Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

The first thing that caught his eye was a cacophony of voices, with all sorts of sounds surrounding him.

The streets were crowded with makeshift shacks, and refugees squatted in twos and threes by the roadside, cooking over fires.

Then Chen Zhuo saw his junior sister Gu Qing'e looking at something at a small stall by the roadside.

"Oh, junior brother's here! Perfect timing, let's take a look at this item."

Gu Qing'e had an irrepressible smile on her lips.

Seeing his junior sister's appearance, Chen Zhuo walked over out of curiosity.

Seeing another customer arrive, the stall owner enthusiastically tried to sell to him.

"Sir, please take a look at this talisman. It was personally hand-drawn by the Master of the Academy. You know what a talisman is, right? It's the kind of thing that can ward off a demon attack once."

"The price is not expensive, it's cheap and affordable, only five coins a piece."

Chen Zhuo examined the slightly wrinkled talisman, a barely suppressed smile playing on his lips.

He was somewhat amused by the stall owner.

Five coins a piece is indeed not expensive, even a bit too cheap.

But the talisman is such a precious item that it might not even be possible to buy it for five taels of silver.

Moreover, their Academy of Arts has never sold any talismans to outsiders.

Besides a portion being consumed internally, another portion was given to the soldiers on the front lines, having nothing to do with ordinary people like them who stayed in the city.

Moreover, genuine talismans should not have too many obvious creases.

Because wrinkles can affect the flow of literary energy, which in turn affects the overall release of literary talent.

"Senior sister, let's go."

After glancing at it twice, Chen Zhuo lost interest in it.

Chen Zhuo had no reason to ruin someone else's livelihood by selling a talisman for five coins.

As for false advertising, that's a matter of opinion.

"Mmm." Gu Qing'e gave a soft "Mmm" and then pulled Chen Zhuo toward Chunfeng Tower.

Seeing that Chen Zhuo and his companion weren't buying, the stall owner started calling out to another customer, and Chen Zhuo even saw that quite a few orders were actually placed.

"These people are so stupid! Can't they even tell the difference?"

Gu Qing'e waved her small hand lightly, somewhat disappointed in her son.

"Senior sister, you can't judge these people by your own standards. To put it bluntly, they are just a group of ordinary people who are displaced in the long night."

"They don't understand any runes at all; they only know that the long night is coming, and they are terrified. At this time, they need some kind of spiritual comfort."

"And the written symbols can precisely satisfy this feeling for them."

At this point, Chen Zhuo paused, "Most importantly, it's not expensive, only five coins."

After listening to Chen Zhuo's explanation, Gu Qing'e nodded thoughtfully.

"Junior brother, you know so much! Compared to you, I feel like I'm a useless senior sister!"

Chen Zhuo smiled and simply explained that he had read a lot of books.

The two walked through the crowd and finally stopped at the entrance of Chunfeng Tower.

The Spring Breeze Pavilion was much quieter during the day than when he last visited. There were no women welcoming guests at the entrance, only two guards standing on either side.

One of them placed his hand directly on the hilt of his knife, his gaze sweeping over Chen Zhuo.

Chen Zhuo took out two tickets, and the other person glanced at them and stepped aside.

As soon as Park entered, Gu Qing'e left Chen Zhuo and curiously looked around the place.

Chen Zhuo then found a seat and sat down.

The trade fair hasn't started yet, so everyone's just chatting.

"Hey, have you heard? Demons have infiltrated the city."

"There are good demons and bad demons among the demon race, so don't worry. But recently, the Gongyuan Gang has become very popular. I heard that joining them can increase your strength, but I don't know if it's true or not."

"It's most likely a scam. Every few years, some kind of gang pops up, and they're probably just front men for some big shot!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Chen Zhuo listened quietly from the side, when suddenly he heard his own gossip.

"Did you know? That rising star of the Chen family recently announced that he's going to write another masterpiece!"

"Hiss! What arrogance! Does he think he can just write a masterpiece whenever he wants? It takes perfect timing, location, and the right people!"

"Exactly, his 'The Long Night' barely meets the threshold of being a masterpiece. Who gave him that confidence?"

Chen Zhuo listened from the side, completely bewildered.

"When did he say he was going to write a masterpiece?"

A masterpiece is one whose reach extends to the county level and makes the work well-known.

It's not just something that has simply become popular; it's something that has gained a certain level of acceptance and recognition.

This kind of work is undoubtedly very difficult.

After "The Long Night," he tried to write a few more pieces, but they didn't even make a splash in the vast pond of the county town.

At this moment, the junior sister returned after wandering around for a while and said with some curiosity.

"Junior brother, let me tell you, I was quite looking forward to coming here, but I ended up just wandering around the first floor."

"What is it? It's just some cosmetics and decorations, no different from an ordinary restaurant."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuo and the others around her looked at her in disbelief.

Chen Zhuo was unsure whether his junior sister was faking it or genuinely didn't understand. Was the disappointed look on her face real?

Noticing the gazes around her, Gu Qing'e's expression became somewhat unnatural. Was this question really that strange?

Seeing this, Chen Zhuo quickly pulled his junior sister to sit down in a corner.

He carefully chose his words and asked, "Senior sister hasn't been here before?"

Gu Qing'e shook her head blankly, "I've been studying at the Academy of Arts and Sciences before, and I've never been here before."

Chen Zhuo looked at his junior sister's slightly disappointed and confused expression and sighed silently in his heart.

She probably doesn't know what Chunfenglou's real business is.

"Senior sister," Chen Zhuo changed her words, "Spring Breeze Pavilion... the first floor is just the facade."

Gu Qing'e blinked and tilted her head to look at him: "What do you mean?"

"Its main business isn't downstairs."

"Where is it?" Gu Qing'e looked around, still unable to make heads or tails of it. "The second floor? I've been up there before, it's just some private rooms."

Chen Zhuo took a deep breath and decided to stop there: "The second floor isn't all private rooms."

Gu Qing'e looked up at the building and saw something; her face instantly turned bright red.

"Junior brother! Why didn't you say so sooner!" Her voice was very low, but the level of embarrassment and annoyance in her tone was extremely high.

"I thought my senior sister knew."

"How could I possibly know!" Gu Qing'e gritted her teeth, her ears burning red, and her gaze began to wander around.

She just wandered around Chunfeng Tower several times by herself.

They even took a closer look at the cosmetics and powder ornaments, and commented on the decorations of the private room on the second floor.

The girls standing in the corner probably kept watching her, assuming she was a business colleague who had come to investigate.

The thought of being treated like one of their own made her wish she could disappear into the ground.