Chapter 291: Hobbies and Interests

[Lin Baobao: That handsome man moved in 0-0]

[Gu Yunxi: Handsome man? He looks like a gust of wind could knock him over. What good is just being pretty?]

[Lin Baobao: And you being ugly is even more useless.]

[Gu Yunxi: How dare you! Attacking the great, supreme VIP first-batch closed beta veteran!]

[Zhou Baobao: See, sisters? This is what a man’s jealousy looks like~]

[Yang Meimei: Aren’t you a man too?]

[Zhou Baobao: Oh, stop it~ You fiend!]

[Wu Dahu: I was just trying to play a game, and suddenly my soul feels tainted.]

[Fan Guzhou: That’s a strange group. Those Cultivators are clearly very strong, at least at the Golden Core Stage. Everyone in the Feique Sect should keep an eye on them for now.]

——

"I’m going out for a walk. You don’t have to follow me."

After Gong Xingsi spoke, his companions disagreed. Yin San said, "No way, Young Master. Without us, what if someone... someone..."

What would they do if he got bullied?

They couldn’t bring themselves to say the words out loud.

Everyone knew that in the Cultivation World, mortals were at the bottom of the food chain.

They used to not even spare mortals a glance.

Even if the Young Master wasn’t a mortal, his current state was...

"With you watching in secret, something like that won’t happen."

Gong Xingsi said, his gaze drifting to the street outside.

The layout here was strange. The mortals were settled in the safest location, deep in the interior.

In most Sects, they either kept mortals completely separate or designated specific areas that mortals were forbidden to enter.

But here, there were no such clear-cut rules.

While the mortals had their own living quarters, their movements weren’t restricted. They could go anywhere.

What’s more, a group of Cultivators even lived right alongside them.

This was because some of the players didn’t like living on the mountain.

Gong Xingsi and his companions could have stayed in an inn outside, but after sizing the place up, he chose to stay here.

It was simply because he felt that the mortals here were somehow different.

He wanted to see for himself.

Though the four Yin Family brothers were worried, they were helpless to stop him and could only watch as Gong Xingsi went out alone.

They watched from the shadows.

Yin San mumbled, "Those Cultivators will see how handsome our Young Master is and will definitely bully him..."

Yin Da couldn’t help but roll his eyes. "The Young Master came with us. Those Cultivators can’t be that blind."

Gong Xingsi walked down the street, listening to the vendors’ calls and cries along the way.

The mortal district in Wang’an County was nearly complete.

In addition to the Spirit Wine Workshop, a variety of other small workshops, such as textile workshops, had been established.

The main goal was to create a self-sufficient supply chain for the mortals.

Mortals had their own trade channels, too.

Things like clothes, for instance, were daily necessities.

They possessed modern techniques, allowing them to produce superior fabrics to sell to the mortals of other Sects.

The only thing left was to officially open up trade routes for the mortals.

However, building roads now was considered too conspicuous. Instead, Wang’an County was gradually expanding its borders.

The original county town was simply too small.

With several thousand mortals in Wang’an County, and people assigned to each workshop, there was actually now a shortage of manpower.

Zhen Weida and his group had even found other, non-spiritual ore resources.

At present, they still had spiritual ore to research. If the territory continued to expand, they would soon be unable to keep up with the demand for labor.

The main problem was that there were only a few players in charge of teaching, and they were working purely out of passion.

But now, under the tutelage of the Longevity Sect disciples, the mortals had learned many things. Compared to their previous idle days, they now seemed to have a purpose and a future to strive for.

Those Longevity Sect disciples knew so much. They didn’t just focus on their cultivation; they could even create many items that mortals could use.

This lively atmosphere, brimming with joy, was something Gong Xingsi had never seen among the mortals of other Sects.

Especially not in his own Sect.

Gong Xingsi thought of the numb, expressionless faces of countless mortals.

The Yinxiao Sect was a subsidiary of the Tianyang Sect. In the Tianyang Sect, a mortal’s status was only slightly higher than that of a Demon Cultivator.

And Demon Cultivators were treated as slaves.

He had seen the mortals of the Tianyang Sect. In the presence of a Cultivator, all they showed was fear, deference, and despair...

He had seen every look imaginable. In the Tianyang Sect’s territory, even other Cultivators were lambs to the slaughter, to say nothing of mere mortals.

If Gong Xingsi hadn’t suffered an accident that stripped him of his cultivation and left him no different than a mortal, he probably would have gone his entire life without ever interacting with them.

He could also feel the gazes of other Cultivators on him.

But unlike in the past, the looks from these Cultivators held more of an open and unabashed curiosity.

Some of the mortals were also sizing him up, albeit more discreetly.

Gong Xingsi approached a shop selling all sorts of pastries, its displays filled with many mortal confections he had never seen before.

He pointed to one at random and asked, "What is this?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "That’s a cream cake."

Gong Xingsi noted its fragrant, sweet scent. "I’ll take a few pieces," he said.

But just as he was about to pay, he remembered he couldn’t open his Qiankun Bag. He had no choice but to wave over to Yin Da and the others, who weren’t far off.

Yin Da came over. "Young Master?"

Gong Xingsi pointed at his purchase. "Pay."

Yin Da: "..."

’These mortals are so clueless.’

’We Cultivators have to pay for a snack?’

’Shouldn’t they be trembling with reverence and offering it to us for free?!’

But with his Young Master watching, Yin Da had no choice.

He then took a Mid-grade Spirit Stone from his Qiankun Bag and handed it to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened. "This... this isn’t worth that much."

’Of course it’s not worth this much,’ Yin Da thought. ’A sensible mortal would just say it’s a free gift.’

In his mind, it was an honor for a mortal to have their food eaten by a Cultivator.

After all, Cultivators rarely ate mortal food.

But to his surprise, the shopkeeper said in the next moment, "I-I’ll just add in a few more pastries for you. One low-grade Spirit Stone is more than enough. If you don’t have change, I can get my boss to break this for you."

Yin Da: "..."

The shopkeeper called toward the back of the pastry shop.

A moment later, a female player walked out from the back, her face still smudged with flour.

Although the player’s looks were average, she had a particular kind of vibrant aura about her.

As she came out, she casually wiped the tip of her nose with her arm.

She had apparently been baking. The shopkeeper hurriedly said, "These two customers paid with a Mid-grade Spirit Stone."

"Oh, right." The female player who came out quickly fished ninety-nine low-grade spirit stones out of her Jiezidai and offered them to Yin Da. "Here, this is your change."

Yin Da: "..."

He glanced at Gong Xingsi, then back at the female cultivator, a look of disbelief on his face.

"You’re the owner here?"

’Shouldn’t Cultivators be running Alchemy or Artifact Refining shops? This was the first time he’d ever seen one selling mortal food.’

The female player raised an eyebrow. "Just a hobby."