Chapter 37: The Dangerous Outskirts

“My lousy master’s presence really is low. That person just ignored you completely, huh?”

Mo Xiao watched the departing carriage and couldn’t help but complain.

Her master had clearly been waiting for the carriage here too. How could they not even glance at her? How pitiful.

“Normal. Let’s just walk there. It’s not far anyway, and we can replan what we need to buy on the way.”

Bai Yuan’s gaze dimmed somewhat, but she was used to it and didn’t mind much. She took Mo Xiao’s little hand and headed toward the main street.

“There’s not much we need to buy, right? Just buy spirit ink. For work, look at the spirit material shop. They should buy spirit ink materials. Let’s go outside the city and gather some.”

Mo Xiao had already changed her mind. Earlier she’d wanted to try looking for other commissions, but now she had a better idea.

“What materials does spirit ink need? Mo Xiao, you know?”

Bai Yuan was a bit puzzled. She didn’t even know the refining process for spirit ink, and she wasn’t very clear on what materials were needed.

Having just become a spirit author, she still had a lot to learn.

“Know what? The spirit material shop will definitely write down what materials are needed. We’ll just go take a look and find out, won’t we?”

Mo Xiao of course knew, but she couldn’t tell Bai Yuan right now.

Once they got to the spirit material shop, she’d definitely find out. Some materials in this world couldn’t be cultivated. For example, spirit ink required a kind of flower spirit water.

This material could only be condensed by wild white spirit flowers. Artificially cultivated white spirit flowers could never condense flower spirit water.

“Can we really gather it? I… I’ve never gone looking before, you know. I don’t have any experience at all, and I’m not very clear on the terrain outside the city either. I heard it’s very dangerous.”

Bai Yuan was a bit worried. She hadn’t been living here long and had never left the city.

She’d only heard quite a few dangerous tales. Many spirit authors had gone out and disappeared.

It was said they’d been devoured by the devouring spirits that ate book spirits. She didn’t know how such creatures had appeared outside the city.

“Relax. Don’t you know what I’m capable of? If I can take you there, I can definitely bring you back safely.”

Mo Xiao patted her chest, without a trace of fear.

She knew the terrain outside the city well and knew where the spirit ink materials were. To her, this was an easy money-picking job.

“O-okay, I believe you.”

Bai Yuan thought of how reliable Mo Xiao had been in the secret realm and subconsciously agreed. This little dragon was very dependable.

And today Mo Xiao was actually so gentle—she hadn’t called her lousy fish or anything. Incredible.

Could it be because Mo Xiao had slept with You last night?

The fact that they hadn’t fought when they woke up today was already amazing. She felt something must have happened last night that she didn’t know about. Otherwise, why would Mo Xiao’s attitude be so mild?

“Then shouldn’t Master lead the way up front? I don’t know the roads.”

Mo Xiao retreated behind Bai Yuan. Her presence was also overshadowed by Bai Yuan.

The pedestrians on the street didn’t pay them any attention at all. Even though Bai Yuan was wearing a school uniform, no one gave her a second glance.

The only one who could appreciate Bai Yuan’s tender, white little short legs was Mo Xiao. Her gaze never left her master’s fair skin.

“I saw you walking so fast earlier, I thought you knew the way. So even Mo Xiao has things she doesn’t know.”

Bai Yuan didn’t notice Mo Xiao’s gaze. Seeing Mo Xiao fall back, she even teased her.

Mo Xiao followed in silence. In front of outsiders, she didn’t talk much.

After walking for a while, the two helplessly stopped. Ahead on the main street, a crowd of onlookers had gathered, and from within came intermittent sounds of cursing and crying.

“Pay back your debt! I gave you three days, and now I haven’t received a single coin. Do you want to die!”

“Wooo! Let go of my dad! We’ll pay you back, just give us one more day!”

“Hmph! We already gave you a chance before. If you can’t pay today, then we’ll take your bodies as payment! Come with us!”

Mo Xiao looked over curiously. Through the gaps in the crowd, she could barely make out four figures inside.

From what they were shouting, it seemed to be debt collection.

“Tch~ These Wild Dog Gang people really are wild dogs. They lend ten feather coins and have the nerve to make people pay back a hundred, and it was a forced loan too.”

“Shh~ Brother, aren’t you afraid of being targeted saying that here? Let’s go. Nothing worth seeing.”

“It’s just a pity for that father and son. Our city lord is probably busy making love in his castle right now, hmph!”

Two middle-aged men left the crowd. Bai Yuan glanced over but didn’t interfere, walking straight past.

Mo Xiao glanced at the little boy inside clutching his father and crying his eyes out, then turned and followed her master away.

“Master, this kind of thing happens very often, right?”

“Yeah. Let’s not get involved too much. These people have backing behind them. If you get tangled up with them, you’ll be covered in stink.”

Bai Yuan shook her head a little gloomily. She knew that father and son were pitiful, but she had no ability to save them. All she could do was leave as quickly as possible.

Mo Xiao said no more. The two arrived at the spirit material shop and bought a very ordinary bottle of spirit ink, spending ninety-five feather coins.

It should have cost a hundred, but the owner saw Bai Yuan’s white paper syndrome and that school uniform and charged a little less.

“Owner, don’t you buy spirit ink materials here?”

Mo Xiao had thought there’d be a sign posted here, but there was nothing. That was a bit strange.

Spirit ink’s sales were never poor, and many shops were desperately short of spirit ink materials.

She’d passed through many cities before and had never seen a spirit material shop that didn’t collect spirit ink materials.

“You’re this little girl’s book spirit? A sapient race?”

The owner looked at Bai Yuan in some surprise. Not every spirit author could write such a lively book spirit.

Spirit works could fail. If you didn’t find a setting suited to your writing, it was easy to write a book spirit into exploding. Among them, sapient race book spirits were the hardest to write.

“Sigh~ It’s not that we don’t buy. It’s just that recently the death rate outside the city has been too high. Even if we post it, no one takes the job.

Spirit ink material prices are rising like a boat on high water. Aside from the three great families, all the spirit material shops in the city are preparing to raise spirit ink prices. If this keeps up, we’ll all be running at a loss.”

The owner sighed and took out a small board from below, on which many material purchase prices were written.

“You’re not thinking of going out of the city, are you? I advise you not to go out recently. It’s very dangerous.

Yesterday I heard eighteen spirit authors formed a team and went out of the city. Only one came back. I heard the book spirits were all eaten. He’s still lying in the clinic now.”

Seeing the eagerness in Mo Xiao’s eyes, she quickly tried to persuade them.

This little girl with white paper syndrome was already pitiful enough. Going out of the city now was practically seeking death.

If it were ordinary people, it might be a bit better. The devouring spirits outside the city didn’t target ordinary people. It was spirit authors they came after.

“Owner, your prices are pretty good. We’ll come back in the evening.”

Mo Xiao tugged at her adorably clueless master. Her lousy master wasn’t very used to dealing with people. She’d been about to leave after buying the spirit ink, and Mo Xiao had forcibly stopped her.

Coming out of the spirit material shop, Bai Yuan tightened her grip on Mo Xiao’s tender little hand. After hearing the owner’s warning, she didn’t really want to go outside the city anymore.

So many people had gone out of the city together, and only one came back. The death rate was too high.

She was afraid Mo Xiao might have an accident too. She admitted she was a coward now and didn’t dare leave the city.

“Mo Xiao, let’s give up on going outside the city. There are other ways to make money. We don’t need to take such a big risk.”

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