Chapter 413: Thus line: Ye Ying

After Wei Yuning and the others discussed, they chose the two houses farthest from the Cai Feng residence. One side and the rear of each are suspended in the air, which offers good privacy.

Overgrown grass in the courtyard and dust inside the houses are trivial for cultivators; half an hour later the two spacious, tidy mansions were cleaned up.

Wei Yuning and Thus line: Ye Ying went to the back garden; with a wave of his hand a green bamboo sprouted rapidly from the ground, soon a pavilion appeared, followed by a row of seats.

"Junior sister, sit down; let's chat for a while!" Wei Yuning said, pointing at the seats.

He now especially likes using this plant; it can easily form various shapes, its toughness and strength are sufficient, it adapts well, even in a starry environment it stays vibrant, not to mention in scorching heat.

Thus line: Ye Ying sat down cheerfully and smiled, "Senior brother's wood‑type Dao technique is improving more and more!"

"All right, all right! Junior sister, what work are you doing now?" Wei Yuning sat beside Thus line: Ye Ying, looking at his old friend whose appearance remained the same but whose eyes were now steadier, feeling many emotions.

Although she has a friend named Qiu Hu here, Qiu Hu himself is short of money, so the help he can give her is even more limited. When she first arrived, she was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, making it hard to imagine a Foundation Establishment cultivator surviving around the Immortal City. Even now that her cultivation has reached the Opening Light Stage, she is still at the very bottom of the hierarchy.

"I provide clean water to a large inn!" Thus line: Ye Ying said.

"Is water scarce here?" Wei Yuning asked curiously.

Thus line: Ye Ying nodded and said, "Everlasting Immortal City is a rather unique place; aside from the central area, which is the material world, most of the surrounding towns were built later, featuring barren stars, fragments, massive meteorites, and even earth treasures; some are essentially pocket worlds, but the boundary walls have been removed, leaving only the core."

Although protected by a massive formation, the surrounding towns are now essentially like ordinary worlds, water is still being slowly consumed; as the foundation of all life, even an abundance of water is never excessive. This is especially true for Green Forest Guard City, whose very existence as a giant tree city consumes a certain amount of water. Therefore, if any resident or merchant in the town can produce their own water source, the mall's administration will grant various tax reductions—commercial tax, population tax, and household tax, among others.

At this point, Thus line: Ye Ying smiled proudly, "I'm different from ordinary water‑root cultivators. Common cultivators can condense a small amount of water out of thin air, but when producing large quantities they must rely on the surrounding environment; essentially, large water spells just gather scattered water together. My water production relies on illusion; my illusion technique has reached a level where the fake becomes indistinguishable from reality, creating something from nothing. Although I can only turn a small amount of illusory water into real water, the volume is already considerable—now I can generate a clean water source covering a square of one zhang in a single day!"

Wei Yuning couldn't help but click his tongue, thinking, "A one‑zhang square is enough for this group of people to live!"

"Junior sister, how about working with me? I'm planning to enter the catering business, and what I lack is water; you could help me, and I'll pay you double—no, fifty low‑grade immortal stones per year as wages. What do you think?"

"This… doesn't sound right?" Thus line: Ye Ying said uneasily.

"What's wrong with that? Besides the wages, you'll also be our partner; if we make more profit, there'll be year‑end profit sharing!" Wei Yuning coaxed.

"Partner? Profit sharing?" Thus line: Ye Ying was startled, then understood Wei Yuning's meaning, "No, that's not what I mean. The current shopkeeper kindly took me in; I can't just walk away!"

"You can talk to the shopkeeper first, but there's no rush; we can discuss it once everything is ready," Wei Yuning said.

Thus line: Ye Ying nodded vigorously, "Indeed, there are too many of you; surviving here long term isn't easy, expenses are huge. First make sure we can earn money."

Even Wei Yuning, though slow, heard distrust in Thus line: Ye Ying's words; recalling, it seemed she had never truly trusted him from the start.

Wei Yuning thought, "If she knew all my ingredients are free, she probably wouldn't think that way!"

Anyway, there's no point in saying more; take it slow. From now on, most of the time will be near the Immortal City, where many big figures maintain security, so figuring out how to make a living becomes their main challenge.

Actually, the two have much to say, yet at the moment they don't know where to begin.

Thus line: Ye Ying has always felt guilt; the conflicts involving the Divine Martial Gate, the Azure Luan Sect, and the Cloud Hidden Sect are all linked to her, though she was the passive side. She doesn't know how to bring up the past.

Wei Yuning's sudden becoming a disciple of the Divine Martial Gate also reminded her of everything from the beginning.

Likewise, Wei Yuning has too many secrets, and many topics aren't suitable for discussion. In the end, he only gave a brief account of the dark army's invasion of the spirit beast world.

The secret realm of the Cloud Hidden Sect is also a secret that can't be elaborated. However, Wei Yuning tactfully rephrased: most elite disciples of the Cloud Hidden Sect have already left the sect and the spirit beast world, including the female cultivators of the Azure Luan Sect who later withdrew. Cloud Hidden Sect cultivators have gone to various places, but the destination of the Azure Luan Sect cultivators is Green Forest Guard City; when they arrive depends on the right timing.

Thus line: Ye Ying reconfirmed that Yun Yan and others also intend to come to Green Forest Guard City; while excited, she felt more uneasy.

When the conversation finally shifted from the spirit beast world to Qiu Hu, Thus line: Ye Ying's expression finally relaxed.

Qiu Hu is just her Daoist name in the Azure Luan Sect; her real name is Qin Fei. The Qin clan is a huge family throughout the Immortal City, with thousands of members. Because the clan is so large, its members aren't tightly connected like a small family; they mostly develop independently.

Qin Fei, being a cultivator of ordinary talent, never benefited from the clan's resources; after reaching adulthood she had to go out and make a living on her own.

Over the past millennium, the Immortal City's population has kept expanding, and even the native residents are finding survival increasingly difficult. After all, most of them have low cultivation levels and cannot compete with incoming masters.

Of course, as locals who know the roots, positions that value loyalty over strength are generally reserved for acquaintances.

Qin Fei's appointment to the Outer Guard Army's Exploration Department is related to this; besides the basic requirement, her experience exploring medium‑size worlds set her apart and earned her the position.

It turns out she also works in Green Forest Guard City, but since the Dark Clan became active, due to her light‑type spiritual root, she was reassigned to oversee patrols of several peripheral towns near the Immortal City. Though she didn't get a promotion, her salary increased significantly.