1356 Southern Stronghold After traveling for several more days, Tian Yang and Huang Xiao Li finally encountered something that wasn't a magical beast. "Excuse me! Do you know where the nearest city is located?" Tian Yang approached a cultivator who had just finished defeating a magical beast. However, this cultivator immediately became wary of him and went into a combative stance. Tian Yang quickly raised his hand when he saw this, and he tried to assure the cultivator that they meant no harm, "Please wait. We are not here to harm you. We're simply lost." Unsurprisingly, the cultivator did not even twitch at his words and remained wary. They were currently on the Desolate Continent, where laws do not apply and only one rule applies the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak. In this world, it was a common occurrence for cultivators to engage in acts of murder and theft. Those lacking the strength to protect themselves would inevitably fall victim to exploitation. lightsvl m Tian Yang was well aware of this rule, but they were not in a position to ignore another human after spending an entire week wandering and lost in this dangerous land. "Hah! Do I really look that stupid to you?! You say you're lost? That's funny, considering that the nearest city is only a mile from here!" The cultivator sneered in disdain. "Really? Is that true?" Tian Yang was pleasantly surprised to learn this information. "I must admit, you are pretty good at acting. If I was even a little dumber, I would've believed you!" The cultivator said. Tian Yang was speechless, but he didn't bother attempting to convince the cultivator otherwise, having already obtained the information he needed. He turned around and returned to Huang Xiao Li, "The city is only a mile away." "That's great! I can finally clean myself!" she shed blissful tears imagining herself in a bathtub. Tian Yang proceeded to carry her into the air before flying towards the city, leaving the cultivator dumbfounded. "Were they truly lost?" he mumbled to himself. They had tried searching from the air a few days ago, but they didn't see anything, even attracting the attention of several flying magical beasts, an experience that nearly cost them their lives, so they avoided entering the air from that point forth. Now that he was aware of a nearby city, Tian Yang didn't have to worry about any flying magical beasts, as magical beasts tend to avoid the cities. Sometime later, Tian Yang arrived at the city, which happened to be the Southern Stronghold, a conclusion he had come to days before after only encountering magical beasts between the level of Spirt Lord and Spirit King. "The city isn't as safe as one might think, so stay close to me even when we are inside." Tian Yang warned. "Okay." Huang Xiao Li immediately grabbed onto his robe like a child who didn't want to separate from their parent in a crowded street, an action that had become a habit of hers. Tian Yang entered the city shortly. Since it was a city owned by nobody, there was no need to pay entrance fees like one normally would. "Let's find a place to clean ourselves before we look for any information about your family." Tian Yang suggested. "Let's," she immediately agreed. The interior of the city was rough and barely developed, resembling that of a rural city. The buildings looked as if they were built without any plans or approval, so there were gaps of all sizes between each building. The street was impressively vast, adorned with numerous merchants showcasing their wares on blankets as they sat behind them, eager to make sales. Most of these merchants also had surprisingly high cultivation, which explained their boldness to display their treasures in a place where one could steal in broad daylight. bender After looking around for an entire hour, they only managed to find a single crude-looking hotel. Not wanting to walk around with dirt and mud sticking to their body for even a second longer than they had to, they settled for the hotel, which also had a tremendous price tag that even luxurious hotels couldn't compare. "Small rooms are 50 spirit stones and the bigger rooms will cost 100 spirit stones with a time limit of three days." "Do your rooms have a bathtub?" Huang Xiao Li asked. "We have two rooms with bathtubs, but one of them is already occupied. The cost will be 200 spirit stones for three days." "I don't have that kind of money" Tian Yang said to Huang Xiao Li. Huang Xiao Li suddenly realized that this was her chance to be helpful and immediately took out 200 spirit stones, placing them before the manager. "We'll take that room." "Thank you for your business. Here is your key. We will notify you the day before your time is up." "Let's go!" Huang Xiao Li grabbed Tian Yang's hand and dragged him to their room. When they entered the room, they were shocked by how small it turned out to be. "This is their most luxurious room?! This isn't even worth a silver a night, much less 100 spirit stones!" Huang Xiao Li felt scammed. Upon opening the door to their room, they were greeted by a room that was twice as spacious as Tian Yang's room in the Raging Serpent, but that doesn't say much when considering the size of his room. Moreover, there was only a single large bed in the room. Besides that, the bathroom was in a separate room, which was even smaller than Tian Yang's room in the Raging Serpent and only had enough room to fit a medium-sized bathtub. Compared to what she was normally used to, the hotel's room couldn't even compare to a pig pen. However, since they were mostly there for the bathtub, they didn't complain too much. Huang Xiao Li entered the bathroom first, and she wouldn't come back out for three whole hours. Even scrubbing her entire body over ten times wouldn't require that amount of time, so Tian Yang couldn't imagine what she was doing inside. Naturally, he didn't actually spend any time doing such pointless acts. Instead, he focused on improving his cultivation.