Chapter 157: Chapter 155: Tricked! [Request for Subscription]

Zhenyue Immortal City.

After following Dong Jianping’s guidance to complete the entry procedures, Zhouyang temporarily obtained a Tier Two Spiritual Artifact identity token, allowing him to enter and exit Zhenyue Immortal City freely.

According to Dong Jianping, the Zhenyue Immortal City is equipped with an Anti-Air Array, preventing any cultivators–even Tier Five Demon Beasts–from flying within the city without an identity token, or what Dong Jianping referred to as the “Immortal Token.”

Although Zhenyue Immortal City has walls, it lacks gates. Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators wishing to enter or exit the city must use their identity token and magical power to activate an array platform, which serves as a city gate, to access the rising and falling cloud ladder for ascending or descending the city walls.

If one wants to walk on the cloud bridges between the three immortal mountains, identity token verification is required.

However, due to the impending “beast tide,” Zhenyue Immortal City has temporarily closed entry and exit channels for Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators. Zhouyang’s desire to see the rising and falling cloud ladder cannot be realized for now.

After paying the spirit stones to secure his identity token, he directly used sword control to fly to the highest of the three immortal mountains, namely Zhenyue Peak, the main district of Zhenyue Immortal City.

In Zhenyue Immortal City, the three immortal mountains are sustained by Tier Five spiritual veins. Zhenyue Peak boasts an upper-grade Tier Five spiritual vein, while the other two mountains hold lower-grade Tier Five spiritual veins.

According to the information Zhouyang gathered from Dong Jianping, apart from a Ninth-Layer Golden Core City Lord, Zhenyue Immortal City also has three Golden Core Stage Deputy City Lords stationed permanently.

Regarding Purple Mansion Stage cultivators, there are even more. The Immortal City Guard Army alone has over twenty, not to mention the numerous Purple Mansion Stage loose cultivators and those from various sect clans of Liuyun Continent also practicing or journeying here.

So, without exaggeration, the strength of just Zhenyue Immortal City alone could sweep through all the sects and clans of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm!

Zhouyang was startled when he first heard this from Dong Jianping, but upon reflection, he calmed down.

Though Liuyun Continent cultivators are undoubtedly stronger than those in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, it’s not likely that just any city’s strength could sweep through the entire Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm.

Zhenyue Immortal City’s might comes from the various forces of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, constructed as one of six immortal cities to suppress the beast tides originating from Broken Cloud Mountain Range, gathering skilled experts from various factions.

Whether it’s the Ninth-Layer Golden Core City Lord or the three Golden Core Stage Deputy City Lords, they hail from different sects and clans, rather than belonging to a single sect or clan, including the Purple Mansion Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.

As Zhouyang truly entered Zhenyue Immortal City and saw the cultivators bustling about, he became even more convinced of this.

Even in the main peak area like Zhenyue Peak, most passing cultivators are Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators. Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, while not uncommon, average about one in thirty.

This ratio, although significantly higher than that in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, is relatively reasonable, given the front-line location where cultivators with too low cultivation wouldn’t come, risking their lives.

“Greetings, Master. The owner of our shop is from the Cyan Mist Mountain Profound Pill Sect, where a Tier Three High-grade Alchemist resides long-term. Our store offers five kinds of Tier Three Spirit Pills suited for Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators to refine their cultivation, including {Nourishing Essence Pill}, {Peiyuan Pill}, and {Guiyuan Pill}. There are also seven or eight other Tier Three Spirit Pills for various purposes. Buying elixirs from us at the Profound Pill Pavilion is definitely the right choice!”

In front of a pavilion named “Profound Pill Pavilion,” Zhouyang stopped, and a store clerk with Qi Cultivation Stage cultivation greeted him with a smile, deftly introducing and selling the store’s elixirs.

Most of the elixir names mentioned by the store clerk were familiar to him, but some were unheard of, likely unique to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

As for the Cyan Mist Mountain Profound Pill Sect mentioned by the clerk, he had no information at all.

However, it is common knowledge that establishing a sect requires a Golden Core Stage cultivator. Since the Cyan Mist Mountain Profound Pill Sect can open such a substantial store in Zhenyue Immortal City, named with “Pill,” it’s unlikely to be one of those declining sects whose founder fell and no Golden Core Stage cultivators oversee it anymore. Their elixir refinement should be up to standard.

With his eyes flickering, he suddenly asked the store clerk, “Do you have any elixir for treating damaged meridians of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators?”

He always remembers the primary purpose of coming to Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm: to buy a spirit pill to treat his father Zhou Xuanhao’s injuries, which is the most crucial matter he must address.

Although carrying the “Profound Sun Order” should mean buying from the Profound Sun Immortal Sect store is most economical, he couldn’t help but ask this question now.

“Um, um… Master, please wait a moment. I’ll go ask the shopkeeper right away!”

A flash of embarrassment crossed the clerk’s face because he couldn’t answer Zhouyang’s question, so he hurried into the store seeking help from the shopkeeper.

Seeing this, Zhouyang found it amusing, yet he felt somewhat disappointed.

If the store clerk didn’t know whether such elixirs were sold, they probably didn’t have any.

Still, he followed the clerk into the store.

“Greetings, fellow Daoist. I apologize, but the type of spirit pill you mentioned, we at the Profound Pill Pavilion currently do not have.”

Indeed, upon entering the shop, Zhouyang was greeted by the shopkeeper of the “Profound Pill Pavilion,” who had the cultivation of Foundation Establishment Stage. With the guidance of the clerks, the shopkeeper clasped his hands to Zhouyang and explained the situation.

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang immediately waved his hand slightly and said, “If you don’t have it, then forget it. Do you purchase spirit elixirs here? I have picked up some spirit elixirs in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range!”

Not only had he picked up some spirit elixirs, but he had filled several storage bags with them, and many spirit elixirs were placed in wooden boxes made from spirit wood due to a lack of jade boxes.

These spirit elixirs placed in wooden boxes cannot be carried around for long; otherwise, their essence will disperse within a year or two and will no longer be usable for alchemy.

“We do, of course. Please follow me, fellow Daoist. Let’s go to a private room upstairs to discuss.”

The shopkeeper perked up immediately upon hearing Zhouyang wanted to sell spirit elixirs and quickly led the way to a quiet room on the second floor of the pavilion.

Half an hour later, Zhouyang walked out of the “Profound Pill Pavilion” with the shopkeeper showing a cordial smile.

Though the spirit elixirs Zhouyang sold to the “Profound Pill Pavilion” were mainly Tier Two Spirit Elixirs, the sheer number he sold was substantial, totaling hundreds of Tier Two Top Grade Spirit Elixirs. Even for just the material money, he earned over ten thousand Spirit Stones.

The terrifying thing was, this was just about half of all the spirit elixirs he had on him!

After such a large transaction, could you say the shopkeeper wouldn’t be happy?

Of course, Zhouyang was also very happy. After leaving the “Profound Pill Pavilion,” he immediately followed the shopkeeper’s guidance to a well-known general store in the city, where he purchased over a hundred jade boxes for preserving spirit elixirs, several jade scrolls containing basic information and cultural insights about the numerous forces within the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, and roughly sketched maps.

Next, Zhouyang visited shops selling elixirs on three Immortal Mountains, only to find that none had related spirit pills available, or they were temporarily out of stock, asking if he wanted to pre-order.

If Zhouyang were a cultivator of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, he could certainly pre-order and then wait a few years to collect the goods.

Unfortunately, he was not. He also needed to go to Immortal Sun City to meet up with Cao Wenjin and Yang Wenxiong and didn’t know how long Cao Wenjin would stay in the Liuyun Continent. How could he dare to pay a deposit lightly?

Thus, he could only leave with regret.

Interestingly, while visiting some large-scale shops, Zhouyang noticed that despite Foundation Establishment Pills being available, they weren’t as cheap as he had heard, where one could buy them for ten thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones. Rather, they were priced at fifteen thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones each.

If that were it, Zhouyang might have immediately taken out spirit stones to buy one.

But after inquiring, he discovered that to purchase Foundation Establishment Pills in the shops of Zhenyue Immortal City, Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators must serve in the city’s external army for ten years to earn a purchase permit. Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators don’t need to serve, but they must have lived in Zhenyue Immortal City for ten years to be eligible for purchase, and they can only buy one.

This purchase restriction for Foundation Establishment Pills isn’t exclusive to Zhenyue Immortal City; similar rules apply to the five other Immortal Cities in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

Further inquiries revealed that even in Liuyun Immortal City, the center of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, various shops also impose numerous restrictions on purchasing Foundation Establishment Pills.

To buy Foundation Establishment Pills without limits, one must either pay a high price at certain auctions or directly purchase from alchemists capable of producing the pills or from sects.

Upon learning this information, Zhouyang understood why, despite Yellow Sand Sect sending people to procure items from the Liuyun Continent regularly, there were strict constraints on exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills within the sect.

Even if Yellow Sand Sect could come here to purchase, large-scale acquisition of strategic treasures like Foundation Establishment Pills was practically impossible.

Thinking back, it was likely that Cao Wenjin, knowing Zhouyang couldn’t acquire many Foundation Establishment Pills, dared to bring him to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm and gave him a generous half-year to amass spirit stones and treasures.

Though knowing this now is of no use, Zhouyang could only stay in a specialized cultivator’s temporary lodging, renting a room at an Immortal Inn for three days, intending to thoroughly read the jade scrolls with information on the forces within the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

This was very necessary because if he were unaware of the basic information regarding various forces on Liuyun Continent, unable to recognize the special attire of major sects and clans, how could he discern which people he could offend and whom he couldn’t once he truly entered the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm?

However, what Zhouyang never expected was that while he was holed up in his room reading for three days, the situation outside suddenly changed!

Dong! Dong! Dong!

“By order of the City Lord, due to the impending beast tide, Zhenyue Immortal City is on lockdown starting now, permitting entry but prohibiting exit. All cultivators within the city, regardless of cultivation level, must unconditionally comply with the wartime regulations and accept the Immortal City’s conscription commands. Please stay in your accommodation and await arrangements from the City Lord’s Mansion!”

After a series of urgent alarm bells, the atmosphere throughout Zhenyue Immortal City changed, and Zhouyang, who had been reading in the Immortal Inn for three days, heard the resounding voice outside and his face instantly darkened like pot ash.