Qingshigang.
This was a desolate stretch of low, rocky hills extending for over a hundred li. With little cover, monsters and strange beasts were easy to spot, and it was close to Yuming City, so many cultivators lived here.
Nearly all of them had empty purses.
Now that the cost of living in the city had risen, even more people were coming here, and a sizable settlement had already formed.
Holding Zhao Meng, Chen Lin activated his Natal Runic Inscription and flew, making no effort to conceal his Cage Realm aura.
The cultivators below did not dare look directly at him.
Most people living here were in the Qi Realm, with only a small portion in the Mang Realm. They had no standing or powerful backing, either. Offending a Cage Realm expert could cost them their lives.
Human lives had always been worth no more than grass in the cultivation world. After Dark Descent, the law of the jungle had become even more pronounced. To survive, they had to tread carefully and swallow every indignity.
He searched for a while.
Chen Lin found that sects stood here like trees in a forest, with all manner of tangled factions. Some had only a thatched hut, yet still dared hang up a sect sign.
He could not immediately find the Kaiyuan Sect.
So he landed to ask for directions.
"The Kaiyuan Sect?"
The old man he questioned thought for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed. He stammered, afraid to give a straight answer.
"Don't lie if you want to live!"
Chen Lin narrowed his eyes, locking an invisible pressure onto him.
The old man trembled.
He immediately answered, "The Kaiyuan Sect is up ahead at Bali Bay. But their female sect master refused Attendant Zhou's demand to take her as a