Ah Ya was indeed very familiar with Ju City.
The child led Jiang Zhaoye through a maze of alleys, avoiding several streets patrolled by soldiers, and browsed two lively local markets.
Along the way, Jiang Zhaoye made no attempt to hide his outsider status and asked Ah Ya about many things. Eventually, he didn't even need to ask—Ah Ya took full initiative to introduce all the basic local information she knew.
Ju City belonged to the fief of Lord Shuofang, a commandery prince of the State of Jiang.
Lord Shuofang was the uncle of the current monarch of the State of Jiang. Having earned military distinction on the northern border years ago, he was granted the title of commandery prince and posted here to guard the northern frontier.
Lord Shuofang's residence was situated in An City, the most prosperous city in his fief. Ju City was merely a border town under his jurisdiction, its city lord appointed by the prince—rumored to be an old man from a collateral branch of the prince's manor.
The city had a garrison of three hundred soldiers, commanded by a commandant sent from the prince's manor, responsible for defending against northern demon beasts and bandits. Every year, the city had to hand over quotas of cold iron ore and spirit ore to the prince's manor, bearing a rather heavy tax burden.
Having gathered basically everything an ordinary citizen would know, and with Xiao Ling's language pack and database construction making significant progress, Jiang Zhaoye considered this outing quite fruitful.
Finally, the two found a stall at a relatively quiet street corner to rest for a bit.
Jiang Zhaoye spent a little silver to order two portions of roasted meat, a large stack of flatbreads, and two bowls of cujiang broth.
Ah Ya sat on the chair opposite him, staring at the roasted meat on the table while constantly swallowing her saliva.
The child hadn't dared to sit down at first, only perching nervously on the edge of the seat under Jiang Zhaoye's overbearing insistence, looking awkward and not even daring to rest her weight fully.
Jiang Zhaoye sighed internally and tapped the clay bowl with his wooden chopsticks. "What are you staring at? Eat."
With that, he simply pushed a portion of roasted meat over to her.
"For me?!!!" Shocked beyond belief, Ah Ya pointed at herself, her eyes wide.
"Who else?" Jiang Zhaoye shrugged, pushing a bowl of cujiang broth over as well and sliding the flatbreads between them. "Did I buy two portions just to throw one away?"
Feeling like she was in a dream, Ah Ya wiped her small hands repeatedly on her clothes before carefully picking up the roasted meat. Her eyes remained glued to it, crossing slightly as she stared. Instead of devouring it ravenously, she tore off a tiny piece and nibbled it, as though savoring some rare delicacy.
Jiang Zhaoye found it amusing and thought about treating this child to more good meals in the future.
Ah Ya ate until her belly bulged, looking utterly blissed out. Then, as if suddenly snapping back to reality, her eyes lit up and she asked with renewed energy, "Where else would Benefactor like to visit?"
Jiang Zhaoye stroked his chin. "You mentioned earlier that immortals come to recruit disciples every year, and they post... notices? Where are those notices usually posted?"
Ah Ya froze for a moment, clearly not expecting him to ask about this. "On the notice board at the city gate. But it's winter now, so the immortals won't come, and no notices have been posted."
"What about previous years? What was written on the notices back then?"
Ah Ya tilted her head in thought. "Ah Ya can't read. But I heard people say it says things like 'Immortal Sect Recruiting Disciples, Spirit Roots to be Tested, Those with Spirit Roots May Enter the Immortal Sect.'"
"Every autumn, the city stewards clean the notice board in advance to put up the notices."
Jiang Zhaoye nodded thoughtfully, taking mental note of it, and asked, "Testing spirit roots... how is that done?"
"Ah Ya has seen that!" Ah Ya raised a fist excitedly. "The immortals bring a stone tablet and set it up at the city gate. Anyone who wants to be tested places their hand on it, and the tablet glows. Whatever color it glows indicates their spirit root. If they don't have a spirit root, the tablet won't light up at all."
Jiang Zhaoye's heart stirred. "A stone tablet? Light corresponding to the color of the spirit root?"
"This... Ah Ya isn't very sure either. I only heard people say a water spirit root glows blue, and an earth spirit root glows yellow..." As Ah Ya spoke, she suddenly looked at him earnestly. "Is Benefactor... looking to test your spirit root?"
Thinking back to how Ah Ya had mentioned having a miscellaneous spirit root, Jiang Zhaoye felt another stir in his heart, but he didn't elaborate. He simply stood up. "Let's go. Take me to see that stone tablet."
Ah Ya looked up, somewhat surprised. "The stone tablet? That stone tablet was taken away. The immortals took it with them when they left."
"What about the notice board then? Take me to see it."
Ah Ya nodded and led him toward the city gate.
The notice board near the city gate was a dusty grey stone wall plastered with a few yellowed notices, mostly official wanted posters and tax announcements.
Jiang Zhaoye stood before the notice board and had Xiao Ling quickly scan it. Although he couldn't recognize most of the characters yet, Xiao Ling had already begun translating and recording them word for word.
"Can Benefactor read?" Ah Ya stood to the side, watching him stare at the notice board with curiosity.
Jiang Zhaoye didn't answer directly, asking instead, "You said earlier that spirit root testing happens when the immortals arrive. What happens after the testing? Those with spirit roots are taken away?"
Ah Ya nodded. "Mm, I heard they get taken to immortal sects to learn immortal arts. Ah Ya hasn't seen it with her own eyes, but I heard people say a few children get taken away every year."
"And after they're taken away? Can their families still see them?"
Ah Ya shook her head. "I don't know. Ah Ya heard that the children who are taken away never come back."
Jiang Zhaoye fell silent for a moment and didn't ask further.
He stood before the notice board for a short while longer, letting Xiao Ling scan and record all the notices, before turning around to follow Ah Ya deeper into the city.
For the rest of the day, Ah Ya took him on a tour around Ju City.
She showed him the Eastern Market, the Western Market Square, the southern residential area, and the walled-off district in the north of the city.
Ah Ya said that was where the city's nobility lived, and that common folk... had no right to enter.
As they walked, Jiang Zhaoye had Xiao Ling record the city's layout and intelligence.
He noted that the scale of this city was comparable to a small city on Blue Star, perhaps slightly larger in physical footprint, though with a smaller population. Nonetheless, it was fully equipped with everything needed to sustain the lives of ordinary people.
Jiang Zhaoye also saw something strange in the Western Market Square—
A group of people whose style of dress was conspicuously different from that of the local townspeople.
They mostly moved in groups of three to five, wore refined fabrics, and carried jade pendants or waist tokens at their hips. As they walked down the street, ordinary mortals moved aside of their own accord, their eyes filled with awe and reverence.
Ah Ya whispered, "Those are members of the city's cultivation families... Ju City has four major cultivation clans: the Tian clan, Han clan, Wei clan, and Zhao clan. They are all Qi Refining immortals."
"Most of the shops in the city belong to those families, and they are the ones who dictate the rules in the market."
Jiang Zhaoye was somewhat surprised. "Qi Refining?"
Ah Ya nodded, looking at him as if his question were odd. "Doesn't Benefactor know? Immortals past Foundation Establishment won't stay in mortal realms... Ju City is just a mortal city, and the highest-cultivation immortal here is at Sixth-Layer Qi Refining."
Rate on N.U.
