Chapter 460: Exponential Growth

In Dongxuan City.

As the number of cultivators keeps rising, it has become increasingly lively, with constant noise and clamor.

"Did you hear? The prices for spirit vein caves in Dongxuan City have gone up again."

"Hey, you're still thinking about spirit vein caves? Nowadays, we can't even afford courtyards in the mortal districts of Dongxuan City."

"Who can deny it? I, a proper Foundation Establishment cultivator, can only rent a mortal courtyard to settle in Dongxuan City."

"Sigh, things are changing too fast. If only we had bought a courtyard in the mortal districts when we arrived in Dongxuan City over ten years ago."

"Look at the natives of Dongxuan City; anyone who owns property here has made a fortune!"

"Not to mention the cultivators of Dongxuan City, even a few mortals who own several courtyards are now earning so many spirit stones from rent that it makes people envious."

"Heh, this is fate. Who else could have lived in Dongxuan City for hundreds of years, generation after generation?"

"Hmph, if this weren't Dongxuan City, I would have already..."

"If this weren't Dongxuan City, would you be willing to spend so many spirit stones to rent a mortal courtyard?"

"."

"Enough, enough. Don't you see that even the Nascent Soul experts in Dongxuan City are behaving themselves? What's the point of saying all this?"

"Don't be impatient. More and more people are joining Dongxuan City now. If this continues, Dongxuan City will become extremely crowded."

"I heard that Dongxuan City is preparing to expand outward. Moreover, the existing districts will be set up with spatial arrays to enlarge the internal area. By then, the prices of mortal courtyards should drop significantly."

"Do you think the buildings Dongxuan City uses to house incoming mortal populations will be sold or rented out to outsiders?"

Such discussions are echoing throughout Dongxuan City.

All of this is because the number of both cultivators and mortals in Dongxuan City has been growing far too fast.

Originally, after occupying the Waterland Realm, Dongxuan City was vast and sparsely populated, but now it has become packed with people.

The prices of spirit vein caves within the city keep rising again and again.

Even courtyards in the mortal districts of Dongxuan City are now hard to find.

The reason for this situation is the Demon Tide that has recently erupted in Xingluo Province.

In just a few short years.

Countless humans in Xingluo Province have perished at the hands of the Green Demon Clan.

With everyone feeling unsafe, cultivators in Xingluo Province naturally seek to attach themselves to powerful figures for protection.

After all, so far, no Void-Exploration-stage Green Demon has appeared in Xingluo Province.

However, there have been some clues pointing to the presence of Soul Transformation-stage Green Demons.

In Xingluo Province, a city guarded by a Nascent Soul expert is suspected to have been destroyed by a Soul Transformation-stage Green Demon.

Since the continuous invasion by the Green Demon Clan, especially after cities guarded by Nascent Soul experts were destroyed by them.

All sects or cities around Dongxuan City that lack a Soul Transformation-stage expert.

In order to seek protection.

Have voluntarily merged into Dongxuan City.

In a short period, a large number of cultivators and mortals have migrated into Dongxuan City.

This has turned the once very spacious Dongxuan City into the crowded place it is today.

It is not that human cultivators fear the Green Demon Clan, but rather that the Green Demon Clan has no morality or rules whatsoever.

They launch surprise attacks in secret, target low-level cultivators and even mortals, frequently massacre entire cities, and destroy spirit veins.

If they were to engage in open combat with Green Demon cultivators of the same realm.

The various human factions would not be afraid.

But facing the possibility of surprise attacks by high-level Green Demon cultivators at any time, they are powerless.

With minds tense, many low-level human cultivators dare not even enter deep cultivation states.

If medium and small powers are like this, what about scattered cultivators living in various places?

Before the invasion of the Earth Mystery Realm.

Although human cultivators in Xingluo Province and even the entire Dongji Domain would fight each other.

There was at least a stable order.

High-level cultivators would not deign to attack low-level ones, and conflicts between cultivators would not affect mortals.

But after the Green Demon Clan invaded the Earth Mystery Realm, everything changed.

The Green Demon Clan itself is a destroyer of order, forcing the humans in Xingluo Province to alter their original structure.

Under these circumstances, merging into Dongxuan City or other forces guarded by Soul Transformation-stage experts to seek their protection has become the inevitable trend.

Only in this way can human cultivators cultivate with peace of mind.

After settling their families and ensuring their safety, with no worries behind them.

Human cultivators can then take the initiative to actively hunt down invading Green Demons, or even enter the Green Demon Realm to fight fire with fire.

This is also the reason why, after many cities merged into Dongxuan City.

They chose to retain autonomy and form their own Demon-Hunting Armies.

Freed from the burden of maintaining cities, these city lords and the cultivators under their command have become even more flexible.

Seeing the benefits in this.

In just a few short years, four or five cities guarded by Nascent Soul experts voluntarily applied to merge into Dongxuan City.

Although after merging into Dongxuan City, these cities all demanded autonomy.

Under the leadership of their respective city lords, they formed individual Demon-Hunting Armies.

However, the increase in population and the growing number of settled cultivators in Dongxuan City can also bring considerable benefits to the city.

In recent years, simply selling and renting out courtyards in the mortal districts.

This allowed Dongxuan City to make a huge profit.

A few days ago, Ye Qingxuan had already submitted an application for the outward expansion of Dongxuan City.

Once the outward expansion of Dongxuan City succeeds, the number of people the entire city can accommodate will increase significantly.

However, the newly expanded districts cannot be protected by the Seventh-Rank Star Array and can only be defended by a Sixth-Rank Supreme Guardian Array.

Even so, for cultivators from the outside world,

the newly built districts of Dongxuan City are far safer than other areas in Xingluo Province.

Moreover, with Ye Qingxuan, a Dongxu Realm City Lord of Dongxuan City, standing guard,

the safety of the new districts is only slightly lower than that of the original districts of Dongxuan City.

The current Dongxuan City,

is dominated by the power of Dongxuan City itself.

Below them are seven or eight Soul Transformation Realm wandering cultivators settled in Dongxuan City.

Then come the Demon-Hunting Armies formed by the various city lords merged into Dongxuan City, along with other Nascent Soul Realm wandering cultivators.

Further down are numerous mid- and low-rank cultivation families.

And a vast number of low-rank wandering cultivators seeking refuge in Dongxuan City.

Finally, there are the mortal residents, who form the largest base.

Many among them possess autonomy and do not need to obey orders from Dongxuan City.

Yet they are equally important components of Dongxuan City.

For Ye Qingxuan, as long as they survive within Dongxuan City and rely on it for their livelihood,

even if these cultivators possess sufficient autonomy,

he can still mobilize them to serve him by issuing missions.

After all, given the current situation,

if most cultivators do not strive to complete the missions of Dongxuan City, they will lack sufficient income to sustain their expenses in Dongxuan City.

It must be remembered that many cultivators rent housing within Dongxuan City and do not have their own permanent settlements.

(End of this chapter)