1 Chapter 1 Moving House_1

Clear River Sword Sect

White River Marketplace

Wooden Bridge Street

The sky was cloudy, accompanied by the drizzle.

The muddy streets were filled with a group of bottom class Qi Cultivators, wearing worn-out Taoist robes, craning their necks to watch the scene.

"Xu Mu, why haven't you moved out yet? Do I really have to take the initiative?"

Manager Liu, exuding a foreboding aura, with his subordinates behind him, was staring coldly at a middle-aged man with graying hair in the courtyard.

"Manager Liu, can we possibly get an extended grace period? My wife is about to give birth," Xu Mu pleaded with a forced smile.

"What does your wife's labor have to do with us? We're not the ones who put the baby in there!"

A small, plump man following Manager Liu, with his eyes slanting like a triangle, made a cynical comment.

The rest of them followed suit and burst into raucous laughter.

Xu Mu's face flushed.

His fists clenched tightly; he barely stopped himself from charging forward of confront them.

"Please, Manager Liu, as soon as I have Spirit Stones, I will pay back all the overdue rent!"

The wave of anger in Xu Mu subsided after a moment, he deeply inhaled, let go of his clenched fists and composed himself.

He was prepared for death.

But what if he died?

What about his wife who would be delivering their baby?

At his age, having a family was almost an unattainable luxury, let alone dying.

"Help? How? If everyone were like you, wouldn't I be out of a job? If you don't have the Spirit Stones, then pack up and get out! If I see you here after one hour, don't blame me for being rude!"

Manager Liu sneered, flapped his sleeve, and turned away with his subordinates.

Xu Mu clenched his teeth, but didn't dare to utter a harsh word.

As for the saying 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river'?

Give me a break!

He was already over sixty; in thirty years, he would be pushing daisy.

With a desolate expression, Xu Mu went back to his room and began to pack.

His wife, Ye Yingying, heavily pregnant, walked out of the bedroom.

Her pale face reflected deep remorse.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't caught a cold recently and spent all our savings, we wouldn't be unable to pay the rent," She lamented.

Xu Mu shook his head with a bitter smile.

"It's not your fault, the rent increases daily now. Even if we could survive this time, we wouldn't make it through time and time again. Sooner or later, we would be evicted!"

Recently, the Clear River Sword Sect and the Soul Refining Demon Sect had gone to war. The family in charge of the marketplace has been incessantly squeezing the people to collect resources for the war.

He remembered that when he first moved to Wooden Bridge Alley, the monthly rent was only two Lower-grade Spirit Stones. However, it had now increased to ten, five times more than before.

And it was likely to increase this month.

Though he was an alchemist, his income was not high. He made little more than ten Lower-grade Spirit Stones a month.

After deducting living expenses and the cost of his personal cultivation, the remaining Spirit Stones could not afford the exorbitant rent.

Recently, they had mostly relied on their previous savings to get by.

As for Ye Yingying's recent illness, it was just the straw that broke the camel's back, advancing their eviction by a few months.

After soothing his wife, Xu Mu continued to pack his things, but couldn't help but ridicule himself.

"Never thought I, a great transmigrator, would end up so destitute that I can nearly not afford to provide for my wife. Among all transmigrators, I must be the most pathetic!"

That's right!

Xu Mu is not from this world.

His soul is that of a 20th-century university student.

Just because he had been too excited while in a hotel with his crush, he accidentally crossed into this mysterious world of cultivators, taking over the body of a middle-aged cultivator.

At first, he had wanted to struggle, to command his own destiny.

But the harsh reality had pinned him down and rubbed him in the dirt.

In this world, everyone could cultivate, but the gap in talent among cultivators was huge. Xu Mu was one of those at the absolute bottom, part of the 99.9% of people in this world.

Which is why he was only able to reach the third layer of Qi cultivation at over sixty years old.

If he had been born in a mundane world where the environment was filled with turbid Qi, he probably wouldn't have been able to sense Qi in his entire life.

However, he would rather have been transmigrated to a mundane world.

Maybe, with the knowledge from his previous life, he could at least live a decent life, unlike his current predicament. Even though he could cultivate, his life was worse than that of a stray dog.

Realizing his mediocre talent, Xu Mu simply gave up on the desire for longevity. Via a matchmaker, he met Ye Yingying, whose father had recently died and was equally devoid of talent and helplessly alone.

The two got married, planning to live a simple life, having children, raising their progeny, grateful if they could live to old age.

However, they didn't expect that misfortunes would pile up. Soon after they got married, the war between the Clear River Sword Sect and the Soul Refining Demon Sect broke out, making life unsustainable.

Speaking of it, since Ye Yingying had married him, she hadn't had a single good day, thinking of it made Xu Mu feel guilty.

After packing up, Xu Mu helped Ye Yingying out of the yard.

"Master Xu, remember to visit when you have time!"

"We don't have anything to give you, so we'll give you some fruits we just bought. Let your wife eat more!"

"Take care, maybe we will join you soon!"

Some familiar neighbors came out to see them off.

Xu Mu responded to each one politely!

"Ah, I wonder when this turmoil will end!"

Watching the figure of Xu Mu moving further away in the drizzle, the people couldn't help but feel empathy.