Strolling along the crisscrossing streets, Yang Kai wandered at a leisurely pace, browsing one shop after another in a cursory fashion, taking in the local customs and culture. It was quite an enriching experience.
Half a day later, he entered a teahouse, ordered a pot of tea, and sat waiting in silence.
When the waiter came to serve the tea, Yang Kai stopped him. "Brother, may I ask you something?"
The waiter replied politely, "Please go ahead, sir."
Yang Kai said, "I'm new here and unfamiliar with the area. Is there someone who knows the place well enough to give me a tour of this Star City?"
The waiter said, "Are you looking for a guide, sir?"
"Precisely!"
"Then you've come to the right person. I have a few recommendations, though I'm not sure whether they'll meet your requirements!"
"Bring them by and let me take a look," Yang Kai said with a slight smile.
"Very well, please wait a moment," the waiter said and hurried off.
Yang Kai leaned by the window, gazing into the distance as he sipped his tea and waited. The jade slip the proprietress had given him contained information on all nineteen shops, but he was completely clueless about this Star City. Even with the jade slip in hand, he had no idea where to begin looking — which was precisely why he had come to this teahouse to find a guide. And it seemed like the right choice. No matter where you were, teahouses and taverns were always gathering places for all sorts of people, making it the simplest place to find a guide.
With a local guide leading the way, finding those shops would be a breeze. As the saying went, sharpening the axe wouldn't delay the woodcutting.
After only a short wait, the waiter returned with someone in tow. Yang Kai looked up and saw a woman in her early thirties. She had a full, voluptuous figure, and her charm had not faded with age — especially her ample bosom, which was truly impressive. She wore a tentative smile on her face, though her expression carried a hint of nervousness. Following a step behind the waiter, she eyed Yang Kai with a somewhat apprehensive gaze.
Her cultivation was decent — at the peak of the Emperor realm, by the look of it. However, Yang Kai did not sense any Dao aura from her, which meant she had not yet condensed her own Dao Seal. That was hardly unusual. At the Emperor realm, roughly nine out of ten cultivators could never condense their own Dao Seal, spending their lives in mediocrity.
The waiter sidled up and whispered in Yang Kai's ear, "Sir, this woman is a local. She knows this Star City inside and out. Why don't you see if she suits you? If not, I'll bring someone else."
Yang Kai looked up. The woman immediately curtsied gracefully and said in a low voice, "Greetings, sir."
Her voice was quite pleasant — soft and honeyed. If one didn't look at her face, one might easily mistake her for a girl of sixteen or seventeen.
Yang Kai extended his hand and passed her the jade slip the proprietress had given him. "Do you know how to get to these places?"
The woman took it, swept it with her spiritual sense, and nodded promptly. "Yes, sir!"
"Starting from where we are now, work out the shortest route to visit all of these places and inscribe it into the jade slip for me to review."
"Yes!" The woman bowed her head and set to work. Before long, she respectfully presented the jade slip with both hands. "Sir, it is done."
Yang Kai took the jade slip back and gave it a brief inspection. Indeed, new information had been added — the nineteen shops had been rearranged in the optimal order of visitation.
"You're a local?" Yang Kai asked, looking at her.
The woman said with a modest smile, "I was born in this Star City and have never left."
Yang Kai nodded, then turned to the waiter. "She'll do." With that, he flicked two Open Heaven Pills over.
The waiter caught them and beamed. "Thank you for the generous tip, sir! I'll take my leave now." He turned and shot the woman a meaningful glance — presumably telling her to do a good job.
Once the waiter had gone, Yang Kai said to the woman, "Please, sit down and let's talk."
The woman hesitated briefly, likely thinking she was too conspicuous standing in front of Yang Kai. She murmured her thanks and sat down to the side.
Yang Kai poured her a cup of tea and asked casually, "What should I call you?"
The woman answered hastily, "My name is Luo Haiyi."
Yang Kai nodded and introduced himself. "I'm Yang Kai. I've hired you to take me to some places. This may well take more than a day or two, so be prepared — while you're in my employ, you need to be on call at all times."
Luo Haiyi said quickly, "That won't be a problem, sir. I'm alone here with no ties and no other obligations, so I won't be distracted by anything else."
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "You said you were born here?" If she was born here, how could she have no ties?
Luo Haiyi looked slightly embarrassed. "Though I was born in this city, I never knew who my parents were. I was raised by someone else, and my foster mother passed away over seven hundred years ago."
Yang Kai couldn't help but sigh. "A pitiful story."
Luo Haiyi gave a sheepish smile.
"So how does payment work?" Yang Kai changed the subject.