Chapter 59: City of Thousand Stars
Upon leaving the small village, Xu Min did not stay in the wilderness for too long. He needed interaction with numerous people so that he could acquire more information on the Ruins of the Immortals. In short, he needed a city. His last experience in a city did not quite go the way he planned. Instead, a faction called the Snow Mountain had gotten in his way, leaving him with hardly any knowledge at all.
As to whether or not these experts from the Snow Mountain planned on taking over more than one major city, Xu Min had no idea. However, to do so, they would most likely need time to readjust. If Xu Min entered another city, he was sure the same thing would unlikely happen again.
Xu Min sped towards the next city. He traveled thousands of kilometers a day, running at the fastest speed he could maintain. The Ruins of the Immortals was a vast area of land. Even though he was traveling on the main road, all he had met were caravans that were also heading for a city in the distance. He traveled for full nine days before he finally saw a city rising in the distance.
While getting closer to the city, more and more caravans, carriages and commoners appeared. This proximity with other travelers made it impossible for Xu Min to keep moving forward with the speed he had maintained beforehand. Now, he was forced to slow down. Xu Min quickly found a hat which he wore; he needed to dimly hid his appearance Although he did not know anyone within the Ruins of the Immortals, he had caused quite a stir in the first city he arrived. He was not willing to make the same mistake this time.
The city’s wall was an astonishing twenty meters tall; the gate itself was ten meters tall, and on top of the city wall strode black clothed Warriors who were patrolling. In front of the gate was another four guards. All of them casually observed the many experts and commoners who were constantly entering the city.
The moment Xu Min reached the gate, one of the experts warily looked at him. What seemed like an eternity, the expert finally decided Xu Min was not worth investigating.
Feeling a cold sweat break on his back, Xu Min bowed his head and quickly walked into the city. He did not stop until he had reached a small inn, which was located in a poverty-stricken looking area.
While Xu Min was roaming through his bag, he found some gold coins. He tossed one of the coins to the innkeeper. "I need a room, if possible," he said. The innkeeper, whose eyes filled with greed from seeing a gold coin, instantly clutched it to his chest while looking around the room, making sure no one saw him.
Fortunately, this inn was not very active during the day. No one seemed to have noticed the gold coin. Nodding his head, the innkeeper found a key which he handed to Xu Min; he led the young man up the stairs towards a room at the far back.
"Here no one will ask questions about you as long as you don't ask questions about others. The pay is enough for a full month. Welcome to the City of Thousand Stars." he explained before bowing deeply. He then turned around and left.
Holding the key in his hand, Xu Min quickly opened the door and stepped inside after which he locked the door once more. Sighing, he removed the hat from his face. Once more he revealed his face, a face clearly contemplating on what to do next.
"As long as I don't ask questions, no one will ask questions about me," he murmured to himself while he paced back and forth in the room. He was not willing for someone to start interrogating about him; but, on the other hand, he did need to ask questions about the city, about the current strength and build of the different factions within the Ruins of the Immortals, and alongside where one should train if one wished to improve.
"Well, let us calm down first, at least," Xu Min decided. He sat down on the creaking bed. "We are not in any rush for information at the moment. Fortunately, those people from the Snow Mountain did not get my name and the few who saw my face all died. Otherwise, I would have to fear for my safety while traveling amongst these Ruins of the Immortals." Xu Min mused to himself. A grin slowly spread on his face as he gently stroked Cao Cao. He was completely submerged in his thoughts of just how amazing this trip had become.
'Even though this innkeeper said if we start gaining information on others, other will gain information about us, I am certain there is some place where we can acquire some information. The information that we seek is readily available in the entire area, so I don't think we need to fear about others. If we use a fake name, no one will know.' Cao Cao's tongue slithered in his mouth as he spoke, and Xu Min nodded his head.
Standing up, he picked up his hat and placed it on his head. He left his room and locked the door behind him before he slowly made his way down the stairs.
The inn was still as empty as it had been before; only the innkeeper noticed that Xu Min left. However, he paid a good price for the room, so the innkeeper had no interest in offending the young man by asking him where he was going.
'First, let us look around the city,' Xu Min decided as he started moving, 'it seems even bigger than the previous one. I fear an entire day would not be enough to reach the end of this city.' he said laughingly. He was moving towards the center of the city. The place where all the stores and marketplaces were located.
In the beginning, Xu Min could move around quickly. The roads were not filled with people; only a few were within sight. As they were coming closer towards the center, it became more difficult to move. Xu Min had to slacken his pace. Many people were gathering on the roads. The city came alive on the streets with the movement of people.Xu Min was excited to see this. It was harder to move forward now, but he was happy that he had reached the place where he wanted to be.
Unlike Ri Chu City, this place was mainly filled with experts. Even the people who were selling items were Warriors; the commoners walking around also seemed to be experts. Xu Min's eyes were shining with excitement. He had never seen a city which had mainly experts living within it. He instantly understood that this place was suitable for him.
"Look at that man wearing a hat like that. He looks silly!" a haughty female voice suddenly boomed through the air, clearly reinforced by her internal energy. Hearing this voice, Xu Min could not help but sigh internally. He didn’t want to be noticed nor did he want to show his face; obviously, the hat made that clear. Nonetheless, there was always someone who wished to insult and cause strife in every city.
"He is completely ignoring you, Shui Wu. It seems he does not know who you are, Master Bu Huang’s favorite disciple." Another voice sounded out this time. It was an arrogant voice of a young man, and Xu Min realized their intentions now. There was a group of young experts who had decided on insulting him. Most likely, they wished to anger him so that he would battle them. Thus, their names would become more widespread if they defeated a cultivator in the middle of town. However, Xu Min would not play their petty games.
Sighing, Xu Min was a little perplexed by the sudden attention he was getting. Although he was slightly annoyed, he decided that it was better to just ignore the group.
Xu Min continued walking on the road. Xu Min, however, had long since guessed the intention of these experts. Instead of being insulted and lose his temper, he focused on his destination. To the dismay of those taunted, insignificant voices, he did not stop. . While walking the sword was visible on his back. Exposing his sword made it obvious for anyone to guess that he was an external expert. He was an easy target to pick on if one was an internal expert.
Though the hat covered his face from the outside world to see him, it also made it hard for him to see what was going on. Cao Cao, on the other hand, could see everything that was ongoing, and he was far less cool-headed than Xu Min; he kept swearing at the young experts that had spoken out. Fortunately, Xu Min was the only person who could hear the foul words, and he could not help but smirk; Cao Cao’s profound words were truly insulting.
Suddenly the smile on Xu Min's face froze, he felt an attack coming his way. Many of the experts walking near him had already backed away. The attack looked like a snake created from Qi, and it was bursting right towards him.
In one gliding movement did he unsheathe his sword, turn around, and decapitate the snake. Xu Min sheathed his sword seconds after the attack and turned the way he had been walking before. His swift move caused many of the present experts to gasp in awe. It was clear that he had not used any Qi to fortify his sword, nor his arms, yet he was still capable of decapitating the Qi snake with one gliding movement. All of Xu Min’s movements were t as light as a butterfly and powerful as a pouncing tiger.
The youngsters who had been obnoxious and laughed turned suddenly quiet. They understood that this person, though, he was an external expert, he was without a doubt an expert that knew how to battle.
Again the haughty, feminine laughter could be heard booming throughout the street. It wanted to chase down Xu Min’s ungiven attention. "Who cares if he could decapitate the snake, so what!?" the brazen female boldly stated. Xu Min swore he heard some denial in her voice as well. He could not help but shake his head. Some people were not very smart.
"Shui Wu! What are you doing?!" A powerful voice abruptly sounded out, a voice which caused even Xu Min to feel some pressure. He instantly backed away. The sudden movement caused the surrounding experts to understand that this targeted expert was quite aware of who to battle and who to run away from.
"Shui Wu, I told you not to battle unknown experts in town! You are causing a huge ruckus, and one day you will meet an expert even stronger than you!" he scolded his disciple in front of everyone. While many of the spectators had fun seeing this, Xu Min tried to use the time to escape and leave without anyone noticing where he had gone.
Unfortunately, things would not go as he had wanted it to. He sighed deeply when he felt the pressuring energy come closer and closer to him. Eventually, he could feel this expert right behind him, and with a sigh did he turn around. "Greetings senior," Xu Min greeted. As he spoke a rough hand suddenly grabbed his hat and removed it from Xu Min's head.
Sighing deeply, Xu Min knew he could not use his disguise again since now everyone had seen his face. A massive man was in front of him. He was at least two meters tall and wore a beautiful white robe.Behind him was a young woman who seemed to be one or two years older than Xu Min. The woman's face was shocked when she saw the young face revealed underneath the hat.
"Oh, we have a quite skilled youngster here! And if I am not mistaken, you have some relationship with the old fox Wang Li! That sword seems very familiar." the large burly man said. His words now stunned Xu Min. He unconsciously blurted out, "You know Master Wang Li?!"
This large man known as Bu Huang was surprised as well. "Wang Li is my sworn martial brother!" He laughed out loud, "He was certain he would never get a disciple, and thus he left the Ruins of the Immortals to find his place in the world. To think, one day I would meet his disciple, how fortunate I am!" The large burly man had a rough laughter, but the pressure Xu Min had felt earlier slowly retracted.
"Come with me, I want to hear how that old fox Wang Li is living now!" the man rejoined. Without having a choice, Xu Min nodded his head and followed behind this extreme expert.