Building a sect from scratch.

After discussing with Lü Wenyuan for a while, Tan Xin left the Spiritual Energy Research Institute.

She was originally planning to take advantage of her rare day off to experience this other world, but then she received a message from her mentor asking her to take some time to persuade Professor Wang, who had been online for a day and a night. If she couldn't persuade him, the higher-ups would send someone to unplug the internet.

Now that the mission has been successfully completed, Tan Xin is in high spirits and walks briskly down the road.

To my surprise, just as I turned the corner, I heard a heated argument.

"Why won't you let my oxcart pass? These are my own oxen! You, you, you—this is outrageous! Do you know who my son is? My son is a disciple of the Taiyin Sect!"

The speaker seemed to be an elderly woman, with a booming voice and a strong, resonant tone, her pride and smugness impossible to conceal.

The other person spoke in a strange Central Continent dialect, sounding unlike a native NPC from the vicinity of the Taiyin Sect: "I don't care who your son is, this road is off-limits to oxcarts! That's the rule! Even if the city lord came, I would still say the same! And who are you trying to fool, old woman? Everyone knows that the disciples of the Taiyin Sect are from the Blue Star Realm! Where would they get parents from!"

The old woman didn't understand what "Blue Star Realm" meant, and thought they were insulting her. She immediately became furious: "What Blue Star Realm, Red Star Realm! You dare to curse me?! I'll make my son beat you to death!"

Seeing that he couldn't reason with her, the other person also got angry and sneered, "Hmph, no matter what kind of thing your son, this imposter old woman, is, even if he were a cultivator, he would pay for his life for murder in Chang'an! Where did you come from, you country bumpkin? How come you don't know anything?"

"And where did you come from, you country bumpkin? You can't even speak Middle-earth properly! What are you trying to prove, you pig with a scallion stuck in your nose!"

Tan Xin, who rarely heard such an argument, followed the sound out of curiosity, wanting to watch the drama unfold. However, as soon as she saw the two arguing, the old woman beckoned to her and called out, "Hey, you old lady! Do something about this! Where did you find this servant girl? Why won't she let my own ox walk? This road is for people to walk on! What kind of logic is that?!"

Tan Xin looked awkwardly at the other person, feeling rather at a loss.

The other person was also an older woman, who looked much younger than the old lady, but had a full head of white hair. She explained, "I'm from the sanitation department of the city management bureau. I happened to be checking this area and saw her insisting on driving an oxcart onto the cement road. Animal-drawn carts are prohibited on cement roads throughout Chang'an City. I wasn't targeting her!"

The old lady looked incredulous: "What a joke! If there are no cars on the road, what are they going to do?!"

The woman rolled her eyes: "It's not that we can't use carriages, it's that we can't use animal-drawn carriages, those pulled by livestock! You don't know anything and I don't even know how you managed to live in Chang'an!"

The old woman's face turned red with anger, and she roared, "What's it to you how I live! If this cart isn't pulled by animals, what is? You try pulling it? Show me how you pull one! You're just looking for trouble!"

"Hey, both of you, calm down, calm down,"

Tan Xin understood the gist of the matter, and then explained to the old lady in a kind voice, "Well, there may indeed be regulations that prohibit livestock from walking on this kind of cement ground, but the dirt roads outside are fine... By the way, why did you bring the oxcart here?"

Tan Xin's words no longer carried that condescending tone, so the old lady felt embarrassed to get angry at her. She simply replied, "We were just about to move here! My son is still behind us. I thought it was better to get here early than late, so I rushed over by carriage to move our things. Who knew Chang'an City would be so strange! They won't let carriages pass! Where can we go to complain to them!"

At this point, she glanced sideways at the woman opposite her and began to grumble at Tan Xin: "I've never heard of anything so unreasonable! If cars can't drive on the road, does that mean people can't sleep in beds or keep their food warm in the stove?"

"Yes, yes, yes, that's because the higher-ups in Chang'an didn't make it clear. That's not what they meant. You see how clean Chang'an is? It's because there are no livestock or anything that produces excrement! Otherwise, it would be stinking, and it wouldn't be so clean, right?"

Tan Xin said tactfully, "The car can definitely move, but the ox can't. That's roughly what they meant!"

The old woman curled her lip in dissatisfaction: "What a joke! If there's no manure on the road, is it even a road? What would you use to pull a cart if not an ox?"

"Uh...this..."

Tan Xin was completely helpless, feeling a bit like a scholar encountering a soldier, unable to reason with anyone.

The woman standing nearby immediately retorted sneered, "Do you think just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get into Chang'an? You're utterly ignorant! If you don't know anything, go back to where you came from, and stop making a fool of yourself here!"

These words stirred up a hornet's nest. The old lady was so angry that she was panting heavily. Before she could say anything, the woman added, as if that wasn't enough: "Your son is all that great! How dare you boast like that! The immortals of the Taiyin Sect are all orphans from Earth! What kind of good-for-nothing and scoundrel is your son? Does he even deserve to be called one?" "Sigh!"

Upon hearing this, Tan Xin immediately knew she was in trouble—

Sure enough, she only shouted once, and before she could stop her, the old woman flew into a rage and pounced on the woman, grabbing her hair and punching and kicking her while yelling, "You worthless piece of trash! You shameless, heartless bastard! I'll tear your mouth apart! I'll teach you to spout nonsense and destroy your conscience!"

The silver-haired woman was not to be outdone. She grabbed the old woman's headscarf, ripped it hard, and then scratched at her face, cursing as she did so: "You damned old hag! You gave birth to a turtle that's no good! You old turtle egg gave birth to a little turtle egg! Your whole family of turtles are drowning in a cesspool!"

This was the first time Tan Xin had ever witnessed such a quarrel between country women. She was stunned for a moment, and then became extremely anxious. She wanted to step in and separate the two women, but she didn't know how to intervene. She could only stomp her feet and shout, "Hey! Hey! What kind of mess is this! Aunties, stop it! Stop fighting! Stop it! Please stop fighting!"

This remark was overheard by another player who happened to be passing by, and he immediately burst into laughter.

This place is the most remote corner of the entire Chang'an City, almost diagonally opposite the teleportation array. Even the natives don't come here much. Only a few scattered farming players and native NPCs live nearby. The only advantage is that there is an uncultivated wasteland to the north, and there is a stream nearby, so there is no need to worry about irrigation. It is very suitable for clearing land and farming.

This player who passed by is a well-known farming enthusiast with the ID "Don't Say I'm Bad". His real surname is Cai, and his name is Cai Tan.

Cai Tan cultivated several acres of land by himself, planting all sorts of things, turning his "farmland" into a "botanical garden." Sometimes, when research institutes wanted to find seeds, they would ask him first if he had any seedlings!
At this moment, Cai Tan was about to go home and log off when he suddenly heard the famous shout, "Stop fighting!" He was overjoyed and excitedly took a detour to see what was going on.

Upon seeing Tan Xin, a player with the same ID above his head, and then noticing the two NPCs locked in a fierce fight, Cai Tan was immediately startled and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my! What's going on? Why are the NPCs fighting?!"

Tan Xin had no experience in handling this kind of thing. When she saw Cai Tan, she felt like she had seen a savior. Her eyes welled up with tears as she cried out, "What, what should we do!"

Cai Tan, however, seemed to enjoy the spectacle and said nonchalantly, "Don't worry about it! Let them fight, what does it have to do with us! This is the first time I've ever seen NPCs fight! It's so exciting!"

"No, you can't fight like this! How... how do we stop them!"

Tan Xin became even more anxious. Others might think this was a game, but she knew it was all real people! If something serious were to happen over such a small matter and she just stood by and watched, her conscience wouldn't allow it!

Seeing Tan Xin's anxious state, Cai Tan felt embarrassed to show his gloating. He tried to suppress his wide grin, coughed twice, and suggested, "Let's call for backup! Let's call for Chief Mimi! We're not police officers!"

"Oh yes, yes!"

Being too close to the situation to see clearly, Tan Xin suddenly realized what was happening. She quickly brought up the system panel, found the option to report an incident in the city services section at the bottom, and submitted the location and description.

"Don't be in such a hurry! Anyway, we've already called the police, so we can just let the NPCs handle it in a bit!"

Seeing that Tan Xin had called the police and was still as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, Cai Tan, though not quite understanding, kindly tugged at her and offered a few words of advice. Then he asked, "Hey, hey, how did those two start fighting? Tell me in detail?"

Tan Xin was finally calmed down by Cai Tan's attitude. She thought to herself that this matter really had nothing to do with her. Besides, it was a cultivation world, and minor bumps and scrapes were not considered injuries. So she told Cai Tan the whole story.

Upon hearing this, Cai Tan slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I knew this regulation was inhumane! Look at the common people, they have to rely on animal-drawn carts to haul things. If you don't allow carts on paved roads, aren't you forcing everyone to rely on manpower? I don't know what crazy person came up with this idea on a whim! Oh, we players have storage bags, so we can't get on the platform, which is convenient, but what about the NPCs?!"

"Not to mention anything else, my neighbor's old man still has to push a wheelbarrow to go to the fields every day. He's so tired! Tsk tsk tsk! I don't even want to say a word!"
"You're in a game now, why are you doing this kind of empty formalism and superficial project! Just refresh the data and the dirt on the concrete road will be gone! At worst, it'll prevent cattle and horses from pooping!"

At first, Tan Xin thought Cai Tan's words made sense and nodded frequently, but as they became more and more outrageous, she couldn't help but twitch her lips.

To prevent cattle and horses from defecating—how could he even think of that! (End of Chapter)