Chapter 2

Chen Taizhong saw the three people get their identity jade plaques, so he stepped forward, "Can I get my jade plaque too?"

The white-robed man glared at him with hatred. He wanted to make things difficult, but since the Nangong family had already received their jade plaques, he, as a receptionist, really had no right to arbitrarily make things hard for those who had just ascended from the lower realms—there was a recording stone nearby.

More importantly, Nangong Buwei was watching from the side. If he were to cause trouble for no reason, he would have to worry about his despicable behavior being spread around.

So he put on a stern face, went forward, and performed a series of actions, then tossed a jade plaque to Chen Taizhong, "Starting today, you need to pay five spirit stones in tax every month. If you fail to pay on time by the end of the month, you will be penalized with three months of celestial service. Got it?"

"Are you deliberately making things difficult for me?" Chen Taizhong glared at him.

"Where did you come from, you bumpkin? This is the rule in the Fenghuang Immortal Realm," Nangong Shijian said coldly from the side, "Are you this ignorant? Does your master know?"

"Whether I'm ignorant or not, it's none of your business!" Chen Taizhong glared at him, "A butt-seller, trying to act like a master?"

"You!" Nangong Shijian was so angry he wanted to attack. As a book boy of the Nangong family, he was naturally handsome and graceful, and the words "butt-seller" were an unbearable insult to him.

"What is this person doing here?" Nangong Buwei finally spoke, looking at the white-robed man.

In fact, he had noticed this person earlier, but the Nangong family always looked down on others, and he wouldn't even bother to ask unless absolutely necessary. Now, his book boy had been insulted, so he naturally had to ask.

"He just ascended from a lawless plane," the white-robed man replied with a smile, "If you're interested, Young Master Nangong, you can take him as a servant."

"Ascend to such a pitiful state, and you want me to take him?" Nangong Buwei sneered disdainfully.

For those from the lower realms, the tribulation during ascension was indeed terrifying, with a high chance of being reduced to ashes. However, once they successfully passed the tribulation, the Heavenly Dao would bestow an endless amount of spiritual energy, allowing the ascenders to cleanse their physical bodies and divine souls, truly transforming them before they were qualified to ascend.

Therefore, whenever ascenders appeared at the reception pool, they were always in a state of perfect vitality. It was truly inconceivable for someone to appear in such tattered clothes.

Bro, I encountered a huge spider in the ascension channel! Chen Taizhong shrugged helplessly.

The spider was over five hundred meters long and wanted to eat him. To kill the spider, he almost used up all the celestial spirit energy in his body, barely managing to kill it—now the spider's corpse was still in his Sumeru ring.

This was the reason for his tattered clothes, but based on his understanding of the ascension process, the appearance of the spider was too sudden and inexplicable.

Originally, he could have asked the receptionist for advice—his inherited knowledge was limited, and there were many things he didn't know. However, these two receptionists were so pretentious and worldly, he didn't want to ask them.

So he glanced coldly at Nangong Buwei, "If you want to take me, I won't agree."

Nangong Buwei glanced at him, not even bothering to reply, his arrogance clearly visible on his face—arguing with such a person was not worth it.

Soon, two white beams of light came from the distance, moving at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, the white beams landed, revealing a scholar and a beautiful woman.

The scholar had flown on a sword, while the woman was sitting in a flower basket. Now, the sword was at his waist, and the flower basket was by her elbow.

"The Sword and Basket Duo have taken this escort mission," the woman said with a smile, "Which one of you is Young Master Nangong?"

"If you let me sit in the flower basket with you, I'll let you take the mission," Nangong Buwei said with a smile, fanning himself.

"My flower basket can carry Young Master Nangong, but it can't carry two more people," the woman said, covering her mouth and laughing, her chest heaving, truly alluring.

"My sword doesn't carry people, it only kills," the scholar said coldly.

"Then let's walk," Nangong Buwei knew that in the Fenghuang Immortal Realm, only seventh-level or higher wandering immortals could fly on swords, and to control a flying magical tool, one had to be at least a fifth-level wandering immortal.

"Are these two reliable?" Nangong Shijian looked suspiciously at the receptionist.

"You can witness their credentials at the recording stone," the black-robed woman replied with a smile.

Walking was good, Chen Taizhong thought to himself. He hadn't left because he didn't know how to get to Qingshi City. As for asking for directions? He wouldn't do that.

So, the five people in front walked, and a tattered man followed behind. Nangong Shijian was a bit annoyed and said after a while, "Master, should we get rid of that guy behind us?"

"No need," Nangong Buwei shook his head, truly not seeing the small fry, "It's more important to contact the ancestors as soon as possible."

The group walked and talked, and after about a day, they arrived at Qingshi City.

There was a service center for immortal beasts and birds here, where one could rent immortal beasts and birds for travel, as well as a teleportation array. However, while the teleportation array was fast, it was expensive, uncomfortable, and highly dangerous—spatial transformation techniques were easily affected by external forces.

The Nangong family rented immortal beasts and left, but Chen Taizhong stayed behind.

In fact, he almost couldn't enter the city gate. The guard asked for a spirit stone as an entry fee. After thinking for a moment, he pointed to the people in front, "I didn't see them pay."

"They have Qingshi City's reception plaque, so they are residents of Qingshi," the guard's attitude was decent, but his face was fierce.

"I also have Qingshi's reception plaque," Chen Taizhong took out his identity jade plaque and waved it.

"Let me check," the guard took the reception plaque and scanned it with a compass in his hand, then quickly returned it, with a strange smile on his face, "Young man, remember, five spirit stones a month."

"If you keep talking to me like that, you'll regret it," Chen Taizhong smiled, but a sense of hostility arose in his heart—the immortal realm he had expected should be peaceful, not so worldly.

After swiping the card, he entered Qingshi City. The city was not large, about four square kilometers, two kilometers in each direction.

In his hand, he had only the identity jade plaque, and his knowledge of the immortal realm was extremely limited.

Chen Taizhong's first priority was survival. After walking around the city for a while, he found several places where he could earn money, such as the task courtyard.

This courtyard was not far from the city gate he entered, about a thousand meters away. The courtyard was quite large, about seventy to eighty mu (about 46 to 53 acres), and had seven or eight large rooms, divided into adventure, bodyguard, daily life, purchase, transportation, and information categories.

Chen Taizhong, of course, chose the adventure category. He had never liked serving others, and he wasn't even interested in bodyguard tasks.

Unexpectedly, as he stood outside the room, looking at the task list on the wall, a strong force pushed him, making him stagger a few steps.

Turning around, he saw two men and a woman standing behind him, and the one who pushed him was a short and stocky man.

Seeing him turn around, the man sneered, "A first-level wandering immortal looking at adventure tasks? You're asking for death. Get out of the way, don't block me from taking the task."

Chen Taizhong glanced at him coldly and turned to leave, but in his mind, he was thinking: I wonder if there's a rule of 'killing someone means paying with your life' in the immortal realm.

However, no matter what, he knew that his current level was the lowest in the immortal realm, and acting rashly would be unwise.

With this understanding, he didn't even look at the bodyguard tasks, to avoid embarrassing himself. Instead, he went to the purchase category, hoping to find someone buying spider-like demonic beasts.

Standing there, no one found him annoying. However, after looking through the tasks from the most difficult to the easiest, he didn't find anyone buying spiders, not even spider silk. Instead, he found someone offering a reward for ten-thousand-year ice silkworm silk.

Do I really have to work for a living? Chen Taizhong's frustration was indescribable. After all, he was the only cultivator on Earth, and although he didn't often show himself, when others saw him, they treated him with great respect.

But in the immortal realm, he was the lowest of the low, bullied by everyone, and this sense of imbalance was hard to bear.

As he was staring at the task board, a staff member walked by, "Hey, what are you staring at? The task to find the Sunfruit... isn't it made for first-level wandering immortals like you?"

Hearing this, Chen Taizhong's eyes immediately focused on that task.

Many tasks here had detailed descriptions, and he later learned that posting tasks here required a fee, charged by the day, which was why the posters were willing to provide as much detail as possible.

Sunfruit, a high-grade first-level spirit medicine, is a companion plant of the ninth-level wild beast, the Flame Turtle. The Flame Turtle can only sleep soundly where there are Sunfruits, and the growth of Sunfruits depends on the feces of the Flame Turtle.

Chen Taizhong had seen this information earlier, but his knowledge of the immortal realm was too limited. After looking again, he frowned, "A ninth-level wild beast... this."

"A ninth-level wandering immortal can't defeat a Flame Turtle," the staff member replied matter-of-factly, "But wandering immortals and wild beasts aren't always matched level by level... you don't even know the living habits of the Flame Turtle, do you?"

"I really don't," Chen Taizhong shook his head.

"The Flame Turtle is a very lazy wild beast, it only eats and sleeps. It only wakes up when it senses a threat," the staff member rolled his eyes, "You, a first-level wandering immortal, can't even scratch its skin. Why would it care if you pass by?"

"But I need to pick the Sunfruit," Chen Taizhong frowned, "Would it not wake up at all?"

"Don't pick too much, leave some for it. Usually, there are more than one Sunfruit plants around a Flame Turtle," the staff member replied irritably, "If you pick them all, the Flame Turtle won't be able to sleep."

"Ten Sunfruits for three spirit stones," Chen Taizhong thought for a moment and nodded. This deal was doable. If he could gather a few dozen Sunfruits, he could meet his monthly quota, and the rest could be sold for spirit stones to freely cultivate.

But the next moment, he thought of another question, "Why is a high-grade first-level spirit medicine so cheap?"

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