Zheng Que immediately turned toward the voice. A figure appeared above the city wall: a middle-aged man wearing a moon-white robe beneath soft armor, with a long saber strapped to his back. His aura showed that he was at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. Perhaps because his cultivation had absorbed too much yin energy over the years, a thick black aura also clung to him...
The middle-aged cultivator was now studying Zheng Que carefully as well.
Clang, clatter...
Hearing their Immortal Master's words, the guards on either side of the gate promptly lowered their bows and blades and stepped aside.
Zheng Que nodded slightly to the middle-aged cultivator, then walked toward the city gate.
Once he had passed through the thick city wall and emerged from the gate tunnel, a long-missed clamor of human voices greeted him.
There were people hawking wares, haggling over prices, drumming up business, and calling out their foods for sale... A few children ran around the stalls, chasing and playing. In the distance, chickens crowed and dogs barked; people scolded and joked. All that warmth and bustle blended into a scene of peace and prosperity.
Though it was also daytime, the county town's streets were far busier than those of Changfu Town. There was even a hint of carefree, ordinary life about the place.
Clearly, with cultivators stationed in the county town, ordinary people did not live in constant fear as they did in Changfu Town.
As Zheng Que was thinking this, the middle-aged cultivator in the moon-white robe, with a long saber on his back, suddenly came to his side and cupped his hands. "I am Lin Zhiyue. May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?"
Zheng Que turned to look at Lin Zhiyue and promptly returned the salute. "You're too kind. I'm Zheng Que.