Seeing it, she took it out and opened it to see what was inside. The first page had more images than words but there was a small smile on her face.
"I found it."
Reaching for the next page, she touched the top corner and tried to pull it open. However, she suddenly felt a zap on her fingers, pulling back from the shock.
"Ouch, I guess they won't let you read further until you've paid for it. But how do you even pay? there's no one in this store."
Xue Lan looked up from the book and took a better look at her surroundings. But she was right, there didn't seem to be anyone working in the store, not even a clerk or someone to even sweep the floors.
"Strange, how do other people do it then?"
Confused, she quietly lurked around the store, watching other cultivators look through books. One of them had a satisfied look on their face, finding a technique that they liked. They suddenly turned and walked towards the back of the store.
"Hm, are those... Fortune Cat Statues?" she muttered in disbelief.
The cultivator that she had been tailing walked to the back of the shop where a row of giant stone cats was. Their left hand was raised up as if to say hello while their other hand held out a plate. They were cute and well made, smiling back at the customers.
"How are you supposed to pay for those? Do you just toss a coin onto the plate?"
Xue Lan was confused, she had many questions on her mind but they would be answered as she continued to watch.
The cultivator placed the book that they wanted onto the plate, watching it vanish into thin air. Suddenly, there was a grinding sound as the waving arm moved, winding down before suddenly going back up. As it popped back up, there were numerous noises coming from within the stature before its mouth opened, revealing a small slip of paper.
They grabbed it and opened it to look before suddenly faltering a bit, perhaps shocked by the price. Even then, they rolled it up and placed it onto the plate along with a pile of gold taels, nearly a hundred in fact, neatly stacked up.
"A hundred gold taels?! That's over 1600 silver ones! That's enough to feed a village for decades!" she looked on in shock.
Anyone would feel the same at the sight of that much money.
"Are- are the chests of silver even worth as much as that?" she wondered.
But just as quickly as those gold taels came, they vanished into thin air and was replaced by the book once more. The cultivator looked at it for a moment before grabbing it and opening the pages, as if to make sure that it wasn't some fake.
There was a satisfied look on their face, albeit somewhat pained after having spent so much money. Seeing it now, Xue Lan looked at the book before looking back at the statue.
"What if I can't afford it?" she wondered.
There was hesitation within her. After all, there was no point in stealing it, even if she managed to escape, she had no way of opening the book and breaking the restrictions.
Glancing at the book once more, she took a deep breath before walking straight toward the cat statue and dropping the book onto the plate. It vanished before her eyes and the cat's arm winded down. It wasn't very long but she was impatient, if she couldn't afford the book then this trip was wasted.
If she couldn't afford even this, was there anything that she could buy at the other stores?
The woman waited and watched, the arm winded down slowly before popping back to place. Hearing the grinding and the cranking, she turned her attention to its face, staring at its mouth. It suddenly opened and a small piece of paper fell out.
Watching it fall down to the plate, she took it and unfurled it, reading through.
"O-oh... this isn't very expensive, I thought it would cost much more."
Folding the slip, she took out several taels of silver, putting it neatly onto the plate. The money suddenly vanished before getting replaced by the manual she wanted. Taking it, she opened the first page and turned over to the next, expecting a shock but such a thing did not come.
And knowing this, she quickly flipped through the pages, skimming through but also checking to see if there were any more restrictions. Once, she reached the last page, she closed the book with a satisfied expression, placing it into her spatial ring.
Looking around, she quickly left the store, walking out and back into the side roads where it was quiet.
"Exactly what I needed, a basic guide to cultivation. Maybe that's why it's so cheap, it's just general knowledge. Hm, but that doesn't matter, I know practically nothing about it. It'll do me more good than all those other books that I have. Now i just need to find a place to read it quietly."
Walking through the narrow alleys, Xue Lan looked around for a hiding space.
In her search, she suddenly stopped, listening carefully.
"Was that a yelp?" she muttered.
Looking around, Xue Lan focused on her hearing, trying to locate the source of that noise.
"Please, someone, help m-"
The voice of a young girl suddenly crying out pierced through the quiet alleys. And Xue Lan was already on the move.
Deeper within the winding side roads, a young girl was pressed against the wall. She couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen and an older man cornered her, placing a hand on her mouth to stop her from screaming out.
"Shh, shh, shhhhh, stop it. No one's going to hear you, just stop struggling, okay?"
He spoke with a calming tone, trying to placate her but it wasn't working. She pushed back, trying her best to break from his grip but she wasn't strong enough. He grinned, looking at her sad attempts to escape.
"Ahahahah, Bai Hua, you've been avoiding me these past few days. Don't you know how hurt I am by that? I've been asking for your hand in marriage for the past few weeks but you just keep saying no. You can't just refuse a gentleman's offer. You should know that, lest that gentleman will have to take matters into his own hands."
He laughed, eyeing Bai Hua lecherously.
Not only was he older but barely anything about him was gentlemanly. His hair was somewhat greasy and slicked back, tied into a little bun with a green ribbon. His clothes were of a similar color, the outer layer was olive green while the inner layer was white.
He was certainly older than her, much older than her, probably in his thirties or even his forties. Leaning in, he whispered into her ears, making her struggle even more.
"Come on, Bai Hua, don't try to fight back. You know that I'm a regular at your father's restaurant. The same goes for my comrades, you don't want us to report that place to the Chen Clan now do we? Besides, I work under the young master himself. I just have to tell him and you're finished", he threatened.
The young girl suddenly stopped struggling when she heard his threat, looking at him fearfully. He looked back at her, seeing her scared eyes.
"Right, right, it's good that you understand the situation. The young master can just buy the restaurant from your family and demolish it in front of you. That's it."
He relaxed his grip on her, taking his hand off her mouth. The fear in her eyes lingered before vanishing as she suddenly changed her demeanor and screamed out at the top of her lungs.
"Help me!"
But the moment she did, Bai Hua felt her head rock as she suddenly fell to the ground. Her ears rang as she felt something warm drip down her cheek.
She looked up, seeing the man look down at her with an icy stare. His fists were clenched tightly as if waiting to punch her down again.
It was just one hit but everything seemed to blur around her, she couldn't quite see nor could she hear very well. There was only the silhouette of the man trying to hurt her. She could feel the tears welling up and the fear climbing within her.
She might die tonight.
But as Bai Hua looked up at him, she noticed something behind him. It was a shadow, one with glowing red eyes. The eyes were focused on her before looking at him.
She couldn't speak, she couldn't even react.
Before she knew it, she felt something warm splatter on her face and clothes. Looking down at herself, she touched it and looked closely.
"It's blood but... it's not mine", she noticed.
Looking up, she noticed that the man was no longer there. And the shadow, it was gone too.
"What... what happened?"