2: Chapter 2 A Place to Stay

You are wrapped in men's clothing, wearing a hood, walking along the long streets of Dawan City in the dead of night.

The fabric of Lin Haolan's clothes is thick and coarse, firmly concealing your slender figure.

Yet, your Innate Charm Body naturally carries a faint, orchid-like fragrance that drifts through the gaps in the fabric, lingering in the cool night breeze.

Inside your sleeve, a cold dagger rests against your forearm.

The five hundred taels of banknotes in your bosom have been carefully folded and tucked close against your body inside your lapel.

When you escaped from the back door of the Qi Residence just now, a fine drizzle was faintly drifting from the horizon.

Now, the raindrops are thickening, dampening the tips of your raven-black hair.

You dare not stop to rest near the Qi Residence.

A life has been lost there, and the Qi Residence servants are surely searching the entire city.

You have no choice but to follow the bluestone road toward Dawan Town.

The streets in the dead of night are desolate.

A few scattered night porters and traveling merchants pass you by.

Whenever they come within half a step of you, they always pause subconsciously, their gazes involuntarily falling upon your profile.

Despite wearing men's robes, your brows and eyes possess a peerless, delicate beauty, and your eyelashes are long and slender.

Even with your hood pulled low, the exposed half of your jawline is delicate and soft, completely different from men who toil and travel year-round.

You have long since noticed the strange gazes of others, and you are inwardly alert.

The attraction brought by an Innate Charm Body has been a double-edged sword since birth.

In your past life, you suffered endless humiliation because of it.

In this life, you can only rely on disguise to try and suppress this innate trait as much as possible.

Passing a roadside tavern, it is brightly lit inside.

A few hoodlums lean in the doorway, drinking and laughing, the strong smell of alcohol mixed with cooking fumes rushing toward you.

"Hey, look at that kid; he looks more delicate and pretty than the girls in the brothel."

"Could he be an actor raised by some wealthy family who ran away?"

These few idle words drift into your ears, but you do not stop, quickening your pace as you step forward.

If you were to be entangled, it would take a lot of effort to escape on these quiet streets on a rainy night.

The priority right now is to find a safe inn to rest.

Walking for nearly half an hour, an inn facing the street with a welcoming banner appears in your line of sight.

"Shunfeng Inn."

You walk up the steps and push the door open to enter.

The charcoal brazier in the inn's lobby is burning brightly, and warmth rushes toward you, dispelling the chill of the rainy night from your body.

The innkeeper is hunched over the counter, calculating accounts.

The waiter is busy clearing leftover food from the tables.

A few sparse guests are sitting around the tables, chatting.

"Innkeeper, I'd like a quiet single room."

You deliberately lower your voice, imitating the rough, hoarse tone of a young man.

The innkeeper looks you over, his gaze pausing for a moment on your overly fair hands, but he asks no questions and raises a hand to state the room price.

You take a small piece of broken silver from your sleeve and hand it over.

The innkeeper instructs the waiter to lead you to a room on the second floor toward the back.

The room is not large, with simple furnishings.

A table, a bed, and a wooden stool.

The window is tightly shut, capable of blocking out most of the noise from outside.

The waiter brings a pot of warm water and a clean rag, then bows and exits the room.

After the door is bolted, your nerves, which have been taut for most of the night, finally relax a little.

First, you remove the men's clothing stained with rainwater, leaving only your undergarments.

The fabric is thin and light; as your skin touches the cool air, your neck and shoulders are flushed a faint, delicate red from being stifled by the clothing.

You walk to the window, push open a crack, and peer outside.

The streets are shrouded in rainy mist, and occasionally patrolling yamen runners pass by with torches, but there is no sign of the Qi Residence's search party.

Confirming you are safe for the moment, you sit on the edge of the bed and count your belongings.

The five hundred taels of banknotes are sorted and put away.

A small portion of the broken silver is set aside for daily expenses.

Now you have nowhere to go, and you need power to become stronger.

The Hehuan Sect is your only way out right now.

The old Daoist's warning from your past life circles in your mind over and over.

Entering the Immortal Realm with an Innate Charm Body is fraught with danger; you would be a Cauldron coveted by all sorts of Cultivators.

But you have already seen the sea of suffering in the mortal world clearly.

Staying in the mortal world, sooner or later, you cannot escape the fate of being captured by the Qi Residence and falling into the brothels.

Between two evils, joining a sect to practice is the only way to gain the capital for revenge.

You pour half a cup of warm water and drink it in small sips, easing the thirst from your journey.

After rushing about all night, physical exhaustion washes over you.

You pull the thin quilt over your body and close your eyes to rest.

In the middle of the night, the sound of rain patters, and intermittent street noises drift in through the window crack.

You sleep lightly, not daring to fall into a deep slumber, rising every half an hour to check the movement outside the window, guarding against the Qi Residence's men following your tracks.

When the sky begins to turn pale, the rain gradually stops.

A sliver of faint morning light breaks through the horizon.

The sleepiness from a night of tossing and turning reaches its peak, and you fall into a deep sleep, not waking until the sun is high in the sky.

When you wake up, the noise outside the window is deafening.

The Dawan Town market has already opened; the sounds of hawking and the clamor of carriages and horses layer upon layer drift into the room.

You get up to tidy your appearance, changing into a plain-colored short shirt bought temporarily from the inn, no longer wearing that eye-catching men's outfit of Lin Haolan.

But you still keep your hood on.

Your long hair is simply tied up with a wooden hairpin found on the vanity.

You deliberately smear a little charcoal ash on your cheeks to soften your overly striking appearance, trying your best to disguise yourself as an ordinary young boy from a humble family.

You keep twenty taels of broken silver on your person.

The rest of the banknotes and valuable items are all hidden in the crevices of the bed's wooden boards.

Locking the door, you go downstairs.

Today is the day the Immortal Sect holds its scheduled disciple recruitment.

Regardless of whether there is a risk of exposure, you must try; after all, this is your last chance.