Chapter 629: Mansion

"The Zhu Que Imperial City Office of Military and Administrative Affairs?"

On the wide street, Qiao Hui Zhu looked up, her delicate face fixed on the massive palace before her; she pointed repeatedly with her finger, reading aloud the large characters above the gate, then asked: "What is this place?"

He Pingsheng said: "Short for… the City Lord's Mansion!"

"Hey!" Qiao Hui Zhu immediately felt her intelligence insulted: "This… this this this… why not just call it the Zhu Que Imperial City City Lord's Mansion?"

He Pingsheng said: "If it were that straightforward, how would anyone know this is an imperial city? This is precisely the difference between an imperial city and an ordinary one!"

"Let's go—first find a place to settle!"

What next?

Where to?

He Pingsheng had no plan at all for the broad direction.

He didn't know!

But for now, he still had a few small plans.

For instance, first seek out the materials needed to forge the 【Death-Substitution Puppet】; once gathered, he could attempt to forge the puppet.

Once forged successfully, he could then nurture and use it.

Isn't an extra layer of defense better?

In addition, he must forge more 【Spirit-Consolidating Pills】 and 【Path- Gathering Pills】.

A fifth-rank Path-Gathering Pill can enhance a Soul Transformation cultivator's understanding of Dao principles, helping them break through Dao barriers.

He Pingsheng had already comprehended all his Dao principles, but he could forge these pills for Qiao Hui Zhu to use.

Or, he could take his own Dao principles to the Jiaoyi Society and trade them with others for different ones, mutually breaking through Dao barriers.

All of these are possible!

But first, he needed a foothold.

Since he had no place to stay, He Pingsheng temporarily chose Zhu Que Imperial City as his base.

Here, it was relatively safe.

After all, Zhu Que the Demon Emperor resided here; even the Heavenly Flame Divine Emperor might not dare to cause trouble here.

The three entered the City Lord's Mansion.

Within the City Lord's Mansion, there was a grand hall dedicated to selling various residences, houses, and even sect lands.

Inside the hall, people came and went, bustling and crowded.

Along the outer edge of the hall, parallel to the walls, ran a circular row of windows—over three thousand in total.

Each window handled transactions related to housing rentals, sales, and purchases.

He Pingsheng was utterly amazed.

Looking at this, Zhu Que Imperial City was truly immense!

Even so, long queues formed before every single transaction window.

"Young Master, I'll go line up first—you take a look around!" At this moment, Hao Cang naturally stepped forward to queue.

He Pingsheng nodded: "Go ahead!"

Having an old servant along was indeed much more convenient.

After Hao Cang joined the queue, He Pingsheng took Qiao Hui Zhu's hand and walked to the very center of the hall.

At the center stood an eight-sided stone stele, each face ten zhang wide and fifty zhang tall.

Each face of the stele was inscribed with an array; within its flickering light membrane, countless characters and pieces of information flowed continuously.

It contained descriptions of all residences, courtyards, and sect lands throughout the imperial city.

Broadly, they could be divided into several categories.

Classified by area and spiritual energy.

The smallest area was only dozens of zhang across; the largest reached three thousand zhang.

As for spiritual energy, it was ranked by concentration: ordinary, mid-tier, excellent, good, superior, and supreme.

He Pingsheng couldn't say exactly how much spiritual energy each grade contained.

But choosing a higher grade was certainly correct.

Though the price was relatively higher.

Above were not only textual descriptions, but also illustrations of each courtyard!

He Pingsheng studied them for about half an hour; nearby, Hao Cang had finally reached the front of the queue.

"Let's go over!"

He Pingsheng and Qiao Hui Zhu arrived at the window.

"Senior, greetings!" The woman handling the transaction was only at Foundation Establishment; in an imperial city, one addressed everyone as "senior": "Which type of residence are you looking to purchase?"

He Pingsheng said: "No need to be near the center—somewhere on the outskirts is fine, but the spiritual energy mustn't be too poor… at least superior grade!"

"Also, the courtyard doesn't need to be large—thirty zhang across will do!"

He Pingsheng had already checked: a thirty-zhang residence, though not large, contained at least two grand halls.

He and Qiao Hui Zhu could live in one; Hao Cang could take the other.

"Understood!" The female cultivator nodded. "Senior, I've selected one hundred and fifty-three residences matching your requirements. Which one suits you?"

He Pingsheng scanned the information displayed on the array's light membrane, then pointed to a residence near Nanmen: "This one."

"How many spirit stones?"

"The cost is thirty thousand superior-grade spirit stones!" The woman smiled sweetly, looking at He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng waved his hand: "Pay!"

Thirty thousand was a lot, very expensive.

But it didn't matter—he'd been able to refine two per day while in the Underworld Imperial Palace.

Two per day for ten years amounted to over seven thousand.

The key was, He Pingsheng had stayed there for eighty-eight years.

Meaning he'd refined roughly sixty thousand.

He still had thirty thousand.

What He Pingsheng hadn't expected was that no tax was required for this house; yet although purchased, the residency term was only five hundred years.

After five hundred years, the City Lord's Mansion would reclaim it directly.

Of course, if you didn't stay the full term, you could sell it midway, with depreciation calculated per year of occupancy.

After receiving the residence's array token, He Pingsheng registered it under Hao Cang's name, then hurried off.

Thirty zhang, on the surface, seemed small.

But in reality, thirty zhang was still a sizable plot.

A thirty-zhang courtyard had two halls—one large, one small.

The large hall was at the back; the small one at the front.

Thick spiritual energy washed over them.

To He Pingsheng, spiritual energy meant nothing; but for Qiao Hui Zhu and Hao Cang, it was vital—they both needed to absorb celestial spiritual energy to advance their cultivation.

"Young Master, Lady, this small pavilion will do for this old servant!"

"You two take the large hall—I'll check the arrays!"

He Pingsheng also went over and first inspected the City Lord's Mansion's arrays.

No issues, but the array's rank was low—only third-rank.

He Pingsheng pulled out two array discs, placing a 【Dual-Spirit Array】 at both the grand hall and the pavilion, then began carving additional array discs to set up other arrays.

Such as a defense array!

A spirit gathering array!

An illusion array!

Even, he set up a hidden teleportation array.

Teleportation arrays had little daily use, but could save one's life in emergencies.

After completing the arrays, He Pingsheng began refining pills.

He still had the primordial essence he obtained from the Ascension Corridor; he had already comprehended these, and re-learning the same principles was useless.

So he planned to refine this Dao principle into 【Path-Gathering Pills】, to give to Qiao Hui Zhu or trade elsewhere.