Master of Overthinking

Now that Liu Feng could rest assured of the villagers' safety, it was the perfect time to check out his Plan B.

That is, evacuating to the nearest city, Hongqi City.

Liu Feng quietly visited Shu Fanrong along with her parents while she was cultivating seriously.

After some preparations, he left for Hongqi City.

.....

"Hah, what kind of bullcrap, is this. The nearest my ass!"

Liu Feng panted as the heat of the sun pierced through his skin. He blocked the light with his palm, but the overwhelming brightness still made its way to his eyes.

As a cultivator, his stamina was higher than normal mortals. That was why Liu Feng could treat the trip towards Hongqi City like a marathon, one where he could just run continuously while pacing himself.

It was the nearest city, after all. How far could it be?

Of course, as it took him a day and a half of continuous running, Liu Feng understood that the map in his hands—one that he salvaged from the ruins of the sect—was horrifically out of scale.

"I should buy a more reliable map while I'm at it."

Liu Feng brought enough money to last him a week, at least, that was what he thought. He'd never ventured farther than the village, after all.

"I hope this is enough money."

He headed inside the gates, but was stopped by a guard.

"Hold up. You need to pay an entrance fee." While talking, the guard scanned Liu Feng from top to bottom.

"How much is it?"

Hm, he doesn't know how much the entrance fee is? Must be a silkpants young master, judging from his luxurious clothing.

In that case, don't blame me for scamming you.

"Ten silver coins."

The guard maintained a serious expression, but inside, he was sneering, "The entrance fee is actually only just three silver taels. Blame your own ignorance, I'm just trying to make a living here."

Liu Feng sighed. Based on the novels he had read in his past life and the guard's eyes that kept darting around, he knew he was getting scammed. However, he had no choice as he truly did not know how much it was.

He looked through his money pouch and clicked his tongue.

"Ten silver coins... How much is a gold coin?"

The guard widened his eyes. The silkpants was ignorant to this extent?

That can't be possible.

A thought flashed in his mind—what if he told the silkpants that one gold coin equaled ten silver coins? He would gain a huge profit!

However, this thought quickly subsided.

The guard looked at Liu Feng with more scrutiny.

The young master's calmness at the situation made the guard think twice.

Was this a trap, a test?

He took a closer look at the young master's robe. It was clearly expensive—the design and craftsmanship were evident even from first glance.

The design in particular, stood out to the guard. He thought it was vaguely similar to the destroyed Great Order Sect's design.

Of course, Liu Feng was smart enough to change his robe's design to not alert anyone of the Great Order Sect's return.

As such, the guard only ever found it similar but couldn't think of any specific sect that had this exact design.

But he drew a piece of information from this, and that was—this supposed young master was actually a cultivator!

Based on his ignorance, this cultivator should have been in seclusion for the better part of a century.

The guard disregarded Liu Feng's young appearance, as cultivators had youthful faces from the start.

"In any case, I'm screwed if he finds out I scammed him... or maybe he already knows?"

The cultivator's calmness gave the guard an unsettling feeling. Maybe, the cultivator already knew that he overpriced the entrance fee. That was why he asked the second question as further bait!

Scamming a cultivator was no joke. One could lose their life easily.

Hongqi City was close to the border of the continent, so cultivators didn't come very often, if at all. The guard had grown complacent due to this.

However, now that he had met a cultivator, the first thing he decided to do was to scam them—his life was already forfeit.

"Ah, is that why?"

While the guard worked to guard the city's gates, he overheard some tales from the people entering and exiting the city.

Tales of... slavery.

A gold coin was usually enough to buy a slave in these remote parts of the country.

"That's why he asked how much a gold coin was worth! He was asking for the price of my life!"

The guard gave up the will to live.

He looked at Liu Feng's composure and immediately kneeled before him.

"F-forgive me, great one!"

Liu Feng was caught off-guard by the guard's sudden kowtow. Before he could respond, the guard continued talking.

"Before I forfeit my life, please forgive me!"

The guard heard of stories of the vengeance of cultivators. They were savage and brutal. A single insult was enough for them to murder your entire family, up to 6 generations!

Now that he had dared to scam one, the cultivator would surely murder 12 generations of his family tree!

"Please forgive my transgression, great one! Don't murder my entire family tree!"

As he begged for his life, he thought of his dead wife and how she entrusted him to take care of their daughter.

However, the guard kept gambling away his salary, leaving his daughter to live in misery. Despite this, his daughter had never gotten angry at him or hated him, which made the guard feel incredibly guilty.

"That reminds me, Little Hao's birthday is in three days... Forgive your father, for he won't be able to come anymore."

The guard sighed, resigned to his fate. It seemed like karma finally caught up to him.

Tears fell out of his eyes unknowingly.

All the while this was happening, Liu Feng watched dumbstruck.

"Erm, good luck, I guess?"

Liu Feng dropped a gold coin on the guard's side and proceeded inside.