Once everything was finally done, they finally went through and the scene before them caused another raise from the ascending-inclined brow of Long Di.

“This looks nothing like what you described.”

****

They were exposed to a bustling city full of life and vitality. People packed the streets, and they all possessed a spiritual breath.

These were far more cultivators than Long Di had ever seen in the Demon Region. In addition, the type of cultivators that littered the streets were of a broader spectrum.

There were xinli spiritualists, formation array masters, beast tamers and even more that Long Di hadn’t even heard of, which was impressive, to say the least.

The streets were also lined with stalls and stores that these cultivators went in and out of. The entire place was thriving and emitted an atmosphere of tranquillity.

Long Di could see at a glance how much Sun Zixin and his siblings stood out in their rags and overall haggard appearance.

Glares and scowls from passersby were unending in volume. Of course, this was then relayed to Long Di since the distance between his group and the Sun siblings marked them at the very least as accomplices.

Regardless, Long Di didn’t move away and instead walked closer to Sun Zixin, causing the latter to feel a rush of warmth in response.

“You’re gonna lead us to Golden Lion Gate now?” asked Long Di.

Sun Zixin looked at the meat stick in Sun Mei’s hand before his grip on the shovel tightened. “Can you give us a minute first?”

“You’ve got something more important?” Long Di side-cocked his head at him.

Sun Zixin nodded and told Long Di that he wanted to give some of the meat on his share of the shish kebab to the other mortals, since the latter had most likely not eaten for a long time.

Despite popular belief, Long Di wasn’t heartless and told Sun Zixin to feel free to do so.

After getting his permission, he took off with Sun Kai and Sun Mei, followed by Long Di and the others.

Seeing this, Sun Zixin stopped and looked at them in confusion.

“You don’t have to follow us. We’ll come back right here,” he tried to get them to not follow him.

“It’s fine.” Long Di told him. “Lead the way. I want to see the seedy underbelly of this city.”

Sun Zixin looked over to his siblings while they did the same. It was clear a poundage of uncomfortableness descended on them.

“Are you afraid we'll judge you?” Shen Ling asked them.

The Sun siblings’ faces reddened in shame when their thoughts were exposed.

“Don’t worry,” Shen Ling smiled. “It’s good to see what this city looks like from both viewpoints.”

Sun Zixin felt a little hesitant about this but nodded in affirmation all the same.

After that, they followed as Sun Zixin led them, weaving through the crowd on the street. Long Di saw as the young boy made sure to not touch any of the people that passed him by despite the crowd being thicker than a bowl full of oatmeal.

“Interesting,” Long Di said to himself as he inspected Sun Zixin’s footwork. He moved in such a way that it allowed Sun Mei and Sun Kai to follow after him with little trouble.

Before long, they came to the side of a street with an alleyway that was extremely narrow. It was so narrow that to traverse it, you’d have to chop off a little less than half of your body to fit.

“J-Just walk down it sideways and you’ll fit,” Sun Zixin said. He didn’t look at them as he said this, not wanting Long Di and the others to see his expression.

Shen Ling, Mina and Xiannu Liang knew that he was shamed and that they would think even less of him for it. They knew nothing they said could change, so they remained silent all the same.

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Sun Mei then put Sun Kai down, and they all turned sideways and walked down the alleyway.

“Meow…” Lord Whiskers saw the problem here, since his size, being as large as a small house and all, made this a virtual impossibility.

Shu!

Before anyone could react, Pebbles shot off from Long Di’s shoulder and onto Lord Whisker’s head.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on you all from above like feline guardian angels! Let’s fly Whiskers!”

Shu!

Following his command, Lord Whiskers took a leap and disappeared above the building they were walking down the side of.

Well, that was freaky as all hell.

No one had any words for that, so they just followed Sun Zixin and the others who were by now quite a ways down the alleyway. They had to make sure to keep their head in the direction facing forward as they soon found that simply turning their head was nigh impossible due to the close proximity of the walls.

Mina learned this the hard way as she had to walk with her head facing the opposite direction. Her loli stature brooked her no advantage here.

After walking for what seemed like ten minutes, they finally stumbled out of the slim alleyway.

They arrived at an intersection formed by four buildings. The ground beneath them was muddy and wasn’t paved like what it appeared to be on the main streets.

Sun Zixin then took them down a particular direction and after some time, they came to another alley. This time it was much wider, but poorly maintained.

After going down it, a strong stench assaulted them. Long Di’s brow raised as if in an attempt to escape this place while the girls covered their noses in response.

“W-We don’t get the chance to bathe regularly,” Sun Zixin said in a subdued voice. Facing forward, he continued by saying. “Don’t worry, we won’t stay long.”

They came upon a fairly large cul-de-sac-like setting. There were shanties that lined the border of the cul-de-sac.

They were made up of rusty zincs, rotten wood, and all sorts of ill-maintained materials. Waste could be seen in certain places as if plumbing was far-gone from these people.

The holes that were present in the shanties made known what many people were doing inside. They were either sweeping out the humble abode they lodged or just sleeping. Others were sharing whatever food they had with their children, parents, or otherwise.

Long Di saw Sun Zixin taking off pieces of the meat Sun Mei held and ran all over, bringing it over to different people.

The former’s calloused, sarcastic, and prick-soaked heart was moved upon seeing this.

Shen Ling and the others also smiled at the big heart of Sun Zixin. He put his own goals on hold to make sure that people who had it hard like him were being fed.

“♫ ♩ ♪ ♬♫”

A voice that sounded like glass bells echoed through that somehow only drew Long Di’s attention.

His head swivelled around curiously, looking for the source of the sound. His feet then subconsciously moved, unknowingly spurring him to look for this sound.

Shen Ling and the others didn’t even realise when he moved away. He found himself swerving through corners and going around bends until finally; he came to another shanty that was far removed from the others.

Outside the shanty, he saw a woman washing her clothes and going about her chores. As she did all of these things, she sang a tune that Long Di didn’t know but found incredibly soothing.

Her features were vastly different as was her temperament from everyone else in this place.

There was a grace in her movements as she went about her tasks, singing all the while as she did so.

Long Di eventually sat down on an old log and just watched her and not once did he get bored or found his attention lacking as did these very ordinary things.

She didn’t pay attention to Long Di either, that or she didn’t notice him. She would wash her clothes, rinse them and then hang them to dry just like a mortal going about their day.

Yet, with mundane actions such as these, Long Di found himself captivated. She wasn’t stunningly beautiful by any means, but there was a type of beauty to her.

The freckles that were on her face betrayed her long-standing relationship with the eye in the sky as sun-kissed as it was. Her hair was tied up in a crude but effective ponytail. Stubborn strands of her hair fell free, masking some features here and there, but still gave a clear enough view of her face.

Her eyes were hazel and possessed a calmness that rivalled a lake that bathed itself in tranquillity. Her robes were more than dirtied owing to the work that she did. Her feet also were muddied from the ground where water was spilt more than once.

She wore no shoes or anything to protect her feet, but it was almost as if she enjoyed the feeling. Her tunes never ceased, and she sang all the while, allowing Long Di to reminisce about what once was and what could be.

Two people occupied this one spot, and for a moment it was like the bustle of the world drifted away.

He eventually closed his eyes and just enjoyed himself, which was not something he found himself able to do much recently.

Eventually, the tune drifted off into silence and Long Di opened his eyes to find the woman sitting beside him on the log just staring ahead.

He looked in the direction she was looking and found nothing of note there, deciding that she was most likely just staring off into space. He did this himself many times, so he couldn’t say anything about it.

On that matter, he didn’t say anything at all and simply turned his attention to her. In similar situations, there would be a million things he could or would say for whatever reason, but now, it wasn’t the case.

He waited on her as if aware that there was something she needed to say.

Eventually, she asked a question that truly caught him off guard.

“Are you here to kill us?” she finally asked.