never bothered to come and ask questions."
"Blocking is worse than dredging."
"Right, right, right! I haven't read many books."
Cheng Yun looked at the Old Mage. Seeing the Old Mage nod, he said to Yin Dan, "Fine, we'll consider your background clean for now. But our place has nothing to do with the government of your world, and the utility of this piece of paper is also limited. Furthermore, we still can't confirm whether you forged it. You should understand this reasoning, right?"
"I understand."
"If you understand, I'll continue the registration." Cheng Yun nodded and said, "What is your destination?"
"The Upper Realm, I'm going to the Upper Realm!"
"..." Knowing that asking further wouldn't yield any answers, Cheng Yun very cleanly filled in the two words "Upper Realm" in the destination column, and then asked, "Why are you going to the Upper Realm?"
"Do you have to ask this too?"
"Yes, please cooperate with my work." Cheng Yun said with a straight face.
"Because... legend has it that once you reach the Upper Realm, you can break through human shackles, enter the Dao through martial arts, and reach the realm of a Martial Immortal." As Heroine Yin spoke, she paused, a trace of yearning appearing in her eyes. "Moreover, the Upper Realm has no bitter winter all year round, and spring is warm with flowers blooming. There are no grievances, vendettas, and killings in the pugilistic world, people's hearts are not so insidious and terrifying, and ordinary people are not at the mercy of dignitaries. There are no hereditary slaves and harsh laws that make it impossible for people to live, and everyone can live the way they want to live."
Cheng Yun was silent for a moment. "Who told you that?"
"An old friend of mine in the past," Heroine Yin said. "Later he died, and his whole family was killed."
"Alright, the registration ends here," Cheng Yun said, putting away his phone. Heroine Yin's words obviously embodied a certain group's definition and yearning for a better life in another world, and he obviously wouldn't go and smash this vase.
"Done? Can I leave?" the heroine asked.
"Almost, there is one last question." Cheng Yun looked at her seriously and asked, "Are you sure that after you arrive in our world, you won't have any thoughts of destroying the world, and that you will obey the laws of our world and not make trouble in our world?"
"Ahem." The Old Mage stood out and said, "Alright, Cheng Yun. Given her level of martial arts proficiency, aside from infectious diseases and otherworldly bacteria, she is not enough to pose a threat to your world."
"Just routine questioning." Cheng Yun shrugged.
The heroine had a blank look on her face. "..."
What on earth was all this!
However, from their words, she did understand one principle—even if this world wasn't the Upper Realm, it wasn't a place where she could run amok.
"Can I go out now?" the heroine asked.
"Yes, but we have to make some rules clear! This is protection for our world, and it's also protection for you."
"What rules?"
Cheng Yun originally wanted to say 'I haven't thought of it yet', but considering that this was a humanoid beast who was one meter fifty-five tall, could jump seven or eight meters high, and still complained that she hadn't broken through human shackles, he stretched out a hand and said, "First, you cannot display your martial arts proficiency in front of any person in our world, including jumping several meters high, crushing steel pipes with your bare hands, running at top speed, and so on. You also know that people in our world can't reach this level, and if you do reach it, you'll likely be captured to be sliced up and researc... burned to death."
Cheng Yun constantly kept his heavy responsibility of protecting the world in mind.
"Understood!" the heroine nodded and said.
"Second, you must understand that I brought you out based on humanitarian care for you, but after going out you cannot run around everywhere. If you want to go out, you must get my permission, and you must listen to me in ordinary times for whatever you do. Otherwise, I can only catch you back and lock you up here," Cheng Yun said. "There are many roads in our world, and they are very complicated. It's easy for you to get lost when you go out."
"I, Yin Dan, have traveled far and wide for so many years. How could I get lost that easily!" Heroine Yin said, then nodded. "However, I've remembered everything you said, and I will obey."
"I haven't thought of what comes next yet, anyway you just need to listen to me," Cheng Yun said.
"Understood!" Heroine Yin said.
"Then you can pay your room rent now." As Cheng Yun spoke, he looked her hemp clothing up and down. "You will live in the mini single room! Room rent is 138, I'll give you a discount, let's call it 120, deposit 100."
"Ah?" Heroine Yin was stunned, and then mechanically reached out to her belt to untie a money pouch. She poured out five or six small square pieces that looked somewhat like they were made of nickel or aluminum, and handed them to Cheng Yun with a heartache-filled expression on her face, spreading them on her palm. "I only have this much left. If it's not enough... I can't help it either. Or else I'll sleep in the woodshed?"
"We don't have a woodshed here." Cheng Yun looked at those few coins in her hand with disgust.
"Ah? Don't you light fires to cook?"
Historically, they did not burn wood.
"Awesome, awesome." The heroine indicated that she couldn't afford to offend them. "Then what can I do? Is it cold here?"
"It's not cold."
"Oh! It's good that it's not cold!" Heroine Yin breathed a sigh of relief. "Sleeping on the street is fine with me. Pugilistic folks aren't bound by minor details!"
"Urban management will chase you away," Cheng Yun said casually. "Is there anything else valuable on you? You can also temporarily pawn it with me. As for these few coins of yours... you've already shattered the void, why keep them? Just throw them away!"
"A single coin can buy two steamed buns!" Heroine Yin was somewhat reluctant. She earnestly put those five or six coins back into the money pouch, hung it back on her waist, and patted it. Then she pondered for a moment and took out that travel pass. "Right now, the most valuable thing on my body is this travel pass. I spent half a silver block to buy it from a dealer..."
Before she finished speaking, she stopped, blinking her eyes as she looked at Cheng Yun. "Just tell me whether you want it or not!"
"It's useless for me to hold it! Speaking of which, as a girl, don't you have any gold or silver jewelry on you?" Cheng Yun expressed that he was very helpless, but seeing this heroine's embarrassed look, he had no choice but to sigh and say, "Then you can only work for your board and lodging."
"Great! No problem, just tell me what to make me do!" Heroine Yin was on the verge of rolling up her sleeves. "Having roamed the pugilistic world for so many years, what dirty or tiring work haven't I done!"
Before you continue