Chapter 319: Conclusion 1.

The morning after leaving Skyfall City, Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing stood at a quiet roadside tea stall and watched a column of clouds drift over the mountains.

Skyfall City was already far behind them.

That was not because they had traveled quickly. They had simply decided that there was no reason to stay around a city that had managed to make even buying dinner feel like a dangerous occupation. They had spent several days there, seen enough strange formations to last them a while, and eaten at three excellent restaurants before finally agreeing that it was time to move on.

The road ahead led deeper into the heart of the Southern Continent.

At the center of that enormous landmass stood Thousand Dao City, the city that almost every cultivator in the Southern Continent had heard about at least once. Some called it the heart of the continent. Others called it a city where every road eventually met. There were even old cultivators who claimed that the city had once been built at the meeting point of thousands of spiritual veins, which was why nearly every major cultivation path could be found there.

Mo Yuxin had heard that there were more than ten thousand shops in the outer districts alone.

Su Yubing had heard there was a restaurant where an immortal chef had supposedly once cooked a single bowl of noodles using eighteen kinds of heavenly ingredients.

Naturally, they had completely different reasons for wanting to go.

Mo Yuxin wanted to see the city.

Su Yubing wanted to eat the noodles.

And Mo Yuxin, being Mo Yuxin, had quietly decided that if the noodles were really as good as people claimed, she would eat them with her wife while sitting somewhere with a good view.

She did not care much about the price.

She cared even less about how many powerful cultivators the restaurant might contain.

The only thing she had told Su Yubing before they left was, "If someone tries to steal your noodles, I am breaking their hand."

Su Yubing had laughed for a full minute.

Now they were finally on the road.

The tea stall was small enough that three tables filled the entire seating area. An old man with white hair sat behind a wooden counter and poured tea from a cracked clay pot. The tea was weak, but the mountain air was cool, and neither woman was in a hurry.

Mo Yuxin sat with one arm resting on the table and her other hand holding Su Yubing’s hand under the table.

Su Yubing noticed after a while.

"Why are you holding my hand under the table?"

Mo Yuxin looked completely calm.

"Because I can."

"That is not an explanation."

"It is to me."

Su Yubing smiled and gave her hand a small squeeze.

"You have been holding my hand since breakfast."

"Yes."

"And before breakfast?"

"I was asleep."

"Before you fell asleep?"

"I was holding you."

Su Yubing shook her head.

"You are hopeless."

Mo Yuxin’s lips curved slightly.

"You married me anyway."

The old tea seller glanced at them and chuckled.

"Young couples are always like this."

Su Yubing’s cheeks warmed a little.

Mo Yuxin looked perfectly pleased.

The old man added, "Though you two look more like sisters than a married couple."

Mo Yuxin immediately answered, "Wife."

The old man blinked.

Su Yubing covered her face with one hand.

"You did not have to correct him that fast."

"He was wrong."

The old man laughed.

"All right, all right. Wife then. A very handsome wife."

Mo Yuxin nodded as though he had finally understood the important part.

Su Yubing rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.

After paying for the tea, they left the stall and followed the main road toward the eastern mountain pass.

The road to Thousand Dao City was not a straight road at all. The Southern Continent was too large for a single imperial highway to connect all its important regions. Instead, there were hundreds of major cultivation roads that overlapped, split, crossed rivers, entered sect territories, and disappeared into mountain ranges. The road they were traveling on was one of the better known routes because it eventually connected to the central spiritual highway leading directly into Thousand Dao City.

That meant the road was crowded.

Cultivators traveled on foot.

Some rode spirit beasts.

Others sat on flying swords or floating platforms.

Merchant caravans moved slowly under the protection of hired cultivators.

There were also people who clearly had no business being on a road this dangerous, such as a group of ordinary-looking merchants arguing loudly over the price of dried peaches while transporting a cart full of sealed spiritual herbs.

Mo Yuxin looked at the cart.

"Those herbs are worth more than the carriage."

Su Yubing glanced at it.

"You can tell?"

"Yes."

"Would a normal Nascent Soul cultivator know that?"

Mo Yuxin paused.

"Probably."

Su Yubing gave her a sideways look.

"Probably?"

Mo Yuxin smiled.

"I am trying."

They continued walking.

By noon, they had reached the first mountain pass.

The pass was called Red Cliff Gate, although there was no actual gate anymore. There were only two enormous cliffs with reddish stone surfaces and a road between them. An old stone monument stood beside the road, covered in warnings about the dangers of the surrounding mountains.

One warning specifically said that travelers should not enter the forest after sunset because a herd of Moonfang Deer occupied the area.

Su Yubing read it.

"Moonfang Deer?"

"Demonic beasts."

"Dangerous?"

"Not usually."

"Then why the warning?"

"Because they travel in huge groups."

Su Yubing thought about it.

"That sounds cute."

Mo Yuxin looked at her.

"They can stomp an entire caravan into the ground."

"Still cute."

Mo Yuxin sighed.

"You have strange standards."

"You married me."

Mo Yuxin immediately smiled.

"True."

They were halfway through the pass when the sound of shouting came from the forest.

Mo Yuxin slowed down.

Su Yubing listened.

"People are fighting."

"Yes."

"Do we help?"

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TO BE CONTINUED,