Chapter 29: Settlement
"Wang Zijia, come cover for me for a bit!" Suddenly, he was called by a young disciple.
"Brother Qian, if I cover for you at the front desk, we still need to report it." Wang Zijia replied.
"Don't worry, reporting won't be necessary soon!"
As soon as they finished speaking, they saw several disciples looking for replacements. The shopkeeper, Uncle Wang, came out, but he seemed indifferent to the scene.
It was the same for the shopkeepers in several areas on the first floor, all watching as people took over their shifts. Soon, everyone was assigned their tasks and hurriedly left the shop, heading towards the city center.
Looking at the remaining people in the store, Wang Zijia realized they were either peripheral figures or the elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. He couldn't help but feel a bit disillusioned.
It seemed that anyone with some background had all gone to the city center to curry favor with the big shots!
What a lack of backbone!
However, he couldn't blame them for being so enthusiastic. Even the miscellaneous disciples in the sect wouldn't have many chances to interact with such high-level big shots!
...
As the crowd hurried away, they returned in less than half an hour, looking somewhat unsuccessful in their attempts to curry favor.
Yet, their faces were filled with excitement and anticipation, clearly longing for something.
Until the end of the shift, the first floor was bustling with various rumors flying around.
Wang Zijia admired this aspect the most. In the entire first floor, if one person knew something, it wouldn't take half a day for everyone to know.
The reason probably stemmed from the store having too many middle-aged and elderly people. Especially the aunties who usually had to maintain a cultivator's demeanor while in public. They couldn't fit in with the generally younger crowd.
At work, however, they fully revealed their true selves, becoming the source of information, gossiping about everything.
It felt like the intelligence work was almost on par with the Wenyu Pavilion!
...
After finishing the shift, Wang Zijia didn't immediately go home.
He slipped out of the back door, took a stroll around, and then slipped into an alley. With a surge of Qi and a change in appearance, his aura quickly grew stronger, eventually transforming into a middle-aged man with the cultivation level of the mid Childe stage.
After completing the disguise, Wang Zijia lowered his head and examined himself for a moment, nodding in satisfaction.
Then, he walked out of the alley and entered through the front gate of Wan Yu Pavilion.
Inside the shop, various disciples, whether unfamiliar or familiar, warmly greeted him, but none recognized him. They cheerfully greeted him.
"Is the Daoist interested in buying elixirs?" The clerk at the night shift's elixir area, seeing Wang Zijia stopping in their area, immediately approached him warmly.
Wang Zijia nodded and said, "I need to buy some low-grade elixirs suitable for the mid-stage childe realm."
"What type of elixirs does the Daoist need?" the clerk asked.
"I need some non-injurious poison pills, mild temporary explosive pills, and some cultivation enhancing elixirs," Wang Zijia replied.
The clerk's eyes lit up slightly at hearing this, and after a moment of contemplation, he began to introduce various elixirs to Wang Zijia.
...
"First, a Blast Spirit Pill, an Eight Qi Pill, and these three poison pills. Also, a Wisdom Heart Pill." After a while, Wang Zijia selected the items.
"The Blast Spirit Pill is seven spirit coins, the Eight Qi Pill is eight spirit coins, the three types of poison pills are twenty-nine spirit coins, and the Wisdom Heart Pill is an advanced elixir of the enlightenment type, belonging to the high-grade elixirs, costing twenty-one spirit coins each. In total, it's sixty-five spirit coins." The clerk, who had just finished his shift, said with a smile on his face.
For customers browsing on the first floor, even for Wan Yu Pavilion, such generosity was rare, and today seemed to be a great start.
Hearing this, Wang Zijia felt a twinge in his heart. The standard elixirs used by childe realm were indeed expensive. His funds instantly shrank by half.
But these trials were inevitable. He couldn't rely solely on martial pills for survival.
After paying, he put away the elixirs and left.
...
After leaving the store, he reverted to his original appearance. Instead of going straight home, Wang Zijia turned and headed towards the western outskirts of the city.
The city remained calm, seemingly unaffected by the arrival of the Wan Yu Sect's high-level cultivators.
The only impact was probably the city's closure.
Wang Zijia had learned about this before his shift ended. Within half a moment of the arrival of the sect's high-level cultivators, the city suddenly closed, temporarily prohibiting entry and exit.
In fact, the city had been closed for several days, but it was only officially announced today.
But this had nothing to do with Wang Zijia. After all, the big shots from the inner sect's Law Enforcement Hall couldn't possibly be here to arrest him.
He arrived at the foot of the western wall of the city and found a large courtyard.
Many people lived in this courtyard, of various ages, from young children to the elderly with graying hair.
This place was why there were no beggars in Wan Yu City.
As a city with a population of tens of millions, even in a cultivation city like this, there were bound to be some who couldn't make ends meet. Various accidents, natural disasters, and man-made calamities would inevitably produce some such people.
For example, in recent days, various battles had caused a lot of casualties, giving birth to many homeless people who could potentially become beggars.
The reason there were no beggars in the city was that once someone was homeless, the city guards would drive them here for temporary resettlement.
Every year or so, someone would take them away and resettle them in the mortal world. As for their fate afterwards, it depended on their luck.
"Esteemed immortal, are you here to hire two servants or to find someone?"
Wang Zijia arrived dressed in the attire of a miscellaneous servant from the sect. The person in charge of the resettlement immediately approached him with a fawning expression.
As a resettlement center, those who usually came here were either looking for someone or hiring servants.
Wang Zijia glanced at the person and said, "Take me around."
"Of course, please follow me! These people in the courtyard outside are all old folks who are just waiting to die. The youngsters are in the backyard." The person in charge, with his wealth of experience, explained immediately upon seeing Wang Zijia's demeanor.
Wang Zijia nodded, and then he was led into the backyard.
Due to the recent battle, there were quite a few people here. It was a large courtyard composed of several peasant houses, bustling with people.
Wang Zijia was led to a backyard where it was currently evening, and a large group of children of various ages were playing around. Some were playing, some were fighting, and some were just watching.
"These children gather from all over, and their energy is quite high, so it's inevitable that some of them are not in discipline. There have been orders from above not to beat or scold them indiscriminately, in case they accidentally offend the descendants of the fallen immortals. That's why things are a bit chaotic here, esteemed immortal, please bear with us." The person in charge explained, fearing that Wang Zijia might be displeased. He even signaled to two subordinates to intervene and separate the children who were fighting.
Wang Zijia didn't say anything but instead looked around and asked, "Most of them seem to be newcomers?"
"Yes, esteemed immortal. Because we sent people to the Mortal Town for resettlement five months ago, so there weren't many children here originally. But in the past few days, a large batch has arrived. Rest assured, they are all innocent. They have no problem serving tea and pouring water." The steward replied in this manner.
(End of this chapter)