Ling Tian found Lian Qiu eating delicious food on the lower floor so he sat on the table beside him. Lian Qiu noticed him as he greeted with a smile, "Good morning, I hope you made some advancement in cultivation! By the way Brother Ling, these foods are good but not comparable to your cooking so maybe cook us a meal later..."
Ling Tian nodded matter of factly, "Of course they are not! How dare you compare them? In any case, I have some questions that may seem stupid but please ignore that and answer."
Lian Qiu nodded and gestured for him to continue as he enjoyed his food.
"Tell me everything you know about the Devil Empire..."
"Hmm, let me see... Okay! The Devil Empire is a vast piece of land that stretches for over a quarter of the Profound land, it spans over hundreds of thousands of miles. The Qi there is corrupted and Dark. The creatures that live there are evil and must be slain before they kill innocents.
The Devil Empire is home to Demons, Ghosts, Demonic beasts, and Devils. Demons, you have seen one already; they are species that are especially known for their horns as that is the trademark of a demon but there are demons without horns so we identify them by their Qi which is dark and fiery.
Demons who are weak are those that are comparable to HouTian Cultivators; They are known as Lesser Demons and are generally shorter than humans, subspecies that appear are Goblins, Imps, and more...
Demons that are comparable to XianTian cultivators are as tall as humans and sometimes they grow to be even 10 meters tall! These are known as simply Earthern Demons, most of the demonic population are at this level.
Demons that can rival an Inner Heaven realm cultivator are classified as Heavenly Demons. They are very big and unlike the previous ones have intelligence comparable to human adults. They range from dozens of meters tall to a hundred meters tall based on their overall power. However, all demons can morph into smaller shapes, it's their true form that is of such size.
What you saw yesterday was a Greater Demon, those are very powerful and can range from 2-3 hundred meters to a mile tall. They are comparable to Heavenly Awakening Realm Cultivators and are very intelligent despite their appearance. Brother Ling, remember, there are many different types of Demons and these are the most generic ones. There are exceptions everywhere when it comes to Demons, there are many massive libraries dictated to their study so what I am telling you is merely common sense and the basic things...
A Demon king can become as big as a large mountain and their kind is very rare, strong as Divine Awakening Cultivators, they can lay waste to cities and entire kingdoms easily. They have human forms and are said to look very charming and attractive to humans...
A Demon Emperor is the equivalent of an immortal ascension Cultivator. There is only a handful of them in the entire Profound Land. They rule the entire Demons and nothing much about them is known.
Ghosts are the spirit of the dead that refuse to reincarnate so they linger on and eventually get corrupted by the Dark Qi of the world. They feed on the Vitality and Yin energy of humans so that they can cultivate. Ghosts are ranked as such similar to Demons; Lesser Ghosts, Earthern Ghosts, Heavenly Ghosts, Greater Ghosts, Ghost Kings, and Ghost Emperors. They have cold dark Qi.
Demonic beasts are ranked in 6 tiers; each tier for a cultivation level. A tier 6 is comparable to an immortal ascension Cultivator. These have chaotic dark Qi. They are beasts with Qi cultivation that have been corrupted by dark Qi. Their meat is not corrupted so they are hunted for food since their meat is infused with ordinary Qi and is useful for cultivation.
As for Devils... As you know, there are two paths for us. The Path of Celestials and Devils. We follow the celestial path but there are cultivators who follow the devil way. The details of how these paths came to be are unknown but it is said that Cultivation at the ends makes one either a Celestial or a Devil.
Devil is a term referred to cultivators following the devil way, they have pure dark Qi and are extremely evil. These cultivators may look like humans but they are not humans, their deeds are simply too heinous to be humans. They dominate that land and the one Emperor that rules that land is from them so it is called the Devil Empire ruled by a Devil Emperor. The Devil Emperor is said to be unmatched... Devils are ranked like demons, just replace the word Demon with Devil."
He said with patience and drank a little wine that overflowed with Qi which was served earlier. Ling Tain nodded as he memorized the information and asked, "How do various grades of Spirit stone look like? Also, having how much makes one super-wealthy?"
Lian Qiu pondered a little and answered, "Low-grade ones are white, Mid-grade ones are green, High-grade ones are azure as you have seen, Top-grade ones are purple. They all have the same crystallized shape as the ones you got, their color is different. The difference in color is due to the concentration of Qi. A high-grade one has enough Qi for me to cultivate for a few months and even breakthrough to the mid-inner heaven realm. Top-grade ones are extremely rare but if we count with them, having a few dozen Top-grade spirit stones makes you as rich as cultivation families with long histories; so yeah a few dozen makes one super-wealthy!"
Hearing his explanation made Ling Tian realize something, 'Why did consuming so many high-grade ones only let me gather Qi for such a simple breakthrough? Don't tell me because my cultivation technique is a Celestial grade one, it needs an insane amount of Qi thus points?! It makes sense since I don't really feel an end to my Qi and my battle power is much higher than my level...'
"What is Dark Qi?" asked Ling Tian after a while. Lian Qiu frowned, "I am not sure either, it is simply a mysterious form of Qi that appears in places that evil things happen. It is said that the Devil Empire's land experienced a grueling massacre in ancient times so it is filled with Dark Qi."
Ling Tian nodded and waved at a nearby waitress, "Can I have whatever he is having?" he pointed at Lian Qiu's food. The waitress nodded and left. He asked again, "So, tell me, on the way you said you are not looking forward to entering the Xuan empire why?"
Lian Qiu said with disdain, "The Xuan Empire is a backwater place. Their strongest cultivator is a mere old Heavenly awakening realm one. In this city, there should be at least a few dozen such cultivators... The Xuan empire is just a small vassal of us, the Dao Empire. Their only special thing was perhaps its emperor being an inner disciple of the Heavenly Moon sect, I heard the emperor passed away recently, being poisoned by his son. What a cruel fate... How can someone poison their own father?! At least he was captured and killed for his crime..."
Ling Tian's interest was peaked, 'So that is the lie they told the people, I knew that you can't kill a crown prince so easily... What is strange is that all the palace and high officials were at the side of the Empress... I will investigate later when I reach the Heavenly Awakening realm. Heavenly Moon sect, huh?'
"I have never heard of this sect before, what is so special about it?" he asked as his order arrived and he drank a little wine.
Lian Qiu grew excited as he said, "The Heavenly Moon sect is a sect that has 72 branches on all the 72 moons! Its main branch is said to be on the Blue Dream immortal realm, its headquarters is at the center of the profound land. All members of the younger generation dream to go there and become a member, me being no exception. It is even said that the Core disciples get a chance to go to the immortal realm's main branch, what a great opportunity, right?!"
Ling Tian smiled as he ate the food, 'Why did they remain silent as their inner disciple was killed? Maybe they believed the lie and didn't interfere in the family business but that can't be! As I hear, they must be the mightiest sect in this entire world; They must have some capabilities, the empress perhaps did something to convince them? This needs to be investigated as well since they know my identity and clashing with them can be problematic. If they believe the lie then I killed their inner disciple in their eyes so they will hunt me!'
He asked, "Brother Lian, Why doesn't this sect take care of the Devil Empire?!" Lian Qiu's answered with a little anger, "I have heard they don't care about the matters of mortal realms like ours. They are only interested in finding talented people and sending them to their main branch... We could all be slaughtered by the devils and they wouldn't care..."
Ling Tian said, "It's fine, I am curious though, has there never been a war between the Dao Empire and Devil Empire?"
Lian Qiu looked at Ling Tian as if he was an idiot, "Of course there were wars; Our Dao Empire, however, united with other great Empires for we alone were no match against them. The Dao Empire, The Yuan Empire, The Holy Empire, and the Tian Empire are all equal in power; They united a few times to face the Devil Empire, and even then, it was a mere draw which caused the two parties to sign a truce and stay away from each other. The war was said to be so disastrous that the skies collapsed and the mountains crumbled, it happened supposedly a few thousand years ago but even now there are occasional after effects! Since you are interested in the Xuan empire, here is A fun fact, there is a famous and influential cultivation family in the Yuan Empire that has the same surname as the dead emperor of the Xuan Empire, some say he had left his family due to personal reasons... Their surname is Xuanyuan."
'This is getting complex, so many rumors and such; Also, there is the mysterious mother of Wenhao who left after he was born, I faintly recall in what I remember from the memories that the father had once said she was out of his league so she left him, telling him that she would one day return for her child. Since I have this body, people who recognize this face will see me as Xuanyuan Wenhao so I must know everything there is to know, the situation is very complex... I feel a foreboding feeling, I need all the power I can get! It's like a can of worms ready to explode!' he thought as he finished his food.
He took out a high-grade Spirit stone and waved at the waiter, "Here, how much should I pay?" The Inn turned dead silent, he noticed that everyone was looking at the Spirit stone in his hand. He was holding a very high amount of wealth in his hand after all! Not everyone possessed high-grade spirit stones and those who did never showed it like that.
Lian Qiu facepalmed. Ling Tian smiled sheepishly and put it back with an unsure smile. 'Sh*t! I was so in thought, I didn't think what I was doing! It seems I need to escape again... I hope this doesn't become a frequent thing... I forgot to ask about Dao Empire's details but it's best if I research those myself since asking might be super suspicious, I am supposed to be from here! Let's leave...'
He calmly stood up and gripped Lian Qiu's arm and began running away. Lian Qiu wanted to bash his head on the floor as he followed behind him. Lian Qiu had at least left a couple of spirit stones as their payment before he was dragged away by his strange friend...