As he walked, Aotian noticed that some people in the crowd had quite distinctive features, such as red, green, blue hair, among other unusual colors.

“What’s up with this hair dye trend?” Aotian asked, amused.

He knew it probably wasn’t dye, but he couldn’t help teasing, especially since Rihai also had golden hair and blue eyes in a world where black hair was the norm.

As expected, Rihai rolled her eyes, irritated.

“This happens because the spiritual roots influence the body. To be more precise, a spiritual root doesn’t adapt to a body; it’s the body that adapts to the spiritual root. Different hair usually indicates a spiritual root linked to an element, like red hair from a fire root. In rare cases, there are roots that complement each other, like wood and fire roots, which have a mutual generative relationship. In this case, the hair may turn yellow,” Rihai explained.

Aotian found the explanation very interesting.

“And what if someone has five elements roots? Does their hair become multicolored?” Aotian asked, curious.

“Of course not!” Rihai ran a hand over her forehead, exasperated by Aotian’s antics. “The five elements represent the absolute balance. They’re so balanced that they don’t cause any mutation in the body. That’s why they’re called the basic elements of creation: Fire, Water, Metal, Wood, and Earth.”

“Wasn’t it gold?” Aotian asked, confused. Could there have been a translation error in the xianxia books he read?

“Gold? Well, the interpretation wouldn’t be wrong, after all, gold is considered the nobility of metals and its representative. But it’s better to refer to it as metal to avoid confusing the cultivation mindset,” Rihai explained, not finding Aotian’s question strange.

‘Hmm, makes sense! So, if I get the chance, I’ll cultivate the Tungsten Bell Cloak… or maybe the Tungsten Buddha Body,’ Aotian amused himself with his own thoughts.

‘Humph! Your Golden Buddha Body is indestructible? Well, wait until you see my Tungsten Buddha Body! UADAH!!’ Aotian got lost in silly thoughts. ‘Heh? So, you have a five-claw golden dragon? Then look at my tungsten dragon with twenty claws! Huh? How come it only has five? You didn’t count the other hand and the two feet!’ A playful smile appeared on his face with these musings.

Rihai, exasperated, held her forehead. She had no idea what kind of silly thoughts Aotian was having now.

Aotian kept walking, lost in his delusions, until he received a slap on his forehead.

“Lingxi World to Aotian! Are you back?” Rihai said, with an impatient sigh, already irritated that he had gotten lost in his own daydreams.

“Hey, Rihai, you pulled me out of my epiphany! I lost years of progress because of you, now I need a compensation kiss!” Aotian complained, pretending to be outraged.

“What kind of epiphany makes someone walk around with such a silly grin?” Rihai retorted, furious. “How about I compensate you by sending you straight to hell?”

She made a fierce grimace and tapped the small pouch at her waist. To Aotian’s surprise, the pouch spat out a sword, which flew into Rihai’s hand. She then raised the sword above her head, threatening Aotian.

“Calm down, calm down! Rihai, do you want to be a widow so soon?” Aotian gestured quickly, trying to calm her down.

“AOTIAN! I was already about to kill you—no need to keep convincing me!” She growled, her face red with anger.

Aotian knew nothing would happen. After all, he had gotten to know Rihai well enough over the past few days to be sure she wouldn’t go beyond threats. However, he also knew that if he didn’t calm her down, she would sulk later.

“Sorry, my beautiful Miss Rihai, I was wrong!” Aotian quickly clasped his hands, pleading, and blinked his big eyes with a pitiful expression.

If he had a musketeer hat, he could compete in cuteness with a certain cat who hates walking barefoot.

“Puff!” Rihai couldn’t hold back a laugh when she saw Aotian’s pitiful expression. She ended up laughing, despite trying to control herself.

She quickly stored the sword in her pouch and covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn’t help but feel her laughter was a bit too free… at least when she was with Aotian.

She then composed herself, rolled her eyes, and started walking again, ignoring the curious stares from the crowd.

Aotian followed behind her with a smile on his face.

However, at the same time, he was reflecting on two things Rihai had said.

‘First: the world I’m in is called Lingxi. Second: Rihai uses a storage pouch in public, but she also has a storage ring, from which she pulled the wings that one day. I believe storage rings aren’t common among Qi refiners, so she hides it. Also, with everything she knows, I don’t think Rihai’s origins are ordinary.’ Aotian thought, feeling a slight worry.

And he became determined to grow stronger.

‘No matter what happens, I need to be strong enough to protect Rihai. I don’t want to be the type of protagonist who watches his wife get taken away or have her flee to protect him, because he doesn’t have enough strength to protect both of them.’

…

“This is where I live,” Rihai said.

Aotian looked up and was impressed to see a gigantic building that seemed to touch the clouds.

Unable to sense any spiritual energy, he had doubts.

“This building is huge, how many cultivators can live here? Can the spiritual energy really support it?” Aotian asked, incredulous.

“It’s not quite like that. Each floor is a unique cultivation room. Due to the formations involved, each floor has its daily energy quota, so even if someone rents it and fills it with low-level cultivators, it won’t disturb anyone,” Rihai explained with a smile, continuing.

“The only difference between the floors is the purity of the energy. Although there’s not a huge variation, the purer energy converts into cultivation more quickly. And interestingly, the purer energy tends to rise, while lower quality energy sinks. In common spiritual veins, like those in mountains, the peak is always the place with the highest intensity and purity,” Rihai explained.

She continued to detail how the energy in the city of Blue Cloud, manipulated and condensed through the formations, was more concentrated in the core. However, the purity of each level kept rising upwards, with the higher floors being more expensive, as if they were the presidential area of the building.

And the prices could be exorbitant, reaching up to two thousand low-level stones at the top of the central area, which was double the price of an average place in the core.

“Let’s go up!” Rihai said, pulling Aotian from his thoughts as she walked to a side area of the building.

‘Please, don’t be stairs!’ Aotian mentally begged, his eyes fixed on the building that seemed to pierce the clouds.

They reached an area where squares marked with blue formation runes were drawn on the ground.

Rihai stepped into one of the squares and looked at Aotian.

Aotian followed her example and stepped into the square with her.

“And now?” He asked, looking around, trying to find any button, but there was nothing.

Rihai chuckled when she saw his curious expression.

“How can you enter a house without the key?” She teased, amused.

“Huh?” Aotian looked confused.

Rihai then touched the pouch at her waist, from which a square card was launched directly into her hands.

The card also had blue runes, and as soon as it was taken from the pouch, it seemed to vibrate with the platform below, causing the runes on both to change from blue to gold.

“Wow!” Aotian exclaimed, surprised, as without warning, the golden platform beneath their feet began to fly upwards.

He quickly tried to steady himself, looking around and seeing the scenery rise at an impressive speed.

Aotian walked cautiously to the edge and looked down, watching the ground quickly recede. A shiver ran down his spine, and he took a step back.

“Dammit! This is dangerous, there’s not even a guardrail!” Aotian complained, worried.

“Hahaha!” Rihai, who had been watching his reaction, couldn’t hold back and laughed loudly.

“Hey, stop it, or…” Aotian said irritably, threatening her.

Rihai didn’t take the threat seriously, smiling as always.

“Haha! Or what?” She asked, still laughing.

Aotian stepped forward, lifted her chin with one hand, and kissed her on the cheek before she could react.

“Or, I’ll kiss you for being so beautiful!” Aotian said with a mischievous smile.

Rihai’s laughter froze in the air.

From the tips of her ears to her neck, a deep blush covered her skin.

She quickly turned her back to him, trying to hide her embarrassment.

‘I like this view too!’ Aotian thought, his eyes following her curves, the immaculate white dress accentuating her silhouette. He couldn’t help himself, and his gaze strayed to her beautiful, rounded backside.

“Do you think I won’t dare toss you down from here?” Rihai’s angry voice suddenly rang out.

At some point, she got curious as to why Aotian had fallen silent, and when she turned her face to see what he was looking at, she almost exploded with anger and embarrassment.

“Cough, cough! You must be mistaken! I was just admiring the scenery…” Aotian tried to justify himself, but couldn’t stop the comment that slipped out: “And what a scenery…”

And with that sentence… and with Rihai’s hands grabbing his neck and shaking him back and forth, they both neared their destination.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep