Chapter 71
Bei Qiao clicked on the spam group of Kaiyuanshan Village and flipped through several pages of chat history. He finally understood what this so-called freeloading meant.
In novels about cultivating immortals, only cultivators who have reached the late Mahayana stage can choose a day to transcend the tribulation and ascend. Those with lesser cultivation who approach without permission will inevitably die. However, in other worlds, the tribulation thunder of ascension is less brutal. With the permission of the cultivator undergoing the tribulation, others can experience the intensity of the thunder together with the cultivator, and then ascend together through the ascension passage. This is known as riding the ladder to heaven.
Of course, there are risks associated with climbing the Heavenly Ladder. Some can't even withstand the thunderbolts, preventing them from entering the Ascension Path. Some enter the Path, but can't withstand the pressure and are thrown back to another world. Some, despite experiencing untold hardships, reach their destination only to be forcibly repatriated due to their inability to adapt to the local environment. For this, they also have to pay a repatriation fee.
The dangers and benefits of freeloading on the ladder are obvious. Every time a powerful figure ascends in another world, he's often followed by a group of freeloaders. For these people, cultivating and ascending is simply too difficult. Their talent is there, and no matter how hard they try, there's no end in sight. They might as well pay a little money to experience the feeling of ascending, and consider it a lifetime of hard work.
"So, it seems that ascension to another world involves tempering the body to a strength capable of traveling the universe, then leaving the surface and traveling to another planet." Bei Qiao flipped through the chat logs one by one, pondering as he read: I wonder if martial arts can actually strengthen the body to the point of ascending to heaven? I kind of want to go, but the spaceship ticket is too expensive.
With the advancement of technology, spaceships have become a means of transportation accessible to ordinary people. However, flights are limited, fares are expensive, destinations are restricted to the solar system, and there are physical requirements for passengers. Those who don't meet the minimum physical requirements for spaceship travel are ineligible to purchase a ticket. Of course, if you're not afraid of death and have plenty of money, you can charter a spaceship yourself, but before takeoff, you'll need to sign some agreements.
For the wealthy, even if their bodies are inherently deficient, they can find ways to compensate through external forces, such as purchasing special spacesuits or staying in a decompression room. As for ordinary people without extra money, they can only spend at least several months in advance to hone their bodies in order to better adapt to the environment inside a spacecraft.
In addition to space travel, the spacecraft also offers a single-person space flight service, with a dedicated escort throughout the journey. The safety factor is good, but the cost is higher. If the average person does not win the lottery, they basically cannot save that much money in their lifetime.
Compared to a spaceship, the celestial ladder Fan Ke wanted to try seemed only more life-consuming... Wait, something seemed off. How much would it cost to hire a Mahayana cultivator? Such powerful individuals should be even rarer than spaceships, right?
Li Qingqing: We asked him this question, but he didn't seem to know exactly how much it would cost.
Li Qingqing: But he said that since he has the support of a sect, it is easier for him to get in touch with the big masters of immortal cultivation than others. No matter whether it works or not, he has to find out first, otherwise he will be unwilling.
Bei Qiao: I understand.
The news that Fan Ke wanted to take advantage of the opportunity has spread throughout the village. Some people admire him, while others say sour words behind his back. There are not many people who openly slander and ridicule him, because when Sister Tie has something to do, she will really beat you up and will never listen to your excuses.
Fan Ke: It's too early to be sarcastic. I haven't even established a relationship with the boss yet! It's so hard to even meet the White Crane Boy who's by his side, let alone the boss himself. I still have to save up money to smooth over the relationship. Without money, everything is difficult.
Fan Ke: Once a day, why can’t there be another rich person like me?
Bei Qiao, who also wanted to be rich, ate a meal offline and took a comfortable nap. No matter how much money he made in the future, good health was more important.
"Meow!" Tangyuan was scratching the door frantically: What are you doing? Let me in!
"I heard you, sir. Stop scratching me." Bei Qiao opened the door and grabbed Tang Yuan by the scruff of his neck: "Sleep quietly, or I'll deduct your Miaoxianbao."
"Meow... meow!" Who treats their ancestors like this? But for lunch's sake, I'll let you go this time, hum!
In the afternoon, Bei Qiao woke up and started exercising. After finishing her exercise, she sat on her yoga mat, stretching while listening to the phone on the table automatically playing the titles of the latest posts on the forum.
"The news that some players found treasures in the wild and got rich is false..."
"Official version of the Otherworld Travel Route Map. This version only supports reading and memorization. It does not support downloading in or outside the game. Players with poor memory should purchase with caution..."
"Thieves are everywhere in Langyu City. Solo players, please be careful and don't get harassed by them..."
Due to the particularity of "Another World Jianghu", the official information is usually pinned to the top of the forum, and the information that follows is varied, ranging from gossip to practical information, from advertisements to supernatural stories.
"Are there thieves?" Bei Qiao straightened up, grabbed the phone on the table, sat cross-legged, and clicked on the post: "At noon today, a thief stole treasures from the Canghai Sect (this is one-sided account from a Canghai Sect member, the authenticity of which remains to be determined) and escaped. To maintain their livelihood, the Canghai Sect sent people to plunder the tenants..."
Unlike the plots in martial arts novels, the so-called "flying thieves" were not popular with the common people, and the tenants even treated them with disgust. When a thief robbed a landowner, he might slap his thigh and curse in anger, but this did not stop him from extorting money from the tenants. As for the tenants' opinions, they did not care.
In Langyu City, the Canghai Sect's recruitment for Jianghu civil servants had concluded. The authorities, through unknown means, had managed to insert players into the Canghai Sect, and they received news from within that afternoon.
The civil servants warned all players not to do business with the Canghai Sect unless they could guarantee immediate payment. They were also the ones who had previously issued the warning about the victim, because when accompanying the servants to collect rent, the player had shown a soft side towards the tenant, and the result...
Player A: The people there are simple and honest, haha... Okay, pure evil is probably also simple and honest!
Player B: You can’t talk about morality and ethics to people who don’t have enough food to eat, right?
Player A: But they can't just stop being human, right? They're putting on a simple, honest face and cheating people. I'm really broken.
Player B: To the tenants, we are the bad guys.
Player A: ...
"It seems that the tenants all live outside the city, so we have to avoid them when we are in a hurry." Bei Qiao had never stayed in a village in another world, so he didn't know what the tenants were like. However, since the official advice was to avoid them, it would be better to follow the arrangements: "Check the windows when you go online at night, as thieves may also rob your inn." It's not that you are afraid of thieves stealing, but you are afraid of thieves thinking about it. Players who have gone offline are just a shell of themselves in another world. If they encounter an unscrupulous thief at night, they really don't know where they will wake up in the morning.
Bei Qiao: It’s not easy to make money in another world. Frankly speaking, if the little money I worked so hard to earn was stolen by thieves, I would probably hunt them down until the end of time.
That evening, Bei Qiao found a time to log in and explore the night market in Langyu City. Compared to Yuanshan Village, the sun rose and fell earlier here. She only wandered around for a short while before returning to the inn and hunched over the table to plan her route.
"Langyu City is east of Yuanshan Village, and the capital is northwest of Langyu City, backed by the mountains..." Bei Qiao took out a charcoal pencil and drew a simple route map on paper. As the political, economic, and cultural center, the capital was surrounded by a network of roads. Bei Qiao had to plan his route in advance, otherwise it would be very troublesome to take the wrong route and miss a suitable place to stay.
Anyway, it's fine to spend the night in a dilapidated temple or the wild, watching the protagonists in a martial arts drama perform once again. If you can avoid such a lively scene, don't do it. If you must join in, then, just don't sleep at all.
At ten o'clock in the evening, Bei Qiao made one last check of the window, picked up the potted plant that the waiter had just brought over, and placed it by the window, leaning it against the window. Whenever someone opened the window from the outside, the potted plant would fall to the ground, making a noise.
The waiter gave each room a potted plant as a warning. He said that if the guests were not asleep at the time, they could help catch the thief and share the reward.
"If this thief isn't a household name, we can still pay you a fee. It's a guaranteed profit." The waiter bowed and said goodbye, closing Bei Qiao's door. He picked up the potted plant in the hallway and knocked on the next door. "The shopkeeper said that if we spread the news of our capture, more people would come to stay at our hotel." Who wouldn't want to stay somewhere safe when they're away from home? It's not about the thief coming, it's about the thief not coming!
Thinking that he hadn't seen any burglars along the way, Bei Qiao, eager to watch the fun, stayed online for a while longer. However, the burglar was clearly much more patient than the health-conscious person. It was almost eleven o'clock and he still hadn't appeared.
"Well, it seems that this thief is very dedicated and will not show up before three o'clock in the middle of the night." Bei Qiao yawned while lying on the bed, then logged off and lay down on the bed: I can't do it anymore, I have to lie down before eleven o'clock, and people who pay attention to health avoid spleen deficiency.
After Bei Qiao left the inn, the inn became even quieter. Aside from the waiter and the innkeeper, who were waiting for the thief, everyone else had already fallen asleep, including the guests who were clamoring to catch the thief.
As the moon reached its zenith, a stealthy figure glided through the moonlight to the window of a room on the third floor of the inn. The waiter was yawning and patrolling the second-floor corridor. The innkeeper, searching for something in his room on the third floor, heard the noise, gently moved a potted plant, slowly opened the window a crack, and looked outside. "He's really here? How lucky!"
"Boss, are you still awake?" Just as the boss was about to arrest someone, the sneaky figure outside the window suddenly raised his head and showed his face to the boss.
"Forgive my poor eyesight, but who are you? Why don't you go through the door or window in the middle of the night?" The shopkeeper carefully examined the other person's face: he seemed familiar, but he had no impression of him.
"I am..." Halfway through the words, the man suddenly pulled out his right palm from behind and quickly pushed it in front of the shopkeeper. A white mist splashed out from his fingertips, blocking the shopkeeper's sight and blurring her consciousness.
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