Chapter 53 - Attracting Attention
Soon enough, Luo Xiao came across the building where he would be living in. It was positioned towards the end of one of the rows and there was no visible difference from the other ones next to it. As he approached it to see where he would be living, the black card in his hand heated up briefly and the air trembled, indicating there was a formation to stop outsiders from entering.
Naturally, Luo Xiao continued unhindered and once he passed the barrier, the black card cooled back down. It was as simple as that.
Luo Xiao momentarily looked at the small front garden before walking over to the little house. It was a simple one-story building, with wooden walls and a wooden roof. Compared to Jiang Yao’s palace, this was probably less than a shabby shack.
However, compared to the house Luo Xiao used to live in his entire life prior to meeting Jiang Yao, it was almost the same, if not better.
“Hello?” the youth opened the door, calling inside the small home tentatively. He wasn’t sure if anyone else lived here before he entered, but the lack of answer somewhat confirmed that speculation.
Entering the small house, Luo Xiao found it to be separated into a few rooms. After looking through them all and confirming that nobody else lived there, Luo Xiao ended up in the main room of the small home. In total, the house had five rooms; two bedrooms with two beds each, a bathroom, a kitchen, and the main room where one could invite guests or just enjoy the view of the small garden. It did look a little shabby but for Luo Xiao, it was more than enough.
However, it was slightly dusty as the house clearly hadn’t been inhabited for a few months. Rolling his sleeves up, Luo Xiao rummaged through the few drawers to find a rug and began cleaning the house.
It took Luo Xiao around an hour to clean up the entire place. He wasn’t very good at it, and there were some corners which remained dusty, but overall the rooms looked decent. After airing and cleaning the house for the past hour, it started looking hospitable and more like a home.
“Phew!” He wiped the sweat off his forehead before sitting down on one of the chairs. “It seems I will be living alone…” he muttered to himself, glancing outside to the small garden.
Knowing that a majority of the time in the Academy was to be spent in solitary cultivation, there was a high possibility that he would spend a lot of the time in the small house. Luo Xiao didn’t really mind that; though he had a small hunch that Jiang Yao wouldn’t be able to leave him alone during the time he lived there.
However, none of that mattered at this point in time. Currently, the sun was already beginning to hide behind the horizon as the day had almost come to an end. Finding his stomach growling, Luo Xiao put the two cards inside his spatial pouch and walked out of the building.
Passing through the barrier again, it was clear that he probably wouldn’t need the black card to enter again as the barrier seemed to have recognized him as the owner.
At least he knew where he would be living from now on. Putting that thought aside, Luo Xiao decided to focus on the upcoming task at hand, which was finding something to eat.
Jiang Yao hadn’t bothered at all to explain where or how one would get food, and Luo Xiao could vaguely guess that the reason for that was that Jiang Yao simply had no need to eat. Even he himself was already starting to feel the effects of cultivation; he felt hunger, but not in the same way he had before.
Suddenly a thought arrived. He could not use the outside currency here, only points were able to be exchanged for food and other things, but he was a new student. He was not sure if he had any points or what he should do.
He dug out the white card and poured a strand of energy into it. He could not consider any other way to activate it, and fortunately, it seemed to be correct.
The card lit up and showed a number of hundred points. It seemed that a hundred points were delivered to him upon his arrival in the academy, and he felt a bit relieved. Luo Xiao was unaware of the prices of the different things in the academy, so he was unsure of how long he could last with a hundred points, but for now, it was better than nothing.
He walked back on the same road from which he came from earlier that day until he found his way to a square where there were different road signs. Much like how the city had signs pointing towards certain areas, there were also signs here pointing towards the residential area, towards the shopping district, and so forth.
Seeing this, Luo Xiao could not help but feel elated. He was all alone in this new world, and he did not know how to find the things he needed, nor did he understand the academy and its layout yet, so these signs helped him tremendously.
He saw a sign with "Trading District" written on it and quickly decided to head that way. There should be some food that way.
Everywhere he walked, he saw a lot of other students. Although the sun was setting, it was clear that the students did not really care about what time a day it was; they were all cultivators, so sleep was no longer needed, and thus the time of the day was also not important.
These students all looked at Luo Xiao, who was walking slowly through the crowd with his head held high and looking at the surroundings with curiosity.
His clothes were made from a special fabric, a fabric that could only be purchased through the shop called Royal Cloth. To buy from Royal Cloth, money was not enough, one needed to have connections to the direct lineage princes and princesses.
One did not have to be the prince or princess themselves, but they had to get a recommendation from them, and this in itself was quite difficult.
The fabric that was used was from Thousand-year old Ice Worms that spun the most elusive silk, a type of silk that shone and was so luxurious that it could be recognized with even a glance.
Luo Xiao was unaware of what exactly it meant to be wearing clothes from the Royal Cloth shop, so he did not even notice the many glances that were being sent towards him.
He was looking at the buildings and the road, he was curiously looking everywhere with excitement. He had been timid at the beginning and felt slightly lost, but the truth was that Luo Xiao was actually rather mentally strong.
He wanted to be strong enough to gain his revenge against the Fourth Prince, and at the same time he wanted to make Jiang Yao proud of him, and to do so, he needed to strengthen himself.
The more he thought about this, the more he felt that this was a new beginning for him, a new lease on life, and everything was given to him by Jiang Yao.
His heart felt warm as he thought about the older man, and his eyes shone with excitement. He was unaware, but right now, he was radiating with an aura of invincibility that made him seem noble and dignified.
Everyone on the street was looking at him with curiosity, some even had slight jealousy and envy in their eyes when they noticed the clothes from Royal Cloth. But even so, no one stepped forward to cause trouble, instead they just observed him with confusion.
This young man was outstanding, both in appearance and temperament, but they had never seen him before.
If he was a student of the academy they would definitely have seen him before, but if he was not a student, then what was he doing at their academy?
Since no one was aware of the current situation, no one wished to step forward and be the first one to be sacrificed, and thus he was able to walk leisurely through the street and towards the trading area.
Many were curious about this new person, was he a student that no one had noticed before or a guest? Since they could not answer this question themselves, many decided to secretly follow him, as if they were casually going to the trading area as well.
If he was using a white card, then it was obvious that he was a student, but maybe he had a blue card? Then he would be an important guest, or an Elder, if he had a red card..
After thinking about that, everyone dismissed the thought right away. They could see he was only a low Sky ranked expert, it was simply impossible to be an Elder with that strength, but the majority thought he had a blue card. He had to be a guest.
Unfortunately, everyone was going to be disappointed. As they arrived at the trading area, Luo Xiao looked around with sparkling eyes and great curiosity, but his stomach was growling, so all his attention was on finding something to eat.
He walked around casually before finding a small restaurant. Outside the restaurant were introductions to the dishes, and he noticed that there were many kinds of food one could eat, all of them strengthening either one’s soul power, or one\'s Qi.
Seeing this, Luo Xiao was quite surprised. He just wanted some food to fill his stomach, but the only food he could find was energy replenishing or enhancing food.
The price of this food was also rather steep. A meal would cost him ten points, and drinks would come on top of this. If he had to eat in these places every day, he would be incapable of living like that for longer than a week, even if he only ate once a day.
“There should be another way,” Luo Xiao mumbled to himself, but right now he was willing to spend points on food, so he strolled into the restaurant.
The moment he entered, he found that quite a few people were inside, all of them looking at him curiously, many eyes widening in shock when they noticed Royal Cloth’s clothes on his body and his beautiful countenance.
A servant rushed to his side, his appearance filled with respect and reverence, causing Luo Xiao to frown. He had never seen anyone being so respectful towards him before, but he guessed that it was normal towards students of the academy.
“Are you alone?” The servant asked, and Luo Xiao nodded his head. “Would you like a private room or will you be dining on the ground-floor?” the servant continued, and Luo Xiao, who knew nothing about this, could instantly guess that a private room would be much more expensive. “The ground floor is fine,” he quickly answered and smiled.
Seeing Luo Xiao being so amiable, the servant was feeling even better towards him, and generously led him towards a table that was located not far away from the windows.
He then placed a menu right in front of him and respectfully retreated. Luo Xiao looked at the menu before ordering a few dishes that enhanced his soul energy, and a juice made from spiritual oranges.
In total, he was using a full thirteen points for this meal, and although it was hurting his heart, he was aware that he still needed food to sustain his body.
As the dishes arrived, everyone was looking at him curiously as he was eating elegantly. Luo Xiao had now become used to people staring at him as he had been the focus of everyone’s eyes during the time he had been together with Jiang Yao, so he unconsciously ignored the glances and ate his meal happily.