The Long Journey to Immortality

After passing through the "checkpoint" at the city gate, Wen Erya's carriage traveled leisurely along the wide bluestone road of the capital for a full quarter of an hour before arriving at the true destination of this journey home—the residence of the Thirteenth Princess.

On the way, Wen Erya told Han Lu about her coming-of-age ceremony and being granted a princess's residence outside the palace, relieving her of unnecessary worries.

With less than half a cup of tea's time remaining before arriving at the princess's residence, Wen Erya once again summoned her maid and changed into the elaborate but gorgeous outfit she had taken off before setting off.

At first, Han Lu was a little confused, but when she saw another group of people waiting in front of the princess's mansion, she understood the meaning behind Wen Erya's actions.

In front of the princess's residence, civil officials from the Ministry of Rites and palace eunuchs, appointed by the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, were already waiting.

The steward was a skilled driver, and he brought the carriage to a precise stop in front of the princess's residence.

Wen Erya got out of the carriage with the help of two maids, while Han Lu hid behind her like a little follower.

Han Lu disliked these kinds of occasions, and since she wasn't the main character in this story, she naturally avoided them to avoid standing awkwardly to the side.

The civil official from the Ministry of Rites received the imperial edict from the eunuch and announced it to Wen Erya.

The content was quite simple: the Southern Dynasty emperor added two more pleasant-sounding words to the title of Princess Wen Erya, the thirteenth princess, said some encouraging and caring words, and finally bestowed some mundane gifts upon her.

Unable to be present in person, the Southern Dynasty emperor could only express his love for his daughter, whom he had not seen for half a year, in this straightforward way.

Wen Erya accepted the imperial edict, expressed her gratitude for the emperor's favor, and with the help of her maids and stewards, accepted the gifts presented by the eunuchs one by one.

These gifts are not as valuable as the ones we just received at the city gate.

Each item needs to be registered before being stored in the warehouse; even if it is not used, it must not be lost.

As a princess, Wen Erya has many more worldly ties than Han Lu.

After the ceremony concluded, both Wen Erya and the civil official responsible for reading the imperial edict seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

The palace eunuch first took a step back and bowed to Wen Erya again, then took two steps forward and whispered two words that the emperor had given to Wen Erya.

Han Lu had no intention of eavesdropping on such a private message.

Han Lu noticed the smile that appeared on Wen Erya's face after hearing those two sentences of imperial edict.

The group followed Wen Erya into the princess's residence, with Han Lu walking at the very back.

As soon as the door closed, Wen Erya almost instantly shed her princess disguise, wishing she could use a lightness spell to quickly find a room to change clothes and get rid of this burden.

Busy changing her clothes, Wen Erya naturally couldn't immediately entertain Han Lu, this distinguished guest.

Fortunately, the princess's residence had a steward whom Wen Erya trusted implicitly to help with the service.

With the help of the steward, Han Lu was able to find a suitable place to live in this courtyard, located in the heart of the Southern Dynasty capital, not far from the master bedroom.

Han Lu symbolically took out a few pieces of clothing from her storage bag and placed them inside the room, thus settling down for the time being.

After enjoying tea and snacks in the reception room for about half a cup of tea's time, Wen Erya changed back into her everyday clothes and came out to "receive guests."

"Junior sister, come on, I'll show you around and help you get familiar with the place."

Wen Erya's residence in the capital was ten times more luxurious and a hundred times more spacious than her residence in Zhengyi Gate.

It took Han Lu and Wen Erya a full fifteen minutes to stroll through the waterside pavilion and courtyard built in the princess's mansion, let alone the rest of the mansion.

Looking at the many empty rooms, Han Lu asked curiously, "Senior sister, not counting the servants, do you live here all by yourself?"

"More or less," Wen Erya replied. "I only stayed here for less than half a year before setting off for Zhengyi Gate. During that time, apart from my mother occasionally coming here for a few days, only my master, who was a court monk, came here for half a month."

Wen Erya sighed, "Sometimes I feel that living here is not as good as living in the palace. Although there are more rules, at least I can see my mother every day and occasionally talk to my father."

Family ties are inherently cold within the royal family, so Wen Er Ya naturally cares more about the purer feelings between relatives than ordinary people.

After wandering around for a while, lunch was finally ready.

Han Lu and Wen Erya took their seats together and enjoyed a sumptuous meal of imperial cuisine. However, Wen Erya, concerned about Han Lu's important business, took the initiative to ask.

"Junior sister, would you like to come directly to the Royal Library with me, or would you like to wander around the capital and go tomorrow?"

Han Lu was not in a particular hurry, only consulting some historical materials.

"Please, senior sister, show this country bumpkin around the capital and broaden his horizons."

It was a small matter, and Wen Erya readily agreed.

[Author's Note] Facing the Typhoon

Chapter 128 Strolling, Teahouse, Storyteller

Although she was born and raised in the capital of the Southern Dynasty, Wen Erya, who had spent 90% of her life in the inner palace, did not know much more about the city than Han Lu, an outsider.

Fortunately, after Wen Erya came of age, she lived in the princess's residence for half a year before taking the test of the Zhengyi Sect and entering the Zhengyi Sect to cultivate Taoist magic.

Otherwise, this "homebody" living in the palace probably wouldn't even be able to distinguish the many roads in the capital, let alone act as a host, a guide, and lead Han Lu to tour the largest city in the Southern Dynasty.

After lunch, they took a comfortable half-hour nap before the two of them, dressed in more casual clothes, went out together.

Since both of them were cultivators and were only strolling around the capital of the Southern Dynasty, there would be no safety issues.

Only the maid who had once taught Han Lu music on the road followed behind, serving them and helping these two nobles who might get lost in the bustling capital.

"Where should we go?" Wen Erya asked Han Lu.

"Let's just wander around for now," Han Lu said, not good at making choices about these trivial matters. "Anyway, everything in this city is new to me."

To be precise, neither Feng Bailu nor Xiaoyaozi had ever spent even a single day in a big city as ordinary people.

Since birth, Feng Bailu and his mother had lived in seclusion in the mountains. Although there were small mountain towns not far from their residence, he had never even seen a big city like the capital of the Southern Dynasty.

Xiaoyaozi's experience is slightly richer than Fengbailu's. When he was young, he and his family made a living by fishing in the East China Sea. Sometimes, they would stay in a small town on the coast for a day in order to sell fish.

But until he was chosen by a rogue cultivator from the East Sea and embarked on the path of cultivation, Xiaoyaozi never truly lived for long in a place that could barely be called a big city.

However, Han Lu stayed in Moyu City for half a month after her reincarnation.

This is also the only memory Han Lu has of a secular metropolis among her three memories.

However, when Han Lu followed Wen Erya through the streets of the Southern Dynasty's capital, she discovered that this city was quite different from Moyu City.

Compared to Moyu City, located at the border of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the capital city is much more lively.

The crowds on the street were more than three times greater than in the relatively quiet city of Moyu. Even though the streets were well-planned and several times wider than ordinary roads, Han Lu and Wen Erya still had to slow down when they reached the bustling areas.

Neither of them used any magic to reveal their identities as cultivators, thus isolating themselves from the mortal world.

On the contrary, both Han Lu, who came from a poor background, and Wen Erya, who was the "Thirteenth Princess," enjoyed the comfort of traveling together in this bustling city.

As they strolled along, Han Lu and Wen Erya could be seen at many of the street stalls.

Cultivators possess a transcendent aura that sets them apart from ordinary mortals. Combined with their appearances, the two women attracted countless glances as they strolled down the street, even though no lecherous rogue dared to approach them.

The street vendors were much more enthusiastic when they saw the two than when they encountered ordinary customers, hoping to get them to stay at their stalls a little longer, chat a bit more, and help them attract business.

After walking through the area, Han Lu and Wen Erya each acquired one or two inexpensive but pleasing accessories.

Wen Erya naturally paid for the jewelry.

Although Han Lu is considered a moderately wealthy person in the secular world, she did not stand on ceremony with her best friend Wen Erya on this matter.

Just as the two were about to walk a few more steps to the next commercial street to find weavers and tailors to prepare some new clothes for the New Year, the sky suddenly changed.

A light drizzle fell, mixed with a few snowflakes.

Wen Erya and Han Lu were both cultivators, and they had umbrellas in their storage bags. They were not bothered by the sudden rain. However, they tacitly obeyed the will of heaven and followed the flow of people to find a teahouse to enjoy tea, scenery, and shelter from the rain.

The teahouse has three floors, with the top floor containing private rooms, but it was already full.

Han Lu and Wen Erya could only find a small table on the second floor to sit down.

The teahouse was of a high standard, but the tea it served still couldn't compare to the tribute that Wen Erya had once given to Han Lu.

The wealthy and generous Wen Erya ordered a pot of the shop's best tea and had the waiter bring out a portion of each kind of pastry and dried fruit.

Tea and snacks filled the table, which could originally seat four people.

Although it is a teahouse, there is a fairly large stage in the center of the first floor where people can perform.

On rainy days, the number of tea drinkers increases, and the teahouse is full. The program, which was originally only performed at night, is performed earlier at this time, arranged by the teahouse owner.

First, an ordinary woman dressed in light gauze took to the stage to play a guqin (a traditional Chinese stringed instrument) in the winter.

The piece being played was "Flowing Water," a classic guqin piece, which, combined with the sound of raindrops hitting the roof tiles outside the window, created a particularly harmonious atmosphere.

Because she was practicing music and honing her flute playing skills, Han Lu listened to this piece with extra care. She even placed her hand lightly on the table, carefully mimicking the fingerings and regulating her breathing as she followed the melody.

She imagined what it would be like to play the piece according to the sheet music.

After the woman in the light veil finished her song, she received a round of applause, cheers, and a considerable amount of money as a reward.

Immediately afterwards, another middle-aged man whose cultivation level was no more than that of a Daoist novice took to the stage to perform.

Because cultivators exist in this world, and among them are incompetent older cultivators and novice cultivators, ordinary street performers have no way to make a living. These older cultivators with some magical abilities have become acrobats who sell their skills to make a living.

This middle-aged cultivator's cultivation level was only at the Dao Child Realm, so the novel "tricks" he could perform were not that profound.

Even so, after a few moves, he still drew applause from the ordinary people sitting in the teahouse watching the show.

Han Lu, Wen Erya, and a few other cultivators who were temporarily sitting in the teahouse felt a little embarrassed by this scene. They almost expelled the middle-aged man from the ranks of cultivators to prevent him from embarrassing "cultivators" with this kind of program.

Wen Erya's way of expressing himself is more direct.

She threw a gold ingot directly onto the stage.

Upon seeing the glittering gold, the middle-aged Taoist boy quickly bowed and expressed his gratitude. He hurriedly stuffed the gold and the rest of the reward money into the tattered storage bag at his waist, as if afraid of being stolen.

Wen Er Ya's extravagant spending drew the attention of many people.

The teahouse was quite large, and many of the people there were either observant or held official positions. Naturally, some recognized Wen Erya's identity, whispered among themselves, and pointed at her.

Wen Erya was already used to all of this. She simply took a sip of tea and, like any other tea drinker, waited for the next performance.

The middle-aged cultivator returned home laden with spoils, and then an elderly man with a long beard came onto the stage carrying a gavel and a feather fan.

"Oh? He's a storyteller."

Perhaps because she came to the capital for the stories of the ancient cultivation era, Han Lu had a strange expectation for this storyteller, subconsciously feeling that she could hear stories about the ancient cultivation era from him.

Chapter 129 The Source of Rumors

When the old man appeared carrying two utensils for eating, applause rang out from the first floor of the teahouse.

There were also people shouting encouragement and cheering.