In the evening, Bao Gu and Yu Mi finally arrived at the boundary of Two Realms Mountain.
The dark green rocks and lush plants on the mountain complemented each other, creating a scene that resembled a uniquely crafted ink wash landscape painting from a distance.
As Bao Gu flew closer, she discovered that the mountain was filled with dense forests, where the sounds of birds chirping and beasts roaring echoed continuously.
The forest was also abundant with various flowers and plants, with medicinal herbs and wild fruits visible everywhere.
Two Realms Mountain was much better than she had imagined.
Bao Gu was in a bad mood, and even the better-than-expected condition of Two Realms Mountain couldn’t lift her spirits.
For her, it was enough to find a peaceful place to settle down; the quality of spiritual energy and the lushness of vegetation were secondary.
Even a desert could be turned into a vibrant place with a bit of effort and energy.
She entered the forest, flying low along the treetops.
Not long after, she spotted a village.
Bao Gu hesitated for a moment before deciding to check out the local customs.
She landed on her flying sword at the village entrance and looked inside.
With her basic understanding of formations, she quickly noticed that the village was protected by a formation against beasts.
It was a very ordinary formation, and even her current rudimentary skills could set up a more sophisticated one than this village’s.
A group of children was playing in the village.
Upon seeing her and Yu Mi standing outside on their flying swords, they pointed and shouted, “Sword Immortal, Sword Immortal!”
as they rushed to the village entrance to look up at them.
The busy adults in the village were startled and turned to look at the two of them.
Bao Gu surveyed the village from her flying sword.
There were about thirty to forty households scattered throughout the village.
The houses were made of stone and clay, with thick thatch on the roofs.
Animal skins were drying in front of each house, with pelts from tigers, leopards, wolves, sheep, rabbits, and deer visible.
Under the eaves and outside the houses, salted meat was also hanging out to dry.
Some women were sitting at their doorsteps sewing animal skins with beast tendons.
This scene felt quite familiar to Bao Gu; she had also sewn clothes from animal skins and tendons before, and she still had a set of tiger skin clothing in her storage bag.
The women she saw all had some cultivation, all at the Qi Refining stage.
Most of the children who had rushed to point at them and shout “Sword Immortal” also had some cultivation, generally around the third or fourth stage, making it hard to distinguish without a closer look.
An elderly man, appearing to be in his sixties, walked out of a relatively large house with a cane, looking up at Bao Gu and Yu Mi.
Bao Gu sensed that the old man’s strength was higher than hers, likely at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
The old man approached the village entrance slowly and cupped his hands, asking, “Where do you two guests come from?”
Bao Gu landed and cupped her fists in a bow, saying, “Greetings, elder. We are two sisters from afar, passing through your esteemed land, and we hope you will excuse our intrusion.”
The old man responded with an “oh” and asked, “Where are you headed?”
Bao Gu replied, “To be honest, we are moving here with our sect.”
She hesitated for a moment, then pulled out two jade tokens from her oversized storage bag, branding one with the “Xuantian Sword” mark on the front and “Lingyun Peak” on the back.
She also crafted a sound transmission talisman in her hand.
She walked up to the old man and handed him the jade token marked with the Xuantian Sect’s symbol along with the sound transmission talisman.
The old man looked at Bao Gu in confusion and asked, “What is this?”
Bao Gu smiled and said, “I know there are many beasts around here. If the village encounters danger in the future, you can use the sound transmission talisman to contact me for help.”
“This…”
The old man looked at Bao Gu in surprise, hesitant to take the token from her.
Was there really such a thing as free benefits in this world?
Yu Mi also looked at Bao Gu in surprise, unable to understand what she was trying to do!
Bao Gu smiled and said, “The Xuantian Sect is a legitimate cultivation sect and should protect the area. I want to establish a good relationship with you, elder, and also conduct some business.”
The old man replied, “I live in this poor and remote place, and there isn’t much business to be done.”
Bao Gu said, “I see that the villagers rely on hunting for a living, and both the old and young have cultivation. Yet, the mountains and forests outside are filled with spiritual herbs that go untended. It seems the villagers only rely on hunting and neglect the abundant spiritual herbs like weeds.”
After saying this, she took out a jade slip that recorded various spiritual herbs and fruits from the cultivation world and handed it to the old man, saying, “This is the ‘Comprehensive Guide to Spiritual Herbs and Fruits’ from the cultivation world, which details various spiritual herbs and fruits. You might want to take a look and share it with the villagers. The spiritual herbs and fruits here are all low-tier, not very effective on their own, but they can be used for alchemy. I am willing to purchase these spiritual herbs and fruits with spirit stones.”
The old man took the jade slip from Bao Gu and released his spiritual sense to examine it.
After pondering for a moment, he looked at Bao Gu with uncertainty.
Bao Gu smiled gently and took out another jade token from her storage bag, inscribing the prices of some spiritual herbs she had seen and commonly used ones on it, clearly detailing the grade, quality, price, and completeness.
She handed the price list to the old man, saying, “This is the price list for your review. If you don’t trust me, just treat me as a passerby and forget about me. If you gather any spiritual herbs in the future and want to exchange them for spirit stones, just use this sound transmission talisman to find me. You can also seek my help if you encounter powerful beasts.”
The old man held the pile of jade tokens given by Bao Gu, his hands trembling, but he didn’t dare to agree.
He had traveled in his youth and recognized that these jade stones were high-quality gems refined through special means, which they, as loose cultivators, could not afford.
He also knew there were spiritual herbs outside the village, but as the young girl said, they were not very effective on their own, and without a proper recipe and sufficient varieties of spiritual herbs, they were useless for alchemy.
Bao Gu cupped her fists and said, “Sorry for the disturbance, I will take my leave.”
The old man asked, “Are you leaving already?”
Bao Gu smiled and said, “We are just passing through. This is the first village we have seen in Two Realms Mountain, and we were curious and a bit surprised, so we stopped to take a look. I hope you won’t mind.”
The old man replied, “No, not at all!”
Bao Gu cupped her fists again, summoned her flying sword, and turned to fly into the sky.
Yu Mi silently followed behind Bao Gu, her gaze fixed on her, deep in thought.
To her, Bao Gu’s actions seemed like a display of arrogance and boredom, but she knew Bao Gu was neither arrogant nor bored.
Was it to purchase spiritual herbs?
With the spiritual herbs in the mountains going untended, they could simply send a few disciples to gather them later, saving a considerable amount of spirit stones.
Afterward, they discovered several more villages, and Bao Gu visited each one, presenting her specially made Xuantian Sect tokens, sound transmission talismans, comprehensive guides to spiritual treasures, and price lists.
Yu Mi was left speechless as she followed Bao Gu.
Was she really planning a large-scale purchase?
As night fell, the lurking beasts began to emerge from their dens, and traces of them were everywhere in the mountains and forests.
Fortunately, Yu Mi was quite powerful; she didn’t provoke the beasts, and they didn’t dare to approach her, each keeping a wary distance until she moved away.
Yu Mi said, “It’s getting late; we need to find a place to rest. Traveling like this is too dangerous.”
Bao Gu felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to respond to Yu Mi.
However, she was afraid that if she ignored Yu Mi, it would upset her, so she muttered, “Not far ahead is the Angry Beast Gathering marked by Martial Uncle Feng; let’s find a place to stay in the town.”
Yu Mi responded with an “mm,” summoning her Lihuo Sword and vigilantly paying attention to their surroundings.
The number of beasts in Two Realms Mountain was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.
Although most of the beasts were not very strong, they were everywhere, especially at night when the lurking beasts came out.
It felt like a world of beasts, with their presence permeating the forest.
She and Bao Gu were like illuminated targets in the dark, waiting to be attacked, making her not dare to let her guard down.
Bao Gu, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the sounds around her, focused solely on moving forward.
Fortunately, they no longer had to search for the scattered villages in Two Realms Mountain; they could ride their swords at full speed, flying quickly.
After about half an hour, Yu Mi and Bao Gu finally arrived outside the Angry Beast Gathering.
The Angry Beast Gathering was located by the Angry Beast River, and standing outside, they could clearly hear the sound of flowing water and the splashes made by large beasts thrashing about in the river.
Lantern-like lights flickered in the water.
Bao Gu could distinctly feel a gaze from the river fixated on her.
She casually glanced at the Angry Beast River not far from her and then at a stone marker that someone had erected, inscribed with the words “Angry Beast Gathering.”
She stepped forward toward the gathering.
To her surprise, the Angry Beast Gathering, situated in a place frequented by beasts, had no formation to defend against them.
It should have been a quiet time of night, yet the Angry Beast Gathering was bustling with noise.
She saw Yu Mi put away her Lihuo Sword but remained on high alert.
The streets of the Angry Beast Gathering were quite wide, allowing four carts to pass side by side.
Water stains were everywhere on the streets, and the smell of fish was pervasive.
The houses lining the streets were also quite different from those elsewhere.
Here, the houses were mostly independent, not connected to each other.
There were wooden houses, earthen stone houses, and even houses carved from large stones, with varying architectural styles.
In some places, there were only courtyard walls without any buildings.
Yu Mi softly said, “This is a place where humans and beasts coexist; you must be careful. There’s an inn ahead; let’s stay there.”
Bao Gu looked up and saw a large courtyard not far ahead, with a two-story building.
A row of lanterns hung down at the entrance, five in total, each with a character written on it: “Angry Beast Gathering Inn.”
From a distance, she could see light spilling out from the inn, illuminating the street outside, indicating that the inn’s door was open.
As she approached the inn, she heard a great deal of noise inside.
When she looked up, she was shocked to see that the inn was filled with “people.”
Bao Gu’s eyes widened in surprise.
The previously noisy inn suddenly fell silent, and all eyes turned to her and Yu Mi.
Yu Mi frowned tightly.
Bao Gu maintained a calm expression, her gaze sweeping over the people in the inn.
A significant portion of the patrons were bizarre-looking, with many showing signs of aquatic animals on their bodies.
Some “people” had gills on their faces, some had scales on their bodies and faces, and some were only partially transformed.
There was even a fish, much taller than her, standing upright on its tail, bouncing down the stairs from the upper floor.
She rubbed her eyes hard, realizing she wasn’t seeing things; she truly wasn’t mistaken.
Fortunately, although there were many beast cultivators in the inn, there were also plenty of humans, each side occupying their own space.
The main door was in the center, with a passageway in the middle; the left side was for beasts, and the right side was for humans.
Bao Gu wasn’t sure if these people were cultivators because they looked different from the cultivators she usually encountered.
The cultivators she had seen before were mostly striking and graceful, while the people here gave her a sense of being fierce and menacing, their gazes almost as if they wanted to eat her.
Yu Mi thought to herself, “It would be better to sleep rough in the wild.”
She said to Bao Gu, “Let’s go!”
and turned to leave.
However, Bao Gu walked straight into the inn, saying, “Innkeeper, we need a quiet room!”
She added, “A quiet one.”
Suddenly, someone from the crowd on the right shouted, “Wow, what a pretty girl!”
Bao Gu noticed that everyone in the inn was staring at her and Yu Mi.
She cleared her throat loudly and shouted, “What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen a cultivator before?”
She stepped into the inn and walked straight to the counter.
She placed her arms on the counter, which was taller than her chest, and looked at the innkeeper, who appeared to be in his forties and whose strength she couldn’t discern, saying, “I need a quiet room.”
The innkeeper replied, “Is this your first time at the Angry Beast Gathering? Staying here, you are responsible for your own life and death. Little girl, with such delicate skin, be careful not to end up in a pot!”
Bao Gu smiled brightly and said, “Thank you for the reminder, innkeeper.”
She turned to Yu Mi and said, “Sister, you must stick close to me; don’t get thrown into a pot!”
Yu Mi shot a sideways glance at Bao Gu and said, “Take care of yourself.”
A group of people in the crowd squeezed over, surrounding Bao Gu and Yu Mi, chattering away, most of them making lewd remarks, and some even reaching out to touch Yu Mi’s face.
Suddenly, blue Lihuo flames erupted from Yu Mi, the pure Southern Ming Lihuo scorching the hand of the person who had reached out, causing them to retract it hastily.
The faces of the group of lewd individuals turned ugly, and they all stepped back.
Yu Mi glared coldly at the innkeeper and asked, “Innkeeper, if a conflict arises and someone gets killed here, what will happen?”
The innkeeper replied, “Regardless of whether guests fight to the death, our inn will not take responsibility, but any damage to property will require tenfold compensation.”
Bao Gu slammed a pile of spirit stones onto the counter and turned to shout, “Sister, go ahead and fight; if anything gets broken, it’s on me!”
She looked like a little demon king eager for chaos.
“It seems you might have some background!”
A man dressed in black, with half of his face covered by a mask, stood up from a table and crossed his arms, looking at Bao Gu and saying, “With such shallow cultivation, you dare to flaunt yourself here? Aren’t you afraid of dying young?”
Yu Mi’s expression turned cold as she glared at the man, saying, “Do you want to fight? Let’s go outside!”
With that, she stepped toward the inn’s exit.
Bao Gu hurriedly followed Yu Mi, saying, “Sister, I can’t see through the strength of this masked man.”
“He’s at the early Nascent Soul stage; of course, you can’t see through him.”
Bao Gu exclaimed, “But you’re only at the ninth stage of Golden Core…”
Yu Mi casually replied, “Killing him will be enough.”
The man snorted coldly and said, “What a big mouth!”
He disappeared from his spot and reappeared on the street.
Bao Gu thought, “Is Sister planning to kill someone to establish her reputation?”
She quickly turned to the innkeeper and shouted, “Innkeeper, prepare a quiet room for us, and have some snacks ready.”
She grabbed a stool and dragged it to the entrance, sitting down with an excited and eager expression, ready to watch the show.
Suddenly, a very lecherous old man appeared beside her.
He asked, “Aren’t you afraid your sister will get killed by the masked man?”
Bao Gu kept her eyes fixed on her sister, not turning her head as she replied, “Not afraid; if she gets killed, it will be just the right opportunity for me to vent my anger!”
Only then did she realize there was someone next to her.
She turned to look at the old man and asked, “Hey, who are you? Don’t sit on my stool! Even if the stool is long enough for two people, what does it mean for a mysterious old man like you to sit next to me?”
The old man leered and said, “Hehe, my surname is Sun, known as Sun Dilong, commonly referred to as the all-knowing of Two Realms Mountain.”
Bao Gu squinted at the old man and asked, “A news seller?”
The old man replied, “Exactly! I can tell you have an extraordinary temperament; you must come from a legitimate cultivation sect. What brings you to this place?”
Bao Gu kept her eyes glued to her sister, appearing very eager to watch her sister fight.
She casually replied, “I’m not interested in cultivation; I’m here to do business. My sister is a martial fanatic; hearing that this place is chaotic, she came to be my bodyguard and gain experience.”
Yu Mi stood on the street, summoning her Lihuo Sword, enveloped in Lihuo light, her cold gaze fixated on the man, a chilling sword intent radiating from her.
Sun Dilong exclaimed, “What a great sword! Such heavy killing intent!”
The masked man laughed heartily and said, “No more fighting; what’s the point in bullying a little girl? Let’s go drink!”
Sun Dilong shouted, “Black Mask, are you backing down?”
He then asked Bao Gu, “May I ask what business you are in?”
Bao Gu replied, “I sell spiritual wine and elixirs.”
After saying this, she stood up and asked, “Why aren’t we fighting anymore?”
The masked man walked past Bao Gu and returned to his seat to drink.
Yu Mi also extinguished her flames and walked to Bao Gu’s side, giving her a sidelong glance and coldly asking, “What do you mean by saying if I get killed, it will be a chance for you to vent your anger?”
She then shot a warning glare at Sun Dilong, full of meaning.
Others thought the two had merely had a standoff and then backed off, but sometimes, proving superiority doesn’t always require drawing swords.
Bao Gu pouted and huffed heavily, turning to Sun Dilong and saying, “Old man Sun, since you’re a news seller, I’ll come to you tomorrow for information. It’s late now; I need to rest.”
After saying that, she turned and entered the inn, walking to the counter and asking, “Innkeeper, where’s the room I requested?”
The innkeeper replied, “It’s ready! How many days will you be staying, young lady?”
Bao Gu said, “I haven’t decided how many days yet.”
This place was deep water; not to mention she hadn’t decided how long to stay, even if she had, she couldn’t reveal it.
The innkeeper responded, “Then it will be a daily rate!”
He handed the room card and key to Bao Gu, saying, “The third courtyard is quiet. You go up to the main building, take the left staircase to the second floor, and it’s the innermost room. There will be a servant by the stairs on the first floor; if you have any requests, just ask them.”
After finishing, he returned the remaining spirit stones to Bao Gu, saying, “A word of advice: don’t flaunt your wealth.”
Bao Gu replied with an “mm,” scanning the spirit stones and room key the innkeeper returned with her spiritual sense, finding nothing unusual before accepting them.
She thanked him and called out to Yu Mi, “Sister, let’s go.”
She then turned back to glance around at the various strange people and beasts in the inn, smiling as she murmured, “This place is interesting,” and walked toward the back courtyard.
She knew that if one didn’t have solid skills and abilities here, they would be eaten alive.
If her sister had been a bit weaker earlier, or if they had shown any weakness, they might not have made it through that door.
If her sister had wanted to retreat when the situation turned unfavorable, it would have been too late!
