Inner City

The next day.

Wu Tao began packing up his room. What he needed to do was practice minimalism, abandoning all daily necessities and taking only important things.

Because he had reported a forty percent success rate to Shopkeeper Yu, he still had many spiritual materials at home, such as Bairen Wood, Heaven Spider Silk, and Demon Silkworm Silk. Wu Tao packed them up one by one.

Once organized, this amounted to three large bundles.

I should buy a storage bag!

Wu Tao couldn't help sighing with such a thought at this moment, but after the sigh, he quickly extinguished the idea of purchasing a storage bag.

After finishing his packing, Wu Tao began cultivating, intending to practice until noon.

At noon, Wu Tao stopped cultivating, casually boiled three catties of spirit rice, and ate quickly. After completing the flesh-refining stage, his appetite increased once again, going from two catties of spirit rice per meal to three catties.

The spiritual power in his belly was slowly absorbed as he circulated the Sanyang Technique.

Shouldering the three large bundles, Wu Tao stepped out the door and headed toward Fragrant Spring Road.

Walking on the street, Wu Tao's appearance was somewhat conspicuous, and rogue cultivators on the road looked at him with surprised gazes one after another, making him quite nervous.

He was terrified that someone would rob him.

However, when those rogue cultivators saw an ordinary cotton quilt inadvertently exposed in his bundle, they guessed in their hearts that this was a poor rogue cultivator who couldn't bear to throw away even his quilt when moving.

The journey was uneventful. Wu Tao arrived at Fragrant Spring Road and then discovered that eight or nine out of ten rogue cultivator artifact refiners were carrying large and small bundles, gathering on the main street at the entrance of the Artifact Refining Hall.

Why does this scene feel so familiar?

However, seeing that everyone was like this, Wu Tao felt as though he had found his tribe, and his heart settled down quite a bit.

After waiting for about two quarters of an hour like this, the doors of the Artifact Refining Hall opened, and five or six people walked out. The one in the lead was precisely that surnamed Zhang artifact refiner, and he instructed the people beside him, "Call the roll and see if everyone has arrived yet."

"Zhou Qing."

"Present."

"Fang Xiang."

After finishing the roll call, that cultivating immortal who called the names said to the surnamed Zhang artifact refiner, "Senior Brother Zhang, three people have not yet arrived."

Senior Brother Zhang said, "Let's set off."

Not arriving on time meant that those three rogue cultivator artifact refiners had missed their opportunity.

A procession of rogue cultivator artifact refiners shouldered large and small bundles, following the artifact refiners of the Five Spring Artifact Refining Hall through street after street as they headed toward the inner city.

Along the way, they met many rogue cultivators who all felt amazed at this scene, but upon seeing that the ones leading the way in front were cultivators wearing the uniforms of Five Spring Mountain, they lacked even the courage to discuss it openly.

About half an hour later, they finally arrived at the West City Gate of Five Spirits Cultivation City.

Wu Tao looked at the towering city gate, that ten-person-tall giant door seemingly forged from spiritual materials, magnificent and grand. Moreover, the city walls were majestic, enough to conquer one's heart.

The five grand and flowing characters inscribed above the city gate, 'Five Spirits Cultivation City', possessed quite a bit of immortal charm.

This was the true Five Spirits Cultivation City.

Looking at this Five Spirits Cultivation City, the rogue cultivator artifact refiners couldn't help but well up with tears in their eyes one by one. For the vast majority of them, their pursuit in this life was perhaps to gain a foothold in the inner city.

However, most people here were First-Rank Level 4 artifact refiners, while First-Rank Level 5 and First-Rank Level 6 put together totaled fewer than ten. Living in the inner city was inferior to establishing an association in the outer city, where one could earn more spirit stones.

Without reaching First-Rank Level 7, forcibly going to live in the inner city would only increase all kinds of burdens and lacked the ease of living in the outer city, which did not align with their development plans.

There were disciples of Five Spring Mountain guarding the city gate, and everyone entering the city must present an Inner City Temporary Residence Permit.

The Artifact Refining Hall was an important branch of Five Spring Mountain. With Senior Brother Zhang present, they smoothly entered the inner city. As soon as they entered the inner city, Wu Tao discovered that the urban planning of the inner city was simply worlds apart compared to the outer city, with one in the heavens and the other on the earth.

The inner city streets were clean, perfectly planned, and the spacing between houses was large.

As for the outer city, the houses were basically uneven in height and crowded, resembling people shaking hands, while the streets were also filthy and chaotic.

The further he walked into the inner city, the more Wu Tao discovered that the faces of these surrounding rogue cultivator artifact refiners grew increasingly yearning toward the inner city.

Moreover, walking on the street, every rogue cultivator on the street wore magic robes, and their auras were mostly at or above mid-stage Qi Refining, without a single early-stage Qi Refining person in sight.

Having arrived in an unfamiliar environment, they dared not speak and obediently followed the artifact refiners of the Artifact Refining Hall all the way.

Half an hour later.

They arrived at the Five Spring Artifact Refining Hall in the inner city. The buildings were clustered together, countless times larger than the Artifact Refining Hall on Fragrant Spring Road.

Led by Senior Brother Zhang, they were assigned living quarters. Everyone had a single room, lacking neither a soundproof and anti-peeping formation nor a lighting and fire-starting array, except that there was no cultivation room.

Furthermore, an Inner City Temporary Residence Permit was issued to each of them. If they went out during normal rest or personal time, they could present this permit if checked by the patrol squad.

Senior Brother Zhang repeatedly stated that the temporary residence permit must be properly kept and carried on their person. If it was lost or not brought along and they were caught by members of the patrol squad, they would be dragged off to mine or farm, and he would not come to claim them.

Afterward, they were dismissed, and these rogue cultivator artifact refiners were told to return to their respective rooms to rest, waking up at dawn tomorrow to begin artifact refining matters.

Wu Tao sat in a chair. The soundproof and anti-peeping formation in the room had already been activated, and the illumination array was also turned on. Recalling everything from the afternoon until now, he always felt that this journey was very familiar, and finally, he suddenly realized, Isn't this just going into the factory to work during summer vacation?

From now on, the time from Mao hour to Shen Hour every day will be spent working for the Five Spring Artifact Refining Hall. The time belonging to myself is only five hours: one hour for cultivation, one hour for practicing the Spirit Wandering Restriction, one hour for the Dragon Spear Body Tempering Art, and one hour for Fire Sweep Wind and Thunder.

Starting tomorrow, I have decided to sleep for only one hour a day.

This is true immortal cultivation!

Wu Tao decided to involution himself, as this was the only way to ensure he did not waste this period of time.

I must complete the tendon-refining stage as soon as possible, and also quickly break through to mid-stage Qi Refining.

He was still a minor nobody at the third level of Qi Refining.

After making a simple plan, Wu Tao began brewing medicinal liquid and practicing the Dragon Spear Body Tempering Art.

The next day.

Wu Tao went to sleep at one in the morning and woke up at Yin Hour, sleeping for one hour. After waking up, he cast a cleaning spell on himself. Now he didn't even bother taking a bath; time was life.

Swallowing a Qi Condensation Pill, he practiced the Sanyang Technique. An hour later, it was dawn, and Wu Tao hurried over to assemble at the main hall mentioned yesterday.

Upon arriving at the main hall, Wu Tao found a spot and sat down. The time arrived very quickly, and the artifact refiner from the Five Spring Artifact Refining Hall called the roll. Seeing that no one was late, he began dividing them into groups.

There were a total of one hundred and twenty rogue cultivator artifact refiners here, twenty to a group, with each group led by a First-Rank Level 7 artifact refiner.

"My surname is Chen, with the single given name Shan. Like you all, I am a rogue cultivator. You may all address me as Artifact Master Chen. For the period of time ahead, I will be responsible for your refining matters." Chen Shan had a head of white hair and looked to be over eighty years old, but cultivators could not be judged by their appearance and age. Their bodies were constantly nourished by spiritual power over the years, and their actual age was much greater than their apparent age.

"Artifact Master Chen!"

Wu Tao followed the crowd and bowed to Chen Shan in greeting.

Their group consisted entirely of First-Rank Level 4 rogue cultivator artifact refiners.

Chen Shan lived up to his name, looking very easy to talk to. He led the twenty people under his charge to an artifact refining room where there were twenty artifact refining slots. He said, "Your refining work from now on will take place in this artifact refining room. Everyone need not be nervous, relax a bit, and each choose a spot of your own."

It is the end of the month, time to beg for a monthly vote.