Chapter 621

  Standing in front of the train station in X City with her worn-out backpack, Xiaoyao touched the few banknotes in her pocket and felt a momentary confusion about where to go. In this vast world, there was no place that truly belonged to her, nor anyone who truly cared for her or whom she cared for. Thinking of the unresolved feud in S City, a surge of resentment and anger rose up in her heart. Even though she had already transcended the ordinary person's realm and her attitude towards many things had undergone significant changes, when it came to her grandmother, she still couldn't calm down.

  Thinking of her next goal, she knew that without money, it was impossible, even if in the eyes of other cultivators, worldly currency was nothing but worthless paper. After some consideration, half an hour later, Zuo Xiaoyao arrived at a store in X City called "Yangu Dianhang" which was decorated in a very modern style, unlike other stores with glass doors or walls where you could see inside from the outside.

  As she walked into the pawnshop, Zuo Xiaoyao only then discovered that they didn't take the usual path. Except for lighting fixtures, and unlike some shops with ancient exterior appearances but modern interior decorations, this place had a modern exterior appearance, while its interior decoration style was quite antique.

  Seven meters away from the entrance, there was a higher wooden counter placed horizontally, except for two wooden windows and a side door next to them, all other parts were separated by wooden railings connected to the ceiling, similar to the environment inside a bank hall, but with greatly different decoration materials. Through the windows and wooden railings, the interior environment was also clear at a glance: a long table, with one person sitting at each end, facing the window.

  As soon as she entered, on the left side of the door was a wooden tea table and stool. Although it was her first time in such a place, after roughly scanning the surrounding environment, Xue Xiao Yao directly walked to a window and handed over a piece of Ling jade "How much can this jade be pawned for here?"

  "Please wait!"

  A young man sitting at the inner table, wearing disposable gloves, handed over the Lingyu and skillfully passed it to the white-haired old man in his seventies sitting in the middle, saying "Please ask Mr. Li for help with appraisal!"

  Without even using her newly learned Wisdom Eye technique, Zuo Xiaoyao had already discerned that the old man inside the counter was a Cultivator who had reached the Nascent Soul stage, making it clear that the power behind this pawnshop was related to the Cultivation world.

  Wearing disposable gloves, the old man pretended to carefully examine the first-class spirit jade from all sides before handing it over to the young man who was waiting with an unchanged expression and said "Good jade! Worth a million words, one piece is worth 10,000!"

  Reverently receiving the Lingyu, the young man returned to the window and smiled, saying "May I ask, madam, are you treating it as a living or dead thing? If it's the latter, one yuan per piece!"

  "Is it cash? Or is it on credit?"

  Upon hearing Zuo Xiao's question, the young man who had only seen dead bodies before looked slightly surprised, and after a brief pause, smiled and replied: "It's cash. The pawned amount varies depending on the term of the pawn. For a one-month pawn, it's 7,000; for a six-month pawn, it's 5,000. If the deadline is not met, the ticket will automatically become invalid!"

  Originally, it was just out of curiosity about the difference that she casually asked, but after seeing the white-haired old man, Zuo Xiao Yao didn't know why she would call this transaction "pawn", it's more like an exchange. It seemed like she grabbed two more spiritual jade from her backpack and put them in the window, saying "I want to pawn a hundred of these, all for cash, just get me a bag to carry them!"

  After carefully counting the spiritual jade, the young man took out a black leather bag from the drawer with a happy face, then opened the password box beside him and counted out 100 bundles of 100-yuan bills. After filling the bag halfway, he handed it out through the window. The action was smooth and familiar, without even asking Xiaoxiao's opinion or checking the money.

  Zuo Xiaoyao, who had taken the heavy bag and turned to leave, couldn't help but think to herself that this Nine Tai Valley Trade Fair, which was held every seven years, must have brought a lot of business to this pawnshop, which enjoyed a geographical advantage. Of course, it probably did during ordinary times as well, since its location was close to the Nine Tai Mountain, where cultivators often entered and exited.

  In the Cultivation Realm, no one would be willing to exchange this thing for Spiritual Jade. After all, although Spiritual Jade is now artificially synthesized, synthesizing it is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive, with a very limited daily output. Even a professional, skilled Jade Master who has reached the Fusion Stage can only synthesize twenty to twenty-five pieces of First-Grade Spiritual Jade or one to two pieces of Second-Grade Spiritual Jade in a day, provided they have sufficient spiritual energy to replenish their consumed spiritual power in a timely manner.

  This is also the reason why Hong Tian and others would strongly dissuade Zuo Xiao Yao when they found out that she bought a large amount of blank Lingyu to work as a part-time Yu Shi. The main goal of cultivators is to spend all their time cultivating, or find ways to provide better conditions for their own cultivation. The higher the cultivation base, the clearer this goal becomes. Using it to synthesize Lingyu is really a waste, of course, this is what outsiders think because they don't have such an against-the-heavens treasure like her Purple Boundary Realm.

  Even if other cultivators want to exchange for worldly currency due to their needs, very few people would be like Zuo Xiaoyao, who exchanged a hundred coins in one go, which is quite extravagant. This is also why the young man at the pawnshop thought that with this transaction, his bonus this month might increase greatly and was overjoyed, even though he didn't know why his boss was extremely welcoming to customers who came to pawn such items.

  If it weren't for the fact that she was a cultivator, Zuo XiaoYao would never have dared to walk down the street with a bag full of millions in cash, even if some people might have wondered what was inside, but to ordinary people, it just looked like a bunch of thick flyers with red patterns printed on them.

  Strength and money complement each other. In the past, she didn't have strength, so she didn't dare to imagine that one day she would easily own so much money. Now that she has strength, wanting money seems effortless, but she can no longer enjoy the sense of accomplishment and joy from earning it with hard work at first.

  Just like her, since escaping to the Shennong Platform, she no longer carefully considered whether she should regret taking the path of cultivating the truth, or whether she should blame herself for knowing how precious the three treasures of the Purple Venerable were. Otherwise, at this time, she might still be living a peaceful and contented life, even if her life was being monitored and spied upon, but unknowingly it was also a kind of blessing. An ordinary and dull life would continue, and every ten days or half a month, she could still go to the cemetery to visit and chat with him.

  The road has been chosen, whether actively or passively, and it's impossible to change the fact that this path has already been taken. There is no turning back, regardless of where the destination lies, one must persist in moving forward. At this point, Zuo Xiao Yao had long known that with gain comes loss, a cause-and-effect relationship. She fundamentally had no opportunity to weigh whether she gained more or lost more, nor did she have the right to choose between gains and losses.

  Standing once again on the square of S city's train station, Zai Ci felt a mix of emotions, but she clearly knew that this time, she would not flee in disarray again!

  PS: Sorry, I was poisoned by food or carbon monoxide from burning coal in the store yesterday, and I kept vomiting all night. Until now, I don't dare to eat anything and don't want to go to the hospital. I slept for a whole day, so the update is delayed until now. Unfortunately, there won't be a second update today. When my condition gets better, I will try to make up for it!

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