Chapter 23 - The City's Stance

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  Gu Xuan felt amused at the child’s reaction but patted his head in comfort, “Don’t worry too much, let’s go look for your sister.”

  “Um!” The child was about to cry but was comforted with Gu Xuan’s pat so he nodded and grabbed onto the edge of Gu Xuan’s robes.

  Gu Xuan let him do as he would and he first moved away from the line to prevent from being in the way.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Name?” After processing what Gu Xuan was asking, the child nodded and replied, “Lin Heng.”

  “What about big brother?”

  Gu Xuan then realized so he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, “Oh, that’s right, before you ask for someone’s name, you first have to introduce yourself. That was rude of me, big brother’s name is Gu Xuan.”

  “Big brother Gu!”

  “That’s right.” After smiling towards the child, he then said, “Let’s go look for you sister.”

  Lin Heng nodded as he followed Gu Xuan to wander around the line.

  Lin Heng said that he came here with his older sister, meaning that they were heading to Blue Cloud City. If that was the case, he figured that his older sister would be lining up as well.

  And after wandering in the gates for a while with Lin Heng, they did find her.

  A young woman asked around nervously if they had seen a child, she was vividly describing Lin Heng’s characteristics.

  The young woman looked to be a few years older than Gu Xuan, similarly, she wore coarse robes like Lin Heng that somewhat signified her status.

  She looked slightly malnourished, and hadn't washed her black long hair that reached her waist in a while.

  Upon seeing this young woman asking around, Gu Xuan turned to Lin Heng who was absent-minded and asked, “Lin Heng, is that your sister?”

  Lin Heng woke up from his stupor and looked in the direction of the young woman and shouted excitedly, “Ah! Big sister! You’re no longer lost!”

  Hearing Lin Heng’s statement, Gu Xuan felt laughing as he choked in his saliva but held it back and nodded towards the young woman who was looking at Lin Heng’s way.

  When the young woman made contact with Lin Heng’s eyes, she heaved a sigh of relief before running their way and scolding, “Lin heng! Didn’t I tell you to stay put!”

  Lin Heng flinched hearing his sister’s scolding and hid behind Gu Xuan.

  When the young woman arrived in front of Gu Xuan, she bowed her head, “This young master, I apologize for the trouble that my little brother has caused you.”

  Gu Xuan waved his hand, a smile on his face, “It’s fine, but you should watch your little brother better. You wouldn’t want him to get lost, do you?”

  “Yes, young master.” The young woman replied to Gu Xuan respectfully, meanwhile, when she turned towards Gu Xuan, she growled, “Lin heng, come over here right now, stop causing trouble!”

  Gu Xuan chuckled at the difference in attitude but turned to his side as he ruffled Lin Heng’s hair, “Go over to your sister, she’s just worried about you.”

  Lin Heng looked at Gu Xuan’s smiling face before reluctantly going over to his sister.

  The young woman stared at his brother in exasperation and her expression said as if she was thinking, ‘Who’s your sibling here? If I wasn’t your sister, I would have thought that he’s your brother!’

  “According to this boy, his name is Lin Heng? What about you…” After asking, he stopped halfway again as he realized what he was asking and put his hands in a fist-palm gesture before introducing himself, “Oh, again, that was rude of me. I should introduce myself first before I ask for someone else’s name. My name is Gu Xuan, what about you, young lady?”

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  The young woman was a little taken aback at Gu Xuan’s respectful demeanor but then nodded as she introduced herself, “I’m Lin Hua, is this young master a martial artist?”

  Gu Xuan’s eyes widened in surprise hearing her statement so he replied, “Yes, how did I give myself away?”

  Lin Hua shook her head, “You didn’t give yourself away, it’s just that only martial artists greet this way.”

  “I see, no wonder. It’s my first coming out of the sect so I’m not very aware of the customs in the outside world, Lady Lin. Furthermore, you don’t need to call me young master, just call me Brother Gu or something. I’m not of some noble birth, at this moment, I can only be considered a wandering martial artist.”

  “Then, Brother Gu.” Lin Hua nodded and replied, “If that’s the case, just call me Sister Lin, I’m not of noble birth as well so there’s no need to call me Lady Lin.”

  After saying as such, Lin Hua asked in curiosity, “Is Brother Gu from the Lotus Hall… that’s not right, they only accept female disciples so the Sword Union?... that’s not right as well, you don’t carry a sword, so… the Cloud Wind Pavilion?”

  “Lotus Hall? Sword Union? Cloud Wind Pavilion?” Question marks arose in Gu Xuan’s mind as he repeated the words that came out of Lin Hua’s mouth, after all, he hadn’t heard of them before but upon processing, he already got a gist of it.

  ‘I see, mortal sects in the mortal world.’

  “I’m not from any of which you’ve mentioned but my sect can be considered to be recluse so you might not have heard of them.”

  “Recluse?” Lin Hua nodded in understanding but asked in curiosity, “Brother Gu’s sect is recluse? Then, you didn’t bring any copper coins? You can only enter the city with copper coins unless you have identification.”

  “Is that the case?” Gu Xuan’s eyebrows furrowed, he didn’t expect that entering the city cost money but considering the walls around the city, it was normal for them to collect tax. According to his estimated size of the city, there should at least be ten thousand people within the city.

  Lin Hua reached for her necklace and showed Gu Xuan a copper pendant with the character, ‘Tier 1.’

  She also pointed at Lin Heng’s pendant that had a similar character and explained, “Tier 1 identifications cost 1 silver coin, it gives one entrance to the city for a month. Tier 2 costs 5 silver coins, which gives one entrance to the city for 6 months.

  ‘I see…” After understanding, Gu Xuan inquired, “Are there other ways to enter the city? I’m afraid I didn’t bring any money with me since I didn’t expect there to be a fee to enter.”

  Lin Hua smiled before offering, “If Brother Gu doesn’t mind, I don’t mind paying for your entrance for your trouble with my brother. It doesn’t cost much to get a week’s worth of entrance, just 10 copper coins to get a temporary pass, but after that, you must renew or else, you’d be arrested by the guards if found with an expired pass.”

  Looking at Lin Hua’s clothing, Gu Xuan was a little worried that 10 copper coins was a lot to them but Gu Xuan accepted so he could enter, “Since Sister Lin is offering, don’t mind me taking the offer. I’m a little ashamed but I can only accept.”

  “It’s okay, although we brother-sister don’t have much money, we still have enough to get by.”

  “Thank you, I’ll owe you one first.”

  Lin Hua’s expression brightened, as if something worth celebrating had happened.

  Meanwhile Gu Xuan was a little puzzled so he asked, “Are favours from martial artists so highly-regarded?”

  “Of course, even the weakest martial artists can break rocks with their fists, it’s only natural for them to be highly-regarded.” Lin Hua explained happily.

  Meanwhile Gu Xuan teased, “So? You want someone’s skull broken so you made me owe you a favour?”

  “This…” Lin Hua was first startled as if her tongue had been bitten but shook her head with an awkward smile, “Of course not, but it’s not entirely wrong.”

  “Hoh? Go on.”

  Since Gu Xuan owed her a favour, of course, he had to listen to her circumstances first if he had to help her with something. But there’s a high chance that he might help her, after all, in the outside world, besides Lin Heng, Lin Hua was one of the first people he had conversed with.

  If it was something reasonable, he doesn’t mind helping out.

  Lin Hua then began explaining, “In recent years… The Wolven Society is acting out within the Blue Cloud City, bullying people every now and then. So if the cost of helping out with 10 coppers could increase even the slightest chance of someone helping us brother and sister out, I don’t mind spending it for a possibility.”

  “The Wolven Society? Wolf… Are they, by chance, related to the Shadow Wolves Bandits in Red Cloud Mountain?”

  Gu Xuan frowned upon saying as such, thinking, ‘Their influence has reached this far? No wonder there was a request to the sect to have them exterminated. If they were more civil, it might have resulted in a new mortal empire in the Blue Lotus Continent but unfortunately, they decided to act like unruly bandits.’

  Lin Hua heard Gu Xuan say that he was from a recluse sect so she was surprised that Gu Xuan knew about the Shadow Wolves Bandits but she nodded in affirmation, “That’s correct, I’m surprised that Brother Gu knows about them.”

  “My seniors warned me about them.” Gu Xuan replied casually.

  “That’s true, it’s a dangerous group after all, so it’s natural that they’d warn you.”

  Gu Xuan just smiled, not saying that he was actually out of the sect to exterminate them.

  He then asked, “Why don’t the city guards do something about them then and allow them to enter the city?”

  Lin Hua sighed, “It’s not that they can’t do something about them within the city but…”

  After pausing, she continued, “It will result in an all-out war, meaning, the Shadow Wolves Bandits will harass those coming in and out of the city. The city would then have no choice but to send out people to deal with them, resulting in a lot of casualties in the process. The city doesn’t want that to happen, so they can only play neutral unless something outrageous happens.”

  Hearing her analysis, Gu Xuan stared at her with a thoughtful look, ‘Those statements are not something an ordinary mortal without education can analyze. Even in the modern world, such individuals who could analyze things clearly are rare, but this lady, she’s obviously wearing coarse clothing. Is it talent? Or was she born in a wealthy group when she was younger and received education?’

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