Realms In The Firmament

“How weird!”

Ye Xiao rubbed his head and looked at the red flowers and green grass under his feet. He murmured and said, “What is this place?

“Coming and going… Why do I feel like I am in a dream?”

Ye Xiao’s eyes were full of confusion. He said, “Ascending to the Human Realm Upon Heavens… All the days I have been through earlier… It just feels like dreaming… I don’t feel right about this. Why does it feel so weird?”

The poor Xiao Monarch still thought that this was the normal ascending process. He totally had no idea how he was being played and fooled by somebody else.

All in all, since he was here, he should as well stay and made the best of it. Now he actually felt the same as he was in the Qing-Yun Realm.

The spiritual qi in the air was over ten times denser and purer than the Qing-Yun Realm, but that was all. He didn’t feel any different about the gravity force anymore. He didn’t feel different about anything at all.

He felt so light as if he could float up by thinking of it. It was special.

Since he left that desolate area and got through the energy screen, his power had become twice as in that area!

It truly confused Ye Xiao. He just couldn’t think it through…

‘Does that mysterious area enhance my cultivation power? Did it double my power back there?’

Within four months, he became twice as powerful as he used to be. That area was not just a good place for cultivation… It was the perfect place for cultivation!

Ye Xiao absolutely had no idea. The mysterious area he just got out from was a real place in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, but nobody had ever entered that place for a long time.

It was indeed a desolate area, a land that was abandoned by heavens!

That area used to be a world beyond the heavens, in which the gods fought their war in the ancient era. The war of gods ruined that world, so after the war, some other great cultivators led the residents out to a new area, which was exactly the Human Realm Upon Heavens. Countless years passed, that ruined area was still a desolate land, but the Human Realm Upon Heavens had been well developed.

The abandoned land had been existing in the myth… Some powerful cultivators knew that there was a desolate area, but nobody had truly entered that place.

Nobody knew where it was.

Ye Xiao was so lucky to have such an experience, but he actually didn’t realize it yet.

As he walked down the cliff, he realized there was a small town on the bottom. He was happy that he finally got to see some people, so he walked even faster, and then casually paced into the small town.

Ye Xiao had been living far from people for over a hundred days. At the moment, he finally saw people crowding in the streets, wandering with birds, shopping in the market, and selling by the roadside again. He saw men and women, people with dogs or cats, boys and girls hand in hand, cultivators with swords or sabers walking by. He just felt so familiar with it!

Everything was just like in the Qing-Yun Realm.

However, the cultivators he met in this small town who were carrying their swords or sabers had some kind of aura that was quite fierce. It made Ye Xiao feel that every single cultivator in this world was incredibly powerful… In the sky, there were always some clouds in seven different colors. The spiritual qi was so dense in the air that nowhere in the Qing-Yun Realm could reach…

‘That is all. Nothing else changes too much.’

‘Wait!’

It seemed he had realized something new, which was a huge difference from the lower realm.

A man was buying some fruits in the market. The fruits he bought were wrapped by a thin layer of fog, making the fruits look pink through the white. It made Ye Xiao feel hungry.

Each of that fruit had a box as its package.

The package didn’t surprise Ye Xiao that much though. When he was in the Land of Han-Yang, Boss Wan, Wan Zhenghao used to teach him the three golden rules in market business, brand, package, and appearance. The last two were the most important in the fruits business.

What caught Ye Xiao’s eyes was the money they used in the business.

The customer took out a jade coin which shined in white lights from his pocket, and the shopkeeper took it over with a big smile and then took out a lot of yellow jade coins as the change.

Apparently, the white jade coin was much more valuable than the yellow one. Perhaps, one white jade coin was equal to one hundred yellow jade coins, or even more. Ye Xiao wasn’t sure about it yet, but the white jade coin must be a large-denomination.

The customer left, and the shopkeeper went on with his small business.

Ye Xiao was stunned.

He reached into his pocket and held the gold in his hand, gritting his teeth.

Apparently, gold, the most dependable money in the Land of Han-Yang and the Qing-Yun Realm was no longer that useful.

Having some gold wasn’t a problem. The real problem was that he did not have any of that jade coin.

He was such a capable man, but no one lived without money. Was the famous Xiao Monarch going to become a robber?

Well, there was a further question in his head. What could he get even if he truly became a robber? He couldn’t rob those who had the white jade coins, because he must be too weak to do that. Perhaps, he could rob some yellow jade coin from the people in lower positions, but considering how cheap the yellow jade coin was, how many did he have to rob?

Ye Xiao was hesitating, and he was lost in thoughts. Suddenly, there was a disturbance somewhere in front of him. A slim man who looked like a thief was running so fast. This man was so quick that it took him only the time of a blink to rush out a long distance. Somebody was shouting behind his back. “Get him! Catch him! That bastard stole from me…”

Before he finished talking…

A shopkeeper of a steam buns shop stepped out immediately and stopped that thief. The shopkeeper was also unbelievably fast. He was even faster than the thief. On the other side, a woman who was selling fruits nearby flew up to the sky and struck out a long towel. The towel flew out like a white cloud, which looked amazing. An old woman making such an amazing strike, that just didn’t seem to make sense…

These two were not all. Over ten of the people who were selling things in this market moved together!

Within seconds, that slim man had been punched down on the floor by those warmhearted shopkeepers. As he fell, a special chain which appeared just like a snake automatically crawled up to the man’s body and tied him up.

With some cracking sounds, the chain had locked the man’s bones.

After a while, a general wearing a golden armor arrived from the sky, leading a group of soldiers. He thanked the people who helped and then got the thief away.

Things were returned to the man who was stolen from, and he kept showing his gratitude to the general. “I was too careless. Otherwise, this rat would never be able to steal anything from me.”

The others all laughed when they heard the man’s embarrassing explanation. They didn’t feel annoyed at all.

After that, everybody was back to where they ought to be, taking care of their own businesses. Those who sold fish still sold it, and those who sold food still sold their food…

Somebody sold and somebody bought… The market was busy.

The old ladies who were buying things did not even pay more attention to what just happened.

Ye Xiao saw everything, and he took a cold breath. It was shocking.

He tried to match himself to the slim thief who just got caught, and luckily, he was a little stronger than that thief. If he had to fight that man, it would take him no more than five hundred rounds to win the fight…

However, to escape the siege of those shopkeepers was simply impossible. Even ten Ye Xiao together couldn’t escape the siege of those powerful men.

If he did go to rob something…

He might get punched to death by those old men and women within five minutes, and he would probably get tied up and sent away by those soldiers…

“Brutal! Insane! Ruthless! That is… horrible…” Ye Xiao’s eyes kept rolling.

‘What the hell is this place? What the hell are those people? Anyone, any single one of these small retailers could easily kill a top-level superior cultivator in the Qing-Yun Realm… That old woman… Look how she played with that towel! Now compare it to the Ribbon Technique of the Ice Cloud Palace… That towel strike was something from heavens while the ribbon technique was more like some useless trick on the earth. There are indeed always more powerful beings in the world! This is the Human Realm Upon Heavens that everybody was told…’ Ye Xiao felt that his outlooks on the world, life, and values were totally turned upside down again.

How life was like a drama. Some people said life was like a dream, and the years that went past was like a song. Ye Xiao used to think that people were just saying, but now he realized that life and reality were truly as cruel as people said!

Ye Xiao kept swallowing but couldn’t eat anything. He just kept looking at the food which seemed to be so incredibly delicious. Now that there was some real food in front of him, he truly had lost interest in anything from the Boundless Space anymore…

‘I just want to eat something made for human. I just want to take some food. What did I do wrong? What? I don’t have the money!’ Ye Xiao couldn’t feel more upset now. He sighed and complained in his head. ‘Oh heavens! Oh, motherland! I am the most powerful person in the Qing-Yun Realm! I just defeated the demons in the Qing-Yun Realm! I am a great cultivator who had done great things! Why am I so pathetic now?’

‘Does everyone who is new to this world have to be this poor and pathetic? Don’t we at least deserve a little food to eat?’

In fact, he was more pathetic than he knew about himself, because… not everyone who was new to this world had to be a pauper like him. In fact… The truth was… As a matter of fact… In the million years before him, there was nobody who came to this world as a pauper! He was the poorest and most pathetic man among all those who had newly arrived in this world!

He was the only pauper of them!

A scorpion sh*tting in the sky—there was nobody like him!

“Ahem.” Ye Xiao went to a shop that was selling steamed buns and coughed.

He had seen it clearly that this shopkeeper was the first one who rushed out to catch that thief. He was certain that this shopkeeper was a brilliant cultivator, who had a splendid movement technique that Ye Xiao couldn’t ever reach…

“Hi, Brother, do you want some steamed buns? How many do you want?” The big fat shopkeeper smiled and his both eyes narrowed in lines. “One yellow spirit coin for two steamed buns.”

Ye Xiao awkwardly rubbed his nose and said, “Oh, right… Hmm. Here is the problem. I don’t… I don’t have any money…”

“You don’t have money, huh?” The fat shopkeeper didn’t show him a friendly face, just squinted at Ye Xiao.

That was obvious. “Look at you, a f*cking pretty boy. You look like a decent man, yet you actually come and shamelessly beg for food? Can this be anymore disgraceful?”

Ye Xiao awkwardly laughed. He understood what the shopkeeper meant for sure, so he was extremely embarrassed. ‘I have never thought that I, the great Xiao Monarch, would become a beggar who is looked down upon by a retailer…’

If people in the Qing-Yun Realm knew about this, many people would die because of being astonished…

“Well, look… Here is my offer. Could you please give me some steamed buns and accept something from me as an exchange?” Ye Xiao asked.

“What do you have for me?”

The fat shopkeeper looked at Ye Xiao. “You are a damn pauper who can’t even afford a steamed bun. What can you offer me?”

“Please have a look. How many steamed buns do you think I can get for this?” Ye Xiao took out a Cinnabar Fruit and held it in the hand carefully.

“Oh, Cinnabar Fruit…” The fat shopkeeper rolled his eyeballs up. That wasn’t the reaction Ye Xiao expected. The shopkeeper said, “This Cinnabar Fruit may not be common out in the wild, but it isn’t rare either. It provides some spiritual qi, poorly limited spiritual qi, and that is all. Look, I don’t want to hurt you feeling… Fine. Just put your fruit away. I don’t want it. Take two steamed buns as a gift and go.”

Then he wrapped two steamed buns and handed them over to Ye Xiao. He continued talking like an old man giving a lesson to the kid. “Little Brother, you look like a decent man. Look at your pretty face. Come on, figure something out to earn some money and feed yourself. It won’t last long if you keep begging for food. How are you supposed to survive the Human Realm Upon Heavens? Moreover, you won’t be able to find yourself a wife here! Girls in this world now are all pretty realistic.”

Ye Xiao was embarrassed and he didn’t know what to say. His lips twisted, and he hastily turned around and left.

“I am not a beggar!” Ye Xiao seriously said. However, the fat shopkeeper obviously didn’t believe him.

“Forget it. Look, take this thing instead, for the steamed buns.” Ye Xiao blushed, and then took out something from the Boundless Space and put in into the fat shopkeeper’s hands. He hastily left.

He couldn’t stay anymore, because it was too embarrassing.

Most importantly, he didn’t know whether the thing he gave the shopkeeper was valuable enough for the two steamed buns. The ultimate-level Cinnabar Fruit was the most valuable treasure Ye Xiao had in the Boundless Space, yet it didn’t seem to be as valuable as he thought in the Human Realm Upon Heavens. If the thing he took out next didn’t worth anything either, Ye Xiao would never be able to end the embarrassment ever!

“Wait! Please wait… Hold on…” The fat shopkeeper didn’t sound the same man all of a sudden. He hurriedly caught up with Ye Xiao and grabbed his hand. It had been only a few seconds, but he was already sweating as he had run for a long time. “Brother, come on… Brother… Wait… I didn’t know… I… I was wrong… I should have been more polite… You… I… Please… Take it back now… You… You can have as many steamed buns as you want… Just take them… This thing… Please, I can’t take it… Show me mercy, and take it back… Don’t fool me around…”

Ye Xiao was grabbed by the shopkeeper, and he actually couldn’t get rid of him. That fat shopkeeper was truly some extraordinary people. In fact, the shopkeeper truly wanted to stop Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao thought for one second and then turned around, only to see the fat shopkeeper’s face all turn red. His small eyes were widely open, and he was gasping, staring at Ye Xiao. He was dragging Ye Xiao’s arm, but slightly bowing down. Ye Xiao thought that the man was going to kneel down at any second.

While the shopkeeper used one hand to grab Ye Xiao, he used the other hand to push the thing back to Ye Xiao.

I felt like that thing had burned his hand, hurt his heart, and he couldn’t have it in the hand for any longer.

Ye Xiao looked at the thing in the man’s hand, which was slightly smaller than a man’s fist, which was shining green metallic gloss. It appeared like all the dark blue deep down in an ocean all gathered inside that metal block.

At the moment, many people were staring at that green metal block.

Their faces were all changed. They didn’t seem to be peaceful anymore.

Ye Xiao was surprised.

He did not have a choice, so he gave that fat man the metal block. He thought that the shopkeeper would refuse such a worthless thing, so he decided to leave quickly. For him, that metal block was probably nothing!

After all, it was something he extracted from the junks he had collected from that desolate land. There was a small mountain in the Boundless Space that was made of such metal. He had just grabbed the smallest piece out to exchange for the steamed buns…

He just didn’t understand why everybody reacted like that!

‘Really?’

‘Is this necessary? Really?’

Ye Xiao looked at the fat shopkeeper, and his eyes were full of confusion. He just couldn’t figure out what was truly happening.

The fat shopkeeper was sweating badly on his forehead. His lips were going to become blue. With a shaking voice, he said, “Big brother… I wasn’t with my eyes back there… I should have been polite to you… This is the Star Trace Iron you gave me. Please take it back… I… I don’t think I can take it… I don’t dare…”

“Star Trace Iron?” Ye Xiao didn’t take the metal, but blandly said, “It is a block of Star Trace Iron, so what? Don’t you think it is enough for the two steamed buns of yours?”