Chapter 321: Journey to Xuanji City, Honored as an Esteemed Guest

As for Lu Xun Group's affairs, Lu Xun indeed didn't worry too much.

If it were in the past, he would still personally keep an eye on it to some extent.

However, Lu Xun is now wealthy and powerful; Bai Ling is already a fourth-grade Saint-tier alchemist, and Xie Yuyan's abilities are also quite good.

Lu Xun thus had no extra inclination to keep watch.

As for Xie Yuyan's character, Lu Xun still trusts her.

Don't forget, he does have telepathy.

It's even an enhanced version of telepathy.

So, after tossing Xie Yuyan a card with five thousand cubic Dark Energy, Lu Xun no longer concerned himself further with the matter.

Five thousand cubic Dark Energy is mere pocket change for Lu Xun now.

Of course, if Lu Xun hadn't happened to discover an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling on the Chiyan Continent, and if that cave dwelling hadn't contained a Grand Heavenly Gathering Spirit Formation left by an ancient tribulation-transcending expert, Lu Xun could not have become this wealthy.

Therefore, establishing the Lu Xun Group and turning it into a golden goose that lays eggs is still quite necessary.

The medicine business has always been profitable.

The Jia Clan Group mainly deals in medicines below sixth grade.

However, the Jia Clan Group's annual sales are extraordinarily staggering.

Just their Jia Clan Kai Mai Dan alone sells several hundred cubic Dark Energy per year.

Although Kai Mai Dan is important, it is the most basic of medicines.

The entire Jia Clan Group's annual profit, not to speak of much, should be several thousand cubic Dark Energy.

With Lan Xing's ongoing upgrades, the whole Lan Xing is becoming ever stronger, with more and more cultivators, and the Jia Clan Group's sales and profit continue to increase year after year.

Lu Xun is confident he can outperform the Jia Clan Group.

Actually,

The real money is in medicines above sixth grade; a single one can equal thousands or tens of thousands of low-grade medicines.

Given Lu Xun's current alchemical skill, casually refining a few sixth-grade Saint-tier medicines, especially those aiding breakthrough, can yield vast amounts of Dark Energy.

If he could refine a seventh-grade Saint-tier medicine usable for breakthrough, just one would earn him more than the Jia Clan Group makes in a whole year.

This is the power of high-grade, high-tier medicines.

Thus Lu Xun's true trump card is actually himself.

However, Lu Xun also does not intend to let go of the market below sixth grade.

Even a few thousand cubic Dark Energy per year is not insignificant.

Moreover, not every sixth- or seventh-grade medicine is that valuable.

For the same grade, medicines aiding cultivation versus those for breakthrough differ in price by heaven and earth.

Breakthrough medicines have harder-to-find materials; Lu Xun can refine only a few per year.

Thus, the ordinary medicine market must be seized.

This can also vent Bai Ling's anger.

It can also nurture Bai Ling, making her stronger, and thus Lu Xun can become stronger as well.

In short, this move by the Lu Clan Group brings many benefits.

For Lu Xun now, he only needs to spend money, without needing to worry too much.

Why not do it?

Lu Xun hasn't completely become a hands-off manager.

Every few days, he still goes to Liuyun Dao to check the situation and, by the way, give Bai Ling some pointers.

Xie Yuyan handles things swiftly; in just a few days she recruited several hundred employees, all of them ordinary staff.

As for alchemists, Xie Yuyan, leveraging her connections at the Divine Prefecture Auction House, also brought several dozen to the Lu Clan Group.

The Divine Prefecture Auction House itself belongs to the Xie family; she is the boss's granddaughter, so gathering some customer data is not too difficult.

Among the clients consigning items at the Divine Prefecture Auction House, the proportion of alchemists is not small.

This point turned out to be an unexpected gain for Lu Xun.

"Your efficiency is quite high."

Lu Xun praised.

"These alchemists' levels are not bad; many usually like freedom, but as soon as they hear our group has a Saint-tier alchemist, they immediately feel moved."

Xie Yuyan stated the reason.

She made use of the Saint-tier alchemist as a golden signboard.

Saint-tier alchemists can be said to be unique in the current Eastern lands.

At least there are none on the surface.

There might be some in Xuanji City and on the Moon.

After all, Saint-tier medicines have appeared for such a long time.

Bai Ling, under Lu Xun's guidance, can learn; some equally meridian-endowed alchemist masters, if they purchase Saint-tier medicines to study, could possibly refine them as well.

But the alchemist masters of Xuanji City and the Moon... how could ordinary people access them?

Thus, when Xie Yuyan unleashed this big killer, she directly brought several dozen alchemists to the Lu Clan Group.

The level of these several dozen alchemists is still not bad; formerly, they could put their medicines up for auction at the Divine Prefecture Auction House.

Naturally, they won't be too poor.

Most are fourth- or fifth-grade alchemists.

Third-grade are only a few.

In terms of tier, they are mainly Earth-tier and Mystic-tier.

There are also two Heaven-tier alchemists, but they are unstable; only when their condition is good can they refine one or two Heaven-tier medicinal pills.

These two Heaven-tier alchemists came purely aiming for the Saint-tier alchemist.

For alchemists.

Making money is not the most important; what matters most is improving one's alchemical skill.

The condition Xie Yuyan promised them is that each month they can be allowed to visit Bai Ling's alchemy once.

In addition to the quite generous remuneration and commission, these two Heaven-tier alchemists thus joined the Lu Clan Group.

With these several dozen alchemists, Xie Yuyan began preparing for the opening of the flagship store.

The Lu Clan Group's flagship store naturally opened on Liuyun Dao, right on the three lower floors of the Lu Clan Building.

The plaza outside the building can be used to hold auctions and such.

Xie Yuyan spent a lot of money, and in just a few days the flagship store's decoration was already almost done.

She used a large amount of materials from the ancient road nodes; to ordinary cultivators' eyes, that was incredibly luxurious and magnificent.

To cultivators with discernment, however, it was understated luxury with substance.

While Xie Yuyan was preparing the opening, Lu Xun, on his side, nevertheless took a flying boat and left the capital city.

The flying boat went upward all the way, flying into the high skies.

Not long after, it flew past the plane where the space fortress is located, heading even higher.

It flew on and on.

Up ahead, a black dot appeared.

That black dot initially seemed small, but as the distance closed, it grew larger and larger in the view.

Looking closely, it turned out to be a huge ring with a sphere in its middle.

Celestial Pivot Heavenly Ring.

That is, Celestial Pivot City.

This time Lu Xun's purpose is precisely Celestial Pivot City.

He came to find Master Ge to help refine several weapons, and then go find Master Dangyang to repair the Golden Toad.

The Golden Toad is an Eight-Realm spirit puppet, but due to damage it now has less than Six-Realm strength.

If it can be repaired, Lu Xun will have a means to cope even when facing the Eight Realms.

The location of Celestial Pivot City is extremely high, its distance from the ground reaching several thousand kilometers.

This distance is not fixed; it sometimes goes up and sometimes down, and its position in the air is not constant either.

At such a height, one can look down and see most of Lan Xing.

"I don't know where the Heavenly Dao Palace is."

Lu Xun searched everywhere but did not find the whereabouts of the Heavenly Dao Palace.

He intended to give each of Fu Yue and Fu Xue one of the two Heavenly Heart pills he had refined.

They are probably in seclusion now; the messages Lu Xun sent them received no reply.

Not long after, the flying boat approached Celestial Pivot City.

As soon as it approached, several flying ships flew over.

Celestial Pivot City's defenses are strict; unless one is a resident above, one needs a pass to enter and exit.

The duration of the passes varies; the shortest is a tourist visa, allowing only one day's stay, while a longer one generally does not exceed one month.

Lu Xun obtained a one-month pass.

If the time is not enough, it can be renewed later, for as long as one wishes.

For Lu Xun now, these matters have become simple.

This is the benefit brought by the increase in strength and status.

The weak are bound by rules.

The strong make rules yield.

The stronger establish the rules.

Lu Xun now is at the stage of the strong.

Many rules in the East can yield for Lu Xun.

After presenting the pass, Lu Xun passed the inspection smoothly.

The flying boat continued flying toward Celestial Pivot City.

"Really big."

Although I had once seen Celestial Pivot City through the Heavenly Dao's Eye.

Only upon approaching could one feel the city's enormity.

The outer diameter of the entire Celestial Pivot Heavenly Ring reached one hundred kilometers.

A city of one hundred kilometers, if placed on the ground, would still be fine.

Taken out alone and placed in the air, it is still a huge ring, and its visual effect is extremely shocking.

If calculated by area, not counting the sphere of over thirty kilometers in diameter at the center, the outer ring alone has an area of about 1,450 square kilometers.

This area is comparable to the urban area of the old capital.

From this one can see how huge Celestial Pivot City is.

Moreover, inside the ring of Celestial Pivot City is actually a three‑dimensional structure divided into many layers.

Its true area is who knows how many times larger than the capital.

Originally, Celestial Pivot City was designed as a massive starship capable of wandering alone through the universe.

Inside it possesses a complete ecosystem, ensuring that even if Lan Xing is destroyed, it can still survive alone in the starry sky.

As for how many people are inside, Lu Xun is not clear.

I suppose there are definitely not few.

As for the sphere in the middle, it is where the energy hub of Celestial Mechanism City is located, and it also deploys a large number of medium- to long-range weapons.

The diameter of this sphere exactly matches pi, that is 31.4159 kilometers.

After Lu Xun's flying vessel approached, a tractive beam was emitted from a high tower inside Celestial Mechanism City, guiding the advance of his flying vessel.

Celestial Mechanism City does not allow random flying; upon entering, a flying vessel must follow the beam's guidance to land at the spaceport.

Then Lu Xun can board the dedicated flying vessel there to reach his desired destination.

"Hello, go to the North Sea Building in District 49."

"Okay."

After landing, Lu Xun stowed his flying vessel and boarded a small flying vessel.

This flying vessel is better described as flying than as a flying vessel.

This is Celestial Mechanism City's taxi.

If one is a resident of Celestial Mechanism City, they can also purchase such a flying vessel to serve as transportation within the city.

The driver was aloof, not speaking to Lu Xun the whole way.

"Truly arrogant."

Along the way, Lu Xun has come into contact with few people.

These people all give Lu Xun a common trait.

Just like people from the old era's magic capital looked down on outsiders, they don't think highly of them.

It seems as if people from the surface of Lan Xing are all country bumpkins.

Even though the driver's impression on Lu Xun is merely Second Realm.

However.

A Second Realm cultivator, in Celestial Mechanism City, can only be a driver.

This is enough to show that Celestial Mechanism City indeed has something.

Here, even an ordinary resident cannot be compared to someone from the surface of Lan Xing.

Therefore, their arrogance is understandable.

Understanding aside, Lu Xun also has no interest in chatting with the driver or such.

Let him live in his own world, then.

The flying vessel flies low, only a dozen meters above the ground.

The places it passes are a green lane lined with blooming flowers and filled with green trees.

This is Celestial Mechanism City's road, with large numbers of flying vehicles coming and going.

Here, transportation has completely become small flying vessels.

As for gravity, this place has a unique gravity system that cannot be sensed from outside; once inside, it feels just like the surface of Lan Xing.

The gravity here is synchronized with that of Lan Xing.

Lu Xun silently observed the scenery on both sides.

The layer he is currently in is the first layer dedicated to human habitation; this layer is the most prosperous, its buildings constructed with extreme Eastern classical style, and traces of spirit patterns can be seen on every building.

Obviously,

These buildings all have formation protection.

Besides the buildings, in some green belts along the surrounding streets, many formation bases disguised as rocks can also be seen.

Each street here has its own formation.

Once war breaks out, Celestial Mechanism City can activate layer after layer of formations.

These formations vary in size; even if the largest is breached, many layers of smaller formations remain.

As for attack, it is entrusted to the central sphere and the outermost layer of the ring.

On that layer, a vast amount of weapons are also deployed.

In short, Celestial Mechanism City is both the last spark and an extremely terrifying war machine.

"Hello, we have arrived at the North Sea Building."

Several minutes later, the driver's polite yet aloof voice sounded.

"Thank you."

Lu Xun naturally did not lose basic courtesy.

Although the other party obviously looks down on people from Lan Xing.

But for a mere Second Realm driver, since they have not been rude, Lu Xun has no inclination to deliberately prove something to such a minor figure.

He got straight out of the vehicle.

"Hahaha, little friend, you've finally arrived!"

Upon getting out of the vehicle, loud laughter rang out.

An elderly man with white hair but full of spirit walked forward and gave Lu Xun a heavy embrace.

"Senior, how did you know I came?"

Lu Xun was surprised.

"In Celestial Mechanism City, could there be something I don't know?"

Master Ge laughed and said.

"Alright."

"Come on, come on, I've had people prepare fine liquor; let's go drink first."

Master Ge also seemed quite fond of drinking, he grabbed Lu Xun and left.

That... is Master Ge!!!

This sight left the driver who had just been there stunned.

Master Ge's reputation in Xuanji City is not low; as an eighth-grade heavenly tier artificer, countless cultivators beg and shout, hoping he will forge them a weapon.

To that driver, he was a heavenly figure.

But now, Master Ge actually showed such enthusiasm toward the passenger who had just arrived.

Who is he!

The driver's intestines instantly turned green with regret.

Originally I thought he was just a country bumpkin who came to Xuanji City to see the world, but I didn't expect he was a big shot worthy of Master Ge personally coming to greet him.

If I had known, I would have said anything to get on good terms with him, to curry favor.

Perhaps a single word from him could completely transform his status.

Unfortunately,

Now everything is too late.

Little friend, this is spiritual wine I've kept for many years; come, let me pour you a cup.

In a manor behind the Beihai Building, Master Ge personally poured Lu Xun a full cup of wine.

As soon as Lu Xun arrived, he was treated as an honored guest.

Such enthusiasm from Master Ge even surprised the maids in the manor.

Given Master Ge's status, hardly anyone is worthy of him personally pouring wine.