After explaining to the three Yu sisters about how big a Human-class room actually was, and clearing up some basic matters like the inn not providing a dressing table in the room, Jiang Beiran finally settled all five junior sisters into their rooms, though all five were a hundred times unwilling.
“Bang.”
Closing the door to his own room, Jiang Beiran let out a slight breath of relief. These five young noble ladies were even more clueless than when he first transmigrated here. In their worldview, an inn could actually offer luxuries like silk quilts, purple forest grass incense, and flower-petal baths.
This made Jiang Beiran very curious about what kind of inns they had lived in before. From what he knew, even the Heaven-class rooms in county inns didn’t provide such extravagances.
“Seems having money really does mean doing whatever you want.”
After a brief rest, Jiang Beiran took off his ordinary robe and changed into a plain coarse cloth outfit. Since it was a rare chance to go down the mountain, he planned to trigger as many system options as possible while out. ...
“Hey! Lord Wu’s here! What can I get you today?”
“Two chunks of fatty meat, chop it into paste. The finer, the better.”
“Alright~ Just watch, sir!”
Passing by a meat stall, Jiang Beiran overheard the conversation. The shopkeeper chopped two prime foreleg cuts into minced meat, then carefully wrapped each portion with bamboo-hemp paper and tied them up with string.
“Lord Wu, your meat’s ready. That’ll be 20 copper coins.”
The burly man addressed as Lord Wu took the meat while casually saying, “The usual—put it on credit; I’ll settle up at the end of the month.” The butcher’s face instantly fell. Nervously and with a tone meant to please, he said, “Lord Wu… last month you still…”
“Hm!?”
Before the butcher could finish, the one called Lord Wu shot him a fierce glare.
“What, don’t trust me, Wu Kui?”
The butcher’s courage quickly vanished, and he quickly smiled profusely.
“Of course not, of course not. I was just asking casually, just casually. Please take care.”
At the same time, three options popped up before Jiang Beiran’s eyes: [Option 1: Step forward and stand up for the butcher. Reward: Heavenly Wolf Sword (Yellow Grade, High Tier)] [Option 2: Secretly act and teach Wu Kui a lesson. Reward: Pilu Helmet (Yellow Grade, Mid Tier)] [Option 3: Stay where you are.
Reward: +1 Random Basic Attribute Point] Choosing option three, Jiang Beiran coolly said “Good bye” to Wu Kui and disappeared around the corner.
“Ah… how am I supposed to get through these days?”
The butcher sighed with a forlorn expression. Finally, he couldn’t help but grab the rag on the cutting board and rubbed it vigorously in front of his eyes.
“Boss, two jin of pork.”
The butcher, still feeling down, immediately put down the rag and revealed a big smile.
“Alright! Which part would you like?”
“Neck meat. And some pig ears as well.”
“You sure know your stuff! Want me to cut it for you?”
“No need, just wrap it up.”
“One portion neck meat, one portion pig ears... Here you go, pig ears are cheaper, that’ll be 18 copper coins.”
“Here’s the money.”
“Okay, wait a moment, let me count… Hey, sir, where’re you going!? Hey! Come back! I haven’t finished counting! Come back! You damn scoundrel!!!”
But as the butcher ran out of his stall wielding a knife, he saw the young customer had vanished into the crowd. No matter how he looked, he couldn’t find him.
“Damn it! Don’t let me catch you! If I do, I’ll skin you alive!”
After shouting, the passerby had gathered, but seeing the butcher’s crazed look, they dared not speak and all dispersed quickly.
“Ah…”
Once the crowd was gone, the butcher sighed deeply, his body seeming to lose all strength. With blank eyes, he returned to his stall and noticed a small cloth bag at the corner—likely left by that scoundrel.
“Damn it!”
He snatched it up, ready to throw it to the ground, but felt some weight inside. Though doubting it was money, he still hoped as he untied the bag.
“What!?”
His eyes went wide as he saw three chunks of broken silver inside.
“Three… three qian of silver!?”
He muttered in disbelief. Suddenly looking up toward the direction the young man disappeared, his mouth opened wide. After composing himself, he knocked his head on the ground three times with “Bang!
Bang!
Bang!” then slapped himself hard.
“You damn scoundrel, running wild without even saying thank you to your benefactor!”
After scolding himself, he vowed to thank that mysterious helper properly if he ever saw him again, but try as he might, he couldn’t recall the young man’s face.
“How strange... I usually remember every customer’s face. Why can’t I remember my benefactor’s!? Oh man, Wang Fugui, you idiot! Good for nothing when it really counts!”
After saying this, he slapped himself again. At that moment, Jiang Beiran, carrying two packages of meat, had reached the end of the street, imagining the butcher’s expression when he sees the three broken silver inside the bag.
“Ah, it’s tough to survive in this chaotic world. This is about all the help I can offer.”
Though his various miserable experiences after transmigrating made Jiang Beiran vow to be a refined selfish man, seeing so many common folk’s suffering, he ultimately couldn’t keep up that “heart of stone”. After carefully studying the meanings of the system’s options, he devised a set of “Help Rules.”
Simply put, these rules said that as long as his own safety was guaranteed, there were circumstances under which he could subtly lend a hand. First, he wouldn’t help the people he interacted with often—like those sect brothers in the Heart Returning Sect.
Whether he knew them or not, Jiang Beiran would avoid bypassing the system’s options to help them, because it might cause troublesome follow-up events. For example, just recently Liu Ziqin approached him probably because when Jiang Beiran served as the Iron Seal, he couldn’t bring himself to be strict sometimes.
Most of the time, knowing he had to keep a low profile, Jiang Beiran tried to look very “ordinary,” so when he was Iron Seal, he considered intentionally failing the new disciples’ trial missions to avoid having a perfect 100% success rate glaring from his records. But whenever these little junior brothers helplessly asked, “Senior brother, what should I do?”
Jiang Beiran couldn’t bear it and ended up comforting himself with, “There was no option warning me that a perfect success rate would be dangerous.” That’s why his reputation as Iron Seal was excessively high. Though he told them not to boast about him, unexpected ones like Liu Ziqin still popped up.
Second, anytime system options showed [Avoid this place], [Pass by], or [Do nothing], Jiang Beiran would never help—he’d leave immediately without hesitation. Within these two absolute premises, Jiang Beiran sometimes helped oppressed commoners, treating it as paying a little attribute or skill point fee. ...
Two hours later, having triggered almost a dozen options, Jiang Beiran was satisfied and no longer planned to wander the town streets. It wasn’t that he disliked points — previously, he’d triggered more than 30 options in one day and felt like a big winner.
But the next day, when he went out, no options appeared at all, making him feel very uneasy. He stayed in his room all day, and the options only came back on the third day. This taught Jiang Beiran not to over-trigger system options, or else the system might “go on strike.”
Besides earning many points this evening, he also gained a preliminary understanding of the local underworld forces in Falling Sunset Town. Before transmigrating, Jiang Beiran admired the righteous heroes in martial novels who chivalrously fought injustice and evildoers. But now, in this world, he realized those “heroes” sometimes were no different from underworld gangs.
Were there truly selfless heroes devoted to the country and people? Sure, but they were exceedingly rare. Most wandering warriors or light warriors formed various factions and often swore brotherhood with different surnames, creating powerful gangs.
These gangs cared nothing for state law but followed “martial world rules.” Anyone violating those rules faced judgments from someone like an arbiter, a sudden end by martial justice. When these gangs grew large enough, they became mighty forces.
Some were called “evil cults” by officials and righteous sects; others became chivalrous clans with strong family lineages. The clan chiefs were the bosses, family laws became clan rules, and all members shared honor and disgrace like one family. Whether evil cult or chivalrous clan, they never lacked masters.
After all, not every cultivator honed their skills for the public good. Most did it for selfish reasons. So, even some strong ruffians in small towns, after being beaten for acting chivalrously, might turn out to be peripheral members of some shady sects or gangs.
Suddenly they’d pull out a firecracker, shouting, “An arrow pierces the clouds; a thousand troops come to meet!” These gangs prize face above all. Even if the peripheral member beaten had nothing to do with their gang, the whole gang would flood out to retaliate—because you didn’t give their people face.
Therefore, whenever Jiang Beiran arrived somewhere new, he’d learn who ruled the area upon triggering options, so he could prepare in advance. Investigating was simple; just casually drop by taverns or inns, and it wouldn’t take long before ruffians loudly proclaimed, “Today’s spot is owned by XX gang!” or “Who dares deny us XX gang face in this area?”
For example, earlier Jiang Beiran heard a drunk shout at a tavern, “Brothers, don’t worry. In Falling Sunset Town, just say the name Yellow Gang Bigfoot Ma, and everyone’ll give you face!” Jiang Beiran had heard the Yellow Gang name often since coming down the mountain.
It was a gang rising in recent years, known to have Grand Mysterious Master level experts, hence its rapid growth. Having earned enough points and gathered the necessary information, Jiang Beiran returned to the inn and went into his room.
Shutting the door, lighting the oil lamp on the square table, Jiang Beiran sat and pulled out a few strands of Wula Grass from his Universe Ring. The ordinary robe had performed well all day, letting none of the five junior sisters attract any attention. So Jiang Beiran decided to further refine the suit to improve its concealment even more.
He worked late into the night, staring at a dozen straw hats of all shapes on the table, pondering what other functions to add.
“Ha~” Yawning as drowsiness crept in, Jiang Beiran stored all the hats in his Universe Ring and decided to postpone work till tomorrow.
Chewing a “Mouth Cleansing Pellet” he made himself using Heart Cleansing Herb, Jiang Beiran finished cleaning his mouth and was about to flop onto bed when three options popped up: [Option 1: Sleep now. Reward: Star Shift (Earth Grade, Mid Tier)] [Option 2: Remind junior sisters once again not to run around.
Reward: Golden Snake Captures Crane Fist (Mysterious Grade, Mid Tier)] [Option 3: Go outside the inn to observe secretly. Reward: +1 Random Basic Skill Point] The Earth Grade, Mid Tier reward immediately perked Jiang Beiran up. Why sleep now?
He decisively chose the third option. Taking out his specially made night clothes from the Universe Ring, he dressed, climbed out the window, and arrived at the inn’s entrance. Within ten minutes, Jiang Beiran saw a figure step out from the inn.
It was Fang Qiuyao, who should have been obediently in her room right now—but thankfully, she still wore the ordinary robe.
“Sigh… that girl really is the biggest time bomb.”
Jiang Beiran originally thought his speech earlier in the afternoon would enlighten her somehow, so he wanted to let her digest it slowly. But now it seemed she digested nothing at all...
Peeking cautiously outside, realizing no one was paying attention to her, Fang Qiuyao swaggered out of the inn, heading toward where their tofu pudding stall had been overturned when they first arrived. At the same time, three options popped up before Jiang Beiran’s eyes: [Option 1: Drag Fang Qiuyao back to the inn.
Reward: Azure Cloud Dance (Mysterious Grade, High Tier)] [Option 2: Make Fang Qiuyao realize your presence, so she willingly returns to her room. Reward: Swallowtail Divine Spear (Mysterious Grade, Low Tier)] [Option 3: Follow her stealthily. Reward: +1 Random Basic Skill Point] Seeing these options, Jiang Beiran thought for a moment and understood the system’s intention.
‘They want this girl to get smacked by society once?’
Shrugging, Jiang Beiran thought that wasn’t a bad idea either. So he picked option three and jumped onto the rooftop, quietly tailing Fang Qiuyao.
(End of chapter)