In the past, this was the kind of high-level gear she could only dream of.
“You’re not trying to bribe me, are you? I’m warning you, I won’t sell myself.”
“These aren’t that precious. If you asked the senior sisters to custom-make them, they might not even charge you,” Linglong shook her head, indicating Hua Jian’s vision was too narrow.
These clothes were as common as streetwear in Yaochi.
Just everyday clothes, nothing special.
“Hurry and put them on. Once you’re ready, we’ll depart.”
“All right, all right. You go out first; I’ll come out after changing.”
After a short while, Hua Jian put on the new clothes Linglong had provided. To be honest, the dress was indeed more comfortable than her previous one.
Perhaps because there was less fabric wrapping her body, Hua Jian felt lighter.
“The socks are cool and refreshing; they must be made of good material…” Putting on the white short socks, Hua Jian closed her eyes slightly in comfort.
In this world, the material of clothes truly affected wearing comfort.
Fire-element materials produced warmer clothes; ice-element materials produced cooler ones. Each had their own characteristics.
These socks were probably made of ice-element material.
The dress’s hem fell just below the knees, revealing a slender, fair calf. Under the hem, on the thigh, were some small, clever tools.
Whether it was tradition or Linglong’s own design, the dress had two small rings on the thighs to hold various items.
Now Hua Jian could be a “wolf” who could pull big treasures out from under her skirt.
To avoid accidental exposure in extreme conditions, the dress came with cute-looking shorts underneath, which made Hua Jian very pleased.
Now that was humane design—kudos to the good sisters of Yaochi.
After changing, Hua Jian spun in front of the mirror, overwhelmed by her own cuteness.
Sigh, how could there be such an adorable girl under the heavens? If I had such a cute girlfriend in my past life, I could die in peace.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t. In this life, she might become someone’s adorable little girlfriend.
“I’m ready!” Hua Jian pushed open the door and waved at Linglong waiting outside.
The Saintess came over at the sound and, upon seeing Hua Jian, her eyes flickered with surprise.
Although she had imagined this scene before, seeing it in person was still shocking.
Truly a girl as cute and beautiful as a flower…
“Very cute,” she nodded, offering three simple words of praise.
“Of course! You don’t even think about who I am; no one in the world should be prettier than me!” Hua Jian laughed loudly, then scrutinized the Saintess, realizing she might have overstepped.
“No, you’re probably about as pretty as me.”
Though being complimented, Linglong inexplicably felt a little annoyed.
To be praised but still annoyed—that was Hua Jian’s special talent.
“Then let’s get ready. We have about three days to Huiyue City. There might be accidents on the way, so the trip could take longer…” Linglong took out a map from her Storage Pouch and explained the itinerary.
The auction in Huiyue City would start in half a month, so they had to arrive four or five days early.
Because they were leaving the sect to journey, Linglong’s spiritual tool value was still low; they would have to rely on flying themselves.
“You gave me your spiritual tools before, so don’t you have none left now?” Talking about spiritual tools reminded Hua Jian of the treasures Linglong had given her.
Linglong had been unhappy that Hua Jian hadn’t brought those spiritual tools into the Secret Realm.
“Those tools are quite ordinary. I bought a new set after returning to the sect,” Linglong said confidently. “Besides, I bought a flying sword this time.”
She pulled out the flying sword she had bought and slammed it on the ground.
Hua Jian’s eyebrows twitched. That flying sword was bigger than a door.
Is that really a flying sword? Calling something that clunky a flying sword feels like an insult to flying swords.
In Hua Jian’s impression, flying swords should be small and narrow—too big to step on properly.
But Linglong’s flying sword was outrageously huge, big enough for them to sit side by side on it. Aside from looking like a sword, it bore no resemblance to one.
“This is a flying sword?”
“A senior sister at the Spirit Tool Shop recommended it as suitable for beginners,” Linglong nodded.
Nowadays, flying spiritual tools weren’t limited to sword shapes. For example, Su Xiaoxiao’s flying spiritual tool was a pair of wings on her back—pretty and practical.
There were still cultivators using flying swords, but not many—mostly sword cultivators or those who liked to show off.
No one sane would use Linglong’s giant dumb flying sword as transportation; Hua Jian suspected Linglong had been tricked.
But “suitable for beginners” might be accurate. With such a wide platform, standing stably would be easy.
Hua Jian stepped on the flying sword. The sturdy feedback under her feet confirmed it was thick and heavy.
Quite reassuring.
Linglong stepped up too, infused her spiritual energy into the sword, which trembled slightly then hovered steadily off the ground.
It was stable, Hua Jian thought.
Just as she thought this, Su Xiaoxiao’s irritated voice rang out nearby.
“Flying spiritual tools are not allowed in the outpost! Get down, both of you!”
Their farewell with Su Xiaoxiao was a bit awkward because of Linglong’s flying sword, but Hua Jian was the kind who always looked forward.
Let the past be past. Now she was about to embark on a new journey!
Perhaps because Linglong wasn’t yet proficient, she didn’t fly high but stayed at a low altitude where there was more foot traffic.
As the scenery changed, Hua Jian saw many cultivators flying on spiritual tools. Most were Spirit Masters or Spirit Kings; higher ranks were rarely seen.
That was normal; Ling Emperors flew higher, and Spirit Lords or Saints were rare encounters.
Most cultivators were only at the Spirit Master or Spirit King level. Ling Emperors were already extraordinary.
Their flying sword attracted many curious glances. Many nearby cultivators looked at it with surprise.
“Who flies on a door?” they thought. Very rare indeed.
Hua Jian was a little annoyed but admitted the flying sword was more comfortable than being carried.
Stable, no wind, spacious—aside from its ugly appearance, it had no faults… maybe.
When Linglong finally stopped over a wide field after flying for a while, Hua Jian discovered another drawback: the sword consumed a lot of spiritual energy.
Such a large size naturally required more energy to operate. Even a genius like Linglong had to land and rest after half a day to recover.
“I’ll need about one and a half hours to recover. Want to try it?” Linglong popped a pill into her mouth and asked Hua Jian.
If Hua Jian could master the flying sword, they could travel faster.
Taking turns would save a lot of resting time.
“I’ve never tried before; can’t say if I’ll succeed.” Hua Jian didn’t refuse. Riding a flying sword had been her dream, but they were expensive and out of reach.
Now the opportunity was right in front of her. Though it didn’t look like a sword, Hua Jian could deceive herself.
A big sword is still a sword! A door sword is a sword!
“It’s simple. Stand here and infuse your spiritual energy into the sword…”
Following Linglong’s guidance, Hua Jian infused her spiritual energy into the sword beneath her feet.
A strange sensation rose in her heart. She felt a connection with the sword.
“Next, use your Divine Sense to control the sword to lift off and move slowly forward.”
This step stalled Hua Jian for a bit. Her knowledge from another world often made her struggle with abstract concepts like Divine Sense; she instinctively sought underlying principles, and if she couldn’t find them, she’d feel she couldn’t do it.
Divine Sense was one of those things: if you think you can’t, you really can’t.
Luckily, she found a solution: just think of the flying sword as a car, and the Divine Sense as the steering wheel and pedals.
The flying sword was just a spiritual energy-powered car!
With this idea, Hua Jian turned her Divine Sense into a joystick only she could see and easily lifted the sword into the sky.
“Success!” Hua Jian cheered at Linglong behind her.
Linglong blinked, her golden vertical pupils flickering with surprise. Hua Jian had mastered the flying sword so quickly, it was a miracle.
It had taken Linglong four or five days just to make the sword leave the ground.
To truly fly as she willed, it took her nearly a month.
Hua Jian had only taken less than half an hour to get it off the ground—shocking speed.
Linglong, called a genius herself, now truly understood the shock and helplessness ordinary people felt when facing a prodigy.
“Try flying. The flying sword is hard to control. If anything goes wrong, it could easily lose control…”
No sooner had Linglong spoken than Hua Jian was drawing a figure-eight in the sky.
After Hua Jian infused spiritual energy, the sword’s trail became her signature rainbow flower petal colors—very eye-catching.
“Very steady!” Showing off her flying skills, Hua Jian beckoned to Linglong. “Come on, time’s ticking!”
Thanks to the secret method Hua Jian bought from the Old Woman recently, she had detailed control over her spiritual energy, allowing her to understand the flying sword’s structure.
The sword’s design was simple: one part enabled flight, the other controlled acceleration and deceleration—no different from the car analogy.
After flying with Linglong for a while, Hua Jian found the balance point between speed and energy consumption and estimated how long her energy could sustain flight.
“My spiritual energy will run out in about two and a half hours. After that, you’ll have to take over,” Hua Jian said.
From this small matter, Hua Jian saw the huge gap between her and Linglong.
Linglong had flown for almost four hours before needing to stop and recover.
Hua Jian would run out of energy in two and a half hours.
Linglong still conserved energy for emergencies, but Hua Jian wouldn’t even last half of Linglong’s duration.
In other words, Hua Jian’s spiritual energy was less than half of Linglong’s.
The gap was despairingly large.
“There’s a small city about an hour and a half away. We can rest there for the night,” Linglong said, looking down at the map.
After some mental calculations, she decided they should rest in the city soon.
They weren’t in a hurry; Spirit Masters needed plenty of rest to maintain energy.
Also, their spiritual energies couldn’t cycle between each other, so they had to rest fully.
Luckily, the city on the route was perfect for rest and recovery.
“Sounds good!” Hua Jian had no objections.
The flying sword left a fragrant, colorful trail in the air, drawing curious glances from nearby cultivators.
They didn’t think it was Hua Jian’s doing but assumed the flying sword had built-in effects.
Flying spiritual tools nowadays came in all kinds of shapes and effects. Trails like this were common.
To them, Hua Jian was just a silly rich girl who bought a fancy, giant black sword—a rough but charming sight.
Nothing happened on the way. Linglong had chosen one of the Central Continent’s busiest official roads, with many Saint Sect outposts, so the chance of attack was low.
Still, the Central Continent wasn’t entirely safe. Away from big cities, various strange sects and factions abused power, and these were problems even the Saint Sects couldn’t solve.
After all, the Saint Sects were just a few large sects themselves; they weren’t spotless internally, let alone making the entire world ideal.
……
“Outsiders? Get an Inn Permit first and take out your Storage Pouches for inspection.”
Upon arriving at the small city Linglong mentioned, the city’s guard cultivators stopped them.
The guards weren’t strong and had a rather lethargic attitude—very much like overworked laborers.
Hua Jian glanced toward the permit office and sucked in a breath at the large black characters.
“Ten Spirit Stones?!”
The place Hua Jian had been living at before, with a Linlang Pavilion branch stationed there, had no such Inn Permit.
And now this godforsaken small city actually had one?
What right did they have?
“Pay or don’t. If you can’t afford it, sleep outside. That area is for people who don’t want to spend Spirit Stones,” the guard said impatiently but without harsh words, pointing to a camp outside the city with many small tents.
Spirit Masters who could afford Spirit Stones could rest in the city; those who couldn’t would camp outside. Reasonable enough.
Only the price of the Spirit Stones was unreasonable.
“Twenty Spirit Stones okay?” Linglong didn’t mind much. She had enough Spirit Stones to spend lavishly.
If she ran out, there was an Elder following them to ask for some.
“Mm.”
Linglong nodded, stepped up to the permit office, and handed twenty Spirit Stones to the clerk.
The clerk took them and quickly gave Linglong two wooden Inn Permits.
“Next, go to that place for inspection. This is to prevent Demonic Cultivators from entering. Please understand, ladies.” Seeing Linglong hand over twenty Spirit Stones so calmly, the guard’s attitude shifted subtly.
This pair looked like a wealthy young lady and her maid traveling together; better be cautious.
A guard who worked here wouldn’t be stupid. Linglong’s calm demeanor made it obvious she wasn’t ordinary.
And with white hair and golden eyes, so stunning—this girl was definitely special! Must treat her with respect.
As for the black-haired girl by Linglong’s side, though decent-looking, her modest appearance said she was just a servant, not to be taken seriously.
The inspection of their Storage Pouches found nothing suspicious. Both were law-abiding, so no prohibited items inside.
While they were being checked, a merchant caravan arrived outside. Perhaps seeing their cooperation, the guards let Linglong and Hua Jian enter directly.
The two looked open and honest—clearly with nothing to hide. The inspection was just a formality.
The caravan was the real focus and took much longer to inspect.
Paying the twenty Spirit Stones, they entered the city.
“Spending twenty Spirit Stones just to enter, but it doesn’t look much better than where I stayed before,” Hua Jian murmured after walking around.
“You had a Linlang Pavilion branch there, so it was naturally livelier,” Linglong explained casually.
Without a Linlang Pavilion branch, Hua Jian’s previous city wouldn’t have attracted so many cultivators, probably not as good as this small city.
Also, the twenty Spirit Stone Inn Permit wasn’t expensive. Most cities in the Central Continent had this rule. Some big cities charged over a hundred Spirit Stones.
Like Huiyue City, their destination, which required a hundred Spirit Stones just to enter—same price as exploring a Secret Realm once.
But while exploring Secret Realms was to earn money, entering cities was to spend it!