Beginning 1

The seal was a palm-sized clock-like graphic, with a point of red light in the center constantly flickering. After floating in mid-air for a while, it plunged into the ground with a whoosh.

Lin Xin stood in the alley, waiting quietly.

At the alley entrance, Ling Er and Xiao Liu were puzzled, but they obediently waited as he had instructed.

Before long, a man wearing a gray-white robe and a facial mask slowly floated down at the alley entrance.

The man glanced at the two at the alley entrance, didn't say anything, and walked straight in.

"Is this the contact point? Did you send the contact seal?"

He asked Lin Xin directly.

Turning around, Lin Xin nodded slightly.

"I am Red Flower, new here, and I plan to visit the local branch."

"I am Spirit Rat, responsible for District Ding, Region Yi. Is taking you to the branch considered a task?" The other party's tone was devoid of emotion, and he spoke indifferently.

"It is." Lin Xin nodded.

"How much is the reward?"

"Let's go with the standard price."

"Alright, two Jade Coins or three Bei Jin."

"No problem." Lin Xin was slightly displeased. For such a small matter as showing the way, the other party was actually charging him such a high price. Was this person so desperate for money that they had no shame?

Seeming to notice Lin Xin's displeasure, the person paused slightly and said.

"Fellow cultivator, you're new here. The rules here are like this, everything is compensated. You might not be used to it in many places, but it really is just about the money, not about people. As for the kind of justice and passion that other branch offices have, it doesn't work here."

"Thank you for the guidance." Lin Xin said blandly, "Please lead the way."

The person nodded, turned, and walked out.

Lin Xin led Ling Er and Xiao Liu to follow.

The four of them walked along the street, and soon arrived at a sloping street area. This entire street was selling various dolls and inflatable toys.

Every few shops, one could see a Great Black Turtle lying on the ground sleeping. The Great Black Turtle's nostrils were much larger than those of ordinary turtles, and there was only one hole, with large gusts of air gushing out of the nostrils.

Each of these Great Black Turtles was more than two meters long and more than one meter wide, and they were almost all sleeping. Occasionally, one or two that weren't sleeping had gentle expressions, drooping their heads and not moving. Only when someone pushed it hard would it move a little.

Lin Xin and the others saw many people from the shops coming out, holding inflatable dolls or bladders similar to balloons, covering the opening on the Great Black Turtle's nostrils, and then they saw the bladder ball and balloon rapidly inflate. In just a few breaths, it swelled to be more than one person tall.

The cheers of children were endless. The whole street was bustling with activity, and many parents were bringing their children to play.

That person led Lin Xin and his group up the slope to the front of the largest house. The house did not have any markings or plaques. Only the open-air courtyard inside had a huge black balloon with a diameter of more than five meters tied with thin lines. The balloon floated in mid-air, swaying slightly in the wind.

The door of the house was open, and many people were coming in and out. The person walked to the side of the door and turned around.

"It's here, you can go in by yourselves. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

Lin Xin nodded, took out Jade Coins from his Storage Bag and gave him the reward. Without saying a word, the person turned and left.

There were many people entering and leaving this house. Some people simply wore Radiance Society ornaments on their chests. Looking in from the door, one could see a small table placed in the courtyard. People were gathered around the table asking questions, and the person sitting inside seemed to be patiently answering in very non-standard Central Prefecture dialect.

Lin Xin led the two inside, heading directly towards the main hall at the back of the courtyard like many others.

Upon entering the hall, it was bustling with people. Some were queuing up, each speaking to a plump middle-aged woman while registering.

"Thirty Jade Coins!? According to the rules, it should be fifty! Du Sanniang, I don't mind you deducting a bit usually, but I urgently need money now, and you're still doing this, isn't that a bit unkind!" One person seemed to be arguing with the plump woman over money, their voice involuntarily rising.

"I'm deducting from you? Is your little bit of stuff even worth me specifically deducting from? Wang Xiaozi, are you overestimating yourself too much?" The plump woman retorted loudly, "These are the rules here. If you abide by them, come in. Don't want to? Fine, the door is over there, get out! Our Radiance Society branch doesn't lack petty people like you."

"I'm petty?!"

That person immediately flared up, arguing with the plump woman.

The two of them were shouting loudly in the hall, the content being nothing more than haggling over trivial matters.

Lin Xin glanced to the side and walked directly towards an old man sitting leisurely drinking tea on the right. On the small round table in front of the old man was a small sign that read: Inquiry Desk.

"I came from another branch and want to take an airship from this branch. I don't know..." His voice precisely entered the old man's ears.

The old man, who had been slightly squinting, opened his eyes a little wider and sized Lin Xin up.

"Going where?"

"To the far west."

"There are fifty-three points in the far west you can go to. Which point do you want to go to?"

"Uh..." Lin Xin was immediately stunned, realizing that his preparation was really inadequate. He was silent for a moment and asked, "Do you have a map of that area?"

"Five Jade Coins a copy."

"Also, information about the situation of this branch, an introduction to how it operates, can you tell me all about it in detail?" Lin Xin quickly produced several Jade Coins, gently placed them on the table, and pushed them over.

The old man collected them without batting an eye and nodded slightly.

"The rule of this branch is transaction."

He stroked the three-inch goatee on his chin.

"You accept tasks, exchange for rewards. You issue tasks, pay rewards, and we take a cut in the middle. As for the task types, it can be finding someone, entrusting a wish, anything strange, or even hiring a hitman. Of course, there are certain requirements for the target, mostly those who have done many evil deeds or have blood on their hands. You don't have to worry about that."

"What else? I heard that you are confronting the Red Robe Sect, so I came here specifically."

"Red Robe Sect? It can be solved sooner or later. There is nothing in this world that money can't solve." The old man said indifferently. "Go look at the task board."

"Okay, where can I see the tasks? Also, how can I ensure that my interests are not harmed..."

Lin Xin decisively changed the subject and asked about other things.

Ling Er and Xiao Liu stood respectfully on the side, not daring to breathe loudly. None of the people coming in and out here were good people. Each of them had at least the aura of a Heart Level expert, which made Ling Er especially feel a little apprehensive. From time to time, experts with auras as unfathomable as abysses came in and out, just like ordinary people, and no one seemed to care.

Their only reliance was to closely follow behind Lin Xin, not daring to utter a word of nonsense.

Lin Xin asked carefully and thoroughly. He originally thought he could meet the person in charge of this branch here.

But he didn't expect that the branch leader here had gone to the Eastern Headquarters in the center of Na Xi many days in advance to attend a meeting. In fact, this was just a branch in a sub-district.

From the old man's mouth, he learned that there were more than a dozen such branches in Na Xi. He also roughly understood that in Na Xi, the branches had been reduced to a simple task handover and release platform, and there was no trace of the Radiance Society's essential ideal pursuit here.

This was quite in line with his expectations. Those inexplicable things like justice were meaningless to him. What he wanted to do was to break through himself, and the most important thing was to live well first. As for others, it was no problem to help out when he had the spare capacity, provided that he had the spare capacity.

According to the old man's introduction, it's easier to join the Radiance Society here. Pay some Jade Coins, and you can get a badge. Then you can freely post and accept tasks at the branch points.

When the completion of a task has no limit on the number of people, many people can complete one together, and whoever completes it first gets the reward. The operating mechanism is simple and crude, but it has its own secret means of review.

There are as many branch members here as there are hairs on an ox, and most people join more than one organization. Earth Bloom Society, Common Society, all kinds of identities are available, just to make it easier to take on tasks and earn money.

In addition, Lin Xin also learned that the Radiance Society here does not require a Nascent Soul to enter the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign.

The old man's original words were.

"Cosmos Celestial Sovereign? That's a treatment only available to core members. With the protection of the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign, if you contribute enough to the society, you can directly summon the Celestial Sovereign's avatar to help yourself. The light of the Celestial Sovereign is everywhere."

Lin Xin had a clear idea in his mind. Obviously, most of the people who joined the Radiance Society here were ordinary peripheral members. He was specially invited to become an official core member directly because he had a skill and was the master of a force. So it was different. In addition, he had been worried that when he was in Flower Drum Village, he originally prepared to help, but he even killed the people in his own society, and he might be punished by the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign.

But there have been no abnormal signs until now.

It is estimated that either this so-called punishment is just a scare, or something went wrong in the middle, and they couldn't find him.

After a preliminary understanding of the situation, he asked the old man for a map of all the branch locations in Na Xi, and then found the location of the Na Xi headquarters on it.

Then, after getting everything he wanted to know, he registered his code name with the old man, and then left the branch with Xiao Liu and Ling Er.

After wandering around the city for a while, the three of them found an advertisement for selling a house in a notice on the wall by the roadside. Following the address recorded on the advertisement, they asked for directions all the way and found the place to sell the house.

"Fifteen Black Gold, no bargaining." The old woman selling the house said with a leaky mouth. This old fellow was holding a white lantern with a big character 'death' written on it. It looked extremely strange. Obviously, they were all cultivators.

After casually talking about the price, Ling Er stepped forward to bargain and lowered the price to two-thirds of the original.

The Jade Coins snatched from the people killed earlier quickly dwindled to only a dozen pieces. A piece of Black Gold is equivalent to a floating price of several thousand to ten thousand Bei Jin. It's about the same if you exchange it for Spirit Jade. This time, Lin Xin's remaining Spirit Jade was exhausted.

Obviously, the remaining money is not enough for them to live for long, according to the prices here. (To be continued ~^~