101: Chapter 101 The Rules of the City of Reception

Sect Master Shen Cang looked at his nearly crippled arm, then at the ice shards on the ground nearby that exuded a terrifying aura. After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, "After daybreak, how will you travel?"

Lin Chen's gaze passed over Sect Master Shen Cang's shoulder, looking toward the pitch-black darkness outside the secret chamber shrouded by the night.

His lips were pale from blood loss, but his voice was unusually steady: "I'll walk on two legs. How else would I go?"

This almost rogue-like answer left Sect Master Shen Cang not knowing how to refute it for a moment.

He wanted to say that his right arm was already crippled, his Meridians were eroded by the power of space, and the medicinal power of the Red Sun Blood-Explosion Pill was a harsh and violent medicine; to say nothing of traveling, it would be a miracle if he could even stand.

But when the words reached his lips, seeing Lin Chen's eyes, which were frighteningly bright in the dim light, he swallowed them back.

Those were not the eyes of despair, but rather a lone wolf forced into a desperate situation, calculating how to use its remaining fangs to tear open a bloody gap in the encirclement.

Lin Chen did not say anything more, but slowly pulled over the clean white cloth strips that had been prepared nearby. Using his left hand in coordination with his teeth, he carefully wrapped that bloody, mangled right arm circle by circle.

He wrapped it very tightly, the cloth strips digging deep into his flesh, as if to Seal away that bone-gnawing agony along with it.

After finishing all this, he looked at Sect Master Shen Cang and solemnly extended that nearly crippled right hand.

Sect Master Shen Cang was stunned, then immediately understood something, and also extended his hand to grip his tightly.

"Brother Shen, great kindness needs no thanks. The Lin Family's journey this time—life and death are uncertain. If we cannot return, I hope you will look after Qingxuan City." Lin Chen's voice was very soft, yet heavy as a thousand jun.

"Rest assured," Sect Master Shen Cang nodded heavily, spitting out two words, "I will wait for your return."

Three days later, at the border of the Central Continent, Jieyin City.

This massive city, standing at the junction of the wilderness and civilization, had walls not built from giant stones, but from a type of obsidian that shimmered with a metallic luster, inscribed with dense arrays of runes.

The city gate was tall, with a ceaseless stream of Cultivators coming and going. Everyone entering the city had to undergo an identity check by the city guards.

Lin Chen and his group mixed in at the end of a caravan from the Western Regions, lining up in a long queue, slowly inching toward the city gate.

He had changed into an ordinary cyan cotton robe, and his right hand was wrapped in specially made ice-silkworm silk bandages, wound from his palm all the way to his elbow, hidden within his wide sleeves.

Even so, a faint, lingering chill still seeped out in wisps from his sleeve, causing the surrounding temperature to drop by a few degrees.

Qin Ruowei stood close to his side, her posture seemingly casual, yet she was perfectly positioned to support him at the first moment should he be unable to hold on.

"Stop! Identity Jade Slip!" A city guard wearing black armor blocked Lin Chen's group, his tone stiff.

The Jade Slip in the guard's hand was pale cyan, with a gentle Spiritual Qi flowing over it.

Following the rules, he brought the Jade Slip close to Lin Chen's chest.

However, when the Jade Slip was still three inches away from Lin Chen, an unexpected change occurred.

"Crack..." An extremely faint, crisp sound.

On the surface of that smooth Jade Slip, a layer of fine white frost rapidly condensed at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The guard only felt a chill pierce his heart along his wrist, startling him so much that he nearly dropped the Jade Slip.

"What is going on?" The guard's expression changed, and he shouted sternly.

The Cultivators queuing nearby cast curious glances, and the progress of the line stalled.

"Fellow Daoist, my husband fought with someone some time ago and was struck by a cold poison. His injuries have not yet healed, and cold Qi is leaking from his body. We did not mean to offend." Qin Ruowei stepped forward, explaining neither humbly nor arrogantly, while simultaneously slipping over a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone without changing her expression.

The guard weighed the Spirit Stone, his expression softening slightly, but looking at the frosted Jade Slip, he still frowned deeply.

This situation, which exceeded the norm, was not something a small guard like him could handle.

"An outsider with cold poison in their body?" A slightly hoarse and lazy voice came from inside the city gate.

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw a tall, thin middle-aged man wearing the official robes of a Deacon of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, walking out slowly.

He was about forty years old, with a hooked nose and deep-set eye sockets. His eyes were half-open and half-closed, and when his gaze swept over Lin Chen, it lingered for a moment on his bandaged right arm.

"Deacon Zhao." The city guard saw the person approaching and immediately bowed respectfully.

Deacon Zhao gave a hum, which served as a response.

He walked up to Lin Chen, squinting his eyes; in those seemingly dull eyes, a sharp light of scrutiny shone through.

"The rules of Jieyin City: outsiders must have a guarantor from the Central Continent, or own property in the city. Which one are you?" His voice carried not a hint of warmth.

Qin Ruowei's heart stirred, and she knew they had encountered someone deliberately making things difficult.

They were new arrivals; where would they get a guarantor or property?

She was about to speak to negotiate, but she saw Deacon Zhao's gaze sweep seemingly unintentionally over the Storage Pouch at her waist, the corners of his mouth curling into a faint, almost imperceptible arc.

A flash of coldness crossed Qin Ruowei's eyes.

Her fingers, hanging by her side, gave a faint, almost imperceptible pinch.

A recording stone, hidden in her sleeve and only the size of a grain of rice, instantly turned into silent powder.

The powder was finer than dust, and borrowing the wind at the city gate, it drifted silently toward Deacon Zhao, eventually sticking a few grains onto the gap at the mouth of the Storage Pouch at his waist, which was noticeably more bulging than an average person's.

After doing all this, Qin Ruowei raised her head, a look of perfectly calibrated difficulty appearing on her face: "Deacon Zhao, we are new to the Central Continent and have no Foundation..."

"Then act according to the rules." Deacon Zhao could not be bothered to listen further and waved his hand impatiently, "Go wait at Geng No. 9 Courtyard first. When you find a guarantor, come back to register your identity Jade Slip."

After saying this, he turned around and walked back into the city, swaying leisurely.

One hour later, in the West District of Jieyin City, Geng No. 9 Courtyard.

Rather than a courtyard, it was more like an abandoned garbage dump.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, Spiritual Qi was so thin it was almost non-existent, the corners were piled high with dilapidated debris, and the air was permeated with a rotten smell.

"Clan Chief, this Deacon Zhao is clearly making things difficult on purpose! This place, even Mortals couldn't live here!" An accompanying member of the Lin Family said indignantly.

Lin Chen did not speak, simply finding a relatively clean stone step to sit on, closing his eyes to regulate his breath.

The medicinal power of the Red Sun Blood-Explosion Pill was slowly fading. Although the spatial turbulence within his Purple Mansion had been temporarily suppressed, that feeling of freezing on the level of Law still seeped in wisps from deep within his right arm, tormenting his nerves.

After settling everyone down, Qin Ruowei walked to his side, dipped her fingertips into the leftover water in a teacup, and quickly drew on the dust-covered stone table.

A simple layout map of the city, several surnames, and a few lines representing interest relationships and conflicts quickly appeared on the table.

This was the information she had gathered within the short hour since entering the city through observation and subtle inquiries.

"Deacon Zhao, a Deacon of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs in Jieyin City, is backed by the Zhao Family. The Zhao Family is currently competing with another Family in the city, the Cui Clan, for the mining rights to a third-grade Low Grade Spirit Mine outside the city, and they are in urgent need of a large amount of Spirit Stone to grease the wheels."

"The Deputy Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs in Jieyin City is named Deputy Director Mo Huairen. This person keeps to himself, but there are rumors that for three years, every night at the hour of Zi (midnight), there is an irrepressible sound of coughing blood from his room. When I inquired at a pharmacy earlier, several old pharmacists speculated that this is a symptom of forcing a Breakthrough in his Realm in his early years, taking some kind of violent Medicinal Pill, which caused the pill poison to enter his marrow."

Qin Ruowei's fingers slid gently over the stone table, and finally, she wrote three characters next to the map—seven-heart begonia.

Lin Chen slowly opened his eyes, his gaze landing on the words "seven-heart begonia."

His fingertips subconsciously rubbed the coarse stone ring on his thumb.

"The seven-heart begonia is an extremely cold object with a violent nature. If there is no method to restrain it, using it for Alchemy, while able to temporarily raise one's cultivation, will cause cold poison to enter the bones, rendering it incurable by medicine." He spoke hoarsely, the records from the "General Essentials of Pill Classics" flashing through his mind.

His index finger tapped gently on the words written in water stains, "seven-heart begonia," and a plan had already formed in his heart.

The next day, in the afternoon, at the largest medicinal herb shop in the city, "Baicao Hall."

Su Qingyao, in a plain dress, stood quietly in front of rows of medicine cabinets, carefully selecting medicinal herbs.

Her expression was focused, as if everything in the outside world had nothing to do with her.

Before long, a middle-aged Cultivator with a slightly sallow complexion and a somewhat unsteady gait also walked into Baicao Hall.

It was the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Director Mo Huairen.

He walked straight to the counter, his voice somewhat dry: "Shopkeeper, do you still have any seven-heart begonia?"

The shopkeeper looked up at him and sighed: "Director Mo, you've come looking for this herb again. Unfortunately, the last stalk was bought by a passing Loose Cultivator the day before yesterday. There are some old stocks in the warehouse, but the medicinal properties have been severely lost, so I'm afraid they are of no use."

Just then, a cold, clear voice came from the side.

"Shopkeeper, the age of this 'Fire Yang Flower' of yours does not seem right."

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw Su Qingyao holding a seemingly ordinary medicinal herb, speaking to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward, smiling apologetically: "Fairy, you are joking; the herbs in my small shop are all..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Su Qingyao suddenly changed the subject, her gaze landing on a potted plant on the cabinet behind him, which was used for decoration and appeared to have already withered.

In that pot was exactly a drooping, listless seven-heart begonia.

"If the shopkeeper wants to prove it, why not bring that begonia over for a look?" Su Qingyao's gaze seemed to sweep unintentionally over the nearby Deputy Director Mo Huairen.

The shopkeeper looked troubled: "Fairy, this one is a defective product with poor quality, its medicinal properties have long since dissipated..."

Before he could finish, Su Qingyao had already walked straight forward, and under the gaze of Deputy Director Mo Huairen's suddenly constricting pupils, she reached out and broke off a piece of the seven-heart begonia's stem.

She held the broken end up in front of Deputy Director Mo Huairen, her voice as clear and cold as an ice spring: "A truly good begonia, even if it looks withered, as long as the vitality of the roots has not been cut off, the cross-section will have seven-star patterns. This one of the shopkeeper's has clear patterns and the medicinal properties are contained; it has simply been Sealed by some method. This does not look like a 'defective product'."

In the dim pharmacy, on the cross-section of that small flower stem, seven tiny, shimmering dots, the size of needle tips and arranged like stars, were clearly reflected in Deputy Director Mo Huairen's eyes, and like seven needles, they pierced fiercely into his heart.

In the evening, Deacon Zhao brought two guards and arrived at Geng No. 9 Courtyard again.

He wore a hypocritical smile on his face, but in his hands, he held a stack of animal skin scrolls one foot thick.

"Fellow Daoist Lin," he threw the thick stack of animal skin scrolls onto the stone table with a "bang," kicking up a cloud of dust, "This is the Law of our Central Continent. Since you currently have no guarantor, you should first study the Law thoroughly. Three days later, this Deacon will come personally to examine you; if there are any errors or omissions, you will bear the consequences."

A young Lin Family member could not hold back, stepped forward, and turned to the first page; his expression changed instantly.

The ink on the animal skin scrolls was actually not yet completely dry, exuding a fresh ink fragrance.

This was no Law of the Central Continent; it was clearly a fake decree they had copied overnight!

Deacon Zhao looked at the livid faces of the group, sneered in his heart, and turned to leave leisurely.

Late at night, everything was silent.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the straw mat in the room, with the thick "Law" book spread out before him.

He did not look through it, simply staring at it quietly. The cold Qi in his right arm seemed to have intensified, making his face grow even paler.

Suddenly, the stone ring on his thumb became slightly warm.

An almost imperceptible suction force came from the ring's surface, and the animal skin scroll, a foot thick, was silently sucked into the stone ring and disappeared.

Lin Chen was stunned.

A moment later, the stone ring vibrated again, and a smooth, blank Jade Slip was "spat" out, landing in his palm.

Lin Chen immersed his Divine Sense into it.

Hum—countless pieces of information flooded into his mind.

That thick, complicated fake decree had already been filtered and purified by the Ring Spirit.

The truly useful core clauses for entering the Central Continent amounted to only seventeen.

The rest were all repetitive verbiage and useless nonsense that Deacon Zhao had intentionally added to make things difficult for them.

The corners of Lin Chen's mouth finally curled into a cold arc.

The sky was slightly bright, and the morning light was just beginning to show.

A burst of urgent knocking on the door sounded.

Opening the door, standing outside was actually a clerk from Baicao Hall.

He respectfully handed over a beautifully crafted gold-stamped invitation and said in a low voice: "Young Master Lin, this was sent by Director Mo; he requests that you must visit his residence for a chat."

Lin Chen took the invitation, which felt slightly heavy in his hand.

He opened the invitation, and a faint medicinal fragrance wafted into his nose.

Besides the words of invitation, hidden in the interlayer of the invitation was a small package of gray-white medicinal dregs wrapped in oil paper.

Lin Chen brought the medicinal dregs to his nose and sniffed lightly, a flash of brilliance appearing in his eyes.

Void-Condensing Powder!

This was exactly one of the key ingredients recorded in the Pill Formula that could temporarily stabilize spatial trauma and alleviate the erosion of Law!

The fish has taken the bait.