Chapter 416
A Song of Jade (VII)
On my way out to finally explore the city a bit, I dropped by Long Tao's room and left the manual. As soon as he opened the doors, I just whipped the damn thing inside and left. If it was impossible to sell, he'll come and find me in due time, and if not, well, out of sight, out of mind, as it were.
As I left the inn and found myself navigating the alleys yet again, I realized I was alone. Well, not alone. My perception had grown enough to recognize there were two people tailing me--Lao Shun and Light.
... no, wait, it's three. Someone unknown was also looking at me from a distance. Possibly somebody from the inn, maybe somebody else entirely. Who knows? Not my problem to deal with, anyway.
It wasn't as though the two were particularly stealthy about it--they just kept their distance and pretended to do other stuff.
As for me? I've already studied the city's map, and my goal for today was to see the 'Three Jade Splendors'--a statue made purely out of jade depicting an ancient dragon, stationed near the heart of the city; a strange, misshapen statue of something that was there even when the city was originally built, likely from the previous era; and, lastly, a statue of the Jade Emperor, the supposed founder of the city.
Jade Emperor was a distantly familiar name to me, and I was a bit surprised to hear it here. However, it's not as though it's a particularly unique turn of phrase; it is entirely possible that it has nothing to do with the concept of the Jade Emperor back on Earth and it's simply a spatial title denoting a place and a person.
The closest was the statue of the dragon, just a short five-minute walk, as the inn itself was fairly close to the center, hence the bleeding prices for the rooms.
I wasn't alone in the want, apparently, as the entire plaza was crowded by people--most of them were kids, or teenagers at the latest, corralling toward the stone at the center and chattering about it. As more and more people descended upon the city due to its connection with Eternal Mountain, so did the streets grow more crowded.
Rather than fighting through to get a closer look, I simply stood at the back; the entire plaza felt uniquely modern. It was the second time I felt this way, with the first being when we stepped out of the teleportation array.
Then again, the concept of 'one thing and then a bunch of nothing' wasn't exactly compatible with the modern notion of real estate being at a premium, especially in the cities.
The statue itself rose up to about thirty feet or so, depicting a very... traditional dragon. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, to be honest; maybe something more... alien? But no, it was a flood-like dragon with a serpent's coiling body and no wings. Its head felt slightly oversized, with its maw gaped open, and the color of the stone gently washed out.
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It was impressive, but for something called a 'Splendor'... nah, I guess I just fueled my expectations through prejudice. The world of fantasy ought to have the statues that defy logic, too.
Having soaked it in for long enough, I took east down a much, much wider lane. Both sides of the street were lined up with shops of all kinds, from jewelers to weapons and armors and robes, eventually finding something that made me stop: an alchemy shop.
It was actually my first time seeing one in the wild, as none of the previous cities or towns had it. Even Silvercrest City, which had an alchemy sect, didn't have a dedicated shop. Most of them did sell pills, to be fair, but I guess not exclusively.
Another surprise was that this had a familiar 'stamp' imprinted on the hanging signboard--next to the name, Sacred Pill Pavilion, was the same sigil I've seen on some of Lao Shun's robes: a flaming cauldron above a tower-like structure, likely denoting Alchemy Tower.
I got a bit curious and went inside; it was actually bigger than the inn, going up six floors altogether, grafted from marble and jade. Its interior was lavish--honestly, it felt like I walked onto a set of a royal drama set in some fictional version of medieval England where they decorated every inch of the place with gems and gold and silver.
Every table had edges coated in gold, every chair looked like it had satin cushions, and even the floor had tinges of silver present toward the edges.
'Luminous' is the one word I'd use to describe it--and it was... uncomfortably familiar. It reeked of modern-day shops that tried to bombard you with everything the moment you walked in, desperate for a touch of your attention. I'd barely stepped a foot in when I saw a young--too young--girl walk up to me. If her dress were any tighter, it'd be a fucking corset.
"Welcome, Senior," she said. "What do you need? Sacred Pill Pavilion has it all! Pills for bottlenecks? Healing old scars? For ~helping with certain things?" I may have vomited a little into my mouth before replying.
"Just a first-timer in the city visiting," I said. "I'm unfortunately way too poor to afford anything here."
"Oh." All her enthusiasm was thusly gone. "Well, let me know if you find anything you like... and can afford."
She stabbed with the words as she waltzed off, but I'm honestly glad. The more I looked around, the more I realized this was even worse than modern-day stores. I doubt she merely trusted my words, but likely everything about me; I do stink of a newcomer, my robes are relatively low-quality, I don't have any prominent 'sigils' showing my sect... I overall look like a wretch.
And boy am I glad.
Having been left alone to wander, I approached some of the displays to look at the pills as well as the prices. The latter made my head spin, as even the cheapest, ugliest-looking pills with effects like, 'Scabs the wound faster' went upwards of 10,000 low-grade stones per pill.
Goddamn.
Why is that bastard alchemist trying to get me to give him money?! How is he not just absolutely loaded?! You had freakin' centuries to get loaded, and you're coming to a guy who's literally been in this world for a couple of years and asking him for a loan!
... wow.
I'm pissed off. I haven't been this angry in a while. Is he just trying to pull a fast one on me? Haah.
"Senior Lu? Is that you?" I turned around toward the voice and saw a distantly familiar face. I... actually forgot her name. But she was the girl who escorted us to the camp the Holy Lands set up in Spiritwood Grove. Ya--Ya... something. "It is you! Ah, forgive me; you probably don't remember me. We met a little over a year ago. I'm Xing Yahui." At least I got the first two letters right...
Ah! She was the one I cheapened out on and didn't want to spend points to see her window. Wasn't it like a 100 points?
[--Creator's Eyes used]
[Host's Realm is insufficient to view target's status]
[Spend 1,000 CP to partially view the target's status?]
... huh? What the hell?
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