Chapter 306: Chapter 293: Visitor from Donghua
Xiao Ying comprehended the Dao overnight, thus there was no need to linger at Dan Yun Peak.
Zhouyang left two Tier Three Middle-grade Magical Artifacts on the stone table within the cave mansion and then soared into the sky on a flying sword, taking Xiao Ying away from Dan Yun Peak.
Not long after they departed, a couple of loose cultivators who saw the sword light disappearing mustered their courage to return to Dan Yun Peak to assess the situation.
Upon seeing the artifacts Zhouyang left on the stone table, the couple were both shocked and delighted. They exchanged glances, each seeing the joy in the other’s eyes.
"That’s right, since that senior left these two artifacts here, it shows they truly don’t intend to settle here permanently. We don’t need to move; let’s call the children back!"
The male cultivator hesitated for a moment before gently nodding at his Dao companion and expressing his opinion.
"I’ll personally fetch the children right away."
With that, the female cultivator hurried out of the cave mansion to gather her descendants.
Afterward, the couple divided the two artifacts Zhouyang left behind, then sealed the cave mansion as before and strictly forbade their descendants from coming near it.
Zhouyang, of course, was unaware of all this, and even if he knew, he might just smile indifferently, not commenting.
After Xiao Ying’s awakening to the Dao, the special significance of Dan Yun Peak was gone; whether they would return there was uncertain.
Once they left Dan Yun Peak, they did not fly in a roundabout way as before but instead chose a normal route, first arriving at Jingxuan Immortal City by the Bai Shui Lake.
This Jingxuan Immortal City was established by the major sect Mirror Profound Sect of the Celestial Wind Country. Although not large, due to being the closest Immortal City to the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, the cultivator traffic was quite considerable.
Upon arriving at this Immortal City, Zhouyang, following his suggestion, first went to a restaurant in the city to try some local delicacies. That done, they spent two days exploring the city, selling a few stolen artifacts Zhouyang had brought from the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, and bought some "Mo Yun Stones," a specialty of the Mirror Profound Sect, before leaving for their next destination.
Back when in the storage ring from the Blood Netherworld, Zhouyang obtained many stolen magical artifacts initially used by Yellow Sand Sect Foundation Establishment Cultivators. These artifacts could not be easily sold in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, nor dared he give them to clan cultivators, so he brought them to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm to sell.
This journey was initially intended to broaden his knowledge of the Cultivation Realm, so he planned to stop at each Immortal City for two or three days, sell a few stolen artifacts, taste the local cuisines, enjoy some distinctive sceneries, and buy some usable specialties.
The "Mo Yun Stone" purchased from Jingxuan City, a great talisman-making spiritual ink obtainable only near the Mirror Profound Sect in this cultivation realm, mixed with demon beast spirit blood, significantly improves the success rate of making spirit talismans.
Unfortunately, the top-grade "Mo Yun Stones" were monopolized by the Mirror Profound Sect or exchanged for rare resources with other sects. Only low-grade ones were available on the market. Zhouyang had to trade a large piece of root cut from a Tier Four Tree Demon just to get three fist-sized middle-grade "Mo Yun Stones."
After traveling like this for three or four months, passing through over ten Immortal Cities, Zhouyang had almost sold off all the stolen artifacts he carried. During this time, he also purchased numerous materials for artifact refining, alchemy, and talisman making.
According to the original plan, they would continue this way for another two or three years before reaching Immortal Sun City.
However, midway through, Zhouyang heard a piece of news that forced him to change his plan and speed up to Immortal Sun City with Xiao Ying.
As it turned out, he heard midway that a large caravan hailing from the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm would arrive in Immortal Sun City in half a year.
Reportedly, this caravan comprised over a thousand people, with three Nascent Soul Stage cultivators escorting it.
Typically, such cross-realm trading caravans would go directly to the genuine central holy land of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, the "Liuyun Immortal City," for trade.
Yet, for some unknown reason, the Profound Sun Immortal Sect managed to make the three Nascent Soul Stage leaders of the caravan alter their plan slightly, deciding to stop at Immortal Sun City for a year before heading to "Liuyun Immortal City."
Zhouyang wasn’t very familiar with the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, only knowing it to be equal, if not superior, to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm in strength, with a vaster territory bordering the sea and connections with the rumored Overseas Cultivation Realm.
Supposedly, just supposedly, a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal appeared in the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm over five thousand years ago, and it’s possible that this True Immortal is residing there.
If this rumor is true, one can only imagine the splendor of the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm.
Thus, upon hearing that a large caravan from the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm would be staying at Immortal Sun City for a year, Zhouyang immediately decided to hurry there as quickly as possible.
Not only him, but also many cultivators who heard this news were doing the same.
Such a trade caravan that traverses the Cultivation Realm is indeed a rare event even in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, happening once in a century.
To maximize profits, the spiritual objects brought by each caravan are never below Tier Four, and many are specialties from the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, or even from the Overseas Cultivation Realm.
Thus, each time such large-scale trade caravans arrive, they attract countless high-tier cultivators from the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm to the caravan’s base for trading.
Having hurriedly traveled for over a month, Zhouyang and his companion finally arrived outside Immortal Sun City.
The first thing Zhouyang did upon arrival in Immortal Sun City was to rent a cave residence.
Currently, due to the large-scale trade caravan coming from the Donghua Continent, the cave residence rental business in Immortal Sun City is booming. If it weren’t for the "Profound Sun Order" in his hand, Zhouyang might not have been able to secure a cave residence suitable for his cultivation.
This cave residence is located atop a Tier Four Top-grade Spirit Mountain within the city. The Spirit Mountain has five Tier Four cave mansions and over twenty Tier Three cave mansions. Apart from the cave mansion Zhouyang rented, all others are already occupied by visiting cultivators.
Because the entire Spirit Mountain is developed with only five Tier Four cave mansions, the available area of Zhouyang’s rented residence is quite substantial. Not only is the interior of the cave mansion fully equipped with various facilities, but there’s also a spirit medicine garden spanning several acres and a bamboo forest covering over a hundred acres outside the mansion. The bamboo forest even contains a spiritual spring with dense spiritual Qi.
Of course, corresponding to the scale of the cave mansion is its high rental cost. The normal annual rent for the cave mansion is 3500 low-grade spirit stones, but with Zhouyang’s "Profound Sun Order," he receives a 20% discount, paying an actual rent of 2800 low-grade spirit stones annually!
However, Zhouyang now possesses wealth amounting to several tens of thousands. Although these spirit stones are substantial, they don’t intimidate him, and he promptly paid for five years’ rent.
Indeed, the minimum rental period for such a high-level cave mansion is five years.
Having settled the rental, Zhouyang asked Xiao Ying to cultivate peacefully in the cave mansion while he went to the Profound Sun Pavilion to meet the Head Shopkeeper.
The current Head Shopkeeper of the Profound Sun Pavilion is still Xu Zhengyang. He understood Zhouyang’s close relationship with Master Cyan Yang, so upon hearing of Zhouyang’s visit, he did not act arrogantly but courteously invited Zhouyang into an upscale guest lounge for reception.
"I didn’t expect that after merely a few decades apart, Fellow Zhou has already successfully opened the Purple Mansion. Such a cultivation speed is indeed comparable to the core disciples within our Profound Sun Immortal Sect!"
Inside the lounge, once Zhouyang performed the salutations, Xu Zhengyang looked at him with a warm smile and repeatedly praised him.
Seeing his smiling appearance, anyone unaware of the inside story might mistakenly think Zhouyang is one of his outstanding junior kin.
"Elder Xu flatters me. It’s well-known that the core disciples of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect are each exceptional talents with a great chance to achieve the Golden Core stage in the future. As a mere junior, how dare I compare myself to those luminous geniuses!"
Zhouyang shook his head with a bitter smile, not daring to take Xu Zhengyang’s words seriously.
As he said, the core disciples of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect are chosen one in thousands. A top-grade spiritual root is merely a basic requirement to become a core disciple; creating the Purple Mansion before a hundred years old is the second condition, and the third requirement is to independently slay a Purple Mansion Demon Cultivator or a Tier Four Demon Beast within ten years after opening the Purple Mansion.
The standing and treatment of these core disciples within the Profound Sun Immortal Sect are no less than some Golden Core Stage cultivators with dwindling potential. As long as they don’t die prematurely, they have over a 60% chance of successful Core Formation.
All nine Nascent Soul Stage Supreme Elders of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect at present were no exceptions as former core disciples of the sect. Over 70% of the Golden Core Stage cultivators had also been core disciples.
This implies the high value of the core disciples of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect!
Zhouyang believes that, while his combat power may not be inferior to any peer, when it comes to cultivation speed and future potential, he doesn’t dare to claim he can surpass those core disciples nurtured by the entire Profound Sun Immortal Sect.
Avoiding further discussion on the topic, after his brief self-mockery, Zhouyang expressed his desire to meet Master Cyan Yang.
Upon hearing Zhouyang’s words, Xu Zhengyang slightly bowed his head in contemplation for a moment and then nodded, saying, "Xu can convey Fellow Zhou’s intention to Junior Martial Uncle Qingyang, but whether Junior Martial Uncle Qingyang wants to meet you is beyond Xu’s control."
Zhouyang knew that Xu Zhengyang was not merely dismissing him but acknowledged that as a Golden Core Stage cultivator, he truly couldn’t influence the decisions of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. Being able to transfer the message to Master Cyan Yang was the extent of his capability.
Thus, he promptly bowed to express his gratitude, saying, "Many thanks to Elder Xu then."
Immediately, Xu Zhengyang, in Zhouyang’s presence, dispatched a communication flying sword to Master Cyan Yang in the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.
Approximately an hour after sending out the communication flying sword, Master Cyan Yang’s reply arrived via the sword.
Xu Zhengyang retrieved the communication flying sword, glanced at it, and nodded slightly towards Zhouyang, who was filled with anticipation, saying, "Junior Martial Uncle has agreed, but he mentioned he’s currently occupied with matters. You are requested to wait within Immortal Sun City for half a year, after which he’ll have time to meet you."