The next day

Li Mu set up a Dragon Image Concealment Array over Little Liang Mountain, then took off on his flying sword, hurtling towards Gangyang City.

With a journey of two to three hundred miles ahead and unfamiliar terrain, Li Mu feared flying in the wrong direction. He flew intermittently, stopping to confirm his path with several encountered cultivators.

After an hour and a half, the silhouette of a giant city built on a mountainside began to take shape.

He finally arrived!

Upon seeing the giant city at the mountain's summit, Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Along the way, he encountered cultivators and had over a dozen run-ins with demon beasts, the most dangerous being a flock of Tier One Flaming Birds.

Luckily, with his divine sense fully extended, Li Mu could cover a mile-wide area, allowing him to detect dangers in advance and evade accordingly.

Approaching closer, the full view of Gangyang City unfolded before Li Mu.

Gangyang City has an inner and outer city. The inner city is constructed around the midsection of a solitary peak, while the outer city's walls are erected by connecting five surrounding smaller peaks with ten-foot-high walls standing tall amidst the mountains. Eight stone bridges soar through the air, linking the inner and outer cities. The city's architectural style is majestic and grand, truly spectacular.

Such a city could never be constructed in the past modern world.

Numerous Spiritual Ships and cultivators controlling flying swords descended in a designated area by the city walls.

An Anti-air Array is set above the inner city of Gangyang City, preventing direct flight into the city. Observing this, Li Mu descended with his flying sword, landing at the Sword Control Pier near the city gate.

Not far from the gate, a Foundation Establishment cultivator stood with eight Late-Stage Qi Refining guards, overseeing the gate and monitoring every cultivator entering or leaving. A Detection Spirit Mirror atop the city walls functioned in real-time, preventing demon and dark cultivators from entering.

Seeing this, Li Mu couldn't help but appreciate how security in a big city had certainly improved a lot.

Unlike the dangerous Qing'an Town, where even a few Tier Two demon beasts attacking together could potentially wipe it off the map.

"Newcomer? Entry fee is five Lower Spirit Stones! No sword control within the city!" As Li Mu was about to enter the city, a guard stopped him, gesturing with his hand.

Li Mu took out five Lower Spirit Stones, paid the entry fee, and received an iron token from the guard. He was informed that this token was valid for fifteen days; after that, if he intended to stay in Gangyang City, he'd need to pay more spirit stones. If leaving, the token had to be returned.

Well!

Staying in Gangyang City requires paying three Lower Spirits per day, not including the cost of accommodation!

Living in a big city is not easy!

However, upon entering the city, a wave of rich spiritual energy rushed towards Li Mu. He immediately understood why the entrance fee was so expensive.

There is certainly a high-tier Spirit Vein in Gangyang City. Even the overflowing spiritual energy is three to four times that of the outside world, making cultivation speed in this city three to four times faster. The concentration of spiritual energy in the inner city must be unimaginable.

The seven or eight-yard wide city walls served as the main street. Shops lined the street on both sides: Spirit Beast Stores, Pill Stores, Rune Stores, Spiritual Artifact Stores, Puppet Stores, Spirit Medicine Stores, Spirit Plant Stores, Tailor Shops... all sorts of shops, with every conceivable type of store represented.

"Master Ouyue's Top-Grade Spirit Sword, as well as Tier One Top-Grade Spirit Sword, starting at just 70 Lower Spirits, don't miss it!"

"Seventy medicinal age Red Sunflower, centennial age Mo Ling Shen, don't miss out!"

"Top-grade Qi Gathering Pill, only 30 Lower Spirits each!"

"Golden Ape cub, potential Tier Two Demon Beast, come take a look!"

...

The shops along the street had various sales pitches, bargaining calls, shouts of hawking, all mixed together. People bustled back and forth, making it very lively.

Li Mu scanned the shops as he went along, his eyes sweeping over each Spiritual Object Store like a radar, fearing to miss a chance to discover a treasure.

[Fifty-year-old Reviving Spirit Grass]

[Sick Golden Ape cub]

[Slightly weak Thunder Stone]

...

Soon, Li Mu stopped in his tracks, his attention caught by Spirit Plant Seeds in a Spirit Plant Store,

"Shopkeeper, how much do these Tier Two Spirit Tooth Rice Seeds cost? How long until they mature?" Li Mu asked as he entered the Spirit Plant Store.

"Tier Two Spirit Tooth Rice matures every two years, needing a Middle Grade Spirit Field for cultivation. With a Top-grade Spirit Field, the time can be shortened by about half a year. One acre of seeds costs 10 Middle Spirit Stones," explained the shopkeeper.

"Hmm! Can I first buy a portion for trial planting, and these Tier Two Mo Yang Grass, Blood Salvia, Spirit Illusion Grass, …, can I have ten to twenty seeds of each? And I'd like some Tier One seeds as well." Li Mu said, pointing out several Tier Two Spirit Plant Seeds that didn't have special environment requirements and weren't too painstaking to care for, and asked.

"Trial planting, eh! I'll give you some of each, one Middle Spirit Stone per type, how about that?" The shopkeeper frowned slightly but offered.

"That's fine, thank you, shopkeeper!" Li Mu replied happily, agreeing cheerfully.

Soon, Li Mu paid thirteen Middle Spirit Stones, taking with him thirteen types of Tier Two Spirit Plant Seeds and seven types of Tier One Spirit Plant Seeds, cheerfully leaving the Spirit Plant Store.

Unfortunately, this Spirit Plant Store didn't have Tier Three Spirit Plant Seeds. Otherwise, Li Mu would undoubtedly spend spirit stones to purchase them.

Li Mu found that Tier Three Spirit Plant Seeds were not sold in bulk by sects or other Spirit Plant Stores. Acquiring them required other means.

After visiting the Spirit Plant Store, Li Mu also wandered through several Spiritual Material Stores, but his finds were scarce.

It seemed that Gangyang City had many high-tier cultivators able to identify Spiritual Objects, tagging those with Spiritual Invisibility at high prices, significantly raising the difficulty of finding bargains.

Li Mu found an inn called Wangyun Pavilion and stayed there for two days. He mingled in the inn's dining hall, eavesdropping on the dining cultivators' conversations, to learn about Gangyang City's happenings indirectly.

"Did you hear? The Zhou Family's hunting team lost many people trying to take down the Tier Three Bloodthirsty Wolf King at Pearl Peak!"

"What happened? Did they capture the Bloodthirsty Wolf King?"

"Of course, they did, Zhou Tianhao, the pre-Golden Core cultivator, was leading them!"

...

"Have you heard about the latest news concerning the Five Major Sects?"

"You mean the joint expedition of the Five Sects? What's the latest news?"

"Yes! It seems the Five Sects have fallen out, perhaps due to unequal distribution of benefits or other issues, but the Qing Xuan Sect intends to withdraw from the joint expedition."

"No way! Where did you hear this? The expedition to the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range was authorized by the Supreme Profound Immortal Sect above. How could Qing Xuan Sect not comply?"

"Apparently, a Nascent Soul True Monarch from the Qing Xuan Sect was killed by an elder from the Corpse Refining Sect, damaging their top-level power and causing reluctance to partake in the expedition."

"That's false, definitely a rumor. Qing Xuan Sect has dozens of Nascent Soul True Monarchs! Above them is a Divinity Transformation Ancestor, they wouldn't give up the Five Sect expedition just because of the death of one Nascent Soul True Monarch…."

...

"This time, Qing Xuan Sect really stumbled! Nascent Soul True Monarch - Master Qingxu has fallen!"

"Really? It won't affect Gangyang City, will it?"

"Not much effect, Gangyang City is a hundred and eighty thousand miles from Qing Xuan Sect's headquarters, quite far away!"

...

"The Wang Family, Lin Family, and five other Foundation Establishment Clans are making quite a ruckus over the distribution of an ore vein, they're even setting up a Magic Battle Platform!"

"With Qing Xuan Sect overseeing them, they won't stir up too much trouble!"

"No idea, I wonder if the ore vein is big, maybe another small town will spring up!"

"Could be, this might be an opportunity not to miss!"

...

The diners in the tavern were enthusiastically discussing various hot events happening in Gangyang City. They gossiped about the death of Qing Xuan Sect's Nascent Soul True Monarch, the Five Sects' joint expedition, and the discovery of new ore veins, as well as several Foundation Establishment Clans setting up a Magic Battle Platform.

After eavesdropping for a while, Li Mu found it uninteresting, as these matters were too distant from a servant disciple like him.

After finishing the Spiritual Cuisine on his table, Li Mu settled the bill with the shopkeeper, then left the inn, heading towards the Qing Xuan Sect's Outer Sect division in Gangyang City, preparing to register for the Outer Disciple examination.

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