Chapter 90: Female Cultivator, Mu Tower_1
Chapter 90: Female Cultivator, Mu Tower_1
Seeing this, the old woman quickly led Wang Ba to the other side of the market.
"You\'ll find out if you come with me!"
Wang Ba, out of curiosity, half-forcefully went with her.
Anyway, he only had one Spirit Stone left on him, so he wasn\'t worried about being cheated.
However, after a short walk, Wang Ba was astonished to find that the place she had brought him was the former Nanhu Village.
The night the East Saint Sect was destroyed, Nanhu Village was one of the first to be destroyed by the cultivators of the Tianmen Cult due to its proximity to the sect\'s border.
Now looking at it again, if it weren\'t for Wang Ba\'s familiarity with the geography of Nanhu Village, he would hardly recognize it.
The low houses had all been cleared away, replaced by a towering stone mountain.
Houses had been carved into the stone mountain, and the multitude of doors and windows reminded Wang Ba of pigeon cages.
Not far from the stone mountain were rows of narrow, tightly connected wooden houses.
Inside the wooden houses, a few water collection points could be faintly seen.
Cheerful voices could be heard coming from the wooden houses.
Not far from these wooden houses were relatively spacious and brand new courtyards.
The old woman led Wang Ba straight into one of the wooden houses.
Wang Ba, who had not many Spirit Stones on him, quickly stopped her: "Fellow Daoist ..."
"You can call me Long or Long Daoist..."
The old woman said with a smile.
Wang Ba couldn\'t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth, quickly raising his hand: "Long Daoist, uh, may I ask where we are going?"
The old woman didn\'t stop:
"We\'ll talk as we walk... You should know, not long ago, an upper-grade, first-class Spiritual Lineage was introduced here by a master of the Tianmen Cult. They even went all out to invite the \'Mountain Moving Talisman\' and created this sacred place for us Heresy Cultivators."
Hearing this, Wang Ba was astounded.
He had been staying by South Lake and didn\'t really know about this despite its proximity.
But when he heard about the top-grade Spiritual Lineage, he couldn\'t help but be intrigued.
Just now, in the cultivation room constructed with the first-class upper-grade Spiritual Lineage, the feeling of being enveloped by dense spiritual energy had made him intoxicated.
He couldn\'t imagine what it would be like to cultivate under a top-grade Spiritual Lineage.
However, then he thought of the outrageous price of the cultivation room, 30 Spirit Stones for two hours.
If it weren\'t for the one-time introductory price, he wouldn\'t have wanted to cultivate in there.
He casually asked, "Is it expensive here?"
"Of course it is! The Shifu Houses over there are better, although the spiritual energy is scarce, but it only costs two Spirit Stones per month. The rooms in the wooden houses here, however, cost twenty a month."
"See the \'Lingshui Courtyards\' over there? They are a treasure! Half the spiritual energy from this lineage has been diverted here! But the prices there are high too. Even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator may not be able to afford them." Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn
The old woman laughed, "But since you can afford the cultivation rooms in the market, I\'d imagine you could afford this too."
"You\'re joking, Long Daoist."
Wang Ba quickly waved his hand and somewhat became guarded.
The old woman, however, revealed a mysterious smile and pointed to a room, "Here it is!"
Wang Ba was puzzled, but saw the vermilion wooden door of the room the old woman pointed to suddenly opened. The rich scent wafted towards him even before he saw anyone.
At this moment, the Power of the Yin God in Wang Ba\'s Yin\'s Government abruptly moved.
Although it wasn\'t fast, Wang Ba immediately became alert.
Ever since becoming a cultivator, he had rarely used the Power of the Yin God to mislead others. The last time the Power of the Yin God moved spontaneously was when a Soul Dao Patrol secretly used a confusing spell on him.
Soon, a female cultivator dressed provocatively but clearly showing signs of age came out of the house. She swayed her hips, a seductive smile on her face, bold and direct:
"Daoist — for just two Spirit Stones, you can spend a night experiencing this sanctuary of cultivation with Yue E —"
However, what stunned her was that this seemingly ordinary cultivator looked at her with an extremely composed face.
"Fellow Daoist, it\'s still cold out, don\'t catch a cold."
The female cultivator\'s face changed, and she quickly retracted her smile, snorted coldly, and stomped into the house without saying a word.
Wang Ba turned to look at the old woman, only to see Long Daoist smiling as usual:
"Hehe, I remembered wrong, remembered wrong, it\'s not here!"
Seeing this, Wang Ba squinted without saying a word.
Just then, the door to a room next to them suddenly opened. A sallow-faced young cultivator staggered out of the room, seemingly patting the person inside before he left.
"Get lost!"
"Hey, to have a phoenix like you fall into this wooden house... wait for me, I\'ll definitely come back to pursue the Grand Dao with you once I\'ve gathered enough Spirit Stones!"
After saying this, the young cultivator walked away with a dazed expression in his eyes, taking reluctant, lingering steps.
Seeing this scene, Wang Ba felt a chill in his heart.
Although he was an ordinary cultivator, he could see that this man had been entranced by the woman in the room, not only looking drained, but also probably spent a lot of Spirit Stones.
If it hadn\'t been for the prior warning from the Yin\'s Government, with his limited willpower, he probably wouldn\'t have been able to withstand it.
This Long Daoist must have been planning to lead him into this den of iniquity.
Thinking of this, Wang Ba, who had no confidence in himself, decided not to waste any more words with Long Daoist and simply left.
"Daoist, Daoist, don\'t go!"
Long Daoist seemed unwilling to let him go. She followed behind Wang Ba, apologizing and offering:
"I was wrong just then, I mistook you for those cultivators with no willpower... But if you really want to live in these wooden houses, I do have a way to help you save some Spirit Stones."
Sure enough, she saw the cultivator halt his steps.
She made up her mind, sneering inwardly, though she put on a friendly, warm smile as she leaned in and said,
"There is a room on the seventh floor, recently vacated by a stunning female cultivator who just lost her husband. She can\'t afford the monthly rent of twenty spirit stones and is considering finding someone to share the rent with, each paying half... Eh?"
Before she could finish her sentence, she watched in disbelief as the cultivator strode away.
She remained stunned for a time, before regretting her words and chastised herself.
"It was in the bag..."
"I lost a golden opportunity!"
...
Wang Ba left the Mulou House.
He felt a faint sense of regret in his heart.
Truthfully, if Long had directly suggested that they consider renting from the exquisite female cultivator on the seventh floor, Wang Ba might have considered pooling some spirit stones to afford it.
After all, he would be busy on the chicken farm during the day and would only come back in the evening for cultivating. Paying half the rent seemed fair.
However, remembering that the other party had malicious intentions and deliberately wanted to lead him into those houses of the female cultivators who had a reputation for seducing men, he found it hard to trust anyone like that again.
So, no matter the benefits, he preferred to avoid them.
In the past, when he was a menial worker, he was a helpless servant unable to escape.
Just like an ant caught in the maelstrom of the ocean, any wave could be a devastating struggle for him, no amount of struggling could save him.
Although he was still under the constraints of the Tianmen Cult now, he had become a cultivator, like a small fish in the water. Although he found it still challenging to escape the maelstrom\'s pull, he at least possessed the ability to choose to leave, at least before the maelstrom came his way.
After some thought, he couldn\'t help but make another visit to the \'Shidong House.\'
He wanted to experience the concentration of spiritual energy in the dwelling firsthand.
Regrettably, the spiritual energy in the Shidong House left him somewhat disappointed. It was only slightly two or three times more intense than the spiritual energy near the chicken farm.
Even though it was beneficial to his cultivation, it was somewhat limited.
However, considering the rent of two spirit stones a month, it seemed quite reasonable.
After much consideration, Wang Ba paid one spirit stone as a deposit and decided to rent it for a month to try it out.
As he left the Shidong House and prepared to return home, he ran into a familiar face again.
"Lin Yu?"
This time, Lin Yu was not wearing the white robe of an East Saint Sect disciple as she had before. Instead, she was now in a red and black dress, styled according to the Tianmen Cult.
Her complexion was noticeably rosier than the last time he saw her.
She was just coming out of a courtyard in the \'Lingshui Courtyard.\'
Seeing Wang Ba from afar, the surprised Lin Yu quickly let a smile of delight steal over her face.
After glancing around, she fired up her mana and hurried towards Wang Ba\'s direction.
Feeling the surge of Lin Yu\'s mana, Wang Ba was slightly surprised.
He was unexpectedly taken aback to notice that in just a short month, Lin Yu\'s mana aura seemed to have made a breakthrough. It faintly gave off the sensation of a cultivator at Stage IV of the Qi Refining stage.
"Wang Ba, what are you doing here?"
Lin Yu hastened over, flashing a genuine smile on her face.
After the shocking change in the East Saint Sect, Wang Ba had become her most familiar acquaintance in the Tianmen Cult.
Despite their previous disputes, their reunion now felt extraordinary and comforting.
Wang Ba felt similar and briefly explained how he had gained the approval of a Tianmen Cult cultivator and had been assigned to raise chickens.
Hearing that Wang Ba was still raising chickens, Lin Yu\'s eyes widened:
"Raising chickens?!"
"Isn\'t that the job of a menial worker? Uh, I don\'t mean you."
"What I mean is... You\'re a concealed Spiritual Root! The cultivator of the Tianmen Cult actually had you do coarse work like raising chickens. That\'s simply a waste of your talent!"
Wang Ba didn\'t know how to respond to her words. In fact, he found raising chickens quite nice— although it was a bit boring, a tad grubby, and slightly tiring, he felt it was very appropriate for him.
He deflected the topic with a smile, "And you? I thought back then that you..."
"Thought I would be beheaded, right?"
Lin Yu quickly responded with a laugh, "I thought I was going to be beheaded at that time, too."
Even though she was laughing, she could not hide a faint undertone of fear and relief:
"But I guess I was lucky, a cultivator at the tenth stage of Qi Refining from the Tianmen Cult caught me. Initially, he planned to send me to the Puppet Dao for cultivation into a Human Puppet, but then he said my qualification was quite good and it would be a waste to turn me into a Human Puppet, so he took me as a disciple."
"Unfortunately, I haven\'t officially joined the sect yet. Master said he would help me apply after I reach the late-stage of Qi Refining."
"Guess I met a decent person."
Lin Yu said with a sigh.
Listening to her, Wang Ba felt happy for her, too.
Lin Yu sized him up at that moment, a sudden light sparked in her eyes: "Exactly! You\'re a concealed Spiritual Root, surely your qualifications are not bad! How about I ask my master to take you as a student too? He listens to me a lot..."
Wang Ba hurriedly waved his hands, feigning humility.
Joking aside, who would consider having four Spiritual Roots as a good qualification?
Lin Yu wanted to continue speaking, but she seems to have sensed something. She stopped talking, strained her ears to listen, then soon gave an apologetic and reluctant look,
"Wang Ba, I have some duties to attend to at my master\'s call, I must go now."
"Go ahead."
Wang Ba waved his hand, smiling.
"Okay, come and find me when you\'re free! I live in the seventeenth courtyard of the \'Lingshui Courtyard.\'"
"Alright!"
Watching Lin Yu leave, Wang Ba stood still for a moment before heading off to the chicken farm. From afar, he could see some figures near the chicken farm.