008 Gold & Dignity

  We finished off our bowls of noodles, leaving nothing but a slick sheen of broth at the bottom. The meal had been satisfying—rich, savory, aly what I needed after a long m of singing and wandering around the city.

  Still, I wasn’t quite ready to leave yet.

  I waved the server over. “Do you have any dessert?”

  It was a long shot. A world like this might not have developed the sweet delicacies I was used to. But to my surprise, the server’s eyes lit up.

  “Yes, Young Master! We have something quite special—shaved ice!”

  I blinked. “Shaved ice?”

  “Yes!” The server gestured excitedly. “It is a rare treat. Our family possesses an heirloom that allows us to create ice even in the heat of summer!”

  That got my attention. “An heirloom, huh?”

  “Yes, an old family treasure,” the server said proudly. “It has been in our possession feions. Though it is but a low-grade artifact, it still serves us well.”

  Artifact, huh?

  I wasly sure how artifacts worked in this world, but I khey were essentially magical equipment. That was about the extent of my knowledge.

  I wasn’t about to start interrogating the server about their family secret, though, so I just nodded. “Alright. Bring us two.”

  A few mier, two bowls of fluffy white shaved ice arrived, lightly drizzled with sweet syrup.

  I took a bite.

  Cold. Sweet. Refreshing.

  Not bad at all.

  Gu Jie, sitting across from me, hesitated at first. But after watg me dig in without hesitation, she carefully picked up her spoon and took a small bite. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she said nothing, fog instead ohodically w her way through the dessert.

  As we ate, I decided t up something that had piqued my i earlier.

  “So,” I started, breaking the fortable silence. “About that underground dealing you mentioned earlier. What’s that about?”

  Gu Jie perked up at the questioing down her spoon. “ht! The rumor I picked up is about the underwang bosses of Yellon City. Apparently, they’ve called a truce.”

  I raised a brow. “A truce?”

  She nodded. “Yes. It seems they’ve agreed to jointly operate a massive gambling ring for tomorrow’s dueli.”

  Now that was iing.

  “Let me guess,” I said dryly, “the City Governor is turning a blio all of this?”

  Gu Jie smirked. “Not just turning a blind eye. He’s actively promoting it.”

  I exhaled through my nose. Of course, he was.

  A gambling ring of this scale, with the gangs w together instead of fighting over turf? That kind anization needed official bag. If the City Governor was involved, that meant this wasn’t just some illegal side hustle.

  It was a fully saned event.

  And with all the major sects and grand s gathered iy, there was no doubt that the betting pool would be massive.

  Gu Jie leaned forward slightly, her voice l. “The dueli is already the talk of the city. People are excited, and with gambling involved? It’s going to be absolute chaos.”

  I hummed thoughtfully, tapping my spoon against the edge of my bowl.

  I wasn’t much of a gambler myself, but I had to admit—I was curious about the event.

  Would I be attending? Absolutely.

  Would I be participating? Hell no.

  Right now, the spotlight was my greatest enemy.

  I had no i in stepping into the ring and drawing unnecessary attention to myself. My goal was simple: observe, learn, and avoid standing out.

  That said…

  I was looking forward to seeing some duels.

  With a fliy wrist, I opehe pouches Gu Jie had handed me, revealing gleaming gold s stacked ly inside.

  I let out a hum of approval. Not bad.

  These were inally LLO gold s, which had been verted into this world’s currency. To think three mere LLO gold pieces were verted to this many gold s was quite a sight.

  Across the table, Gu Jie eyed me curiously. “Senior… why do you even need gold? You could have exged them for Spirit Stones instead.”

  Ah. Spirit Stones.

  The cultivator’s currency of choice—used for both trade and cultivation. It was a standard iy much every xianxia story, and apparently, this world was no different.

  I scooped up a handful of gold s, letting them k between my fingers. “I need spending moo acquire mortal services. Pretty obvious, don’t you think?”

  Gu Jie still looked fused.

  I sighed, leaning ba my seat. Right. This was a xianxia world.

  Mortals weren’t seen as important.

  To someone like Gu Jie, spending gold instead of Spirit Stones must have seemed bizarre. After all, in her eyes, why bother with mohat couldn’t enhance cultivation?

  Sheesh… xianxia bullshit struck again.

  Still, I had better things to do than expin basiieone who had probably spent most of her life just trying to survive.

  As I studied her, I couldn’t help but notice her appearance again.

  Sure, she looked better than when I first met her, but that wasn’t saying much. She was still thin, her plexih, and her clothes—well, calling them ragged would be putting it nicely.

  She wasn’t dirty, but she looked like someone who had been struggling to get by for a long time.

  I exhaled through my hen stuffed one of the money pouches into my Item Box before sliding the other toward her.

  Gu Jie blinked. “Senior…?”

  “Take it.”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  I gestured at her with my spoon. “Because you look terrible.”

  Gu Jie stiffened.

  I ignored her rea and tinued. “Go get yourself some proper clothes. Maybe some skireatment or whatever people do to fix their looks in this world.”

  She looked absolutely offe the idea. “I don’t need—”

  I cut her off with a pointed look.

  “Listen,” I said ftly, “if a beggar-looking person bees my follower, what does that say about me?”

  Gu Jie opened her mouth, then closed it.

  I leaned in slightly. “Do you really want to degrade my dignity like that?”

  Her expression twisted into one of absolute guilt.

  I could practically hear her internal monologue.

  I’m shaming my beor! I must n disgrace to Senior!

  Gu Jie gulped, then bowed her head slightly. “I… I uand, Senior.”

  “Good,” I said, waving her off. “Now go fix yourself before I ge my mind.”

  She hesitated only for a sed before clutg the pouch like her life depended on it. Then, without another word, she rushed off, no doubt already pnning how to ‘restore my dignity’ as fast as possible.

  I smirked to myself.

  Guilt-tripping xianxia characters was way too easy.

  Gu Jie had barely taken a few steps away when I called out to her.

  “One more thing.”

  She turned back, standing straight. “Yes, Senior?”

  I tapped the table thoughtfully, theured for her to sit again.

  “I want you to use any excess money as funds to bribe certain people and gather information for me.”

  Gu Jie’s eyes sharpened. “What kind of information?”

  I leaned back, resting my on my hand. I had to be careful here. If I made it too obvious that I was fishing for world knowledge, she might get suspicious. The st thing I needed was for someoo question why I was so ignorant.

  So, I put on my best frivolous expression, as if I had just e up with a random whim.

  “I’ve been thinking,” I said, feigning casual i, “I feel like building my own library.”

  Gu Jie blinked. “…A library?”

  I nodded. “That’s right. I want every kind of book—whether it’s a mundane book, a cultivator’s book, a historical text, or even a random mert’s log. If it has words, I want at least one copy of it.”

  Gu Jie frowned, clearly struggling to uand why I, a person with no know affiliation, would want a private colle of books.

  “…Senior, are you a Schor?”

  I let out a ugh. “Do I look like one?”

  “…No.”

  “Exactly,” I said, fshing a smirk. “I just happen to enjoy… knowledge.”

  Gu Jie hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Uood.”

  I reached into my Item Box and pulled out a dozen gleaming LLO gold s, pg them oable.

  “These are extra funds,” I said, sliding them toward her. “Exge them for Spirit Stones, herbs, or hiring muscles. I don’t care. Think of it as an additional test for you.”

  Gu Jie, however, looked troubled.

  I arched a brow. “Problem?”

  She hesitated before speaking. “Senior… I’m only a First Realm cultivator.”

  “And?”

  She ched her fists. “If I start moving around too much, I might attract the wrong attention. If someone suspects I have money, I could be robbed… or worse.”

  Ah. Right.

  A First Realm cultivator wasn’t much strohan an above-average mortal. In the world of xianxia, she was fodder-tier.

  I exhaled through my hen reached into my Item Box once again.

  If I was going to send her out to do errands for me, I might as well make sure she didn’t die.

  With a fliy wrist, I pulled out three magic scrolls, each rolled up ly and tied with a thin ribbon.

  Gu Jie’s eyes widened. “What are those?”

  I pced them oable one by one. “Magic scrolls.”

  She didn’t react, clearly unfamiliar with the term.

  I sighed. “They tain imbued spells. All you have to do to activate them is rip them apart.”

  She reached out hesitantly, as if they might explode. “What… kind of spells?”

  I gestured to eae.

  “This one is Blink—an instantaneous short-distaeleportation spell.”

  Her lips parted in awe.

  I moved to the sed scroll. “This is Greater Teleportation. Unlike Blink, it requires two to three seds of eling, but it sends you a greater distance.”

  Finally, I tapped the st scroll. “And this is Invisibility. Self-expnatory.”

  Gu Jie stared at the scrolls like they were priceless treasures.

  “Senior… these are… too valuable for someone like me.”

  “They’re expensive,” I admitted, “but you’re my follower, aren’t you?”

  She straightened immediately. “Yes, Senior!”

  “Then it’s my job to make sure you don’t die.”

  Her lips trembled slightly. Was she gettiional?

  I ig and tinued.

  “If I could, I’d just give you a magig with the same effects,” I mused. “It would be far less expehan using up my limited supply of scrolls.”

  Gu Jie furrowed her brows. “Then… why don’t you?”

  I sighed. “Because I don’t know how it would i with qi.”

  She blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, these scrolls activate by simply ripping them—no plex activation required. But ented rings? Those require a user to el a special kind of energy into them.” I gave her a pointed look. “And I don’t know if qi and my kind of magic will mix well.”

  sidering how ignorant she was to LLO’s brand of magic, that at least proved this world was separate from the world of Lost Legends Online. And here I was hoping at the bay mind that this pce was just some unexplored map.

  Gu Jie looked like she wao ask more, but after a moment, she swallowed her curiosity and nodded.

  “I see,” she said quietly. “Then… I’ll treasure these.”

  “Good,” I said, smirking. “See that you do.”