Afterwards, Chen Xiao privately asked Du Rong how he met this boy named Tong. From what Chen Xiao saw on the boat that time, it was clear that the boy had lost his way and was nowhere to be found.

Du Rong had an indescribable expression on his face. He said, "When I met this Tongxian Master again, it was when I was taking clothes out of the tailor shop. I don't know how long he had been wandering around the capital. When he saw me, he was like a drowning man seeing a floating log. He asked me where the dock was. I was also surprised. How could he still stay in the capital after so many days? So I showed him the way, but he stood there without moving. Seeing him like this, I asked him to go with me because it was on the way. He happily agreed and followed me all the way when he heard that I was going to the outer port."

Chen Xiao understood that a person with a serious lack of direction would not let go of a living navigator after finally catching it. Chen Xiao asked, "How did Uncle Rong convince Master Tong Xian to apply for a temporary certificate for my nephew? And it only costs 20 spirit coins."

Du Rong smiled, then quickly put it away. He said, "After getting on the boat, since our seats were next to each other, I asked tentatively. Master Tong Xian learned that the owner needed a temporary name card and readily agreed. I asked him how much he wanted. He only asked for 20 spirit coins. Master Tong Xian was frank and said that if it wasn't for the boat ticket, he wouldn't have asked for it." Du Rong was rewarded for doing good deeds. Not only did he make a good relationship, but he also solved the most difficult problem at the moment. Naturally, he was in a good mood and his eyebrows were full of joy.

Chen Xiao also felt very lucky, as he ran into someone who sent him a pillow just when he was dozing off. It just so happened that the boy named Tong was a cultivator in the foundation-building stage, and he met the minimum processing standards.

In the past few days, because they were busy working on the certificate application, Chen Xiao asked some questions about immortal cultivators, and Du Rong answered them all he knew.

Du Rong said that when the students leave the academy, they are usually low-level cultivators, and their cultivation is the lowest among the realms of Taoist cultivation, which is called the Qi Gathering Stage. High-level cultivators are Du Rong's current realm, which is called the Body Refining Stage. Often, many cultivators cannot officially enter the realm of cultivation, and are stuck in this realm, with no way to advance no matter what.

After the body refining stage, it is called the foundation building stage. From this stage, one can be called an immortal master and is qualified to lead people to issue temporary disciple certificates.

So far, Du Rong has come into contact with the most immortal masters at the foundation-building stage. Practitioners at the foundation-building stage will leave their master's sect to gain experience and, like the cultivators, receive some bounties through Zhishitang.

In fact, the foundation-building cultivators who went out to practice alone were not much different from the cultivators in the body-refining stage. Most of those who were willing to team up with the cultivators to practice together were either independent cultivators or had weak teachers, without deep backgrounds or wealth. Tong Xianshi was a typical example. He learned from an independent cultivator, and what he learned was mechanical engineering.

"What's wrong with the mechanical arts?" Chen Xiao asked.

Du Rong said: "In addition to practicing the exercises, some practitioners will also study another subject as their main development direction to assist in their practice. For example, there are weapon refiners, alchemists, runes, rune formations, rune jades, etc. These people are also called weapon refiners, alchemists, rune masters, rune formation masters, and rune jade masters. In addition to these mainstream ones, there are also some obscure niche skill masters, such as mechanism masters, puppet masters, animal trainers, etc."

These things were something Chen Xiao had never heard of before, and he couldn't help but listen attentively.

Du Rong continued, "Master Tong Xian is learning mechanical arts, and he will become a mechanical master in the future. Mechanical arts are not only difficult to learn, but the materials often conflict with the materials for refining. It is expensive and difficult to collect, and it is an auxiliary skill that requires a very large initial investment. Unfortunately, the mechanical devices made by mechanical masters in the early stage have limited attack. During the training, they are a kind of practitioner who is not well received." Du Rong sighed, "It is already difficult for mechanical masters to make progress. Unless they have friends and relatives to help them, they can only go it alone. The indifference in the early stage has made them late bloomers. Mechanical masters with extremely strong attacks in the later stage are unpredictable and difficult to get along with."

Chen Xiao understood what Du Rong meant: "Master Tong doesn't even have the fifty spirit coins for a boat ticket. I guess he must have spent all his money on collecting materials." Du Rong nodded in agreement: "It can only be so. This is a strange phenomenon that is difficult to explain. In the world of immortal cultivation, everyone is happy to associate with the masters of mechanisms, but when they are insignificant, they are not willing to train with the apprentices of mechanisms." Otherwise, a cultivator in the foundation-building stage would not be unable to even afford a boat ticket.

Chen Xiao was very emotional. He thought that the immortal cultivators above the monks must be prosperous, with plenty of money and no worries about food and daily necessities. It seems that no matter which class they are in, there are people who are poor due to various reasons.

The next day, Master Tong Xian, with a stern face, brought Chen Xiao and Du Rong to the Waigang Zhishitang's location again. There were still few people in the morning. Master Tong Xian stood in front of a counter, slapped his name card, and said to the employee behind the counter: "Give me a temporary name card."

There was only one cultivator behind the counter. No matter whether the cultivators were young or old, young or old, he had the same attitude. That was to smile and never offend. The employee took the name certificate with both hands with a smile on his face, and input his true energy meticulously to check it. After reading it, his smile became more genuine. He returned the name certificate to Master Tong and asked, "Master Tong Nuonuo, you are qualified to issue a temporary disciple name certificate for one person. Who is it?"

Immortal Master Tong Nuonuo obviously didn't expect the employee in front of him to read out his name. He froze for a moment and glanced at Chen Xiao behind him uncomfortably. Seeing that Chen Xiao didn't react, he said to the employee, "It's the younger one." He turned his head and said in a somewhat stiff tone, "Chen Xiao, hand over your name card."

Chen Xiao then stepped forward and handed his name card to the employee behind the counter. The employee checked the name card in the same way, and then looked up at Chen Xiao carefully. Chen Xiao calmly let him look, and the employee couldn't see anything wrong, so he sat down and took out a small device that looked like the card reader in his previous life, a flat box.

The employee put Chen Xiao's certificate on top and took it down after a while. He stood up, handed the certificate to Chen Xiao, and said to him: "This certificate is valid for three months as a temporary disciple. Please use it within the time limit."

Chen Xiao felt relieved when he got the certificate. Du Rong stepped forward and said to the two of them, "Please give me the certificate so that I can buy the boat ticket."

Tong Nuonuo said: "No, I'll go with you."

Chen Xiao said, "Uncle Rong, let's go buy the tickets together."

The three of them left the counter for the ID card and walked a few steps to the side. Du Rong told the person behind the counter that he wanted three boat tickets. There was a female cultivator behind the counter, and her attitude was better. She asked Du Rong to show her ID card in a soft voice, and Du Rong and Chen Xiao gave her the ID card. When it was Tong Nuonuo's turn, he actually looked down, as if he didn't know how to deal with women.

The child immortal master looked at a loss, revealing the innocence and loveliness that only teenagers have. The female cultivator smiled. Chen Xiao thought that this immortal master must have grown up in an environment lacking women. He suppressed the upward curl of his mouth and stood back. He didn't want the child immortal master to think that he was laughing at him.

I don't know why, when Tong Nuonuo is facing Du Rong, even though she has a stern face, she can still communicate normally. But once she is facing Chen Xiao, she becomes alert and speaks defensively. Chen Xiao doesn't want to feel uncomfortable, so he tries to reduce contact with Tong Nuonuo.

Tong Nuonuo put the name certificates on the counter. The female cultivator checked the three name certificates, looked up and asked Du Rong for confirmation: "Three tickets for the ship to Hanshan City, which will leave in four days?" Du Rong said in a deep voice: "Yes."

These days he and Du Rong were busy solving the problem of temporary name certificates, and they used pseudonyms when talking. This was the first time Chen Xiao knew the exact name of the city. Hanshan City, a nice and poetic name.

Chen Xiao was just thinking about the name when he heard the female cultivator's gentle voice say, "The inner cabin is fifty spirit coins, the outer cabin is eighty spirit coins, and the top cabin is one spirit bead. Which one do you want, fellow Daoist?" Du Rong said, "I want an inner cabin ticket." The female cultivator said, "Thank you for your patronage. The total is one spirit bead and fifty spirit coins."

Suddenly, Chen Xiao saw Tong Nuonuo, who was standing in front of him, paused, and even his back showed a sense of annoyance. Chen Xiao smiled in his heart. This young man's emotions were too straightforward. He must be regretting why he didn't agree to Du Rong's request and give him the name certificate to buy it for him. In this way, he wouldn't have to face the dilemma of paying for it but only being able to take out thirty spirit coins.

Fortunately, Du Rong did not intend to ask Tong Nuonuo to pay his share of spirit coins at this time. Chen Xiao directly gave him two spirit beads this morning. Du Rong took the three tickets and the fifty spirit coins in change. Du Rong divided the tickets between the two people. Chen Xiao took the tickets in front of him and looked at them carefully.

This ticket is actually a card, beige in color, with the departure date and cabin number written in neat black handwriting. The most special thing about this card is that there is a colorful stripe that changes into different colors under the sun.

"There is even an anti-counterfeiting mark." Chen Xiao said in surprise.

Du Rong walked up to him and said, "Boss, what's wrong?"

Chen Xiaoyang raised the ticket in his hand and asked: "Where did the colored thread on it come from?"

This was also the first time Du Rong had seen this kind of ticket, but he had some knowledge after all. After taking a look, he said, "This should have been printed with some special medicinal juice as the paint. I once picked similar spiritual herbs when I was training outside."

In the previous life, there were technological means, and in this life, there are methods of cultivating immortals, each with their own magical powers. Chen Xiao laughed at himself, he should not be surprised by this anymore.

Tong Nuonuo gave Du Rong thirty spirit coins after leaving Zhishi Hall. Chen Xiao originally wanted to help him with the boat ticket. After all, he had helped so much, and it was a bit too much to give him only twenty spirit coins. But he refused to give, and Du Rong saw that Tong Nuonuo would get angry if he continued to insist. At Chen Xiao's suggestion, he accepted the thirty spirit coins.

After giving the spirit coins, Master Tong Xian seemed to have let go of his worries and turned around and left. He lived in a different place from them, so Chen Xiao and Du Rong didn't know where the other lived. Chen Xiao took the spirit coins that Du Rong returned to him and put them away, thinking that this child would not sleep on the street, right?