Raising Ducks for Daily Rewards

A huge wall, over a hundred metres tall.

Yet the gate was small, barely five.

A guard was standing casually left and right.

The sun was hitting from the east, bringing soft orange light.

"Are you three entering the city for the first time? Give me your identity token and your letter of recommendation." The guard on the left said when he saw a small group he had never seen approaching the gate.

"Uh, yes, here." Fengyu nodded, slightly surprised at the casual attitude.

When he took out his letter of recommendation, the guards changed their attitude slightly. They only glanced over it but didn’t take it.

"You’re good.

By the way, this is a side gate.

The city has a total of four main gates and sixteen side gates –

To the west is the Trade Gate. It’s the gate directly linked to the Beast Market in the west of the city, so there are always many caravans entering and leaving from there.

In the north is the Grand Gate – the largest gate welcoming many visitors from every place and is also the gate where the largest bunch of beasts come to attack.

The closest gate to this place is the gate to the east, the Councillors Gate. Those who have reached the third stage and wish to gain some authority in the city need to establish their own peak outside the eastern gate and defend against the second largest batch of beasts.

Finally in the south there is the Founding Gate representing the first gate that has been built and also the territories south to it, owned by the founding members of the city."

The guard explained meticulously, then stepped back again, leaning casually on the gate, as if everything he said was a routine.

"Thank you fellow daoist!" Fengyu cupped his hands in thanks.

When Ling and Ming took out their letters of recommendation, the guard also only glanced at them then allowed them to enter, his reaction not changing, clearly a sign they only enjoyed this privilege because they accompanied Fengyu.

Just as Fengyu entered the gate and was about to cross it, the other guard who didn’t say anything reminded, "When you enter, first register in the Outer City Administration Office. Then go to the Renting Office next to it and show them your letter of recommendation."

Fengyu only nodded this time in thanks, then entered the gate truly and passed it.

What he saw was a sight to behold –

A road exactly as wide as the gate was high – five metres. It was clean and a bit empty, only people rushing back and forth.

Yet to the side Fengyu saw countless smaller houses with similar plaques at their front –

"Courier Agency" and a name added after it.

Just as he walked past the first office, a middle-aged man standing outside called for him.

Fengyu ignored the man and continued walking forward.

To his surprise, the man didn’t call again nor did he step forth to stop him.

He continued and several people called for him, yet no one insisted and no one tried to catch him.

After this happened five or six times, the people stopped and no one called him again.

"It seems these agencies are quite organised, or maybe it’s just that the city has good regulations!" Fengyu explained to Ling who asked him why they behaved so weirdly.

"I thought the courier and mission hall was handled by the city and not private agencies." Ming was surprised.

"The mission hall is owned by the city though." Ling shook her head.

"These two aren’t the same, couriers are a type of mission taker, so it’s normal for them to be more present in the mission hall, but they’re not city-owned.

Though looking at these many agencies, it’s likely that the owner behind the couriers isn’t some strong cultivator..." Fengyu explained, surprised such a large business wasn’t owned by any stronger cultivator.

He even gained some ideas but didn’t express them right away, for currently, he too was far from the title ’strong cultivator’.

After walking for some time, they finally left this side street and saw a different scene.

Various courtyards, small and barely containing one or two buildings, could be seen all around.

Between these courtyards were a few shops, most of them having signs of selling rice, grain, or other daily necessities.

Looking into the store from the outside, Fengyu saw that nearly everything they sold was at the Spirited stage, clearly aimed at lower or poor cultivators.

He saw a sign on the road, pointing to the right to enter the eastern main road.

Following it, he slowly saw a bustling scene.

People entered en masse, carrying various things or walking into the city with large carts.

There were also various stalls left and right selling snacks and other things.

"The eastern gate leads to the peaks, so these people are most likely from the peaks or maybe from the fields outside these peaks, selling their goods..."

When Fengyu walked from village to the city, he did see some fields in the distance. It was just that the road he walked along was rather close to the city, which was likely why the travel distance was only three hours.

Entering the eastern main road and looking outside the gate, he could see an extremely large expanse, difficult to discern for him.

He didn’t look at it for long and instead walked along the southern main road, occasionally walking up to a stall to ask for their prices.

To his surprise they were rather fair, without any huge extra cost.

Stopping in front of a stall selling dumplings, he asked for their price here too, "How much does a bamboo basket cost and how many dumplings are in there?"

"Sir, this basket contains ten perfect dumplings! I have three kinds of baskets – meat dumplings, vegetable dumplings and mixed baskets containing both.

The meat baskets cost 15 spirit stones, vegetable dumpling baskets cost 10 spirit stones, and mixed ones only cost 11 spirit stones!"

"Give me one mixed one and ten vegetable dumpling baskets," Fengyu said, handing out the money.

The stall owner was delighted and instantly picked the best baskets, handing them over.

"Thank you for this business!"

Fengyu waved his hand and led the ten dumpling baskets to his duck cart, opening them for the ducks to eat from.

Then he opened the mixed basket, took out a dumpling and told the twins to not be shy and eat too.

They nodded and picked one each, tasting it.

Fengyu insisted they should take more while he himself took out two vegetable dumplings and presented them to Zimu.