"Zhao Yue, go over and have a look."
Under the majestic West City Gate, dozens of cold-hearted city guards clad in black armor checked the bustling crowd in great detail. One of them, a young man who looked like a leader, glanced at the place where Ji Yuenian was standing. Turning his head, he gave an order to a guard beside him.
Zhao Yue responded in a low voice and walked straight out of the West City Gate.
The walls of the ancient city of Taichu were really too high, the gates were also very wide, and there were many people coming and going. In order to prevent some ghosts and demons from sneaking into Taichu, these black armored city guards were dedicated and dared not slack in the slightest.
Ji Yuenian stood on the spot for a long time, and his aura was unlike that of a mortal's, and he had already attracted the attention of these black armored city guards.
"I'm afraid this Taoist Master is not from the ancient city of Taichu?"
Zhao Yue walked over and slightly clasped his hands towards Ji Yuenian. Although he looked calm, there was already a storm brewing in his heart.
The city guard token on his waist was warm, and there was a dazzling black light that flashed endlessly around it, which meant … it sensed a strong ghostly aura on Ji Yuenian!
Moreover, judging from the fierce reaction of the token, he was afraid this person was not an ordinary ghost at all!
At this time, Zhao Yue had already concluded that Ji Yuenian was a ghost, but he was very worried about his own safety and did not dare to turn around and run away. So he turned his head slightly and frantically moved towards the bunch of black armored city guards under the west gate to attract their attention.
"Why do you say that?"
Ji Yuenian smiled slightly and shook his head. He thought and flicked his fair and slender fingers slightly, inadvertently putting the Sentient Ghost-devouring Armor back into the Divine Palace Acupoint.
With the disappearance of the ghost armor, the token on Zhao Yue's waist gradually became silent.
"Zhao Yue, what's wrong!?"
The leader of the black-armored guards noticed Zhao Yue's abnormality, and asked in a deep voice, walking quickly towards him along with several people.
"Commander Ji Bugui, this person is a ghostly creature! He wants to infiltrate the territory within the city walls of Taichu!" Zhao Yue looked a little scared, and he slowly retreated towards the West City Gate as he spoke.
"Ghostly creature!?" An ordinary person just happened to pass by. Hearing this, he could not help but look at Zhao Yue with the eyes as if he were looking at a fool.
More passersby did not care about these things that had nothing to do with them at all, and hurried away after glancing casually.
Ji Bugui raised his foot and kicked Zhao Yue's butt fiercely, scolding in a cold voice, "What a bummer! This is the ancient city of Taichu! How could there be ghosts who dare to enter with such wanton?"
Demons, spirits, etc. had at least been recognized by the human race. The ancient city of Taichu now strictly prohibited demons and ghost from entering, simply because this city was occupied by humans only. In the rest of the ancient cities under the rule of Taiyu Ancient sect, there were many demon cities full of monsters.
But, the ghosts were completely different. Besides, there was a righteous god namely Supreme God of Earth guarding the territory. No ghost or demon would dare to approach the ancient city of Taichu. Even if a trace of the righteous God's power remaining on the city wall escaped, it was enough to crush a ghost of the True Dao Realm ghost into powder.
"Commander Ji Bugui, I really didn't lie to you! The token really sensed a very strange ghost power just now!" Zhao Yue took down his city guard token from his waist with a disheartened face.
But, then his expression completely froze. The token had completely recovered its previous calm, without the slightest reaction to it.
"Idiot!"
Ji Bugui showed an impatient look on his face, and pushed him aside, walking towards the place where Ji Yuenian stood.
"Ji Bugui … Are you a member of the fourth house of the Ji family?" Ji Yuenian glanced at Ji Bugui and said softly.
It was only at this moment that Ji Bugui saw Ji Yuenian's appearance, and was stunned in place, shaking slightly all over his body.
After a few breaths, he still seemed to be in disbelief, and tentatively asked, "Could it be the eldest … eldest Young Master?"
After cleansing his soul and purifying his marrow, Ji Yuenian had undergone an incredible rebirth from the inside out, and his already handsome appearance turned even more enchanting than before, making Ji Bugui a little unsure for a while.
Ji Yuenian nodded and said, "It's me."
"Eldest son! It's actually you!?"
Ji Bugui's expression was extremely excited. He had always been calm, but at this time, he was unusually at a loss.
The ancient city of Taichu was vast and magnificent. There were hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in it, and the Ji family was one of several cultivation families that surpassed all mortals. And Ji Yuenian, who once ignited the Grade 6t Heart Fire sequence at the age of six, was the most dazzling existence among them.
Even though Ji Bugui belonged to the Ji family, the eldest son, Ji Yuenian was still someone he couldn't get in touch with on a regular basis.
"Eldest son, you actually know me! It's true … but haven't you already … The Ji family is in chaos, now. It is good that you've come back! I'll bring you back to Ji's house to meet the head of the family!"
Under Ji Bugui's emotional agitation, he was already somewhat speechless.
"What kind of chaos? Let me hear about it." The young man flicked the sleeves of his robe, and a stream of azure xuan energy appeared, submerging between Ji Bugui's eyebrows, which made his mind a lot more stable in an instant.
"Thank you, Eldest Son," Ji Bugui suppressed his complicated feelings, and regardless of the Black-armored guards who looked at each other at a loss, he led Ji Yuenian to the magnificent West Gate. "After the eldest son disappeared, the position that Hexuan bequeathed upon the Ji family has become vacant. The elder Ji Luoyan had a big dispute with the head of the family, and the Ji family almost broke out in an irreversible civil strife!"
Ji Yuenian thought for a moment and said, "Ji Luoyan definitely wants Ji Baiyu to take over my position, and my father … If there is no accident, he should've changed to support Ji Liuguang, the only son of the third house?"
"The eldest son's calculation is divine." Ji Bugui's eyes showed reverence and admiration. "But a few days ago, something happened to the Ji family that shocked the ancient city of Taichu, it …"
Before he could finish his words, Zhao Yue chased after him from a distance and shouted in a hurry, "Commander Ji Bugui, if you leave at this time, what will happen to the rotation of the west gate?"
Ji Bugui turned his head to look at Zhao Yue, his eyes were slightly cold, and then he turned around and whispered to Ji Yuenian with some embarrassment, "Eldest son, I will deal with some chores first, and I will come later. "
"Go." Ji Yuenian nodded slightly, but did not stop, and continued to walk forward slowly.
Although the ancient city of Taichu was called a city, it was actually a vast territory surrounded by eight long city walls. Dozens of prosperous cities and towns stood in the outer city. Although the most majestic and grand central inner city was only a few dozen miles around, it was the real core of the ancient city of Taichu.
Spirit fruit, Green Jade flower, Red Spirit fruit, Mysterious fragrant Rice … Countless spirit fruits were planted on both sides of the broad official road, stretching infinitely across the vast territory. There were also many mortals who took care of them carefully in the spiritual field and dared not relax for a moment. This was the basis for them to settle down in the ancient city of Taichu.
No matter what kind of spiritual fruit they planted, these mortals could only keep 20% each year, and the remaining 80% were turned over to the inner city as spiritual tax to support several cultivating families who were in charge of the ancient city of Taichu.
The seeds of these spirit fruits were uniformly distributed by Taiyu Ancient Sect to nineteen ancient cities many years ago. So even if only 20% was left, it was enough food and clothing for these mortals, and there was even a lot of surplus, which could be exchanged for silver.
The silver coins here referred to the silver taels used by mortals. After all, 99% of the creatures in the ancient city of Taichu were ordinary mortals who had never ignited their Heart Fire. It was impossible for them to be like a few cultivation families, possessing precious spiritual stones as trade items.
Spiritual stones were jade stones that contained rich heaven and earth Qi, from which any race could draw pure heaven and earth Qi.
The vastness of the world couldn't be defined, and new spiritual stone veins were born in certain corners almost every moment. Therefore, spiritual stones had gradually become something that could be traded between living beings that could practice cultivation, and it had almost never changed.
"Do you know who that person was just now? How dare you shout here?"
Ji Bugui's expression was extremely gloomy, and he looked coldly at Zhao Yue in front of him.
At that time, there were already several city guards in black armor who found some clues. They hurriedly greeted Ji Bugui, and then they each mounted their horses and ran towards the inner city far away.
The return of the eldest son of the Ji family was a huge matter, and it would surely cause a sensation in the entire inner city.
Zhao Yue also seemed to realize that his act of stopping Ji Bugui just now was a little stupid, and stammered, "Ji Bugui … Commander, I didn't … mean anything else, I just …"
"You are courting death!" Ji Bugui pulled out his long sword and slashed towards Zhao Yue's wrist fiercely!
The cold light flashed away, and Zhao Yue's left hand fell in response.
Large amount of blood spurted out, and Zhao Yue let out a shrill scream. His right hand grabbed the broken wrist of his left hand, and he knelt on the ground, crying out in pain.
"Dog, how dare you delay me while I was pleasing the eldest son. You should consider yourself lucky for not being killed with this sword right now!" Ji Bugui spat fiercely on the top of Zhao Yue's head, and turned his head to the rest of the black armored city guards. He sakd coldly, "Everyone who's going to report the news has already gone. You and the others will stay at the West City Gate for me, and you must not leave!"
These people glanced at Zhao Yue's tragic state, and they all said trembling, "Yes, Commander Ji Bugui."
Ji Bugui snorted coldly, and instead of riding his horse, he turned around and quickly walked towards Ji Yuenian, who was on the main road in the distance.
Although the recruitment of black armored city guards was extremely strict, after all, most of the low ranked city guards were mortal warriors from the outer city. There were nearly a thousand black armored city guards, and some of them were occasionally stupid. It was not surprising.
This Zhao Yue was one of them.
Although Ji Bugui was only a small commander, he was backed by the Ji family, a family of cultivators in the inner city, and his status was much higher than that of Zhao Yue.