Chapter 7
The Most Lacking Thing
"Benefactor Lady Bai, what are we doing?"
Hui'er now wore an oversized loose shirt tied roughly with cloth—Bai Fanxian's stored clothes. She'd only realized after Hui'er finished bathing that the child's old clothes were in terrible condition.
She had no children's clothes with her.
So after a full day had passed, the two were now walking through the city's commercial district, surrounded by crowds.
The sight of a young woman in ancient Chinese clothing walking through the commercial district with a little girl following behind drew quite a bit of attention. But people didn't just stare at the strange clothing—they stared at the young woman herself.
Bai Fanxian had been the highest being in the world ten thousand years ago. Both her face and skin were so outstanding that no one could compare. Every step she took radiated charm and nobility that ordinary young women could never possess.
"Call me 'my lady.' I'm more used to being called that."
When Bai Fanxian turned to talk to Hui'er, a faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips. The young men secretly watching her swooned at the sight.
Many secretly raised their phones to snap pictures. One young man who managed to capture Bai Fanxian smiling posted it proudly to social media.
'Walking at the commercial district, didn't think I'd meet a goddess here!'
His post became extremely popular with friends. Soon the picture he took spread more and more. From hundreds to thousands, from thousands to tens of thousands.
Now it was over fifty thousand shares!
"That woman's really beautiful..."
"Is she a celebrity? Are they filming?"
"I want to know her name! If she's a celebrity, I'll be her fan forever!"
Chatter rose around them periodically. Bai Fanxian, the center of it all, didn't care. She just walked leading Hui'er while looking left and right. Many things had changed with the times—roads, buildings, houses, and even the clothes people wore. She realized the clothes she wore were quite conspicuous compared to others.
"Hui'er, where can we find new clothes?"
Bai Fanxian found that Hui'er, despite being young, knew many things because of her past experiences. So now Hui'er had become like a compass guiding Bai Fanxian's life in this era.
"My lady, we can buy new clothes at clothing stores."
Hui'er was a smart child. She changed how she addressed her from benefactor lady to my lady the instant Bai Fanxian told her.
"So we need money, right?"
Bai Fanxian wasn't stupid. She could connect many things in her head quickly and immediately realized what she lacked most right now.
Money!
Bai Fanxian never lacked money. In her dimensional space, she had some treasures she'd moved from her workshop. Previously, the dimension that could store her things had about two cubic meters of space. Now it had expanded to twenty cubic meters.
From her observations while walking down this street, people used paper or coins she'd never seen to exchange for things. She'd also seen people using strange cards, swiping them at machines instead of paying with physical money.
She was certain gold coins from the old days or paying with treasures wouldn't be accepted in this era.
"Yes." Hui'er answered gloomily. Money was something she'd never had.
"Then let's go look over there."
The place Bai Fanxian pointed to was a two-story building in an alley that few people noticed—a shop selling herbs and medicine. It attracted Bai Fanxian because there were cultivators inside.
And there were five of them.
Since arriving at this city, her Heaven Sense had swept everywhere. She was surprised by how few cultivators she could sense—far less than expected. Among ordinary people, there were almost no cultivators mixed in at all. So different from yesterday when she'd sensed many cultivators on that mountain.
They all lived like ordinary people.
That day there were thousands of cultivators gathered.
What happened during these ten thousand years? Why had the number of cultivators decreased so disappointingly?
And the power level she could sense from each person—no one exceeded Grandmaster level.
Bai Fanxian waved her hand lightly. A small cloth bundle appeared in her hand. She handed it to Hui'er to hold with both hands. The bundle was large but not heavy. A child like Hui'er could hold it comfortably just supporting it with both arms.
Yesterday she'd explained the world of cultivators and her story of being from ten thousand years ago to Hui'er. She'd shown many things until the little girl's mouth gaped open. Anyway, she'd already taken this child in to live with her, so she saw no point in keeping secrets that would only complicate things.
Hui'er was still a child, but she was clever. She'd accepted it very quickly and now looked at her lady with eyes sparkling even more than before. Knowing her lady had lived over ten thousand years probably made Bai Fanxian seem like a god in her eyes.
She got excited about everything she saw Bai Fanxian do yesterday, even though she was just collecting things and checking remaining materials in that room.
Watching materials float around the room and disappear into thin air must have been quite a sight for people in this era.
Before entering the shop, Bai Fanxian could sense qi currents surging from inside. It seemed a clash was about to happen.
Bai Fanxian didn't care at all. She opened the shop door with Hui'er, holding the white cloth bundle, following behind.
If someone like her had to worry about such petty power levels, it would be too embarrassing.
A large medicine shop filled with herbs stored neatly on shelves along the walls stretched before her. At the front counter stood an elderly man who seemed to be the shop owner, facing a group of four people.
All four were cultivators. Their power levels ranged from Martial Master 5th stage, one at 2nd stage, and two at Martial Artist 10th stage.
They looked like they were from the military or some agency. You could tell from their dress style and the silver wing symbols on their chests.
When Bai Fanxian appeared, both sides turned to look as one. Seeing it was a young woman who looked like an ordinary person with a little girl, the person who seemed to be the group's leader waved lightly in retreat. They walked past Bai Fanxian out of the shop, with one of his subordinates turning to look at the shop owner and Bai Fanxian with irritation.
The shop owner showed no fearful attitude. He just sighed softly and picked up the herbs on the table to put away.
"...Hello miss, how can I help you?"
The shop owner, an elderly man with a kind manner, greeted Bai Fanxian politely after finishing putting things away.
"...Does this place buy herbs?"
Bai Fanxian asked directly. This was her purpose for stepping into this place.
Her Alchemy Palace was gone, but the herbs stored in her workshop and dimensional storage were still there. So right now she had both rare materials and many herbs with her.
It was unfortunate some hadn't developed into ten-thousand-year herbs, since they'd been pulled from the ground to store from the start. If all the herbs were still planted like those thousand-year ginseng, by the day she woke up, it would've been something to celebrate even more.
The elderly man looked slightly surprised. He thought the herbs the young woman brought to sell probably weren't very valuable, but he still spoke politely.
"We do. Ordinary herbs don't have much value." He spoke honestly.
"...Mm." Bai Fanxian nodded in understanding. She pointed at the herbs on the shelf.
"How much is that 50-year ginseng?"
What she pointed at was a box wrapped well. It seemed it had just arrived not long ago and the shop owner hadn't stored it yet.
Bai Fanxian's question made the shop owner surprised. He walked over to pick up the sealed wooden box and brought it to the table, opening it.
"This ginseng is at least 1.8 million yuan. It just arrived this morning. Someone already reserved it."
Its price made the little girl Hui'er flinch. From initially being interested in the strange things in the shop, she became afraid to move for fear of damaging things.
"...Hui'er, is that a lot?" Bai Fanxian asked the frozen little girl.
"...My lady, grilled meat costs 5 yuan per stick." The little girl Hui'er didn't know what to compare it to. She could only use the grilled meat she'd seen as a standard.
"I see."
Bai Fanxian nodded. If those grilled meats cost 5 yuan per stick, she could roughly estimate the prices of things in this era.
That meant 1.8 million yuan should be enough to spend comfortably for daily expenses, right?
Bai Fanxian turned to Hui'er.
"Put the bundle on the table."
"Yes!"
Hui'er answered firmly. She lifted the bundle in her hands and carefully placed it on the table. This was the first task her lady gave her. The little girl was very serious and absolutely wouldn't let anything go wrong.
Bai Fanxian unwrapped that cloth bundle. Then she reached in to take something out.
"I have hundred-year ginseng. Will you buy it?"
What Bai Fanxian took out was ginseng with a yellowish-brown color. The root area that stuck out twisted in spirals. When placed on the table, you could feel a stream of natural power.
Herbs that grew from the earth absorbed heaven and earth power. The older they got, the more valuable they became. If it changed to thousand-year herbs, even ordinary people could sense the power current when touching them.
The elderly man was now full of shock. He jumped up, both hands reaching to grab this herb to examine it, but he hesitated, fearing it would be damaged, so he could only stammer.
"Check it."
Hearing permission, the elderly man pounced like a kid getting a toy. He grabbed the ginseng's stem very gently. When he felt the faint power current it sent out, it further confirmed this ginseng was real.
At least it was a hundred years old!
"Miss, you're really selling this ginseng?"
The elderly man asked uncertainly. For herbs like this, especially ginseng this age, it could save the owner's life in a crisis. The heaven and earth power accumulated in it could heal or extend the life of the person who ate it.
Bai Fanxian nodded without hesitation. She still had hundreds and thousands of year ginseng stored in her dimension. Selling a bit didn't make her feel troubled at all.
This didn't count the ten-thousand-year ginseng planted in those fields.
"How much will you buy it for?"
The elderly man who heard the question stopped to think for a moment. He was a businessman and wanted some profit. When he glanced at the young woman who owned this herb, he felt a certain mystery.
She seemed completely indifferent, as if hundred-year ginseng was just a potato. It made him interested in this young woman.
"...Ten million yuan. Is miss satisfied with this price?"
The elderly man decided to tell her a fair price. Even if he sold this hundred-year ginseng onwards, he'd only profit about one to two million yuan, not including operating and storage costs. Offering to buy it for ten million was already very fair.
Bai Fanxian glanced at the shop owner and nodded easily.
"Then give me your bank account, miss. I'll transfer it."
"..."
"...?"