Both guards looked at Xia for a while, trying to discern the identity of the one wearing the bamboo-hat. Despite both of them wearing the same red cultivation robes, only Mei Lin was a cultivator, her white veil stained with blood. Realizing that Mei Lin was unlikely to speak, the guards decided to stop waiting and proceed.
"What is your purpose of entering the city."
"We are here to find someone. We were separated from the caravan when the bandits attacked it."
The guard asked them many questions and provided some basic information about the city. Mei Lin sensed that cultivators in the city had far more privileges than non-cultivators but had to pay significantly more for identification tokens.
As the conversation continued, Xia struggled to answer and was quite bad at lying. Just before Xia was about to say something completely false, Mei Lin intervened and took over the conversation.
"How much for two cultivator tokens?" Mei Lin asked.
"One mid-grade spirit stone each," the guard replied.
Xia didn't know if that was a lot or not, but Mei Lin instantly took out two mid-grade spirit stones and handed them over. The guard, surprised by her quick response, said nothing and gave them each a green token. Mei Lin, now with ninety-eight mid-grade spirit stones left, pocketed her token. Both she and Xia waited for further instructions from the guards.
Guard pulled the spirit stones away and two green tokens appeared in his hand.
"This token is for identification. With it, you can go anywhere in the green and yellow zones. The city is split into three zones. The first is the yellow zone, where non-cultivators live. The second is the green zone, designated for cultivators. The third is the blue zone, which belongs to the sect of Peng City. You can go to the yellow and green zones, but not the blue zone. The blue zone is only for sect disciples and those with cultivation potential seeking to be awakened and invited into the sect.
For you, miss, it's not possible because you are already a cultivator and did not awaken in the sect. However, your friend here could try if she has enough luck and good cultivation potential. She could take the entrance examinations, and if successful, she could join the sect. We are already members of the sect and are outer disciples. When you first join, you become an outer disciple.
Oh, you're not here for the sect exams? In that case, we won't hold you up any longer."
Mei Lin and Xia thanked the guard for the information and entered the city.
As they went throw the city gate, Mei Lin saw a platform with a token inside the platform in front of them. Before she placed her hand on the token, Mei Lin stopped.
"Xia, where do you want to go? Asked Mei Lin. Xia thought for a while and then smiled at Mei Lin.
"I don't know, I have never been in the city only in our village. Where should we go?"
Mei Lin was looking only for a place to stay in the yellow zone. She didn't want to attract attention before they took care of their looks. They both didn't look well and she smelled like dead bodies. Also, their fancy cultivation robes were attracting too much attention even from the cultivators from the sect. After Mei Lin found a tea-house in the yellow zone, she stopped and turned forward to Xia.
"I found us a place to stay for a few days. It's in the Yellow Zone and not too far from here. We'll rent a room there for a few days, and then we can find where the merchant caravan is staying and travel with them to the Jade Green Sect," Mei Lin explained, her voice calm and reassuring.
"Let's go there. I'd like to see what the tea house looks like and find out where they get their tea leaves, or if they have any flowers," Mei Lin said, her excitement evident. She was relieved they had found a place to stay and eagerly led the way to the tea house.
When they finally found the place, Mei Lin was not happy with the tea house. The street where it was located was shabby and smelled like typical slums. After pondering for a while, they decided to go inside anyway.
From the outside, the tea house didn't look very appealing. The paint was peeling in several places, and some of the windows on the second floor were covered to conceal the holes. Despite its rundown appearance, Mei Lin led the way inside, hoping the interior would be better.
As they entered the first floor, it was empty with no customers or staff in sight. They waited for someone to attend to them, but no one came. Mei Lin, displeased with the situation, headed towards the kitchen.
"Mei Lin, we should wait for the staff to come and greet us," Xia suggested, hesitating to explore further. She settled at a tea table, marveling at the unfamiliar surroundings of the tea house.
As Mei Lin entered the kitchen, she heard strange sounds coming from the back door. Listening closely, she also heard the clinking of bottles. Preparing herself for the worst, she cautiously opened the door and was greeted by an unexpected scene. A rather fat man with short black hair lay on the bed, two girls in their early twenties sprawled atop him.
He appeared to be gasping for air, his face smothered by one of the girls' ample ass. Both girls had long hair, one blonde, the other brunette with deep blue eyes. Their slender, well-toned bodies with smaller C-cups were contrasted sharply with the man's fat body making them tinny compared to him.
The girls were non-cultivators, while the man was at the third stage of BT. Mei Lin instantly assessed his cultivation level, her abilities allowing her to detect his strength with ease, because consuming the blood of the third-stage of BT cultivators made her distinguish other third stage of BT cultivators.