Chapter 178

'Alright!'

The woman behind the counter kept smiling at He Pingsheng as she reached out to take the jade slip he offered, politely saying: 'There are two types of eighth-rank courtyards: one near the Lord Mayor's mansion, close to the center of Dingxiang City, and another far from the Lord Mayor's mansion, near the outer walls.'

'Which one do you want?'

He Pingsheng asked: 'Is there a price difference?'

'There is!' the woman said. 'The courtyard near the city center costs five thousand spirit stones; the one on the outskirts also costs five thousand spirit stones!'

'But the annual tax differs!'

'For the outskirts courtyard, you only pay one percent tax—that's just fifty spirit stones!'

'For the city-center courtyard, you pay two percent—that's one hundred spirit stones in tax!'

He Pingsheng was slightly stunned.

Buying a small courtyard, and the Lord Mayor's mansion still demands annual taxes from me?

'I'll take the outskirts one!' He Pingsheng chose the cheaper option.

It wasn't just for the price—it was mainly for peace and quiet!

He himself carried secrets; the farther from the center, the less chance powerful figures would notice him.

'Alright!'

After paying the fee, He Pingsheng smoothly received his small courtyard.

Of course, he also paid ten years' worth of taxes in one lump sum.

The courtyard was in the northeast of Dingxiang City, right near the city wall—not touching it, but certainly less than a hundred zhang away.

Just a single street separated them.

Fortunately, it was quiet enough.

He Pingsheng opened the gate and instantly fell in love with the courtyard.

The yard was covered in grass; at the back stood a three-story building, and in front of it were two fruit trees—ordinary ones, a peach tree and a plum tree.

In the left-front corner of the courtyard was a modest pond, filled with dozens of golden carp.

Closing the gate, He Pingsheng unleashed his spiritual sense.

Now, his spiritual sense could extend four hundred zhang.

Within a four-hundred-zhang radius, every home and neighbor was clearly visible to him.

No cultivators.

That's right—no cultivators nearby, only ordinary mortals lived here.

Perfect!

He Pingsheng opened the door of the three-story building and inspected it inside and out.

No arrays, no cultivation traces remained.

Very clean!

He swept the building again, then placed a fire-type spirit stone inside.

Less than an hour later, all dampness vanished from the building.

He put away the spirit stone and pulled out a array disc!

It was a second-rank disc, made by himself, always carried on his person.

After placing the array flags in their designated positions, a small second-rank defensive array formed.

Besides the defensive array, he activated a second-rank spiritual-seal array and a second-rank alert array.

The spiritual-seal array blocked Foundation Establishment cultivators from extending their spiritual sense to probe.

The second-rank alert array was even more useful.

Since the spiritual-seal array couldn't block spiritual sense probes from Jin Dan cultivators or higher, the alert array would sound if any such probe entered the array.

It would warn He Pingsheng someone was spying on him.

So with these three arrays set up, Jin Dan-level spying was no longer a concern.

As for Nascent Soul-level spying...

There was nothing to be done.

He Pingsheng also believed no Nascent Soul cultivator would be so deranged as to secretly watch a Foundation Establishment disciple.

After all, Dingxiang City had at least eighty thousand, if not a hundred thousand, Foundation Establishment disciples.

After setting up the arrays, He Pingsheng placed a pink meditation cushion on the third floor of the building, then sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.

Since he had almost no Spirit Gathering Pills, the only thing he could cultivate now was the Nine Toxins Golden Body Art.

After being enhanced by the Treasure Basin, the thirteen poison pills became twenty-six—all top-tier second-rank poison pills.

Start refining.

Six months later, He Pingsheng had refined the Nine Toxins Golden Body Art to Foundation Establishment Level One; twenty-two of the twenty-six poison pills were used, leaving only four.

Further cultivation was now essentially impossible.

He needed to go out and acquire more resources.

'Shopkeeper, have the latest updates come out?'

He Pingsheng entered the 【Dingxiang Trading Society】 and asked the shopkeeper behind the counter.

The shopkeeper looked utterly confused.

'This... fellow cultivator...'

'What are you talking about?'

He had completely forgotten He Pingsheng existed.

He Pingsheng exhaled in relief: so he wasn't that easily noticed after all.

'Heh...' he smiled. 'Six months ago I bought a map from you, and you promised free access to new information for ten years!'

'Oh oh oh!' the shopkeeper slapped his forehead. 'I remember now... come, come...'

'Here you go!'

The shopkeeper, practiced and swift, pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng glanced at it—the paper was densely covered with over a hundred entries.

Some reported discoveries of heavenly treasures, others noted sect leadership changes, or the annihilation of cultivation clans.

He Pingsheng didn't care about any of those.

He cared only about the Daoxuan Alliance and the Grand Void Gate.

Indeed!

He found the entry about the Grand Void Gate.

Just one line: 'In the third month, the Daoxuan Alliance's Beast Tamer Immortal Sect destroyed the Grand Void Gate. The Grand Void Gate's Jin Dan disciple Wuwei was killed; the remaining Jin Dan disciples surrendered. The Grand Void Gate was extinguished, its sect lands divided among the Beast Tamer Immortal Sect, the Ice Pole Sect, and several others—final ownership undecided.'

He Pingsheng nodded expressionlessly. 'Thank you.'

The shopkeeper asked: 'Would you like to purchase any items?'

He Pingsheng asked: 'Do you have second-rank poison pills?'

The shopkeeper shook his head: 'Not at the moment.'

He Pingsheng shook his head: 'Nothing else for now. Goodbye.'

Stepping out of the Dingxiang Trading Society, He Pingsheng let out a deep breath.

The Grand Void Gate's destruction was inevitable—it was rotten to the core, beyond saving.

What he cared about was whether the people were safe.

The notice only said Wuwei died—that meant Master Yuning and Senior Brother Yuanyuan were still alive.

Good.

With a flick of his hand, the paper turned to ash.

He Pingsheng walked down the street and soon stopped before a shop named 【Xuanyuan Alchemy Shop】.

Such alchemy shops normally sold pills and various spirit herbs.

In short, they carried everything related to alchemy—but whether they had what you needed depended on luck.

Because they didn't stock everything!

'Welcome, Elder!' a child, seemingly only in his teens, bowed politely. 'What would you like, Elder?'

The shop had only one person inside.

He Pingsheng's spiritual sense swept over the child—the boy's cultivation was surprisingly high.

He had reached Qi Refining Level Eight.

A genius.