173 Ma Surname?
After leaving the meeting hall, the guard gave Cao Mao a jade card, which was a temporary identification token.
"Drop your blood here, and the card will display your name. You can use it as a passcard when someone asks for your identity."
Cao Mao had a wry smile on his face. Fortunately, he used his real name, not the other alias. Or else, this jade card might have exposed his status right away. Still, it concerned him if the jade card would reveal his true race. He came here as a vampire. If this thing revealed his true race, he might get into trouble.
Making sure that it wouldn't expose his identity, Cao Mao partially transformed into a vampire before he cut his fingertips and dripped his blood onto the card.
The surface of the jade card in the guard's hand changed. It displayed his name, surname, cultivation base, and affiliation.
--
Guest Card
Name: Mao Miaomiao
Strength: Half-Step Essence Gathering Realm
--
The guard checked the card detail and nodded in satisfaction, "Here, keep it with you all the time when you're in this city."
Cao Mao received the jade card and checked it, "Wow. How does this work? How does it know?"
"Ah, it's a security device from our clan. It's a one-time-used artifact that can uncover a person's real name and strength. Sometimes, sneaky bastards tried to infiltrate our city by using fake names or hiding their cultivation base. We used one of these tools to confirm their info and caught several spies from the Liu Clan. Well, your identity is legit, so there's nothing to worry about."
Cao Mao nodded. It was a close call. Fortunately, no detection feature could identify his true race or true affiliation.
The guard excused himself and returned to his post. Cao Mao was finally free to roam inside the Xuan City.
'Alright. Where should I go? Ah, I should book an inn. This brings back a memory.'
Cao Mao recalled the first day when he entered the Mountain Goose City. Because of the tutorial quest's urgency, he ended up walking into Xu Xiuying's brothel.
Recalling the bitter past, Cao Mao vowed to himself that he wouldn't commit the same mistake. Since he already had 14 wives, he didn't need to visit the red-light district to buy women.
With that mindset, Cao Mao's mind was that of a sage. He ignored local girls and suppressed his natural lust while he walked toward a humble tavern on the main street.
The Xuan City was as organized as the Mountain Goose City. Stone roads separated wooden buildings into blocks, similar to the city layout in the United State metropolitan cities. About a thousand people were roaming the streets, minding their own businesses.
Cao Mao hadn't seen any commotion or crime so far. Aside from the annoying horse feces odor and the lack of hygiene, this was a peaceful city.
Aside from military guards, the rest of the citizens was weak. The strongest shop guards were low-level 3rd-stage cultivators while the local population here were mostly 1st-stage or 2nd stage commoners.
Cao Mao entered a 3-story wooden inn. The building retained the ancient China culture and style, but the interior decoration was similar to a modern era nightclub. A long counter bar was located at the deepest part of the lounge area, and a bartender was mixing a cocktail over there. 10 round tall tables and tall steel chairs were organized into 10 sets, enough to serve about 20-30 customers at a time.
There was only a group of 5 customers on the ground floor. Four men were occupying a table, drinking and singing. From the looks of it, they were already drunk. Another 6th-stage expert was sitting in front of the bar, enjoying several shots of whiskey and cocktails by himself.
Since the bar was quiet, Cao Mao chose to approach the only worker here, the bartender.
"Excuse me. I would like to book a room. Who should I talk to?"
The elderly bald bartender wasn't wearing a tuxedo or modern clothes. He had standard white robes, but he rolled the long sleeves over his shoulders, revealing his tanned skin and toned muscle. Cao Mao couldn't discern the elder's cultivation base since he never leaked a strand of aura or Qi.
The old man cleaned his hands with a towel and glanced at Cao Mao with the corner of his eyes, "I haven't seen you before. Identification card, please."
Cao Mao placed the guest card that the guard had given him on the bar counter.
The bartender glanced at it. He didn't even read the detail, "Okay, young man. How many rooms do you need?"
"One single room, please."
"Five raw spirit stones a night. How many nights are you staying?"
"A week, for now."
Cao Mao paid the raw spirit stones upfront. As Cao Mao raised his strength to this stage, a handful of raw spirit stones meant nothing to him now.
The bartender simply tossed a key to Cao Mao, "Your room is on the third floor. Enjoy your stay."
Cao Mao caught the key and took his ID card back. He strolled toward the stairs without being obstructed by nasty cliché mob characters this time.
After Cao Mao left the bar area, the lone customer who was sitting alone sneered at the bartender, "Aren't you polite today? Normally, you would have yelled at new customers."
The 6th-stage customer was wearing a tattered brown robe like a beggar, but the scars on his face and body told another story. The hardened face and hands of this man revealed that he was a war veteran.
The bald customer snorted, "I always respect those who show respect to me first. He didn't treat me like a slave like other spoiled brats."
"And you're giving him a suite room for 5 RSS a day? Our regular customers are going to be pissed."
"That's a tactic to keep good customers around, Shoucheng. Rather than worrying about your business, you should be worrying about yourself and your nephew. You can't even walk properly, and that brat is still as useless as ever. What's he going to do in the future when his cultivation base is still at the 2nd-stage at this point. The others have already reached the 3rd-stage. And did you sense that young man's strength? It's the freaking half-step 4th-stage! Why shouldn't we treat him with respect? He must be a young master from a foreign clan, so that's an instant VIP!"
The lone customer was Ma Shoucheng, the only surviving son of Ma Ping. He was also Ma Moxi's uncle and the owner of this inn.
During the massacre of the Ma Clan, Ma Shoucheng managed to scrap his life away from the slaughter in one piece, but the poison from the assassins permanently paralyzed his legs. Even though his strength was at the initial stage of the 6th-rank, he couldn't properly display his Ma Clan Spearmanship without his footwork techniques.
With a heavy heart, Ma Shoucheng carried himself to his wheelchair, which he had parked nearby, "I know, we have no future. To be honest, I'm quite jealous of you and that young man. I wish I could walk again."
The bartender had a bitter smile on his face. He felt bad for criticizing his master, "Everything will get better once your daughter marries Qiang Sui's son."
Suddenly, Ma Shoucheng burst into laughter, "That's impossible. She can't marry that guy anymore."
"Why?"
"That bastard is dead. Someone killed Qiang Yan last week. Do you know that the Qiang Clan is running around like a chicken without heads?"
"WHAT!?"
.
.
Cao Mao was shocked when he entered the designated room on the third floor. His room was a luxurious suite with two bedrooms, one lounge area, and a bathroom with a Jacuzzi. The balcony also faced the front street, showing the liveliness of the Xuan City.
"A rural city's cost of living is quite cheap. If a suite room cost only five RSS a night, how much does the best ho here cost… NO!! DICK BRAIN! STOP!"
Cao Mao misunderstood the bartender. He thought that the bald man had tricked him into booking a more expensive room. Also, he tried his best not to think about sex.
His fantasy was cut short when the system sent him a notification.
Ding
\u003cYou have completed the fourth condition - Form an ally with an antagonist clan.\u003e
\u003cWill you complete Campaign Quest#1 with the completed condition now?\u003e
Cao Mao's jaw dropped. He didn't expect that a simple bribe could complete three of the system quest conditions.
It was too easy, yet suspicious. Cao Mao hadn't signed any treaty or agreement with the Qiang Clan, but the system interpreted it as a completion, which was too fast. Moreover, there was no telling if this trolling system sponsor was preparing another trap again since Cao Mao couldn't check the content of the next quest.
"No. Don't complete it yet."
Ding
\u003cPostponing the quest.\u003e
\u003cWhen you're ready, you can open your quest menu and press the [Complete] button to progress to the next stage.\u003e
Cao Mao heaved a sigh of relief. Following through with an antagonist clan as his allies was an instant death-flag. There was no way that he could defeat a group of protagonist's allies with these pushovers.
Furthermore, the system just confirmed that the Qiang Clan was on the villain's side. Therefore, nothing would come out well if Cao Mao kept associating with this group when Ma Moxi was on the loose somewhere nearby.
'I have to locate the Ma Clan and Ma Moxi ASAP. For now, I should start gathering information.'
Now that Cao Mao got himself a place to sleep, he came down to the ground floor, planning to gather information, starting from asking the bartender.
While Cao Mao was walking down the stairs, a maid was running from the ground floor to the second floor, carrying a mop and a bucket in a hurry. A customer had checked out today, and it was her job to clean the previous customer's room.
By instinct of a lecherous pervert, Cao Mao ogled the maid's body and face, scanning her three-size.
The maid girl had a familiar face. Cao Mao had seen her somewhere long ago. Since he couldn't remember, he popped a refreshment pill into his mouth to temporarily increase his IQ and cognitive ability.
The maid didn't recognize Cao Mao. She ran past him.
But Cao Mao realized who it was. She was the receptionist that drugged him and took him into the brothel of Xu Xiuying, which resulted in him becoming the latter's foster son.
"E19?"
Hearing the old codename, the maid girl froze on the spot. She turned around and glared at Cao Mao with a deep frown, "Excuse me?"
"Are you E19 from the Poseidon Spa House? Rather, is your real name Ma Xingjuan?"
After Cao Mao's brain got boosted, he figured something interesting.
Ma Clan
Ma Moxi
Ma Xingjuan
Their surnames were the same.
In reality, two people with the same surname weren't always relatives. However, in fantasy novels, their surnames usually implied kinships.
Cao Mao reminded himself that he was in a cultivation world with novel plots. Therefore, the Ma Clan, Ma Moxi, and Ma Xingjuan should be related.
Meanwhile, Ma Xingjuan was in shock. She still couldn't recognize Cao Mao. As her cultivation base was lower than Cao Mao by a level, she chose to be polite, "Sir, I no longer work for that place. Were you one of the spa house's customers?"
Cao Mao grinned. He whispered in a low voice, "You don't remember me at all, do you?"
"Err, who are you? Wait a second, that voice!"
Ma Xingjuan recalled something.
"Xu Miao!? No, Mao Miaomiao!?"
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