The next morning.
Yun Su slept until he woke up naturally. He did not eat breakfast and planned to stay in bed until noon to cook a good meal.
Everyone was in high spirits when it came to happy events. Now that he had obtained the Purple Clouds, he naturally had to reward himself and share his joy with others.
This time, cultivating the Cloud and Mist Immortal Riding Technique had consumed a lot of his mental energy but the deduction was not complicated. It was just that the process was more complicated. If Minister Liu Shichang had not generously given him the fish spring wine in his residence, he might have become poor overnight because of his wine purchase.
With Yun Su's personality, under normal circumstances, he would not take advantage of others and do such a useless thing. However, the phantom of the Longevity Immortal Token above the Cloud Platform in his sea of consciousness was something that he had to fight for. If he cut off everything with the Liu family, this phantom would be ruined.
Courtesy demanded reciprocity, so there was a time to return. There was no hurry.
He pushed open the door and felt the spring breeze on his face. The humidity in the air was just right. It was the most comfortable time of the year for living creatures.
Wang Xuanji held the book in her hand and closed her eyes in deep thought.
Yun Su did not want to interfere too much with her cultivation. Cultivation was an extremely difficult thing to begin with. Helping her for a while might not help her for a lifetime. If he helped too much, it might be a bad thing.
He had taught her the Breeze Steps so that she could protect herself.
As for Wang Xuanji choosing to abandon studies and martial arts to learn the Mystic Sutra, that was because she wanted to protect the people she cared about. Yun Su would not interfere with her and respect her choice.
However, with her not-so-outstanding aptitude, she still had a long way to go before she could invoke Qi into her body and become a true immortal cultivator.
There was a blanket beside Wang Xuanji. Wang Xuanyu was crawling around on it, chasing a cloth ball.
On the dead tree, a worm had crawled out of the dry bark where it had been hiding and was trying its best to stretch, looking for something to eat. Suddenly, a yellow bird descended from the sky and pecked away at the poor little worm, tasting it. Then, it flapped its wings and flew away. Unfortunately, not long after, a stone pellet flew up from somewhere, hit the bird and it fell into the person's hands.
The early insects were eaten by birds and the early birds were eaten by people. It was a simple scene but it made people sigh.
Didn't they work hard? They tried but they couldn't escape death. Maybe more insects and birds lived better because they worked hard but they still couldn't control life and death.
This world was unreasonable to begin with. Everything had its own rules and there were powerhouses in this world. Reasoning and relying on luck were not the best ways to survive and develop.
The more life-saving methods like the Purple Clouds, the better.
After half an hour, Wang Xuanji opened his eyes. She first looked at the baby on the blanket and blamed herself for falling asleep while reading. Although the well and large pool in the courtyard had protective stone railings, she was still extremely careful.
"Brother Yun."
Turning around, he saw Yun Su lying on a recliner and reading a book. Her face lit up.
"Come on, let's get some fresh air and buy groceries."
Yun Su put down the book and left with the two of them. In the past few days, Wang Xuanji had become even stronger. Carrying Wang Xuanyu on his back was like nothing and the spiritual energy around him had also become much more abundant.
The three of them strolled around. Although it was already past the morning market, it was still extremely lively. Farmers entered the city and many wealthy families' carriages went out for trips. It was bustling with activity and shouts rose and fell.
However, compared to the past, there were more beggars in Yuyang City these few days.
From the little they said, Yun Su got the gist of it.
It turned out that most of these beggars had come from the west. Many of them were begging while talking about a mighty pass more than 800 kilometers south of Yuyang City, Hantian City.
Hantian City was a border city in the west of the dynasty. It was a military stronghold and had an extremely important status. Since the founding of the country two hundred years ago, the Ulan Nation had repeatedly invaded. Both sides had won and lost.
If Great Cheng won, Ulan would throw away its armor and retreat and the Great Cheng would be helpless. However, if the Great Cheng Dynasty won, the three states in the west would suffer.
Once Ulan's army broke into the city, they would definitely plunder it. At their worst, not to mention gold and silver, animals and people, even the houses of many big families would be torn down by them. Those that could not be taken away would be burned down.
The two countries were already mortal enemies.
Yun Su had also read about these historical facts from books and occasionally heard people gossiping.
Yangzhou, where Yuyang City was located, was located inland. It was not too far from the Western Region and the terrain was relatively flat. It was very convenient to mobilize troops, drive carriages, and collect supplies. It was considered the rear of the Great Cheng Dynasty's defense of the Western Region. Compared to Hantian City, this place was very safe.
The beggars walked around, feeling the most miserable and realistic life in the world. They could also come into contact with all kinds of news. Moreover, they had nothing on them. If there was any news, they would leave without hesitation.
Therefore, someone had once said that these fleeing beggars had the most say in the situation in Hantian City in the west. They were also a kind of weathervane.
If there were more beggars, it meant that either the situation at the border had changed or the war was not far away.
Since ancient times, Yuyang City has always been a place of excellence. It was as prosperous as other prefectural cities of some places. Moreover, there were many rich and kind people. The people's hearts were also generally kind. It had always been a place that refugees and beggars liked.
Looking at these emaciated beggars, Wang Xuanji also took out some copper coins and carefully placed them in the bowls that the beggars raised. No more, no less. One for each of them.
Yuyang City was also experienced in dealing with these beggars who had come from afar. Not far away, a team of city guards was already checking one by one, searching for possible spies from the Ulan Kingdom.
At this moment, Yun Su suddenly sensed something and looked under a roof at the corner of the street ahead. He saw two people who surprised him.
"Brother Yun, there are two more over there."
Wang Xuanji looked over and saw them too. She thought they were beggars or refugees who had fled.
One of them was old and the other was young. The old man's hair and beard were all white and his face was sallow. There was a sickly aura around him and he was dirty and stained with a lot of dirt. A young girl in green was wiping the dust off the old man's face. She looked like she had just woken up.
"Are you feeling better, Grandpa?"
"Ahem, I'm fine."
The white-haired old man struggled to sit up, rubbing his eyes. He looked at the scene in front of him and froze, wondering what it was.
"Grandpa, we're already in Yuyang City."
The girl in green had naturally heard it from someone just now.
"Yuyang City? We're already out of Yunshan County? Why are we here?"
"When Xian'er woke up, she was lying here with Grandpa."
The white-haired old man recalled carefully. The incident yesterday was too strange. Even he did not see anything unusual on the hill. In the end, he led Xian'er into a trap and triggered some strange escape technique.
The formation was extremely powerful and he had never seen it before. With his understanding of the Five Elements Earth Formation, he should have been able to escape even if he was hit by an ordinary Five Elements Earth Formation. However, he was unable to fight back. After a moment of dizziness, he fell unconscious. It seemed that he had been sent here by the strange formation.
"What kind of escape technique is so powerful that we are sent 100 kilometers away?"
The old man was puzzled. The prohibition spell was extremely powerful but other than sending the person out, there was no other damage. Instead, the old injuries on his body were hurting.
"Xian'er, fortune and misfortune depend on each other. Although we were hit by an escape technique, we dodged those fatal pursuers and survived. Since we're here in Yuyang City, why don't we stay for the time being?"
"But Grandpa, we don't have any money on us. I wanted to get some food for Grandpa just now but no one would give us money."
As she spoke, the girl called Xian'er burst into tears but she did not cry out.
"Xian'er, in this mortal world, if you don't have money and you refuse to use illusions, you can only wait for others to give you alms like those beggars. Grandpa knows that you're thin-skinned and will definitely not be willing to lie or beg."
The old man sighed, reached behind his head and felt around. Then he pulled out a handful of roots.
"Here, Xian'er, set up a stall and sell it. I wonder if anyone knows what it is."
"Grandpa, how can we sell this…"
Xian'er cried harder. The old man shook his head and sighed.
"Be good and sell it for money. I'll think about it after we settle down…"
The old man whispered a few words of instruction and the green girl nodded, wiping away her tears.
Unfortunately, this inexperienced girl had never sold anything before. She carefully took out a square handkerchief and placed the roots on it. Then, she sat down cross-legged and placed it on her dress to sell.
She did not know how to shout or how much to sell. Occasionally, someone would look over and blush. She wanted to put the square handkerchief on the ground to sell but she was afraid of dirtying the roots. For a moment, her eyes were red with anxiety and tears welled up in them.
Yun Su heard everything clearly from afar and had some curiosities.
He sensed some residual Earth Escape power from the two of them. Then, he wondered if they had really been sent to Yuyang City.
The formation that was casually set up sent them over 100 kilometers away. Wasn't it too powerful?
In the distance, the girl in green sold roots for a while. No one even caused trouble, let alone came to ask for a price. It was only because of her ethereal temperament and outstanding looks that some people stole a few glances from afar but did not come up to harass her.
Some people even pointed. When they saw the old man lying in the back, they thought that she was going to sell herself to save his father.
"Sell…"
The girl in green bit her lip and made up her mind. She finally whispered a word. However, it was so soft that she couldn't hear it clearly, let alone the passersby on the street.
At this moment, she lowered her head. She was feeling terrible when she saw someone in front of her.
"Are these roots really for sale?"
Yun Su walked over with Wang Xuanji. This 10,000-year-old human-shaped walking spiritual medicine was not sold yesterday. It was a different matter to sell it today.