Guqian County was a sprawling city, larger than most immortal cities outside, but considerably less prosperous, with none of their immortal splendor.
Chen Lin did not go straight to the County Office to find Xu Qingyuan. Instead, he began looking around the city.
He soon discovered that more than half the people here were cultivators, though their cultivation was low. Most were at the Qi Refining Stage, with relatively few at the Foundation Establishment Realm. He did not see a single person at the golden core grade.
Even so, his expression grew grave.
His investigations over the past few days had all but confirmed that the natives' cultivation was suppressed too, no differently from outsiders like himself.
In other words, those currently at the Qi Refining Stage might originally have been at Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, or even Nascent Soul.
Those currently at the Foundation Establishment Realm must originally have been at least spirit transformation cultivators. He himself was a spirit transformation cultivator, yet suppression had reduced him to the Foundation Establishment Early Stage. There were cultivators here at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and even Foundation Establishment Perfection. Their original cultivation might well have reached the Void Refinement Realm.
A whole city full of mighty figures!
Looking at the people around him, Chen Lin could not help feeling wistful. They had once been powerhouses who commanded the winds and clouds, yet now they had become peddlers and common laborers.
They did not even know they had once been powerful. Who knew how many tens of thousands of years the Ancient Kingdom Ruins had existed? Their memories had been reset countless times, and they had long since forgotten who they were.
What terrifying power could have brought such a mighty Immortal Kingdom crashing into the mortal dust overnight?
The Crimson