Chen Xihua gazed towards the direction of the city, his brows slightly furrowed:
"I always feel that the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in this territory has a faint tension, but hopefully, I’m just being paranoid."
...
The grayish-blue city walls towered majestically, with the ancient block-style characters "White Cloud City" soaring like dragons and dancing like phoenixes on the top, hundreds of zhang high.
A faint Spirit Light of an Array, reaching Tier Four Top Grade, tightly enveloped this city.
Chen Sheng mingled with the crowd entering the city, glancing up at those three characters. By his ear, martial artists nearby excitedly discussed, their voices full of enthusiasm.
"Have you heard? The Celestial Capital Martial Arts Academy is recruiting new students again! This is the biggest event in White Cloud City in nearly a hundred years!"
A young man with a long sword on his back clapped his companion’s shoulder, his voice so loud that it drew the attention of those around.
The young man in a brocade robe next to him hurriedly tugged at his sleeve, lowering his voice yet unable to hide his excitent:
"Quiet! Last ti, the chief disciple of the Celestial Capital Martial Arts Academy, a Martial Arts Golden Core, was noticed by an Elder of the Bai Chu Sect and taken in as a Nad Disciple."
"The threshold this ti is probably raised to Innate level, with our level of cultivation, we’re just here to enjoy the event."
The young man retorted with his neck stiffened:
"So what? There’s no harm in going to take a look!"
"I heard from a servant at the City Lord Mansion that even the three young masters of the City Lord’s family are going to participate in the assessnt, showing how formidable the academy is!"
Their dispute reached Chen Sheng’s ears. The fingers hanging in his sleeves moved slightly, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief:
"Fortunately, I can understand the writing, and the language is also familiar."
The Human Race territory in the Spirit Realm spans countless trillions of miles. Even the Four Seas Wanderer was only active in a few Dao Domains and knew little about the cultures and customs of other Dao Domains.
Fortunately, the basic languages and writings of the Human Race across the Spirit World are identical and have not changed much over the tens of thousands of years.
He had already learned them from the inheritance mories of the Four Seas Wanderer, so he didn’t need to resort to Soul Search to acquire linguistic basics as he did when he first entered an unfamiliar realm.
Entering the city gates, the hustle and bustle of the marketplace hit him directly, and the streets paved with bluestone slabs were wide and even.
Lining the streets were rows of shops with signs reading "Pill Pavilion," "Artifact Shop," and "Intelligence Tower," embroidered with simple runes, exuding a faint Spiritual Qi.
Chen Sheng hunched over, assuming the appearance of an elderly Loose Cultivator, andering slowly through the crowd, gathering various information in the most primitive way, unnoticed.
In this city, mortals and cultivators mingled, and Chen Sheng saw many martial artists similar to the two young n.
These people had no Mana, yet their auras were extraordinary, matching many in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishnt stages. As he gathered information, he gradually understood.
"This is the Martial Arts cultivation of the Spirit Realm, Acquired Ten Layers, Innate Ten Layers, True Gang Ten Layers, Martial Arts Golden Core..."
"Martial Arts cultivation does not require a Spiritual Root but consus more resources than Qi Refining cultivation. For the mortals of the Spirit Realm, it’s a viable path."
"An Innate Martial Artist cultivating a special Martial Arts Technique can rival a Qi Refining Cultivator. The True Gang Realm compares to Foundation Establishnt, although their thods may slightly lack, they can still contend sowhat."
"After reaching Martial Arts Golden Core, one can even derive Spiritual Roots through special Techniques, then switch to Cultivation, so it’s not a dead end."
Chen Sheng contemplated the mundane Martial Arts of the Celestial Abyss Realm, comparing it to the Martial Arts of the Spirit Realm, which was evidently still at its beginning stage.
"However, lower realm resources are limited, and there aren’t enough Spiritual Root cultivators available, let alone share them with mortals. Only in the Spirit Realm is such grandeur possible."
...
"White Cloud City belongs to the Shang Yuan Ancient Country, and the City Lord White Cloud has a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, while the old ancestor of the Shang Yuan Ancient Country’s Imperial Family is a Divinity Transformation Cultivator."
"This region, known as the Huangqiu Plain, comprises hundreds of similar countries."
Chen Sheng marveled in his heart.
"Truly, until you reach the Spirit Realm, you don’t know how many High Tier Cultivators there are. The Celestial Venerables of Divinity Transformation, who stand at the top of the Lower Realm, are commonplace here."
"Even though so small countries do not have Divinity Transformation cultivators, the nations combined have dozens of Venerables of Divinity Transformation!"
In the Spirit Realm, although Divinity Transformation Cultivators can integrate their spirits with heaven and earth, they cannot comprehend the operation of the Heavenly Dao or oversee large-scale transformations, so they cannot be called Celestial Venerables and are often called Venerables.
Very soon, the basic information in the market was nearly collected, but these mixed and half-true and half-false pieces of information still needed verification through more professional channels.
Raising his head, Chen Sheng saw a three-story pavilion at the street corner, with the plaque "Zhixiang Tower" hanging from the lintel.
The couplet on either side of the plaque read "Heard from the World" and "Solving All Doubts," and a shop assistant stood at the entrance with a condensed aura, a Foundation Establishnt Cultivator.
As he approached, a middle-aged cultivator in a gray robe with a shrewd look ca up to greet him, clearly the shopkeeper of Zhixiang Tower, possessing a late-stage Golden Core cultivation.
The shopkeeper, seeing that a fellow Golden Core cultivator had arrived, imdiately greeted him with a smile:
"Please co inside, Daoist! Judging by your bearing, you must be a distinguished guest from afar, and we have so fine tea prepared for you in the inner hall!"
Chen Sheng nodded slightly and followed the shopkeeper into the inner hall.
He then stared into the shopkeeper’s eyes, which montarily froze, as if he had beco a puppet controlled by strings.
Chen Sheng quickly gave a few instructions, and the shopkeeper imdiately retrieved dozens of Jade Scrolls with respect.
His Primordial Spirit entered the Jade Scroll, and an ocean of information surged into his mind.
The intelligence here focused on White Cloud City and the Shang Yuan Ancient Country, with brief records of neighboring Refining Void forces, but there was nothing beyond that. There was not even a record of which Dao Domain this area belonged to within the Human Race territories.
"A regional dium-small intelligence agency that could never leave the Huangqiu Plain in a lifeti, let alone reach a Dao Domain, is to be expected."
"The Shang Yuan Ancient Country’s Imperial Family is surnad Zhao, with Ancestor Zhao Hongtu being a Divinity Transformation Early-stage Venerable. The four main Refining Void forces include the Bai Chu Sect, Celestial Phenonon Tower, Longevity Comrce Association, and True Sword Sect."
"The Bai Chu Sect is a sect in na only, a force comprised of the Bai and Chu families, ranking first among the four forces, with two Refining Void Great Powers from the Bai and Chu families."
"Wait, Bai Chu Sect, Star Observatory?!"
Chen Sheng’s Primordial Spirit suddenly paused, and the three subsequent words "Star Observatory" made his expression change drastically. Given his inheritance from the Four Seas Wanderer, he naturally knew what it represented.
The Four Seas Wanderer had once placed nurous ’Star Observatories’ in a realm full of space nodes, working in conjunction with the central "Observatory Tower" to accurately pinpoint the location of smugglers.
Over the past tens of thousands of years, he had captured dozens of ’Lower Realm smugglers,’ and the coordinates of many Small Thousand Worlds in his Star Map ca from this.
The Bai Chu Sect’s Star Observatory before him was identical in layout to the one in his mory!
"We have most likely been exposed!"
Chen Sheng’s heart tensed, but he soon cald down:
"Thankfully, there’s only a Star Observatory and no Observatory Tower. At most, they can determine a general area, but cannot accurately pinpoint our hiding place."
After Chen Sheng left, that late-stage Golden Core shopkeeper imdiately cursed: "Poor bastard!"
It turned out that Chen Sheng had woven a false mory, so the shopkeeper would only rember that a Golden Core Loose Cultivator ca to inquire about intelligence today but did not make a purchase.
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