Such a Despicable Trick

"As expected of a great commandery city. Even major Qi Refinement cultivators had to follow the rules."

Streaks of light occasionally descended from every direction, entering the city in an orderly fashion. Xu Fan felt both admiration and envy.

Riding the wind and soaring through the sky-that was what an immortal was like.

He found an entrance and joined the queue, then paid a Spirit Stone for an identity token before finally entering the city.

"Only two Spirit Stones left. I wonder what prices are like in the city?"

Those two Spirit Stones were what he had left from his last visit.

He had been eating treasured fish to cultivate, so he had not touched the Spirit Stones and had brought them along.

"Looks like people are looking down on how I'm dressed."

After entering the city, he saw quite a few young boys and girls soliciting customers, yet none of them approached him.

"Uh... looks like my clothes make people think there's no profit to be had from me."

Xu Fan looked down at the tattered hemp clothes he was wearing, at a loss for words.

They were good judges of people.

Indeed, he did not have many Spirit Stones on him.

"Immortal, have you just arrived? Would you like to learn about Yishan City and its surroundings?"

A girl in green approached timidly and mustered the courage to ask. Afterward, she lowered her head and said softly:

"For just one jin of spirit rice, I can accompany you for a day and tell you about Yishan City and anything else I know."

Xu Fan raised an eyebrow and considered it briefly. "I only have Spirit Stones. How about you accompany me for two days and find me a place to stay?"

From Miscellaneous Records of the Land of Wu, he had learned that ten jin of spirit rice was worth about one Spirit Stone. It was the currency cultivators used most often.

Cultivators and mortals lived together in the major cities, making spirit rice the most convenient currency.

"No problem!"

The girl in green looked up sharply and nodded, her face full of delight.

She could only think that one could not judge a person by his appearance. He actually only had Spirit Stones?

"Would you like to stay in the outer city or the inner city, Immortal?"

On the way, the girl in green grew less timid and looked up to ask him of her own accord.

"Just call me Brother Xu. What's the difference?"

Xu Fan looked around as he walked and replied casually.

"Most people in the outer city are mortals. The inner city has more Rogue Cultivators, as well as cultivators and shops from those immortal Lineages."

The girl in green spoke carefully:

"Brother Xu, you can buy or sell whatever you need in the inner city, but it costs more to live there."

Xu Fan pondered briefly and shook his head. "I'll stay in the outer city for now."

His purse was painfully light. He had come in a hurry and had also spent his Spirit Stones on the Divine Movement Technique.

A single penny could truly stump a hero.

But he had only intended to hide here for a few days, buy some spells to cultivate, and learn a little about the Land of Wu.

He could not keep selling treasured fish in the same place forever. That could easily cause trouble, so it was better to be careful.

"I happen to know the best place in the outer city!"

The girl in green nodded vigorously. Gradually relaxing, she began to explain:

"The inner city has four districts and the outer city has eight. Each district has a different focus."

From the girl, Xu Fan learned quite a lot and was no longer completely in the dark.

"How does one join the Three Sects and Four Schools?"

He did not actually want to join; he was merely asking.

Although the shade was pleasant beneath a great tree, the secret he carried was too big.

He could travel between two worlds and lacked neither resources nor cultivation methods, so joining a faction was not a necessity.

"Brother Xu, do you want to join the Red Pine Sect?"

The girl in green looked admiring, then continued:

"The Red Pine Sect has a steward stationed in the commandery city specifically to test aptitude. It doesn't recruit disciples all at once. I don't know about the other immortal sects."

"Those Aristocratic Clans and Immortal Clans send their children to be tested every year. Anyone with decent talent can join."

Xu Fan nodded slightly and asked about Linhai Commandery and the reputation of the Luo Clan, a Purple Mansion Immortal Clan, before finding a place to stay.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Xu Fan had no choice but to leave Yishan City, his pockets already empty.

"I've more or less mastered the Divine Movement Technique."

"I can try it out once I leave the city."

Outside Yishan City.

Law Power circulated around Xu Fan, and his figure left only an afterimage. In the blink of an eye, he vanished at the end of the road.

"That's the Purple Mansion seed you mentioned?"

A young man in brocade robes, with a sinister, cold bearing, stared in the direction Xu Fan had disappeared. His tone was so even that it betrayed neither pleasure nor anger.

Behind him stood an old man with white hair and a white beard, a respectful look on his face. He was none other than Shopkeeper Xu from Flowing Cloud Market.

"Third Young Master, that man is Xu Xian," Shopkeeper Xu replied with a sigh and a nod.

He had notified the Luo Clan as soon as Xu Xian left Flowing Cloud Market, and the Third Young Master, Luo Qiuze, had arrived shortly afterward.

They then learned from the girl in green that Xu Fan had asked how to join the Three Sects and Four Schools, as well as about the Luo Clan.

Clearly, Xu Xian would rather join the Red Pine Sect and somewhat looked down on a Purple Mansion Immortal Clan like the Luo Clan?

At the thought, he could only shake his head helplessly.

How could the Luo Clan allow a Purple Mansion seed to join another faction, even if that faction was the Red Pine Sect, the true ruler of Linhai Commandery?

Xu Xian was indeed cautious and had an excellent temperament, but he ultimately came from a mortal background and had seen too little of the world.

Joining a faction was not a business transaction. A minor Fetal Breathing cultivator was not qualified to shop around.

If only he had listened to him.

Would that not have been a win for both sides?

Now look. He was about to lose his life.

"Is Zhang Yaozu acquainted with him?"

Luo Qiuze's tone remained even, as though he were asking an ordinary question.

"They entered Flowing Cloud Market together. They do know each other."

Shopkeeper Xu hesitated briefly but nodded.

"You may go back."

Luo Qiuze turned around and spoke indifferently.

"Yes."

Shopkeeper Xu did not dare ask more. He rose on the wind and flew toward Flowing Cloud Market.

"A dead genius is nothing more than a handful of yellow earth."

Luo Qiuze lifted his gaze.

"Zhang Yaozu is enough. Grandfather only needs one, too. No unexpected factors can be allowed to appear."

So what if he was a Purple Mansion seed?

Since he was of no use, he could die.

If there was any chance he could threaten his Household, he had to die as well.

With that thought, he formed Hand Seals, and a dark streak of light shot out in an instant.

On the road.

Xu Fan was just thinking of finding a secluded place to return when his body suddenly stiffened. The Law Power within him congealed, no longer able to circulate.

He fell heavily to the ground. Incantation script covered his body and swiftly spread to his neck.

"What a despi... cable trick."

Xu Fan's eyes were bloodshot, but he could do nothing to stop it.

"Who was it?"

Every cultivator he had encountered in the Land of Wu flashed through his mind. The one with the highest cultivation seemed to be Shopkeeper Xu from Flowing Cloud Market.

But there was no grudge between them.

Had he killed him with an Incantation because he had failed to recruit him?

A Purple Mansion seed?

Destroy what you could not have?

Bastards, damn this place!

Just you wait for Grandpa Xu!

Xu Fan roared inwardly as the Incantation script crept across his forehead. His body instantly turned into a cloud of bloody mist.

On Peach Blossom Spring Lake.

A black-canopied boat rocked gently among the reeds.

Xu Fan appeared in an instant and collapsed onto the boat, gasping for breath.

Only after a long while did he gradually calm down.

"Bastards, you'll never know Grandpa Xu can't die in that world."

Xu Fan closed his eyes slightly and let out a long breath.

"That godforsaken place can call itself a cultivation world?"

How was killing people at the slightest provocation any different from the demonic path?

"The Red Pine Sect is like that, and so are the cultivators beneath it. The whole place is rotten to the core!"

"Grandpa Xu will remember this grudge."

Deep in his eyes, the [Taiji Dao Evolution Diagram] appeared, followed by its corresponding information, making him even angrier.

"After dying once, I have to absorb a year's worth of sun and moon essence before I can enter again?"