146 A Shabby Temple

Xue Wei had previously been in the capital of the Heping Kingdom, so he was familiar with the size and scale of such a famous city - it was in no way a small amount of land.

But Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian had only been to smaller cities, so when they saw the towering wall that surrounded the town, they could not help but gape in astonishment.

Hei Gou and Xue Wei had avoided the major cities like the plague for a long time now, but that was because they had been chased. They were now in much better condition, and they knew that there was a very little chance of anyone recognizing them in this kingdom.

Jiang Fengmian was stunned by the sheer size. She too had only seen smaller villages and towns throughout their journey, and although the last town they rested in was by no means small, it was dwarfed by the bustling city in front of them.

The walls were not made from wood but from stones that had been stacked on top of one another until they were so tall that one could not see past it. There was a massive gate in front of them. This gate was so tall that even if ten Hei Gou's stood on each other's shoulders, they would still be unable to reach the top.

Guards were both patrolling on top of the walls and clustered together at the entrances to the city.

The caravans and merchants had to pay a fee to enter the city for their business, so there was a long line of people who were trying to enter.

Whereas the merchants had to pay, the commoners could freely enter as they pleased, but they still had to wait for their turn in the line.

Xue Wei had seen something similar in the capital of the Kingdom of Heping.

"Let us hope that the temple is not located within the inner city," he said with a sigh. Although they had some coins, it was likely to cost a whole silver per person to enter the inner city, which would financially stretch them.

They patiently waited in line while discussing what they had seen so far and were looking forward to seeing. Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian were eagerly debating how marvelous they thought the city to be, and how it was so different from where they came from.

The surrounding travelers could not help but smirk slightly while thinking of them as country bumpkins, but a closer look made them notice the age and strength of the two youngsters accompanying the powerless woman.

Although Jiang Fengmian did not know how to cultivate and was relatively weak, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou were weak, both of them being Sky Warriors.

Their age also seemed to be young, so young that one would expect them to still be in the army, but here they were, free as a bird wandering the capital.

Many were curious, but no one thought that they were deserters. Deserters would never wander into the capital this brazenly, so they were likely to be on leave.

Another thing that drew attention to their group was Jiang Fengmian. She was a beauty, but more than that, there was not a shred of spiritual energy coming from her. A youngster that had not cultivated was truly shocking. Even women were taught how to cultivate, but this woman had no Qi within her body.

The trio moved forward in the dense crowds of citizens. They aimed to find out where the temple was located, but none of them knew where to look.

Was it in the outer city where they were located, or was it in the inner city where they had to pay an entry fee?

After walking for some time, they reached a marketplace where many carriages were parked, selling their wares from their stalls.

"Excuse me," Xue Wei stopped a child that was running around and passed him five copper coins. Although most adults would frown at this low amount of money, a child would be excited as they could spend the money on sweets.

"Can you tell me the way to the temple?" Xue Wei continued. The child clutched the coins in his hands and nodded his head like a chicken eating grains.

"It is in the Westward District of the Outer City," the child said hurriedly, afraid that the adults would take the coins back if he were not fast enough.

"Right now, you are in the Southern District, so you head west, and you'll find an area where the temple is located! But be careful, the temple is located in a rather rough neighborhood!"

Having said this, the child sped away with his copper coins, not saying anything else. Xue Wei could not help but chuckle. To a child in the capital, five copper coins should not be a lot, but it seemed that it was a fortune to this child.

"A rough neighborhood?" Jiang Fengmian was frowning. "I thought the temple would be flourishing and helping all the poor and unfortunate souls. Why would it be located in a rough area?"

"It is exactly because of that that it is a rough neighborhood," Xue Wei explained. "The temple is helping the poor and the homeless, giving them food and shelter, causing more and more poor and homeless to converge to that area."

"Since many of the outcasts appear in one area, it will become rather lawless as they will do anything to get their hands on some money to survive yet another day."

Jiang Fengmian finally seemed to understand that her benevolent intentions also included treading on a path of danger.

She would have to help those in need, but not everyone in need was going to accept their lot in life and would instead fight to change their destiny.

She might get caught in between; she might even get killed. Still, Xue Wei could see that her eyes pooled with determination and her hands clenched into fists despite her initial shock.

Seeing this, Xue Wei nodded his head. They continued towards the western district of the city.

The southern area where they were was filled with marketplaces and shops. It was a prosperous place with well-maintained buildings and beautiful parks.

The further west they went, the less pristine the buildings became. Fewer and fewer shops were present, and all they found were smaller food stalls, restaurants, and drinking houses.

The area changed from being a major attraction to becoming a residential area. It was clear that the residents around here were on the lower end of the middle class, and the further west they went the more this status dropped.

Many of the houses looked so shabby that they might even collapse at the first sign of wind.

The houses were pretty much old, run-down shacks. They could never be considered proper homes, and they were all packed together so tightly that only one main road led forward, the rest were narrow alleyways reeking of a repugnant smell.

Sometimes, a waft of blood drifted by, which made Jiang Fengmian's expression turn grim. Hei Gou and Xue Wei also slowed their advance and kept an eye on every single corner of the street.

There were many shady spots in this area. There was almost no sunshine that shone down on the road, and all the alleyways were black from the shadows of the houses and the shacks beside them.

Sometimes, they could sense movement within these shadows, but they had yet to see someone actually approach them.

People were moving on the road, but the majority of them wore ragged clothes with holes everywhere that had not even been patched up.

Children moved in groups with vigilant eyes. They came from the same direction as Xue Wei and his two friends, clearly returning from a session of pickpocketing and stealing in the southern district of the city.

They walked further and further into the grim atmosphere of the western district. Xue Wei and Hei Gou walked on either side of Jiang Fengmian and were incredibly close, so close that their shoulders almost touched, but Jiang Fengmian did not mind this contrary to their beliefs. In fact, the two of them were the reason that she still felt somewhat safe. She had seen what they had been capable of in the Vermilion Forest, and now their strength made her feel secure.

Together, the three ventured deeper into this darkness, unsure of what exactly they were looking for. What did this temple they were looking for look like?

They guessed that it was a building bigger than the shabby shacks that they were walking past, but the boy from earlier had not told them anything about its appearance.

They made it deep into the western area before they found a building that might be the one they were looking for.

When one thought about a temple, they would think about a big magnificent building with a stunning, grand appearance, but this was more like a massive haunted house.

The majestic building that it had once been was nowhere to be seen. In its prime, it would indeed have been a magnificent sight to behold, but now things had changed.

The previously white and beautiful exterior was now cracked; the marble it had been made from was no longer smooth and beautiful, and it was covered in a layer of dust.

Where there had been jade carvings in the walls, there were now holes and fissures. Evidently, these had been stolen long ago.

There was nothing on the temple that could decorate it. The only things left were the barren walls and the staircase leading up into the temple itself.

The trio looked at this staircase, which seemed to be worn down over multiple years. It was the only shiny area of the temple from the many feet that had traversed these steps time and time again.

In fact, these steps were somewhat slippery when the group stepped onto them, but they eventually made their way up the stairs and got a look at the insides of the temple itself.

The sight that met them was a large hall, a hall much more extensive than they had expected. From the size, one could quickly determine that this had once been a solemnly beautiful place to perform ceremonies and hold sermons.

Unfortunately, that was a time of the past; now it was dusty and dirty. There was one altar with candlelight, but the rest of the temple was shrouded in shadows.

Although it was a temple and one would expect it to be filled with monks, priests, and priestesses, there was no living being inside the hall apart from the trio.

There was not even any of the poor paying their respects or praying for a better future. There was no one at all.

Xue Wei went towards the altar where there was candlelight. He felt that this was the most important place in the entire temple since someone had bothered to light the candles around it, but he could not understand what the point was since no one was here to see it.

He started searching the temple, but he could find no one, and no one came out to greet them. It was not before Xue Wei started blowing out the candles that some movement appeared within the temple.

A bald figure appeared. This was undoubtedly a monk; his head was shaven clean. He wore a set of black clothes, which were many times better than the clothes of the other Western District citizens despite the signs of long-term wear.

"What are you doing?!" the monk exclaimed, his voice filled with annoyance. "This is not a place to act so impudently, this is a temple! And although it is quite shabby, it is still backed by a massive faction!"

"We are not here to cause problems, senior." Jiang Fengmian was the first one to step out and bow to the monk, her hands cupped.

"I am here because I wish to join the temple. I want to become a priestess who helps alleviate the pain of those in the lowest layers of society."