Two months later, a mud caked figure walked out of the forest and took the road heading towards the small town of dongji. 

Bai li yue passed by several fields where farmers laboured under the sun. They stared at her shocking appearance, but she couldn't bring herself to care. After months of constant battle against those damnable fiends, she was past caring about her appearance. 

During her time in the sect, she had forgotten her bitter feud with the savage beasts of the snake species. She had mistaken the ceasefire to be the end of the war. After being pursued to the edge of madness by several of them at different times, she knew that she'd wrong. The worst had been when she had been ambushed by two of them at the same time. She had narrowly made it out in one piece. 

Fortunately, she had come across a herd of black devil goats in the mountains and discovered their dung was an effective camouflage. The smell was so overpowering that smelling it caused a momentary loss of smell. Between being stylish and dying and stinking like a goat: she made the pragmatic decision. She'd mixed it with a bucket of river mud and smeared it over her hair and body. It earned her a period of reprieve from the constant pursuit. Over the long journey, she had lost count of the number of times she had smeared the dung on her skin. Her sense of smell was now non existent, but it was a small price to pay. 

At the town gates, she rubbed most of the dried mud and dung off her body and clothes and made her way into town with people giving her a wide berth. Didn't the same thing happen when she arrived in yangyang city? 

'Fortunately, nobody knows me here.'

She exhaled happily.

She finally found an inn after being sent away a couple of times for her appearance. The entrance of the weary traveller was filled with a group of well dressed old women who'd arrived together in a caravan. They threw her a few concerned looks but kept their thoughts to themselves. She waited patiently at the back until the front desk was clear.

'Greetings! How much is your most expensive room?'

She asked.

The manager's nauseated face changed into an ingratiating smile.

'Welcome, traveller. You've made the right decision-'

'Just tell me the price.'

'Two gold for a night, seven for a week and thirty for a month.'

'Here you go. I also need to take three baths immediately; if you can handle it.'

Bai li yue passed him gold equivalent to a night's stay and an extra coin. The extra gold was for the baths

'I'll see to it immediately, dear traveller.'

He nodded and called over one of the inn workers to give them thorough instructions.  

After a brief wait, Bai li yue was shown to her room where three wooden bath basins stood filled with hot water were waiting for her. She quickly scrubbed off the mud and grime on her body in the first bath before taking a more thorough bath in the second bath. The remaining mud in her hair fell off during the second bath. Finally, she was feeling more like herself. She sank into the third bath with a long sigh and stayed underwater in the hope that the heat would act on the smell. 

As the water grew cold an hour later, she stepped out of the wooden bath and dried herself. Her hair was a dripping tangled mess that hadn't felt a comb in more than a month. She sat near the open window while combing it. The smell from the black devil goat dung was no longer overpowering but a faint smell permeated the air around her. It would take a few more soakings to rid her body of the stench. If she wanted to be smell free as soon as possible, there had to be a shop she could visit, but she didn't know where to begin looking in such a small town. An apothecary or a beauty shop might be what she needed.

In the evening, she walked around the town and found a medium sized two storey restaurant with traffic. She sat at a small table on the ground floor and waited to order. A waiter brought over a cloth menu and served her fresh pot tea. 

'Fried Giant Catfish in vegetable sauce with rice and egg soup please.'

She said after a quick skim of the menu. He took her order and rushed off. She took a sip of the tea and grimaced. Her missing sense of smell was affecting her sense of taste; that or the tea was horrible. She exchanged the cup of tea for water instead. 

Her meal arrived a good while later. The plate of fish was still steaming when it was placed in front of her. She gulped down the nourishing soup to appease her growling stomach. She couldn't smell anything at the moment and her sense of taste was severely compromised, but she had travelled under threat of death, with no time to rest let alone cook outside a few moments of reprieve during which she munched on dried meat jerky. Now that she was in the civilised world, she planned to eat her fill. 

She was leaving the next day and didn't know the next time she'd have a proper meal. The next stop on her route was Guangyu city. She planned to stay there a couple of months before moving on. The capital was far away, but with any luck, she'd arrive there in time for the tournament.

The outer skin of the fried catfish was a crispy golden shell that cracked to reveal the white meat inside. The meat was soft, succulent and plentiful. It was a feast for her deprived stomach.

She slowly walked back from busy commercial street to her room at the inn. The view of the peaceful night sky through her window was one she savoured after months on the road. She spent the rest of the night in silent cultivation. 

The very next day, she continued her journey to Guangyu city. It was known as the hunting ground of the south, bordering the legendary forest that existed since the ancient forest. It stretched from the wei kingdom to the tang kingdom. On the Tang side of the forest was Guangyu city that had blossomed due to its proximity to the forest and the caravan road. The city had an abundance of skilled mercenaries and shops selling meat, hide, scales, horns, bones and various parts of savage beasts that roamed the forest depths. The secondary trade of the city was in medicinal herbs used by alchemists in the concoction of cultivation pills and elixirs. 

The journey was relatively easy this time thanks to the miracle that was black devil goat dung. There were no gates around the city and travellers were welcome to go and come as they pleased. Bai li yue was impressed by the different atmosphere. Where Yangyang city was a normal city, Guangyu city resembled a trade outpost. The link to the forest shined through all aspects of the city from the people to the buildings. Her appearance and the smell emanating from the dried dung didn't seem out of place here among mercenaries returning from missions covered in dried blood or something similar. 

She looked for a place to sell the beast cores and other parts she'd harvested from all the snakes she'd killed: from the first savage beast to the present. She saw a treasure pavilion and remembered seeing one in Yangyang city. She stepped inside. The store attendant let out a loud sneeze when the smell wafting from her clothes hit him. He cursed himself for his sensitive nose. Bai li yue didn't bring up the issue of the constant sneezing since she was to blame after all. To the attendant's credit, he maintained his professional demeanor while she inquired about selling beast cores. 

'You have beast cores to sell? Please show me your badge.'

'What badge? I simply want to sell beast cores. Do i need a badge to do business with you?'

'Ah i see, Miss, you must be new in the city. Only mercenaries registered with the guild can sell parts of savage beasts to the shops in the city. It's a policy to foster relations between merchants with the guild.'

'So i can't sell them without a badge?'

'You can always find someone who is willing to buy them but the price will not be fair to you. If you register with the mercenary guild, you'll receive a badge with which you can use to freely sell your wares.' 

He explained the procedure to her in a clear manner. This wasn't his first time explaining the policy to newcomers. They always found it weird but he could only smile back; he didn't make the rules.