Chapter 187: Change, Regret

"Have you found out? Which power established that Dongxuan City?"

In a mountain range tens of thousands of li away from Dongxuan City.

A black-robed figure with an imposing aura stood suspended in midair, gazing toward Dongxuan City.

Behind him were two Nascent Soul early-stage cultivators, now bowing their heads respectfully, daring not to look directly at the black-robed figure's back.

Hearing the inquiry, the two exchanged glances. One of them replied respectfully, "Reporting to the Sect Master, we currently only know that the City Lord of Dongxuan City is a Nascent Soul cultivator named Gui Xuanzi. His first appearance was in Qingguang City, on the border of Xingluo Zhou."

"No other information has been received for the time being."

Upon hearing this, the black-robed figure frowned slightly, feeling somewhat dissatisfied.

Their group hailed from Luotian Sect in Luotian Zhou.

Luotian Zhou borders Xingluo Zhou. Luotian Sect is the foremost power in Luotian Zhou, and its intent to expand is extremely strong.

Precisely because of this, Luotian Sect has faced united resistance from other powers within Luotian Zhou.

Currently, the situation in Luotian Zhou has reached a stalemate; a major breakthrough is unlikely in the short term.

Therefore, Luotian Sect has turned its gaze toward Xingluo Zhou, which borders Luotian Zhou.

Their purpose in coming here is to establish a Luotian Sect branch in Xingluo Zhou and invade its territory.

The black-robed leader is the Sect Master dispatched by Luotian Sect to establish a branch in Xingluo Zhou—a Soul Transformation early-stage cultivator named Duanhun Venerable.

The two behind Duanhun Venerable are two Nascent Soul Dharma Protector Elders of Luotian Sect.

Originally, Duanhun Venerable planned to occupy Wanling Mountain, using it as a base, and then proceed gradually.

But unexpectedly, before he could even act,

Wanling Mountain was seized by someone suddenly appearing, a certain Gui Xuanzi, and a city has already been built.

Thinking of this, Duanhun Venerable's dissatisfaction grew even stronger.

Sensing his Sect Master's gradually fluctuating aura, one of the Nascent Soul Dharma Protector Elders tentatively spoke up:

"Sect Master, after all, he is merely a Nascent Soul cultivator. Why not simply seize Dongxuan City for ourselves?"

Upon hearing this, Duanhun Venerable turned around, looked at the speaker as if viewing an idiot, and sneered:

"You are also a Nascent Soul cultivator. How about I find you a Tier Five Beast Gathering Ground for you to personally seize a territory for our Luotian Sect?"

"Uh? No need, no need. This subordinate was rash."

Hearing Duanhun Venerable's words, that Nascent Soul Dharma Protector Elder shook his head repeatedly and refused with an awkward smile.

As a joke, the danger level of a Tier Five Beast Gathering Ground is something he, as a Dharma Protector Elder of Luotian Sect, knows best.

In Luotian Zhou, when Luotian Sect previously attacked and occupied Tier Five Beast Gathering Grounds, many Nascent Soul Dharma Protector Elders were severely injured or even perished.

Asking him to single-handedly seize a Tier Five Beast Gathering Ground would be no different from suicide. Seeing his subordinate's cowardly appearance, Duanhun Venerable snorted coldly and said nothing more.

"Dongxuan City?"

Turning back to gaze once more at the direction of Dongxuan City, Duanhun Venerable's eyes shimmered with divine light.

Although rumors state that the City Lord of Dongxuan City, Gui Xuanzi, possesses only Nascent Soul cultivation, Duanhun Venerable does not believe that Gui Xuanzi is as simple as he appears.

Duanhun Venerable knows the strength of the beasts in Wanling Mountain better than anyone.

Relying solely on Gui Xuanzi, without some backing, he absolutely could not have seized Wanling Mountain.

Before he can ascertain the true depth of Dongxuan City's strength, he will absolutely not engage Dongxuan City in a direct clash.

"Perhaps the auction in Dongxuan City in a few years will be an opportunity."

"If the situation proves unmanageable, we can simply choose another location."

As his thoughts churned, Duanhun Venerable gradually calmed his dissatisfaction.

Ultimately, he decided to act rationally.

Xingluo Zhou is vast; finding a suitable Tier Five Beast Gathering Ground is not difficult.

As for Tier Six Beast Gathering Grounds? Sorry, he, Duanhun Venerable, does not yet possess the strength for that.

Time passed; in the blink of an eye, more than six years slipped by.

Now, only a few months remain until the time of the Dongxuan City auction.

Outside Dongxuan City, nearby Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion cultivators have slowly begun to head toward Dongxuan City.

Although they do not have the qualification to participate in the bidding at the Dongxuan Auction.

Being able to witness the spectacle and broaden their horizons is also a unique gain.

Moreover, at that time, the markets of Dongxuan City will also open to the public.

By then, perhaps they might even stumble upon some good treasures; who knows?

Inside Dongxuan City.

Ye Qingxuan sat high atop the peak of Wanling Mountain, overlooking the entire city, quietly waiting for the auction to arrive.

Nearly ten years have passed, and Dongxuan City has changed greatly.

The entire city has seen a significant increase in the density of spiritual energy.

Over the subsequent six years, Ye Qingxuan utilized the properties of Spirit Gathering Grass to inscribe formation patterns of the Spirit Gathering Array onto Tier Five Spirit Gathering Arrays.

Then, using these inscribed Spirit Gathering Grasses as array cores, he deployed a massive Spirit Gathering Array throughout Dongxuan City.

The combination of Spirit Gathering Grass and the Spirit Gathering Array produced exceptionally good results.

Given the vast area of Dongxuan City, the density of spiritual energy in various districts within the city has been slowly increasing.

In addition,

to facilitate the management of Dongxuan City,

Ye Qingxuan's true body specifically entered seclusion to research and deploy a Tier Six Composite Illusion Array.

With the aid of this Tier Six Composite Illusion Array, Ye Qingxuan can manage the contribution point system of Dongxuan City more conveniently.

Currently, every resident of Dongxuan City possesses an array token.

Such formation tokens require only a drop of blood to bind them as master; even ordinary mortals can use some of their functions.

For instance.

As long as one is within the bounds of Dongxuan City, its residents can use the formation token to check their contribution points.

And within the token, they can exchange for items they need.

The formation token contains a small teleportation array.

As long as one is within the bounds of Dongxuan City, after exchanging for items, they can be immediately teleported to the resident's side.

Currently, all mission postings and acceptances throughout Dongxuan City are conducted within the formation token.

Only the settlement and verification of missions take place offline at the mission hall.

Settled contribution points are also directly transferred into the formation token.

The formation token is somewhat similar to Ye Qingxuan's Xuantian Sect disciple token.

However, the Xuantian Sect disciple token is a function of a certain immortal artifact; its range of use is broader than the formation token's, and its limitations are smaller.

The effects of the formation token researched by Ye Qingxuan are actually those of an illusion formation.

Currently, it is effective only on cultivators below the Soul Transformation realm.

If a Soul Transformation cultivator obtained the formation token, it would not produce such effects.

Nevertheless, for Dongxuan City at present, the formation token is already sufficient.

After several years of development.

Many ordinary residents of Dongxuan City have accumulated several contribution points.

Do not think it is little; for ordinary missions in the mortal districts, the settled contribution points are merely 0.01.

0.01 contribution points can be exchanged for ten taels of silver.

One contribution point is equivalent to one thousand taels of silver.

However, silver and gold cannot be exchanged for contribution points.

One contribution point in Dongxuan City can be exchanged for one low-grade spirit stone.

But under normal circumstances, one thousand taels of silver cannot be exchanged for even one low-grade spirit stone.

The various missions posted by Ye Qingxuan are, in effect, a way of distributing benefits to the city's residents.

After obtaining contribution points, residents can exchange them for various cultivation supplies, such as spiritual grains, spiritual herb seeds, Eight-Treasure Chickens, fragrant pigs, spiritual rabbits, and so on.

Given the current spiritual energy environment of Dongxuan City, it is not too difficult for ordinary districts to cultivate low-grade spiritual grains and herbs, or to raise semi-spirit beasts.

As long as there is a harvest, sales channels are not an issue; they can be taken directly to the market within Dongxuan City for sale.

With Ye Qingxuan's permission.

Now, many ordinary residents have temporarily occupied plots of land within the Dongxuan Market.

They are preparing to set up stalls on the day the Dongxuan Market fully opens, selling the first-grade spiritual grains, first-grade spiritual herbs, Eight-Treasure Chickens, fragrant pigs, spiritual rabbits, and other items they have cultivated or raised over these years.

Several years have passed, and the Dongxuan City Guard has not been idle.

Besides daily city patrol missions.

The Dongxuan City Guard also undertakes other missions.

Such as hunting spirit beasts in the mountains, waters, and plains outside Dongxuan City, gathering spiritual herbs, searching for spirit mines, and so on.

Some of these missions are posted by Ye Qingxuan himself, while others are posted by resident cultivators of Dongxuan City. All missions posted by Ye Qingxuan are uniformly settled using contribution points.

Within the formation token, Ye Qingxuan has listed two exchange catalogs.

One corresponds to residents of the ordinary districts, and the other corresponds to cultivators of Dongxuan City.

The catalog for cultivators contains a full array of items from first to fifth grade, including countless auxiliary pills and heavenly treasures for cultivators.

Even the various grotto-heavens and private courtyards of all grades in Dongxuan City can be exchanged for permanent ownership rights.

With enough contribution points, things they previously dared not hope for are now within easy reach in Dongxuan City.

Stimulated by the abundance of cultivation supplies, the members of the Dongxuan City Guard were like they had been injected with chicken blood.

Every day, they were either accepting missions or on their way to accept missions; one after another, they were flying high with mission-taking.

The Foundation Establishment scattered cultivators Li Yuan and Mu Qingqing, a married couple who previously chose to stay in Qingguang City and join Ye Qingxuan's ranks.

Now, they are also very actively accepting missions and accumulating Dongxuan City contribution points.

This is because their son, Li Bin, was recently found to possess a dual-element spiritual root talent during the spiritual root assessment.

Therefore, besides themselves, the two now also need to accumulate cultivation resources for their child.

Buzz! Buzz! The vibration sound of a transmission talisman came through. Li Yuan, who was preparing to go out with his wife to carry out a mission, wore an expression of helplessness on his face.

Seeing this, Mu Qingqing beside him said bitterly, "Is it Old Wang and the others?"

Hearing this, Li Yuan said helplessly:

"If not them, then who else?"

"They thought of leaving before; now that they know the situation of our Dongxuan City, they want to come back? Isn't this making things difficult for us?"

The couple were merely two small squad leaders in the Dongxuan City Guard.

Before Dongxuan City opened its permissions and began recruiting from outside, how could they have had such authority to let outsiders join Dongxuan City? Although his tone was somewhat helpless, the corners of Li Yuan's mouth could not help but curl into a look of pride.

Previously, choosing to stay in Qingguang City felt to Li Yuan like the most correct decision he had ever made in his life.

"Enough, ignore them. The City Lord is not someone we can easily meet."

"If they want to rejoin Dongxuan City, we are powerless to help. Hurry up and do missions!"

Mu Qingqing rolled her eyes at Li Yuan, grabbed him, and fled toward the distance.

In a valley not far from Dongxuan City.

Three Foundation Establishment cultivators were temporarily lodging there.

"How is it? Did Li Yuan reply?"

Hearing his companion's question, Wang Xing awkwardly shook his head.

The three of them were exactly Li Yuan and his wife's former fellow cultivator friends: Wang Xing, Jiang Dongming, and Sun Da.

The one who just spoke was Sun Da among them.

Seeing Wang Xing shake his head, Sun Da immediately complained dissatisfied:

"Li Yuan and Mu Qingqing are really not good friends. It's not like they asked us to join Dongxuan City. It's not a big deal."

Hearing this, Jiang Dongming, who had been silent, glanced at Sun Da and mocked, "Not a big deal? Then you go do it."

"Uh?"

Stung by Jiang Dongming's retort, Sun Da was instantly speechless.

Due to Jiang Dongming's cultivation base at the peak of Foundation Establishment, Sun Da dared not openly refute Jiang Dongming's words.

Li Yuan and Mu Qingqing, along with the other fellow cultivator friends who chose to leave Guangqing City, after learning about the internal situation of the newly built Dongxuan City.

Under Sun Da's suggestion and instigation.

Wang Xing, who had the closest relationship with Li Yuan, had been contacting Li Yuan and Mu Qingqing, attempting to get the three of them rejoin the Dongxuan City guard team through the two of them.

Actually, inside Dongxuan City.

Besides Li Yuan and Mu Qingqing, the other cultivators who stayed were also suffering harassment from their own friends.

Although the items on the exchange list inside Dongxuan City might also appear for sale in the Dongxuan Market later.

However, the exchange price using contribution points inside Dongxuan City is eighty percent of the selling price in the Dongxuan Market.

Moreover, for every level the position is promoted, the discount increases by two percent.

Ordinary members of the Dongxuan City guard team enjoy a twenty percent discount, team leaders get twenty-two percent, squadron leaders get twenty-four percent, and so on.

Such a huge discount, along with the various benefits one can obtain by joining Dongxuan City.

It is hard not to make those fellow cultivators tempted.

Precisely because of this.

The fellow cultivators who chose to leave earlier, after learning about the situation in Dongxuan City, are one by one trying every way to contact their friends inside Dongxuan City.

Attempting to rejoin Dongxuan City through them.

It is not just those fellow cultivators.

The cultivators who chose to stay in Guangqing City earlier and did not follow Ye Qingxuan to Dongxuan City.

After learning about the current situation of Dongxuan City, most of the cultivators also regretted it.

Even the City Lord of Guangqing City felt some wavering in his heart.

However, he is after all the City Lord of a city; although he envies the cultivators inside Dongxuan City, he does not have excessive thoughts of regret for now.

But the other members of the guard team who stayed in Guangqing City are different.

Without comparison, there is no harm.

Before, without the option of Dongxuan City, it was fine.

They had stayed in Guangqing City for quite a long time and did not feel Guangqing City was too bad.

But now with the comparison of Dongxuan City, especially since they themselves had the chance to join Dongxuan City back then.

The regret in their hearts can be imagined.

After all, those who migrated to Dongxuan City were all former residents of Guangqing City.

People from the same city, just because of one choice, their lives underwent earth-shattering changes.

How could they not be envious, jealous, and regretful? Unfortunately, Dongxuan City is not yet open to the outside, and even the teleportation array that previously connected Guangqing City has been temporarily sealed by Ye Qingxuan.

So the cultivators of Guangqing City, although hearing various rumors from the outside and longing greatly for Dongxuan City.

For now, they have no way to come to Dongxuan City to personally experience its differences.

They can only learn about everything in Dongxuan City indirectly through friends inside Dongxuan City who describe it.

It can be said that before Dongxuan City is fully opened, it has already captured the minds of many people.

As the Dongxuan City auction and the time for opening to the outside approach.

The cultivators outside Dongxuan City are even more eager than those inside Dongxuan City.

One by one, they have already arrived at the cities connected to Dongxuan City via teleportation arrays, or directly come to wait outside Dongxuan City.

Waiting only for Dongxuan City to open to the outside and the teleportation array to be unsealed.

They will swarm in, with various moods and purposes, entering Dongxuan City to explore the truth.

(End of this chapter)