Arriving in Misty Grove City

Jin Shu was riding on the back of a pure black horse with a mane of dark blue flames. This wasn't a new horse; this was the same horse—Galaxy—that he had been traveling with for the past few weeks. However, Galaxy's previous mane of pink flames had become dark blue. This change was due to Galaxy breaking through into the Core Forging Realm. When a Flame-Maned Plains Runner is born, they have dark red flames, and as they advance in cultivation, their flames change color. As far as Jin Shu knows, their colors go: dark red, pink, dark blue, light blue, white, and black. These colors correspond to cultivation levels: Qi Gathering, Peak Qi Gathering, Core Forging, Peak Core Forging, Spirit Strengthening, and Peak Spirit Strengthening. As for colors beyond that, Jin Shu didn't know, and when he asked Sky the previous day, she said she wanted to keep it a secret.

Sky, I just remembered, didn't you say that you knew something special about Su Bing? It wasn't that she was about to become a Goddess's disciple, was it? Jin Shu asked through Sky's telepathic connection.

Su Bing perked up from on top of Sky's back. What? Sky knows something special about me?

Yes, that's right. I had forgotten in all the excitement yesterday. I will cut my connection with everyone and tell Su Bing first, and she can decide if she wants everyone else to know.

Sky cut the telepathic connection with everyone except Su Bing, and they began conversing. Judging by her facial expressions, the news was at first surprising, and then near the end of their conversation, she had a beet-red blush covering her face from embarrassment.

Sky reestablished the telepathic connection a short while later. Alright, Su Bing has agreed to let everyone know about her special secret.

Just not the last part! Su Bing said hurriedly, still blushing in embarrassment.

Don't worry, I know. Sky continued. Su Bing is in possession of a special physique. Most people refer to special physiques as heaven-gifted physiques or heavenly physiques. The one that Su Bing was born with is known as the Nature's Hidden Beauty Heavenly Physique. Her physique has yet to fully awaken, though it has shown signs of awakening. When it has fully awakened, she will be able to blend into nature and draw energy from all natural environments in a wide area around herself. Her natural beauty will have a strong mesmerizing ability on any intelligent beings who witness it. I suspect that the reason the Goddess of Death took Su Bing in as her disciple is that the Nature's Hidden Beauty Heavenly Physique is a perfect fit for the Goddess's techniques, as her techniques deal with souls and spirits, which are both a natural part of the world and intelligent beings.

Oh, so that's why I can't sense Su Bing's presence sometimes and why I lose track of my thoughts when I see her face?

Yes, those are the signs of her awakening. A heavenly physique is split into four stages: the Pre-Awaken Stage, in which the physique starts showing signs of awakening; the Awoken Stage, where the physique is fully awakened and the holder of the physique will be able to exhibit wondrous powers; the Mastered Stage, where the powers that came with the Awoken Stage will be under the holder's full control; and finally the Heavenly Stage, where the holder of the physique will gain access to a special technique tailor-made by the heavens themselves.

---

Two travelers and their four animal companions were leisurely making their way down a stone-paved road that led to a city in the distance. The travelers could see the city lit up in the night.

It had taken over six months since their journey began, and now the final destination of their long journey was just ahead of them.

That should be Misty Grove City ahead of us!

Let's speed up so we can make it before sunset!

With the speed of the horses, they arrived before the city gates in no time. As they arrived, they were stopped by a guard. "You all made it just in time. We were just about to close the gates. Fifty bronze for entry per person and one gold per Demonic Beast."

Jin Shu handed the guard six gold coins.

The guard stared at the coins with a troubled look. "I can't give you any change for this extra gold, sir."

"That's fine, you can keep the extra. Do you have any recommendations for an inn to stay the night?"

"Most of the popular inns have been booked up recently, as there's going to be an auction soon. However, there was a new inn that just opened up not long ago. If you head straight east on the main road, you will eventually come to the auction house. Take the street to the right and walk to the end. There you will find the new inn."

"It sounds like that inn is very close to the auction house. Is it not booked full?"

"No, the new inn's owner set the price very high. It is one gold a night, but seeing as you seem to have the gold to spare..."

"Hmm, well that's true. I don't mind spending a gold a night, especially if I get the inn to myself. Thank you for the information. We'll be on our way now."

---

As they walked through the main street, they drew many strange looks from some of the people who were still moving around at night. The looks were mostly directed at the two large flaming horses and the one smaller flaming foal. Most people, especially common mortals who haven't had much interaction with cultivators, aren't used to seeing Demonic Beasts.

They soon made it to the end of the main street, where they were met with a large auction house. There was a large sign hung over the gateway leading into the building that read, in large golden flowing letters, Misty Grove Auction House. Even though it was getting to be the middle of the night, there were still a lot of people hustling and bustling around the outside of the building. They were in the process of setting up decorations, likely for the grand auction soon.

Su Bing glanced at Jin Shu. "Would you like to attend the auction when it starts later?"

"Sure, if we're still in the city when it starts. However, we still need to find the tomb my grandfather spoke of."

As they were speaking, they turned the corner and continued on their way to the inn. They didn't make it very far before a drunk man stumbled out of a restaurant on the side of the street, tripping and falling directly in their path.

"Which one of you tripped me?" the drunk man asked while his face was still planted on the ground.

They tried going around the man; however, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Sky's leg as she tried to step past him.

"Sir, please let go," Su Bing asked the man politely as he tried to use Sky's leg to pick himself back up from the ground.

The drunk man looked up at Su Bing on Sky's back. Due to Sky's light red mane of flames, Su Bing looked as if she were cloaked in a set of red robes, and with her veiled face, she looked like a bride awaiting her groom. At least, that is what the drunk man thought as he said, "Oh, my darling bride has come to pick me up!"

Galaxy snorted in anger when he saw the drunk man grabbing his wife's leg. He stepped over the man and hoisted him up with his teeth by the man's collar, swinging and throwing him to the side of the street. The drunk man rolled and ended up twisted like a pretzel. Luckily for the drunk man, he had already passed out before he was tossed.

"Is it okay to leave him like that?" Su Bing asked as they walked away.

"He'll be fine."

As they got further down the street, they heard some commotion from behind. They glanced back and could see some men untwisting the pretzel-shaped drunk man while hauling him up from the ground before rushing him off somewhere.

Shortly after the incident with the drunk man, they arrived at their destination. It was a grand structure with sweeping, upturned eaves and intricately carved wooden beams. The roof was tiled with deep red clay, contrasted by golden accents. Red lanterns hung from the edges of the roof, softly illuminating the entrance with a warm, welcoming glow. Above the entrance hung a sign that looked very familiar to Jin Shu and Su Bing. The sign had beautiful calligraphy that read Lingling Inn.

"This inn looks almost identical to Linglong's inn. Even the name is similar," Su Bing mentioned as they climbed down from Galaxy and Sky's backs.

"Hmm, it does indeed look like Linglong's." Jin Shu nodded in agreement.

They couldn't take the horses in with them as they were far too large to fit inside. Luckily enough, there was a stable off to the side of the inn. Galaxy and Sky slowly made their way towards the stable as Star pranced behind them. When they made it halfway, Galaxy's silver wings extended from his back, and his flaming mane started to emit silver sparks that looked like little bits of starlight.

Sky had been looking off to the side at the koi pond and garden next to the stables when she was startled by Galaxy's sudden grandiose display. She looked at him and noticed he was staring at a fenced-off horse pen next to the stables, where there was a horse prancing. The horse looked like the cross between a dragon and a horse, with jade green scales instead of fur. It looked very similar to an ancient Qilin.

She nipped him on the ear and said through their telepathic connection, Quit showing off!

Galaxy neighed in pain, which caused the Qilin-like horse to glance over. When it saw the large black horse having its ear bitten by a smaller white horse, the Qilin-like horse couldn't help but laugh. "Ehehe!" she laughed in the voice of a young woman, which meant she was either a Demonic Beast with a high level of cultivation or she was like Yin'er and had a special bloodline that had unlocked its spiritual consciousness early. Perhaps both were true.

Meanwhile, Jin Shu, Su Bing, and Yin'er stepped into the front lobby of the inn. A bell chimed, and a voice that sounded quite familiar but with a slight lazy quality said, "Welcome to Lingling Inn. The price is one gold per night. If you can't afford that, please find another inn."

Jin Shu and Su Bing were stunned by who they saw behind the counter on the far side of the lobby. It was Linglong! She was even wearing the same outfit: a pink robe with a white apron wrapped around the front.

"Big Sister Linglong!" Yin'er exclaimed happily and flew up to the young woman behind the counter.

The young woman had been resting with her head in her arms against the wooden counter. However, she had slightly picked her head up to welcome her guests. When she saw the little silver fur ball that was Yin'er flying straight at her, she yelped and hid her head under her arms. "Ah! I'm sorry! Please don't attack me! We can negotiate the price; I'll consider taking ninety-nine silver instead of one gold!"

Yin'er landed on the counter beside the young woman. She tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Big Sister Linglong? Don't you remember Yin'er?"

"Did you say Linglong?" the young woman asked as she peeked out from behind her arms.

Yin'er took a step forward and sniffed the young woman. "You don't smell like Big Sister Linglong, but you look like her."

"That's because I'm her sister, Lingling!"