It never occurred to Lin Xun that the old man wanted to take him to Mist City, the capital of Southwestern Province.
“To all the practitioners of the empire, whether they’re from the upper class or the lower class, the Nation Test is relatively the fairest system for selecting talents.”
The old man seemed aware of Lin’s doubts and explained to him patiently.
“If seizing this opportunity, the poor who can pass the competitive examinations will climb up the ladder leading to the upper class, thus, which will lift them out of poverty. Similarly, the real talents instead of those who only know how to dine and wine but literally know nothing will be selected from the noble offspring.”
“Once you can get enrolled at the Green-deer School, the wisdom and power you possess will probably help you figure out a bit of the truth.”
Lin Xun felt a little nervous, “Senior, may I know what the truth is?”
The old man smiled with some elusiveness in his eyes full of vicissitudes, “It depends on what kind of truth you want.”
Lin Xun was in a trance, falling into meditation.
He felt a little restless. Had the old man already known something?
Then, he suddenly remembered that the old man once said in Donglin Town that the Queen of Dark Night went to the deep of Three Thousand Mountains for an old friend’s whereabouts
However, when they arrived there, the abode of her old friend had already been destroyed, leaving no clues for her to follow.
Lin Xun doubted at that time that what they looked for was the mine prison he had ever lived in, but deep down, he wasn’t sure of that.
On hearing the old man’s meaningful words, Lin Xun subconsciously felt that the old man seemed to know something.
Lin Xun wasn’t sure of that, either.
Lin Xun couldn’t ask him, because the mine prison was involved with too many things, including Master Lu, his own background and enemies.
The old man was done speaking. He took out a snow-white handkerchief carefully and gently polished a black pendant that was like an ancient sword but was only 10cm long.
The old man’s old and amiable face was full of concentration, graveness and seriousness, drawing Lin Xun’s attention.
Lin Xun didn’t know that the sword-shaped black pendant was called “Eternal Night’s Sigh”, a name that shocked the world thousands of years ago!
That was the name of a suit of armor with spiritual tattoos.
Over thousands of years, fewer and fewer people knew the name.
...
Three days later-
Mist City -
As the capital of Southwestern Province of the empire, Mist City was rather prosperous with a large population of millions of people. With its huge area and dense population, it was far beyond the reach of Donglin Town, a border city.
In a remote and shabby yard of Mist City at night-
Looking at the room which acquired a completely new outlook after his cleaning, Lin Xun felt like he was at home.
The old man left at dusk, leaving a house he had prepared for Lin Xun without servants or maids. Thus, Lin Xun had to clean the yard thoroughly by himself.
The yard was small but quite tranquil. Lin Xun felt greatly satisfied because he could have his own house for free in Mist City dubbed as the golden district.
But now he had to face a practical problem. A house was far from enough for him. He also needed to prepare the resources he used for daily cultivation and materials for a living.
After he left the Bloodthirsty Camp, no one would supply him with those things for free.
He had already checked all his belongings, including 200 imperial gold coins, a Greenwave Saber, two bottles of Condensate Pills, as well as miscellaneous spiritual materials.
He had nothing except for the above items.
In the past, those things might be enough to sustain him for a couple of months. But now as he reached the Human-gang Realm, it was far from enough for him to sustain his cultivation and daily living.
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In other words, he was confronted with a great practical problem after he arrived in Mistclouds Town- to earn money!
“The Province Test will be held in September, which means I’ll live in the city for nearly half a year...”
Having pondered for a while, he stood up, attempting to go out first for getting familiar with the environment around.
“Hey, wait a minute, boy.”
Suddenly a lazy voice came from a corner of the wall.
Lin look carefully and saw a big-boned guy lying there, with a rough face, dull-red cheeks, sleepy eyes and his chest as hard as steel exposed. It was an absolute drunkard.
It was Shue Jin obviously. After he sent Lin Xun here, he also had to stay. According to what the old man said, Shue Jin would take care of Lin Xun until the Province Test was over.
In principle, such an arrangement was excellent, but actually Lin Xun pinned no hope on him at all.
Since Shue Jin entered the yard, he was busy drinking and sleeping. Thus, Lin Xun would feel lucky if Shue Jin didn’t bring troubles for him, let alone let Shue Jin take care of him.
“What’s up?” asked Lin Xun.
“Ha ha, remember to buy me a jar of liquor when you’re back. The stronger, the better. In my memory, there is a well-known strong liquor in Mist City. Its name seems to be ‘Soul-burning’. Oh, this should be its name...”
Shue Jin murmured for a long time, like a drunkard talking in sleep.
“All right. But you should behave yourself. Don’t you go out to cause me any trouble if you get drunk,” said Lin Xun in a helpless tone.
Last time Shue Jin lost his mind after getting drunk, he even dared to hit Weiyang Battleship of the empire. Lin Xun had the reason to worry that whether this guy would tear down the house after he got drunk. “Don’t act like a woman. Hurry up. I’ve been drunk for 30 years, but I haven’t done something stupid,” shouted Shue Jin impatiently.
Lin Xun sighed and walked out of the yard while shaking his head.
...
Mist City at night was like a city without darkness, ablaze with lights, like a fire dragon, illuminating half of the sky.
On the spacious streets as dense as cobwebs stood a variety of buildings in rows. Even at night, the streets were full of various carriages and pedestrians.
It was greatly flourishing!
After one year when Lin Xun returned to a city, he found it a little hard to adapt himself to the bustling life.
Everything in the Bloodthirsty Camp was dry as dust. There was only cultivation and assessment in every day except for training, fighting at close quarters, and bloody battles.
Now, Lin Xun felt as if being cut off from the outside world for ages when walking on the boisterous street, watching pedestrians come and go, and hearing various noises in the air.
Lin Xun quickly shook his head, abandoning the distracting thoughts on his mind.
He went to a grocery first and bought some groceries, including firewood, rice, cooking oil and salt, spiritual grains and vegetables. Then, he went to a store specially selling spiritual materials and bought some off-the-peg spiritual inks and materials. And only those things already cost him 20 imperial gold coins.
Soon, he spent another 50 imperial gold coins purchasing bottled 60 Sapphire Gang-refining Pills. Though its price was really high, it was a must for his cultivation.
As he combed seven streets and finally bought a jar of liquor named “Soul-burning” from an unknown pub. Now he already spent about half of his money, only about 100 imperial gold coins left.
It made Lin Xun feel depressed, and he became to realize the price of commodities here was extremely high.
After doing all this, he came to the center part of Mist City unwittingly. Here stood various splendid skyscrapers and gathered a variety of famous chambers of commerce, businesses, and entertainment places, such as brothels, pubs, and arenas.
Such a place was far beyond the reach of ordinary practitioners. He could tell from the clothing and ornaments of those passers-by.
He was not in the mood to loiter at all. As he was about to leave, he was attracted to a grand building in the distance.
In an ancient style, the building was as high as about 300 meters. It was erected there like a towering mountain.
On the surface of the building emerged a huge screen at the moment, on which a beautiful lady was broadcasting news in a serious tone, “According to a reliable informant, a message came from the governor’s mansion three days ago that Governor Liu Wujun would hold the post of the chief examiner in the Province Test held in September, which caused a sensation.”
“Yesterday, a report of victory from the battlefront of the west borderland was received. Blood Army defeated the troop of 30,000 soldiers from Voodoo-Barbarian Tribe after a fierce battle for half a month!”
“Academy of Spiritual Implements of the empire declared this morning that a new generation of small-sized Ziying Battleships would be launched soon. Based on the reliable analysis, the power of the new Ziying Battleships would set a new record, becoming a new powerful weapon of the empire.”
The attractive lady was decorous and her face was expressionless. She said calmly, “The news of cultivation will be broadcasted below. The most remarkable news today is...”
Lin Xun raised his head and watched the screen quietly.
The screen was called “Spiritual Screen”. As a matter of fact, it was a huge Phantom Spiritual Formation to spread news.
Since it cost much to set such a spiritual formation, Spiritual Screen was a luxury. It ran at the expense of thousands of imperial gold coins each day.
Such a considerable cost was even unaffordable for the top forces, let alone the common ones. Thus, only the imperial government could afford to sustain the smooth operation of Spiritual Screen.
Lin Xun once heard that each capital of the 34 provinces of the empire was equipped with such a Spiritual Screen for interchanging news and disseminating the major events taking place all over the empire in the first place.
Lin Xun regarded it magic at first. But, when he saw it by himself now, he felt it was nothing special. As a spiritual tattooist, he, of course, understood the secrets of Spiritual Screen.
Shortly, Lin Xun narrowed his eyes, as his attention was drawn by a piece of news-
“Rumor has it, Lian Fei, the son-in-law of Yao Tuohai who is a great practitioner at the Tao Insight Realm in Green-maple County, has broken through into the Human-gang Realm and smoothly generated the second-class Pond of Spiritual Power. Thus, he is reputed as another genius of Green-maple County. The news has caused quite a stir locally. According to the analysis, Lian Fei will also sign up for the Province Test held in September...”
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