Entering Lotus City

Getting his attention drawn to the city gates by Jing Rui, Leo turned to observe the surroundings.

'It's bigger in person.'

Looking at the almost six-metre-tall wall in front of him, Leo couldn't help but be drawn to it.

Apart from its height, its overall appearance also provoked various thoughts in Leo.

The wall was mostly made of stones.

Some parts of the wall looked really old, which spoke volumes about its age.

Back on Earth, Leo had been lucky to see a few historical buildings that also had stone walls, but from what he was seeing now, this wall must have stood longer than those ones, and those ones were already approaching a century or had passed it by at least a dozen years.

From the walls of Lotus City alone, Leo knew that the city itself should have quite a history under its belt.

Apart from how old some parts of the walls were, what really caught Leo's attention was something else.

The reason why some of the walls were old and not all the walls were old was that some parts looked relatively recent. Not recent in days or months or a few years, but a few dozen years, yet compared to the old-looking part of the walls, these new parts looked recent.

What was even more odd was that the new parts and the old parts of the walls were mixed together. It gave the impression that the new walls were used to patch up the old ones.

This wasn't where it ended, as there were signs of claw marks that obviously didn't belong to some normal animal on the walls.

The marks were scattered around and looked quite intimidating.

'Just what sort of place have I landed in?' Leo thought with unease as he shifted his focus from the city walls to something else that caught his attention.

There were two gates that led into the city.

This puzzled Leo a bit.

One of the gates was big and wide enough for multiple carriages to enter at the same time, and the other one that was connected to it by the side was smaller and only supported two humans entering at the same time.

'Then there's also this.'

Leo noticed that the closer they got to the gate, a division of some sort started appearing on the dirt road. People like Leo and Jing Rui, who carried little to no belongings or ones that could be individually held, made a path towards the smaller gate of the city.

This was one division that happened on the dirt road while the other division was filled with people who were with carriages and really big belongings.

The division was already clear, making things clearer to Leo. The smaller city gate was for individuals with small belongings, and the larger gate was for people with carriages that held a few goods to a lot of goods.

'Looking at how everyone seems to be doing this like it's natural, this seems to be the norm here, but why?'

What Leo did not understand was why a smaller gate needed to be made when the larger gate was big enough for everyone on the dirt road to enter without dividing themselves. It didn't make sense to him.

This was the thought running through Leo's mind when he saw a man who seemed to be in a light argument against one of the bigger gate guards.

'What's happening over there?'

Leo wondered what was going on when Jing Rui commented.

"From his clothing, he should be an assistant of a merchant. I wonder why he seems to be in an argument with the city guard."

Seeing this as an opportunity to have an idea of what could be going on, Leo spoke.

"Do you have an idea of what the issue might be?" Leo inquired.

"I'm not sure. It could be that it has become more expensive to bring goods into the city or something. Let's just focus on getting into the city. We're on the individual lane, so we don't need to pay like the merchants or those with really heavy loads."

'I see.'

Nodding at Jing Rui's words, Leo removed his focus from the merchant assistant and the guard and focused on entering the city with Jing Rui.

From what he had just heard now, Leo could think of a few reasons why there was a path division of the people on the dirt road in the first place.

The thought that made the most sense in Leo's head was that perhaps the city's rulers or governing body have implemented a system to control the flow of commerce and generate revenue.

The large gate was designed to accommodate multiple carriages, serving as a premium entrance where merchants, traders, and wealthier travellers could enter the city, but they were required to pay a toll or entry fee.

This fee contributed significantly to the city's coffers and was used for maintaining infrastructure, security, and public services.

If this was the case with the city gates, then it made a little bit more sense to Leo.

As Leo and Jing Rui made their way towards the smaller city gate, Leo paid attention to the two guards stationed there and observed their appearance.

Like the other guards stationed at the larger gates, these guards were also dressed in iron and leathered armour with a sword tied to their waists.

Leo knew next to nothing about armors, so he could not tell if the guards' outfits were of quality or not, but he did know they looked badass. The lotus flower insignia on the breastplate also elevated the overall appearance of the guards' armour.

'Their outfit looks so sick.'

As Leo thought of this, he and Jing Rui finally reached the smaller gates.

The two guards on both sides of the gate continued to stand still as before, but as Leo got closer to them, he felt a heavy sense of oppression wash over him that made it difficult to breathe.

'What's happening?!'

Leo wondered what was happening and held his chest in a squeeze. He tried not to show the pain he was experiencing on the outside, but when he turned to look at Jing Rui, the always bright and innocent expression on her face turned to one that suggested she was incredibly uncomfortable as she placed her free hand on her chest.

From this, Leo knew he was not the only one feeling like something heavy had been placed on him, but seeing as Jing Rui did not speak, he didn't want to be the first to complain and forcefully endured the discomfort he felt, continuing to walk.

After passing the gates, as they got further away from the city guards, the sense of heaviness that Leo felt reduced. When he moved further away from the gate, the feeling disappeared.

As if it had been planned, Leo and Jing Rui suddenly took deep breaths before exhaling at the same time. In tune, they also turned to face each other simultaneously.

'Damn.'

For a few seconds, both stared at each other without a word before Jing Rui let out a chuckle, to which Leo mirrored back albeit in an awkward manner.

"You know, Senior Brother Lian, regardless of the times I've visited the city, I still can't get used to a cultivator's aura. They are really different from us mortals," Jing Rui said.

Hearing Jing Rui's words, realisation immediately dawned on Leo.

'So those guards are cultivators! I guess it makes sense now. Perhaps that horrible feeling earlier was the legendary aura suppression. However, was it a natural feeling as an ordinary human, in Jing Rui's world, a mortal, to a cultivator, or did they purposely do that?'

As various thoughts started to flash through Leo's mind, Jing Rui's voice brought him out of it the next second.

"Anyway, Senior Brother Lian," Jing Rui called him out before continuing, "Welcome to Lotus City, the heart of our Winter Kingdom!"

Turning his head to look around after hearing Jing Rui's words, a mutter slowly escaped Leo's lips.

"Wow.”