Chapter 788: After Binding the Child-Bearing System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 789: Fantasy World Passerby A (9)

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Perhaps she had used up too much luck; for the next several days, even though Shen Yao went shopping every day, she couldn't find any good things.

However, Shen Yao didn't feel this was anything; after all, she wasn't someone who needed to cultivate, and any good things she found would be used on other people anyway.

Since she couldn't find good things nowadays, she'd just wait until the next place.

Lu Yan had already finished reading the Qingchuan information given by Xiao Hei; what was mentioned most in it was that Secret Realm in Qingchuan. One wondered if it was the day the Secret Realm opened, but Qingchuan's Secret Realm would produce a few special Secret Realms every few days, including new types of Secret Realms that had never appeared before. What strange beasts, strange plants, and strange treasures were inside depended entirely on exploration. It was said that the liveliest thing in Qingchuan right now was treasure hunting, gambling on one's own luck.

Shen Yao was clearly interested in Qingchuan's Secret Realm; although the danger there was relatively high, fortunately treasures truly existed there.

"Go on, go on, when do we set off?" Shen Yao raised her hand and tugged at Lu Yan's hem.

"Probably still a few days. Xiao Hei ate quite a few Spirit Resources containing the water element, just short of the final crucial step," General Manager had to wait until the dust settles.

This time the Black Feather Snake enhanced its own potential; who knows, it might even evolve, gaining more capabilities.

Coming to Yi Shui was in their plans, but the Black Feather Snake obtaining this fortuitous encounter was not within their expectations.

Lu Yan simply thought to be thorough; this trip out was entirely for the three contract beasts. Qingchuan's Secret Realm wasn't something that couldn't be missed; it was just a matter of delaying a few days. If it could exchange for the three contract beasts' strength greatly increasing, Lu Yan wouldn't consider it a loss.

Hearing this, Shen Yao lowered her eyes to look at the Black Feather Snake coiled into a black bracelet on Lu Yan's wrist, its head biting its tail, and thought this little thing really had good fortune. It was just staying in Yi Shui a few more days; at worst she'd continue shopping.

For the next few days, Shen Yao not only shopped herself but also dragged Lu Yan along to shop. Whenever she saw something she liked, she wouldn't say a word, just stare fixedly at Lu Yan.

Lu Yan: ……

What could Lu Yan say? As long as Shen Yao was happy. Lu Yan, the wealthy man sitting on a Spirit Jade Mine, fundamentally didn't lack this bit of money spent in Yi Shui.

By the time the Black Feather Snake coiled around Lu Yan's wrist finished digesting the Spirit Resources it had eaten, the Black Feather Snake's originally black skin turned into a colorful, variegated black.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao touched the top of her head; the Black Feather Snake was already coiled on her hairpin serving as an ornament. It felt icy cool to the touch, greatly relieving that trace of irritability brought by the summer heat.

Leaving Yi Shui, several more carriages appeared behind them, filled entirely with items Shen Yao had purchased in Yi Shui. One could see this trip to Yi Shui yielded an abundant harvest.

Lying in the carriage with both side curtains open, the Black Feather Snake on her head was tirelessly blowing cold air. Shen Yao lay on her side on a soft pillow, with a plate of freshly picked fruit at hand.

The crystal-clear fruits still carried water droplets; one bite quenched thirst and produced saliva.

Lu Yan sat properly and seriously; seeing Shen Yao so unrestrained, he didn't say much.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly, the normally traveling carriage abruptly stopped. A forward thrust sent Shen Yao tumbling into Lu Yan's embrace. Items inside the carriage instantly toppled in disarray, accompanied by the sound of porcelain shattering by her ears.

Hm?

Before Lu Yan could question him, he heard the Servant driving the carriage directly report, "Young Master, the road ahead is blocked."

Blocked?

Shen Yao lifted her head from Lu Yan's embrace, not understanding how a perfectly good flat road could be blocked? This wasn't some treacherous pass.

Lu Yan raised his hand and lightly patted Shen Yao's back, then got off the carriage first.

In just a moment, the carriage turned around and changed routes to leave.

Shen Yao looked eagerly at Lu Yan as he entered. The scattered items all around had already been tidied up, and even the half-eaten fruit had been swapped for new ones.

"What's lying across there is a wild strange plant. To avoid unnecessary disputes, taking a detour is most appropriate."

If not detouring, one could also wait for that strange plant to leave or take action to eliminate that strange plant.

However, road-blocking strange plants have always moved slowly and have extremely strong defensiveness, and their entire bodies have no strange treasures. Even the most bored person wouldn't want to waste time.

Hearing this, Shen Yao let out an "oh" and nodded, changed her posture, and continued eating and drinking. "Taking a detour means we'll arrive several days later again?"

They had originally set off somewhat late; with further delays on the road, by the time they reached Qingchuan, who knows if the Secret Realms they had favored earlier would be missed.

The Flaming Lion and Swift Wind Wolf Regiment were sleeping soundly together. Shen Yao raised her hand to stroke the two furry little ones, occasionally leaning in to snuggle against them.

All three contract beasts had a very good relationship with Shen Yao. Of course, this also had to do with Shen Yao's special nature; companion creatures have a natural attraction to contract beasts.

After the detour, things were very peaceful until the group arrived at a small city.

The town area wasn't large. The surroundings were gray and hazy. The buildings inside were sparse, dilapidated, and lacked human presence. Lu Yan had originally planned to lodge here, but afterward, for some unknown reason, he directly changed his mind and signaled the carriage to leave the city and continue the journey.

"Is something wrong here?" Shen Yao noticed the change in Lu Yan's expression. No matter how well concealed, it couldn't hide the fear deep in his eyes.

Not until the carriage had thrown the small town far behind them, and the condensed air around them became mobile again, did Lu Yan raise his hand to grip Shen Yao's wrist. "That small town shouldn't exist."

Lu Yan spoke with certainty. Before Shen Yao could question further, he began explaining on his own.

"I once read a Jiu Zhou Travelogue, which had a section involving the Exiled City."

Lu Yan's eyes were serious as he stated, "The Exiled City in the travelogue is recorded as actually being a nameless small city. It has been drifting in various corners of the Jiuzhou Continent since some unknown time."

Some say the Exiled City is alive. It originally evolved from a strange beast, but for some unknown reason it became like this today."

As if his brain had fallen into memory, Lu Yan quickly recited that travelogue passage he had read, specially emphasizing certain phenomena and appearances.

Shen Yao: ……

"Is the travelogue's content certainly true? Perhaps it's just an ordinary small town." Exiled City — if it could truly take people away never to return, it wouldn't appear in a travelogue, but on the lips of the Wedding Guests.

Humans are creatures who most like to seek profit and avoid harm. Once life safety is involved, they are more sensitive than anyone.

Lu Yan was clearly influenced by something, deliberately making him associate the small town behind them with the Exiled City, scaring himself.

Lu Yan: ……

Lu Yan looked thoughtful. "Could it be so?"

"You haven't seen the real Exiled City, and the travelogue's content is also just one person's account." If any random small town were the Exiled City, then the big guys wouldn't need to go out; the danger would be too great.

"That small town probably has a strange beast that can bewitch hearts and stir emotions." Lu Yan's emotional fluctuations were obvious; he was definitely affected.

Taking advantage of their tightly clasped hands, Shen Yao mobilized her own energy to soothe him. As this energy entered Lu Yan's body, his originally somewhat panicked heart suddenly calmed down.

Lu Yan:...?!

Suddenly breaking out in cold sweat, Lu Yan realized his earlier unease — what exactly was he associating and fearing? This clearly wasn't his personality.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Lu Yan is still too young; some exotic beasts and exotic plants are mysterious, most people have never heard of them," 【the System said,】 "accidentally touching one can only be blamed on bad luck."

Obviously, that small town hid an exotic beast skilled at stirring emotions, and Lu Yan's group were the unlucky ones who bumped into it.

It's just that Lu Yan was lucky — the emotional stirring didn't lead to mutual slaughter, but instead they escaped a step earlier.

Looking at Lu Yan who seemed rather doubtful of his life, the System chuckled, then showed them the current situation of the small town they had already left far behind.

A beast covered in black, with its mouth split so wide its whole head might fall off, roared in a broken defense, but because it feared the Host, it could only rage impotently.

Shen Yao had the System rein it in a bit; they hadn't never stumbled before.

System:...

Fine, the Host also understands boomerangs; after all, transmigration is a turn-based game — words spoken earlier might viciously stab into one's own body at any time.

Lu Yan finally let out a breath of relief; he raised his eyes to glance at Shen Yao, who seemed completely unaware, and said with a smile, "Thank you."

Actually, ever since Shen Yao was awakened by Lu Yan as a companion creature, it had always been Shen Yao using her own abilities to protect him — even the Black Feather Snake's evolution was helped by Shen Yao.

The Lu Family Lu Yan lived in was rather complex; the unfortunate childhood Lu Yan had not lived happily; before Shen Yao was awakened, Lu Yan's plans were mostly for himself; now he thought more about them.

Shen Yao couldn't accompany him trapped in the Lu Family's cage, and he also wasn't determined to fight the Lu Family to the death — even that old grievance from his youth wasn't impossible to temporarily set aside.

Lu Yan spaced out again, pondering things he had never deeply considered before; seeing this, Shen Yao didn't disturb him, simply letting him have his epiphany, while she released their clasped hands, leaned bonelessly against the soft pillow, and the Flaming Lion became a toy in her hands.

The Central State's situation wasn't as complex as the other few states; all the major and minor forces here had vests, so not many jumped out to cause destruction.

Shen Yao and Lu Yan set out from Lian Tang City, passing through major cities like Yi Shui, Siqing, Tianlie, Zhixiao, and so on, finally reaching their destination Qingchuan.

Qingchuan isn't the name of a single city, but a general term for a region.

Because there are many mountain forests and trees here, everywhere is lush and full of vitality; Qingchuan is therefore famous throughout the world.

Shen Yao and Lu Yan's purpose in reaching Qingchuan this time was naturally for Qingchuan's Secret Realm.

Since stepping onto Qingchuan's territory, travelers coming and going became more and more numerous, among them many cultivators, each followed by one or several contracted beasts.

Perhaps due to Qingchuan's uniqueness, ordinary people here seeing cultivators wouldn't be terrified; they even had the guts to go up the mountain to peddle, using their own abilities to earn Spirit Jade from cultivators' hands.

That's right, the entire Qingchuan Region uses Spirit Jade as currency for transactions.

Ordinary gold, silver, pearls, and jewels have no circulating value here; even for the convenience of Spirit Jade transactions, there exists a Spirit Pearl one tier lower than Spirit Jade.

Long before coming over, Lu Yan had prepared all expenses for Qingchuan; therefore Shen Yao spent money even more freely than in the previous towns.

Drawing open the carriage window curtain, Shen Yao waved to call over a child selling hard, who looked not very large in stature, wearing clothes washed somewhat white but very clean, a pair of eyes bright and spirited.

Handing over a few Spirit Pearls from her hand to this child, Shen Yao had her explain in detail the affairs of this city before them.

As guests about to enter the city, what Shen Yao cared about most was food, clothing, lodging, and travel; as for the Secret Realm outside Qingchuan, that wasn't something ordinary people should know, and Shen Yao wouldn't make things difficult for a child over it.

"Put that way, Lin An City is jointly managed by the Lin Family and An Family, and we have to pay two portions of money to enter?"

Wow, a proper profiteer — sitting on a treasure mountain yet still so insatiably greedy.

"Miss Shen, actually all cities in the Qingchuan Region are like this," the child said with a dry smile, wiping her forehead; she didn't feel there was anything wrong with doing this — who let her be born into this kind of environment.

Shen Yao raised an eyebrow, "Continue."

Child:...

The child acted trembling all over, but having already received the Spirit Pearls, no matter what she had to finish her job; besides, thinking the kind-hearted miss was young and generous, finding such a client wasn't easy, and she still wanted to keep in touch to earn extra money later.

The child had many thoughts, and a bit of a newborn calf not fearing the tiger's courage.

But after pausing a moment she began narrating everything about Lin An City again; there were many places she had never been to, but she had witnessed many people spending money like dirt, and the miss before her was precisely one of them.

"Here, these are all for you; the content you spoke was not bad."

"Many thanks, Miss Shen."

Waving her hand to dismiss the delighted child, Shen Yao turned to look at Lu Yan who hadn't moved an inch, "Enter the city?"

Lu Yan gave an "mm" and nodded, then directed the Lu Mansion servants to drive the carriage.

Lin An City's area was very large; under the tall city walls were lines of cultivators and contracted beasts queuing to enter and exit the city.

Lu Yan's carriage was nothing unusual among them; following the prescribed Spirit Jade payment, the group walked into Lin An City through the side gate tunnel.

First they found a residence available for rent, then spent money to simply repair it; that very night, Shen Yao moved into this small courtyard hardly different from the one in Lian Tang City.

The furnishings in the small courtyard differed from Lian Tang City; this place had more Lin An City character — green plants everywhere; one could hear news of Secret Realms opening from time to time; the most outrageous thing was that Secret Realms could even appear inside someone's home.

Shen Yao:... Shocking, still shocking!

Lu Yan had already taken the Qingchuan information he obtained and gone to verify its truth one by one; Shen Yao simply rested two days, then had someone call the child who had introduced Lin An City to her before, bringing her along to continue strolling and playing.

Cheng Cheng never imagined she would one day be able to enter a gold-selling cave in Lin An City to enjoy herself, even if she was only brought in as a background board.

Every day opening her eyes she could get one Spirit Jade, doing nothing yet eating delicious food; if such a life could last a bit longer, it would be even better.

"May mountains and waters forever meet, we'll meet again in the future," Shen Yao smiled and rubbed Cheng Cheng's little head, stuffing ten Spirit Jade into her hand.

These days Lu Yan had no time to accompany her; Shen Yao played quite well in Lin An City, just a pity that Secret Realms could open anytime — she needed to go to the Secret Realm together with Lu Yan.

Who knows how Qingchuan's Secret Realm differs from the Lian Tang Secret Realm.