Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue bathed in utter silence, and it wasn't until they had both dressed in clean clothes that the awkwardness disappeared.
"Let's go." Yu Nianzhen said as he led the way out of the room.
They didn't know anything or anyone in Fengying city, but since they were not looking for any establishments specifically, they chose to explore rather than ask for directions.
Fengying city was unlike the Han city in their memory not only in size and number of cultivators, but also in the number of establishments.
The road leading to the inner city was so wide that five carriages could travel side by side while leaving a gap of about one metre between each other.
At each side of the road were storey buildings and from the banners outside the establishments, Fengying city had a variety of businesses that could not be found in Han city.
Some shops specialised in trading beast cores and other materials collected from demonic beasts. Other shops exclusively dealt in pills and elixirs; others were for herbs and many more for weapons, equipment, clothes, and other things that cultivators needed.
"It will take a long time to walk from one end of the city to the other." Jiang Yue guessed as he looked at everything excitedly.
"We will be in Fengying city for at least two months and there is enough time to explore all the shops." Yu Nianzhen said as he also looked around.
It was not an exaggeration to say that the next two months in Fengying city would determine their future path.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were already at the peak of the seventh level of the meridian awakening realm and if everything went as usual, they would break through to the eighth level in a matter of days.
After that, it would take at most three months to cultivate to the peak of the ninth level of the meridian awakening realm and at that time, they would need a cultivation technique to break through to the origin forging realm.
For people like them with exceptional cultivation talent, it was an incredible waste to get stuck at the peak of a cultivation realm because of lack of cultivation resources and it was because of this that they needed to spend the next two months wisely.
Yu Nianzhen planned to visit all the shops in Fengying city, and if they were lucky, they would be able to find several undiscovered treasures using the treasure compass.
If they couldn't use the treasures, they would be able to exchange them for gold coins and use the coins to buy cultivation technique manuals.
In Yu Nianzhen's mind, such an operation was the only way they could afford to buy cultivation manuals and if they still couldn't find a way after doing all that, they would have to join the Sea Cloud sect to take advantage of the sect's resources.
"There is a restaurant there." Jiang Yue said as he pointed to a location about fifty metres away.
The restaurant was a small establishment of only five floors and when they arrived at the front desk, the two realised that each of the restaurant's floors had a different minimum consumption level.
"The first floor offers mortal beast meat, the second floor offers class one low-rank demonic beast meat, the third floor offers class one mid-rank demonic beast meat, the fourth floor offers class one high-rank demonic beast meat and the final floor offers class one peak rank demonic beast meat." The waiter informed as he looked at the two boys.
All beasts in the Cangxing world were born with naturally stronger bodies than humans and even though mortal beasts had no chance of evolving into class one beasts, they were still equivalent to meridian awakening realm cultivators.
Those beasts that managed to form a core were called demonic beasts and class one demonic beasts who were equivalent to origin forging realm cultivators were the lowest rank of demonic beasts.
"We will go to the second floor." Yu Nianzhen said after making several considerations.
Demonic beast meat contained a lot of energy and normal meridian awakening realm cultivators would be unable to consume class one beast meat without exploding their meridians but he and Jiang Yue were different.
They had awakened seven divine meridians and their bodies were considerably stronger compared to other meridian awakening realm cultivators and Yu Nianzhen felt that they shouldn't have any problems consuming low-rank class one demonic beast meat.
In fact, he felt that they would also be fine if they consumed class one mid-rank demonic beast meat, but he didn't want to take the risk so he chose the option that he was relatively confident in.
"Private or public table?" The waiter asked again.
If it was their previous life, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue would directly choose the private option but this time, they chose the public option.
It wasn't just a matter of cost, they also wanted to take the chance to observe other cultivators and listen to any information that could be overheard in a public dining area.
After making their decision, the waiter led them to the second-floor restaurant and sat them at an unoccupied corner table.
The public area had close to thirty round tables and at this time, more than half were already occupied. Each table was about two metres from the next which was enough distance to prevent overhearing by non-cultivators and low-level meridian awakening ream cultivators. However, this gap was not enough to keep out the heightened senses of mid-level and high-level meridian awakening realm cultivators.
"The qi feels cleaner than the outside." Jiang Yue mentioned as soon as the waiter left their table.
"They have probably set up a qi purifying array." Yu Nianzhen explained in admiration.
A qi gathering array was able to gather qi from a large area and concentrate it in a small area while a qi purifying array could remove a lot of the unnecessary components of the heaven and earth qi resulting in a purer qi that was easier to absorb.
Jiang Yue took a deep breath and then focused his attention on the menu only to crease his face in a frown a moment later.
"What's wrong?" Yu Nianzhen asked as he looked at Jiang Yue.
"Should we really eat here?" The other asked in doubt.
"It's not bad to have this kind of meal once in a while." Yu Nianzhen answered as he looked at his own menu.
All the dishes were very expensive and a full meal for two would cost more than one hundred gold coins, but he felt that it was worth it.
Not only was the meat demonic beast meat which contained a lot of energy, but the vegetable dishes were made with silver rank low-grade herbs which were very beneficial for the body.
In his view, it was not bad to have such a meal every once in a while, and in the end, having an additional one hundred gold coins would not make any difference since their need for gold coins was in the tens of thousands and not the hundreds.
After listening to Yu Nianzhen's reasoning, Jiang Yue did not hold back and he ordered several meat dishes, several vegetable dishes, a soup, and snake wine.
Although Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were only thirteen and would be considered underage in the modern world, it was different in the Cangxing world because everyone was automatically regarded as an adult as soon as they stepped onto the cultivation path.
After making their order, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue began making plans for the following months and it was as they were doing so that a commotion occurred at the floor's entrance.
From their corner seat, the two had a clear view of each section of the room and when the disturbance occurred, they were able to quickly pinpoint the cause.
"It's young city lord Wang." An origin forging realm cultivator who was seated at the next table said reverently.
"He is already at the third level of the meridian awakening realm at such a young age." The person's companion said.
There was a note of admiration in the companion's voice, but her reaction was the standard as all the other diners were also reacting in the same way.
At the door, the young city lord seemed to be used to this reaction and he proudly walked into the restaurant, clearly loving the adoration from the rest of the diners.
Several peak level meridian awakening realm cultivators followed behind the boy and from observation, one could tell that they were bodyguards.
As he walked, the boy cast his eyes every which way and it was as he was doing this that his eyes landed on the two boys who were quietly watching from a table at the corner.
Wang Hui first noticed that the two boys looked to be of the same age as himself and as the most talented person of his generation in Fengying city, he was about to turn his attention to other people but he suddenly noticed their cultivation and he immediately froze in place.
There was no doubt that both boys were thirteen, but they were already at the peak of the seventh level of the meridian awakening realm!
Wang Hui had been lauded as a once in a century genius since he began cultivating almost a year ago, but as he looked at the two boys, he felt something that he hadn't felt since he tested his origin.
For the first time, Wang Hui felt inferior.
"Who are they?" He demanded as he turned a black face to one of the bodyguards behind him.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had largely been unnoticed, but as soon as Wang Hui spoke, several diners and the bodyguards turned to look at them and there was a collective gasp of shock.
What was the meaning of being at the seventh level of the meridian awakening realm at such a young age?