Chapter 1958 - 1542: Southern Border People and Gu Are Forbidden from Entering the City!

At this moment, Shi Wujue finally understood why, for generations, his ancestors had never been able to find that legendary Key!

The Northern Mongolian Land, and everything related to that Key, all seemed to be things that simply could not be touched!

Just like that No Return Path, just like Ta You’s Star Innate Tower, and just like this Smelting City right in front of them!

"Do I look like someone who acts recklessly? I’m a patient right now, you know! I do have the basic self-awareness required of a patient!" Gu Changsheng rolled her eyes the instant she heard Shi Wujue’s words, speaking with no small amount of disdain.

Well, okay, she did actually want to mess around; she was indeed drooling a bit over this Smelting City. But this city looked... suspiciously mystical!

Just standing beneath the city, Gu Changsheng could already feel a certain pressure.

That sense of oppression made Gu Changsheng not dare to act rashly!

Gu Changsheng trusted her own instincts; coupled with Shi Wujue’s repeated warnings, she naturally wouldn’t fool around.

A grand formation built with the metal aspect of the Five Elements, using an entire city as its array!

No wonder Smelting City could flourish endlessly. A city founded on mining and smelting—of course its metal attribute would be off the charts!

"We can’t afford to be careless. This city is anything but ordinary." Zhou Mu lifted his head, seeing the little woman on horseback looking totally nonchalant, and couldn’t help but remind her again.

"Alright, alright, I know what I’m doing, I won’t cause trouble!"

After being nagged by Shi Wujue and then nagged again by her own evildoer, Gu Changsheng’s expression immediately became bright and spirited!

Like, what, does she have a face that screams "reckless troublemaker"?

She looked so proper, behaved so well, didn’t have even the slightest bit of "disaster in the making" potential, okay?

Did they really both have to guard against her like this?

Seriously, utterly incomprehensible!

Thinking so, Gu Changsheng patted the Witch Gu Horse beneath her and headed toward the City Gate where a scattering of people were passing through.

The walls of Smelting City rose several zhang high, looking extremely imposing and domineering. By now the sun had already dipped behind the Western Mountain, the light had grown dim, and with the surrounding mountains blocking what little remained, the City Gate carried a nameless oppressive air. Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were about to enter Fengdu City!

However, Smelting City seemed to know that its own appearance was dark and gloomy, a bit too much like Fengdu City. So at nightfall, two large lanterns had long since been hung high above the City Gate!

That’s right—lanterns!

To distinguish itself from Fengdu City, the place where the dead were said to go, Smelting City naturally wouldn’t hang white lanterns!

It hung two huge red lanterns!

The moment Gu Changsheng saw those two big red lanterns, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing purely on instinct!

"Whoever suggested hanging red lanterns in Smelting City must be quite the character! Look at this—on such a dark, windy night, if you added a few more flowers to go with those big red lanterns hanging high, this would totally pass for a scene of ’flowers before the moon’!" Gu Changsheng dismounted from the Witch Gu Horse, pointed up at the two big red lanterns on the City Gate, and couldn’t resist cracking a joke.

Those two big red lanterns were honestly way too eye-catching!

They grabbed attention a full ten out of ten!

"Look further down," Zhou Mu said, standing beside Gu Changsheng. He acted as though he hadn’t heard his little woman’s words at all; his gaze stayed on one side of the City Gate, his brows faintly furrowed...

"Further down? Look at what? Look at..." Gu Changsheng, hearing this, immediately lowered her gaze, and then...

Then Gu Changsheng froze...

Shi Wujue, Yuan Bao, and Black Man Duo Shu also followed Gu Changsheng’s line of sight, and when they saw what Zhou Mu was pointing at, they were likewise briefly stunned!

"This... what’s written on this City Gate warning plaque? Did I read that wrong?" It was quite a while before Gu Changsheng snapped out of her shock, speaking through slightly gritted teeth.

There, beneath the two big red lanterns flanking the Smelting City’s City Gate, stood two Stele Stones cast from copper and iron, brazenly planted in place. And carved on both Stele Stones was the exact same line of words, outlined in bright red lacquer, crystal clear so that no one could possibly miss it!

"Southern Border People and Gu are forbidden to enter!"

On Yuan Bao’s round, jade-like face, the corner of his mouth twitched hard before he cautiously spoke.

Divine Mount Qilian welcomes guests from all over the continent, and as if afraid people might not understand, each warning plaque had that line marked in all the languages of the various races!

And they all said the exact same thing, with emphasis turned up to eleven!

"Smack!"

A palm landed squarely on Yuan Bao’s forehead. Gu Changsheng ground her teeth, her face full of resentment. "Of course I know what it says: ’Southern Border People and Gu are forbidden to enter!’"

"But why? Why is that?"

Damn it, Smelting City doing this is really kinda shady!

Southern Border People and Gu aren’t allowed in—this is straight-up regional discrimination, racial discrimination, okay!

What’s wrong with Southern Border People? What’s wrong with Gu insects?

And Gu Changsheng, just her luck, she’s got both of those tags on her!

Even though, deep in Gu Changsheng’s soul, she firmly believes she’s a proper, authentic Han People with zero doubt, the problem is, she can’t change the fact that the dad of this body is from the Bashu Witch Tribe, and the mom of this body is from the Southern Border Gu Clan!

So she’s a dyed‑in‑the‑wool Southern Border person, and on top of that, there’s a Dandan Bug living between her brows, the kind you can’t dig out even if you tried!

Awkward much?

She’s already made it to Divine Mount Qilian, and now she’s gonna get stopped by this Smelting City and can’t go deep into the Divine Mountain? Then how the hell is she supposed to find the Divine Weapon Forging Tower!

Right now Gu Changsheng honestly feels like cursing someone’s mom!

"Young Master already said, this bunch of people must’ve crawled out from some godforsaken backwater, a bunch of country bumpkins, don’t even know the rules of Smelting City!"

When life’s screwing you over, even cold water can chip your teeth. Just as Gu Changsheng was grinding hers in her heart, an unfriendly voice sounded behind them.

The one who spoke was none other than Jin Luoyi, the guy Gu Changsheng and her group had bumped into once at the foot of the mountain!

Back at the foot, Jin Luoyi had been scared stiff by Zhou Mu’s cold shout, which already felt humiliating to him. Now, seeing this whole group he couldn’t stand from the start actually end up ahead of them, the resentment churning in Jin Luoyi’s chest was off the charts. He glared hard at Gu Changsheng and the others, then spoke with a face full of disdain.

"We’re the country bumpkins from some godforsaken corner, we don’t know the rules, and you do?" Gu Changsheng turned around as soon as she heard that, looking at Jin Luoyi with a downright hostile gaze.

At the mountain foot, Gu Changsheng’s group had had their backs to Jin Luoyi the whole time. Other than Yuan Bao, no one had even bothered to glance his way. Now that Gu Changsheng turned around, and he got a full view of that face smeared pitch‑black, the disgust on Jin Luoyi’s face instantly deepened.

Ugly!

Judging from her figure and back view, this woman should’ve been some peerless beauty. In fact, back at the mountain foot, Jin Luoyi had only thought of swaggering over to chat her up because he’d noticed Gu Changsheng’s posture was pretty elegant. In the end he’d just asked for a snub. Now, seeing what Gu Changsheng really looked like, Jin Luoyi suddenly felt that it was a damn good thing he’d ended up trading barbs with them instead. Looking at that face, Jin Luoyi honestly felt completely disillusioned!

Yuan Bao and Black Man Duo Shu totally shared the look on Jin Luoyi’s face!

Heaven knows, when his own lady and lord stepped out of the carriage and all turned into these black‑faced creatures, Yuan Bao’s heart had also screamed in protest!

Ugly!

It was a whole new level of ugly!

Yuan Bao had seen countless people try to beautify themselves, but he’d never seen anyone blacken themselves like this!

Even Yuan Bao, looking at his own lady, lord, and Shi Wujue’s blackened faces, almost puked up yesterday’s dinner. He really, really wanted to remind his lady: being beautiful is eye‑catching, sure, but being this ugly is also very eye‑catching, okay? Just like right now—judging from the way Jin Luoyi is staring, he’s probably going to etch their glorious faces into his memory forever!

But Yuan Bao figured, even if he said something, his lady might not listen anyway, so he’d better shut up and keep the peace!

"What? You don’t know either? If you don’t know, what are you pretending to be all high and mighty for? Talking like you’re some well‑informed expert!" Seeing Jin Luoyi looking like he’d seen a Ghost and still not answering her, Gu Changsheng’s face got even darker...

Cough cough... honestly, her face was already as black as the bottom of a pot; it couldn’t get any darker!

"Who says I don’t know? Of course I know!" Jin Luoyi was obviously the kind who can’t handle a little reverse‑psychology. Hearing Gu Changsheng’s words, he glared at her with a proud look on his face.

In his heart: This ugly woman actually dares to look down on me—unforgivable!

"So what do you know?" Gu Changsheng blinked. Right now she desperately wanted to know the reason she was being shut out!

"Young Master naturally knows why Smelting City forbids Southern Border People and Gu from entering! Hmph!" Jin Luoyi snorted and refused to look at Gu Changsheng again, afraid that if he stared too long his sense of aesthetics might get warped. Chin tilted in arrogance, he said, "People like you lot, crawling out of some small‑time family, dreaming of snagging a Divine Weapon in Divine Mount Qilian and becoming famous overnight, obviously don’t know these secrets. Only noble families like Young Master’s, with generations deep in the Itinerant World, have them recorded!"

"Supposedly, hundreds of years ago, when Smelting City was holding its annual metallurgy competition, something went down. By the rules, the First Divine Weapon was supposed to be stored inside the Divine Weapon Forging Tower, waiting for its destined owner. But when the competition ended, that weapon was snatched by a woman from the Southern Border. They say she was from the Southern Border Royal Family, and with a few Gu insects, she steamrolled the metallurgy competition and stole that First Divine Weapon!"

"Smelting City was thrown into chaos, and they ended up forming a bitter grudge against the Southern Border People. That’s how this rule got set: Southern Border People and Gu are not allowed in the city!"

Jin Luoyi finished, lifting his head even higher in smugness.

Gu Changsheng couldn’t help twitching the corner of her mouth when she heard that.

Divine Weapon?

The Southern Border is entirely under Gu Changsheng’s control. As Lord of the Southern Border, she knows the region’s assets better than anyone!

Southern Border people are good at Witch gu, but when it comes to the martial arts of the Central Plains, they haven’t dabbled much, let alone wielding actual weapons!

And as for what kind of Divine Weapons the Southern Border Royal Family can put on the table... Gu Changsheng couldn’t help touching her own wrist, her pitch‑black little face shifting through a whole storm of expressions...

"So, uh... in that particular metallurgy competition, the First Divine Weapon that Southern Border woman stole—what was it?"

It can’t be what she’s thinking, right? It really shouldn’t be what she’s thinking, right?