On the path through the peach grove, Ye Tong strolled along with his hands behind his back. He could sense that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the Peach Garden Inn grounds was much denser than outside. He even had the faint feeling that the entire Peach Garden Inn was enveloped by an array formation. However, despite observing for a long while, he did not dare draw a conclusion.
The sound of babbling water came from not far away.
Ye Tong followed the path onward and soon saw a glittering river. Yet what made his footsteps abruptly halt was the familiar face he saw across the river.
Mu Qianlan?
Why was she here?
Ye Tong's gaze swept over Lan Tianyu, who stood beside Mu Qianlan with a veil covering her face. Then he turned around without hesitation and headed back the way he had come.
He did not dislike Mu Qianlan, but he was very afraid of trouble.
As the saying went: beauties were calamities.
Mu Qianlan's beauty was far too outstanding. Her phoenix brows and bright eyes seemed to steal souls with every glance; her delicate little nose, her skin as white as snow, and her scarlet lips like a single red plum blossom amid winter snow gave her an aloof yet bewitching air. She was practically a fairy descended from a painted brocade scroll. Women like her were sweet honey that drew bees and butterflies wherever they went.
Ye Tong had only recently arrived in the county city and knew little about the place. Although he had several acquaintances, getting into trouble was still hardly something worth celebrating. Therefore, he intended to avoid Mu Qianlan.
After passing through the peach grove, Ye Tong saw Medicine Slave standing before the pavilion, looking around for him. The female attendant named Duo Lan stood quietly behind Medicine Slave. Once Ye Tong approached, he asked, "Is it settled?"
Medicine Slave smiled. "It is. Ren-character Pavilion."
Duo Lan stepped forward several paces and said with a smile, "Please follow me, honored guests. I will take you to the pavilion you have rented."
"Thank you for the trouble." Ye Tong nodded lightly.
Ren-character Pavilion, Number Twenty-Eight.
Although this ancient and elegant pavilion was not small compared to those nearby, Ye Tong had seen larger pavilions within the Peach Garden Inn. Perhaps those were the Di-character Pavilion or the Tian-character Pavilion.
Inside, the carved beams and painted rafters were exquisite and refined.
After Duo Lan took her leave, Ye Tong went to the second floor. Looking over the layout inside, he sighed. "A small Di-character Pavilion costs two hundred taels of blue silver per day. That truly is expensive. What a pity!"
Medicine Slave asked, "What is a pity?"
Ye Tong said, "It is a pity that we will not be living in the county city for long. Otherwise, we could buy a large tract of land, build an inn grander than this one, with lovelier scenery and more buildings. Then we could do nothing every day except hold an abacus and calculate how much silver we collected."
"Cough, cough..."
Medicine Slave was amused by Ye Tong's "grand ambition." He said, "Little Master, land in the county city is extremely precious. Besides, without power or influence, even if one has money, it is difficult to buy a large stretch of land."
Ye Tong smiled. "We may have neither power nor influence, but we have connections! Do not forget that Mu Xiaochen, the son of the Zifu County King, still owes me a favor. If I made such a request, would he not eagerly help arrange it for me? He might even help drive the price down to the very lowest."
"That is true!" Medicine Slave said with a laugh.
At the mention of Mu Xiaochen, Medicine Slave's expression shifted. He asked, "Little Master, now that we have arrived in the county city, do you intend to visit Mu Xiaochen?"
Ye Tong hesitated for a moment before saying, "Of course I will see him, but there is no rush. Let us wait. First, we should sell the pills we brought and save up more money."
Medicine Slave smiled. "Pills are treasures every cultivator dreams of obtaining. They will not be difficult to sell. You saw it on the road here, did you not? Many people set up stalls in front of the pavilions to sell goods. Tomorrow, I only need to set up a stall before our pavilion, and people will come to buy."
Ye Tong said, "Pills are not cheap. Who could buy so many?"
Medicine Slave smiled. "This is the Peach Garden Inn. Everyone who can stay here has considerable wealth. The only question is whether anyone is willing to spend money on pills."
Ye Tong said, "Set it up! Sell whatever we can. We only need to keep enough for ourselves."
Dinner was bought by Medicine Slave from the Peach Garden Inn's kitchen building. Ye Tong remained in the pavilion cultivating. The injuries he had sustained days ago had not fully healed, but the burden caused by his great loss of blood affected him the most. As night fell, red lanterns lit up one after another throughout Peach Garden Inn, adorning the place in breathtaking splendor.
At some point, a fine drizzle began to fall from the sky. The roads that had once seen many passersby were now nearly deserted. Occasionally, inn attendants hurried past, only to vanish at the far end of the road moments later.
Ye Tong had no desire to sleep. For several days aboard the Dragon Lion Eagle, he had done nothing but cultivate and sleep, leaving him full of energy. He stood alone by the window, watching the misty rain outside while silently calculating how long it would take to break through to the Qi Refining Fifth Level at his current cultivation speed.
He knew that he had to become stronger.
At the mountaintop camp established by the Baishun Merchant Guild, that beast tide, though not particularly large in scale, had already given Ye Tong a faint sense of urgency. He did not want to leave behind regrets while he was weak, so he could only hasten his path to becoming stronger.
He raised his head and gazed up at the firmament.
Ye Tong's heart suddenly trembled. An absurd yet bold thought sprang up without warning. He had failed his tribulation and his soul had inexplicably crossed into this world. That meant this world truly existed. It was only separated from Earth by spatial dimensions, a spatial barrier, or perhaps the distant rivers of stars in the universe.
If his strength could continue growing, and if one day he could shatter this world's spatial barrier and roam freely through the rivers of stars, would he then have the ability to find Earth and return to it?
Or perhaps, once cultivators in this world broke through to a certain level, could they ascend to the immortal realm? If they could reach the immortal realm, could he still find Senior Disciple Brother and the others?
Thought after thought churned through Ye Tong's mind. His excitement made the blood and energy throughout his body boil, until fluctuations of aura from the distance roused him from his fantasies.
"What is going on over there?"
Ye Tong clearly saw a thin man dressed in black training clothes, his face covered by a mask, rapidly leaping over from afar. Behind the mysterious man, dozens of elite soldiers in armor, carrying blades and swords, pursued him with murderous momentum.
"A criminal or a bandit?" Curiosity appeared in Ye Tong's eyes, but he quietly stepped back so that the mysterious man and the elite soldiers behind him would not notice him.
"Little Master."
A low voice came from behind him.
Medicine Slave hunched over and swept his gaze outside the window. He slowly said, "It is raining, and the weather has turned cold. It is time to close the window and rest."
Ye Tong did not close the window, because he knew that doing so now would inevitably alert the people outside.
A moment later, after the figures outside had disappeared, Ye Tong closed the window. Turning to Medicine Slave, he said, "This Peach Garden Inn does not seem very peaceful either. Is it common to see officials and soldiers chasing people through the county city?"
"Not at all."
Medicine Slave shook his head. "The county city's public order is actually very good, because the County King governs well. Everyone knows one thing: do not engage in large-scale slaughter within the county city. If it is merely a private duel between cultivators, no one will care. But if ordinary people are implicated, then the city defense guards will hunt them down."
"Mm." Ye Tong did not ask further. To him, what had just happened was merely a small interlude in life, one in which he had not even played a part.
The morning after the rain made the world seem washed clean. The sky was azure, the air fresh, and everything before his eyes seemed brimming with life. Ye Tong pushed open the door and discovered that Medicine Slave was already awake, chopping firewood and lighting a fire outside. Somehow, he had even acquired a simple stove and an iron pot.
"Does Peach Garden Inn not have a kitchen building? Why cook for ourselves?" Ye Tong asked. They had stayed here for convenience in the first place.
Medicine Slave shook his head. "This old servant just went to the kitchen building and wanted to borrow their utensils to prepare medicinal food, but they refused no matter what. Therefore, I went outside and bought a simple stove and an iron pot. Little Master, please wait one hour. Then you will have medicinal food to take."
Ye Tong shook his head with a bitter smile.
He knew Medicine Slave meant well, so he could not be bothered to interfere with his fussing. Looking at the peach blossoms filling his view outside, he returned to the pavilion, carried out a long table and a chair, and placed them by the roadside in front of the entrance. Then he took out the pills he had refined and arranged them on the table.
"Pills for sale." Ye Tong wrote those four words in sweeping strokes, like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, on a sheet of rice paper. Then he found a wooden board and pasted the paper onto it.
"Well, well, someone is actually selling pills here? Is that real or fake?" A surprised voice rang out.
The newcomers were two young men. The one who had spoken looked honest and simple, while the other had a scar at the corner of his eye and wore a frivolous, cynical expression.
"It has to be fake. Could a shabby place like this have pills for sale? What kind of joke is that? Rather than believe there are real pills being sold here, I would rather believe there are girls from Piaoxiang Tower here to warm beds." The cynical young man rolled his eyes.
"That is true!" As the two spoke, they gradually walked away.
Watching their retreating backs, Ye Tong's lips curled with helplessness. It was truly difficult to do a little business these days. Where had all the trust between people gone?
Several more people later came to the stall, but they wore doubtful expressions and never bought any pills. Only a middle-aged man picked up a jade bottle and examined it for quite some time before asking Ye Tong about its price.
One hour later, Medicine Slave filled a bowl with medicinal food and brought it before Ye Tong. He glanced at the few people who had just arrived at the stall before saying, "Little Master, your health matters most. Eat the medicinal food first!"
"Mm." Seeing that the people before him had no intention of asking about prices, Ye Tong could not be bothered waiting any longer. He reached out and accepted the porcelain bowl.
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