What was with these crazy animals?

  Baiyun tio run, shaking the rabbit off his leg. But the others were simply too fast! A few of them overtook him and slowed their hops, until they ran alongside him.

  Finally, he gave up and slowed to a jog. It didn't seem like the rabbits were hostile, but he could guess what they wanted.

  It was because he offered them food earlier! Now, they would endlessly hound until he gave what they wanted. Baiyun decided to ighem for now, hoping they'd grow bored eventually. It wasn't as if he could shake them off.

  Suddenly, a gentle breeze rustled the grass. In the distahe tip of a crimson herb revealed itself. Baiyun's eyes widened as he ran towards it. It was a herb with fire essence!

  But the rabbits rushed past him with a red glint in their eyes, snatg the herb away before his very eyes.

  Baiyun's eyes twitched as the muscur rabbit hopped up to him, chewing the herb brazenly. It was taunting him!

  Tsk.

  He walked faster and faster down the mountain but the rabbits were relentless. Anythiook i in would be devoured, even nuts and fungi. He suspected if he tried to grab a squirrel or a bird instead, even they wouldn't be spared.

  Baiyun tried to see if he could fool them by grabbing ordinary grass or twigs, but the rabbits stared at him as if he were an idiot. A vein bulged on his forehead.

  He decided it was time to leave. There was little point to staying any longer if the rabbits would snatch everything of value.

  Herb after herb around him was ed, but Baiyun closed his twitg eyes. This was nothing to the "invincible" dao heart of an elder.

  But just as he thought that, a peculiar st made him freeze.

  A rge mushroom the size of a fist grew from the roots of a tree, a squirrel sitting atop it. The little animal pulled off a small piece of fungus and nibbled on it, a strange white shimmer diffusing into the air.

  Goldlight essence.

  That mushroom was an actual spirit fungus! Baiyun's eyes hardened as he pulled a pitchfork out of his bag. No more would he show mercy, he o grab it at all cost. It was time to show the rabbits the sequence of their as.

  The rabbits grew serious as well, straightening their ears. They stared at each other silently, sparks almost flyiween their eyes. The squirrel wisely decided to flee.

  "Stop! That's enough."

  A voied through the forest. Were it a sed slower, a fight would have already broken out.

  Guan Qia high in the air and nded before them with his arms crossed. Baiyun put away his pitchfork and the rabbits bowed respectfully.

  It seemed the elder had been following them i, likely tipped off by the wood spirit. First the earth spirit and now him... Baiyun thought to himself that it truly was hard to do anything i within the WanLi.

  "Baiyun! You have a lot of audacity to y mountain for treasures!"

  The man waved at the rabbits, shooing them away.

  "Sorry, elder!" Baiyun bowed.

  He was a little uneasy, but the elder didn't sound all that angry despite his words.

  "Pass me y."

  Baiyun handed his bag over meekly a Guan Qiang look through it. Finally, the burly man tossed it back, ughing.

  "If you have the time to pick useless weeds, thehat time to train!" he spped Baiyun's shoulders. "As a servant, you o train harder than ao catch up. What do you think you’re doing pying around?"

  Baiyun held back a frown. If it wasn’t for his status in this life, he would be lecturing the musclehead about how spirit herbs weren’t the only useful ones.

  Even if mortal herbs had mild effects, their property of being practically free was no small merit. The mass produ of cheap pills was built on the back of such herbs!

  Guan Qiang walked over to the mushroom and squatted down to pick it up.

  "Out of all the garbage you found, this is the only oh spirit," he said. "Baiyun, if you want to find and gather valuable herbs, you need qi sense. Do you uand what I'm saying?"

  "Yes! I should go back to training instead of wasting my time!" Baiyun saluted.

  The elder ughed.

  "Hah, what's with that gesture?" he said. "Anyway, be more careful ime. I might not mind you looking through my nd, but other elders might not take to it as kindly."

  "Yes, elder!"

  Baiyun nodded. So the martial elder was fih him pig herbs here to some extent... he hat down.

  "Here, take this."

  Guan Qiang suddenly tossed 5 square s into the air. This time, Baiyun repared, uh the body elixir. He arched his hands through the air and followed the path of the s, snatg them out of the air without a single one falling to the ground.

  The elder smiled.

  "Thank you, elder!" Baiyun said iement.

  "Haha, think of it as a fee for finding the mushroom before that pesky squirrel devoured it! Now, I have something I must attend to."

  Guan Qiang waved and headed back up the mountain.

  In Baiyun's hands, the tokens suddenly snapped into a sta his hands. He realised their rounded edges were lined with a bckish magic metal, an odd gimmick for a .

  He looked at them closer. Each of them had "Copper" (铜) engraved on one face. On their backs, a simple depi of a pavilion was carved, a logo that represehe WanLi.

  For the first time in this life, he had gotten his hands on currency! He had no idea how much they were worth, but sidering it was Copper, it implied the existenore valuable s.

  Baiyun paused and thought for a moment.

  To think he'd obtain currency so soon! It was unlikely 5 copper tokens were worth much, but he felt like his pns had been moved forward by a week.

  He looked around food vantage spot and ran to a nearby cliff. Baiyun put a hand over his forehead and squinted into the distarying to gauge where the main district of WanLing was.

  It didn't take long before he spotted it, with the vantage point the mountain offered, coupled with the tall buildings of the district.

  He had visited it before to deliver herb crates, but he had never seen what was behind the city gates. While not explicitly forbidden, it would probably attract a lot of attention if a servant brazenly waltzed into the main district. But he now had Guan Qiang's training attire, he would blend in much better.

  Hm. Now that he thought of it, were his servant duties of farming now null due to his apprenticeship? After all, the light spirit didn't deduct his tribution points even after he speerday and today training at the temple instead of tending to herbs.

  Baiyun supposed that was something for him to worry about ter. Sioday was an off-day from training, it was a good opportunity to see the district for himself and see rices were like.

  The WanLi's territory was mostly grassnd and forest, with only about 10% of the nd actually developed. That didn't mean they were struggling; if anything, they owned so much territory, that small pertage was more than enough for their entire popution of millions!

  An example of that was Baiyun's run from the servant district to Guan Qiang's mountain. In that 40 mins of running, for the most part, the only sery was endless grassnd with the occasional stohs cutting through.

  Most of the sect's developed nd was clustered right in the middle of their massive territory, hundreds of thousands of buildings clustered there. This was where most cultivators of the sect lived, and where one would find most of the shops and amenities.

  The less developed servant districts were further out into the grassnds, in carefully chosen spots where more qi seeped from the earth. After all, they were in charge of growing spirit herbs.

  Baiyun found it amusing that the sect Elders also often lived in outskirts far from the main district. This was because they were wealthy enough to purchase nd, so they preferred to build their abodes and quarters away from the hustle and bustle. They would also have the freedom of setting up protective formations in such areas, uhe city where regutions were heavy.

  His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as his eyes wao a purple fruit in the distance, something the rabbits snatched from him before. This vantage point was also good for herb gathering, it seemed.

  Tempting. But perhaps it was best he didn't test Guan Qiang's patieny further.

  Baiyun rushed down the mountain and towards the dire of the main district; the grassnds faded into a blur once more.

  An hour passed by the time Baiyun arrived, heaving as he stopped close to the main district.

  The city was an imposing sight, huge walls surrounding it, with massive open gates that even a giant could walk through. If oo look closely, the walls were actually solely posed e cubes of crete-like material. Whehe city o expah cultivators would simply push them further out and fill the spaces iween with earth.

  Spires and other tall buildings could be seen behind them, some imposing enough to evehe clouds.

  He walked to the closest gate where a guard sat meditating. Sensing a presehe guard opened his eyes briefly to take a ghen shut them once more.

  Baiyun gave him a quiod before walking right through the open gate. The guards were mostly there to keep an eye from potential beast attacks, not to ask for identification. It was a little pt but he wasn't about to pin.

  For the first time, he had ehe city.

  Before Baiyun could appreciate the sight, he was rudely interrupted by the sound of g as a dle smashed against a pot loudly. A roadside vendor pushed a cart of street food, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout.

  "Hot skewers on sale! Only 1 token each!"

  In the opposite dire, an old man yelled even louder as he juggled fruits outside of his fruit store, drowning out the other man.

  "Spirit fruits on dist! Ripe as they e, get them while they're fresh!"

  Baiyu an unspeakable feeling as he trudged between the sea of various street carts, weaviween the many disciples milling around. This wasn't what he had imagihe main district would be like.

  He quied his footsteps and headed further into the, eager to the bustle behind him.

  If he had to bet on where alchemy workshops would be, he would put his money on the heart of the city. Property like that was much more accessible to the residents here and would be more expensive. And if there was ohing he was certain of, it was the alchemists who had the loaded pockets.

  There were other lucrative professions as well, but that was beside the point.

  Soon, the annoying street cart vendors were left behind. Baiyun ehe pead quiet, gd they only gregated at the outer yer of the city. Residential housing was more on now, but he still eaking quick peeks at the few shops he came across now and then.

  Another hour passed as he walked through the quiet streets.

  Until at st, he found what he was looking for.

  Veiled Garden Alchemy Workshop.

  From a set of two-storey bck roofed buildings built in the shape of a square, a pleasant herbal st wafted out. A huge gate en, showing a garden in the roofless open space behind it.

  Baiyun walked in through the doorway to take a closer look. A formation surrouhe garden, juring a small transparent dome to protect the herbs within. Only at this distance was it actually visible.

  He nodded his head in admiration.

  In a city where cultivators lived, the air would be polluted by all sorts of impurities from all sorts of different elements. This was one of the worst possible enviros to grow spirit herbs, which were often very delicate. Growers had to be very cautious, sometimes even wearing suits to prevent inpatible qi from their body affeg the pnts.

  Naturally, not all spirit pnts were that sensitive. But it was still no easy task for a herb garden to flourish in a pce where thousands of cultivators would pass by daily.

  So why gh such trouble for a few meagre herbs?

  That was because it was more than a showpiece. It was a message from the workshop to experienced alchemists, to show just hoable they were of handling spirit herbs. It was a masterwork!

  Baiyun took another moment to examihe healthy pnts, before heading into a door that led into the actual shop. Veiled Garden. He would remember that name.

  As he walked in, refreshing cold air washed over him. It was likely just as much for the preservation of medies as it was for the fort of the ers. ns of pills and elixirs were dispyed in gss cases and on shelves, but he walked past them and around a er.

  The uro a room full of herbs, stored in simir cases.

  Four people dressed in drab green alchemist robes milled around, p as they studied the herbs. Baiyun did not take much heed of them, but a young man in his 20s stared at him as he walked to one of the cases. He decided to pretend not to notice.

  "Firesoul Fruit, 500 tokens".

  Baiyun took a deep breath at the price. It retty clear he would have to return at aime, once he had more than pocket ge. Still, he wao see what the shop had to offer.

  A long description expining the in of the fruit and its properties was written on the bel as well, but he ig and pressed his hands into the case, activating diviouch.

  His seravelled through the gss carefully and slightly into the fruit. Despite being fire attributed, it was dominated by soul essences and not very useful to him. Unfortunate.

  Baiyun began walking around and examined each of the fire herbs, trying to find a suitable one.

  "Hey."

  The staring man approached, now a gring man. Baiyun looked over and his heart sank. This kid was clearly about to pick a fight.

  "You foul servant. What are you doing in this dignified pce?" the man practically spat under his breath.

  Baiyun held back a sigh. He thought the training attire would stop him from drawing attention, but he uimated the pettiness of people.

  "A servant? I'm a disciple of Martial Elder Guan Qiang!" he said. "You call this a refiablishment, so why disgrace it by pig a fight here?"

  "A fight? All I'm doing is chasing vermin out." the man scoffed. "You think you just steal some attire and waltz right in, g you're the disciple of an elder? What do you think you're doing, smearing yrimy fingers all over the dispy cases?"

  To the side, the other alchemists turo watch the otion.

  Baiyun wasn't sure how to deal with the situation so he decided to just walk further into the shop and hoped the man wouldn't follow.

  LunaTheGhost