Development Plans

"It's getting late. We probably won't be able to see the Pope today. Let's get something to eat, then spend the night in the inner city and see His Holiness the Pope first thing tomorrow," Wang Yan suggested, glancing at a clock hanging in a nearby shop.

"Okay." Leng Xiyue nodded, her heart brimming with excitement at the thought of living in a city like this from now on.

Wang Yan stood by the roadside and waved, and a carriage drawn by a soul beast came over.

The outer city was quite a distance from the inner city. For soul masters, that distance was nothing; unless they needed transport, they could simply run. Ordinary people, however, needed soul beasts as mounts. These soul beasts came in all sorts of breeds, all selected by Spirit Hall over the years for their gentle temperaments, lack of aggression, and suitability for pulling carriages or serving as mounts, making them a means of civilian transportation. Spirit Hall itself used soul beast horses exclusively, even keeping their coat colors uniform, exuding nobility in every detail. Leng Xiyue had just seen one such carriage. Riding in it would really crank the prestige up to the max.

As they followed the main road toward the inner city, they saw quite a few people in Spirit Hall uniforms coming from that direction, chatting and laughing. Among them were plenty of teenage boys and girls who looked like students.

"These people are either going to take part in soul fighting or watch and learn. The Great Soul Arena is huge, but even that can't accommodate the sheer number of soul masters in Spirit City, so it doesn't accept any soul fighting matches below the Soul Elder rank," Wang Yan explained. "I like going to the Great Soul Arena in the evenings to make some money on the side, too. People with a high soul power level and a deep understanding of martial souls have an easier time figuring out which side will win. There are all sorts of upsets, of course, but I win more than I lose."

Hearing this, Leng Xiyue felt a little disappointed. Soul fighting was a great way to rake in money. She had yet to have a proper fight with a soul master, so she naturally had no idea whether she could fight above her rank. Still, however she looked at it, she could probably only take on Soul Grandmasters at best. It seemed this quick-money scheme would have to wait.

Security in the inner city was considerably more relaxed than in the outer city, with fewer than ten guards stationed there. Most people coming and going wore uniforms and badges, so there was little need for questioning. Relatives of the inner city's soul masters had the appropriate passes, which only needed a glance, while visiting guests offered their passes without being asked. Only when some important figure passed by did the guards stand up and make a show of doing their jobs. Guard duty here was about as leisurely as being an old security guard at the entrance to a residential complex.

In fact, the guards at the gate really were a group of old men. Two chatted as they watched the passing crowds, looking thoroughly casual, while the other seven or eight gathered to play cards and chess, talking and laughing, as happy as could be.

The beast-drawn carriage stopped at the inner city gate. Unregistered carriages and mounts from the outer city were not allowed inside, so Wang Yan took Leng Xiyue's hand and led her in.

Leng Xiyue glanced at the two old men. Though they seemed inattentive, a sharp glint shone in their eyes. Clearly, they were not nearly as casual about their work as they appeared. Their auras were considerably stronger than Wang Yan's, too. If they were not Soul Emperors, they were probably high-level Soul Kings.

With Wang Yan leading her, the two old men naturally did not stop them. The pair entered the inner city and found a hotel.

It was not that Spirit Hall lacked the ability to construct tall buildings; there was simply no need. This vast stretch of land could easily accommodate all its residents. Whether for soul masters or ordinary people, there was no reason to build residential districts full of apartment blocks when considering their living conditions. Only hotels like these, which catered to visitors from elsewhere, rose above ten stories.

Anyone qualified to enter the inner city had money and connections, so the hotel's rates were fairly steep, seemingly designed to fleece them in a perfectly legal and legitimate fashion.

At the front desk, Wang Yan took out a silver card and said to the young receptionist, "A single room for one night. Just register it under my name."

The receptionist took the card and scanned it, then respectfully handed him a room key card. "All right, your registration is complete. Room 1145. Here's your key card."

Wang Yan accepted it with practiced ease, then led Leng Xiyue farther inside. "Come on, I'll take you upstairs. This place is full of advanced products made from those imitation soul tools I mentioned earlier. Since you've only just arrived, you might not know how to use them."

How could Leng Xiyue not recognize them? They were practically second nature to her. The decor, layout, and everything else were much like those of the modern world. Equipment powered by soul power might even be more convenient than electrical appliances. All they needed was staff to maintain the soul power supply, without supporting infrastructure such as power grids or generating stations.

They even had large screens that transmitted images, so naturally they had devices like elevators as well. Before long, the two arrived at the room they had just booked.

Once inside, Wang Yan took out a small pouch of Gold Soul Coins and handed it to Leng Xiyue. "All right, wash up first. I'll pick out a few outfits and have someone send them up shortly. There are fifty Gold Soul Coins here. Once you've changed, you can have a nice meal at the restaurant downstairs. Don't wander off. I need to report in first, and I'll come get you early tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Thank you, mister."

After seeing Wang Yan off, Leng Xiyue hurriedly stripped off her dirty clothes and went to take a bath. Though she looked clean, after all that running around, a relaxing soak in hot water was always welcome.

Lying in the bathtub, Leng Xiyue could not help recalling everything she had seen since entering Spirit City.

Her original money-making plan had been simple and blunt: bring over the beautiful clothing styles from her previous life, or make some jewelry and the like. A business that relied on designs to turn a tiny investment into enormous profits was undoubtedly a quick way to rake in money.

In reality, however, transmigrating to the Douluo Continent was not the same as going back to ancient times. In Spirit City, where peace had flourished for nearly a thousand years, all kinds of cultural development had progressed extremely rapidly. Its clothing styles, for instance, had emerged from hundreds of years of fierce competition among hordes of fashion designers. It was not that the beautiful clothes she remembered were completely incomparable to local fashions, but carving out a place for them would still be difficult.

Most types of clothing could be found in the shops here. Anyone with even a little money and influence commissioned custom outfits from soul masters specializing in tailoring, using materials harvested from soul beasts. There were inexpensive ways to make cheap clothes and expensive ways to make costly ones. Besides, she was not a professional fashion designer. She only had a general idea of certain styles, and putting them into practice would probably be fraught with difficulties. Making money this way was clearly unrealistic.

The same went for jewelry and the like. In a consumer goods market that had been saturated for who knew how many years, there was simply nothing she could introduce that would immediately rake in heaps of money.

"Looks like I can only sell those things." Leng Xiyue sighed, then returned to the space with a shift of her thoughts.