Transmigration: The Peerless Immortal Husband

What’s essential when shopping? Of course, it’s buying, buying, buying!

Gu Yao was as happy as a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar, eagerly wanting to bring back all the spiritual herbs he liked.

If we were to compare the marketplace in Yuanyang Town to a small stream, then the marketplace in Shifang City would be like a vast ocean. The wide array of goods made it hard for Gu Yao to take everything in at once.

Gu Yao’s appearance clearly showed he was a newcomer from a small place, and the shop assistant boasted, “Shifang City is the largest cultivation city on the Tianlin Continent. The range of goods here is also the most complete. Anything you can find in other places on the Tianlin Continent, we have it here. And if it’s something you can’t find anywhere else, we can still get it for you. Even if it’s not in stock at the moment, as long as you have enough spirit stones, we can find a way to get it for you.”

The assistant’s boasting was loud, and Gu Yao only listened without reacting. Although he was a country bumpkin, let’s not forget that there was a powerful person living in his sea of consciousness, and Chi Changye came from a place with higher cultivation. If they really wanted to challenge the shop’s claims, it wouldn’t be impossible.

However, the assistant’s words were enough to fool cultivators from small places. Many people’s eyes sparkled with longing after hearing it.

In reality, no matter how good the items were, Gu Yao couldn’t afford them right now. Although he had saved up quite a bit of spirit stones and spirit pearls before leaving and along the way, he quickly realized as he shopped around that they were still poor. There were too many things he wanted to buy, so he had to be selective.

Chi Changye didn’t really have anything he wanted to buy, so he was simply there to follow behind Gu Yao as his wallet. Initially, Gu Yao was the one managing the money, but gradually, without even realizing it, it became the case that Gu Yao often took money from Chi Changye. The remaining spirit pearls around Gu Yao were only for cultivation purposes.

This change happened subtly, so Gu Yao didn’t feel anything was off. Meanwhile, the Tian family brothers who were following them, especially Tian Feirong, kept glancing at them, hiding his lips with a fan, and occasionally casting glances toward the two of them.

Although the two of them were publicly presented as a married couple, Tian Feirong was very clear that they didn’t actually live together. Apart from the initial time they were set up, they hadn’t shared a bed. But to say there was no ambiguity at all—just the way they interacted was enough to fuel gossip for a while.

“Brother, look at these two, they’re starting to look more and more like a real couple, don’t you think?” Tian Feirong whispered to his older brother, gossiping.

Tian Feiyang reluctantly tore his gaze away from a top-tier magic weapon and glared at his gossiping younger brother. He replied, “Yeah, they’re quite a good match.”

Tian Feirong sighed, “I never expected this kid, Gu Yao, to have saved up so much money in just half a year. He’s more generous than me, the second young master of the Tian family. Look at how many spirit pearls he’s already spent in such a short time.”

When he was still in Yuanyang Town, Tian Feirong never thought of himself as poor, but now, after seeing the expenses in this place, he felt for the first time that his purse was rather empty.

Tian Feiyang, rarely agreeing with his younger brother, nodded and said, “They don’t have any burdens, and they each have their strengths. If they run out, they can always earn more. You and I left the family…”

Tian Feiyang sighed and shook his head as he spoke. Without the family backing them, it was hard for people like them to survive. They would either be hired by others or go out of the city to search for spiritual herbs or hunt monsters, with the possibility of never returning.

Not only did the Tian brothers look on enviously, but the Gu family members sitting at a tavern above also looked on with various feelings of jealousy.

“This guy really has it easy, everything he wants, someone’s handing him spirit pearls. In just this short amount of time, he’s probably already spent thousands of them,” said a Gu family younger branch member named Gu Yang, speaking sourly. He had originally thought that attending the Ascension Conference would be enough to stand out in the family, but after comparing himself to Gu Yao, all his pride had faded, “But no matter how lucky he is, he can’t compare to Elder Brother Gu Yan. Gu Yan is going to join the Changxian Sect.”

Gu Yu was the eldest daughter of the third son of the Gu family. Although she also felt envious, she had witnessed Gu Yao’s process of refining and selling pills along the way. She said, “Those spirit pearls were earned by Gu Yao himself. He made quite a lot just by selling pills on the road.”

Not to mention, before leaving the town, he had secretly made deals with the Tian family. His net worth was much higher than that of these family heirs. Although Chi Changye could draw talismans, the speed at which he made money couldn’t compare to Gu Yao’s pill sales. Gu Yu couldn’t help but feel envious.

Gu Yang didn’t want to argue with Gu Yu, a direct descendant, but he still felt dissatisfied. The people who were once beneath them were now showing off, and it was hard for him to accept.

At that moment, a procession passed by downstairs. The pedestrians saw them and quickly stepped aside, watching the group with admiration and awe.

“Big Brother, who are those people downstairs? They seem like they come from a powerful background,” Gu Yu asked, noticing that the people below either had indifferent or extremely arrogant expressions, completely ignoring the gazes of the passersby. Gu Yu felt that it was similar to how their Gu family members had once treated commoners and loose cultivators in Yuanyang Town. Now, it was their turn to be ignored by others, and the feeling… was very strange and somewhat sour.

Gu Yan saw the insignia on their clothing and calmly said, “Those are disciples from the Beixing Sect. The ones at the front are inner disciples. The Beixing Sect has considerable status on our Tianlin Continent. If possible, you should try to join this sect.”

The Gu family immediately straightened up. So, these were disciples of the Beixing Sect, and naturally, they had more reason to be proud than people from Yuanyang Town.

The members of the Gu family saw this, and Gu Yao and his group also saw the Beixing Sect disciples passing by. Tian Feiyang’s eyes flashed with envy, but he quickly calmed down. There was no need to envy the Beixing Sect disciples; soon, he would join the Tianhai Sect with his aunt, and he would not necessarily be worse off than these disciples from Beixing Sect in the future. Success depended on one’s effort.

“We’ve been walking around for a while. Let’s find a place to sit down,” Tian Feirong said, pointing to a tavern across the street.

“That’s fine. We’ll be here for quite some time, so there’s no rush,” Gu Yao agreed. The key issue was still his lack of money. He couldn’t bring himself to spend what little he had, and in his sea of consciousness, Xu Chen was still shouting, criticizing him for throwing all sorts of useless weeds into his space, saying he couldn’t even bring out a single spirit stone. “If you can’t take it out, don’t keep picking at everything,” Xu Chen grumbled.

As the four of them entered the tavern, they happened to spot the Gu family’s group sitting by the window. Tian Feiyang gave them a polite nod and then led his younger brother and Gu Yao to another table.

“How unlucky, we actually ran into them,” Tian Feirong muttered under his breath. “At least the Gu Xing and Gu Chen twins didn’t come.”

Tian Feirong said this with a smirk of schadenfreude. Gu Yao hadn’t expected that the old man of the Gu family had practically abandoned the second branch and the entire line. In ten years, even if the twins were extremely talented, they would be too old to be of any use, but that had nothing to do with him. The fewer annoying people around, the happier he would be.

The prices of the food and drinks in the tavern made the four of them inwardly click their tongues in surprise. No wonder when they had first seen the Gu family’s table, they hadn’t ordered much. Even the rich had to behave modestly here.

Fortunately, it was rare to visit such a place, and it was their first time entering a tavern like this, so they decided to try the local dishes and see if the food and drinks were better than those in Yuanyang Town.

Chi Changye glanced at Gu Yao, then ordered several dishes and a pot of spirit tea. When Gu Yao looked like he was about to protest, Chi Changye explained, “If you want to drink alcohol, you can buy it and take it back to drink later. It’s better to drink tea when you’re out.”

Gu Yao had no choice but to give in. Tian Feirong couldn’t protest either, unless he could beat Chi Changye.

Soon, the dishes and spirit tea were brought to them. They ate while chatting, occasionally commenting on people passing by on the street. In addition to the disciples from Beixing Sect, several other disciples in sect robes passed by. Tian Feiyang could recognize most of them, as this was part of the preparation he had done before leaving.

“Who are those people?” Gu Yao asked curiously as he saw a group of cultivators dressed in various ways, but clearly from the same group.

Tian Feiyang leaned over to take a look and said, “Those are from Tianfu Academy.” He then glanced at his younger brother.

“Tianfu Academy? The one with the low entrance requirements but always asking for money?” Gu Yao had heard of it. Since they were attending the Ascension Conference, it was natural to gather as much information as possible. They couldn’t come here completely uninformed.

Tian Feirong let out a small laugh, “Yes, that’s the one. It’s quite a unique place on our Tianlin Continent. My father actually wanted me to join that academy. Big Brother, you wouldn’t really listen to Dad, would you? Spending all that money for me to join there—if I went, I’d just be wasting time.”

Gu Yao didn’t expect Tian Feiyang’s younger brother to have this background. He looked curiously at the group of people. Compared to the previous groups of sect disciples, this group was indeed quite diverse in terms of appearance, and their quality was definitely lower. A few of them had weak auras, only at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining, but judging by their clothing, they didn’t seem to be short of money. Two of them even had spiritual tools whose spiritual light was so bright it could dazzle others.

Tian Feiyang furrowed his brows and said, “So what do you want to do? Just come out for a stroll and go back? Life might not be as good as it used to be.”

In the past, Tian Feirong had been protected by his older brother, and the other branches and side-line family members wouldn’t dare openly bully him. But once he joined Tianhai Sect, his father would be busy with his own affairs and wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on the conflicts among the younger generation. His grandfather also had other grandchildren to look after.

Tian Feirong, feeling dissatisfied, waved his fan a few times. Then his eyes suddenly lit up as he turned to look at Gu Yao. “Gu Yao, you’re not short on money. Why don’t we join Tianfu Academy together?”

The main reason, he thought, was that with Gu Yao’s four spirit roots, it was likely no sect would take him in. Of course, if his alchemy skills were to be revealed, he might get accepted as an exception, but until now, Tian Feirong hadn’t heard Gu Yao express any interest in joining a sect.

Gu Yao blinked and said, “I’ll need to think about it some more, and also, I have to consider Brother Ye’s opinion.”

Tian Feirong immediately stopped talking. He hadn’t forgotten that Brother Ye was an oddity—a mutated thunder-based single spirit root. If that information were made public, even Changxian Sect would probably fight to accept him. This guy was strange. He had always stayed quietly in Yuanyang Town before, giving off an impression of complacency and lack of ambition.

Chi Changye took a sip of spiritual tea and looked at Gu Yao with a faint smile. “I haven’t thought about joining any sect. Xiao Yao doesn’t need to worry about me.” His meaning was clear: wherever Gu Yao went, he would follow.

Tian Feiyang raised an eyebrow, not expecting Chi Changye to make such a choice. In his opinion, Chi Changye’s spiritual root aptitude couldn’t be bad, and joining any sect shouldn’t be an issue for him. But he didn’t choose that path. Was it because he looked down on the sects? Tian Feiyang found that thought amusing—he didn’t think that was the case. Perhaps Chi Changye had some background and didn’t want to join just any sect.

“Given this, Brother Chi could try entering Tianfu Academy,” Tian Feiyang said. “As far as I know, Tianfu Academy has low requirements, and it’s more flexible than sects. Anyone who enters the academy can bring a servant, and no one would bat an eye. Although the academy’s students seem laid-back and even a bit absurd, if someone can make it into the inner academy, they might be better off than sect disciples.”

“Tianfu Academy doesn’t force anyone to do anything,” he continued. “Even the tasks assigned can be settled with spiritual pearls or stones. Of course, it’s not like you can’t learn anything there. The academy’s library is rumored to be quite impressive, but…”

“Still need money, right?” Gu Yao interjected, finishing his thought. As expected, it always came down to money.

Tian Feiyang smiled and nodded. “Exactly.”

Gu Yao glanced at Chi Changye. Apart from the fact that it required money, he was somewhat tempted. Even though Chi Changye and Xu Chen had been supplementing his cultivation knowledge, some things still needed to be learned and experienced firsthand.

His original purpose for coming to the Ascension Conference with the Tian family was to leave Yuanyang Town and stay in a cultivation city. He planned to cultivate while slowly developing using his skills, and once his strength was sufficient, he would venture out to gain experience.

With his four spirit roots, no sect would accept him. Even if he managed to force his way in, he’d likely be the lowest-ranked disciple, enduring a difficult time. Chi Changye wouldn’t casually join any sect, and the reason was the opposite of Gu Yao’s situation: Chi Changye’s aptitude was too good. Therefore, a sect like Tianfu Academy, which had lower requirements, seemed like a good option.

Chi Changye patted Gu Yao’s head and said, “Sounds good. If you want to go, go ahead. Since they allow attendants, I’ll enter as your attendant.”

No matter how poor the environment was, as long as there was a chance to learn real things, then Tianfu Academy wouldn’t be too bad. After all, Gu Yao wasn’t someone whose resolve could easily waver or be swayed by his surroundings.

Gu Yao also became interested in the idea of entering to see what it was like. If it didn’t fulfill his expectations, he could always leave. He then asked, “How much is the tuition fee?” He needed to see if his finances were enough; if not, he would have to refine some pills and sell them to raise money.

“There are two options,” Tian Feiyang said with a smile, confident that his second brother would be willing to stay. “One is to take the Tianfu Academy’s assessment. This option is cheaper, costing ten spirit stones. If your aptitude is particularly good, the fee could be waived. The second option is to pay directly without taking the test, but that costs one hundred spirit stones.”

Gu Yao gasped in shock, feeling a sharp pain in his teeth. One hundred spirit stones?! And that was just the entrance fee for the academy! Once inside, there would be all kinds of additional costs.

One spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred spirit pearls, so one hundred spirit stones was the same as ten thousand spirit pearls. Even though Gu Yao’s current wealth was much better than before, it still wasn’t enough to ignore this hefty fee. No wonder he hadn’t heard of any children from ordinary families attending Tianfu Academy in Yuanyang Town—only wealthy families could afford it.