"Ding ding ding! Brownie points for stating the obvious!" Yuelan cheered.

Xuan bonked her over the head.

"Don’t be rude. I was thinking the same thing."

Sierra did look a little downcast, but at Xuan’s assurance, she let out a sigh.

"Thank you... In my humble opinion, this whole dungeon might be a representation of that being’s tomb. These people we met seem like successful creations, whereas those two old demons earlier were failed creations."

She paused for a moment, then continued.

"I’m sure that instead of a Three-Eyed Angel, we’ll meet his apostle."

"May the apostle be a beautiful angel woman," Xuan prayed out loud, then avoided the gazes of all the women present, turning toward the man he had started interrogating.

"Lead us inside the city."

"No. If you wish to enter, then you’ll have to take my life."

Stubborn.

"Don’t worry, I have a skill that can make him talk," Yuelan chimed in.

Then, before anyone could say a word, Yuelan flashed from her spot and reappeared in front of the man. With a single tap on his forehead, the man’s eyes turned cloudy and he began to drool.

However...

"Uhum. Xuan, close your ears for this. This skill is very weird."

Why?

"No?"

"Please?"

"No."

Yuelan let out a sigh, and after ruffling her hair, she coughed several times, then turned toward the man she controlled.

"T-This beautiful, peerless, jade beauty commands your lowly self to speak and show us the path to enter your city."

Wow...

That was perhaps the single most corny sentence he had heard Yuelan mutter in the last month or so.

And that was saying something.

"This lowly servant answers your call... Follow me, madam."

With that, the man began walking toward the wall.

Yuelan shivered slightly.

"I’m not using that skill ever again."

"Mm... I thought it sounded kind of cool," Hanbi chimed in.

Of course she thought it was cool. She was like a child when it came to stupid stuff like this. After all, aside from interacting with him properly in the monk temple, she was fairly stuck-up and spoiled.

Anyhow...

"Cool? Well, maybe." Yuelan wiped her nose with a smug look.

Then, the six of them followed after the man, who finally walked up to the wall. For a moment, everyone thought he would just stop there and cast some kind of stupid spell. Instead, he went ahead and bonked his head directly onto the wall, opening a small hole in it that expanded with every passing second.

Eventually, the passage was big enough for all of them to fit through, and judging by how clear the arch was, the way to enter this city was just to... bonk their heads against the wall?

Cool stuff.

But even cooler was the city itself, as the moment they entered, they were immediately greeted with the strong scent of all sorts of spices. Xuan recognized it as some kind of pepper, and seeing how Yuelan was on the verge of vomiting because of her allergies, he was right.

"H-Hua Lian... napkin, please."

Hua Lian flew in like a hawk and handed Yuelan the napkin.

"At your mercy, madam."

Yuelan covered her nose with the napkin and walked behind the man.

As for Xuan and Sierra, the two of them were particularly interested in the scenery. The houses were mostly made out of sandstone, but for those who were a bit wealthier, they covered the outside of their windows with gold.

Clearly, since the gold was still there, these people weren’t thieves. If anything, the amount of golden jewelry they carried around all over their bodies was enough to make them the richest people in any part of the world.

Xuan was kind of jealous.

Still, it only took two minutes of walking past these people for them to grow suspicious of Xuan and the rest of his group.

But Sierra clearly didn’t care, as she strayed away from the rest of the group and walked up to one of the stands. She picked up an apple, and right as she was about to ask for the price, the apple split in half as a grotesque sharp tongue shot out from it, trying to pierce her neck.

Before that could happen, Xuan stepped in and flicked the apple’s tongue away.

Yet what he didn’t expect was for the apple to be so fragile, as the moment his finger touched its tongue, a subtle crack resounded and the apple split in two and fell to the ground.

Just like that, silence fell for a moment as the storekeeper glared at the two of them.

"Ahem..."

Xuan cleared his throat.

"Do you mind if we pay in credit?"

"..."

The storekeeper cracked his knuckles and smiled at Xuan.

"I will take your left eye as credit then. You can have it back once you have the money."

Yeah... that wasn’t very nice.

But oh well, now was as good a time as any to slowly start turning his alignment to evil.

And the way he decided to do so was simple.

He smiled at the storekeeper, then wrapped his hands around Sierra’s waist, and ultimately Void Stepped away. As the screams of the pissed-off store owner resounded, Xuan let go of Sierra’s waist and stared at Yuelan and the others from the rooftop they were currently on.

"Did you do that on purpose?"

"Do what?"

"You know what..."

Sierra let out a giggle.

"I was just curious about that apple creature. It wouldn’t have been able to hurt me even if it tried, but I appreciate your concern."

Xuan rolled his eyes.

"Well, I saw another apple right beside that one. I can go grab it. Consider it as an early, or maybe late, birthday gift?"

She paused for a moment.

"My birthday’s actually today."

"Seriously?" Xuan’s eyes widened. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

Sierra just shrugged.

"Why would I? A birthday’s just another day for me. I’m not a child anymore."

Humph.

May the heavens strike him for a second time if Xuan was going to let her go on with her day without receiving a gift.