Chapter 249 - Three Swordsmen
Tiansang County…
There were many cities in a county. Apart from those inhabited by ordinary people, the most famous one within Tiansang County was no more than the center point of the county, Tiansang City.
It was an important city that could accommodate millions or even tens of millions of people and was a significant trading center for the spiritual cultivators in Tiansang County.
The cost for an ordinary person to live there was dozens of times higher than in other cities.
To simply enter the city gate, one had to pay with spirit crystals, which were extremely expensive and divine objects that people had only heard about in the legends.
The situation was different for spiritual cultivators.
Xu Xiaoshou stopped at the city gate along with his junior sister. He stretched his neck forward and asked while looking at the gatekeeper in front of him, "What did you say?"
"Residential permit!"
"What"s a residential permit? Is it true that the spiritual cultivators can enter the city?"
"Uh, are the two of you are spiritual cultivators? Can you show me your IDs?"
ID?
Xu Xiaoshou stretched out his hand and wanted to burn a flame, but he remembered that his fire was invisible and colorless.
He wanted to prove how strong he was, but if he punched this man, he was afraid that he would be instantly killed.
"To wield a sword?"
Xu Xiaoshou hesitantly pulled out the Hidden Bitter. Mu Zixi was startled to see him do so.
"No need, no need for that!"
This place was not like the Tiansang Spirit Palace. Most of the residents were normal people. If he wielded his sword there, it would cause a great fuss.
Thinking of that, Mu Zixi hastened to pull on the corner of Xu Xiaoshou"s clothes. She made some crackling sounds with her small hands and handed over two spirit crystals as the vines fluttered.
The doorkeeper was so scared that he bowed and let the two enter.
"This way please, this way please!"
In the eyes of ordinary people, the spiritual cultivators were regarded as semi-G.o.ds.
Even though it was Tiansang City, most of the residents were ordinary people. The visitors they received regularly were not at this level.
Looking at the two disappearing into the distance, the gatekeepers looked at each other in shock.
"Is it true that the spiritual cultivators who can transform into wood are usually floating in the air?"
"Aren"t they also received by those in the sky? Why are they walking on the ground?"
"Well, I have no idea. I guess special people always have a quirk!"
"Bah, shut up. This is not something you can discuss. You should be aware of the fact that someone might be eavesdropping."
"Oh, oh."
Xu Xiaoshou lifted his head and saw another roadblock in the sky, which was guarded by a few guys at the Origin Court Level.
"Ahem, so that"s it."
He believed that it was useless to think too much about it. He walked with his eyes staring straight ahead.
What he saw after coming to the streets was totally different from the scenes in the Spirit Palace.
All kinds of tall houses and pavilions were lined up along the streets. The vendors yelled one after the other, and one was louder than the other. It was a scene of ordinary people living their everyday lives that Xu Xiaoshou hadn"t experienced for a long time.
Xu Xiaoshou shook his head in an attempt to shake off the noises because he had a headache. It was in such a situation that the pain of perception could be felt clearly.
The shabby pa.s.sive technique couldn"t be shut down without the cancel b.u.t.ton. All kinds of miscellaneous information gathered in his mind at once. He felt like his brain could explode at any moment.
"Disturbed, pa.s.sive point, 1."
"Disturbed, pa.s.sive point, 1."
"Disturbed, pa.s.sive point, 1."
"Hmm…"
The information bar was frantically filled up. Xu Xiaoshou was somewhat joyful. When he discovered that the overall increase in pa.s.sive points seemed to have not risen very fast, he was perplexed.
He thought, "What"s going on? Based on the range of my current perception coverage, I should be able to see tens of thousands of people at the same time!"
"But only a few dozen or a few hundred points have been added at a time."
"Could it be that the mood fluctuations of these ordinary people can"t give me any pa.s.sive points?"
Xu Xiaoshou thought it was quite possible to be the case. Otherwise, he would have been invincible. After he stayed among the ordinary people for a month, he could use that bug to earn the pa.s.sive points.
It was truly a pity.
Even if that was the case, hundreds of pa.s.sive points at a time had still increased Xu Xiaoshou"s inventory.
The pa.s.sive points had increased from the original sixteen thousand to more than twenty thousand in a short time.
The rate of increase decreased again. Xu Xiaoshou figured that the decrease was probably because he had gradually gotten used to the noisy environment. He glanced at the bottom of the information bar.
"Pa.s.sive points: 23,333."
He decided to forget it and not even think about it.
Although it was joyful to look at, the kind of value that grew in pa.s.sive form was purely a waste of time and meaningless.
Xu Xiaoshou walked up to the front of a commercial shop and stopped in his tracks.
Mu Zixi b.u.mped into him and was nearly knocked away flying.
However, she kept holding onto the corner of his clothes with her small hand. She used her other hand to rub her head.
Raising her head, she looked at the plaque above.
Plenty Gold Company.
"Xu Xiaoshou, aren"t we supposed to go to the Magic Pill Technicians a.s.sociation?"
Xu Xiaoshou lowered his head and looked at her small hand holding the corner of his clothes. He mumbled twice and pondered for a long time before he asked, "How old are you now?"
Mu Zixi"s small face turned red, but she didn"t reply.
"Are you afraid of strangers?"
Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow, "Have you never seen so many people?"
Seeing the odd expression on the face of the little girl, Xu Xiaoshou froze, wondering if he had guessed it right.
But it couldn"t be true.
Although she looked small, she had lived for at least more than 10 years. It was impossible that she had never seen so many people.
Was she a nerdy girl who had been staying at home for more than a decade?
Was this her first time coming to a city?
The expression on Mu Zixi"s face was elusive. As a matter of fact, it was the first time she had seen so many people according to her memory.
It was normal to feel a bit nervous.
"You still haven"t answered my question..." She brought down the hand that was rubbing her painful forehead. She paused suddenly halfway through the sentence.
Looking at the crimson blood on her hand, the young girl was baffled. "Xu Xiaoshou, why am I bleeding?"
"Suspected, pa.s.sive point, 1."
Xu Xiaoshou, "Hmm…"
He shrugged and expressionlessly replied, "How do I know? Maybe you were attacked by someone hiding in the dark."
Seeing the young girl getting cranky, the youth lectured first. "We are outside the Spirit Palace. You shouldn"t trust me so much. Protect yourself with the body protection of spiritual energy!"
"In the Spirit Palace, I haven"t seen you act in such a careless manner. How can you remove this thing?"
One couldn"t remove the body protection of spiritual energy.
Once removed, a tender and delicate body had no chance to resist an attack.
Even if one could withstand the recoil, one may not be able to resist the sharpness.
Life-devouring Wood Physique was not the same as the innate flesh body.
Mu Zixi"s big eyes fluttered. She suddenly picked up Xu Xiaoshou"s hand and scratched his fingertip.
Puff!
Her finger was bleeding.
"What is this?" The little girl was shocked, wondering if he was a human-shaped kitchen knife.
Xu Xiaoshou drew back his finger calmly and said, "It"s called the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword."
Mu Zixi, "Huh?"
She didn"t believe what he said. She thought she had found Xu Xiaoshou"s secret and tried to scratch Xu Xiaoshou"s arm.
Snap!
Xu Xiaoshou grabbed her hand and sternly said, "It is not desirable to hurt yourself."
"What kind of spiritual technique is this?" Mu Zixi was greatly amazed.
The youth took a deep breath and said, "I told you, it"s the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword."
"Suspected, pa.s.sive point, 1."
"Don"t you believe me?"
Xu Xiaoshou pointed a finger upward and attached regular willpower to it. The finger instantly turned bright, which hurt the eyes by just looking at it.
Mu Zixi rolled her eyes up. "But your body can do it as well."
"It"s the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword body!"
"Suspected, pa.s.sive point, 1."
"Okay!" Xu Xiaoshou gave up and said, "It"s the sharpness, which is my pa.s.sive technique, called the sharpness!"
"Suspected, pa.s.sive point, 1."
Snap!
The youth held down the girl"s head and frustratingly asked, "What do you want? You don"t believe me when I tell lies, and you don"t believe me when I tell the truth. What the h.e.l.l is this little head of yours thinking?"
Mu Zixi, "Umm…"
"Cursed, pa.s.sive points, 1, 1, 1, 1."
"Get in!"
Xu Xiaoshou turned around impatiently and walked toward the Plenty Gold Company.
"The Magic Pill Technicians a.s.sociation!" Mu Zixi stood on the same spot.
Xu Xiaoshou clapped his hands and asked, "Are you stupid or what?"
"Elder Sang told you to go back in a month. He didn"t ask you to run back and forth within a day."
"How long does it take to pa.s.s the exam and get a badge? Maybe a few minutes at most. It"s not as important as shopping!"
Mu Zixi was taken aback, wondering if what he said was sensible.
She thought, "Yet, it would prove that I"m stupid if I follow you around."
"The Magic Pill Technicians a.s.sociation," she stubbornly said.
"Okay, you go there by yourself." Xu Xiaoshou walked away while waving his hand. "Let"s go our separate ways. You go there first, and I"ll catch up."
Mu Zixi, "Umm…"
She took a look at the surging tide of people behind her. She wrinkled her nose before she caught up with him.
"Xu Xiaoshou, what are we going to the commercial shop for?"
"To buy clothes."
"Hmm? Really? Buy clothes for me? Why didn"t you tell me earlier?"
"You must be dreaming. It"s not for you. It"s for a baby."
"A baby? Whose baby?"
"Mine."
"Xu Xiaohu! When did you have a baby?" Mu Zixi looked horrified.
Xu Xiaoshou, "Oh…"
"Oh, it"s not the kind of baby you"re thinking of!"
"What kind of baby is it then?"
"Well, a small child."
A small child?
Mu Zixi was confused.
"Cursed, pa.s.sive points, 1, 1, 1, 1."
The city gate…
Three swordsmen were coming over.
One of them was holding a sword. One was carrying a sword wheel with nine swords inserted in it. One had no sword.
Seeing the three swordsmen wearing strange clothes, the gatekeeper couldn"t help but ask, "The spiritual cultivators?"
The swordsman in the green robe, who had no sword with him, replied, "We are not spiritual cultivators but swordsmen. We are the swordsmen who practice ancient sword arts."
"If you are not spiritual cultivators, show us the residential permits."
"Residential permit? What is that?"
The doorkeepers looked at each other, thinking that the same question was asked again. They then realized that something was wrong. They wondered why they had met these people who didn"t know anything about the rules lately.
Were they all coming for the first time?
"Can you fly?" Another gatekeeper asked for the sake of security.
"Yes!" The swordless swordsman in green robe shook once and flew straight up.
He turned out to be a spiritual cultivator.
The gatekeeper became respectful and pointed upward. "Spiritual cultivator goes up to register. If you don"t want to register, please pay a spirit crystal."
Before he could finish his sentence, the white-clothed swordsman, who had been silent, raised his eyebrows while fixing his eyes. "Sword thought?"
The black-clothed Swordsman standing second in line also had his eyes fixed and his eyebrows raised. "Sword thought?"
No sooner had the words been spoken than the swordless swordsman in green robe also fixed his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "Sword thought?"
The gatekeepers were dumbfounded to see the acts, wondering if the three of them were performing the art of copycat.
The expressions on their faces were the same, but they were obviously not triplets judging by their different looks.
Having said that, the green-robed swordless swordsman turned his head around immediately and said while clasping his fists, "You two are indeed the big and second brothers. You are more alert than this junior brother."
The swordsman with nine swords said, "You are indeed the big brother, and you are more alert than this junior brother."
He turned around and patted the shoulder of the other swordless swordsman, commenting, "Little brother is also doing well. You"ve made some progress."
The swordsman holding the sword in his arms opened his mouth slightly and said harshly after his face twitched twice, "As I said, don"t learn from my expression and speech. You can never imitate the essence of my sword will in such a rude manner!"
"So that"s how it is. This second brother has learned a lesson." It dawned on the swordsman with nine swords.
"So that"s how it is. This junior brother has also learned a lesson." It dawned on the swordless swordsman as well.
The swordsman holding the sword looked irritated.
The gatekeepers were confused.
"What the h.e.l.l is this? There are three psychopaths here!"
Before the gatekeepers could finish complaining inwardly, they heard the swordsman in the front yell in a low voice, "Let"s go and find the sword thought!"
The three of them disappeared.
"What?"
"Where are they?"
"d.a.m.n, the spirit crystals haven"t been paid yet. Three crystals!"
"Come back!"