Chapter 234: The Other Side of Half City (3/3)

If one assumed the outer visage of this city comprised its entirety, they would be dreadfully mistaken.

This city boasted beast-drawn carriages as well, though...

Beholding the monstrous entity before him, snapping and snorting like a massive, heavily built black hound, its jaws gaped wide, nearly swallowing Fang Qi whole in a single gulp!

"Where to, friend?" a fellow in a short-sleeved tunic chuckled from his perch at the front of the carriage.

Fang Qi and Zou Mo climbed aboard. "Toward the city center. While we're at it, tell me a bit about the trendier, more prosperous districts around here."

"First time in Half-City?" The man chuckled slyly. "Well, you've certainly asked the right person!"

"Folks from the outside tend to misunderstand this place," the fellow began. "If you ask me, this patch of land is far better than those so-called nations or whatever miscellaneous factions are out there! The public security isn't half bad either!"

"...Are you actually serious about that last part?" Fresh from his recent encounter, Fang Qi was left utterly speechless.

"Heheh... occasionally there are a few slip-ups," the man grinned, baring his teeth. "But most of the time, it's quite decent."

"While this city doesn't lack for bustling quarters, the truly grandest spots include the slave market in the Northern District, for one! Then there's Connected City Avenue in the Western District, where you can find everything from elixirs, magical artifacts, and cultivation techniques to ancient relics dredged up from ruins! It has it all!" the driver rattled on. "The area where the North meets the East isn't bad either."

"But the most formidable of all has to be the dead center. They say that's where the truly great figures congregate! In a place like that, someone in the True Lake Realm is considered nothing more than an ordinary cultivator!"

"They say?" Fang Qi cast a sidelong glance of curiosity at him. "You've never been?"

"How could I possibly?" The driver laughed. "Without someone to lead the way, a commoner has to shell out a thousand spirit crystals just to enter the Inner City once! I don't have that kind of spare cash lying around!"

"A... a thousand?!" Zou Mo gasped in disbelief. "Isn't that just highway robbery?!"

"To the likes of us, naturally," the driver explained with a smile. "But the Inner City of Half-City is the genuine core of the entire metropolis. They say that as long as you have the coin, anything can be bought there—be it the head of a nation's sovereign, the skull of some grand cultivator, or even secret techniques lost for thousands of years."

"By the way...!" Zou Mo pointed at the flora lining the roadside, asking with a heart full of trepidation, "Are all the plants in this city like that?"

"Plants?" The driver glanced toward the roadside greenery, chuckling as realization dawned upon him. "You mean these things? No need to fret. So long as you don't provoke them under normal circumstances, they only prey on small beasts and won't actively attack people. This is part of the Northern District's defense system; you won't see it in any of the other districts!"

"Oh? They don't harm people?!" Zou Mo watched the terrifying specimen with immense astonishment, having just witnessed it devour a flying bird moments ago.

"Of course!" the driver introduced proudly. "The Blood-Cage Trees in Half-City generally do not harm anyone."

To prove his point, he enthusiastically pulled the carriage over by a tree, stepped close to the roadside, and began to fiddle with its branches and tender leaves, saying, "See? They don't hurt a soul!"

In the very next instant, those seemingly listless, tender vines lashed out and coiled around him with frantic violence!

On the spot, he was wrapped tightly like a festive zongzi dumpling!

"Dammit! Let me out! You motherfucker! Let me out!" a frenzy of wild struggling ensued.

"Mmph—!"

"Argh—!"

A violent tearing and ripping echoed.

Fang Qi: "..."

Zou Mo: "..."

Even the beast resembling a great black hound seemed unable to bear the sight anymore. Turning around, it swiped a claw, severing the majority of the vines, which allowed the driver to finally wrench himself free.

"Huff... puff... nearly forgot, if this fellow is starved, it will suck blood... though usually, it doesn't prove fatal."

Fang Qi: "..."

Zou Mo: "..."

The man, whose name was Wang Xian, now bore a complexion that looked entirely drained of vitality as he resumed driving. "This is a bloody massive loss!!"

"Thanks, mate! Otherwise, I'd have been bled dry today!" Wang Xian patted the beast's head, then couldn't help but curse again, "Dammit! Which derelict piece of trash let this mess happen!"

Fang Qi discovered that the carriage drivers of this world were no different from the chauffeurs of his previous life—equally talkative. From amusing anecdotes of the Northern District to rumors concerning the grand figures of the Inner City, he spoke of everything imaginable, allowing the two passengers to gain a fairly thorough understanding of the city.

Wang Xian took them for a brief tour near the periphery of the Inner City, and eventually, Fang Qi spotted a place and stepped down from the carriage.

Before them lay a street corner boasting smooth, pristine white stone walls, allegedly constructed from the snowflake jade peculiar to Half-City. The thick, snow-white walls were set with two panes of glazed glass windows, presenting an exceptionally harmonious appearance.

The foot traffic here wasn't overly dense, yet it wasn't excessively desolate either; he had stopped because he caught sight of a transfer notice on one of the shopfronts.

As for why Fang Qi didn't venture into the Inner City...

Wouldn't customers from the Outer City have to fork over a thousand spirit crystals to the Inner City guards before even setting foot in his shop?!

Fang Qi was certainly not about to indulge in that kind of business.

The proprietor inside was a white-haired old gentleman clad in a silk robe with a round, standing collar, appearing to be in reasonably good spirits.

"Boss, is this shop of yours up for transfer?" Fang Qi inquired casually.

The old man cast a disgruntled glance upward. "Can you afford it?"

Fang Qi was amused. "Why would I ask if I couldn't afford it? Is thirty thousand spirit crystals enough?"

"Thirt... thirty thousand?!" Beside him, Zou Mo was instantly startled out of his wits!

Only then did the old gentleman properly raise his gaze. "Thirty thousand spirit crystals. Quite wealthy, aren't you? Little kid, carrying that much money on your person isn't safe."

"How about you throw in another ten thousand? This old man still has some connections with the local factions around here. When the time comes, I can have them look after you," the old man chuckled.

Fang Qi shrugged. "What kind of care costs ten thousand spirit crystals? Forget it, just the shopfront will do."

"This city is far from safe!" the old man remarked indifferently.

Fang Qi knitted his brows. "Old gentleman, why do you worry so much at your age?"

"Heh! Suit yourself. Kids nowadays seem to have a knack for turning down good intentions." The old man produced a contract deed. "This old man won't ask for more. Twenty-eight thousand. Bring the spirit crystals, sign the deed, and the shop is yours."

Taking the contract, Fang Qi asked casually, "Old gentleman, this shop is decorated quite nicely. Why sell it?"

"This old man is already long in the tooth and no longer has the energy to tend to a shop. I might as well sell it for some peace and quiet." The old man cast a glance at Fang Qi as he accepted the crystals handed to him—twenty-eight thousand, without a single one missing.

Beholding this youth who didn't so much as blink at the expenditure of nearly thirty thousand spirit crystals, the old man was slightly astonished, yet he refrained from prying further. "Later on, I'll have someone clear out what needs to be cleared. The rest will be left to you."

"Uh... there's no need to leave the rest either." Fang Qi glanced over the establishment, which happened to be a magical artifact shop.

"...Fine, fine!" The old man looked at this peculiar youth. "This shop belongs to you now."

With that, he walked out of the shop, looking entirely unburdened.

"Old Master Mo, heading back so early today? Not watching the shop?" A rather pleasant female voice drifted from nearby. Following the sound, one could see a young lady in her twenties dressed in a crimson gown.

"The shop's been sold, so what is there to watch?" Old Man Mo walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back.

The woman was left somewhat bewildered.

"Does that old gentleman share a very close relationship with you all?" Fang Qi inquired with a hint of curiosity.

"You must be a newcomer, right? Don't be fooled by his constant stern face; Old Master Mo is usually quite a good man."

"Good...?" Fang Qi's face was a portrait of bewilderment. This place? A good man?

These two concepts didn't seem capable of aligning in the slightest.

"Since you arrived from the outside, you must have heard the name Mo Tianxing!"

"..." Zou Mo felt a sudden surge of dread in his heart. "The notorious grand evil cultivator from two hundred years ago who slaughtered a thousand cultivators just to refine a single fiend?!"

"What grand evil cultivator?" The woman glared at him. "This matter is hardly a secret within Half-City; there's no harm in telling you."

"Two hundred years ago, the Feng family of the Morning Star Sea region once rounded up over a thousand male and female cultivators born in yin years, yin months, secretly plotting to refine a great demon. As it turned out, this matter was exposed by Old Master Mo, who even fought his way into the Feng family's secret grounds, destroying their plans entirely. However, the Feng family possessed immense influence; they allied with various factions to distort the truth, utterly forcing Old Master Mo into a corner with no way out!"

"That is how he came to take refuge here in Half-City."

"You two certainly don't look like the sort of desperate madmen who fled to Half-Side City because they couldn't survive on the outside." She scrutinized them both from head to toe, before adding grimly, "Don't go thinking everyone out there is a good soul!"

Fang Qi: "..."

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