Probing

Chapter 12: Making Inquiries

Shen Gui found an empty spot in the open ground at the center of Qingluan City and sat down.

If he wanted to gather information, he naturally couldn't just ask directly.

As mentioned before, cultivators in the Primordial Wilderness rarely interacted with one another. If he rashly approached someone to strike up a conversation, nine times out of ten he would be suspected of harboring ill intentions.

Moreover, the current Primordial Wilderness naturally had nothing like an intelligence organization, so even if he wanted to buy information, there was nowhere to go.

But since Shen Gui had come here, he naturally had his own plan.

With a wave of his hand, a small pile of crystals, pure white and radiating dense primal world energy, appeared before Shen Gui.

This was something he had condensed from primal world energy. In the Primordial Wilderness, such crystals were called Origin Crystals, meaning the crystallization of primal world energy.

Normally, a cultivator at the Heavenly Immortal realm, if they didn't cultivate, could condense about one Origin Crystal per year using primal world energy. A True Immortal was ten times faster than a Heavenly Immortal, a Mystic Immortal ten times faster than a True Immortal, and as for a Golden Immortal, their speed was a hundred times that of a Mystic Immortal. If a Golden Immortal focused solely on condensing Origin Crystals instead of cultivating, they could produce ten thousand in a year.

Origin Crystals were a fine thing.

First, they were formed from the purest primal world energy. If one possessed a large number of Origin Crystals, drawing primal world energy directly from them for cultivation was undoubtedly much faster than absorbing it from the surroundings.

Additionally, Origin Crystals could help quickly restore Magic Power, and they could sometimes be used in setting up formations.

In other words, Origin Crystals were something everyone needed and everyone could use.

Shen Gui felt that, over a long period of development, Origin Crystals might even become the soft currency of the Primordial Wilderness.

The pile Shen Gui had placed before him contained roughly several dozen Origin Crystals, which he had casually condensed when he had nothing else to do.

After all, the speed of condensing Origin Crystals mentioned earlier only applied to cultivators of ordinary aptitude.

Origin Crystals were formed from primal world energy, so the speed of condensing them naturally depended on how fast one could absorb primal world energy.

The problem was, could a cultivator with an ordinary foundation compare to innate great gods like the Three Pure Ones or Empress Nuwa in absorbing primal world energy, even at the same realm?

The same logic applied to Shen Gui.

Furthermore, spiritual treasures could accelerate the gathering of primal world energy. Shen Gui not only had the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Pagoda but also a companion spiritual treasure—the top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, Taixu Armor. So, condensing Origin Crystals was actually very simple for him.

His method of gathering information was to place a pile of Origin Crystals in the city's open ground.

If someone could provide the information he wanted, they could take a certain number of Origin Crystals.

Of course, when he had gathered information in other small cities before, there had been cases where people, driven by greed, followed him out of the city to try and ambush him.

But could a pile of Origin Crystals make someone so blinded by profit that they would try to rob a genuine Golden Immortal?

Shen Gui thought: I'll stand still and let you try to break my defense. If you succeed, I lose, fair and square.

Just as Shen Gui sat down and placed the pile of Origin Crystals before him, as expected, the dense primal world energy radiating from the crystals immediately drew the attention of many. However, no one came forward to ask what was going on.

Seeing this, Shen Gui wasn't in a hurry.

He had gathered information this way all along the road, so he had considerable confidence in this method.

After all, compared to the information he needed—mostly common knowledge that anyone who lived long enough would know—these Origin Crystals were practically being given away for free.

Thus, since no one came to ask, Shen Gui simply closed his eyes and rested.

Fortunately, there were always some people who couldn't suppress their curiosity.

Shen Gui didn't have to wait long before a young man in a colorful robe walked up to him. "This fellow Daoist, what is the meaning of this?"

Hearing the voice, Shen Gui slowly opened his eyes.

At the same time, many cultivators who had been watching this scene pricked up their ears.

Glancing at the young man before him, Shen Gui said slowly, "I have only recently arrived in the Central Continent and am not familiar with its situation. I have heard that at the foot of Mount Buzhou, there is the Heavenly Demon City built by Great Sage Fuxi and Empress Nuwa, which shelters a faction of the Demon Race. I wish to go and see it for myself. However, I do not understand the circumstances of Heavenly Demon City and fear that I might commit some taboo upon arriving. Therefore, I wish to inquire about the situation there in advance. If any of you are familiar with Heavenly Demon City and can provide useful information about it, you may take a certain number of Origin Crystals."

Hearing Shen Gui's words, the young man's eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"

Shen Gui nodded. "Naturally, I am serious."