Mei Xilan walked down the hall toward Wu Jian’s room. She planned on asking Jian Wu if he wanted to explore the city with her. It sounded like the perfect date idea. She nodded to herself. They could visit the sites, explore new places, and get something nice to eat. Yes, a romantic walk around the city was a classic date.

Upon reaching his door, Mei Xilan knocked several times and waited. And waited. And waited. She furrowed her brow after nearly five minutes had passed, then knocked again.

“Jian Wu, I was wondering if you wanted to explore the city with me,” called Mei Xilan. No answer. “Jian Wu?”

She knocked several more times but received no answer. What should she do? Was he not in there? If he wasn’t, where was he? Should she barge in and see for hearself? Mei Xilan did not think that was proper etiquette for a young lady, but it wasn’t like she had been following proper etiquette up to this point. The man was normally supposed to pursue the woman, after all.

She placed a hand on the door knob--

“Jian Wu isn’t there.”

--When a voice spoke up behind her.

Mei Xilan would have squealed in shock if not for her cultivation method. It kept her calm even when she was surprised, but she really was shocked. She hadn’t sensed anyone coming up behind her. Of course, she recognized the voice, and she knew this woman was capable of sneaking up on her.

“Master Hua Xue,” Mei Xilan turned around and found the woman in question standing behind her.

Hue Xue, the Ice Phoenix Sect’s head elder, was the pride and joy of their sect. Her prowess was second to none, and her beauty made all who looked upon her envious. Even Mei Xilan was jealous of this woman’s pure white skin, beautiful blue eyes, and long silver hair. The calm expression on her face was placid like a still lake. Her hanfu ruqun billowed around her, though it was tight along the chest, revealing the splendors of her womanly figure. Even the sect master was not this beautiful.

“You said Jian Wu is not here?”

“Correct. If you stretch out with your senses, you would be able to tell his presence is absent.”

Mei Xilan turned back toward the door, closed her eyes, and reached out with her spirit sense. It was a simple method of using chi to sense changes in the surroundings. Cultivators could also use it to sense the chi of others and determine how strong someone was. Provided they were not stronger, it was a simple matter of sensing one’s cultivation base.

“Oh. You’re right.” Mei Xilan paused. “Where did he go, I wonder?”

“He probably went to explore the city. Boys like him have a hard time staying still.”

Mei Xilan pursed her lips. “He could have invited me.”

“You have been pursuing him quite relentlessly,” Hua Xue said slowly. “But you don’t really love him, do you?”

Hua Xue’s stare was quite penetrating. It was like she could see through Mei Xilan to the very core of her being. That hard stare that saw everything made her uncomfortable, though none of her feelings showed in her expression.

Mei Xilan looked away. “If I keep pursuing him, I’m sure my feelings will turn into love eventually.”

“Do you really believe that?” asked Hua Xue.

“…”

“I am not going to tell you that you cannot pursue him. The Ice Phoenix Sect is an all-woman’s sect, but we have no laws preventing you from entering a relationship with a man. However, you should think carefully about why you are pursuing him and whether or not you’re actually looking for a relationship.”

Hua Xue looked out a window. Sunlight streamed in, reflecting off her luminous silver hair. The bright sparkling effect created by the sun’s rays gave her an otherworldly quality.

“Jian Wu is a very pure young man. You can see it in his actions. He does not have a single duplicitous bone in his body. That is quite rare, but that is also why he already has a lover like Her Highness. His dedication and loyalty toward the people he loves is an admirable trait that many people would covet. Of course, he is also strong, making him the ideal partner.”

Hua Xue looked back at Mei Xilan, who felt a shudder run through her.

“Is the reason you’re so bent on making him yours because you love him, or is it because you think you can use him, and you believe getting him to fall in love with you is the only way to achieve that?”

Mei Xilan thought about how best to answer. She couldn’t lie. Hua Xue’s ability to see through the truth was astounding. The woman had already figured out why she was going after Wu Jian so aggressively.

“Can it not be both?” asked Mei Xilan, not daring to look Hua Xue in the eyes.

“It could… if you actually loved him,” said Hua Xue. “But I think you know that’s not the case. I know why you are so desperately searching for a man who can attain strength, but you should know, one person cannot take on a country.”

Mei Xilan reached up with her left hand to grab her right arm. “So you already know about my circumstances. Did the sect master tell you?”

Hua Xue shook her head. “I have my own means of gathering information, and it wasn’t that hard to figure out who you were. I just had to look at where you came from. A woman of your beauty and talent would not be some random commoner.”

Mei Xilan had always known Hua Xue was amazing. Her strength was greater than the sect master’s, probably greater than anyone in the Shang Kingdom, and yet it was her wisdom and intelligence that really drew others to her. She was excellent at acquiring information. Of course, Mei Xilan would rather Hua Xue did not know the truth about her, but it seemed it was far too late for that.

“Then what should I do?” asked Mei Xilan. “I cannot accomplish my goals alone. I need someone who can support me.”

“You could always be honest,” Hua Xue said with a shrug. Mei Xilan was silent.

Don’t you think I don’t know that? If being honest could really get me what I want, I wouldn’t have to use these roundabout methods, Mei Xilan thought to herself.

***

“Master, can I come out of your shadow now?”

“Not right now.”

“But I wanna explore too!”

“I know that, but your a giant panther. You’d cause a panic if I let you out.”

“Grrrr…”

Wu Jian had left the hotel to explore the city. He had decided not to bring anyone else along since he wanted to explore by himself. It was important to get a lay of the land… and that was a lie. He was just excited to explore a new place, especially a city as big as Heavenly Chengshi. This sprawling metropolis put the Shang Kingdom’s capital to shame. It wasn’t just bigger and more bustling, but the buildings looked far more extravagant. Even the smallest building was about the same size as the Shang Kingdom’s tallest buildings.

He glanced around at all the people, observing them as they walked. Most of them were normal humans, but he could sense a few cultivators mixed among them, though many were only at the Anima Realm. That made sense. It was the realm more than 80% of the cultivator population was at. There might be more resources in the Xia Dynasty compared to anywhere else, but those resources would be hoarded by the people at the top.

There were also food stands everywhere. The Shang Kingdom had food stands as well, but they often sold meat dishes like skewers and steamed meat buns. What they sold here were sweet confections. Most commonly sold among the street stands appeared to be a food called jianbing and bing tanghulu.

Jianbing was a crepe made from wheat and grain flour. It was fried on a griddle with egg as the base, then rolled up and filled with scallions, lettuce, cilantro, and chilli sauce. Of course, there was also the sweeter variations, which were filled with red bean past, custard, sweet potatoes, and sweet egg, which was just egg yolk and sugar. The bing tanghulu was just candied hawthorns covered with a hardened coat of syrup.

Wu Jian had already bought two crepes, one of which he held out for Youmei to take. He had accidentally freaked out a young man standing next to him when the magical beast’s tail emerged from his shadow and grabbed the food. He munched away as he walked around town, the combination of chilli sauce and cilantro filling his mouth.

The price of street food was very cheap here. It only cost five bronze coins. The price of food was affected by a combination of factors, supply and demand, weather, disease outbreaks, war, and natural disasters. Those were the short-term reasons for price hikes. There was also long-term reasons like if more people began eating meat. It took more grain to feed animals that would be turned into food, for example.

From what he could see, there were a lot of meat dishes being sold at stands here, yet the price remained low, which meant they likely had a surplus of both meats and grains. That was a good way of telling whether or not a nation was wealthy. Of course, he already knew the Xia Dynasty was a wealthy nation.

As he walked through the city, Wu Jian caught what sounded like the tail end of an argument.

“Hast though not already received mine payment?” said a young voice. Definitely a girl. Wu Jian couldn’t tell their age though.

“Look, lass. I’m telling you that I can’t accept this. Even if I sold my entire stand, I wouldn’t have enough change to give you back what I owe.”

“Then just regard of this as a gift. Thou want never to worry about repaying me.”

“That’s not how business works… I can’t accept this… please, just pay me with bronze coins…”

Wu Jian was curious, so he looked around and easily spotted the crowd that had gathered around a foodstall selling jianbing. He muscled his way through to discover the source of the commotion. There was a young woman decked from head to toe in a dark cloak. The shadows cast along her face made it impossible to make out many of her features, though he could see the hint of a cute button nose and soft lips. Everything else was hidden.

The man she was talking to was old and looked desparate. He seemed nervous as well, which made sense. Grasped in his hand was a large spirit crystal. Wu Jian could already figure out what was happening just from seeing how the man tried to push the spirit crystal back into the girl’s hand with little success.

Why is no one helping here? Are they just going to stand around and do nothing?

“Look, please, I’m begging you. Take it back.”

“Thou shall not doth. I might not but recompense thou for thy office.”

“I don’t know what that means, but take this back. I don’t want it.”

The crowd remained stationary, watching what was happening like they were enjoying a theater play. The old man, his graying hair looking ready to fall out, glanced around nervously at the people present. Wu Jian sighed. This wasn’t any of his business, but he felt bad for the man. He stepped out from the crowd, drawing attention to himself.

“She tried to buy jianbing from you, right? Here. That’s five bronze coins. It should be enough to cover her food.”

He handed the bronze coins to the man, who looked about ready to cry as he profusely thanked Wu Jian, then took the spirit crystal. He turned to the cloaked girl and held out the spirit crystal.

“You can’t pay this man with spirit crystals.”

“I do not understand. Why canst not this man accept mine payment.”

This girl’s manner of speech was strange. Was sort of dialect was this? She sounded like an old man. In either event, it wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t at least understand her.

“Because he’s just a normal human. He has no cultivation base. Normal people only use bronze, silver, and gold coins in their every day lives. I doubt you’ll find a single shop in this area that can convert a spirit coin into usable currency. It is also dangerous for a non-cultivator to have a spirit crystal. There are many cultivators who would happily mug a normal human over something like this,” Wu Jian explained patiently.

The girl said nothing for a while. Wu Jian waited to see what she would say.

“Is this true?” she asked the old man.

“Y-yes. It’s true. This young man has the right of it.”

“I see. Thou hast mine apologies. I didst not realize accepting mine payment could cause thou such calamatous problems.”

“Ah. No. It’s… fine. Thank you for your understanding, o’ great and wise cultivator,” the man said with a bow, though he was sweating by buckets. He looked like a man who had just avoided certain death. Well, all’s well that ends well.

Or so Wu Jian thought.