Jiang Zuo’s generosity surprised the man. ’An ordinary person just casually handing over a Second-Grade Spirit Stone? Is he some kind of big shot?’

Since the other party didn’t take it back, he wasn’t going to be coy and simply accepted it.

Jiang Zuo sat in the car, feeling a bit exasperated.

He had tried to act like an ordinary person the entire way, but it seemed being one wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.

All in all, he was a prime example of failure.

Before long, they arrived at a small mountain by the roadside. The mountain was dotted with many individual cottages, and at its base, Jiang Zuo saw a sign: Rainy Day Cottage.

So the Rainy Day Cottage was a resort-style hotel. It made sense when he thought about it. There were no skyscrapers here, land was plentiful, and cramming a bunch of Cultivators into typical hotel rooms wouldn’t be appropriate.

Giving each person a separate cottage was perfectly normal.

They were called cottages, but they were actually small, two-story villas.

Jiang Zuo then asked, "How do I check in here?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The man said, "There’s a service building inside where you can check in. But for someone like you, it seems you’ll need some kind of token."

"A token?" Jiang Zuo was taken aback. Su Qi hadn’t mentioned it. "If I don’t have one, can I get a room myself?" he asked.

"The token is... well, anything that proves you’re a Holy Land Disciple will do. As for getting your own room, that’s no problem, of course. You just have to pay with Spirit Stones. It’s two First-Grade Spirit Stones a night.

But since you just gave me a Second-Grade Spirit Stone, we can let you stay for five days," the man said with a smile.

Jiang Zuo looked at him and asked, "Are you the owner here?"

The man nodded. "Isn’t this usually how it goes? We were out shopping, happened to sit together, and just so happened to be heading the same way.

With all these coincidences, I’m either the owner or a tenant living in the same place."

Jiang Zuo had thought as much, so he wasn’t too surprised. Speaking of tokens, he took out the Life-Protecting Treasure hanging around his neck and asked, "Does this count?"

The boss froze. "This... this is a Life-Protecting Treasure, isn’t it? A treasure of this caliber... its owner couldn’t be an ordinary disciple, could they?"

A Life-Protecting Treasure from the Holy Land was on this man. The boss was stunned; this was no laughing matter.

The little girl in the back suddenly piped up, "Mister, that’s not a token. It won’t be recognized at the front desk."

At that moment, the owner’s wife, sitting in the back, immediately stopped her daughter. "Don’t interrupt when adults are speaking."

The boss added awkwardly, "You don’t need a token. This is more than enough."

Jiang Zuo asked, "Roughly what level of disciple would own this? Is it that impressive?"

The boss gave a wry smile. "We don’t really know for sure, but it’s true that they’re very rare. Ordinary disciples definitely don’t have them, at least not with inscriptions.

You must understand, we ordinary people are in a rather helpless position here."

"I understand," Jiang Zuo said.

No matter the place, ordinary people would never have an easy time living among a group of Cultivators.

It was quite impressive that this owner had managed to make a living like this.

"Alright, we’re here. Your surname, sir? So I can go in and handle the paperwork for you," the boss asked as the car came to a stop.

Jiang Zuo opened the car door and got out. He waited for the owner to approach before speaking. "Jiang Zuo. That’s the name for the registration."

"Mr. Jiang, my surname is He, and I’m the owner of this hotel. Please feel free to let me know if you have any requests," Boss He said with a smile.

Jiang Zuo nodded but didn’t say much more.

Boss He remained wary of Jiang Zuo. It wasn’t because of his special status, but because the man was so calm. ’This is clearly his first time here, and it should be his first time encountering Cultivators. Yet he shows no reaction at all.

Could he have encountered them before? But if he had, it would be even more unlikely for him to come here alone, right?

Does he feel no awe toward Cultivators?’

Boss He didn’t understand, but he didn’t dare underestimate Jiang Zuo.

The man’s composure didn’t seem like an act.

Jiang Zuo was then led to the main hall, where an attendant was on duty. Seeing their boss enter, the attendant promptly stood up and greeted him, "Boss."

Boss He nodded and gave an instruction, "Help this gentleman get checked in. Someone should have already booked a room for him."

The attendant then began searching using the information Jiang Zuo provided.

Sure enough, there was a reservation under his name.

With Boss He’s go-ahead, Jiang Zuo was easily shown to his room.

The room was one of the cottages, a small, standalone villa. The standard was indeed quite high.

The villa wasn’t large, but Jiang Zuo had never stayed in one before in this life.

After heading inside, Jiang Zuo found a small pool and dropped Sweet Potato into it.

Sweet Potato had maintained a very low profile on the journey, so low that it was easy to overlook it completely.

While this was disgraceful for a Holy Beast Descendant, for a duck, it was both cute and adorable.

Yet, it rarely drew anyone’s attention.

Jiang Zuo had noticed this as well. ’Probably another one of its hidden Talents,’ he thought.

After dropping Sweet Potato in the pool, Jiang Zuo took out his Array Stones. His preparations weren’t finished yet, and he needed to hurry up and complete them.

He was imbuing the seven Array Stones with different functions. This was a complete inscription process, and with his current level of strength, he could only accomplish it through a slow, time-consuming effort.

This just went to show how absurdly powerful a natural array constitution was.

Especially the palace within that grand celestial formation.

Time flew by, and soon it was morning. His phone was charging on the side, and just as the screen showed 9:33, it rang.

Jiang Zuo finally snapped out of his trance and saw that it was Su Qi calling.

As soon as the call connected, Su Qi asked nervously, "Where are you? I just remembered I forgot a few things! Are you stranded on the streets? Did anyone try to do anything to you?"

Jiang Zuo’s voice was completely devoid of emotion. "So, why did my naive self subconsciously trust you in the first place?"

"I was wrong! Besides, you know I have this problem."

"So it’s my fault, then?"

"That’s not what I mean, I’m just saying—"

"Don’t say it. It’s my fault. My mistake was being naive enough to actually believe you. No wonder the whole journey felt off. It’s all my fault for realizing it too late."

Jiang Zuo’s voice remained perfectly level, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

Su Qi was silent for a long time before she asked in a small voice, "Where are you? I’ll come get you."

"In the room you booked," said Jiang Zuo.

"Huh?" Su Qi was genuinely surprised. "You didn’t get lost?"

Jiang Zuo just laughed dryly in response.

"We’re coming to find you right now."

******

Su Qi hung up and said to Jingyue, "Senior Sister, you were wrong. Jiang Zuo already made it. See? My arrangements weren’t that bad. There’s always a sliver of hope."

Su Qi and Jingyue were walking unsteadily down the path, with Yue Xi following behind them.

Yue Xi had reverted to her normal form early in the morning. The moment she did, she regained her mobility and proceeded to show the two of them some "inhumanly cruel" loving care.

Which was why they couldn’t even walk straight.

Yue Xi sighed from behind them. ’Su Qi is too impulsive. The impact is too great, how could she possibly have seen nothing along the way? And if she’d run into some idiot who didn’t know any better, it could have been a fatal blow.

And that plane... Was that something a normal person should be riding?

She could only hope no major accidents had occurred.

As for any idiots who caused trouble, she’d deal with them directly after she finished investigating.’

Looking at the information Su Qi had sent, she knew there were far too many oversights.

Su Qi had been far too naive about the entire trip.

’Is this a side effect of pretending to be an ordinary person for too long?’