Chapter 00155: Trapped in the Mortal Realm (Chapter Six of Additional Updates)
# Trapped in the Mortal Realm (Chapter Six of Additional Updates)
Chapter 155
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 155: Trapped in the Mortal Realm (Chapter Six of Additional Updates)
Ding Huan and his companions managed to escape for a full three days before they finally stopped.
"Little Tu, I didn't feel hungry at all for several days before, but now I’ve had several energy capsules in just one day, and I can't stand it anymore," Qi Xinyue said, unable to hold back the words she had been wanting to express since Ding Huan decided to stop fleeing.
Ding Huan nodded; he too felt the gnawing hunger.
He was almost like an ordinary mortal now, needing to eat twice a day, or he would feel a strong sense of hunger.
It seemed that energy capsules couldn’t stave off hunger in this place.
Qi Xinyue didn’t understand the reason behind this, but Ding Huan had a vague inkling that it must be related to the laws of heaven and earth.
Ding Huan’s spirit sense had already scanned a city in the distance, bustling with activity.
The entrance bore three ancient characters: Jihe City.
He had come from Luhe and then reached Jihe; it seemed he was quite fortunate with rivers.
Let’s find a place to stay in this city first, and he would slowly get familiar with everything else.
As they approached Jihe City, Ding Huan contemplated his surroundings.
Unfortunately, there were too many strong individuals here, and much of what he tried to calculate remained unclear.
However, he felt that nothing life-threatening would occur, so he decided not to dwell on it for now and simply aimed to reside here.
"Finally, a city!" Lou Buzhi swallowed hard as they reached the outskirts of Jihe City.
It was clear he was also starving, but had kept it to himself until now.
Jihe City wasn't as large as Six-Way City, but it was still quite lively, with a nearly comparable population.
Unlike Six-Way City, which housed various races, Jihe City mainly consisted of human beings, without the presence of creatures like bull-headed men.
Ding Huan led his group to find an inn.
Upon entering the city, he took a quick look around and noticed a simple defensive formation outside the city walls.
Among the crowd in Jihe City, there were both warriors and cultivators, but far more ordinary mortals who had never practiced cultivation.
Ding Huan sensed no foundational cultivators, but there were many gene cultivators at levels three to five.
Since they had just arrived, Ding Huan was unsure if the locals would blend various skill genes together.
He chose a modest-looking inn.
"Regular room for fifty Zhenye coins a night," the attendant welcomed them with a big smile upon seeing Ding Huan, Qi Xinyue, and their pet.
Zhenye coins? Ding Huan took out a gem he had acquired from the Tossing Sister earlier.
"I’ve run out of Zhenye coins; can you help me exchange this?"
Ding Huan knew that this gem was considered a native product of this place.
It must be a fragment of a certain type of vitality stone, which people here traded for Zhenye coins on the Six-Way Star Land.
Since it was something from here, he didn’t feel it would be too out of place to use it in trade.
The attendant shook his head when he saw the gem fragment in Ding Huan’s hand.
"Friend, you should go to the bank for an exchange. We can't do that here; it’s risky for both of us."
"Thank you," Ding Huan replied, his spirit sense already detecting a bank named Yunji Bank diagonally across the street.
The attendant looked a bit puzzled as he watched Ding Huan’s group depart.
Logically, there shouldn’t be anyone in the True Industry Empire unaware of where to exchange fragment gems for Zhenye coins, right?
Ding Huan didn’t know what the attendant was thinking; he had already reached Yunji Bank.
"What’s the current rate?" Ding Huan asked, confidently holding out a fragment of the gem.
The attendant glanced at the fragment in Ding Huan’s hand.
"Right now, it’s three thousand Zhenye coins for one fragment."
Ding Huan frowned.
"Why is it so low?"
It wasn’t mere talk; he knew that on the Six-Way Star Land, one crystal coin could be exchanged for ten thousand purple gold coins.
He had never seen crystal coins, but he assumed they were made from this kind of gem fragment.
By that exchange rate, one should equate to ten thousand coins.
Even with discounts or losses, it shouldn’t drop to three thousand.
The attendant lazily said, "That’s the highest price we can offer. If you’re not willing to exchange, you can check elsewhere."
Helpless, Ding Huan could only produce two fragments of the gem.
"Please exchange for me two pieces."
The attendant quickly handed over six Zhenye coins.
Ding Huan noticed each coin was a thousand.
He promptly pocketed five thousand.
"Please exchange this thousand for some smaller denominations."
The attendant didn’t mind, offering Ding Huan five coins of one hundred, with the rest in tens.
Ding Huan’s spirit sense scanned the attendant’s cash cabinet; there were even one and five denominations available.
After comparing, Ding Huan understood.
The Zhenye coin truly couldn’t be faked easily because the higher the value, the more gem energy it contained.
The means used to mint them were quite clever as well, effectively locking the vitality within the gem.
Once the energy dissipated, the Zhenye coin would likely fall apart.
With six thousand Zhenye coins in hand, Ding Huan immediately bought a few books on the culture and geography of the Star Land, which included introductions to the Mortal Realm of the Three Heavy Heavens, the True Industry Empire, and Jihe City.
He wanted to purchase introductory texts about the Daoist realm and the Ascension realm, but unfortunately, such materials were unavailable in the Mortal Realm.
After acquiring the necessities, Ding Huan and his companions headed out to eat.
They were truly starved.
The main staple here was a type of rice, and the monstrous beast meat was merely skinned and roasted or steamed.
There were no advanced culinary techniques used.
The only advantage was the generous portions that filled them up.
Lou Buzhi’s actions spoke volumes about why he was so chubby.
Meanwhile, Ding Huan ate while pondering why, on Earth and the Six-Way Star Land, one meal could last him for days, yet here, he grew hungry so quickly.
If his guess about the laws of heaven and earth was correct, how exactly could one touch them? Was truly touching the laws of heaven and earth the beginning of true Dao cultivation?
With his current knowledge and power, Ding Huan couldn't figure it out.
After everyone had their fill, Ding Huan paid one hundred and twenty Zhenye coins.
This made him realize how quickly Zhenye coins could be spent.
Instead of returning to the previous inn, they chose another called the Traveler's Inn.
Unlike other inns, the Traveler's Inn wasn’t particularly quiet, as its first floor was a common area, or tea house.
The tea house offered a place for guests to relax, drink tea, have snacks, or even enjoy a drink.
Ding Huan didn’t stay here for cultivation; his purpose was to listen for news about the Mortal Realm.
Choosing a place with a tea house was to gather more information about the Three Heavy Heavens.
This time, they required a higher-end room; with three of them plus Lou Buzhi, they needed four rooms for the night, totaling nearly three hundred Zhenye coins.
Ding Huan only had six thousand Zhenye coins, and after buying notes and meals, he realized he needed to quickly find ways to earn more or they would truly be left with nothing.
"Brother Huan, thank you! If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be on the streets," Lou Buzhi expressed with deep gratitude as they settled in.
Ding Huan was a person who valued relationships.
Even though their acquaintance was not deep, he was still caring toward Lou Buzhi, especially since they both hailed from the Six-Way Star Land.
Ding Huan patted Lou Buzhi on the shoulder.
"Don’t worry; since there’s a cultivation world here, they must recruit disciples among mortals. I’ll inquire about it soon. You’re able to cultivate, which means you have a spiritual root; you will surely enter the cultivation world."
Ding Huan was certain Lou Buzhi had a spiritual root because Lou Buzhi was indeed capable of cultivating, and he didn’t rely on any gene methods to do so.
Qi Xinyue had never merged with a gene spiritual root yet was able to cultivate, so she naturally had a spiritual root as well.
His only concern was for himself; his spiritual root had been created through a merged gene root potion.
Since they all had their own rooms, Lou Buzhi rushed back to his room first thing to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.
This guy was completely obsessed with breaking into Foundation Establishment as a monstrous cultivator; wherever he went, he aimed to attempt it.
On the spaceship, Ding Huan had restrained him, prohibiting cultivation, or he would have surely attempted it on the ship as well.
Once in his room, Ding Huan pulled out several notes on culture and geography to study.
Half an hour later, he tossed the notes into the Star Room.
He had gained a rough understanding of the kind of place he found himself in.
The Three Heavy Heavens Star Land didn’t have a detailed introduction, but the Mortal Realm he currently inhabited was essentially an imperial world.
There were hundreds of large empires within the Mortal Realm, and countless smaller ones.
Most of these empires were established by descendants of the cultivation world or by cultivators who couldn’t advance in the cultivation world.
Almost all empires had connections to the cultivation realm; those without such ties had long perished in history's dust.
The True Industry Empire was similarly entwined with the cultivation world, providing various conveniences and services as a backend for the cultivation realm.
In turn, the backend would offer them protection.
The Zhenye coin was one such product.
This coin couldn’t simply be produced by ordinary mortal workshops; it was forged by powerful individuals from the cultivation world using formations and crystal energy combined with certain metal materials.
With cultivation techniques infused, these coins were hard to counterfeit.
Other empires’ currencies were similar; those with better relations sometimes used each other’s currencies interchangeably.
What concerned Ding Huan most was when the Daoist realm would come to the True Industry Empire to recruit disciples.
According to the introductory notes, major sects from the Daoist realm came to the Mortal Realm for recruitment twice a year; one large scale at the beginning of the year and a smaller one mid-year.
Ding Huan checked where they stood in the timeline and saw that there was still over a month until mid-year.
(End of Chapter)