Observing the City

"What a 'nuisance'!"

The shop assistant muttered, but Zhao Wu didn't hear clearly and looked at him blankly.

The 'pharmacist' shot the assistant a glare, opened the stone box, and squinted to examine it carefully. This was a rather lengthy process, but Zhao Wu had the 'patience' and the confidence. The stone box undoubtedly contained a thousand stalks of high-quality Shrimp Whisker Grass, and to deal with the shop's "routine haggling," they had even added a hundred or so extra stalks to pass off as better quality. It should have been foolproof.

Silence fell in the shop for a moment, but the assistants nearby had already been in and out of the back room countless times. On the last trip, under the pharmacist's direction, they fetched the most crucial item for Zhao Wu's transaction: the Three Yang Talisman Sword!

The assistant placed the sword's scabbard on the counter for Zhao Wu to inspect. Although Zhao Wu knew nothing about swords and didn't believe that the grand Bai Ri Mansion would try to cheat him with fakes, the matter was of great importance. He still opened the scabbard, carefully observing the sword body and the attached craftsman's nameplate, wishing he could bore his eyes into it.

After a while, Zhao Wu closed the scabbard. All the procedures were now complete. His hands trembled slightly, but he still nimbly stuffed the foot-long scabbard into his pre-prepared backpack and turned to leave. The assistant behind him coughed, reminding him, "Be careful, that sword is worth enough to buy a garden in the new city!"

Zhao Wu stumbled, but thankfully, he was mentally prepared. He didn't dare to harbor any greedy thoughts and hurried out. He didn't return to the lower city but continued forward, rushing to the location his employer had specified.

The shop assistant followed him out of the shop. After watching him run off, he patted his lower garment, turned, and went back inside. Not far away, two men dressed in short tunics saw this action and emerged from the shade, following Zhao Wu.

Zhao Wu was oblivious to what was happening behind him. He excitedly found the well-known Guangfu Street in the new city and located the first establishment, Ruigui Lou, at the street entrance. He went to the counter and found the proprietor. Within just two sentences, they had confirmed each other. Zhao Wu placed the scabbard containing the sword and his backpack on the counter. The proprietor took out ten taels of gold, already prepared, and stuffed them into his hand, his face showing no small amount of envy.

Zhao Wu walked onto the street as if in a dream. Was that it? Ten taels of gold, enough for his expenses for the next five years, were now in his possession? The street was bustling with people, and no one paid attention to this dazed errand runner. Only the two men following at a distance stared at him, their faces filled with helplessness.

The two men didn't delay. Soon, one of them split off and entered the building.

Meanwhile, the proprietor accepted the backpack, regardless of its contents. He called for an assistant and instructed him to take the item and deliver it to the guest in Room Xuan-Zi No. 5. As the assistant left, the man who had been tailing them came over to inquire about what had just happened, subtly hinting at his master's prominent status.

The proprietor was quite forthcoming and told him everything. He also informed the man that Room Xuan-Zi No. 5 had been booked by a loafer named Wang Xiaoqi, who had prepaid for two days.

Upon hearing this, the man's face turned green. Coincidentally, the assistant who had delivered the backpack returned, and he pulled the assistant over to question him. As expected, the assistant said that no one was in the room, the door was unlocked, and there was only a note asking him to place the backpack on the table.

The man immediately rushed in upon hearing this. A short while later, he returned to the hall, his eyes wide as he observed the flow of people entering and exiting. But he soon gave up his efforts. Ruigui Lou was a place that offered both food and lodging. It was mealtime, and people were constantly coming and going. Who knew which one was the target?

Outside the door, his companion had also poked his head out. The two exchanged a look, both dejected.

As the tailing man walked back dejectedly, across the street from Ruigui Lou was the Fu'an Inn. In the Heavenly Chamber, Yu Ci sat down with a smile, and before him, four Three Yang Talisman Swords were neatly arranged on the table, waiting for his inspection.

The appearance of the Three Yang Talisman Sword was similar to that of the Nine Yang Talisman Sword. At least, both were made of wood and had unknown vermilion spirit guides painted on the talismans. The only difference lay in the simplicity or complexity and quality of the talismans. This single difference caused a vast disparity in their power.

As he saw it, the power of the Three Yang Talisman Sword, by ordinary standards, could be considered a divine weapon. The condensed flame sword edge had advantages over ordinary metal sword edges. It was indeed worth a thousand gold pieces, and in this regard, Bai Ri Mansion wasn't entirely ripping him off. However, compared to the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, there was still an insurmountable distance in terms of lethality and the strength of the flame sword edge.

Similarly, using a flame-condensed sword edge to injure enemies, he had once used the Nine Yang Talisman Sword to wound the Poisonous Snake Monk's hand and kill him. But if he had used the Three Yang Talisman Sword, the flame sword edge would likely have been crushed by the monk's bare hands. This was the gap.

Now, the Nine Yang Talisman Sword had been vaporized during the fight against the ghost beasts, and Yu Ci desperately needed a suitable sword. Therefore, he also had some expectations for the higher-level "Pure Yang Talisman Sword." It was a pity that even though he had the complete process for making the Pure Yang Talisman Sword, it would still take a considerable amount of time, and he didn't have it for now.

What Yu Ci was truly interested in and dedicating a lot of effort to was something even more interesting.

He shifted into a more comfortable position and opened the Zhaoshen Map. Skillfully, he settled his mind into it and found his target. The map clearly showed that the two men who had been tailing him were timidly entering their own shop and receiving a reprimand from their master. Yu Ci smiled and picked up the cup on the table, taking a sip without caring about the taste of the cold tea. He felt extremely refreshed.

Bai Ri Mansion was a large and prosperous establishment. A few Three Yang Talisman Swords were nothing, but a full four thousand stalks of high-quality Shrimp Whisker Grass were quite remarkable. If Yu Ci had taken them all at once, it would have certainly attracted attention. Therefore, Yu Ci had spent some effort, in three separate instances and using three different methods, to exchange for these four Three Yang Talisman Swords.

The first time he exchanged for one sword, the manager of Bai Ri Mansion was only slightly surprised. The second time he suddenly exchanged for two swords, they felt something was wrong. By the time he exchanged for the fourth sword today, it was no longer a matter of surprise but of being thoroughly teased. Especially since Yu Ci, despite using different methods each time, had one common characteristic: he always found errand runners in the city to sell them for him. During this off-season for purchasing Shrimp Whisker Grass, it was extremely conspicuous.

Even with the best 'patience,' Bai Ri Mansion couldn't tolerate this. This time, they directly sent people to tail him, wanting to investigate Yu Ci's background. Unfortunately, under Yu Ci's intricate arrangements, and more importantly, with the miraculous functions of the Zhaoshen Map, they could only be left dizzy and return without success.

Yu Ci's actions were, in the first place, to be cautious. But it must be admitted that he could have done it more concisely and discreetly, without so many intermediate steps. The effect might have been better, and it wouldn't have constituted an indirect provocation to Bai Ri Mansion like this.

The reason for this situation was purely due to his mischievous nature.

Since developing this function of the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, after using it multiple times, Yu Ci had become addicted and unknowingly developed this 'habit.'

How could he not develop this 'habit'?

After putting away the four talisman swords, Yu Ci moved the Zhaoshen Map to the most comfortable position directly in front of him and switched to the most macroscopic perspective. In an instant, his settled consciousness seemed to have sprouted wings and soared into the sky. Beneath the lingering dark clouds, the magnificent giant city revealed its true form, with almost no reservations.

Juebi City was built along the mountain terrain on both sides. One side was a crimson cliff, and the back of the cliff was a smooth, mirror-like sheer rock face. To the northeast was a gentle slope that supported the city. During its initial construction, the city was the cliff, and the cliff was the city, forming an integrated whole, inseparable. But after hundreds or thousands of years of development, the city had extended along the gentle slope to the entire basin and continued to expand northeastward, now connecting with the residual mountains of the Broken Boundary Mountain. This formed an overall long and narrow, yet incredibly magnificent, giant mountain city.

The rain that had just fallen flowed down from the mountains on both sides, converging into the city lake in the central basin, and then flowing southeast along artificially dug river channels, forming a spectacular waterfall at Shili Slope outside the city, merging into the Ba River that flowed around the city.

Such a grand and intuitive impression was something that even local residents who had lived in the city for decades could hardly conceive.

But that wasn't all!

In Yu Ci's eyes, within the magnificent metropolis, houses and courtyards were densely packed, with hundreds of thousands of people like ants. Regardless of age, gender, wealth, or poverty, or whether they were experts, heroes, cultivators, or celestial beings, all were reflected in the Zhaoshen Map. As for grand mansions, secret chambers, and mechanisms, they were all rendered useless. The actions of countless people, their joys and sorrows, changed moment by moment. But no matter how they changed, they were all laid bare, with no privacy from him.

At this moment, he was like a deity above the city, holding the vast city and hundreds of thousands of its people in his palm. Such an experience always made Yu Ci feel intoxicated and truly made him feel that he had ascended to a higher level.

Vision determines one's breadth of mind, and breadth of mind guides one's achievements. While others were still haggling over petty gains, Yu Ci possessed a grand vision hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of times greater than that of ordinary people. This predetermined that the goals he pursued far exceeded ordinary imagination and the secular realm.

And he knew very well that the ascent to higher levels was closely linked to the improvement of his cultivation. Without a breakthrough to the Spirit 통 realm, all of this would never have come true.

Longevity and cultivation were truly the most correct choices he had ever made in his life!

Yu Ci "stood" in mid-air, changing his focus. If he were to choose what interested him most in Juebi City, it would undoubtedly be the "Upper City" built on the crimson cliff, or more directly, Bai Ri Mansion itself.

In this instant, he remained still, but Juebi City moved.

The houses and people rushed past like a flood and then suddenly froze in the next moment. The scene had now shifted, and the crimson cliff where Bai Ri Mansion was located, like a giant beast under the dark clouds, lay prostrate before him.

Yu Ci's consciousness projected onto it, like a ghost, traversing through layers of gates and doors. He didn't target directly but let his consciousness wander within. This immersive feeling was undoubtedly a pleasure. Now, his greatest hobby every day was to observe the actions of the people in Bai Ri Mansion through the Zhaoshen Map. There was no malice here, and of course, he did not intend to obtain Bai Ri Mansion's permission beforehand.