bayedsolid Chapter 482 Crossing the Barrier, Arriving at Ningqian City
Chapter 482 Crossing the Barrier, Arriving at Ningqian City
After entering the city, as previously agreed, they went to buy a map first, and headed straight for the bookstore.
Inside the bookstore, the three of them split up to search for maps and books that were even remotely useful. They bought a lot of them, and because they bought so many, the shopkeeper chatted with them for a while.
Waiter: "Fellow Daoists, are you about to embark on a journey? Why not stay in Ningqian City for a few more days? There's a Celestial World Expo in the north of the city tomorrow, and an auction held by the Huang family in the south of the city the day after. Why don't you stay and take a look?"
The three siblings...
I want to watch this, but I'm afraid there won't be enough time!
What do you all think? Were they lucky or unlucky? No wonder there were so many people queuing to enter the city today; it turns out there are events going on in the city tomorrow and the day after!
Does a large number of people mean that it's difficult to book a guesthouse?
Wouldn't they have to sleep on the streets? The key question is, in such a large city, would the city lord's mansion allow cultivators to sleep on the streets? Wouldn't that be unsightly?
Just as Wenwen was about to ask a few more questions, the waiter extended an olive branch.
"Fellow Daoists, have you booked an inn for tonight? Would you like some recommendations?" the waiter asked enthusiastically.
Wenwen...
With such enthusiasm and such efforts to attract and retain tourists in the city, could there be something fishy going on?
When traveling, it's best to be extra careful.
"Thank you, fellow Daoist, but we haven't decided yet," Wen Chengjian politely declined.
The three left the bookstore, walked out of the neighborhood, and began looking for an inn.
Indeed, luck is a mysterious thing.
I asked several guesthouses, and the answers I received were all the same: no rooms available, all booked, or fully booked.
There are quite a few fellow Daoists who share the same troubles as them.
Some fellow Daoists had come all the way from other neighborhoods, asking around and sharing information, and they mentioned the names of inns in several neighborhoods.
Only then did I realize that the inns in the city were completely full today. There was no other way but to stay at a nearby resident's house for a night or two.
Although staying at a resident's home is inconvenient, the room rate is always cheaper than that of a guesthouse.
After listening to the discussion among these fellow Daoists, the three siblings turned around in tacit agreement and strode back to the bookstore.
The bookstore clerk, seeing the three return, greeted them with the same warm attitude, "What else do you fellow Daoists need?"
Wen Chengjian didn't mince words, "Fellow Daoist, do you have any suitable inns to recommend?"
The waiter's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he asked, "Fellow Daoist, are you staying long-term or short-term? If it's long-term, I can recommend a house in a private residence, and I guarantee the rent will be cheap."
Wenwen quickly followed up with, "What about short-term rentals?"
The waiter pondered for a few moments and then named several inns located a little further away.
Unfortunately, I just heard these inns from fellow Daoists on the road, and they are all fully booked.
Are we really going to have to sleep on the streets tonight? Or should we go out of town and find a cave to hide in for the night?
Just as Wenwen was struggling to make a decision, Wen Chengbin asked, "Can't you stay at your place for a night or two? Not even at the price of a night at an inn?"
The waiter was a little unsure, so he simply transmitted his voice and said, "Fellow Daoists, please forgive us. It's not that we can't stay here, but if it's only for one or two nights, the landlord won't provide the spirit-gathering array."
"Generally speaking, the minimum rental period for a residential house is one month. During this month, the landlord will provide a small spirit-gathering array. Of course, the spirit stones required to activate the array are not included in the rental fee and must be paid by the tenant."
The three siblings looked at each other, and finally, Wenwen nodded in agreement to go and see the house.
Seeing that the group agreed, the waiter's face lit up with joy. "Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment. I'll go ask the manager for leave and then take you all over to take a look."
He went into the inner room to ask the bookstore owner for leave, and then walked out of the bookstore with his two siblings.
The group arrived at the main street, where a waiter hailed a horse-drawn carriage, and they all got in.
It must be said that the animals pulling carts in the celestial city have something in common with the animals in the mortal world.
Look, in the mortal world, there are animals that pull carts, such as horses, cows, sheep, donkeys, and dogs.
In the celestial realm, there are also other mythical beasts such as horses, cows, and sheep.
At this moment, the beast-drawn carriage they were riding in was pulled by a creature that looked like a dog, but with the height and long legs of a horse, and a long tail. It ran as fast as the wind, and its decorated tail fluttered in the wind, making it look like a moving rainbow landscape. It was quite beautiful and very stylish.
Wenwen has now discovered another problem: the monsters she encounters after entering this immortal city are quite different from those she has seen before. They are completely unfamiliar with the people and beasts here, practically complete novices.
The most urgent task is to buy relevant books to quickly learn about the people and beasts here. Otherwise, the further we go into the center of the immortal city, the less we know, and we will suffer a great loss!
Thinking of this, Wenwen looked at the bookstore clerk and said, "Fellow Daoist, does your bookstore have any books about the monsters in the surrounding area? We forgot to buy any books on this topic earlier."
The shopkeeper replied, "Yes, yes, I'll bring it to you when I get back to the bookstore."
Afterwards, the group chatted casually inside the animal-drawn carriage.
After about 15 minutes, the animal-drawn carriage stopped at the entrance of a narrow alley.
During their brief time together, Wenwen and her siblings learned that the waiter's name was Huang Xiaoyang, and that he had four family members: his father, Huang Damao, his mother, Xu, and his younger sister, Huang Xiaoduo, who was about ten years old and a little younger than Wenwen.
They are descendants of a branch of the Huang family, the lord's mansion of Ningqian City.
Having developed into a powerful family over thousands of years, the Huang family is now incredibly large, with countless members. The descendants of its collateral branches are now merely members of the same surname and clan as the Huang family of the City Lord's Mansion.
A few years ago, Huang Damao and his wife were injured by a monster while hunting, which damaged their spiritual roots and caused their cultivation to drop from the ninth level of Qi Refining to the sixth level. Many years have passed, and no matter how they cultivate, they have made no progress. Now, the family of four is like a rogue cultivator, struggling to cultivate in a small courtyard in the south of Ningqian City.
There is an empty room in the house, which is rented out for 600 spirit stones per month. Although the rent is not much, it can help cover the monthly living expenses of the family of four, such as food and transportation.
After getting off the beast-drawn carriage, Huang Xiaoyang paid the fare and led the three into the alley. After walking for a short while, they stopped in front of a small courtyard.
Huang Xiaoyang touched the courtyard's restriction, and soon, a girl at the fourth level of Qi Refining, with a simple and honest appearance and a figure resembling a Fuwa (a Chinese mascot), opened the courtyard gate.
“Sister, I brought a few short-term renters with me. These three fellow Daoists would like to take a look at the house.”
Huang Xiaoduo peeked at the three siblings and greeted them, saying, "Fellow Daoists, please come in."
When Wenwen and her brother entered the courtyard, they were greeted by a typical farmhouse with a vegetable garden in front and a row of houses in the back.
The vegetable garden is on the left, with several kinds of spiritual vegetables growing there, lush and fresh. On the right, in the corner of the wall, there is a fruit tree taller than a person, with spiritual fruits hanging all over its branches. If you smell it closely, you can smell the fragrance of fruit in the yard.
Beyond the vegetable garden are five large houses, each over four meters high, tall enough to easily build a small mezzanine inside. The sturdy stone walls outside are covered with bright yellow glazed tiles.
Huang Xiaoyang gave the three siblings a brief introduction: the three rooms on the west side were their own, the middle room was the living room, and the room on the east side was a guest room for rent.
The group entered the guest room, which was about fifty square meters in size and divided into an inner and outer room, both with beds. This was more than enough for the siblings.
Upon seeing this, Wenwen had already decided to stay. As for how many days she would stay, she would decide after discussing it with her brother and sister.