Chapter 22 - Blue Cloud City

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  The silent times didn't last long, or at least, time passed without them noticing. In what seemed to be the blink of an eye, the outline or the silhouette of the Blue Lotus Continent was visible to Gu Xuan and Jin Deming’s sight.

  Unlike the Crescent Island, who only had a single mountain, just by the silhouette of the continent alone, one could see that it has countless.

  ‘That’s the Blue Lotus Continent?’

  Excitement couldn’t help but brew in Gu Xuan’s heart even if he was calm in nature, after all, this was his first time coming out of the Crescent Island.

  Seeing Gu Xuan’s expression slightly blooming from its previous calmness, Jin Deming finally broke the silence, and explained, “That’s the Blue Lotus Continent, Fellow Disciple Gu.”

  “When we get closer to the shore, you will be able to see the walls of the Blue Cloud City. The sect’s branch resides within the Blue Cloud City, it’s named the Twilight Pavilion.”

  “The sect branch has a name?” Gu Xuan questioned, but nodded to himself as he answered the question himself, “Makes sense, after all, the Moonlight Sect is a hidden sect, it’s only normal for them to have something that represents themselves in the outside world. Although, more than a sect, it’s probably a place that collects information so the sect can get news from the inside.”

  Jin Deming was about to answer his initial question as he realized that Gu Xuan went outside without much knowledge about it but he was amazed at Gu Xuan’s intellect to realize the purpose of the Twilight Pavilion without even thinking about it much.

  Since Gu Xuan had already answered the question he asked himself, he can only reaffirm, “That’s correct, Fellow Disciple Gu. Although the Twilight Pavilion has its own force, it mainly acts as a restaurant. It’s a 3-story pavilion, and the higher one eats at, the more delicious the food is, and the more extravagant the service becomes. At least, that’s what it is to the outside world. However, high-ups like the city lord, family heads, and such people with stature in the Blue Cloud City know that the Twilight Pavilion is the branch of our Moonlight Sect.”

  Gu Xuan looked more and more forward to arriving in the Blue Cloud City. He even had the idea of going to martial arts academies and dojos within the city to gain a certain level of understanding in sparring before he proceeds to do his sect mission, the extermination of the Shadow Wolves bandits in the Red Cloud Mountain.

  He was, after all, a greenhorn in terms of combat even if his inner qi is comparable to elders in the sect.

  After some more time had passed, Gu Xuan and Jin Deming finally arrived at the shore of the Blue Lotus Continent near the Blue Cloud City. Unlike the Crescent Island rocky shore that was filled with sharp rocks, the shore they arrived in was a sandy beach.

  So Gu Xuan hopped off the boat without any worries.

  As soon as Gu Xuan hopped off, Jin Deming bowed his head and said, “Then, Fellow Disciple Gu, this is as far as I can take you. After all, if there’s no special exemptions like sect missions, we, lower district disciples, are not allowed outside the sect. I wish you a safe journey.”

  Gu Xuan turned to Jin Deming and smiled, “Um, thank you for bringing me so far, Ferryman Jin.”

  “Of course, I’m simply doing my job.” Jin Deming smiled then continued, “If there’s anyone who should thank anyone, it’s me who should thank you.”

  “?” Gu Xuan tilted his head in confusion but Jin Deming chuckled explaining his reasons, “Thanks to Fellow Disciple Gu’s explanation, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed of myself so when I go back, I’ll try my best and hopefully reach the 1st Layer of Qi Gathering Realm before the age of 35.”

  Gu Xuan was slightly surprised but nodded, “I see, then I wish you good luck.”

  Jin Deming simply nodded and hurriedly ferried the boat in the direction of the Moonlight Sect.

  Although it wasn’t Gu Xuan’s intention, it feels great to inspire other people to work hard on their journey, so he smiled at Jin Deming who was slowly going back to the sect.

  Since that has passed, he looked at the towering mountains in the distance that even the mountain of the Crescent Island lost to in terms of size and took a deep breath.

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  As he exhaled, he frowned but nodded in understanding, ‘No wonder. The spiritual qi in the outside world is extremely thin and could even be said to be non-existent. If spiritual qi in the lower district was 10, the spiritual qi in the outside world is like 1 or maybe even less. No wonder there were a lot of people in cultivation worlds but most mortals don’t see the hope of becoming cultivators.’

  ‘Not only are they held back by the lack of knowledge, they’re also held back by their environment that’s unsuitable for cultivation.’

  Although he didn’t receive a system in his reincarnation, Gu Xuan now felt extremely lucky that he was born within a sect even if it was a low level.

  Due to being born in such, he had a cultivation technique as well as an environment suitable for cultivation.

  If he was born in the outside world, how long would it take him to get a cultivation technique, much less cultivate from a mortal to the 1st layer? He knows it would have been an incredibly difficult journey from the start.

  At least in the sect, he had a place comparable to a beginner’s village suitable for growth.

  Lower district disciples who were spending their time laughing, chatting around, and wasting their time had no idea how lucky they were.

  A phrase immediately comes to Gu Xuan’s mind.

  ‘A born-rich man doesn’t know the feeling of the poor.’

  He doesn’t know where he’s heard it before, but it’s somehow true, at least in this context.

  If cultivators from the mortal world were to go inside the sect, they’d be like him, cultivating for hours without stopping unless necessary, not letting such a great environment for cultivation go to waste.

  But again, that’s none of Gu Xuan’s business so he started walking slowly in the direction of the tall wall he saw in the distance.

  It was northeast of the beach.

  At a distance, he could see that it would take him more or less an hour or two before he reached it if he walked normally. Of course, Gu Xuan wasn’t in a hurry so he took his time.

  Gu Xuan always liked to calculate things, it’s simply a habit he picked up. Right now, even without trying, he would do so, as could be seen from him, calculating each time he broke through from each realm.

  From his current location, he could see the city gates in the distance, and in front of it was a man-made paved road without many trees.

  He of course, walked towards the road, who wouldn’t choose to walk a convenient path?

  Although he took the road, he walked on the side, after all, there were carriages passing by, some of them even more arrogant than the last but Gu Xuan paid them no attention.

  There were also other people, most of them wearing coarse robes, a sign of the times that they have had such robes for years and haven’t replaced it yet.

  Some of them had children helping carry stuff, evidently, helping the older ones transport goods.

  Seeing this, Gu Xuan smiled bitterly. If it was his previous life, this type of thing would be rare due to the convenience brought by the technologies improved through the times.

  However, Gu Xuan had no intention of helping. He couldn’t help each and every one he encountered so he remained quiet and walked towards the gates of the Blue Cloud City.

  Some of those who were walking would occasionally see him and nod to him respectfully.

  Although they didn’t know Gu Xuan’s identity, the robes Gu Xuan wore was of fine quality, so they more or less thought that Gu Xuan was the son of a wealthy man or of similar status taking a walk even if they couldn’t deduce his identity.

  Gu Xuan would, of course, smile and nod back to them.

  As he nodded, he noticed that people he did to, would smile and even the children they have with them would do the same.

  Bringing a smile to a stranger by simply smiling at them when they make eye contact, Gu Xuan was of course happy to make other people happy even at the smallest things.

  Eventually, Gu Xuan reached the city walls.

  Now that Gu Xuan was near the walls, he could see why it looked humongous from outside. One side of the wall itself spanned at least a kilometer in width and 20 meters in height judging by his estimation.

  As for the city gate, it was at least 10 meters high. The gate was made out of wood with some metals, showing that it was at least sturdy enough to handle attacks of martial artists if they flock just like the walls made out of stone bricks.

  He doesn’t know if it could stop an attack strengthened by inner qi, but in warfare, it could keep out a large number of people for a period of time, allowing the people at the top of the castle walls to fire a volley of arrows.

  By the gates, stood 2 guards that were clad in chainmails, and equipped with sharp spears.

  In front of them, the carriages, and the people who were heading inside the Blue Cloud City lined up in an orderly manner.

  Of course, Gu Xuan lined up as well, he wasn’t some crazy cultivator who would kill his way through just because he had to line up.

  As the line moved slowly, something tugged onto his robes so he looked behind.

  He didn’t see anyone but felt the direction of the tugging, and it was below, a young boy, about the age of 6 to 7 years old, wearing coarse clothes tugging onto his robes.

  The child then asked in curiosity, his nose filled with snot, “Big brother, you look so handsome and dress so good. You must be rich, where are you from?”

  Gu Xuan was quite surprised, he didn’t expect someone of humble background to actually call out to him, let alone tug on his clothes.

  ‘I see, this child must be stupid… that’s a bit harsh, maybe naive?’

  Gu Xuan didn’t get angry but instead, crouched down to be on the face level similar to the young boy and chuckled, “Actually, big brother is penniless.”

  He put his thumb onto the side of the child’s nose to block it, and said, “Your other nose is blocked, come on, bring it all out.”

  The child nodded in understanding and then breathed out through his nose hard, the slightly solidified liquid snot came out, going straight into the ground.

  Gu Xuan then nodded, “How is it? So much better right?”

  The child breathed in and said happily, “Right! Thank you, big brother!”

  “No problem, who are you here with?”

  “Ah! I’m here with my big sister, big brother!” He looked around and then didn’t see his sister so his face turned pale and said, “My sister got lost!”

  Gu Xuan nodded to himself, ‘I stand corrected, this child is stupid.’

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