"Nonsense!"
The shop assistant mumbled, but Zhao Wu didn't catch it, looking at him blankly.
The apothecary shot the assistant a glare, opened the Stone Box, and squinted his eyes for a thorough examination. It was a rather lengthy process, yet Zhao Wu had the patience and confidence. The Stone Box undoubtedly contained one thousand strands of top-quality Shrimp Whisker Grass. To cope with the shop's "routine extortion", they even added a hundred or so extra strands in the Stone Box. It should be foolproof.
The shop fell into silence for a moment, while the assistant had already made countless trips in and out. The last time, under the direction of the apothecary, he went to the back hall to fetch the most crucial item for Zhao Wu's transaction: the Three Yang Talisman Sword!
The assistant placed the sword case on the counter for Zhao Wu to inspect. Although Zhao Wu knew nothing about it and didn't believe the grand White Sun Mansion would deceive him with counterfeit goods, the matter was of great importance. He opened the case, carefully observed the sword body and the attached Artisan Master's nameplate, as if he wanted to stuff his eyes inside.
After a while, Zhao Wu closed the case, and all the procedures were completed. His hands were slightly trembling, but he quickly stuffed the foot-long case into the prepared backpack, turned around, and left. The assistant behind him coughed, reminding him, "Be careful, this sword can buy a garden in New City!"
Zhao Wu stumbled a bit, but he had been mentally prepared, dared not harbor any greedy thoughts, and hurriedly left without returning to Lower City. Instead, he continued forward, rushing to the place agreed with his employer.
The shop assistant watched him run off from the shop's entrance, then dusted off his lapel and went back inside. Not far away, two men dressed in short attire saw his gesture, emerged from the shade, and followed Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu was oblivious to what was happening behind him. He excitedly found the famous Geng Fu Street in New City, located the first Home Like Building at the street corner, and sought the innkeeper. After a few words, they recognized each other. Zhao Wu left his backpack and sword case on the counter, and the innkeeper handed him ten taels of gold that had been prepared, his face full of envy.
Zhao Wu wandered onto the street as if in a dream. Was it over? Was the money for his next five years' expenses now in his hands? The bustling crowd on the street paid no attention to the dazed onlooker, only the two men following him at a distance, their faces filled with helplessness.
The two men didn't delay, one quickly entered the building.
The innkeeper, having received the backpack without caring about its contents, called an assistant to take it to the guest in Room Number Five of the Xuan Series. The assistant had barely left when the trailing man came over, asking about what had just happened, subtly hinting at his master's illustrious identity.
The innkeeper was surprisingly forthcoming, revealing everything without hesitation. He casually informed the man that Room Number Five of Xuan Series had been booked by a local idler named Little Seven Wang, who had prepaid for two days.
Upon hearing this, the man's face turned a sickly green. Just then, the inn's porter returned from delivering his baggage. He pulled the porter aside for questioning. As expected, the porter reported that there was no one in the room, the door was not locked, and there was a note left instructing him to leave the baggage on the table.
Without a moment's delay, the man rushed into the room. He returned to the hall shortly after, eyes wide, studying the flow of people coming and going. However, he soon abandoned his efforts. The Home Like Building was a place for both food and lodging, and it was currently mealtime. With people constantly coming and going, who could tell who his target was?
Outside, his companion happened to peek his head out. They exchanged a glance, both looking dejected.
As the man tailing them walked back listlessly, across the street from Home Like Building was Fu An Inn. In the Upper Room of the Heavenly Character, Yu Ci sat with a smug smile. In front of him, four three Yang Talisman Swords were neatly arranged on the table, waiting for his inspection.
The three Yang Talisman Sword looked similar to the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, at least both were made of wood and smeared with an unknown vermilion spirit guide talisman. The differences were only in the complexity and quality of the talisman, which resulted in a vast disparity in their power.
From what he could see, the power of the three Yang Talisman Sword was considered a divine weapon in the minds of ordinary people. The Flame Sword Blade it formed had advantages that ordinary metal blades did not have, and it was indeed worth its weight in gold. On this point, White Sun Mansion was not cheating people. However, compared to the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, both in terms of lethality and the strength of the Flame Sword Blade, there was still a long way to go.
He had once used the Nine Yang Talisman Sword to injure Viper Monk's hand and kill him. But if he were to use the three Yang Talisman Sword instead, he feared that the Flame Sword Blade would be crushed by the monk's bare hands. That was the difference.
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Now, the Nine Yang Talisman Sword had evaporated in the fight against the Ghost Beasts. Yu Ci was in desperate need of a suitable sword, hence he also had some expectations for the higher level "Pure Yang Talisman Sword". Unfortunately, even if he had the full process to make the Pure Yang Talisman Sword, it would require a rather lengthy process, and he did not have the time for it at the moment.
Now, what truly piqued Yu Ci's interest and consumed his energy was a much more intriguing matter.
Assuming a more comfortable posture, he activated the Divine Map. With practiced ease, he immersed his consciousness into it, seeking his target. The map clearly showed the two men who had been tailing him, shrinking in fear as they entered their own shop, ready to face their master's reprimand. Yu Ci picked up the teacup on his table with a grin, not minding the cold taste of the tea, and took a light sip, finding it extremely refreshing.
The White Sun Mansion was a prosperous household. A few Three Yang Talisman Swords meant little to them, but four thousand stalks of high-quality Shrimp Whisker Grass were indeed an impressive asset. If Yu Ci were to bring them all out at once, it would certainly attract attention, so he had taken some effort. He had traded them in three separate transactions, using three different methods, to acquire these four Three Yang Talisman Swords.
The first time he traded for a sword, the steward of the White Sun Mansion was just slightly surprised. The second time, when he suddenly traded for two swords at once, they felt something was amiss. By the time he traded for the fourth sword, it was no longer a matter of surprise, but of being thoroughly teased. Particularly since Yu Ci, despite using different tactics each time, had one consistent feature: he used city onlookers as intermediaries. This was very conspicuous during the off-season for buying Shrimp Whisker Grass.
Even the most patient White Sun Mansion could not tolerate this. This time, they sent people to tail him, hoping to find out more about Yu Ci. Unfortunately, under Yu Ci's careful arrangements and, more importantly, the miraculous function of the Divine Map, they were left disoriented and returned empty-handed.
Yu Ci did this primarily out of caution. However, he had to admit that he could have been more concise and low-key, without involving so many steps in the process. The result might have been better, and he would not have indirectly provoked the White Sun Mansion like he did now.
The reason he ended up in this situation was purely due to his mischievous nature.
Ever since he discovered this function of the Divine Bronze Mirror, he had become addicted after multiple uses, unknowingly developing this habit.
How could he not have developed this habit?
After storing the four Sword Techniques, Yu Ci moved the Divine Map to the most comfortable position in front of him, switching to the most macroscopic view. In an instant, his immersed consciousness seemed to sprout wings and fly high into the sky. Beneath the lingering clouds, the magnificent city revealed its true face, almost without any reservation.
The city of Sheer Cliff was built according to the terrain of two mountains. On one side was the Cinnabar Cliff, with the smooth mirror-like sheer cliff on the backside, while the northeast direction was a gentle slope carrying the city. When the city was first built, the city was the cliff, and the cliff was the city, blending into one, indistinguishable from each other. But after hundreds, even thousands of years of development, the city had extended along the gentle slope to the entire basin, and continued to expand northeastward, now connected with the foothills of the Broken Realm Mountain. It formed a generally narrow but incredibly majestic city nestled between the mountains.
The rain that had just fallen flowed down from the mountains on both sides, converging into the lake in the central basin of the city. It then followed the man-made river channel to the southeast, forming a spectacular waterfall on the ten-mile slope outside the city, and flowed into the Ba River that wound around the city.
Such a grand and direct impression is hard to conceive, even for the local residents who have lived in the city for decades.
But that's not all!
In Yu Ci's eyes, the magnificent city was filled with houses and courtyards, densely populated with hundreds of thousands of people, like ants. Regardless of their gender, age, wealth, or status, whether they were powerful heroes or celestial cultivators, all were reflected without omission in the Divine Map. As for the grand mansions and secret chambers, they were as good as non-existent. The actions and emotions of countless people, constantly changing, yet no matter how they changed, they were all in full view, leaving no privacy for him.
At this moment, he was like a deity floating above the city, holding the vast city and its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants in his palm. Such experiences often left Yu Ci feeling intoxicated, and made him truly feel that he had ascended to a higher level.
The scope of one's vision determines the breadth of one's mind, and the breadth of one's mind governs one's achievements. While others were still fussing over trivial gains, Yu Ci already possessed a grand vision that exceeded the ordinary by hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of times. This inevitably meant that his goals far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people, and also exceeded the bounds of the mundane.
He was very clear that the ascension of his level was closely linked to the improvement of his cultivation. Without breaking through the Nature-Connecting Realm, all this would never become a reality.
Immortality and cultivation were undoubtedly the best decisions he had made in his life!
Yu Ci "stood" in mid-air, shifting his focus. If he were to choose the most interesting thing in this sheer cliff city, it would undoubtedly be the "Upper City" built on Cinnabar Cliff, or more directly, the White Sun Mansion itself.
In this moment, he did not move; the sheer cliff city came to life.
Houses and people flowed like a flood, then abruptly came to a halt the next moment. The scene had changed, and the White Sun Mansion on Cinnabar Cliff, like a giant beast under dark clouds, lay before his eyes.
Yu Ci's thoughts reflected on it, like a ghost wandering between the heavy doors. He didn't pinpoint a location, but let his thoughts drift, enjoying the immersive feeling. His biggest hobby now was to observe the every move of the characters in the White Sun Mansion through the Divine Map. There was no malice here, of course, he didn't plan to get the permission of the White Sun Mansion in advance.
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I have also posted the following more chapters [All free] on: https://www.readgates.com/article/74a39e