Even from a distance, Yang Qing could detect the vibrancy of the Purple City. The sounds of streams of people laughing, talking, haggling, yelling, the voices that showed there was life in a place flooded into Yang Qing's senses.
He didn't scan the city using his monarch sense and just used the heightened senses of cultivators to take everything in. Other than the good pay, safe thigh to hug, and fair distribution of resources, sights like this were one of the reasons he would never leave the Order no matter how much they overworked him.
Yang Qing sauntered on ahead once he had taken everything in. He decided against flying but instead walked.
There was a long line of people walking in steadily, there were even large carts in those lines for those who did not have storage rings or for those dealing in living things as storage rings don't provide a habitable space for any living organism except the void mimicry silkworm.
There were guards carefully checking the goods and the owners. From Yang Qing's detection the guards were mostly in the early stages of the core formation realm though he did detect in one of the rooms next to the gate there was a concealed aura of an eighth-stage core formation expert.
Since the line was steadily moving, Yang Qing decided to just follow the line as he admired the light purple mist above the city.
The Purple grass county was named so because it was home to grass that produced purple mist every morning. The mist had refreshing properties that renewed the mind and the spirit, as for the grass it was a top tier sky grade herb that served as the main ingredient for the mauve rejuvenation potion, a common sky-grade potion preferred by most rogue cultivators below the palace stage due to its ubiquity and wide range of uses. The potion restores qi, heals injuries within certain parameters, and also helps soothe the soul when it has been overdrafted which comes in handy when one needs to constantly be on guard through the deployment of their spiritual sense.
Though the Red maple Empire is not the sole producer of purple grass or the largest either, the purple grass it produces has been one of the foundations of the growth it has today and is still one of its most important resources. This is why other than the capital, Purple grass county is the second most prosperous area in the whole Empire.
Yang Qing's turn soon came barely five minutes later. When he produced the orange-red token he was given at the border it drew a few shocked looks from the guards who quickly went to talk amongst themselves before one of them run off in the direction where Yang Qing had detected the eighth-stage core formation expert.
Yang Qing frowned at their interactions as this was the sort of attention he wanted to avoid. Because of the drastic change in the guards' behaviors, he was already drawing curious looks from the crowd behind him.
The guard who was holding Yang Qing's token flinched upon noticing Yang Qing's change in his expression.
"Sorry senior you can have this back and enjoy your stay in the Purple City. You can use the token to dine and rest on the seventh floor of the White orchard villa for free.
All holders of this token are to receive the utmost care while in our city. It was why my colleague has suddenly run off . We need to make the necessary arrangement and inform the relevant parties to ensure you have a pleasant stay in the city," said the guard as his voice shook a little while he hurriedly gave the token back.
While the token was meant to help the holder travel easily it also served as an alert or a warning to other guards or officials of the Red maple Empire about the capabilities of the owner so they could be mindful and avoid any complications that may arise from ignorance.
The Red maple Empire usually gave out different colored tokens and the one Yang Qing had was the highest-ranked token that one could get. Only foreign dignitaries whose rank was the same as the Empire were qualified to get that token. All holders were to be shown the utmost courtesy and failure to do so would result in the execution of the party or parties responsible. It was why the guards were all flustered that they had to involve their boss because if anything went wrong even their boss wouldn't be let off.
….
"Is that so? Then I offer my thanks in advance for your generous hospitality. I'll be off then," said Yang Qing as he dryly laughed.
Before the guard could respond Yang Qing had already disappeared from the spot with shadow-void steps and reappeared later in some alley a few hundred meters away from the gate.
"While I'd love to take them up on their offer at the White orchard villa I'm sure it will end up being more trouble than it's worth which would make the little time I have even tighter," said Yang Qing as he disappeared off into the sea of people walking about looking for the Earthvine restaurant.
"Where is he?" asked a handsome young man with orange-red hair who rushed to where the guard who had just been communicating with Yang Qing, was.
"He has just left captain. He seemed to be in a hurry though from his shift in expression he seemed to have done so because he wanted to avoid the attention he was getting," said the guard with a guilty awkward smile as he couldn't help but feel in part it was their fault due to their exaggerated reactions.
"Whaaat?! He wasn't angry when he left was he?" the young man hurriedly asked.
"He didn't seem like it, he even thanked me for the offer package at the White orchard villa," the guard nervously answered as he shrunk back in fear from being abruptly grabbed by the collar.
"Captain won't this draw further attention to that person," weakly said the guard trying to get the captain to calm down from his current agitated state.
For some strange reason, the guard found the captain's current state rather novel like he seemed more approachable and human now as compared to his normal stoic state accompanied by an overbearing aura which the guard suspected was because the captain was a long distant relative of the royal family.
"Mmh as expected of the royal bloodline even their faces can bloom like the flowers of the red maple," thought the guard before he hurriedly brought his straying thoughts back.
