Chapter 1335: Dao of Space, Large Success Realm
As time continued to pass and the Star Shattering Sect kept increasing the number of outposts inside the chaotic region of the former Sky Empire to control as many resources as possible with their current limited number of Domain Lord Realm cultivators, half a year passed since Xuan Hao had returned to the sect after his time in the mystic realm together with Mui.
It was at this moment that Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes inside his cultivation room with a happy expression on his face.
Finally, I managed to break through to the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Space!
Thinking this to himself as he continued smiling to himself, Xuan Hao could not help feeling overjoyed, as he had finally managed to break through to the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Space.
Although he had expected to easily reach the Large Success Realm after he had managed to reach the Peak of the Small Success Realm back inside the mystic realm, he was met with the harsh reality after he began trying to breakthrough after returned to the sect. In the end, it took him a half year to cross the barrier and officially step into the Late Stage of the Dao of Space.
Even then, Xuan Hao wasn't too mad about it, as he clearly felt the terrifying control of space he had managed to gain after breaking through to the Large Success Realm.
At this point in time, his speed when using the drifting cloud steps had more than doubled with him reaching the Large Success realm in the Dao of Space.
Not just that, but his usage of any technique related to the Dao of Space had become far easier, while at the same time making the techniques in question stronger.
Even though he was still quite far away from reaching the Perfection Realm, he had at least taken one step closer to his goal. All he needed was time, something that he would have in abundance as long as the current stalemate between the Blue Sea Empire and the demonic cultivators continued and it didn't end up in a similar situation as the neighboring major powers where battles between Demon Kings and Celestial Immortals had become commonplace.
At least in that regard, through communicating with Xuan Gui over the past few months, he had managed to learn that the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wasteland intend to focus their efforts on attacking other major powers instead of the Blue Sea Empire after the failure to kill one of their Celestial Immortals.
According to her, the Star Shattering Sect and surrounding kingdoms and smaller empires didn't have much to worry about in regard to the situation escalating to the level where Demon King Realm demonic cultivators would get involved.
Of course, given her understandable hatred towards the Blue Sea Empire, she wasn't too eager about the attack towards the Blue Sea Empire ending up as a failure, thus she did share with him that she was planning to personally act when the situation calmed down a bit and the Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestors left.
The reason for informing him about something like this was rather simple, as she hoped he would be able to lend a hand when the time came and help her in getting to the Blue Sea Empire.
As for what she planned on doing after reaching the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao decided not to ask, as it didn't really matter much to him outside of knowing that whatever she planned on doing would end up causing chaos inside the Blue Sea Empire and potentially weaken them.
Given that he had spent some time looking into her past from what little bit of information he could come by with the help of Elder Dust Fairy, he had confirmed that she was different from other demonic cultivators he had encountered and didn't seem to have done any kind of senseless slaughter nor was she anything like what the Blue Sea Empire's general information portrayed her.
With all of that in mind, Xuan Hao didn't feel anything against lending her a hand in getting into the Blue Sea Empire in the future. If his judgement turned out to be wrong about her and she started senselessly slaughtering people inside the Blue Sea Empire, he could only blame himself.
Now that I think about it, I will have to start trying to figure out how to help her get inside the Blue Sea Empire. After all, with their increased attention to their borders due to the surge in demonic cultivators, it will be far harder than normal to sneak inside. Especially considering that there could be Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators secretly guarding the place.
Frowning slightly as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao could only shake his head slightly at the thought of trying to get into the Blue Sea Empire while they were fully mobilized and trying their best to prevent any demonic cultivator from entering their empire.
Ah! Maybe I can try using the long-distance teleportation to get us inside? Although it will be discovered, it should give Xuan Gui enough time to find somewhere to hide before the people from the Blue Sea Empire show up. Not to mention, I should also be able to get out without any problems as long as there isn't someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm who at least comprehended the Dao of Space to the Large Success Realm…
Remembering the long distance teleportation that he had mostly set off on learning to focus his attention on comprehending the Dao of Space or other Daos instead, Xuan Hao had a feeling that it might be time for him to learn.
Even though it would end up taking time away from comprehending the Dao of Space or other Daos, it would help in getting Xuan Gui safely into the Blue Sea Empire where she would be able to cause chaos for the Blue Sea Empire.
In turn, it would give the Star Shattering Sect more time to grow and would likely also pull any powerful cultivators from the Blue Sea Empire away. Giving the sect a chance to possibly expand into the adjacent empires that had been left alone due to the presence of the Blue Sea Empire.
Of course, there would still be people from the Blue Sea Empire around, but things should work out as long as the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect was done slowly without them noticing as their main focus would be on the Frozen Wasteland.
In case the sect's actions were discovered, it would be relatively easy to blame it on a fight for resources between smaller powers. Although, this kind of excuse couldn't be used forever…
Seems like the future plans for the sect expansion is set, all I have to do now is lean the long distance teleportation technique and wait for the Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestors from the Blue Sea Empire to leave.
Learning the long distance teleportation technique shouldn't take more than a month or two, but for the Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestors to leave… It will at least take a few years…
Turning to look off in the direction of the Onyx Empire where the two Ancestors of the Blue Sea Empire spent most of their time, Xuan Hao couldn't help letting out a sigh as he thought about how long it would take before those two felt the border was safe enough for them to leave.
Even if it was understandable considering what had just happened not long ago and what was happening at the borders of the other major powers close to the Frozen Wasteland, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit impatient when he thought about this.
Although it was a good thing for him that he would have a few years where he could focus his full attention on comprehending the dao and continue growing stronger without any interruptions, he was ultimately not fully adjusted to spending long periods of time solely focused on comprehending the dao and partly wanted to leave the sect and go back to the mystic realm to continue exploring the place and search for the remaining celestial gates.
In the end, he even began feeling a bit jealous of Chu Yang, who had still not returned to the sect after close to half a year exploring the world on his own.
The only thing he knew about his location from the soul mark he had left on him for safety was the fact that he should be somewhere inside the large neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire.
Considering that demonic cultivators were still far away from that place and there weren't any major powers governing the place, it could be considered a great location to train for Chu Yang, though he did worry a bit about his disciple's strength, as there was no lack of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators in that region. Even encountering someone in the Dao Seed Realm wasn't out of the question!
But… Considering he had been doing fine so far, Xuan Hao decided not to do anything, as he instead closed his eyes and began the process of learning the long distance teleportation technique.
Chapter 1336: Chu Yang, Edge of the Core Region
At the same time that Xuan Hao got started on learning the long distance teleportation technique, Chu Yang arrived at the edge of the core region after closer to half a year spent travelling through the chaotic territory of the former Sky Empire.
Although this journey hadn't really put him in any real danger due to the people at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm or above either being focused on either holding down an important location filled with cultivation resources or had already left the chaotic territory to assist their own empires in dealing with the recent influx of demonic cultivators, Chu Yang still managed to fight a few Domain Lord Realm cultivators along the way. Allowing him to grow more familiar with his strength in the Domain Lord Realm, while also understanding his own limitations.
The limitations in question being the Sixth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, as the two people in the Sixth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm that he had encountered so far had been far too strong for him to fight against. Having forced him to retreat after fighting them as long as possible to hone his own strength through fighting.
At least, that was his limitations back when he had run into those Sixth Stage Domain Lord Realm cultivators, but since then, he had broken through to the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm. Giving him more confidence in being able to face off against someone who could be considered at the Peak of the Middle Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
Though… Fighting them equally for a longer period of time should be the limit. Killing someone at the Sixth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm was not something he believed he would have the strength to do before he managed to break through to the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
Luckily, the fights he had during his journey were extremely helpful to his cultivation and he felt himself getting closer to the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm as his insights into the Dao of the Spear deepened.
At the same time, as he began killing off a few of the weaker Domain Lord Realm cultivators that he encountered on his journey through the chaotic territory of the former Sky Empire, the Devil Immortal Jade that had remained dormant inside his dantian without showing any signs of movement as it assisted him in his cultivation, began to show signs of life, as it directly absorbed some of the blood of the Domain Lord Ream cultivators he killed.
At first, he thought that this was some kind of demonic technique and wanted to contact his master for help, but after observing the jade inside his dantian while it absorbed the blood, he discovered that it didn't actually absorb the blood, but instead gathered it together and compressed it into a small drop of blood that floated around the devil immortal jade.
But most importantly, observing this drop of blood, Chu Yang discovered that he could actually comprehend the Dao of blood from it.
Unfortunately, soon after this discovery, the drop of blood seemingly evaporated into thin air.
It was at that moment Chu Yang realized another use for the devil immortal jade that wasn't increasing his cultivation speed, it helped him comprehend the Dao of Blood.
As for the Dao of Blood being more of a demonic dao, Chu Yang didn't really care about this, as it didn't take him long to realize that the Dao of Blood was well suited for his Dao of the Spear. Allowing him to enhance the strength of his spear in battle even though he had just barely started the process of comprehending the Dao of Blood.
Of course, the realization that killing Domain Lord Realm cultivator would allow him to more easily comprehend the Dao of Blood gave Chu Yang a far more intimate understanding of why demonic cultivators did what they did. Especially given that he learnt how to control the blood absorption ability after a few days of it activating.
Though it only increased his comprehension into the Dao of blood, Chu Yang couldn't lie to himself that he did indeed feel tempted to go out and hunt down a few Domain Lord Realm cultivators to rapidly increase his comprehension of the Dao of Blood with the help of the devil immortal jade.
But after sitting down to calm himself for a few days, he managed to free himself from the dangerous thoughts that could very well end up with him becoming a demonic cultivator, something that was far more dangerous now compared to the past…
Although the blood absorption method of the devil immortal jade wasn't a demonic one from what he had managed to observe, it could very well turn into one if he started abusing it against any random Domain Lord Realm cultivator he ran into.
So, with that in mind, Chu Yang decided to just go on like he had been planning on originally planned before learning about the blood absorption ability of the devil immortal jade. Only using the blood absorption on the Domain Lord Realm cultivators, he ran into normally and ended up killing in the process. Stopping himself from seeking out Domain Lord Realm cultivators for the purpose of absorbing their blood…
"I never expected it to take so long to reach the core region even after reaching the Domain Lord Realm. Almost taking me half a year… And that is not mentioning the fact that my speed is far above that of a normal Domain Lord Realm cultivator." Muttering this to himself as he thought about what he had gone through during the past half year and the blood absorption ability of the devil immortal jade, Chu Yang looked towards the direction of a massive city in the distance.
From what he had managed to learn from talking to other Domain Lord Realm cultivators and a few knowledgeable Nascent Soul Realm cultivators along his journey through the chaotic region of the former Sky Empire, the massive city could be considered a small city that was part of a neutral power that existed in the neutral region between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire.
Knowing a bit about this neutral region from his master and some of the cultivators he had encountered along the way, Chu Yang guessed that the power behind the massive city in the distance should at least be someone in the Soul Ascension Realm.
But this wasn't the most important thing about the city. Instead, it was the fact that it contained a safe path into the core region!
After all, even though he could be considered to have reached the core region of the continent at the moment, he was in fact still at the edge of the core region and couldn't really be considered to have entered the core region yet.
To do that, he would first have to pass through a dangerous mountain range that separated the border of the former Sky Empire from the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire… And the only way to safely do that with his current strength was to find a way to safely pass through the mountain range without disturbing any of the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts rumored to be inhabiting the mountain range, a way that could be obtained inside the city in distance.
As for trying to move through the Blue Sea Empire to reach the neutral territory? He didn't have a death wish!
Although the Blue Sea Empire wouldn't bother stopping someone in the Domain Lord Realm like himself from entering their empire, his safety was none of their concern and most of the Blue Sea Empire's border region was filled with all sorts of dangers far surpassing those that could be found in the mountain range he was planning to pass through.
In a sense, this could also be considered a deliberate barrier created by the Blue Sea Empire to prevent any weak cultivators from entering the territory without putting in too much effort. Allowing nature to take its course, as they focused on any stronger cultivators trying to enter their territory.
"For now, I should first enter the city and learn about the situation before starting to ask around about the path through the mountain range…" Muttering this to himself as he threw the thoughts of the Blue Sea Empire to the back of his mind, Chu Yang didn't waste any more time staring off in the direction of the massive city in the distance, as he jumped into the air and flew in the direction of the massive city.
Given what he had learnt about the neutral territory between two of the major powers of the core region and the different opportunities that could be found there, he wanted to go through the mountain range as fast as possible. Feeling eager to find out how fast his strength would grow after he truly stepped foot in the core region of the continent.
Chapter 1337: Eccentric Merchant
Moving towards the massive city in the distance with the goal of finding a way to safely traverse the mountain range and enter the large neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire, Chu Yang didn't dare to be careless, as he landed on the ground and travelled on foot instead of flying like he had been doing so far.
The reason being that he didn't want to stand out when entering the city, as he understood from past Domain Lord Realm cultivators he had encountered, that someone at his age reaching the Domain Lord Realm was something unheard of to them and might not just draw the attention of the powerful figures inside the border city, but also had the chance of drawing the attention of the more powerful Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire who were still constantly monitoring the situation inside the neutral territory.
Although attention might be a good thing in some circumstances, Chu Yang understood full well that it wouldn't be a good thing for him to draw attention from massive powers like the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire.
After all, even if they might try and approach him with good intentions, planning to recruit him into their empire, there was also a chance they would try and kill him if they suspected he might have already allied or was planning to ally with their opponent.
With that in mind, Chu Yang intended to try and hide his cultivation realm, but considering that it would be difficult to do so in front of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, he had also come up with another disguise… And that was to fake his own age. Making himself look a bit older than he actually was, as he looked far too young for someone in the Domain Lord Realm at the moment.
Not that those who reached the Domain Lord Realm couldn't make themselves look younger, but it was just difficult to make oneself look below a certain age, something that only became harder the older one got.
In turn, this was also the main reason why most cultivators at the Domain Lord Realm or above looked to be at least in their thirties or older.
Only a few cultivators obsessed with their appearance or prominent alchemists who had the ability to refine beauty pills would normally look younger than thirty.
Of course, the exception to this was that the cultivator was a genius who had managed to break through to the Domain Lord Realm at a young age. Allowing the cultivator in question to retain a youthful appearance for a longer period of time.
"But… Even if I try to disguise my appearance, it will at most avoid my age being noticed when someone casually sweeps over me with their divine sense. If someone focuses their attention, it won't take long to pick up the flaws in the disguise…" Muttering this to himself as he looked at his new appearance through a simple water mirror, he had casual created in front of himself, Chu Yang could not help feeling a bit nervous as he saw the middle-aged man that appeared in the water mirror.
Outside of not accidentally offending any powerful cultivators who might be residing inside the city, Chu Yang also wanted to go on foot so he would avoid getting inspected by the divine sense of those in the Domain Lord Realm and above inside the city. Understanding that if something like that happened, his little disguise would almost instantly get seen through.
So, with a somewhat nervous expression on his face, Chu Yang dispelled the water mirror in front of him before starting to make his way towards the city in the distance.
Before long, he soon found himself walking on a large road leading directly up to the city. During which he encountered quite a few other cultivators who were similarly making their way towards the city, though, all of them were either in the Nascent Soul Realm or below. Most of them being in the Core Formation Realm or the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Those in the Domain Lord Realm and above clearly didn't bother walking on the ground and would instead just fly directly into the city itself…
During the trip to the city that would now take half a day to complete on foot, Chu Yang ended up running into a rather eccentric merchant who happily allowed him to join the caravan he was part of before he began eagerly talking about himself before noticing how Chu Yang had close to no knowledge about the city they were heading towards.
"Your first time visiting the Demon Mountain City?" With that in mind, it didn't take long for the chatty merchant to ask him about it.
"Yes." Nodding his head in response, Chu Yang didn't intend to pretend he had been to the city before. Especially considering that the chatty merchant seemed to know a lot about the city that was called the Demon Mountain City according to what the merchant had told him, and Chu Yang wanted to learn more about the city before entering it if possible."
"Hehe, there are countless Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and no lack of Domain Lord Realm cultivators. Even those mythical figures at the Soul Ascension Realm sometimes appear! I'm sure you will be surprised when we get there! Smiling knowingly as he said this, the merchant paused for a second. "But I have to warn you, those powerful cultivators are not easy to get along with, better to stay away from the central part of the city if you ask me. Outside of that, you also have to…"
And not second later, Chu Yang suddenly found himself being lectured by the merchant about the dangers of interacting with powerful cultivators and what to do in case he ended up finding himself faced with one.
All things considered, the merchant was only at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm and he himself only appeared at the Core Formation Realm. So, it was understandable that the merchant cautioned him about interacting with those in the Nascent Soul Realm and above, as they were indeed extremely dangerous for someone in the Core Formation Realm.
With that in mind, Chu Yang made sure to carefully nod his head every now and then while listening to the merchant talking about how to avoid running into problems with powerful cultivators.
During which, Chu Yang couldn't help feeling that the merchant was far smarter than he let on, as his advice for avoiding trouble seemed to not only fit with those in the Soul Ascension Realm but seemed to be universally good advice for avoiding attention and trouble when entering a new and unknown place.
If not for the fact that the merchant was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm, Chu Yang would have seriously doubted his cultivation realm, as the advice he gave was far beyond what someone in the Foundation Establishment should been able to give. Especially considering that some of the advice seemed to pertain to in depth knowledge on how people in different cultivation realms normally looked at their surroundings.
In the end, he could only put it down to the fact that the merchant had been to the city a lot and encountered all sorts of cultivators and learnt from them and thus developed this kind of in-depth knowledge on how to lay low and avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself.
Maybe I should inform the sect about this merchant and have them try to recruit him… After all, someone like this should be extremely useful to Elder Dust Fairy and the information network she is trying to build…
With these thoughts appearing in his head while listening to the merchant, Chu Yang secretly pulled out his communication talisman before sending a message back to the sect. informing them of the merchant and his potential talent when it came to secretly infiltrating new areas.
No matter how low his cultivation realm was at the moment, it wasn't really that much of a problem, as the current Star Shattering Sect had more than enough resources to help him reach the Core Formation Realm without any problems. Increasing his lifespan by a few hundred years. Giving him a chance to continue helping the sect for a longer time, while also giving the sect time to grow strong and potentially also get the ability to more easily produce Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
Maybe even getting the ability to help someone forcibly reach the Nascent Soul Realm through different techniques and methods that involved the burning of the body's potential. Methods useful to those about to die of old age and without any other way to breakthrough. Giving those without talent to reach the Nascent Soul Realm under normal circumstances, a rare opportunity to overcome their natural limitations and possibly even show a strong enough comprehension for them to reach the Domain Lord Realm.
Although, such techniques were normally only found inside the larger powers of the continent and was out of the scope of the current Star Shattering Sect…
Chapter 1338: Expensive Entry Fee
Arriving at the entrance to the city together with the merchant, Chu Yang was slightly taken aback by the strength of the guards and those trying to enter the city on foot. The guards all having reached the Nascent Soul Realm, while even the weakest one among those trying to make their way inside the city was at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm or above.
Even though he knew that this city served as an entry point to the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire for not only the former Sky Empire, but also a few surrounding empires, Chu Yang was still taken aback by the large number of cultivators present.
In a sense, the city was comparable to the capital city of a small empire like the Sky Empire… Or that was at least what he had heard from the merchant he had been chatting with for the past few hours, he couldn't be too certain about it, as he himself had never been to the capital city of the Sky Empire and had no way to do so now that the Sky Empire and its capital city had fallen.
The only way for him to see the capital city of a small empire would be for him to journey to another small empire bordering the Sky Empire. Not something he planned on doing, as it would at least add a year or longer to his journey to reach the neutral territory on the other side of the mountain range visible behind the massive city walls towering up in front of him as he waited in line together with his merchant friend.
Of course, during the time he had spent together with his new merchant friend he had also asked about other things than just the size of the Demon Mountain City.
For one, he found it curious that someone only at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm would make the dangerous journey to the Demon Mountain City. Especially given how dangerous the city was for someone with such a low cultivation realm according to the merchant himself.
The response he got was that while it was dangerous to trade inside the Demon Mountain City with his current cultivation realm only being at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it was well worth it, as stronger cultivators tended to have more spirit stones one hand compared to weaker cultivators. Even recounting an event where a powerful cultivator had passed by his stall and happened to take an interest in one of the things he was selling at the time before paying close to a hundred times the normal value of the item.
As for how he got to the city with his low cultivation realm? That wasn't really that complicated, as he lived in a small town located no more than half a month away from Demon Mountain City.
In the past, the town had been part of a smaller kingdom that had been under the Sky Empire and was part of one of the many trade routes that the Sky Empire had built up over its long history to facilitate trade with the Demon Mountain City.
Even though the Sky Empire had already fallen and become part of history, some of the trade routes that they had painstakingly set up by killing and removing any obstacles along the way, were still operational and could be used by weaker cultivators like the merchant who was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Although things would not continue like this, as demon beasts would inevitably return and cut off those trade routes for weaker cultivators, it at least served as a lifeline for many of the weaker towns and cities that had been left behind following the fall of the Sky Empire. Allowing them to continue functioning through trade with the Demon Mountain City.
Outside of that, Chu Yang had also asked him about the safe path through the mountain range, but even the knowledgeable eccentric merchant didn't seem to know much about the safe path through the mountain range. Only mentioning that he had heard information on it could be bought directly from the city lord's mansion at the center of the city.
But… With his cultivation realm only at the Foundation Establishment Realm, he simply didn't have the qualifications to get his hand on information like that even if he did have enough spirit stones on hand.
At the same time, the eccentric merchant also made sure to properly warn him about the dangers of the mountain range and how even people in the Soul Ascension Realm had ended up perishing inside it.
Though Chu Yang didn't directly state his intentions for asking about information on the safe path through the mountain range, it didn't take a genius to guess why he would ask such a thing.
Given that the Demon Mountain City was so close to the core region and could be considered a gateway to the core region for the surrounding smaller empires, it was obvious that information about the rich resources and far denser spiritual qi had spread among those who often visited the city.
For this reason, there was no lack of people wanting to enter the core region even with its obvious dangers. Hoping they would be able to take advantage of the richer resources to either break through a bottleneck that they wouldn't normally stand a chance at breaking through or try their luck at joining one of the powerful forces in the neutral region.
The reason why most people thought about joining the powers in the neutral region instead of the much larger and more powerful Blue Sea Empire and Wei Empire was that it was far harder to join those two forces and more dangerous to reach them.
After all, even though it would be easier to reach these two powerful empires after reaching the neutral territory between the two empires, it didn't change the fact that the neutral territory was just a border between these two massive empires… And anyone trying to enter their empire through the neutral territory would undoubtedly face a lot of scrutiny. Especially if they were trying to join either of the two empires…
"Next!"
Just at this moment, one of the guards standing at the gate leading into the city called out to Chu Yang and the merchant, calling them over for a simple inspection that everyone entering the city had to go through to prevent known bandits or demonic cultivators from sneaking inside the city.
Not too surprisingly, the inspection had become far more stringent following the surge in demonic cultivators from the depths of the Frozen Wasteland.
Of course, given that he wasn't a demonic cultivator, and the other party was only in the Nascent Soul Realm, Chu Yang felt confident that nothing would go wrong with his disguise, as he began approaching the guard that called out to them together with the merchant.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you, the price for entering the city is ten spirit stones." As they were about to reach the guard, the eccentric merchant suddenly pulled out ten spirit stones from his pocket as he said this.
"Ten spirit stones? Just to enter…?" Hearing what the merchant said, Chu Yang paused for a second as a look of disbelief appeared on his face. Thinking he had misheard the merchant.
"Yep, ten entire spirit stones! Those people know just how valuable it is for us weaker cultivators to enter the city and sell our things, so they decided to take their cut of it by robbing us with such high prices for entering the city.
Haaa… Because of that, this little entry fee only applies to those below the Domain Lord Realm, as those in the Domain Lord Realm and above can freely enter the city without paying anything. After all, with their strength, there is no need to try and sell things for the little bit merchants like myself can earn."
Nodding his head as he said this, the eccentric merchant handed over his spirit stones to the guard with a painful expression on his face before entering the city after a quick inspection.
"Spirit stones!"
"…"
Hearing the guard's commanding tone as he got to him, Chu Yang could not help smiling wryly as he pretended to take out a few spirit stones from his pocket before handing them over to the guard who just glanced over him a few times before allowing him to enter without causing any problems for him.
Although it was expensive for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm to pay 10 entire spirit stones to enter a city, it was nothing to someone like Chu Yang who had reached the Domain Lord Relam.
If anything, he just felt cheated out of his spirit stones after having learnt that he would have normally been able to freely enter the city without paying anything if he had not hidden his cultivation realm.
Chapter 1339: Unusual Number of Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators
Shaking his head as he threw the regret of losing a mere ten spirit stones to the back of his mind, Chu Yang followed the eccentric merchant inside the city. Planning to take a look around the city first before he began looking for information on how to safely pass through the mountain range, both to learn more about the place and to keep an eye on the eccentric merchant whom he felt would be useful to the sect in the future. Intending to wait until he was informed by Elder Dust Fairy about whether or not he would be recruited by the sect, something that would take a bit of time, as the current communication talisman he had used wasn't powerful enough to reach all the way back to the Star Shattering Sect and first had to go through a few of sect's recently established outpost for information transfer.
After all, long distance communication talismans were expensive. Even more so those that could be refused… And Chu Yang unfortunately only had a few one-time use communication talismans on him for emergency situations and he found no need to use one of them at the moment, as he wasn't really in a hurry, and it would at most take a few hours before he would get a response. Time he could use to learn more about the Mountain Demon City and at the same time also learn more about the eccentric merchant who might end up becoming a member of the sect's information network in the future…
"Hm? Something wrong?"
As Chu Yang followed beside the eccentric merchant while lost in his own thoughts, the merchant suddenly came to an abrupt stop, causing Chu Yang to turn and ask him what was wrong with a somewhat confused expression on his face. Not seeing anything around that might have caused the merchant to stop so abruptly.
"Indeed, something is wrong, there are far more powerful cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm around than normal. Meaning that something should have happened to attract these Nascent Soul Realm cultivators… And from my knowledge, the only thing that can attract so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators is the uncovering of a secret realm left behind by a powerful cultivator or an ancient ruin."
"But… How is this a problem? It's not like they will cause any trouble in the city, as long as we don't get involved with the secret realm, we should be fine."
"Hehe, you wish, these cultivators are ruthless! The moment the secret realm or ancient ruin is uncovered, they will need someone to scout the way forward for them so they can avoid running into deadly traps and formations."
"And weaker cultivators serve as the perfect scouts for them, as they have no real way to resist the command of these stronger cultivators… I see what you mean with it being a dangerous time for us to have entered the city." Nodding his head as he understood what the eccentric merchant meant with it being a dangerous time for them to enter the city, Chu Yang wasn't too nervous about it, as he was more than confident in keeping himself safe with his current strength.
At most, he would just be forced to show off the strength of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm and he should be able to avoid getting taken advantage of.
The problem was the eccentric merchant was not like him and was only at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. If someone at the Nascent Soul Realm wanted to use him to scout the way forward through a secret realm or an ancient ruin, he would have no way to fight back.
Relying on the guards of the Demon Mountain City to help out wasn't really much of an option either, as they were likely also interested in exploring the secret realm or ancient ruins and wanted to make use of weaker cultivators to scout the way forward for them as well.
Of course, there was also the chance that the reason for so many powerful cultivators to have gathered inside the city was because of the emergence of a powerful spiritual herb or something similar to it, but considering how confident the eccentric merchant looked, Chu Yang decided to believe in his words.
After all, compared to him, he seemed far more experienced with this kind of thing.
If he said that it was a secret realm or an ancient ruin, it was most likely true. After all, the merchant had no real reason to lie to him about something like this.
So, with that in mind, Chu Yang and the merchant both continued to slowly make their way through the busy streets of the city, the merchant unwilling to leave before selling his wares, while Chu Yang didn't really feel a need to leave the city.
In the end, Chu Yang followed the eccentric merchant to a secluded corner of a relatively busy street where he watched him set up a simple cloth with different trinkets that he would be selling on top of it before he sat down and began trying to entice passing cultivators into buying these trinkets that were essentially just decorations with a few simple formation carved into them to make them shine or do other unique but useless things that appealed to some cultivators looking for things to decorate their cultivation rooms or homes with.
Shockingly, Chu Yang saw how these simple and easy to make trinkets were sold for several dozens of spirit stones. Making him question the mental capacity of the different cultivators buying them.
However, after asking the merchant about it, he found out that most of the cultivators inside the city were wandering cultivators and weren't too familiar with smaller scale formations and were normally only aware of those larger formations that were easier to find. Resulting in most of these cultivators paying a bit extra just to check out these smaller formations due to their uniqueness.
More importantly, at the end of the day, a dozen spirit stones weren't that much to someone in the Nascent Soul Realm and would be more than worth it if they could satisfy their curiosity regarding these unique smaller formations. Allowing the eccentric merchant to carve out a small but solid market inside the Mountain Demon City where countless wandering cultivators passed through on a daily basis with no lack of those in the Nascent Soul Realm.
Funnily enough, due to the increased number of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators present inside the city at the moment, the eccentric merchant managed to sell off all of his trinkets in a relatively short time of a few hours.
During this time, Chu Yang didn't just sit still and watch the merchant going to work, but instead went around the different stalls trying to ask into the situation that had caused so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to show up.
Luckily, even though most of the merchants didn't know much about the situation and ended up giving a response not that different from the eccentric merchant, there were still a few who had managed to find out more about the situation from conversations they had overheard when more powerful cultivators visited their stalls.
In the end, Chu Yang found out that the reason why so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had gathered together at the Demon Mountain City was because a large ancient ruin had recently been uncovered by someone from the Explorer Union.
As a result of this, the Explorer Union had sent out a request for anyone at the Nascent Soul Realm or above to help in exploring the ancient ruin.
Although there wasn't any payment attached to the request, everyone understood that the Explorer Union wasn't interested in the treasures inside the ancient ruins and instead just wanted to fully explore the place. Meaning that any treasure they found inside the ancient ruins would be theirs.
Because of this, a lot of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had happily rushed to the Demon Mountain City in preparation for exploring the ancient ruins.
Of course, a contributing factor to so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators showing up was also because of the Explorer Union's reputation throughout the continent.
If not for their stellar reputation and having no bad record in regard to taking advantage of wandering cultivators, so many wandering cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm would have never shown up in the first place.
Asking a bit further about the situation after finding out about this, Chu Yang also managed to find out that the day for setting out to explore the ancient ruins would be in the middle of the day when the sun was at its highest point.
Looking up at the sky, it would only be a few hours until that time came… And looking at the decreasing number of people moving around in the streets, it became clear that the Nascent Soul Realm wandering cultivators should have already started to pick up scouts for the coming exploration of the ancient ruins…
Chapter 1340: Hiding Spot
Knowing that he and the eccentric merchant were likely to also get swept up in the exploration of the ancient ruins if they didn't leave the city, Chu Yang turned to look back at the eccentric merchant. Only to turn around and see that he had already finished packing up and was in the process of leaving.
"What are you standing there for? We have to get out of here fast before those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators show up here as well!" Not caring the slightest bit about the shocked expression on Chu Yang's face, the eccentric merchant stepped forward and grabbed hold of him before rapidly leaving the somewhat secluded corner of the street that he had set up his stall in.
Not feeling any threat from the merchant, Chu Yang allowed himself to get dragged along. Curious about how the merchant planned to avoid getting forcibly recruited by the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. After all, it would definitely be impossible for them to leave the city at this point in time, as those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would definitely be stationed around that place to pick up anyone trying to run away.
Hm? We are not going to leave the city, but instead moving further into the city…?
Feeling a bit surprised when he noticed that the merchant wasn't dragging him towards the outskirts of the city for somewhere to hide, but instead deeper into the city where the more powerful cultivators would be located, Chu Yang felt even more curious about what kind of escape plan the eccentric merchant had come up with.
After all, given what he had managed to learn about him so far, he seemed to be prepared for most situations and had a solution to them.
Given that he had decided to stay in the city, even though he knew about the danger that came along with it, meant that he should have a way to avoid the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators…
Splash!
Just as Chu Yang was wondering what kind of method the eccentric merchant planned on using to avoid the detection of the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, he suddenly saw him jumping into a large river running straight through the city.
"Follow me or you will have to find a way out of this place on your own!"
And along with those few words, he dived beneath the surface of the water. Disappearing from view.
"…"
Seeing this, Chu Yang could not help slightly raising an eyebrow.
Although hiding in the river might be a good option when facing weaker cultivators, when confronted with the powerful divine sense of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, it wouldn't make much of a difference whether someone was hiding inside a building or below water.
Splash!
However, curious about what the eccentric merchant was planning to escape the sight of the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, Chu Yang still decided to follow him into the river. Soon catching up to the eccentric merchant who skillfully swam through the strong current. Soon enough stopping in front of a small hatch located at the bottom of the river.
This… A concealment formation? Although relatively low quality, it should be more than enough to avoid the divine sense of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm if they don't pay attention. Indeed, this fellow is quite prepared when it comes to escaping danger…
Seeing the small hatch at the bottom of the river, Chu Yang could not help showing a slightly surprised expression on his face, as he realized that the hatch actually had a concealment formation placed on top of it.
Even if the quality of the formation was low, it still showed that the eccentric merchant had far more talent when it came to formations than he had first let on with his small but useless trinkets.
Follow me!
Not aware of Chu Yang's thoughts, the eccentric merchant turned around and signaled for him to follow, as he used all of his strength to open the hatch and swim inside.
Following closely behind, Chu Yang soon found himself inside a narrow tunnel that was still filled with water, as he watched the eccentric merchant quickly swim past him before closing the hatch behind him. Not wasting a second after that before he moved past him and rapidly moved through the tunnel.
Considering that someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm couldn't hold their breath forever, he had a limited time on his hand and clearly wanted to get out of the water as fast as possible, as they had already spent close to five minutes under the water by the time they reached the small hatch.
Like this, close to fifteen minutes flew by with them moving through the increasingly narrow tunnel filled with water before they finally managed to reach the other side of the tunnel-
"Haaaa!"
Where the eccentric merchant almost collapsed on the ground as he greedily breathed in air after having spent twenty minutes under water. Almost having reached the limit of what was possible for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm when it came to not breathing, a truly impressive feat on its own.
However, compared to the eccentric merchant who was now laying on the ground recovering from the long underwater escape through a very narrow tunnel that made it hard to move towards the end, Chu Yang stood up completely fine without any sign of water on his body as he looked around the small dark space that he now found himself inside of.
Outside of the fact that the small space wasn't made by hand but should instead be some kind of natural underground cave that had been formed over a long time, Chu Yang almost instantly noticed that there was only a small tunnel connected to the space that he would only be able to move through by crawling.
"What is this place?"
Unable to contain his curiosity as he finished looking around the small cave, Chu Yang could not help turning back towards the eccentric merchant who had somewhat recovered at this point in time as he asked him outright.
"This… Is a place I found in the past during my time looking for safe locations to hide in case something happened in the city. The cave itself might be small, but there is a constant supply of fresh air coming from the small tunnel connected to this cave, we can stay here until things calm down back in the city and then make our way back through the underwater tunnel."
"What about the tunnel connected to this cave? Given that it provides a constant stream of fresh air, it means that it should be connected to the outside, why not follow that instead of swimming through that place…?"
"I… Tried in the past, but the location it leads to is somewhere inside the city lord's mansion at the center of the city. Although the formation guarding that place didn't discover me as it seemed to be in the process of undergoing maintenance or something along that line, I doubt something like that will happen if I try going through that place again. Especially considering that there are currently a lot of wandering cultivators present in the city at the moment.
Even if the formation needed some kind of maintenance, I doubt the city lord would choose this kind of time to shut it down and do so." Thinking for a brief moment before saying this, the eccentric merchant helplessly shook his head before going back to recovering his strength.
Considering that he would once again have to fight his way back through the underwater tunnel to get back out again, he had to fully recover his strength as fast as possible if he wanted to leave alive with his current strength.
"Leads straight to the city lord's mansion…" Narrowing both of his eyes as he muttered this to himself after hearing what the eccentric merchant said, Chu Yang could not help feeling like there was something wrong with what the eccentric merchant said.
First of all, a formation going through maintenance would still be active to some extent… And the merchant would have never been able to avoid detection with his strength.
Instead of that, it was likely that instead of the formation being under maintenance like the eccentric merchant suspected, Chu Yang felt that it was far more likely that the eccentric merchant had managed to unknowingly find a flaw in the formation guarding the city lord's mansion. Essentially allowing him to freely enter the mansion without alerting the people inside.
Of course, the merchant was far too weak and would almost definitely be spotted if he tried to actually enter the city lord mansion sneakily.
However, if it was someone stronger, it could prove fatal to the city lord and the people in the mansion. Especially if that someone happened to be their enemies…
Luckily for them, Chu Yang wasn't their enemy nor did he feel interested in selling the information on this flaw in the formation, as it would also end up ruining the hiding spot of his new friend.
Chapter 1341: Eccentric Merchant Lao
Staying silent inside the small cave that was located close to the city lord's mansion, Chu Yang could not help taking out his communication talisman to check on whether or not he had gotten a response from Elder Dust Fairy during the time he had spent wandering around the outskirts of the city and asking about the situation of the place.
Hm? She already responded?
However, though he had turned to check his communication talisman for a response, he hadn't actually expected to see one. Mainly because he had contact Elder Dust Fairy not through her own communication talismans, but through one of the sect's standard communication systems in place for disciples to contact the different elders in case something that warranted an elders help happened.
Unknown to Chu Yang, who still thought of himself as a disciple of the sect, his communication to the sect had long since been prioritized and would immediately go through to the elder he wanted to contact. Resulting in Elder Dust Fairy learning about the existence of the eccentric merchant almost the same second that the information reached the Star Shattering Sect.
She wants to bring him back to the sect…
And reading through the short message, Elder Dust Fairy made it clear that she wanted to recruit the eccentric merchant into the sect and make him a part of the sect's information network. Even stating that she had already informed one of the sect's Domain Lord Realm cultivators about the situation and the Domain Lord Realm cultivator in question had already left the sect to pick up the eccentric merchant and bring him.
Instructing Chu Yang to leave a communication talisman and something that could be used to identify him when the Domain Lord Realm cultivator of the sect appeared.
Isn't this too much…? I just mentioned that he seems good at blending in and avoiding danger, is there a need for something like this?
Not able to understand why Elder Dust Fairy attached so much importance to the eccentric merchant, even to the point where she had somehow managed to convince Elder Song to dispatch a Domain Lord Realm Elder of the sect to pick him, Chu Yang could not help turning to take a second glance at the eccentric merchant.
No matter how he looked at it, he just couldn't see what had caused Elder Dust Fairy to seemingly go all in to bring this person back to the sect. After all, his cultivation was only at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm and while his skill in terms of avoiding danger and blending in was impressive in his eyes, they weren't at the level that required the level of importance that Elder Dust Fairy seemed to attach to bring him back to the sect.
Whatever, this has nothing to do with me and is Elder Dust Fairy's decision. If she thinks it's worth it, I won't question it. After all, my specialty isn't in the field of information gathering…
Shaking his head as he thought about this while still looking at the eccentric merchant who was fully focused on recovering his strength so he could safely make it back out the way he had come from, Chu Yang decided to formally invite him to the Star Shattering Sect after he finished recovering and also inform him that someone would come to pick him up.
Considering his identity as nothing more than a small merchant who spent his time tinkering away with small trinkets to be sold inside the Demon Mountain City, Chu Yang didn't consider that the merchant would refuse.
After all, he would be far safer as a member of the Star Shattering Sect compared to what he was doing for a living at the moment, while at the same time he would also stand a far better chance at advancing his cultivation in the future by joining the Star Shattering Sect.
In case he had a family of some sort, they could also join him and live inside the Falling Star City located at the base of the Ninth Star Peak.
Like this, a few hours quickly flew by with Chu Yang and the eccentric merchant both quietly sitting inside the small cave as one was recovering his strength and waiting for the situation outside to calm down, while the second was just waiting for the other to finish recovering his strength so he could officially extend an invitation to join the Star Shattering Sect on behalf of Elder Dust Fairy.
"Finally recovered enough to go through that tunnel again, though the situation outside should still be a few hours before it calms down again…" It was just after the four-hour mark of them having reached the small cave that the eccentric merchant finally finished fully recovering his strength, as he opened both of his eyes while muttering this to himself.
Although four hours had already flown by, it was clear that the eccentric merchant was still not ready to leave the small cave and return to the city. Fearing that the wandering cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm were still roaming the streets of the city looking for any weaker cultivators that they could use to scout the way for them inside the ancient ruins.
"Recovered?" Sitting only a few meters away from him, Chu Yang instantly noticed this, as he asked to confirm that he could start what would likely turn into a rather long conversation.
"Hm? Ah! Yes, I'm fine now. Unfortunately, I'm not in the Core Formation like you, so holding my breath for such a long time is a rather difficult endeavor. Unfortunately emptying the water from the tunnel is impossible, as the river water would soon seep in and fill up the place again within a few hours…" Nodding his head in response as he said this with a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face, the eccentric merchant turned around to face Chu Yang. Not having forgotten about the stranger that had travelled along with him into the city and one of his hiding spots across the city.
Although he was normally not someone to easily make friends with stranger, he found himself strangely attached to Chu Yang, who seemed like a good person from his interactions with him so far.
Not to mention, considering that he was someone in the Core Formation Realm and stronger than him, he didn't fear him doing anything against him, as he would have long since had an opportunity to do so while they were traveling towards the Demon Mountain City.
After all, even though the city had countless powerful cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm and above, none of them would care about a small merchant in the Foundation Establishment Realm like himself being attacked on the road to the city.
Only if something happened inside the city itself would these powerful cultivators take act, as it could be considered damaging to the reputation of the city if someone could just kill people inside the city without anything happening.
"Good, I have something to talk to you about, an opportunity that I'm sure you won't give up on…" Nodding his head as he heard what the eccentric merchant said, Chu Yang put on a far more serious expression as he officially extended an invitation towards the eccentric merchant. Inviting him to join the Star Shattering Sect.
Although the merchant was extremely confused at first, as he had never really heard about the Star Shattering Sect from the small village, he spent most of his life in. After asking about the sect itself and the reason why he had been invited to join the sect, the eccentric merchant was soon fully convinced and decided to agree on becoming a part of the Star Shattering Sect.
Of course, one of the main reasons why he trusted Chu Yang's words was the fact that Chu Yang personally demonstrated his Domain Lord Realm strength to the merchant. Fully convincing him of the strength of the Star Shattering Sect that Chu Yang had told him about.
At the same time, Chu Yang also managed to learn more about the eccentric merchant and who he was.
For one, the name of the eccentric merchant was Lao and second, Lao was far younger than he had first thought, being only a little over a hundred years old.
Although he was still old considering the lifespan of those in the Foundation Establishment only being 200 years, he wasn't old enough that he wouldn't stand a chance of reaching the Core Formation Realm on his own before his lifespan ran out. Especially considering that he was already at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm
And so, following the conversation between the two coming to an end, Chu Yang handed him a few different cultivation resources along with the communication talisman and other things Elder Dust Fairy had asked him to give the eccentric merchant Lao before he left him on his own inside the cave. Not intending to stay around and wait in there for another twelve hours like Lao was planning to do…
Chapter 1342: Elder Dust Fairy's Thoughts
Leaving behind the eccentric merchant Lao inside the small cave hideout after having successfully recruited him to join the sect and handed over the things Elder Dust Fairy had asked him to give him so he could properly be identified by the Domain Lord Realm Elder who would be showing up to take him back to the sect, Chu Yang soon found himself at the shore of the river where the entrance to the tunnel leading into the cave hideout was located.
Because of the relatively secluded location next to the river that the hatch was located in, he managed to easily make it out without being noticed by anyone in the process.
Of course, one of the reasons why he wasn't noticed was also because most of the cultivators normally on the nearby streets had long since left, either to search for weaker cultivators to use for exploring the ancient ruins or to escape from becoming a scout of these stronger cultivators.
The only few people still on the streets not too far away, were a few of the guards casually patrolling along with a few permanent residents who were living under the protection of the city itself as they were tasked with doing some menial labor to keep the city running.
Even though their strength was only between the Qi Condensation Realm and the Foundation Establishment Realm, none of the wandering cultivators currently roaming through the city in search of usable scout for their exploration dared to target them, as that would go directly against the city lord of the Demon Mountain City, an existence at the Soul Ascension Realm. Not someone that a few wandering cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm had the courage to offend over a few scouts for their exploration of the ancient ruins. Especially when they could just go after the other wandering cultivators who were weaker than them for something like that.
"I should adjust my strength a bit so I won't come off as someone at the Core Formation Realm or I might get targeted by those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators as well." Muttering this to himself as he scanned the streets and saw nobody above the Core Formation Realm present outside of the few patrolling guards, Chu Yang wasted no time as he adjusted his strength from the Core Formation Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Although this kind of disguise in terms of cultivation realm would almost instantly get seen through by someone in the Domain Lord Realm the moment, they used their domain to observe him or just focus their attention on him, it was still more than good enough when it came to fooling those wandering cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm.
So, with his outwards cultivation realm being adjusted to the Nascent Soul Realm, Chu Yang made his way deeper inside the city to official start his search for information on how to safely pass through the mountain range. Hoping that the information won't be too hard to find for someone in the Nascent Soul Realm.
If it really did turn out that even someone in the Nascent Soul Realm wouldn't be able to acquire the information, he would be forced to use his Domain Lord Realm cultivation base to try and find out about it.
The only problem with this was that doing so would undoubtedly result in him having to interact with other Domain Lord Realm cultivators, something that had a high likelihood of backfiring, as his flimsy attempt to hide his age would easily get seen through.
…
At the same time Chu Yang was heading further inside the Demon Mountain City to search for information on the safe passage through the mountain range, Elder Dust Fairy was looking off into the distance with a somewhat absent look on her face.
"Elder? Is something the matter?" Just at this moment, a young girl around the age of 16 entered the office that Elder Dust Fairy was sitting in, as she directly opened her mouth to speak upon seeing how Elder Dust Fairy was looking out of the nearby window with an uncharacteristic absent look on her face.
"Hm? Little Yue? Hehe, it's nothing for you, my dear disciple, to worry about, I was just thinking about the person that Grand Elder Xuan's disciple informed me on not too long ago and was a little lost in thought."
"The merchant? Hm… From the way Senior Brother Chu Yang described the merchant, he didn't seem too impressed and just informed us because he thought this merchant might be of some use to us, though, I fail to understand why elder would take it serious enough to ask Elder Song to send Elder Xuefeng to bring him back.
In my eyes, it would be fine to just have that merchant try and make his way to the sect on his own, though the distance is long, and he won't be able to make it with his weak cultivation realm, he should at least struggle for a few years to show that his dedication to joining the sect!" Tilting her head in confusion as she said this, the girl referred to as little Yue by Elder Dust Fairy simply couldn't understand why her master was so interested in some random merchant.
"And that is why I'm the master and you're the disciple, did you forget who the person informing us about this little merchant is?"
"Of course not! How wouldn't I know about senior brother Chu Yang, a disciple of Grand Elder Xuan and also a terrifying cultivator at the Domain Lord Realm! Among all the disciples of the sect, who doesn't know about senior brother Chu Yang? Especially those who visit the Combat Hall!" Saying this with an excited expression on her face as she talked about Chu Yang, little Yue soon turned to her master with a confused expression on her face. "But master, what does any of this have to do with this little merchant?"
"Everything! Chu Yang is well known for not being easy to earn praise from, something that a lot of the sect's elders personally experienced when he went around challenging every one of them back when he was still in the Nascent Soul Realm.
For this merchant to earn his praise even though he is just a little merchant at the Foundation Establishment Realm without any significant background… It can only mean that this merchant is truly impressive even without any help. Meaning that his talents for the art of information gathering might be far more terrifying than even your master if properly nurtured!"
"This… I never thought about it like this. My apologies master!" hearing what her master said, little Yue realized that she had indeed never heard about Chu Yang praising anyone before outside of a few of his fellow personal disciples who were similarly terrifying in their own way.
"It's good that you understand. In return, when that merchant gets to sect, I will put you in charge of him for the first two weeks of his stay at the sect. Perhaps this will help learn what it is about him that is so special that he even earned the praise of Chu Yang." Nodding her head as she said this, Elder Dust Fairy signaled for her little disciple to leave.
Soon enough leaving her by herself inside her office as she once again continued to stare out the window where a small group of disciples could be seen practicing under the guidance of an elder in the Nascent Soul Realm.
The disciples and the elder were all part of her attempt to nurture a new generation of information gathering experts for the sect. After all, even though she had no plan to step down from her position as the head of the sect's information gathering network any time soon, she planned to at least have a suitable successor when that time came.
Little Yue, one of the disciples she had taken a few years earlier following her becoming the person in charge of both the servant quarters and the sect's information network, was one of the people that she had started nurturing for the express purpose of becoming a successor in case something happened to her or she decided to step down when she became older.
Of course, with the news of the eccentric merchant and hearing how even someone as stingy with praise as Chu Yang had praised him in his ability to blend in and adapt to his surroundings, Elder Dust Fairy had a feeling that this little merchant would prove to be a good disciple for her to nurture. Maybe even putting some pressure on little Yue to improve more, as she had started slacking quite a bit since she already stood far above the rest of the disciples, she had taken in.
"Hehe, a good challenge indeed, I hope this little merchant won't disappoint me." Chuckling to herself as she thought about the future, Elder Dust Fairy soon focused her attention back on the work waiting for her on the desk.
Chapter 1343: Gathering In Front of the Explorer Union Branch
Moving further into the city following the slight adjustment to his cultivation base, it didn't take long before Chu Yang found out where the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators that had been hunting down weaker cultivators that could be used as scouts had gone, as all of them seemed to be gathered together in front of a large building that he quickly identified as the Explorer Union Branch of the Demon Mountain City.
Indeed, even though it had been a few hours since he and Lao had hidden away, these Nascent Soul Realm wandering cultivators hadn't left for the ancient ruins discovered by the Explorer Union yet… And looking at the large number of weaker cultivators who had similarly gathered in front of the Explorer Union, Chu Yang guessed that it shouldn't be too long before they left.
At least, with his current cultivation displaying a pressure akin to someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, he didn't get more than a few glances from those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators before they focused their attention back on what seemed to be discussing the ancient ruins they were about to enter.
Continuing to move past the group of wandering Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, Chu Yang couldn't help slowing down his pace as he listened in on what these Nascent Soul Realm cultivators were talking about.
"I really hope everything works out as expected…"
"Yeah, even if those people from the Explorer Union said that the ruins aren't too dangerous for someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, I have a feeling they aren't talking about people like us still in the Earlier Stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, but instead those in the Later Stages!"
"So what? Do you perhaps want to give up an opportunity like this? The ancient ruins are bound to have all sorts of treasures hidden inside and with the city lord himself leading the way, I doubt there will be too much danger for us."
"Indeed, we will just have to try and stay behind the city lord and his people while picking up the things they aren't interested in… And considering the weakest among the ones from the city lord's mansion joining this expedition is at the Domain Lord Realm, we should be able to get a lot of treasures with relative ease!"
Although the conversations between the different wandering cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm left much to be desired, Chu Yang wasn't too disappointed by the information he had managed to learn, as it seemed like the city lord of the Demon Mountain City would be leaving the city together with the wandering cultivators and people from the Explorer Union.
In such a situation, the Demon Mountain City would be far safer for him to move around inside of, as the main danger inside the Demon Mountain City was the city lord's mansion.
The reason for this was that outside of the city lord himself who was a powerful cultivator at the Soul Ascension Realm, there was rumored to be another Soul Ascension Realm cultivator hidden inside the city lord mansion… And that was not mentioning the dozen or so Domain Lord Realm cultivators serving under the city lord.
All things considered; it made sense why even an empire like the Sky Empire would prefer a friendly relationship with such a powerful force. Especially when considering that the Demon Mountain City just existed as a branch of a larger power inside the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire.
Guess the smartest option would be to wait until those wandering cultivators and the city lord leaves the city before I start trying to ask around about the safe passage through the mountain range. After all, the less powerful cultivators around, the better-
"Hey, you!"
However, just as Chu Yang was lost in his own thoughts and was about to leave the area where the wandering cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm had gathered, someone called out to him, causing Chu Yang to turn around with a confused expression on his face.
"I don't recognize you… Oh well, the city lord order for all wandering cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm to gather in front of the Explorer Union and prepare to head out for the ancient ruins in a short while, I recommend not leaving this place or you risk offending the city lord!"
"This…" Not knowing what to say as he turned around and heard what the one calling out to him just now said, Chu Yang wanted to cry, as he suddenly realized that if the wandering cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm were looking for someone to scout the way ahead for them, so would the city lord at the Soul Ascension Realm.
The main difference being the strength of the scouts who were now all at the Nascent Soul Realm… And given that all of these people were wandering cultivators without any real background, there was nothing they could do other than listen to the orders of the city lord and follow his command.
At the very least, things weren't too bad for them, and they would still benefit from exploring the ancient ruins without too much risk with a powerful Soul Ascension Realm cultivator around.
The only problem was that Chu Yang was not really interested in exploring the ancient ruins. Even more so because it would require him to interact with the city lord at the Soul Ascension Realm along with his subordinates at the Domain Lord Realm.
No matter how good his little disguise was at fooling someone weaker than himself, he doubted that it would work against someone at the Domain Lord Realm, let alone someone in the Soul Ascension Realm.
However, if he left the place before the city lord arrived, he might end up offending the city lord like one of the wandering cultivators was kind enough to remind him about, something that would still end up with him catching the attention of the city lord.
Maybe I should just use one of the defensive measures that master left for me to intimidate the city lord into showing me the safe passage through the mountain range before leaving the city.
Narrowing both of his eyes slightly as he thought about this, Chu Yang felt like a good plan.
The main problem was the fact that he would definitely end up getting exposed if he did something like that and would cause future problems for himself down the line.
The only way to avoid any future problems would be to borrow his master's strength to wipe out the Demon Mountain City and erase any traces of himself, but… Considering that he didn't want to kill so many innocent people, Chu Yang chose against this option.
Even if he was willing to carry it out and kill off the entire city after getting the information he wanted, it was likely that the destruction of the city would draw the attention of the nearby Blue Sea Empire due to their increased attention on the area because of the large number of demonic cultivators surging into what could be considered territory under their protection. Resulting in them likely suspecting that the destruction of the city was done by a demonic cultivator, that they would then try and chase down before any more damage was caused.
Of course, outside all of this, there was also the fact that his master's defensive measure might not even attack to destroy the city in the first place…
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Chu Yang ultimately decided to… Not stay, as he quickly left the area around the explorer union branch under the pitying look of the wandering cultivator that had stepped up to warn him only seconds earlier.
Staying might have been a good option under normal circumstances, but Chu Yang didn't want to run the risk if he could avoid it.
Even if this ended up resulting in him offending the city lord, he didn't care too much about it as the city lord would be too busy to care about a little Nascent Soul Realm cultivator at the moment. Giving him more than enough time to find out about the safe passage through the mountain range and leave the Demon Mountain City before the city lord and the rest of the wandering cultivators returned to the city.
However, just to be on the safe side, Chu Yang decided to find a small inn a bit further away from the center of the city to wait until the city lord and wandering cultivators left. Lowing his cultivation all the way down to the Qi Condensation Realm as he tried blending in with the locals by finding a secluded spot to order something to eat as he sat down and looked out a nearby window pointed in the direction the explorer union branch.
Rumble~!
Like this, a little over half an hour flew by before Chu Yang saw a small group of people arriving in the air above the explorer union branch before they descended for a short time and soon left again together with the large number of wandering cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm and below.
Chapter 1344: Progress of the Disciples
Watching as the wandering cultivators left together with the people he presumed to be from the city lord's mansion, Chu Yang silently felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he didn't have to worry about being caught by the people from the city lord's mansion any longer.
After all, even though he had been confident when leaving the explorer union branch, he didn't truly want to deal with someone at the Soul Ascension Realm like the city lord if it could be avoided. Especially considering that the only method he had to deal with someone like that was the talismans that his master had left with him in case he encountered a situation that he couldn't deal with on his own.
Given that he would soon be entering the core region of the continent where Soul Ascension Realm cultivators and even those above the Soul Ascension Realm were common, he really didn't want to waste his limited number of talismans when he didn't have to, as he had no idea how many of them, he would need after he found a way to pass through the mountain range.
In the end, because of this, Chu Yang decided to wait inside the small inn for another half hour before he finally left the inn to go around and ask about a method to safely pass through the mountain range. Hoping that doing this wouldn't end up with him having to confront someone in the Domain Lord Realm or above.
After all, even though the city lord had already left the city, it was still rumored that there was someone else in the Soul Ascension Realm inside the city lord mansion. Not to mention, it wasn't odd for there to be some hidden soul ascension realm cultivators passing through the city, as it could still be considered an entrance point into the core region of the continent.
…
Back in the Star Shattering Sect, following Xuefeng leaving the sect to pick up the eccentric merchant Lao, it didn't take long for information about this merchant and the fact that Chu Yang was the one who recommended him began to spread among the elders who had personally experienced Chu Yang's might when he had been dragging different Nascent Soul Realm elders to the Combat Hall for practice…
"I heard he is someone only in the Foundation Establishment Relam but has the strength to fight with those in the Core Formation Realm!"
"He, your news is outdated, I heard he can not just fight someone in the Core Formation Realm, but instead fight someone at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm with his Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation base!"
"I also heard that he wields a massive two-handed awe more than five meters tall when fighting and that is what first caught Chu Yang's attention when passing by."
"From what I heard, it wasn't the massive axe that caught his attention, but instead his massive figure standing almost three meters tall. Surpassing even demon beasts at the same real in terms of physical strength!"
"Hehe, all of you are…"
Of course, the conversations taking place between the different elders of the sect who had all once been beaten up by Chu Yang didn't really focus on the fact that the merchant he had personally recommended to join the sect under Elder Dust Fairy in charge of the sect's information gathering. Instead, they all focused on the fact that it was someone who had managed to catch the attention of Chu Yang… And in their heads, the only person who could do something like that would be someone with impressive martial prowess.
"Hm? Chu Yang found someone and recruited them a behalf of the sect? Maybe I should take a look and see how talented that person is when he shows up." Even Xuan Hao who had been focused on his cultivation couldn't help muttering this to himself after hearing about what the elders of the sect were chatting about.
Wondering if the person chosen by his second disciple was talented enough to potential becoming his next disciple.
Even if he was a bit older compared to the rest of the disciples he had taken in, Xuan Hao didn't particularly care about it, as there wasn't really any requirement on the age of disciples.
Not to mention, in the future, he would undoubtedly encounter older people with enough talent to be taken in as a disciple.
The only real problem that came with taking older cultivators on as disciples was that they were almost definitely already taken.
Considering the talent that he deemed minimum for taking someone in as a disciple, it would almost be certain that they would have already revealed part of this talent after they got the chance to cultivate.
The only potential way for him to take on an older disciple was to find someone old and talented who hadn't embarked on the path of cultivation yet or to snatch the disciples from others, both of these methods were difficult to accomplish in their own way, as the new disciple would have to acknowledge him as master wholeheartedly for the system to consider the person one of his disciples.
If not, they would not really be a disciple.
Thinking about his disciples, Xuan Hao decided to take the opportunity to use the system to check out how much they had improved over the past few months since his return from the mystic realm.
✧ First Disciple, Qing Yi ✧ Race: Human Talent: 45 Dao: Dao of Fire (Domain), Dao of Alchemy (Pseudo Domain) Potential Dao: Dao of Fire, Dao of Wind, Dao of Light, Dao of Space, Dao of Alchemy Physique: Bright Sun Divine Physique (Peak Stage, Small Sun Realm) Realm: Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm Profession: Alchemy (Master Realm) Cultivation Mantra: Heaven Burning Mantra First of all, Qing Yi, she hadn't made much progress compared to last time he had checked on her. Not too surprising considering that she had been using most of her time deepening her understanding of the Dao of Alchemy after reaching the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
✧ Second Disciple, Chu Yang ✧ Race: Human Talent: 57 Dao: Dao of the Spear (Domain) Potential Dao: Dao of Earth, Dao of Blood, Dao of Slaughter, Dao of Death Physique: No Special Physique Recommended Physique: Six Paths of Slaughter Divine Physique (Can be refined) Realm: Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm Cultivation Mantra: Soul Spear Divine Mantra Chu Yang on the other hand had clearly improved in terms of strength, as he had managed to breakthrough to the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm during his journey outside the sect. Showing that it was a good idea for him to leave the sect and journey on his own and refine his Dao of the Spear in this way.
✧ Third Disciple, Bai Ning ✧ Race: Human, Heavenly Sky Serpent Talent: 34 Dao: Dao of Blacksmithing (Pseudo Domain) Potential Dao: Dao of Metal, Dao of Fire, Dao of Formations, Dao of Wind Bloodline: Heavenly Sky Serpent (Dormant) Realm: Seventh Stage Nascent Soul Realm Profession: Blacksmithing (Master Realm) Cultivation Mantra: Unformed Mantra On the other hand, Bai Ning was clearly going through a period of explosive growth, as he had somehow managed to reach the Late Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm in a relatively short period of time following his breakthrough to the Master Realm in blacksmithing.
✧ Fourth Disciple, Mui ✧ Race: Human Talent: 78 Potential Dao: Dao of Water, Dao of Darkness, Dao of Ice, Dao of Space, Dao of Chaos Physique: Desolate Ancient Moon Physique (Dormant) Realm: Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm Profession: Blacksmithing (Abysmal), Formation Master (Abysmal) Cultivation Mantra: Myriad Water Art
Next up was Mui, who had slowed down her cultivation speed significantly since returning to the sect. Although, the reason for her slow down in cultivation speed didn't have much to do with her talent, but more so had to do with the fact that she had been trying really hard to learn the art of talisman making.
Unfortunately for Mui, the art of talisman making was incredibly difficult and also required some understanding of the Dao of Formations. Making her attempts to learn how to create her own talismans unsuccessful so far, though that might have more to do with the fact that the Star Shattering Sect not really having anyone especially skilled in the art of talismans and the only ones with some mastery over talismans was Xuan Hao who had mostly learned about it through reading the records and texts stored in the sect's library.
✧ Fifth Disciple, Chun Hua ✧ Race: Nature Spirit, Tree Spirit Talent: 67 Dao: Dao of Nature (Domain) Potential Dao: Dao of Wood, Dao of Life, Dao of Water Physique: Spirit Physique Realm: Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm Profession: Alchemy (Expert Realm) Cultivation Mantra: Heart of the Forest Last was Chun Hua. Although her cultivation had not increased, it was because she had been learning alchemy from Qing Yi… And looking at how she had already managed to reach the Expert Realm, it seemed like she was also talented in the Dao of Alchemy.
All things considered, all of his disciples were growing well and those below the Domain Lord Realm were getting close to reaching the Domain Lord Realm.