The last time he bought Cultivation Method, he noticed that the occupancy rate of Star Spirit Inn was rising rapidly. At that time, he made a prompt decision and applied for a long-term lease at the front desk of the inn. He paid two months' rent in one go and booked Room No. 3. Although he spent nearly 300 Spirit Stone, it was better than not having a room every time he came.
After all, this is the place where he and Chen Xi agreed to meet. It is no joke if something goes wrong.
Qin Tiexin Pushed open the door of the inn, and a heat wave mixed with the smell of spiritual tea, elixirs and sweat hit the face. The lobby was full of people, and the tea seats against the wall were full of monks. Some were chatting in low voices, and some were lying on the counter to fill out the check-in form. There were also a few monks who had obviously come from other places. They didn't even unload their luggage, so they were sitting in the corner of the lobby with their eyes closed and meditating.
"One room in Tianzihao, ten days!"
"The Tianzihao is gone, and there are still two Dizihao. One room costs 12 Spirit Stone per night. You can pay first and stay later."
"Twelve yuan?! Last time it was two yuan!"
"That was a month ago. Now the price is considered generous. If you wait and see in half a month, the land size will also increase to 20. Can't you live in it? If you can't live in it, there will still be people queuing up behind you."
Qin Tiexin remembers that when he first moved in, the price of a house was three Spirit Stone a day. Today it has risen to 30 yuan. According to this increase, by the time Star Selection officially starts, even the floor in the lobby will have to be calculated as Spirit Stone.
He didn't stay in the lobby for long and went up the stairs to the third floor. Room Tianzi No. 3 was at the end of the corridor. There was a copper room number plate embedded on the door. The number Spirit Rune on the plate glowed slightly. This was a sign that the formation was operating normally, indicating that the room had not been touched.
Qin Tiexin pressed his palm on the door panel and injected a bit of spiritual power. The door Spirit-Locking Rune flashed a faint light and popped open with a click.
The room was not big, with a bed, a table, a chair, and a futon. The window faced the backyard of the inn, which was much quieter than the rooms facing the street. Qin Tiexin leaned the iron bar against the edge of the bed, sat cross-legged on the futon, closed his eyes, and began to wait.
According to the rules set by Chen Xi before he left last time, if he has news that he wants to confess in person, he will show up at the inn in the morning; if he does not show up at noon, Qin Tiexin will be asked to leave on his own and make his own arrangements.
Qin Tiexin raised his eyes and glanced at the sky outside the window. It was still about an hour before noon. He closed his eyes, breathed evenly, and let nine Primordial Qi Vortexs in Dantian run at the lowest speed to make Spiritual Qi more solid. The improvement in his physical fitness after Body Refining was also reflected in the Dantian intensity.
After waiting for about half an hour, there was no unusual movement outside the window. Footsteps came and went in the corridor, and the sound of bargaining in the lobby downstairs occasionally came up. Just when Qin Tiexin thought Senior Brother Chen Xi would not appear today, there was suddenly a very slight rustling sound on the window sill, like something very small crawling.
He opened his eyes. A small black insect, not much bigger than a grain of rice, was slowly crawling in from the crack of the window. Its back was covered with a pair of extremely thin elytra. The wings fluttered slightly as it crawled, leaving an almost invisible mark on the wooden windowsill. The insect crawled along the window sill to his hand and stopped on the knuckle of his thumb, its tentacles swaying slightly twice.
Then an extremely weak but clearly discernible sound came from the insect.
"Junior brother, you are being followed. It is not safe here. There is a teahouse three miles outside the north gate. Let's meet there."
Tracking?
Qin Tiexin's heart tightened, but his face remained motionless. He had been paying attention to what was behind him since he entered Cloud Ford Ward. He scanned the area no less than ten times with his peripheral vision, but did not find any suspicious figures.
But Chen Xi wouldn't joke about this kind of thing. When he said he was being followed, that meant he was being followed. With Chen Xi Golden Core's cultivation and his superb "life-saving" skills, it was normal for Qin Tiexin not to be able to detect the stalker he could detect.
The opponent's cultivation level is much higher than his.
The voice continued, "Let this little bug lie on your face, it can help you maintain body shape changes for a quarter of an hour and prevent you from being followed."
After the insect finished delivering the message, it did not fly away. It climbed up his arm along his wrist, over his shoulder, and crawled directly to the left half of his face. Six hair-thin insect legs tightly clasped the skin under the cheekbones, and a tingling sensation spread from the contact point to the entire face. Qin Tiexin only felt that the muscles under the facial skin began to rearrange themselves after a slight squirm, and the bones made a few subtle clicking sounds that only he could hear, as if he had experienced a miniature version of the muscle-strengthening exercise in a very short period of time.
He raised his hand and touched his face. The touch was completely different. The eyebrows became thicker, the cheekbones were higher, the bridge of the nose became more collapsed, and the chin became pointed. He looked down at his right shoulder, and the empty sleeve had been filled up at some point. A complete arm stretched out from the sleeve, with slender fingers and white skin, which looked exactly like the real thing. He tried to move his right arm, but there was no response. It seemed to be just decoration.
Qin Tiexin stood up, took out a small bronze mirror from Storage Bag and took a look. In the mirror was a completely unfamiliar face, with long hair, a thin face, and a figure two feet lower than before. The overall appearance was much thinner, like Rogue Cultivator, who had been practicing hard for many years, and was not as eye-catching as his previous figure.
Let alone outsiders, he himself would not recognize himself.
He put the bronze mirror back Storage Bag, and stuffed the iron rod leaning against the bed into Storage Bag. He pretended to be thin Rogue Cultivator, and carrying another iron rod would have been too eye-catching. Then he walked to the window and glanced sideways at the backyard of the inn.
There are some debris piled up in the backyard, and there are a few unused barrels in the corner. The courtyard wall is about a foot high, and there is no one there.
Qin Tiexin held the window frame with one hand, rolled out silently, and landed with his feet on the soft soil of the backyard, making almost no sound. He walked a few steps against the courtyard wall, found a suitable position, tapped his toes on the wall, and climbed over the courtyard wall and landed in a narrow alley behind the inn. The alley was filled with debris discarded from nearby shops, and exuded a mixed smell of fermented vegetable leaves and old wood.
He walked along the narrow alley to the end and turned onto another branch road leading to the north exit of Cloud Ford Ward.
Along the way, he tried his best to avoid the densely populated main streets, and walked exclusively on the side streets and the lanes between the warehouses. On the way, he passed several Rogue Cultivator who were loading and unloading spiritual materials, and there was also a gatekeeper squatting at the entrance of the alley and taking a nap. No one looked at him twice. A tall, thin, long-haired Rogue Cultivator, dressed in ordinary clothes, walking neither fast nor slow, could not even make a splash among the monks Ten Thousand Stars City who filled the street.
Exit Cloud Ford Ward, Qin Tiexin and go north along the main road in the city.
The closer you get to the North City Gate, the more obvious the direction of the flow of people is. Everyone is rushing in, and there are not many people going out in comparison.
Qin Tiexin walked forward against the flow of people and found that the interrogation at the North City Gate was completely different from that when entering the city. When entering the city, he had to check his identity and jade plaque, and his appearance and cultivation information were checked. Every check was meticulous; leaving the city was much more relaxed. The two guards standing in the city gate just glanced at him and waved to let him go.
When passing the city gate, Qin Tiexin noticed that there was a long queue entering the city. A large number of the Foundation Establishment Realm monks were entering the north gate through identity verification one after another. The queue stretched from the entrance of the city gate to the official road outside the city gate. There were at least hundreds of people. Some carried big swords on their backs, some hung Pill Furnace on their waists, and some were in small groups discussing team formation strategies in low voices. Judging by their dress and accent, they were obviously not local monks from Ten Thousand Stars City.
The North Gate is the only entrance among the four city gates of Ten Thousand Stars City that allows access to jade tokens of any identity. The other three city gates only allow monks with residence rights in the corresponding area to enter and exit.
Star Selection is coming, these people are all here for Star Selection.