White Jade City

White Jade City

Feng Huai strolled leisurely through the Dao Soldier Market within the Heavenly Evolution Tower.

The space inside the tower had been enlarged to the size of an entire small town. One long street was dedicated solely to selling all manner of Dao Soldier seeds.

The market's stalls were packed tightly along both sides, all run by Research Institute students. These cultivators put the Dao Soldier seeds they had created up for sale. Some were failed products, barely repurposed to recover a little of their costs.

Others were supplied in bulk over the long term, priced cheaper than the ones officially sold by the Heavenly Evolution Tower.

This was also Azure Lake Mountain's rule: encouraging cultivators to produce more and better Dao Soldier seeds, thus creating a Dao Soldier market with a healthy trading atmosphere.

The two rows resembled roadside stalls. Some cultivator students rested with their eyes closed, some cultivated cross-legged, while others carefully studied jade slips, seemingly unconcerned with whether their wares would sell.

"This market is rather quiet." Feng Huai smiled at the female cultivator guard behind him.

This female guard was actually his friend, an expert he had met during one of his travels. Later, his family had simply hired her as his personal bodyguard. Earlier, because he had temporarily sent her out to handle something, he had not brought her to Snowman City. What had seemed like a foolproof mission had unexpectedly turned into such a huge mess.

"Brother Feng, if you like it, couldn't you imitate it and build one back in your Lineage?"

The female guard smiled.

"That won't do. Other markets are easy enough, but this one is difficult..." Feng Huai shook his head, then suddenly stopped before a round stall by the roadside.

He walked closer and crouched down.

"How much is this Dao Soldier?"

He picked up a yellow oval sphere the size of an egg and asked.

The stall owner was an old man blind in one eye, idly puffing on a smoking pipe in his hand.

"Eight hundred."

He meant Contribution Points. His accent did not sound like it came from the Azure Mountain Realm.

He was probably another passing cultivator who had come to sell things.

Feng Huai understood.

He picked it up and inspected it carefully.

"Eight hundred Contribution Points is rather expensive for this."

"Not expensive. My Understanding Heart Bird has one fewer evolution condition than the others. It doesn't need to communicate with its master and cultivate feelings." The old man half-closed his eyes.

"Oh?"

Feng Huai was interested now.

The evolution of Dao Soldiers often did not simply require slaughtering demon spirits.

Especially among certain non-combat Dao Soldiers with higher ratings, the requirements were simply harsh: all kinds of special environments, various special energies, a specific time, compatibility with their master, and even designated treasures to devour.

The Understanding Heart Bird was incredibly fast. It was extremely convenient for delivering messages or small objects, and it also had some ability to relay speech. Its cost was far lower than that of a teleportation formation.

Moreover, it was only slightly slower than a Fifth Order Human Immortal at the Apex Realm. It also possessed powerful invisibility and could be used to scout out the enemy.

"Do you want it?" the old man asked casually.

"How long does it take to evolve?"

Someone else beside them leaned over and asked.

"One of the shortest among Tier Three. Three years."

The old man replied blandly.

"Only three years!" The man was immediately interested.

"I'll take it!"

Feng Huai immediately transferred eight hundred Contribution Points to the old man.

With a ding, the jade talisman on the old man's body made a sound.

The transaction was complete.

Feng Huai picked up the Understanding Heart Bird, turned, and left, ignoring the shouts from behind him.

It was not that he did not want to look around further. Tier Three Dao Soldiers usually took five or ten years to evolve, yet this one only took three years. Naturally, he had to seize it quickly.

Besides, there was no need to worry about quality here. The Research Institute had dedicated inspectors. Counterfeit goods and swindlers would not even think of leaving White Jade City.

"Oh, right, I still need to get a Burning Furnace for Lin Xin." As he walked, he recalled the situation in Lin Xin's War City.

"How strange. Where did that fellow get Tier Two Steel Men and Inscription Gnomes? Could he have directly bought Dao Soldiers? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

Steel Men were the most cost-effective meat shields, while Inscription Gnomes were the finest blacksmiths and repairmen for forging magical artifacts.

Both types of Dao Soldier were extremely difficult to evolve and belonged to the ultimate form. Their requirements were also rather demanding. Yet somehow, Lin Xin had obtained them.

"I heard that City Lord Lin has a good relationship with Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi has connections everywhere; perhaps he introduced him to a black market purchase."

The female guard interjected.

"Perhaps." Feng Huai could not be bothered to think further. In these times, anyone who could reach Tier Five had their own secrets. If he dug to the root and questioned everything, they might not even remain friends. Better not to overthink it.

******************

Lin Xin soon learned what it meant to ignore the difference in rank.

The seed the Flower Fairy King had planted into the ground suddenly grew with a boom. It did not look like sprouting; it looked more like some colossal creature was desperately forcing its way up from beneath the frozen soil.

He immediately tapped the ground with his toes and lightly retreated over a hundred meters.

Hum...

The ground trembled as white snow powder and frozen earth bulged upward.

Crack, crack. The ice layer split and shattered. A purple hemisphere pushed up from the ground, with only half exposed above the surface. Within its translucent outer layer, much viscous liquid squirmed faintly, as though a dense mass of insect eggs was moving inside.

The Flower Fairy King had remained where she was, now standing exactly one step before the hemisphere.

Once the hemisphere had fully grown, she suddenly beat her wings and lunged into it. Her originally translucent figure became almost entirely incorporeal, slipping straight into the sphere.

Screech!

A flash of white light appeared. The hemisphere swayed soundlessly, then fell completely still.

"Master, the Void Egg awaits your command at any time."

The Flower Fairy King's crisp voice came from within the hemisphere.

Lin Xin narrowed his eyes and stepped forward to inspect it closely.

The hemisphere's surface was entirely pale purple. He could only vaguely see inside, where layer upon layer of fingernail-sized insect eggs filled the interior.

"What is this plant's purpose?"

He asked curiously.

The Flower Fairy King answered from within.

"It can fire Void Eggs, causing living beings to lose their minds. After they are killed, they will produce a mobile Tier Two Floating Corpse-Eating Demon."

"What is its rank?"

Lin Xin asked the crucial question.

"I do not know. The information you provided during refinement did not contain a specific evaluation standard. Its rank can only be determined through actual combat," the Void Egg answered.

"Under normal circumstances, a Void Egg seed takes three hundred years to germinate, another three hundred years to mature, and a thousand years before it can truly form combat power. However, I used plant control to forcefully ripen it with its own stored power. This state can last for one year before it completely collapses."

"One year... that's enough!"

Lin Xin was overjoyed. The haze that had been pressing on his heart seemed to loosen considerably.

Judging from the fluctuations of power alone, it was at least above Tier Two. Lin Xin decided that even if it was not Tier Two, it would not be far off.

Remembering that ominous premonition from before, Lin Xin hurriedly asked the other Flower Fairy Kings whether they could capture Void Egg seeds.

The Flower Fairy Kings immediately began rapidly capturing Void Egg seeds, holding them in their hands for Lin Xin to inspect.

After checking them one by one, he directly assigned all the Flower Fairy Kings to plant Void Eggs along the inner side of the War City's inner walls.

Very soon, ten-odd minutes later, purple hemispheres over ten meters in diameter rose one after another from the ground.

The War City's strength had received an unprecedented increase.

Lin Xin also tried having the Flower Fairy Kings capture other seeds, but it seemed that every seed drawn out nearby was a Void Egg seed. No other types could be found, so he gave up.

He also attempted to refine Void Egg seeds and transfer attributes into them, but unfortunately, the Void Egg's shell could not be penetrated by any power. It could not even be refined, much less have attributes transferred into it.

Over the following days, he began carefully examining the strategic arrangements around the entire War City. Thirty Flower Fairy Kings spread out and encircled the inner wall. As for the newly produced Little Flower Fairies, he had them continually capture seeds from the void.

The captured seeds could be Void Egg seeds, but it would be best to obtain some other varieties as well. He wanted to try breaking the Void Egg shell's isolation.

During this period, the spirit jade in his spatial equipment was nearly used up. The appearance of the Void Eggs had come at precisely the right time. Had they arrived even a little later, he feared even the defensive formations could no longer be maintained.

He also distributed the Steel Men evenly among the Void Eggs as guards.

Everything was ready. If problems still arose under such circumstances, there was nothing he could do.

******************

Several days later.

Lin Xin sat upright within the central fortress, slowly drinking tea from a cup. Before him, a Void Egg floated and turned slowly as strands of spiritual power cautiously probed it.

Boom!

Suddenly, the entire ground shook.

The tea in his hand sloshed violently out, spilling all over the floor.

"What's happening?!"

Lin Xin rose to his feet, grabbed the Void Egg, and headed outside.

In a single stride, he reached the entrance.

The moment he stood at the doorway and looked up—

The sky had darkened again.

Countless Void Imps packed the air, swooping toward the War City like a swarm of locusts. They howled, brandishing sharp claws, their bodies coated in a faint layer of black mist.

"So they've come after all!" Lin Xin's heart sank.

He took a step back. Two Steel Men blocked him from either side as the fortress gate slowly descended with a heavy rumble.

This fortress enclosed the central War City banner. Beneath it was the Burning Furnace, surrounded by hexagonal defensive bunkers. Stone walls shielded it from above, and formations covered it, making it impossible to smash apart.

The Void Imps' only means of attack was from the ground.

Through the mental link, Lin Xin could already sense that the outer Void Eggs had clashed with the Void Imps.

He narrowed his eyes, returned to the throne within the fortress, and sat down. With a wave of one hand—

An ice mirror immediately appeared before him, displaying the battle raging outside.

The Void Egg suddenly swelled from within, bursting like an inflated balloon.

A great spray of plant parasite eggs shot out like bullets, whistling into the Void Imps' bodies.

The struck Void Imps first stiffened in midair, then abruptly turned traitor, launching into frenzied attacks against their surrounding companions.

At every moment, each Void Egg instantly converted dozens more Void Imps to fight for it.

The Steel Men guarded desperately, smashing to death any fish that slipped through the net.

For the time being, the two sides were locked in a stalemate.