Outside Guja City

Mu Qian was no saint.

Among the crowd at the city gate, eight or nine out of ten could not afford the fee. As time passed, the number of people gathering beneath the city walls grew, numbering at least several hundred.

Though he did not know why they viewed the world outside the city as a purgatory, if these people truly had the courage to act together, the vast majority could easily rush past a single Soul Grand Master who had just passed level ten.

Unfortunately, a deep-seated servility had long been rooted in their souls. Facing the massive machine that was the empire, they dared not harbor any thoughts of resistance.

Instead, some people looked at the lines behind them, their minds turning to other schemes.

Of course, they dared not rob people openly at the city gate, so they set their sights on those who had not yet scraped together enough money.

Soon, chaos erupted beneath the city walls, yet the guards did not intervene, seemingly accustomed to such sights.

Mu Qian sighed softly; human nature, what a thing...

One could only say this was the tragedy of the era, or perhaps that Star Luo had rotted to its core.

It was no wonder that a thousand years later, even the royal family would be replaced.

What exactly are these people afraid of? Mu Qian could not quite fathom it.

If there were truly something terrifying, why had he traveled all the way here unscathed?

"Sigh, I'm just five silver coins short! What am I supposed to do now!"

The middle-aged man in front of Mu Qian's line shook his head incessantly, his voice laced with a faint sense of despair.

Mu Qian rubbed his nose, pondered for a moment, and then tapped the uncle in front of him.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but what happened? Why is everyone so desperate to get into the city?"

At the same time, he did not forget to pull out a Gold Soul Coin and dangle it before the man.

No matter the time, there would always be brave men under heavy rewards.

Especially when the other party was at a critical juncture, waiting for money to save their life.

"A Gold Soul Coin!" the man whispered, a glimmer of hope reigniting in his eyes.

But a moment later, he hurriedly covered it, looking left and right, terrified of being seen by others.

"Answer my question, and it's yours," Mu Qian said in a low voice.

The uncle examined it repeatedly in his hands, and once he confirmed the Gold Soul Coin was real, the way he looked at Mu Qian changed entirely.

He didn't look at him like a savior, but rather like a fool: "You don't know?"

"A demon has appeared in our vicinity!"

"A demon that kills without leaving a trace!"

"A demon?" Mu Qian was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't encountered any danger on his journey here, had he?

"Why do you say that? Have you seen it?" Mu Qian pressed.

"No." The uncle shook his head. "Everyone who has seen the demon is dead. Not even their corpses remain; a single touch, and they turn into flying ash and vanish completely!"

At this point, the uncle's eyes revealed intense fear, as if he were recalling something truly horrific.

"Next!"

During their conversation, they had already reached the city gate.

The uncle hurriedly snatched the Gold Soul Coin from Mu Qian's hand, ran to the soldiers, and began bowing and scraping as he paid the fee.

Mu Qian thought for a moment, but didn't hold it against him, nor did he continue to press the man in front of the soldiers.

He likely wouldn't get any other information out of him, and in this situation, the man wouldn't be willing to keep talking anyway.

It seemed there really was something causing such massive panic; otherwise, everyone wouldn't be abandoning their homes and livelihoods, fleeing the places their ancestors had lived for generations to escape en masse.

It wasn't long before it was Mu Qian's turn.

Amidst the envious or surprised gazes of those around him, he tossed five gleaming gold coins to the guard.

With over twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins, he would be set for a long time, so he didn't care about this small amount.

Compared to a certain protagonist who started off in misery, his own start was incredibly comfortable.

If he ever truly ran out of money, he still had countless spirit bones lying in his Soul Tool.

Of course, he wouldn't choose to sell spirit bones easily.

An innocent man is not guilty, but his treasure makes him a target; unless Mu Qian wanted to live his life in a state of endless pursuit, he would keep them hidden.

The guard captain at the gate looked at Mu Qian with some surprise.

He hadn't expected this child, wearing clothes that were ill-fitting and looked like they had been scavenged, to be able to produce five Gold Soul Coins so easily.

Throughout the day, even the few who had paid to enter had almost all scraped together their fees, using a mix of silver and copper coins.

Someone like Mu Qian was the first.

However, he didn't care about that; he only cared if the boy could produce enough money.

After entering the city, Mu Qian was surprised once again.

Villagers were sitting on the ground everywhere, and the plaza inside the city gate was already packed to capacity; as far as the eye could see, the more distant streets and alleys were in the same situation.

Mu Qian couldn't help but smile bitterly; it seemed he would have to use the sky as his blanket again today.

However, that wasn't necessarily absolute, as not everyone had the money to stay in a hotel; it just depended on whether there were any vacant rooms left in the city's hotels.

Mu Qian was in no rush to leave. After arriving at a secluded corner, he took advantage of the fact that no one noticed him and ascended the city wall in two leaps.

He wanted to see what kind of terrifying things would happen after dark that made these people so fearful.

Mu Qian was not worried about the so-called demon; after all, if there were truly any danger, he would have met with misfortune many days ago.

He looked up at the sky; there were still a few minutes left before nightfall completely descended.

Mu Qian took a map out of his ring and began to study it.

Different from the original work, the two great empires of the Douluo Continent were situated on either side of the continent, and both of their territories bordered the Far North.

The location where the two great empires bordered each other at the very center was the largest gathering place for soul beasts on the continent, the Star Dou Forest.

As for Martial Soul City, where the Martial Soul Hall was located, it sat on the central axis of the Douluo Continent, bordering the southern part of the Star Dou Forest.

Besides this, there were many other soul beast gathering places of varying sizes within the territories of the two great empires.

Mu Qian had long since reached the thirty-level bottleneck. Since he had arrived in the Star Luo Empire, he planned to first follow the route of the soul beast gathering places to find one, obtain his third soul ring, and then go to Star Luo City in the Star Luo Empire to look around.

If nothing else, he needed to first confirm the timeline; he only knew so far that it was still the era ruled by the Martial Soul Hall, but he was not clear on the specific year.

Actually, he had reached level thirty long ago and could have left the Far North to search for a suitable soul ring.

It was just that the Snow Maiden told him that he had to lay a solid foundation before his third ring; once he broke through to level thirty, he would have to face the long process of comprehending elements, at which point his cultivation speed would likewise slow down.

Mu Qian's martial soul was special, and he needed to comprehend more than one attribute, so the effort required was simply immeasurable for ordinary people.

At the same time, the strength he possessed at the same level of cultivation was also incomparable to other soul masters.

Of course, the main thing was that Mu Qian was too young, and the Snow Maiden couldn't leave the Far North, so she wasn't at ease with him going out alone.

Fortunately, his cultivation had been accumulating all along; after obtaining his third soul ring, Mu Qian conservatively estimated that he might directly surge to a level close to forty.

Unknowingly, the light grew increasingly dim.

Mu Qian snapped back to his senses and focused his gaze intently on the crowd outside the city gate.

At this moment, the area outside the city gate was completely shrouded in an atmosphere of despair...