Chapter 174: To Stay or To Leave

After Ye Qingxuan left.

Hei Feng looked at Zhou Qingguang and suggested, "City Lord, let's hurry and leave while we still can."

Hearing Hei Feng's words.

Qingyu's lips moved slightly, as if to speak but then holding back.

If it were possible, she did not wish to leave Qingguang City.

However, when she, Hei Feng, and Xueyu became the commanders of Qingguang City, they had sworn an oath of loyalty to Zhou Qingguang for a hundred years.

Since the term had not yet expired, she could not well disobey Zhou Qingguang's orders.

Xueyu, standing nearby, wore an expression of utter indifference.

He had no attachments; as long as his cultivation was not affected, it mattered not where they went.

Zhou Qingguang pondered for a moment, weighing the matter in his mind for a long while, before slowly speaking:

"We shall not leave for now!"

"Not leave? City Lord, do you mean we truly intend to submit to that Gui Xuanzi?"

Hei Feng looked utterly shocked, gazing at Zhou Qingguang with deep confusion.

Given his understanding of Zhou Qingguang, he did not think Zhou Qingguang was the type to submit easily.

As for Qingyu, upon hearing Zhou Qingguang's words, a look of joy appeared in her eyes.

Seeing Hei Feng's shocked expression, Zhou Qingguang countered, "If we leave Qingguang City, where else can we find a fourth-grade spiritual vein?"

"Uh?"

Hearing Zhou Qingguang's counter-question, Hei Feng was momentarily speechless.

Although the Xingluo Province had many spiritual veins, the vast majority were already occupied by human factions or demonic beasts.

If they rented a cave dwelling in another city, they could only sustain their cultivation for a short time.

Once their spirit stones were exhausted, they would be driven out.

By then, they would still have to submit to someone else to obtain a cave dwelling for cultivation.

Previously, Zhou Qingguang had been unwilling to submit easily or join another faction.

This was because he occupied a fourth-grade spiritual vein and was not currently short on spiritual energy resources, which was why he had rejected the recruitment of other factions.

All previous decisions were made under the condition that they would not affect his own cultivation.

"Let us stay in Qingguang City for now and see. If that Gui Xuanzi goes too far, we will find a way to leave."

Zhou Qingguang did not believe that, with the Xingluo Province being so vast, if he ran, that Gui Xuanzi could find him.

Regarding Zhou Qingguang's final decision, Hei Feng, Qingyu, and Xueyu nodded slightly and offered no further objection.

On the other side.

Ye Qingxuan flew swiftly through the air.

Finally, two days later, he arrived at Qingli City.

Qingli City spanned a thousand li in both length and width; within the Xingluo Province, it could already be considered a major city.

Facing the magnificent city before him, Ye Qingxuan did not act rashly.

Watching the crowd coming and going at the city gate, Ye Qingxuan obediently walked outside the gate and joined the queue.

While waiting in line, Ye Qingxuan glanced at the entry regulations written on the city wall:

"Residents of the city may pass free of charge. Outsiders from the mortal world must pay one hundred taels of silver to enter. Cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm must pay ten low-grade spirit stones."

Silver and gold are both first-grade spirit mines, differing only in quality.

Due to their limited utility, cultivators do not value silver and gold highly, so they have become the common currency of the mortal world.

Typically, there is no fixed exchange rate between silver, gold, and spirit stones.

To exchange silver and gold for spirit stones.

Generally, one must treat silver and gold as first-grade spirit mines and sell them to cultivators.

As for the price one can get, it depends on one's luck.

Fortunately, cultivators are not so bored as to interfere with the mortal market or do harm to others without benefiting themselves.

Thus, the value of gold and silver in the mortal world remains relatively stable.

When it was Ye Qingxuan's turn, he took out ten low-grade spirit stones and handed them to the cultivator guarding the city gate, entering Qingli City smoothly.

Although Ye Qingxuan was a Nascent Soul cultivator, he did not wish to reveal his true identity.

Therefore, he chose to pay the ten low-grade spirit stones to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

After entering Qingli City, Ye Qingxuan did not delay. After some inquiries, he quickly found the Treasure Pavilion. "Esteemed guest, what would you like to purchase?"

As soon as Ye Qingxuan entered the Treasure Pavilion, a person approached him.

"Do you have a detailed map of the Xingluo Province?"

"Yes, a detailed map of the Xingluo Province costs one hundred high-grade spirit stones per copy. How may I assist you, esteemed guest?"

Ye Qingxuan nodded slightly, "Give me one."

Having spoken, he took out one hundred high-grade spirit stones and handed them to the other person.

Seeing Ye Qingxuan so decisive, the person was somewhat surprised.

Recovering quickly, he took the spirit stones Ye Qingxuan had handed over and retrieved a detailed map of the Xingluo Province for him.

After receiving the map, Ye Qingxuan checked it briefly. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he turned and left the Treasure Pavilion.

After exiting Qingli City again and moving far away from it.

Ye Qingxuan took out the map to examine it carefully.

"So that is how it is!"

Ye Qingxuan had previously wondered how the Treasure Pavilion could sell maps without fearing they would be leaked to others.

After a detailed inspection, Ye Qingxuan discovered that the map bore a Soul Transformation-level restriction.

Spiritual sense is required to view the map.

Cultivators below the Soul Transformation realm cannot break the restriction, so they cannot replicate it.

As long as the restriction on the map remains unbroken, any cultivator below the Soul Transformation realm who thinks of replicating it will find the map's memory in their mind thrown into chaos.

As for powerful figures at the Soul Transformation realm and above, the Treasure Pavilion cannot impose constraints on them.

But the Treasure Pavilion would not impose constraints on figures of that caliber anyway.

Having a chance to curry favor with them, the Treasure Pavilion might even be willing to do so.

He browsed the map in detail.

The map recorded the territories of major and minor powers in Xingluo Province, as well as the terrain and landforms, with great detail.

Even for Soul Transformation-level powers, some non-secret information was also introduced on it.

Ostensibly, there are nine Soul Transformation-level powers in all of Xingluo Province.

Among them, five Soul Transformation-level powers are human factions: Xingluo City, Nanyu City, Feiyu Sect, Huangji Sect, and the Treasure Pavilion.

Yes, the Treasure Pavilion is also one of the openly known Soul Transformation-level powers in Xingluo Province.

However, apart from the city where its headquarters is located, the Treasure Pavilion occupies very little territory.

The Treasure Pavilion is a neutral faction, interested only in opening shops in the major cities.

Under normal circumstances, the major powers would also give the Treasure Pavilion face, allowing it to enter and open shops.

As for Xingluo City, since it is the strongest power on the surface, everyone tacitly accepts Xingluo City as the provincial capital of Xingluo Province.

And in fact, this is indeed the case; Xingluo City is not only located in the core area of Xingluo Province.

It is also, to date, the largest city in Xingluo Province, with a length and width of one hundred thousand li each.

Even within the entire Dongji Domain, Xingluo City can be counted as a magnificent great city.

The remaining four Soul Transformation-level powers are actually gathering places for demonic beasts.

They are the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, the Poisonous Swamp, the Heavenly Chasm Mountain Range, and the Water Kingdom.

These four places have large gatherings of demonic beasts, each containing sixth-rank demonic beasts.

The exact number of sixth-rank demonic beasts was not detailed on the map.

Within a radius of one million li around these four places, there are no human cities, which shows their terror.

In Xingluo Province, besides these nine openly known Soul Transformation-level powers, there are countless Nascent Soul-level powers scattered everywhere.

Among them are many gathering places of demonic beasts.

And these Nascent Soul-level demonic beast gathering places are the targets Ye Qingxuan aims to build a city upon.

Although Ye Qingxuan was confident in his own strength and trump cards.

But as a newcomer, before he had fully grasped the detailed strength of the Soul Transformation-level demonic beast gathering places, Ye Qingxuan did not plan to attack them.

Therefore, fifth-rank Nascent Soul-level demonic beast gathering places were Ye Qingxuan's best targets.

His gaze scanned quickly, and Ye Qingxuan soon locked onto a location on the map: atop Wanling Mountain.

(End of this chapter)