Chapter 91

Little Song Yi did not really understand the concept of quitting while she was ahead. Watching the teachers suffer made her feel as if she had discovered a new continent, and her eyes were even brighter than usual.

She wanted to make a contribution and create a fake person to “control” the Ministry of Education. Wasn’t that all for the sake of getting a hold over these adults?

Now that she had suddenly found her advantage, how could she possibly let it go?

After the two teachers listened to her report her answer, they praised her twice with complicated feelings. They had only just breathed a sigh of relief when they heard her continue, “Teacher, what kind of people were in the spirit-energy car that just left? Please analyze it from multiple angles and draw a conclusion.”

Cold sweat broke out on the teacher’s forehead.

“Teacher…”

Song Yi was crafty too. She would not ask questions one after another. Instead, she would quiet down for a while, wait until the teachers had relaxed, then abruptly toss out a question, which might even be in a completely opposite direction from the previous one. It made her impossible to guard against. She felt she had learned this from these teachers.

Later, the instant they heard Song Yi call “Teacher,” they reflexively tensed up. Did teachers not need face? They could not fail to answer or answer wrong every single time, right?

They went all out, no longer giving Song Yi any chance to stump them with her questions.

Song Yi patted Old Yuan’s shoulder and said with a beaming smile, “You’ve improved a lot. Keep it up.”

She nearly patted Teacher Yuan shorter.

Although Song Yi worked hard to control her expression and not look too smug, her eyes had already said everything: she should have come outside ages ago!

What bad intentions could a little cub have? She was merely helping these slack teachers improve their survival skills and teaching standards.

There was absolutely no personal revenge mixed in!

By the time they reached the settlement, Song Yi had practically become the boss of this spirit-energy car. Everyone gathered around Song Yi, solicitously asking whether she was cold or warm, and all kinds of snacks were fed to her.

Originally, they had wanted to use their advantage as upper graders to cover Song Yi at school, but she had already become the head of the Discipline Department. It seemed there was nowhere, no matter where she went, where they could cover her.

This left the students a little heartbroken, but also gave them a feeling that this was only natural. This was what a genius character setting should be.

The sharper ones were already asking for information. “May I ask whether applications for the Work-Study Club will open this year?”

The two teachers looked at the little child surrounded like the moon among stars and shook their heads helplessly. Children these days were far too realistic.

Under normal circumstances in the past, students coming outside for the first time would always swarm around the teachers in a dense crowd. That made them feel a little safer.

Now look at this. They probably felt the teachers were not as awesome as their classmate, so they had directly abandoned the teachers.

But the two teachers did not stop them. It was not bad for these equally energetic fellows to divert energetic Song Yi’s attention. The things Song Yi taught them were generally not wrong, and were instead stricter than what ordinary teachers taught.

In any case, everyone could get hurt together.

How did that saying go? Defeat magic with magic? Oh, no. Defeat devils with devils.

Neither arrogant nor impatient, Song Yi gave pointers to these kids. “You need to observe the environment and collect information quickly. Don’t keep staring at one person. Move your gaze away before the other person feels offended.”

This was common sense for going out during the Old Era.

Understanding one’s surroundings was a required lesson, but being seen as spying could very likely get you dragged into trouble.

Especially when the other party’s realm crushed yours and stepping on you was like stepping on an ant, or when the other party had something shameful going on and believed dead people kept secrets better.

An overly conspicuous gaze was like a kind of provocation, and could easily bring unnecessary fatal disaster upon oneself.

She also taught them methods for observing with divine thought and concealing divine thought, which could help avoid alarming others as much as possible.

However, in the next second, the cubs rushed into the settlement and started looking all around with their eyes without the slightest restraint. They were just short of hanging signs that said “newbie rookie” on themselves.

It was not that they had not taken Song Yi’s words to heart. It was that they had no previous experience, and the techniques Song Yi mentioned were not something they could master right away. Their reckless practice instead created an even bigger disturbance than normal.

The veins on Song Yi’s forehead throbbed wildly.

When she had been matching wits and courage with the teachers, she felt this year’s teachers were not very capable. When she was managing students, she felt the teachers’ tempers were still far too good.

She was also an old double-standard person.

However, among the many rotten logs that could not be carved, Song Yi could still rarely find a few unpolished gems, making one feel that this cultivation world still had hope.

Among them were Lin Ze and Li Wenwen, who had also come outside for the first time.

Song Yi had originally wanted to praise them a little, only to hear Lin Ze say, “This isn’t anything strange. Observing whether the teacher is standing nearby is also a technical skill. If you act too obvious, the teacher will definitely know we’re slacking off.”

Who said only something like Song Yi’s counted as a life-or-death crisis?

The living environment of children like them was also very difficult. For this, these little brats had summarized plenty of “survival” experience, and it just so happened to be integrated and applied now.

Finding that the expressions of the two teachers behind them did not look too good, Song Yi felt she had better not praise them. Adding fuel to the fire was not a good idea.

A group of cubs charged into the settlement and immediately drew quite a few gazes and divine thoughts.

Students coming outside for field study was actually quite normal. Newcomers were all noisy like this, and most people rarely fussed over it. The children had teachers behind them, and there were also many order-abiding cultivators in the settlement. There were relatively few people who would want to kill someone over a single look.

People outside the Human Realm were not completely without scruples.

Of course, even if they did not act, observing the situation of this group was also a basic operation.

After Song Yi discovered that her low-key strategy had failed, she also joined the other students in observing the settlement.

A child’s body was indeed convenient. If they acted a little reckless and green, everyone would merely laugh, then greet the teachers behind them. “Looks like this year’s kids are harder to handle.”

The settlement’s area was not even as large as one of their schools. The buildings were dense and simple, and there were no high-rises. Building a high-rise here would be like setting up a living target. No normal person would do such a thing.

There were inns, taverns, restaurants, and all kinds of shops here. Some popular goods from the city would also be brought here by merchants, only slower and with fewer varieties. Doing business depended on whether there was a market.

There were even more strange odds and ends here than inside the city. Some gains from exploration and treasure hunting were not quite the same as those mass-produced assembly-line goods. For some things, even the treasure hunters themselves did not know what they were, and it depended on whether anyone would “pick up a bargain.”

As for whether one was taking advantage or being treated like a sucker, that was truly hard to say. One was willing to hit, and the other was willing to be hit.

Some people even found a place to set up stalls directly in order to save costs.

The settlement was ownerless land. There was no one “in charge.” Everyone mainly took care of their own little patch.

For example, staying at an inn did not require checking any identity information. Paying money was enough. At the same time, it would only “in principle” guarantee your personal safety, while in reality providing no protection whatsoever.

Every shop was more or less the same. At most, they would remind you: if you want to cause trouble, please go outside. If you absolutely had to cause trouble inside the shop, you had to compensate for the losses.

Those who opened shops in places like this were basically fairly strong and not easy to provoke. There were some connections between shops, and they would help one another when necessary.

But if they ran into an unreasonable troublemaker who was also stronger, the shops could only accept the loss.

When certain things happened, the settlement’s order-abiding faction would lend a hand and help one another.

But if it was a personal grudge or dispute over profit that was too troublesome, no one would bother with it. They had their own survival model too.

This place had practically brewed the best soil for profiteers to survive.

Lin Ze was extremely envious. There was no such thing as clearly marked prices here, at least not in most shops, and needless to say, not at street stalls.

The markup on goods was obvious. Especially some necessary consumables; doubling the price was normal. If they saw you as a fat sheep, they would slaughter you without discussion.

The little students did not think there was anything wrong with this. Getting ripped off—this was the feeling one ought to experience outside the Human Realm! They had to buy some “local specialties” to bring back!

Some people’s storage pouches were not even lacking a certain item, yet after being fooled, they actually bought the same product at a much higher price.

The teachers would not interfere with these things. They had already run outside the Human Realm. If everything was still considered for them thoroughly with nanny-style education, then there was no need.

If they truly did not want the children to suffer losses, then they should not let them come out.

Out here, “suffering a loss” was the best way to grow. At most, the teachers would remind them of things to watch out for before departure, and review things with them after going back.

This was probably also an important reason why most people in the settlement did not dislike these little children’s curiosity. Money from fresh little leeks like this was the easiest to earn.

Once the children matured a little more, they would indeed stop making such a fuss, but they also would not pay so readily.

Lin Ze clenched his fist. “Damn it. Usually, I just charge a little errand fee and get scolded as a profiteer, but these people are living so comfortably!”

Should he have come out to make a living earlier?

Song Yi poured cold water on him without courtesy. “If you have strength, that’s called survival soil. If you don’t, that’s called a burial ground.”

Even if they had goods in their storage pouches, it was impossible for them to take them out and earn the price difference.

Even Lin Ze himself was very clear about that. He only dared to complain a little. Truly asking him to steal someone else’s business? His emotional intelligence was not that low.

Doing this kind of thing inside the city could easily attract hatred, much less outside.

The two teachers first brought everyone to check into an inn.

The moment Lin Ze saw the price for a “deluxe room,” he quietly complained to Song Yi and the others, “At this price, you could almost stay at Sky City’s best hotel, Sky Realm.”

Back then at Sky Realm, they had properly enjoyed Sky City’s beautiful scenery and special features.

The shopkeeper looked at them with a beaming smile. “You’re still too young. You still don’t know that the Chaotic Zone also has the Chaotic Zone’s special features. Our price here is also a conscientious price.”

Once he said that, Song Yi and the others found it hard to say anything. There were many places that looked ordinary on the outside but had hidden wonders within. Drawing conclusions too early was indeed not good.

However, not only did the inn look ordinary on the outside, the inside was even more shabby.

There was no array that directly transmitted people to rooms. Either they honestly took the stairs, or if they wanted to fly in directly through the window, that was also no problem. They just had to avoid flying into the wrong room.

It would be a little better once they entered the room, right… They had originally wanted to comfort themselves this way, but after going in, they were stunned again. The conditions inside were even worse than the school dormitories.

Even the most basic spirit-energy lamp was half-bright and half-dim, as if it might go on strike at any moment.

The bedding was fine. They had blankets in their storage pouches, so they could just cover it.

But there were stains on the floor. This was clearly the rhythm of someone too lazy to even use a cleaning spell.

Just then, Li Wenwen suddenly felt her foot itch a little. She looked down, and was so frightened that her whole body sprang up. A yellow sandworm had crawled onto her ankle and was trying to drill into her sock.

Her scream seemed ready to flip over the entire inn.

At this moment, the inn’s only advantage had to be mentioned: its soundproofing array was good enough.

Li Wenwen, who feared neither heaven nor earth, was most afraid of this kind of soft, limp creature.

A sandworm was a common ordinary insect in the desert with not the slightest spiritual power, but they seemed to have tenacious vitality. The desert’s barren conditions were instead the best soil for their survival. After death, their corpses became dry and hard, and once crushed, they were no different from sand, hence the name.

Having taken Natural Studies, Li Wenwen naturally knew this common knowledge. She also knew sandworms would not cause her any substantial harm. This was mainly psychological harm.

If she ran into sandworms while out, she would not be this emotional, but this inn should have been her psychological safe zone.

The reason it did not crawl onto Song Yi was simple. Even if the sword intent of this life was restrained, even if there was an existence like Round Cub who was not afraid of death and dared swallow her sword qi, her constitution that made people and dogs alike despise her had not changed much. These little creatures with relatively accurate survival radars did not dare get too close to her.

“Wuwuwu, I want to become a sword cultivator!” Li Wenwen was so frightened her voice was about to turn tearful.

She decided to throw herself into the embrace of the sword Dao with genuine sincerity!

Song Yi rubbed her chin, thinking of wicked ideas. If that was the case, could she breed and spread more bugs like sandworms to make more people realize the benefits of the sword Dao?

But after thinking about it, she gave up. If they were afraid even of bugs, it would not be a good thing for the coward content among sword cultivators to be too high. It would lower the quality of sword cultivators.

Even after Song Yi had already chopped the sandworm into powder, Li Wenwen still clung to her body and refused to come down.

They stormed off to find the shopkeeper aggressively. It just so happened that the shopkeeper was checking in another person whose whole body was hidden inside a hooded robe. That fellow flashed a golden badge, and the shopkeeper’s smile became a few degrees more genuine. The key he gave him was different from the ones he gave Song Yi and the others.

That person passed by the two children without looking sideways.

Song Yi took all this in. According to what the shopkeeper had said before, this place only had one room type.

After seeing off that guest, the shopkeeper finally looked at them. “May I ask what you need?”

They immediately explained their purpose for coming. The legendary “deluxe room” did not match the goods at all!

“Cleaning service? Of course we provide that! But that falls under value-added services.” The shopkeeper said with a smile, “You must know that spiritual power is consumed faster here and recovers more slowly. Spiritual power is every cultivator’s trump card. It’s very reasonable for us to charge extra, right?”

In short, there was only one sentence: pay more.

“Sandworms?” The smile on the shopkeeper’s face became even brighter. “Didn’t I tell you just now? We also have our special features. Getting to experience something other inns don’t offer for free—isn’t that very cost-effective?”

Thinking back to the conscientious price he had claimed earlier, merchants had no conscience. The Chaotic Zone did not talk about conscience, and merchants in the Chaotic Zone were even more so.

What special feature did this place have? It was clearly a black heart.

Li Wenwen nearly vomited a mouthful of old blood.

The shopkeeper’s smile disappeared, and he said seriously, “Little friends, you should know that life in the Chaotic Zone is not easy. You live comfortably, so it is very hard for you to understand the hardships outside. If a wave of demon wind comes, or if I encounter an unreasonable guest, my inn could be destroyed at any time…”

Although Li Wenwen was naughty, she had both sympathy and empathy. Hearing these words, she was already feeling a little embarrassed.

The shopkeeper said earnestly, “The path of cultivation is full of danger and obstruction. If you cannot overcome even this little difficulty, I fear it will be hard to accomplish anything great. I think your teachers also want you to experience this point.”

Song Yi was actually used to terrible conditions. In the past, when she went out, sleeping under the open sky was completely normal.

This set of rhetoric from the shopkeeper could very easily persuade Song Yi—

Provided Song Yi had not glanced at the room the shopkeeper himself lived in, where the lights were bright and every item was complete.

Provided Song Yi had not glanced at the room of the guest who had just entered the shop, where waves of spiritual flower fragrance were still drifting out.

She was no longer the same little child from before who had never seen the world. Old Yang and Li Wenwen both loved comfort. Which artifacts were the most comfortable and the newest models—could she not tell?

This was what you called “overcoming difficulty”? This was what you called “not easy”?

Of course, Song Yi kept a stern face and did not reveal her emotions.

This kind of hidden treatment was obviously not meant for ordinary people to enjoy. Protesting would be useless.

Song Yi was rather moved. The shopkeeper clearly could have offered no explanation at all and thrown them out, yet he was still so patient in reasoning with them, or rather, fooling them. This was probably also a kind of extension of civilization!

Pulling Wenwen, who was “self-reflecting,” back to the room, Song Yi told her the situation she had observed. There was nothing wrong with hardship itself, but taking their money and then still making them suffer hardship—wasn’t that unreasonable?

The simple Li Wenwen stomped her foot. “He fooled me? That’s too much! I’m going to settle accounts with him!”

“It’s useless to find the shopkeeper. We have to find Old Yuan.”

But Teacher Yuan spread his hands regretfully. “Teachers are only responsible for guiding and protecting you. The following time will be for you to explore freely. Besides, as you saw, the teachers’ accommodation conditions are not any better.”

Old Yuan thought for a moment, then said, “If you have no objections, tomorrow we will still go with Teacher Wang’s group to explore the underground caverns beneath the desert.”

The children had no objection to that.

There were not many valuable resources on the desert surface, but there were quite a lot of dangers.

But buried beneath the desert were complicated, interwoven underground caverns that still had important exploration value. There would be more unknown dangers, including possible attacks from ghosts. These were things most hated by humans, demon beasts, and other living beings.

Although humans and demon beasts had a food-chain relationship with each other, there was still the possibility of mutual benefit.

But ghosts were different.

They were no longer living creatures. They had human or beastlike appearances, but they could not cultivate. Their method of becoming stronger was devouring living creatures or their own kind.

It was said that this thing was a lingering consequence of the Void. It itself was only demonic qi born in the Void, corroding living beings and transforming humans or beasts into ghosts. Corroding nonliving things was just as bad. For example, if spiritual energy was contaminated for long enough, even the spirituality within it would be annihilated.

This was the modern cultivation explanation.

There had also been ghosts in the Old Era. It was just that perhaps the Void was rarely seen back then, and at the time, it did not have this name either, so ghosts were relatively rare.

According to the explanation of that time, inner demons were also a type of ghost. Otherwise, they would not be called demons. There were even people who said that cultivators occupied by inner demons would similarly become ghosts.

Of course, which explanation was more correct was not important.

An important lesson Song Yi had learned in the New Era was this: scientific cultivation meant looking at problems with a developmental perspective. Maybe many years later, research would discover that ghosts were some important resource, who knew?

What mattered was the present. There were two important methods for her to obtain contributions: one was discovering important resources through exploration, and the other was hunting ghosts.

Hunting demon beasts could earn money, but unless you were helping resist a beast tide, it did not count as a contribution.

Catching wanted criminals could also earn contributions, but that depended on luck. It was a mixed crowd out here, and people might be hiding their names. You might not really be able to catch anyone.

Song Yi’s sword was already unbearably thirsty!

After discovering that the teachers really planned to let them explore freely, Song Yi pretended to stroll around casually, but when the teacher was not paying attention, she tried to slip into the tavern.

Last time, she had tasted the benefits.

There was an age restriction on alcohol sales in the city, so Song Yi could not easily drink. But in a place like this, they did not even care about your identity, much less your age.

She knew what she was doing. She would not drink it outside; she would buy some and bring it back to hide. This also counted as a “local specialty” she brought back.

Then the child was lifted up by Old Yuan. “Where are you running off to?”

Song Yi blinked. “Teacher, didn’t you say you wouldn’t interfere with our actions?”

Teacher Yuan’s head hurt a little. Children getting scammed was an important lesson, letting them adapt to the outside environment. But if a child actively walked onto certain not-quite-right paths, should you manage it or not? Of course you had to!

He had brought them to see order and justice amid chaos, not to let her completely join the chaotic camp.

He looked at Song Yi sternly. “It is because you said you wanted to make contributions that I brought you out. If other people cross the line, I can’t manage them. But you, I can manage. Don’t think you can become lawless just because you’ve left the city.”

Don’t say that people outside led the child astray. They had only just arrived, so how had anyone led her astray?

Even the Chaotic Zone would say it refused to take the blame for this.

Song Yi nodded obediently, admitting her mistake very quickly. “Teacher, I know I was wrong. I was greedy just now.”

“But Teacher, hypothetically, I mean hypothetically, if someone causes trouble for us, we can ‘legitimately defend ourselves,’ right?”

Judging only from those words, there was no problem. But connected to the context, one always felt there was a problem.

Teacher Yuan looked at her suspiciously. “Are you preparing to stage an accident for compensation, or are you planning to entrap someone?”

Song Yi opened her pure big eyes and said, “Do I look like that kind of person? Teacher, you can’t look at me with prejudice.”

Old Yuan: …You don’t look like it. You are.

After leaving Old Yuan’s place, Lin Ze said, “If you’d given us a heads-up just now, we could’ve covered for you. Old Yuan might not have noticed you.”

Song Yi waved her hand casually. “It’s fine. I was just testing his bottom line.”

Now she knew the boundaries. She could not actively cause trouble, but doing a little “tooth for a tooth” kind of thing was within his tolerance range.

Li Wenwen wanted Song Yi’s sword qi to chop through the entire room, but Song Yi said, “No need for that much trouble. We can think of a way to stay in deluxe rooms now.”

Mm. She was only fighting for the rights and interests that should have been hers. How could that be called causing trouble?

Song Yi gathered all the Cloud Elementary students and explained things to them like this and that.

With what had happened earlier, everyone had no disbelief toward Song Yi. They immediately did as Song Yi said.

They scattered across the streets of the settlement. When the various bosses tried to sell them things, they put on expressions that were moved but troubled. “I don’t have money anymore… All of my assets went to the innkeeper.”

Everyone was a little suspicious. That guy? He was not the sort who broke the rules.

Under further questioning, the students took out blue, watery-looking bottles like reckless greenhorns. “The boss said this is the ultimate move for dealing with ghosts. With it, we don’t need to prepare anything else.”

Everyone’s breathing hitched.

This was Heavenly Tribulation energy. Its power was tyrannical. If used well, it did indeed restrain ghosts to a certain extent. But normally speaking, normal people would not use it to deal with ghosts. The cost-effectiveness was too low.

Heavenly Tribulation energy was not rare. What was rare was that the innkeeper could take out so much in one go! He was even selling it externally! That fellow had a special channel!

Having such good stuff and not thinking of his own people was far too improper!

Everyone chatted nonsense with the students for a couple of sentences, then went to find the innkeeper. We need that thing too.

“What thing?” The innkeeper looked utterly confused.

Everyone glanced at him. Although profiteers should not laugh at profiteers, they had agreed before that important resources should first circulate internally. This was also for the long-term existence of the settlement. If he kept playing dumb, that would be rather impolite.

“The Heavenly Tribulation energy you sold to the elementary students.”

The shopkeeper wanted to swear to the heavens that he truly did not have that thing.

But looking at their expressions, he knew they did not believe excuses.

Before entering the inn, these elementary students had never taken out that thing. After coming out, almost every person had one bottle. And it was not exactly a common commodity. Surely they could not have prepared ahead of time to trick him, right?

That possibility existed, but it was too small.

The greater possibility was that the shopkeeper had goods, but did not treat everyone as brothers.

The more careful ones had already practically locked onto the shopkeeper’s “supplier.” The shopkeeper had not taken this out before, meaning he had not had it then. It was only recently that he got it.

Everyone paid attention to people coming and going in the settlement. The most likely person was the one dressed entirely in a hooded robe who had entered the inn just before and after the elementary students. No one had seen through that guy.

Thus, someone impatient decided to knock on the door. Outsiders did not know the situation with this inn, but could they not know?

A certain room only received special people, and was usually empty.

The door opened, further confirming everyone’s guesses.

“Hello, I am so-and-so, a reliable merchant. You may as well consider cooperating with our side. We can bring you more benefits than he can.”

Opportunities had to be fought for proactively.

The mysterious hooded-robed person: ?

He looked toward the shopkeeper. “What is going on?”

The shopkeeper felt he had been set up.

Covered in cold sweat, he answered respectfully, “I’m sorry, fellow Daoist. My friends have misunderstood.”

He grabbed everyone. “You truly have the wrong person. He is indeed an honored guest, but he is only an honored guest who holds a golden badge.”

The shopkeeper knew that regarding Heavenly Tribulation energy, he had to have it if he had it, and even if he did not have it, he still had to have it.

“I’m still negotiating that thing. Don’t worry. Later, I’ll get some for you.”

Only after he made solemn guarantees did he send away these half-believing people. Then he changed the Cloud Elementary students to true “deluxe rooms.” They were not the most special room, but the conditions were much better than before, belonging to the “special supply for insiders.”

Others did not understand, but could the shopkeeper not know? The ones who truly had the goods were this batch of people!

Song Yi hemmed and hawed in refusal. “That’s not very good, is it? We still have to accept tempering and eat more hardship before we can go further on the path of cultivation. Boss, how can you delay our cultivation?”

The shopkeeper laughed awkwardly. “Cough, cough… I was offensive earlier. This young fellow Daoist, we can talk things over.”

His eye was sharp, and he knew Song Yi was the leader among these children. Very tactfully, he changed his form of address for Song Yi, from little friend to young fellow Daoist.

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