I have a Taoist temple that connects me to other worlds

Tai Cang City, Changwu Street.

For miles, lanterns glowed like fire. The sounds of those in silk robes and jade ornaments seeking pleasure never ceased.

Qingzhou is located in the southern Fujian region, bordering Guangdong to the east and Yangzhou to the west. It connects Xu and Wei to the north and south, with dense water and land transportation and flourishing commercial exchanges. Tai Cang, as one of the three major cities in Qingzhou, naturally enjoyed similar prosperity. Compared to Jingyuan, the capital of the state, Tai Cang had a more palpable sense of wealth.

Therefore, here you could see rows of brothels, gaze upon the famous chambers of commerce, and catch sight of brightly lit markets.

As long as you had money in your pocket, you could buy whatever you wanted in Tai Cang.

Along the way, Jiang Wen saw many novel goods, such as various mountain delicacies, porcelain with a distinct Da Gan style, and jade and agate so cheap they made people envious. He wanted to buy some and transport them back for sale, but looking at his storage bag, he realized he hadn't brought much money.

He asked Li Yunshang, but the girl shook her pigtails, which jingled, and said she didn't have much gold or silver either. She didn't need those things on a regular basis, and she looked down on mundane items, so she naturally wouldn't prepare any gold or silver.

Upon learning that Jiang Wen needed money, she even took out a bag of spirit stones for him. Jiang Wen was left holding the spirit stones, not knowing where to spend them, and in the end, he had to find a way to get some money from a pawnshop.

"Esteemed customer, where did you get this thing?" The pawnshop owner clicked the lighter repeatedly, a look of surprise on his face. Although it wasn't difficult to make fire, this lighter was obviously much more advanced than a fire starter. It only needed to be pressed to ignite, which was incredibly convenient.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead, and finally bought the box of lighters for fifty taels of gold.

"Let's go," Li Yunshang hummed, leading Jiang Wen into the extremely lively pavilion.

In the end, he scoured almost the entire ten-mile-long Changwu Street, spending less than twenty taels of gold.

This made Jiang Wen sigh at how high the value of gold was, no matter what world you were in.

These two men were eight feet tall, with thick hands and broad shoulders. Their temples bulged, and their eyes shone with a sharp light. Their every move exuded a sense of sharpness, indicating they were no ordinary people.

With Li Yunshang's identity as a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Jiang Wen was able to sweep through the shops on Changwu Street at a relatively affordable price.

"Just kidding, just kidding," Jiang Wen quickly explained. He naturally knew what the Houtian realm referred to now. Ordinary martial artists, whether they practiced Qi or body refinement, all belonged to the Houtian realm if they failed to cultivate innate true Qi.

As night deepened, the two got up and headed to the Immortal Gathering. Li Yunshang led him to a four-story pavilion on Changwu Street. Looking at the exquisitely carved pavilion, the sounds of silk and bamboo music were pleasant, and laughter never ceased. Guards stood watch at the entrance, vigilantly watching the people coming and going, and stepped forward to stop them when they saw the two trying to enter.

He bought a lot of amber, jade, and mountain delicacies, throwing them all into his storage bag.

Whether it was the decoration inside the pavilion or the entertainment of the guests, it was enough to open the eyes of Jiang Wen, who had seen a lot of luxury. It was truly "golden censers added with incense, red brocade carpets wrinkled with every step. Beautiful women danced, their golden hairpins swaying, and when they felt sick from the wine, they would sniff the flower stamens."

"Mm," Li Yunshang, standing beside him, intentionally or unintentionally revealed a bronze token, staring sternly at the shopkeeper. It seemed to be telling him that if he dared to cheat them, his small shop could expect to be shut down.

"No idlers allowed in the Gathering Immortal Pavilion," the guard said coldly.

"I got it from somewhere else, shopkeeper, see how much it's worth," Jiang Wen asked with a smile, pointing to a box of lighters.

"No, no, the shopkeeper is honest, a really honest man," Jiang Wen quickly explained, fearing that the girl would tear down someone's shop if he was too late. He was already earning a lot, so how could he treat others like that?

For cultivators, the Houtian and Xiantian realms were the same. They hadn't even entered the threshold of cultivation, but for ordinary people, the Xiantian realm was already the pinnacle of mortals. With innate true Qi, they could cross rivers, travel a hundred miles a day, be free from illness and pain, and live to be two hundred years old. If they joined the army, they could become generals; if they entered the world, they could establish sects and become honored guests of high officials and nobles.

The change from arrogance to obsequiousness was too great. Jiang Wen blinked, feeling the benefits of having an identity for the first time.

"They're just two Jianghu people in the Houtian realm, not even Xiantian. Why does the master of the Taoist temple rate them so highly?" Li Yunshang was surprised by Jiang Wen's words, she didn't understand why Jiang Wen thought these two were not simple.

Seeing that Jiang Wen's expression didn't look like he had been deceived, Li Yunshang was relieved. When she walked out of the pawnshop, she asked him, "Jiang Taoist, were you cheated? If he dares to give you less money, I'll have someone tear down his shop."

Not to mention these distant past events, Jiang Wen felt a sense of extravagance as soon as he entered this pavilion.

Li Yunshang didn't even look at the two guards, she just took out the bronze token and flashed it at them.

Jiang Wen saw that they had a fierce aura, and knew that these two had definitely killed people. Their skills were definitely extraordinary, but there was no spiritual energy flowing, so they didn't seem like cultivators. He turned his head to look at Li Yunshang, wanting to know how she would handle it.

The two guards' expressions changed drastically, and they quickly and respectfully stepped aside.

"I'm buying some things on this street to take back," Jiang Wen didn't explain in too much detail, after all, the less people who knew about his ability to travel through time, the better. "But what is that bronze token for?"

According to Li Yunshang, most of the divine generals stationed in the capital were only Lamp Lighting realm cultivators. Only a few could reach the Life Fire realm, and they guarded important places. Cultivators rarely interfered with worldly affairs, and would not arbitrarily interfere in court matters. Li Yunshang wasn't too clear about the specific reasons that restricted them, she only said that it was related to fate and the great sages of the Langhuan Academy.

"Bronze token?" Li Yunshang took out a token from her waist and handed it to Jiang Wen. "This is the Embroidered Uniform Guard centurion token of the imperial court, which is convenient for the disciples of the Tai Shen Palace to act in the mortal world. You can use it to hide your identity when doing things on weekdays. It's too ostentatious to reveal that you are a disciple of the Tai Shen Palace at will."

"No wonder that shopkeeper was so afraid..." Jiang Wen thought to himself as he looked at the bronze token.

"Those two at the door are not simple," Jiang Wen thought of the two guards just now, feeling that they were comparable to the elite special forces in the real world, or even stronger.

"That's good, but what are you doing with these mundane things? The Immortal Gathering doesn't accept gold or silver," Li Yunshang asked with some confusion.

Men in brocade robes embraced women on either side, and jade-faced nobles ate and laughed. The red carpets were seamless, and beautiful women danced barefoot on them. The maids in the building had bare waists and legs, carrying delicious food and delicacies through the crowd.

Incense burners burned incense in all directions, and the gurgling wine flowed down from the mouths of the lion heads on both sides of the pavilion, dripping into the circular pool in the center of the hall, allowing people to reach out and scoop up the wine to drink.

"It's all the stench of wine and meat," Li Yunshang frowned in disgust.