As Yu Lan held the token in her hand, fear washed over her. "What have you done? This token belongs to a noble family from the Green Zone. You can't just steal it. The guards in the Green Zone will immediately realize it's not mine, and..." Tears began to stream down her face as she sobbed, letting the token slip from her fingers and fall to the ground.
Mei Lin watched Yu Lan, who had once again slipped into a deep state of despair. She wondered what to do with her. Drawing on her inner natural energy, Mei Lin purged the blood from within herself and attempted to help Yu Lan stabilize, but Yu Lan appeared even more depressed than before. Mei Lin observed her quietly, about to speak, but stopped herself.
A strange thought crossed Mei Lin's mind. 'How is it possible that after Xin Ming and Hua Fey died, I felt no sadness or pain? Now Xia is missing, and I feel nothing at all? Was it always like this? No, something must have changed. I don't even feel sad that Mom and Dad are dead. Everyone except Li Wei is gone, and I'm numb.'
Mei Lin realized that reasoning with Yu Lan now would be futile. She picked up the token and used her spirit sense to examine both it and her own, seeking the difference. Comparing them, the distinction was clear: her token could store far more natural energy and seemed indestructible. She couldn't determine which was more important, but since she already had her own, acquiring a new one would be impossible for a long time.
Despite this, Mei Lin considered switching her token but quickly dismissed the idea. 'If I exchange my token with another cultivator's, I won't gain a better one. Only members of cultivation families or sect cultivators can secure greater privileges in the city than I have.'
Mei Lin abandoned the thought of stealing more identification tokens and returned Yu Lan's token to her.
Yu Lan took it but didn't store it in her spatial ring. Mei Lin noticed Yu Lan remained motionless, as if she had aged years in moments. As they left the tea-house, Yu Lan's once-beautiful white skin now resembled dry, deserted land, and she seemed unwilling to go on living.
"Are you going to wait here, or are we going to look for Xia?" Mei Lin asked. Her words, spoken with authority, jolted Yu Lan. Her eyes, dull just a moment ago, sparked with life, though she moved like a marionette, her personality shifting in an instant.
"Let's go find Xia," Yu Lan said, slowly standing. She seemed filled with new purpose, yet part of her soul appeared lost, as if it had died with Xin Ming and Hua Fey when the bandits destroyed the tea-house.
Just as Mei Lin opened her mouth to speak, Yu Lan grabbed her hand and rushed out from the debris-strewn field left by the ruined houses, setting their course toward the Green Zone.
Not long after, they reached the border between the Yellow and Green Zones. This imaginary divide was marked by a water canal, the heart of the city's nightlife, where small boats carrying zither players glided through, traversing the entire city in a single night.
Crossing the canal felt like stepping into a different world. Unlike the Yellow Zone, the Green Zone's houses were grander, many ancient and adorned with spirit materials. Despite the bandit attack, most structures here were only slightly damaged, and the streets buzzed with cultivators clearing debris.
This stark contrast defined the two zones. The city's guards held their positions in the Green Zone, defending it fiercely, while the Yellow Zone had been abandoned almost immediately. Only the guards stationed at the city walls remained to protect it from further bandit incursions.
As they crossed the bridge over the canal into the Green Zone, a cultivator appeared in the air, hovering more than thirty meters above their heads. Dressed in a blue cultivation robe and standing atop a blue flying sword, he was Bei Hao. His cultivation was at the first stage of Qi Condensation, and he had been ordered to guard the eastern part of the Green Zone, inspecting everyone entering.
Neither Mei Lin nor Yu Lan noticed him as he loomed overhead. They moved slowly, taking over half an hour to reach the middle part of the Green Zone.
Even within the Green Zone, areas were divided by status. Here, small houses gave way to pagodas and palaces with magnificent gardens, homes of cultivator families. Yet, after the bandit attack, most were reduced to ruins.
As they paused before a smaller mansion, completely demolished with its main gate gone, a deep voice echoed in their ears.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The world-shattering sound made Yu Lan release Mei Lin's hand and drop to her knees, bowing to the ground. Mei Lin, drained of strength, collapsed beside her without resistance.
Bei Hao descended before them, scanning Yu Lan with his spirit sense. It didn't take long for him to notice her identification token. As he probed it with his spirit sense, he sensed the connection between the token and Yu Lan.
"What were you doing in yellow zone?" As his voice entered into Yu Lan's mind, she instantly started shivering and cold sweat enveloped her body. She didn't look at Bei Hao and with a cracked voice answered.
"We were outside the city when the bandits attacked, and now we're heading back," Yu Lan said, her voice distracted. She didn't understand what the cultivators from the sect wanted from her, and Bei Hao didn't believe a single word she said.
Due to a strange phenomenon in the Yellow Zone, every cultivator from the sect was on high alert, as no one knew who was responsible for it. Bei Hao had seen them at the scene of the incident just a few hours earlier in the Yellow Zone, where a golden light had injured Song Shen.
"Your identification tokens!"
Both Mei Lin and Yu Lan showed him their identification tokens and after inspecting them, he was not able to find any problem with any of them, so before thetokenss fell into the ground, Bei Hao waved his sleeve and then vanished in a beam of light.