Chapter 183: 183. Chapter 180: West Wind City

183. Chapter 180: West Wind City

Qing Yu, seeing she could no longer hide it, said reluctantly:

"That Ding Huan's arrogant behavior went too far—he even took back Elder Qiong's Condensed Star Bamboo. I couldn't accept it, so I told a disciple of the Dual Soul Sect that Elder Qu was killed by Ding Huan. I happened to meet him in Yan Yue City."

Guan Ai said coldly:

"Elder Qu's death is well known to Elder Gu and Elder Liu—he was poisoned by the Swallow-Foot Corpse toxin."

"You, someone who just cultivated a trace of Qi, dare claim Elder Qu was killed by Ding Huan? Ding Huan is merely a cook—how could he kill Elder Qu?"

Qing Yu hurriedly said:

"Sister Ai, I'm helping you. Whether or not Ding Huan killed him, he disrespected Elder Qiong—he deserves to die."

A flicker of disappointment surged within Guan Ai:

"Qing Yu, do you know how we survived? It was Ding Huan. Without him, not just us—even Elder Gu and Elder Qiong would not have lived. If so, how can you slander Ding Huan?"

Qing Yu dismissed it:

"Sister Ai, Ding Huan is just a mortal cook—so what if he dies? It doesn't matter."

Guan Ai fell silent. Wasn't Qing Yu, before her, just an ordinary mortal?

If not for me bringing her to the Dao Cultivation World, she would have died of old age in the Mortal World.

Previously, she only knew Qing Yu was quick-witted and good at currying favor.

Now she realized how terribly wrong she had been.

At this moment, Guan Ai recalled Qing Yu's behavior on the journey—and the time she had tried to abandon her and join Elder Qu's group.

More importantly, she remembered Ding Huan's words before he left:

"Young Lady Guan, be careful of the maid beside you. If anyone ever tries to harm you, it will be this ungrateful woman."

…

Ding Huan, Yan Mei, and Lao Liu stopped outside an ancient, weathered city.

After studying array formation for so long, with array flags, Ding Huan could set up a Level One array himself.

So as soon as he arrived, he saw: this old city had no protective array.

If there was no protective array, that meant no powerful cultivators lived here.

Above the city walls, three characters were written: West Wind City.

Outside the city stretched a yellow ancient road, its end unknown; carts passed back and forth, hooves galloping, stirring up clouds of yellow dust.

This reminded Ding Huan of a line of poetry: "An ancient road, west wind, a thin horse."

"Brother Huan, I feel this place is good."

Yan Mei also sensed this place was relatively safe—the passersby, though numerous, seemed to pose little threat to them.

Ding Huan calculated, found no issues, and the results here were slightly clearer.

This meant few powerful cultivators resided here.

"Good. This is where we'll settle."

Ding Huan agreed with Yan Mei and led the way into West Wind City. He sought his Foundation Establishment path—he had no need to go to a Dao city saturated with spiritual energy; he only needed quiet, preferably undisturbed.

Upon entering, a sense of filth, disorder, and neglect struck the eyes.

The streets were littered with trash and feces; friction between pedestrians was constant—in a short time, Ding Huan witnessed three fights.

Though no one died, each ended only after blood was drawn.

What startled Ding Huan was that no matter how fierce the street fights, they always ended spontaneously.

No constables, no peacekeepers ever appeared. Indeed, they hadn't seen any city guards upon entering.

"This place seems pretty chaotic," Yan Mei murmured.

Ding Huan smiled: "If a city were peaceful and clean, would we dare live here?"

Yan Mei realized it was true—they were both fugitives now.

"Brother Huan, I have True Industry Coins—let's buy a house."

Yan Mei patted his backpack, thinking at last they'd be useful.

Ding Huan shook his head: "Your True Industry Coins are worthless here. Transactions here use broken crystal shards."

His spiritual sense had already scanned: all trade here used broken crystal shards.

These shards were sometimes as small as a quarter of a fingernail—yet still usable for trade. Their function here was like fragmented silver in a certain dynasty of Huaxia.

"Ah…" Yan Mei's expression fell. He hadn't planned to test it.

If Ding Huan said it wouldn't work, it wouldn't work.

"Do you have houses for sale?" Ding Huan approached a realty shop.

"Yes, all kinds of houses. As long as you're a citizen of the Zhuoxing Lordship, you can buy one," the shop clerk said enthusiastically.

"What if you're not a citizen of the Zhuoxing Lordship?" Ding Huan asked.

The clerk spread his hands: "Then you can only rent. I have rentals too—cheap prices."

"How can one become a citizen of the Zhuoxing Lordship?" Yan Mei asked.

"I have a pamphlet. One crystal bean." The clerk handed Ding Huan a book.

Ding Huan had no crystal beans, and he didn't want to crush his Zhan Shen Crystal—crushing it would leave obvious traces any observant person could detect, which would harm him.

Years of caution had made Ding Huan meticulous in everything he did.

He simply used his spiritual sense to scan it, grasping the general idea.

West Wind City was one of the cities under the Zhuoxing Lordship, which itself lay under the protection of the Grand Star Sword Dao.

"Protection," he guessed from the text, was merely a euphemism.

In truth, many Grand Star Sword Dao disciples who could no longer advance in cultivation and were too old to remain in the sect had nowhere else to go.

They used the name of the Great Star Sword Dao to establish lordships in places lacking spiritual energy.

In these lordships, most of those surviving were ordinary mortals, low-level cultivators, elderly cultivators, and those unable to advance, who could not join any sect...

In short, the social underclass of the Dao cultivation world all lived in these lordships.

Any cultivator who established a lordship within the Great Star Sword Dao's sphere of control must have been a disciple of the Great Star Sword Dao.

If these disciples had made some contribution to the sect, the sect would offer them limited aid—this was what they referred to as protection under their banner.

But when real trouble arose, as long as it didn't involve the Great Star Sword Dao, no powerful cultivators would come.

To become a resident of the Burning Star Lordship, one must contribute to the Burning Star Lordship, or be a public official of the Burning Star Lordship.

Seeing this, Ding Huan immediately spotted a loophole; he naturally refused to take the brochure, instead saying:

"I already have this book. Let me ask—once you're hired as a City Patrol Guard, do you automatically become a resident of the Burning Star Lordship?"

"Yes, yes, I saw it too! When we entered the city, we saw the Lord's Mansion hiring City Patrol Guards—we can apply."

Yan Mei immediately understood Ding Huan's intention.

Ding Huan had indeed seen the West Wind City recruiting City Patrol Guards upon entering the city; now, seeing this brochure on the Burning Star Lordship, he felt he'd found a loophole.

The clerk chuckled and put the book away:

"Friend, you're new here, aren't you? Do you know if City Patrol Guards are hired continuously?"

"Is it because the death rate is high?" Ding Huan naturally understood the clerk's meaning.

The clerk grinned:

"Death rate high? Let me tell you—no one who becomes a City Patrol Guard lives past a month.

The Lord's Mansion hires not only City Patrol Guards but also City Patrol Captains, because there currently isn't a single captain left. The few surviving guards dare not even step outside.

When they do go out, it's only to collect corpses off the streets."

After saying this, the clerk looked at Ding Huan with a half-smile: "Still want to apply for City Patrol Guard?"

Ding Huan finally understood why West Wind City was so chaotic.

It was essentially a state of no government, no organization, no management.

But these shops remained open—clearly, each had some tacitly acknowledged power behind it.

"Then where's the Lord?" Ding Huan asked, puzzled.

The clerk shook his head and said nothing more.

Ding Huan knew the man dared not say more; he thanked him, then left with Yan Mei and Lao Liu.

"Brother Huan, are we still going to apply for City Patrol Guard?" Yan Mei was worried—anyone would be worried about that death rate.

"Of course we are. Why not?" Ding Huan said as if it were obvious.

To survive in a place like this and expect zero risk? Impossible—that was Ding Huan's survival experience.

Better to fight openly in this bottom-tier haven for a quiet place than sneak around the edges of powerful cultivators.

"Brother Huan, if we get hired, do we just hide at home like those old City Patrol Guards?" Lao Liu couldn't help asking.

Yan Mei gave Lao Liu a look of contempt—this guy had lost his mind.

If hiding at home was an option, would such a good job ever go to them?

…

The Lord's Mansion.

"Restricted area of the Lord's Mansion—unauthorized persons prohibited." As Ding Huan reached the gate, several guards blocked him.

This was the first time Ding Huan had seen city guards since entering West Wind City.

Based on his experience, West Wind City appeared lawless and disorganized, but in reality, it was divided into separate zones of influence—this place was likely the Lord's Mansion's territory.

Ding Huan pointed to a sign nearby: "We're here to apply for City Patrol Guard."

A recruitment sign for City Patrol Guards hung here too—West Wind City clearly was desperate to hire them.

"You want to apply for City Patrol Guard?"

The guards looked as if they'd heard the funniest joke imaginable.

After a moment, they snapped out of it and said: "Fine. Just report directly to the City Patrol Guard headquarters."

"Don't we need to report inside the Lord's Mansion?" Ding Huan asked.

The guard sneered: "If the Lord himself had to handle such trivial matters, he'd never get a moment's rest."

From the guard's words, Ding Huan deduced two things: first, the Lord truly hid within the Lord's Mansion and didn't care about the fate of West Wind City's residents—his guess was correct.

Second, the death rate of City Patrol Guards was genuinely extreme.

Before Ding Huan could ask more, the guard pointed: "See that gray building? That's the City Patrol Guard headquarters. Report there."