Clear Mist City
Green Mountain Kingdom, Clear Mist City.
Green Mountain Kingdom, located 100,000 miles away from the Great Deer Kingdom, is the kingdom Li Qi recently visited. It was here that he successfully advanced and entered the rank of a high-ranking official.
Along the way, he had concealed his identity as the young master of Wushen Mountain, because Li Qi had already learned this in the Earth Oil Realm.
One's status comes from oneself; without one's own support, no matter how many titles one has, they are meaningless.
This is a first-class copper mining area. The so-called Green Mountain Kingdom is actually a huge copper mine that stretches for more than two thousand miles. The copper mine is so rich that it is so abundant that it can be found in the open without the need for digging; it can simply be picked up.
The reason it's called Green Mountain isn't because of its green hills and clear waters, or its green leaves and trees, but because there were too many open-pit copper mines, and the dew and raindrops that fell on them caused copper rust to form.
The entire mountain is covered in copper rust, and after a rain, it becomes a true 'green mountain and clear water', so almost nothing grows around the green mountain.
Metal energy governs death and decay. When metal energy is abundant, nothing grows, and the land becomes a dead zone, with only a few demons or spirits that live by the metal element existing.
However, the abundance of gold energy is not necessarily a bad thing. The excessively sharp gold energy has even given birth to many rare and precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures in the center of these copper mines. From time to time, Innate Divine Weapon also emerge from them, enticing wave after wave of people to enter the Green Mountains in search of treasure.
Two thousand miles west of Green Mountain, there is a city called Light Mist City.
Li Qi is currently in Light Mist City.
"It's really luxurious. No wonder it's a notorious money pit," Li Qi remarked as he walked down the street.
In his eyes, he could see that almost all the buildings in the city were covered with glazed tiles.
Glass adorns the walls, sparkling like stars, reflecting the surrounding light. If the sun is high in the sky, you can see the shimmering light. Even if not, the candlelight and luminous pearls around the city can illuminate the entire city as if it were daytime.
This is a city that never sleeps.
He had already heard of Clear Mist City during his journey; its fame had spread far and wide, reaching every corner of 50,000 li.
The Clear Mist City, Hu Xian'er, is charming and alluring. Her true form is a seventh-grade fox demon, and it was she who founded Clear Mist City.
The story of the city's founding is quite legendary, so it has been widely circulated, and almost everyone who comes to Clear Mist City knows the origin of the city.
Initially, this place was just a fox den, where only the flesh trade took place. However, because Hu Xian'er and her sister took in some Fox Demon, the Fox Demon recognized her as their clan leader.
However, the foxes have little financial management skills and love to enjoy life. Although they have some ways to make money, over time, their supply and demand become too large, leading to insolvency and being chased by people.
After some negotiation, it's unclear how Hu Xian'er managed to persuade the creditor to agree to the group of vixens paying with their bodies.
A month later, the fox spirits began to think that since this was a quick and easy way to make money, why did they have to do what they did before, where they not only had no money but also had to give their bodies to those penniless scholars? Moreover, Hu Xian'er felt that this would make it easier to manage the naturally dissolute Fox Demon, solve the problem of expenses, and even allow them to cultivate in the process. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?
Hu Xian'er acted immediately, and the fox spirits built a city on the spot, forming the prototype of Clear Mist City.
It started as a small place called Fox Workshop, and its customers were only the monsters from the surrounding area. But it was a good place, right around Green Mountain.
The cultivators who came out of Green Mountain made a fortune, but they were also seriously injured because of the overflowing golden energy.
Hu Xian'er somehow devised a dual cultivation method that uses the fire of desire to overcome the metal element. Using the Fire Qi of desire in her heart as a guide, it subtly combines the method of fire overcoming metal. After a period of intense pleasure, the unbalanced metal energy in her body on the green mountain can also be calmed down. It can heal injuries, relax, and even has few side effects.
This made Fox Workshop an instant sensation.
With a constant stream of customers, the flesh trade flourished, and they even started to advertise themselves as a medical clinic, specializing in treating injuries caused by excessive metal energy.
Hu Xian'er was also a clever woman. She quickly expanded her business and colluded with the king of the Green Mountain Kingdom to turn the Fox Workshop into a state-run business. With a powerful backer and resources, other extravagant activities also flourished here. Later, she even built a city and was granted an imperial seal by the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord, becoming the lord of the city.
Today, this place has become the largest den of iniquity within a radius of 50,000 li, with countless ways to indulge in pleasure.
The more common activities include traditional wrestling, duels, arenas, gambling dens, fine food and wine, and beautiful women.
The refined ones include music, tea, and even various academic discussion institutions where people can preach and expound on doctrines.
Whether you are worldly or refined, you can always find what you want here. No matter what Dao Lineage you belong to, you can find what you need here. Even training rooms and auctions are all available here.
This place has become a comprehensive large-scale commercial and trade center, with everything from food and drink to entertainment. Merchants of all sizes carry all kinds of rare and exotic goods from all over the world. Whether it is for enjoyment or to conduct large-scale trade, everything passes through here. Even the copper ore and various gold and stone artifacts mined in Green Mountain are basically brought to Clear Mist City for trading.
Lord Hu Xian'er of Clear Mist City, along with her sister Hu Meier, even established a sect called Clear Mist Sect.
Ninety-nine percent of the formal disciple of this sect are female, with men only occasionally becoming formal disciple. However, the sect rules are actually quite lenient, emphasizing a matter of chance and voluntariness, without restrictions on gender or race. Therefore, men often join, but very few manage to enter the sect successfully. Most of them suffer from depletion of their Essence Blood, fail the assessment, and are expelled from the sect.
At the beginning, there were more men than women, but after several rounds of screening, women made up 99% of the applicants.
She can't control her male disciples, but she can't resist those vixens.
However, despite this, once the Clear Mist Sect completes its training and becomes formal disciple, they are all assigned jobs free of charge, directly serving in Clear Mist City, so the sect is quite prosperous.
In just six hundred years, Fox Workshop has transformed from a small fox den in a small place into a prestigious sect in the Green Mountain Kingdom. The sect leader, Hu Xian'er, and her sister Hu Meier, have both achieved the seventh rank of Dao. With the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord standing behind them, no one dares to suppress them. To this day, it is still expanding rapidly.
Today, Clear Mist City is divided into four major districts: east, south, west, and north. Each district has thirty-six wards, and countless small restaurants. The main city is located in the suburbs, at the original location of Fox Workshop.
"It's quite luxurious, all these things." Shen Shuibi followed behind Li Qi, looking around at the bustling city.
The decorations here weren't very valuable to her, but they did look really cool.
"Moreover, there are many cultivators here." Li Qi looked around and found that the average strength of the people here was much stronger.
Here, some clues are already visible. Unlike the cities in the Great Deer Kingdom where most people are ordinary, this place is no longer the front line.
At the front lines, due to the conflict between different sects, the laws of Human Path were not flourishing, making it difficult to attain higher ranks. The Shaman Path was also difficult to advance because the gods of mountains and rivers were suppressed.
However, this place is now directly under the jurisdiction of Wushen Mountain, so the number of cultivators has increased sharply.
The sky and the fields were filled with cultivators.
Sure enough, the further one goes towards Wushen Mountain, the deeper its foundation should be; the closer one gets to the border between two forces, the weaker it becomes.
However, reaching the ninth rank is still a formidable barrier. There are only about one in a thousand cultivators at the ninth rank, so Li Qi can still be considered a top expert among the best.
However, Li Qi was most familiar with orthodox Shaman Path or Daoist practitioners, but he could hardly see any of them on the road. Most of the practitioners he saw on the road were from minor Dao Lineage.
Occasionally, one might encounter practitioners of Shaman Path, but they are worlds apart from Li Qi. Most of them are Ghost Shaman or something similar, and are far removed from orthodox Shaman Path.
There were also some who practiced martial arts, cultivated Reason Way, studied artifacts, or were disciples of the Clear Mist Sect.
Ironically, the Clear Mist Sect's Cultivation Method are actually classified under the Medical Way.
Could it be considered... saving someone?
Shen Shuibi followed behind Li Qi and asked, "Li Qi, what are we doing here? Do you have that much money?"
This place is a den of iniquity. Li Qi only had a dozen or so gold coins on him, which would be enough in other places, and might even be considered extravagant, but in this place it was nothing.
"I definitely don't have enough money, but after I joined the sect, I always had a feeling that I should be here," Li Qi said innocently, shrugging.
Shen Shuibi understood immediately upon hearing this and didn't ask any more questions.
That's normal; that's how Shaman are. They get carried away from time to time.
Because Shaman have a good relationship with heaven, earth, nature, and all the gods, they are occasionally reminded by things that guide them to avoid disasters or seek out extraordinary encounters.
This is one of the characteristics of this Dao Path.
Of course, you can ignore it, since it's just a reminder, not something that forces you to come over.
But Li Qi thought, since there's nothing else going on, let them come, what can they do? Right?
The two walked along the roadside, looking for places to stay and comparing prices.
You won't believe it until you see it; the inns and taverns here are more than twenty times more expensive than elsewhere, and of course, they are also much more luxurious.
The dozen or so taels of gold Li Qi had on him were really not enough to stay here for a month.
However, Li Qi was not worried about money.
While a place of extravagance may cost money, it certainly makes money quickly as well.
As they walked down the street, Li Qi asked Shen Shuibi, "By the way, Miss Shen, something just occurred to me. I can understand using gold as currency while we're still in the mortal realm, but is it possible that we'll still use gold once we reach a higher level? That seems unlikely."
"How could that be? We're just using gold now. After that... well, it should be Qi and the world, right?" Shen Shuibi poked her cheek with one finger as she pondered.
"Qi... and the world?" Li Qi was stunned. This answer was too grand, so much so that he couldn't quite process it.
"Well, you should be able to understand Qi, right? No matter what kind of cultivation it is, it always comes down to different kinds of Qi. So, different natural heavenly materials and earthly treasures can carry Qi become the currency for trading," Shen Shuibi explained.
"I can understand that, but... the world?" Li Qi couldn't quite imagine it.
"There are so many worlds beyond the realms. Conquering them and then Refining the Heavenly Way would be incredibly time-consuming. At that point, Qi would be of little use to them. In those times, worlds would generally be used for trade," Shen Shuibi said. "I have about ten worlds myself. Although I haven't managed them much, the output of these worlds is handled by designated personnel from Mount Luofu ..."
As Shen Shuibi was speaking, she suddenly mentioned Mount Luofu, and then she fell silent and did not continue.
Li Qi could understand.
Mount Luofu is probably dead.
Even Lady Luofu, a top-tier expert of the third rank, has already fled to Wushen Mountain. How much better can Mount Luofu be?
But even a glimpse of the whole picture reveals a lot. Shen Shuibi has more than a dozen worlds, and it seems that all the output of these worlds should belong to her.
She really is a rich woman.
Unfortunately, they went bankrupt.
However... it wasn't just bankruptcy; many of her friends and followers on Mount Luofu probably didn't survive either...
They have a blood feud with the Tang Kingdom, a feud that wiped out their entire family.
Li Qi wisely refrained from continuing the topic.
"Ah, let's stay here, what do you think, Miss Shen?" Upon seeing this, Li Qi immediately chose an inn without even looking at it, using this tactic to change the subject and prevent Shen Shuibi from being immersed in her memories for too long.
"Anything is fine with me, so let's go here then," Shen Shuibi agreed without being picky.
Having decided where to stay, Li Qi pulled Old Ma into the inn.
Upon entering, one finds the place extremely elegant, lacking the elaborate and luxurious decorations found outside, yet possessing a refined taste.
The decor is understated, devoid of any Fire Qi or materialistic feel, and seems to be completely out of place with the others.
This kind of decoration is nothing special. Although it doesn't quite fit the mainstream style, it is, after all, Clear Mist City, where all kinds of goods are available.
What Li Qi found most surprising was that the owner of this place was actually a fox.
A fox Fox Demon with fox ears and a tail is running the business here.
It seemed that he had just finished dealing with the previous group of guests. By sheer coincidence, the proprietress came over as soon as Li Qi entered. "Guest, are you here for a stay or for food?"
"Stay here for two days, and bring me some food. Also, please take good care of my horse," Li Qi said, handing over a gold ingot. This was one gold coin, enough to stay here for three days.
The extra money was for meals, as well as Old Ma's food and lodging.
As Li Qi spoke, he sized up the beautiful Fox Demon.
The reason it's called Fox Demon, rather than a fox demon, is because the other party... is too plain.
Crimson lips, jade-like branches, a unique and exquisite fragrance, a touch of elegance, a truly beautiful sight.
She was completely different from those flashy, cheap women, which made Li Qi take a second look.
"Sir, you've come at the perfect time. This is the last room left," the Fox Demon said with a smile, accepting the money. "Did you come specifically for this time, sir? Are you also here for that innate spiritual treasure?"
"Hmm? What is that?" Li Qi raised an eyebrow.
What is this? I've never heard of it.
"Oh, it's nothing special. It happens about once every ten years or so. Green Mountain has nurtured a primordial golden energy that forms a weapon of its own, like a knife. That's why some martial artists come to fight over it. I thought you came here for that too, sir." The Fox Demon smiled and subtly explained to Li Qi.
(Monthly pass...)