Chapter 65

She coughs lightly, embarrassed, "My mistake, my mistake."

Anyway, at least we can stay for now; the inn's wall has a clear price list.

The term "spirit stone" was still something Jiang Yu could guess, and she immediately paid two hundred low‑grade spirit stones.

The innkeeper couldn't help asking, "We require no deposit, ten spirit stones per day—do you want to stay twenty days?"

Jiang Yu hesitated, but having understood the words spirit stone, heaven, you, one, she raised two fingers, crossed them, and made a cross sign.

The innkeeper returned one hundred spirit stones to her; Jiang Yu glanced again at the price list and memorized those words.

The room was small, but sufficient for sleeping and meditation.

In the days that followed, she spent every daytime listening to others speak, recording them with a recording stone; after evening cultivation she replayed them repeatedly, trying to grasp the context and meaning.

Each day she visited different eateries and tea houses to order, first memorizing how the food's name was written.

She also stopped by several clothing shops, listening to others' purchase conversations, and picked out a few local outfits herself.

One could say she had never worked so hard at learning a foreign language in any past life.

Fortunately, though the method was clumsy, after a few days of hard study she could not only understand most local speech, but after sparring with Jiang Tu she could utter simple sentences.

She also learned that cultivators gathered nearby because the route from the snow‑mountain pass to the cultivation city was blocked by a vast barren Gobi lacking spirit, making aerial vessel travel impossible.

Black winds often sweep across the Gobi; a careless step can be swept away, never to be seen again.

Renting a second‑tier celestial horse raised by the steppe herders, and having a local herder guide the way, is the fastest and safest method.

But one must wait for the herders' horse convoy to move together before departing.

So Jiang Tu asked her, "Do you want to sign up to leave, or go into the snow mountains for a hunt?"

"Leave, the snow mountains are too cold." Jiang Yu wasn't interested in second‑ or third‑tier Yao beasts; fighting fourth‑ or fifth‑tier ones was beyond her strength.

Two days after she secured a horse, the convoy set out.

Jiang Yu only needed to fly to the edge of the Gobi, show the herders the purchased horse token, and they would hand over a celestial horse.

As soon as she entered the Gobi with the hundred‑plus group, her spiritual power was suddenly sealed in her dantian, and her divine consciousness was suppressed within a yard.

Yet she still keenly sensed a gaze fixed on her.

"Jiang Tu, how far can the Dragon Tablet see? Someone's watching me." Jiang Yu pretended to admire the scenery while scanning left and right.

"At most five yards, which is especially inconvenient." Jiang Tu's words were cut off when two cultivators on horseback galloped toward Jiang Yu.

The bearded cultivator said, "Little fellow, you made it easy for us to find you; from the snow mountains to the steppe, fate has brought us together."

"Who are you?" Jiang Yu asked, using the briefest wording possible.

"Ha ha, we brothers are the Min family youths of Panxing City; we saw your moves in the snow mountains and have come to invite you to join the contest for the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit that will be held three months later."

"Our Min family is willing to offer eight thousand low‑grade spirit stones and ten bottles of mid‑grade Qi‑gathering pills."

"I am Min Wu, currently at the mid‑Foundation Establishment stage." Min Wu's words were courteous, but his tone was rather forceful.

Jiang Yu didn't know what contest it was, and simply said, "So you are Senior Min, I am only a junior with just Qi‑gathering cultivation."

The young cultivator beside Min Wu sized her up and said, "The fruit‑snatching contest is only open to those in the Qi‑gathering stage; you don't even know that—could it be that you are not from my Beichen lineage?"

"I am a rural free cultivator, mostly training in the mountains with my master." From the scattered bits Jiang Yu had gathered, she roughly guessed that this cultivation world was a mixed realm of immortals and mortals.

Min Wu nodded, "In that case, you should definitely join us; it will be more convenient."

If you wish to reside long‑term in Panxing City, you need a sponsor.

Little friend, don't speak of not being able to live inside the city; you should know Panxing City is built upon a spirit vein, and even renting a simple cave residence there is far more effective for cultivation than the mortal villages you come from.

"I appreciate your guidance, senior; I have been ordered to visit a former master's friend and must return swiftly."

"I'm afraid I cannot wait three months." Jiang Yu didn't know the details, and could not casually promise.

Min Wu chuckled, "I don't know which master's friend you refer to, but I am familiar with anyone above Foundation Establishment."

"Senior, please forgive me." Jiang Yu meant she couldn't elaborate; this person was quite boastful.

Min Wu couldn't help frowning, "If you change your mind, you may come to the Min family in Alley Nine, Block B of the Western City to find me."

The two rode their horses toward the front of the convoy; the young cultivator transmitted, "Little girl, you're a bit ungrateful."

"What if the one she is visiting is a Nascent Soul Real Person?"

"You see her cultivation robe isn't outstanding, but those cultivation boots have a different style." Min Wu's single sentence left her speechless.

Meanwhile Jiang Yu, still at the tail of the convoy, kept walking slowly, "The sound seems like those from the snow mountains who are chasing us, but how did they find me?"

She was sure the opponent hadn't come within three feet; could she have been silently marked with a tracking sigil, requiring two Dragon Treasures to locate for peace of mind?

And indeed, Jiang Bai, who had placed a tracking sigil on her, had heard news in the past two days about her, the dragon race, and the Void‑Piercing Pearl, but instead of going to the Ten Thousand Yao Mountains to investigate, he immediately returned to the Grand Void Sect to inquire whether her soul lamp was unharmed.

At the same time, the final event of the Sword‑Testing Tournament—a mountain hunt of demons—provoked a backlash from the Yao Race.

Yao cultivators of eighth tier or higher, leading seventh‑tier ones, launched a sudden ambush during the cultivators' return from demon hunting.

Although the Nascent Soul and Binding‑Core cultivators guarding them intervened in time, the battle still caused many low‑tier casualties and disappearances among both humans and demons.

Jiang Yu's older brother Jiang Du was also on the missing list.

All this Jiang Yu could not know, but through Ao Ze's careful probing, it was discovered that the soles of her Cloud‑Stepping Boots were stuck with several strands of ice‑spider silk.

These boots are forged from the hide of a wind‑type Yao beast, inscribed with acceleration talismans inside and out, and can maintain a suitable temperature inside the boots in any environment—essentially warm in winter, cool in summer.

Because they were so useful, after Jiang Yu switched to local clothing she never changed her shoes.

"It seems he carries a spirit‑beast ice spider, which can evade your eyes; when it stalked me from behind, did it lay a hidden hand?" Jiang Yu gained another piece of experience.

At this time, she had not changed shoes, which would have seemed too deliberate; who knows if among the hundred‑plus people in the convoy there were still Min family youths secretly observing her.

After she and the horse convoy evaded two black winds and safely exited the Gobi, two days had already passed.

There is a small city at this exit; most entrants and leavers are cultivators, with only a few mortal warriors.

Jiang Yu didn't want to enter the city with Min Wu's group, so she decisively chose to stay here, specifically seeking a junior cultivator at the city gate who was recruiting customers, to inquire whether the city had any long‑established bookstores.

Indeed there was one; she walked around inside, finding a huge number of books, and from time to time even cultivators of the second or third Qi‑gathering layer came to buy books.

When Jiang Yu asked the shop clerk to recommend some elementary learning books, she actually discovered, at the bottom of a bookshelf behind her, an ancient elegant poetic text.

She couldn't help but be overjoyed beyond expectation, because the sect's library had this book, a reference for learning certain ancient spells.

At that time, to master a few special spells, she went to the Transmission Hall each day to find Uncle Guan and studied the ancient language.

Jiang Yu asked the shop assistant, "Is there anyone in your store who knows this book?"