Ascending, Do Not Disturb!

Chapter 11: Storybook

“This year’s snow came really early.” One of the shopkeepers of Sky Sect walked out of his shop in Harmonious City. Seeing the workers of the shop already cleaning up the snow, he nodded and said, “It has been cold recently—you have worked hard.”

Most of the workers in the shop were locals from Harmonious City. While he, the supervisor, was only an outer sect member of Sky Sect, in these fellows’ eyes, any cultivator that was admitted to a large sect was admirable. The supervisor just said a few polite words, but these words motivated the workers. They tried to earn some more bonuses for year’s end.

The shopkeeper took the hot tea a worker had made. Just as he prepared to take a sip, he saw two people walk through the door. The man wore brocade white robes edged in silver and red. The girl looked younger, wearing a fur-edged jacket, her hair in two suspended buns. Even before she entered the shop, she had a small smile on her face.

“Honored customers, please enter.” The shopkeeper saw the man’s robes and knew that this was an apprentice of Splendid Cloud Sect taking their shimei or other junior to shop. His cultivation was low, and he could not see this apprentice’s cultivation, but this young girl who looked just ten years old had very low cultivation.

“Shopkeeper, are the vouchers for spirit stones from last new year’s still usable now?” the little girl asked.

“Of course.” The shopkeeper smiled enthusiastically. “As long as you come before the next New Year’s Eve, they are valid. Honored customer, please give the vouchers to this one, and this one will redeem them for you.”

The shopkeeper did not have a displeased expression because these people had come just to redeem their spirit stones. One reason was because Harmonious City was under the governance of Splendid Cloud Sect. Splendid Cloud Sect was harmonious in its conduct, but their sect was extremely united. Even a rabbit would bite when forced, much less Splendid Cloud Sect, one of the ten major sects of Lingyou World. The second reason was people would make money in peace. He had been sent by the sect to Harmonious City in order to be a shopkeeper. He did not ask for everything to be perfect, but at least, not create any incidents. In any case, the redeemed spirit stones would be provided by the sect. He would give them what he should, and everyone would be happy.

While the shopkeeper wanted to make money in peace, after he took the pile of vouchers, his smile was slightly frozen. Had all the disciples of Splendid Cloud Sect gone onto the streets to get brocade bags last New Year’s Eve? Why would the sum be greater than five hundred spirit stones?

“Honored customer, please wait for a moment.” The shopkeeper took out a box of spirit stones. The box held five hundred spirit stones. Then he took out a few dozen from another box before he put them in front of the little girl.

“And this as well.” After the little girl put all of the spirit stones into her storage bag, she took out another voucher for a magic robe.

The shopkeeper’s hand shook when he took the voucher. However, he was one of the ten best shopkeepers in the sect. He was the pride of Green Water Beetle Hall [1]. He would not show any emotion at this moment. “Honored customer, please come with this one upstairs to make a selection.”

He thought the little girl would pick a magic robe that the female cultivators liked at the moment. However, the little girl picked a set of men’s robes and happily went downstairs. When they were leaving, he seemed to see that the other was wearing a sect uniform of white edged in silver under their fur clothing.

The rumors said that Splendid Cloud Sect took in a very young apprentice at the beginning of the year. Was it this girl?

“Second Shixiong, I find that the people here seem to respect you greatly.” As Kong Hou walked on the street, she occasionally saw people smile towards Tan Feng and nod in respect. Some people even wanted to give them fruit and snacks, but Shixiong refused them.