After ten days of travel, they arrived at Pingyang Town.

Gufeng Mountain was located on the eastern side of Duzhou’s map. Down the mountain cliff, a river crossed horizontally, called the Lixiu River. The river water flowed like silk, with boats and sails swaying in the morning sun. Fishermen shouted unknown work songs while casting their nets into the river that was dyed red by the sunrise.

Pingyang Town was situated at the foot of Gufeng Mountain, beside Lixiu River.

The carriage stopped in front of the city gate.

Hong Su helped Zanxing down from the carriage, and Lao Niu cheerfully said, “Miss, this is Pingyang Town.”

Zanxing looked up into the distance.

Pingyang Town was a small town at the foot of Gufeng Mountain. Looking up into the distance, she could vaguely see mountain ranges at the edge of her vision, with high peaks like clouds and what seemed to be five colors shining together. Amidst the swirling purple qi, it was like a fairyland in a secluded valley.

Lao Niu followed Zanxing’s gaze and smiled: “That’s where the Taiyan Sect’s headquarters are located. In the future, if the Young City Master successfully enters the sect, Miss might be able to go up Gufeng Mountain to see the scenery there.”

Zanxing withdrew her gaze and smiled as well: “Let’s go.”

This was a very lively small town.

The streets were wide and extremely clean, with carriages constantly shuttling through. On both sides were various shops and restaurants, with strangely dressed people walking back and forth on the streets, talking. There were cultivators wearing long swords, dressed ethereally, and sitting in teahouses drinking tea. There were also bare-chested, burly men arguing with kindly smiling elders while holding glowing flowers.

“Twenty spirit stones? Take a good look! This medicinal herb of mine is a mid-grade spiritual herb ‘Peach Blossom Face,’ worth at least one hundred spirit stones!” the burly man roared menacingly.

The elder standing before him was not intimidated and replied gently: “Customer, this ‘Peach Blossom Face’ is indeed a mid-grade spiritual herb, that’s true. However, the spiritual herb’s branches and leaves are incomplete, only half of the flower remains, and the quality is too poor. Even if used to refine into pills, its efficacy would only be one-tenth of a complete one. Giving you twenty spirit stones is already sufficient. If the customer doesn’t want to make this deal, you can look at other shops. Our establishment still has other business to conduct.”

The burly man argued for a while, then finally took the twenty spirit stones and left, cursing.

Zanxing said, “This person is quite stubborn.”

Lao Niu, standing beside her like a dutiful voice assistant, explained: “This should be the ‘Huajin Tower’ that others talk about.”

Zanxing: “Huajin Tower?”

“This servant has heard of it too!” Hong Su quickly spoke up: “I heard that Huajin Tower is the largest trading post in Pingyang Town. When people find treasures, they bring them here for Huajin Tower to help sell on consignment, and Huajin Tower takes a commission. Here, they have various cultivation methods, weapons, spirit pills, and spiritual herbs. Because it’s near Gufeng Mountain, Taiyan Sect disciples sometimes come here to trade too. Many precious spirit medicines and secret manuals that other trading posts don’t have can be found here!”

“The owner of Huajin Tower, Jin Feicui, is said to be a stunningly beautiful woman…” Lao Niu’s eyes flashed with anticipation.

“Uncle Niu, don’t just think about that beautiful woman, first look at the beauty in front of you.” Zanxing interrupted the coachman’s reverie. “This place should have medicinal materials that can treat my facial injury. Shall we go in and take a look?”

“To buy medicinal materials, we need spirit stones.” Lao Niu pondered for a moment.

Right, in this cultivation world, the currency was spirit stones; ordinary money wouldn’t work.

“Then let’s use spirit stones.” Zanxing waited for the two to take out money.

Hong Su and Lao Niu looked at each other. After a while, Hong Su carefully said, “Miss, what are you talking about? We don’t have any spirit stones.”

“How is that possible?” Zanxing asked back: “Aren’t I the eldest miss? How could I lack these few spirit stones?”

“But… but…” Hong Su looked at her pitifully: “Miss, when you needed spirit stones before, you always asked the Young City Master directly. When we servants came out, we didn’t bring any money…”

Zanxing: “…”

The “Miss Yang” from the original story, although called “eldest miss,” actually didn’t have much wealth at home—she was just from an ordinary merchant family. If it weren’t for her exceptional beauty, Wang Shao wouldn’t have been engaged to her. And “Miss Yang,” having latched onto Wang Shao’s big tree, had utilized this long-term meal ticket to the extreme.

Buying clothes—swipe Wang Shao’s card. Buying jewelry—swipe Wang Shao’s card. Getting pets groomed—swipe Wang Shao’s card. From large furniture to small nail clippers, everything used Wang Shao’s card.

Wang Shao, an emotionless card-swiping machine.

So for this trip to Pingyang Town, Miss Yang hadn’t brought a single spirit stone, with travel expenses and daily outings all covered by Wang Shao. But now the problem was, when she and Wang Shao were separated, she didn’t have a single spirit stone in her pocket.

“Women should still have some money in their hands,” Zanxing sighed.

“It’s alright, Miss,” Lao Niu thought of something, “didn’t you obtain a demon core? You can sell the demon core to Huajin Tower and exchange it for spirit stones.”

“Right,” Hong Su became happy, “that demon core must be much more precious than that person’s ‘Peach Blossom Face’!”

Zanxing interrupted the joy of the two in front of her: “I refined it.”

“What?”

“I said,” Zanxing repeated, “I refined that demon core.”

Hong Su and Lao Niu were instantly shocked into silence.

Zanxing looked into the distance. The bustling crowd reflected in the morning light made Pingyang Town appear particularly lively, like some tourist scenic town, emanating an unreal, nostalgic atmosphere.

But everything here was real.

The injury on her face was becoming increasingly painful; she had to find a physician quickly for treatment. Without money, she couldn’t move a step. Although she very much wanted to avoid following the original plot line, by strange coincidence, the original story still required her to meet with plot characters and trigger the next story development.

Forget it, if she had to go, then she’d go.

“Miss, what should we do now?” Hong Su asked.

“Come on,” Zanxing smiled, “let’s go find our ATM.”

…

In the ‘Good Fortune’ inn of Pingyang Town, someone was sitting.

This inn was well-positioned, adjacent to the riverside. Guests staying in rooms could push open their windows to face the Lixiu River directly. If it were nighttime, with river breezes blowing, placing a pot of fine wine on the small table by the window, inviting two or three good friends, playing a tune, and drinking a cup—that would be worthy of the beautiful night scenery.

Of course, this inn was also very expensive—one hundred spirit stones per night. Those without wealthy families would never dare to splurge like this. For this Taiyan Sect recruitment, young talents rushed from all over Duzhou, many from prominent families, all gathered here.

Wang Shao sat on the soft couch by the window, contentedly gazing out the window while drinking tea. The tea was brewed with spiritual spring water from Gufeng Mountain, which was not only clear and fragrant but also beneficial to the body when consumed.

Though this damned place was painfully expensive, you got what you paid for—it still had its merits.

“Young City Master,” a servant entered and said quietly, “We haven’t found any trace of the Mu Cengxiao siblings yet.”