Bamboo Mound

Seeing this, the old man hurriedly chased after him and called out.

However, when Ning Chang stopped and turned around, he hesitated again.

After all, in his view, Ning Chang had completely robbed him of fifty taels of silver, which was the very foundation of his pawnshop!

However, fearing Ning Chang's strength, they dared not risk their lives for this matter.

He was filled with regret for his impulsive decision to chase after the cultivator and even call out to him.

Now, if he can't come up with a good reason, he'll probably be seen as a fool.

They'll be digging their own graves then!

"This... um..." He broke out in a cold sweat, his eyes darting around. Remembering Ning Chang's question about Chu's conscription, he hurriedly asked:

"May I ask, Immortal, do you know the situation on the western battlefield?"

Seeing the old man bowing to him, Ning Chang, who was already determined to leave, naturally didn't want to waste any more time explaining in detail.

"That wasn't a war. Both countries were wiped out. The corpses were piled up more than two zhang long, and you couldn't see the end of them."

"This this..."

After saying that, he ignored the old man who was staring blankly in place and walked further down the street.

After Ning Chang left, the old man collapsed to his knees, utterly exhausted.

"This can't be true! It can't be! My Ping'er!"

Although he knew that his son would likely die in this battle, he thought that if he didn't ask, he might still have a hope, but hearing it with his own ears was a different story.

At that moment, he seemed to age more than ten years in an instant. Already in his old age, he was now even more listless, and a few more streaks of white appeared in his mottled hair.

At this time, there were no pedestrians on the street, so naturally no one noticed the two's actions.

Ning Chang hadn't walked far when he saw through the open door a shop displaying various fabrics and clothing.

Upon entering, rows of finished clothing were displayed, all roughly the same in color and style, much like the clothes of pedestrians he had seen on the streets when he entered the city.

"anyone there?"

Ning Chang called out softly, and a middle-aged woman soon emerged from the back door.

"Hmm, sir..." When the woman came out, she was holding a bowl of yellow rice and chewing it.

Upon seeing Ning Chang's clothes clearly, he hurriedly swallowed the millet in his mouth, placed the bowl on the wooden table by the door, and walked up to Ning Chang.

He bowed slightly, his head trembling as he said, "I...I don't know what brings the immortal here?"

How much are the clothes?

"If the immortal likes it, he may take it without paying."

"I'm asking you how much the clothes cost."

"This..." Seeing that Ning Chang did not intend to forcibly take it, the woman breathed a slight sigh of relief.

But they still maintained the original posture: "All ready-made clothes cost two hundred copper coins a set, while children's clothes cost one hundred copper coins."

In addition, customization is also available; you can choose your preferred fabric and style, and it will cost 800 copper coins.

Ning Chang nodded, looked around again, and finally spotted a touch of deep indigo in the store's earthy yellow and dark brown tones.

Upon closer inspection, I found that the style of the clothes was quite simple, and indeed more pleasing to the eye than those earthy colors.

But then she asked, "Why are all the clothes yellow? Only this one is different."

The woman followed Ning Chang to a corner of the shop. Seeing that Ning Chang had taken a liking to the dark indigo cloth robe, she immediately began to explain:

"Immortal, you may not know this, but in the State of Chu, commoners can only wear earth-colored or similar colors. As for other colors, they are reserved for high-ranking officials and nobles."

"I see..." Ning Chang stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Wouldn't wearing it just cause a lot of unnecessary trouble? The people of Chu were so nervous and even knelt down when they saw the color of the clothes, it was as if they hadn't changed at all."

"But earthy yellow... I really don't want to wear it."

After a long while, he finally made up his mind: since indigo was conspicuous in Chu, why shouldn't he wear it there?

Or rather, not wearing it in the small towns of Chu, since you can't wear too little in a big city, right?

Besides, his main purpose in changing clothes was to solve the communication problem. He could wear the ugly color for a while, and once he got directions and bought some dry food to leave the city, it would take up space in his spatial bag.

With that thought in mind, he immediately asked, "How much does this outfit cost?"

"One tael of silver."

"No need to look anymore, just wrap this up for me." He tossed out two pieces of silver and pulled off a dark brown long-sleeved robe with black trim, putting it on.

"Thank you, Immortal!"

Upon seeing the silver, the woman immediately responded with delight. She took the indigo robe, walked to the shop entrance, pulled over a brown square cloth from the side, spread it on the table, folded the robe neatly, and quickly wrapped it in the cloth.

After putting away the cloth bag, Ning Chang turned and left the shop.

The dark brown robe he was wearing was a bit too big for him, but the length was just right, covering his ankles and concealing the cuffs of his sect's trousers.

After walking along the street for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, I finally saw a cloth plaque extending into the street on the right, which read "Fugui Restaurant".

"The general store next to the restaurant... I think that's it."

Looking inside the left side of the restaurant, there were various pots, pans, chopsticks, and earthenware jars piled up, as well as a counter. Although there was no signboard, it should be a shop.

Stepping inside, the store was completely empty.

I walked all the way to the counter and saw a person lying on a recliner behind him, I didn’t know if he was asleep.

Upon seeing someone, Ning Chang asked, "Are you the owner of this shop?"

Upon hearing the voice, the person slowly opened their eyes and looked Ning Chang up and down.

However, seeing Ning Chang's youthful appearance and plain clothes, he closed his eyes again.

"Choose whatever you want to buy, and bring it to pay when you're done."

When the person opened their eyes, Ning Chang also looked them over.

He had a shifty, rat-like appearance, and it was obvious at a glance that he was no good. Unless he needed to get information, he would never want to communicate with such a person.

Seeing that he ignored her, Ning Chang said again, "I heard that you can get information here?"

"That's right, five hundred copper coins for a message. If you can't afford it, then leave."

Upon hearing that Ning Chang wanted to buy, the man didn't even open his eyes, just waved his hand and gave a perfunctory reply.

Ning Chang knew that the other party saw her as innocent and didn't think she could afford it, so they casually quoted a high price, hoping to get rid of her.

Or perhaps they just want to extort money from you.

But in his opinion, it was just a small amount of money.

He tossed two pieces of silver onto the counter with a flick of his wrist. "Do you know Pingguo?"

The sound of broken silver hitting the wooden counter startled the shopkeeper.

After all, he'd been doing this for so many years, he could still distinguish the sound of silver coins from copper coins.

He was immediately startled. Seeing the two pieces of silver on the counter, he quickly picked them up and secretly pinched them with his fingernails.

The speed was so fast that Ning Chang didn't even have time to react before he was taken away.

"Hehe, the customer has money, why didn't you say so sooner? It would have given me a chance to serve him well~"

Seeing his fawning expression, Ning Chang clenched his fists and asked coldly, "Do you know Pingguo?"

"Know, know."

“The State of Ping is located to the east of the State of Chu.”

"how far?"

"The territory of Chu is more than twice the size of that of Ping. If you want to go there, you will have to cross the entire territory of Chu."

"What do you mean?"

“Our Stone City is located at the westernmost edge of the Chu Kingdom, while Ping Kingdom is located at the easternmost edge of the Chu Kingdom.”