Xiao Nannan [Seeking Monthly Votes and Investment]

Jiang Ming transformed back into that exceptionally handsome little monk. He looked seventeen or eighteen, but was actually around thirteen—he had simply grown up a little too fast. Dressed in a white Dharma robe, he was so handsome even female demons would drool at the sight of him.

With a clear destination in mind, he headed toward Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven. Along the way, he slew an old serpent with a century of cultivation and obtained a Jade Snake Orchid.

Such an ordinary spiritual herb was neither here nor there to Jiang Ming. Since he was going to visit Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven, he could treat it as a gift for his close friend, Elder Han.

Jiang Ming even politely chopped down an old locust tree and made a box for the spiritual herb.

Forget it!

He might as well eat it himself. Giving it to that insidious, vicious old man Elder Han would be no different from feeding it to a dog. The man would not feel the slightest gratitude.

As for favorability, he would just let nature take its course.

Crack, crack—

Jiang Ming took out the Jade Snake Orchid and ate it like a cucumber as he walked, quickly finishing it.

He then took out that tattered book and put it away. He had studied it thoroughly already. There were only a few pages in total, containing basic Dao Patterns from this world. With Jiang Ming's foundation, he had quickly finished reading it and absorbed it perfectly.

Jiang Ming appeared to be walking slowly, but he was using the Immortal Wind Cloud Body Art for support. His entire body seemed as ethereal as mist and clouds, like a clear breeze. Every step carried him three hundred meters away, and he gradually vanished from the ruins.

Two hours later!

Jiang Ming appeared in the capital of the Yan Kingdom.

Since he was here, he might as well wander around and observe the customs of this world. For cultivation, that was also a form of tempering the heart.

Yan Capital.

The Yan Kingdom had six great Cave-Heaven Paradises, each spanning thousands of li. They appeared smaller than a single region of the Primordial Ruins, but the seven-thousand-li territory of the Yan Kingdom was land where humans could survive. It was not a dangerous region like the Primordial Ruins, where exotic beasts and savage birds appeared at every turn.

The capital's walls stood twenty meters high, exuding an ancient, majestic air. The city covered an enormous area, stretching across a hundred li. Its unbroken walls and dark green bricks spoke of an ancient city with roughly three hundred years of history.

In a world of cultivators, where monsters ate people, the height of city walls did not mean much.

The fact that a nation could be established in such a world showed that the Great Yan royal family either consisted of cultivators or had the backing of a major power.

In Jiang Ming's memories, the six great Cave-Heaven Paradises of the Yan Kingdom all had the shadow of powerful factions behind them.

The six great Cave-Heaven Paradises were also rivals.

Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven was connected to Yaoguang Sacred Land.

Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven was, in fact, somewhat connected to the Qixia Sect.

Yan Capital itself was controlled by the six great Cave-Heaven Paradises. They arranged for Life Spring cultivators to take turns guarding the imperial capital, ostensibly to protect the royal family's safety.

The Great Yan royal family, even the King of Yan, were little more than puppets.

Such a dynasty had tens of millions of people. There were Rogue Cultivators and martial artists among them, who could gather heavenly treasures and earthly materials for the Cave-Heaven Paradises to refine Hundred-Grass Liquid.

Hundred-Grass Liquid was the finest medicinal treasure for opening the Sea of Bitterness. Nearly all six great Cave-Heaven Paradises used it as the foundational medicine for their disciples.

Yan Capital was exceptionally prosperous. The streets were bustling and clamorous, packed with people, and Jiang Ming was briefly struck by a sense of unreality.

It felt like waking from a dream. To him, the memories of his first life on Earth were crystal clear. The memories of his second life in Chinese Paladin were sometimes too painful to dwell on. Whenever he recalled his third life, he seemed to see a graceful, gentle woman at his side, chatting away.

Everyone had their own fate and their own way of living. How had he, Jiang Ming, ended up like this?

For an instant, he felt afraid, as though he wanted to return once more to the deep mountains and ancient forests of the Primordial Ruins to cultivate.

He had not forgotten his Fate Pattern. Perhaps he was better suited to facing exotic beasts and savage birds, stone cliffs and forests, streams and deep pools.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle—"

At some point, snow began falling from the sky. The snowflakes danced beautifully, crystalline and pure. Jiang Ming reached out and caught one, watching it melt in his palm as he felt its chill.

"It's snowing! Time to pack up soon! Silver Snow White Peaches—big, sweet, delicious, and crisp!"

"Old Wu's roast chicken, roast duck, and roast goose! Fragrant and crispy, charred outside and tender within! If it isn't good, you pay nothing!"

"Big meat buns, filled with a whole spoonful of hot broth! One bite and the juices burst with flavor! Thin skin, plenty of filling—you can't lose, and you can't be fooled!"

"Candied hawthorns! Sweet and sour, loved by adults and children alike! Three skewers for just two copper coins!"

"—"

At the same time, the cries of the various stallholders grew louder.

Snow was coming, and many people did not like snow.

Once it snowed, the ground became hard to walk on—water under one foot, mud under the other, ice forming everywhere, and the temperature dropping.

Once it snowed, they could no longer set up their stalls to sell things. Their wives and children at home were still waiting for the day's earnings.

"I'll take all of your candied hawthorns. Here, take this piece of silver."

Jiang Ming walked over, looked at the old man in a tattered padded jacket, and spoke.

"Alright, they're all yours."

The old man took the silver and skillfully bit it, his face lighting up with delight. One tael of silver could be exchanged for a thousand copper coins.

With this tael of silver, making another straw stand for candied hawthorns would be nothing.

Jiang Ming secretly transformed into Bai Ze and bestowed a blessing upon the old man. The only special effect of his Dharma robe was illusion magic.

That was all he could do. With the Heavenly Lone Star, the deeper the karmic entanglement with someone, the more obvious its effect became.

Then he swiftly changed back into the appearance of the young monk Sanzang.

This way, ordinary people would not notice whenever he used the Seventy-Two Transformations.

Later, he would need to get a better Dharma robe.

Everyone on this street was an ordinary person, so he did not have to worry about anyone seeing through him.

Jiang Ming held a large bundle of candied hawthorns, casually plucked one out, and tasted it as he walked.

"Kind, pretty auntie, your buns smell so good. Nannan is really hungry. Could you please give me one bun?"

Just then, Jiang Ming's ears twitched and his body stiffened slightly. He heard a little girl's voice.

He turned and saw a little girl standing before a bun stall. Her clothes were torn and filthy, her sleeves black with grime. She was no more than half a meter tall. She looked up at a fairly pretty woman in her twenties, dressed in a blue floral padded jacket.

The little girl's large eyes stared pitifully at the steaming buns. Swallowing her saliva, she looked up at the woman and timidly pleaded.

At that instant, Jiang Ming's heart seemed to stop beating. A searing pain tore through him. In his previous life, Wan'er—his daughter—had been alone and helpless inside the Demon-Locking Tower, yet he had never properly cared for her even once, not for a minute, not for a second.

In this life, his daughter Tingting was probably about this age too!

So young, having lost her parents and relying on his elderly father... Had she eaten enough? Had anyone bullied her?

The tears had barely formed in his eyes before Jiang Ming evaporated them with true essence.

He should not have such emotions.

Staying far away from them was the greatest love he could give Tingting.

As for his Heavenly Lone Star Fate Pattern, Jiang Ming would definitely find a way to deal with it someday.

That damned system could be the Heavenly Lone Star itself. It should not drag him down with it.

If he could obtain a Fate Pattern like Heavenly Virtue Nobleman, it would surely offset his current Fate Pattern.

If Jiang Ming remembered correctly, this little girl was the Red Dust Dao Fruit of the Ruthless Empress.

The Ruthless Empress slept as she transformed toward becoming a Red Dust Immortal. Her Red Dust Dao Fruit walked the world, reliving again and again the hardships she had endured as a child after losing her elder brother.

This was the Ruthless Empress's knot of the heart, the source of the strength that had made her powerful. She would never escape this obsession.

Not to become immortal, but only to wait in the mortal world for your return.

"Go away, go away! Do you have any copper coins? You want to eat buns?"

The woman spoke out of habit.

There were too many little beggars like this every day. If she gave food to every one of them, would she still be able to sell buns?

When her gaze met Nannan's bright eyes, she suddenly looked away, as if she did not dare meet them.

"Ah, poor little thing. The only clean part of you is those big eyes. Ah, the times we live in...

Come, take this bun. Be careful, it's a little hot. Stand here and finish eating before you go, so no one snatches it from you."

The woman took out a bun and blew on it twice. Looking at Nannan with aching sympathy, she muttered a few habitual words of concern.

"Mother, I want a bun too."

At that moment, two little heads poked out from the basket beneath the stall. One boy and one girl, one around five years old and the other around three, about the same age as Nannan.

"Ah, eat, eat. Even if they don't sell, you have to fill your stomachs first. What kind of days are these? Once it snows, the buns will be even harder to sell."

The woman secretly wiped away a tear and continued muttering.

Jiang Ming saw that the two children's small faces were red from the cold. Their situation was a little better than Nannan's. There was straw and cotton cloth in the basket to shield them from the wind.

This was the simple goodness of an ordinary woman. Though she herself was only barely getting by, she still found compassion for other people's children.

Jiang Ming heard the woman's stomach growling too. She must have been hungry herself, but she was surely unwilling to eat.

He thought of his previous life. When he was young, his family had been poor, and his mother had also been such a gentle, kindhearted woman—sharp-tongued but soft-hearted.

Jiang Ming stepped forward and took out two pieces of silver, each worth one tael.

With a casual grab, he took away ninety percent of the buns from the two steamers, leaving only five or six behind.

If he took too many, he feared the woman would refuse to go home and continue selling buns here.

"Here, eat."

Jiang Ming handed another bun to Nannan and gave one each to the other two children.

Then he transformed into Bai Ze again and bestowed a blessing upon the family of three.

Nannan blinked her big eyes, watching as this big brother suddenly turned into a very beautiful little sheep glowing all over. She was not afraid. She continued eating her bun. Big brother's eyes were very gentle; she felt no danger from him, only closeness.

This was an instinct Nannan had gradually developed while wandering alone. She could always tell at a glance who was bad and who was good.

Unfortunately, her memories reset every so often, causing her to forget everything she had seen and heard.