The teleportation array of Approaching Immortal City was located in the outskirts, within the Green Leaf Forest.
Arriving here from Jade Clarity Sect, it was already the hour of Hai.
Another month had passed, and the full moon was once again in the sky, but this month's night was not as clear and bright as last month's.
A heavy rain had fallen in the late afternoon, and now the night sky was shrouded in thick clouds, obscuring the moon.
The ground was still moist, remnants of the rain lingering.
The essence of the midsummer season was hidden in the damp earth, carried by the wind, making the evening breeze feel hot and stuffy.
Jian Huan stood at the edge of the Green Leaf Forest, pacing around a lush bamboo, occasionally glancing towards the road.
What was going on?
Why hadn't Shen Jizhi arrived yet?
They had left Jade Clarity Sect together, but he still had to deliver goods to Immortal Storage Tower.
Jian Huan, being alone, could only draw a limited number of talismans, and these days she had only drawn those for Jian Tianxia, with no extra talismans to sell at Immortal Storage Tower, so she had come here first to wait for him.
She had thought he wouldn't be too late, but unexpectedly, she had waited for half an hour.
After pacing for over a thousand circles, Jian Huan suddenly felt dizzy and quickly stopped, leaning her hand on the green bamboo.
The bamboo, under her force, bent to the other side, and the leaves on top rustled, as if a gust of wind had blown by.
Shen Jizhi, who had just run over from the dark official road, instinctively looked over, his feet lightly tapping the ground, his dark green skirt fluttering without wind, and he was already close to Jian Huan.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked.
Hearing his voice, Jian Huan instinctively looked up.
Behind him was a sky filled with gloomy clouds, and the faint moonlight softened the sharp contours of his face like a sword, giving him a rare touch of human warmth.
"Nothing, I just got dizzy from turning my head too much," Jian Huan said, looking at him, "You seem to have made quite a bit tonight?"
Shen Jizhi: "?"
He had indeed made quite a bit tonight, but how did she know that?
Shen Jizhi denied: "It's the same as usual."
He turned around: "Let's go, it's getting late."
Jian Huan grabbed his hem: "You're lying to a ghost, you must have made quite a bit tonight."
At this, Shen Jizhi didn't speak.
He lowered his eyes, carefully pulling his hem out of Jian Huan's hand and smoothing it out.
Shen Jizhi was wearing a new outfit today, black gradually turning to dark green, with gold thread outlining auspicious beast patterns all over the fabric, making him look like an unworldly noble.
A month ago, this outfit belonged to Shadowless Hand.
It was true that clothes make the man, and the man makes the clothes.
When Shadowless Hand wore this, Jian Huan didn't realize how valuable the fabric was.
Jian Huan stretched out her hand, tiptoeing in front of him, her white fingertips moving, her big eyes blinking: "Shen Jizhi, did you forget something?"
Shen Jizhi was silent for a moment, then took out a spatial pouch from his bosom, counting out eighty spirit stones and handing them to her.
Jian Huan happily accepted them, her right shoulder bumping Shen Jizhi's left arm, praising: "Not bad! You made eight hundred spirit stones just through the Xuantian Mirror, and you must have done a lot of business on the spot, you must have earned over a thousand today, right?"
A slight unusual feeling came from his left arm, and Shen Jizhi frowned, instinctively moving away from her: "Don't guess randomly."
Jian Huan: "Okay, I got it."
She walked slowly, counting the spirit stones one by one.
Shen Jizhi followed a few steps behind, deep in thought.
Eight hundred spirit stones in a month from the Xuantian Mirror...
If he bit the bullet and bought a Xuantian Mirror himself, he wouldn't have to give her a cut, which would be pretty good.
But thinking about her replies on the Xuantian Mirror, with phrases like 'muah, hey, love you, come back next time, warrior brother, pretty sister'—
Forget it.
He couldn't do it.
This money was meant for her to earn.
At this time, there were not as many people at the teleportation array as during the day, but there were still a few people coming and going.
As they passed by, these people glanced at Shen Jizhi strangely.
Such a handsome man, why was he muttering to himself?
What a pity, he was so young and already mad.
The mad Shen Jizhi stood in the corner, his eyebrows like distant mountains in a traditional ink painting, now rising high, sharp and imposing.
He gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger: "You let go."
Behind Shen Jizhi, the invisible Jian Huan had her arms around his swan-like neck, her legs tightly hooked around his waist.
Her eyebrows were also tightly furrowed, but no one could see it, her voice low: "If I let go, I'll fall! You won't even support my legs!"
Shen Jizhi, with his hands hanging by his sides: "..."
He shouldn't have agreed to share the teleportation array.
Jian Huan whispered: "Can't you be a bit more sincere? Are you the kind of man who cares about propriety?"
He didn't seem like it, he was clearly more concerned about money.
Besides, she didn't care, so why should he?
Shen Jizhi's forehead twitched, feeling annoyed: "I don't like anyone getting close to me."
Jian Huan rolled her eyes: "Do you think I want to? If it weren't to save money, I wouldn't want you to carry me."
Shen Jizhi: "Anyway, I can't walk like this."
Jian Huan: "Then reach out and support my knee bend, otherwise, if you don't let me hook my legs around your waist, I'll fall."
Shen Jizhi: "..."
For a moment, the two were at a stalemate.
At this moment, a middle-aged man hurried by, reaching the entrance of the teleportation array.
Six guards from the city lord's mansion stood guard at the entrance,
The white jade pillars glowed in the night, and the plaque supported by the pillars had the words 'Approaching Immortal City' written in a sword-like script, the work of the Jade Clarity Sect's Sect Leader.
This teleportation array was a collaboration between Approaching Immortal City and Jade Clarity Sect, with the city lord in charge of operations and Jade Clarity Sect providing technical support.
Jade Clarity Sect received a large sum of money from the teleportation array every year.
"I want to go to Azure Dragon City," the middle-aged man stopped, taking out three hundred spirit stones from his chest and handing them to the money collector.
The collector waved his hand, and the middle-aged man stepped into the entrance.
Suddenly, the white jade pillars lit up, and a boy behind the middle-aged man appeared.
The middle-aged man was still in a daze, staring at the lit pillars, looking confused.
A guard walked over, grabbing the boy with one hand and the middle-aged man with the other, throwing them both outside, and said sternly: "Using an invisibility talisman incurs a three hundred fine, get lost!"
The middle-aged man groaned, falling to the ground and rubbing his bruised butt.
The boy beside him blushed, wanting to find a crack in the ground to hide in under everyone's gaze.
He stood up, quickly helping his father, and both knowing they were in the wrong, covered their faces and fled.
However, as they were about to leave the Green Leaf Forest, a skinny man stopped them.
Shen Jizhi and 'Jian Huan' silently watched the whole process.
The money collector at the table didn't know where he had grabbed a handful of melon seeds, the sound of cracking seeds resounding here and there.
His gaze slowly swept over the crowd, implying: "This is the gate that was replaced a few days ago, with a formation drawn by Elder Yu Qing of Jade Clarity Sect, specifically for identifying those using invisibility talismans. In just a few days, over thirty people have been caught, tsk tsk..."
Jian Huan silently let go of her hands and legs, sliding down from Shen Jizhi's back.
Alright.
She just wondered why Elder Yu Qing had been so busy recently, she could only find him once out of three times when she went to Elder Hall to ask about talismans.
So he was busy with this...
Jian Huan poked Shen Jizhi, whispering: "What now?"
Shen Jizhi had been observing the father and son who had been exposed, deep in thought.
The father and son followed the man away, and soon, the man returned, squatting under a bamboo, his sunken eyes looking around.
It seemed he was looking for a target.
Shen Jizhi, unable to see Jian Huan, said casually upon hearing her: "You have money, you can take the teleportation array."
With that, he walked away.
What a vengeful man.
Jian Huan was so angry she gnashed her teeth, following behind Shen Jizhi, making faces and kicking at him.
There was no wind now, but Shen Jizhi could feel the small gusts behind him.
He didn't care, walking to that spot and standing next to the man.
The man looked up, puzzled at this sudden appearance.
Shen Jizhi stood straight, looking into the distance, and said indifferently: "Do you have another way to Azure Dragon City?"
The man's eyes showed some surprise, glancing at Shen Jizhi's dark green hem: "Yes, but sir, you're not taking the teleportation array?"
Rich people usually took the teleportation array, this man looked very rich.
Shen Jizhi: "No, I'm not."
The man's eyes gleamed with a shrewd light as he quickly stood up, "That's quite a coincidence. There's a carriage going to Azure Dragon City that uses spirit horses. It can get there by tomorrow morning at the latest."
Shen Jizhi: "How much for a trip?"
The man extended one finger, "One hundred spirit stones."
Shen Jizhi decisively agreed, "Deal."
The man grinned obsequiously, "Alright, sir. However, the carriage needs ten people to depart, and we're currently one short."
Shen Jizhi replied indifferently, "No problem, I have two here."
The man scratched his head, "Ah?"
Jian Huan, who had been crouching on the ground and smearing mud on Shen Jizhi's back, quickly revealed herself upon hearing this.
She poked her head out from Shen Jizhi's left side and waved at the man, "Hi, and here's me."
Shen Jizhi took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Jian Huan.
He glanced at Jian Huan's muddy hand, and with a wave of his spiritual energy, he was refreshed, the dirt falling away.
The carriage man looked at Shen Jizhi, then at the suddenly appearing Jian Huan, and everything became clear to him.
He chuckled, beckoning to the two, "Please follow me quickly, we've got enough people now, we can leave right away!"
Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi followed him.
She sized up the carriage man from behind, while unskillfully using a cleansing spell to clean her hands, and said, "Generally speaking, this kind of act is called taking an unlicensed carriage. Unlicensed carriages are very unreliable; they might demand more money halfway, or even sell us off."
Shen Jizhi lowered his eyes and said only one thing, "He's only at the sixth level of Qi Condensation."
Even if he had accomplices, they could still give it a try.
At worst, there was Jian Huan's teleportation talisman.
Jian Huan understood his meaning and, thinking of the Shadowless Hand who was at the Foundation Establishment level, curiously asked, "Is he... not on the wanted list?"
Shen Jizhi was someone who had memorized the long list of wanted posters by heart, and he shook his head, "No, he's not."
"Alright," Jian Huan was a bit disappointed, but her eyes suddenly lit up, "His horse is really nice."
Shen Jizhi didn't respond, his dark eyes also fixed on the spirit horse.
The spirit horse was about to take off, and was currently eating spirit grass.
For some reason, the horse suddenly felt a chill all over and uneasily lifted one of its legs, letting out a neigh.
The carriage man ran over, soothingly stroking the horse's head.
He half-hugged the horse, turned back, and grinned at Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi, showing two rows of teeth that were so white they almost glowed, urging, "Please board quickly, esteemed guests, we're about to depart."
