Settling In and the Bottleneck

"Harmony Gang is recruiting! Ten Soul Crystals a month for second-tier ability users, a hundred for third-tier!"

"Order Alliance! Join us and you're brothers! Beautiful women, Soul Crystals, crystal-core weapons—as long as you've got the skills, you can have it all!"

Ahead of the crowd stood a group of people holding signs and shouting at the top of their lungs.

This batch of people who had just received their identity plaques had barely taken a few steps before they were surrounded by these enthusiastic gang members.

The few with the most outstanding strength were invited aside individually. A group of scantily clad beauties immediately pressed themselves against them. Ye Xiu even saw several handsome men surrounding a female ability user from both front and back.

It seemed that while this shelter ostensibly belonged to the Human Federation, it was in truth a chaotic mix of fish and dragons.

Because Ye Xiu had concealed his strength, not many people approached him. When quite a few of them noticed Xu Hualing, who was only first-tier and following behind him, they did not even bother asking before passing them by.

"Handsome, interested in joining our gang?"

Just as Ye Xiu was preparing to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible and get settled, someone blocked his path.

Looking up, he saw a woman in a modified combat jacket standing before him. She was tall and powerfully built, with an unusual yin-yang hairstyle. Most striking of all was the claw scar running from her eye socket all the way to the corner of her lips.

Noticing Ye Xiu's gaze, the woman instead raised her head with considerable pride.

"A wound left by a third-tier mutated beast, an Azure Wolf. That animal's claws were poisonous. I asked the company, and they said a special-effect medicine would take four hundred Soul Crystals to treat it."

"Damn it, I worked my ass off to kill that beast and only got two thousand Soul Crystals. Those animals at Kabbalah Laboratory ought to be thrown outside to feed the zombies."

Her ability fluctuations were at the upper-middle third tier, somewhat stronger than Zhao Jun, whom he had killed before.

Ye Xiu looked at the woman before him and pulled Xu Hualing back several steps, a trace of wariness appearing in his eyes.

"What are you so nervous about, handsome? I saw that you were still bringing along a little burden and figured you were someone who valued relationships, so I wanted to recruit you. You don't really think a second-tier ability user like you is worth me putting in this much effort, do you?"

When she saw that Ye Xiu had not forgotten to pull Xu Hualing along even while retreating, the woman's eyes held even more approval.

She spoke bluntly, "Zhou Lan, leader of the Wildfire Gang. Just call me Sister Lan."

"Even if you really don't want to join, you still need a place to stay, right? More than half the lodging in this district is run by us. Build a good relationship with me, and maybe I'll charge you less rent in the future."

Hearing this, Ye Xiu put on an expression of surprise.

"Rent?"

"Tch. Those people on the official side have really been getting more and more perfunctory lately."

A trace of dissatisfaction flashed through Zhou Lan's eyes, while the underling following behind her could no longer hold himself back.

His face full of mockery, he said, "The entire 'Azure Prefecture' has to be powered by burning Soul Crystals. You don't think those lords of the Federation would let everyone live here for free, do you?"

"Land is worth its weight in gold. You expect them to assign you housing?"

"Sister Lan, he's just a second-tier ability user. Why should we put in so much effort—"

Before he could finish, Zhou Lan reached out and smacked the underling on the head.

With a dull thud, the underling immediately shut his mouth. Even Ye Xiu could tell that blow had not been light.

"This kid just has a loose mouth, don't take it to heart. So, what'll it be? Give me a straight answer. You're a grown man—why are you acting so wishy-washy?"

Faced with Zhou Lan's question once more, Ye Xiu took a deep breath as though he had finally made up his mind.

"Fine. We can discuss joining later. My sister and I do need somewhere to settle down."

Ye Xiu had already been planning to find a place to stay. Now that a local power had come knocking, he was naturally happy to get it settled sooner.

Zhou Lan nodded. After giving a few instructions, she had the underling lead Ye Xiu and Xu Hualing outside, while she herself went back to striking up conversations with other newcomers.

With a local power helping out, they found a place to stay quickly enough.

In the end, they rented a small building with its own courtyard. It came fully furnished and was practically ready to move into with nothing but their bags.

Naturally, the price was not cheap either: ten Soul Crystals a month. That was the monthly wage of an ordinary second-tier ability user in a gang.

But to Ye Xiu, this was instead the least of his troubles. What he needed was privacy and a low profile. Living here rather than in the chaotic lower district would spare him a great deal of trouble.

After setting up the formation, Ye Xiu could clearly sense Xu Hualing relaxing considerably.

After teaching Xu Hualing the incantation to activate the formation, Ye Xiu finally had time to sort through the gains he had made along the way.

In the basement.

With a rattling, muffled crash, Ye Xiu watched as the composite iron plate dozens of centimeters thick before him was pierced straight through, surprise appearing in his eyes.

In his hand, the strangely shaped handgun slowly flickered with white light.

Xu Xiao had given Ye Xiu this gun, said to be the research institute's latest product, calling it a small perk before entering.

Ye Xiu naturally knew it was a gesture of goodwill from the other party. Since he happened to be interested in this world's Soul Crystal-powered weapons as well, he accepted it without making a fuss.

"This power is no less formidable than the Soul-Extinguishing Dagger."

Ye Xiu had just tested that composite steel plate with the Soul-Extinguishing Dagger. Even at full force, he had only barely managed to cut through it.

A gun capable of reaching this level would be enough to serve as a trump card even in the world of cultivation.

Ye Xiu placed the gun into his storage pouch. With a flash of white light in his hand, a Soul Crystal entirely blue-green appeared between his fingers.

Feeling the intangible allure emanating from it, a fiery gleam flashed through Ye Xiu's eyes.

Those previous Soul Crystals had already allowed him to rise from the initial stage of Qi Condensation all the way to the ninth layer. With this batch, he would certainly break through directly.

That Fang Qiong in the sect would not stay quiet for long, much less the old monsters of the Divine Firmament Sect.

Increasing his strength remained an urgent matter that could not be delayed.

A sharp light flashed through his eyes, and Ye Xiu swallowed the fourth-tier Tyrant Soul Crystal without hesitation.

Vast spiritual power erupted through his limbs and bones in an instant. Ye Xiu felt as though his entire body were about to explode.

He hurriedly circulated the Burning Soul Art to digest the immense spiritual power. As the Soul Crystal was gradually consumed, the spiritual power within his body grew ever more vigorous.

Yet just as Ye Xiu tried to guide that spiritual power to break through the restrictions in his meridians, he discovered in astonishment that the spiritual power had suddenly vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

What was going on?

Ye Xiu's expression changed. He tried manipulating the Burning Soul Art to refine the spiritual power, but his swollen meridians silently conveyed a message:

He had already reached his limit. At his current realm, this was the greatest amount of spiritual power he could withstand.

The spiritual energy passed through his meridians and dispersed, yet his cultivation realm showed no sign of advancing.

With no other choice, Ye Xiu could only begin purifying his own spiritual power while also trying to improve his ability.