Guang'an Prefecture

Two hours later.

The Azure Dragon docked in the harbor.

After drifting at sea for a month, Chen Daoxuan finally set foot on solid ground.

"Is this Guang'an Prefecture?"

Looking at the surging crowds and shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians around him, Chen Daoxuan could not help asking.

"Yes, this is Guang'an Prefecture!"

Seeing the most prosperous city within a hundred thousand li, Chen Xianhe's heart also swelled with emotion.

To Chen Daoxuan, Guang'an Prefecture's prosperity resembled not the ancient society of his previous life, but more like a coastal city of modern civilization.

First, this city had no walls like those of ancient times. It was a completely open city.

Second, there were simply too many buildings within the city—one after another: residences, restaurants, inns, merchant houses. They stretched as far as the eye could see, too numerous to count.

After getting off the ship,

Chen Daoxuan discovered that on the docks, a group of strangely dressed mortals were carrying burlap sacks, tirelessly loading goods onto Cloud-Treading Beast Carts.

They wore shackles around their ankles and walked with difficulty. Moreover, behind every several dozen porters followed a mortal martial artist holding a whip, seemingly guarding them.

Chen Daoxuan swept the area with his Divine Sense.

He discovered that the sacks were actually filled with grain.

Chen Xianhe, walking beside him, followed Chen Daoxuan's gaze and explained, "They are mortal prisoners of war from Cloud Country. After being bought by some Rogue Cultivators and small families, they are used as slaves."

"Mortals used as slaves?"

Chen Daoxuan had always believed that mortals were merely breeding tools who provided Cultivation Families with seeds for cultivation.

He had not expected cultivators to use mortals as slaves as well.

Seeming to see his confusion, Chen Xianhe smiled. "Of course. We cultivators can go without food or drink, but mortals cannot. Great Immortal Clans do not merely have numerous cultivators in their clans—their mortal populations are even more enormous.

Take the Zhou Family, for example. Their own mortal population numbers in the tens of millions. With such a vast mortal base, the grain produced on Spirit Shell Island alone cannot possibly feed them all."

Hearing this, Chen Daoxuan immediately understood.

Most of these Cloud Country slaves before him were agricultural serfs of Myriad Star Sea cultivators.

Rogue Cultivators relied on these serfs to reclaim deserted islands and grow grain, while great Cultivation Families exchanged meager amounts of Spirit Stones for that grain to support their massive populations. Each took what they needed.

This was also one of the ways Rogue Cultivators obtained Spirit Stones.

As for why the Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island had not developed this "business," Chen Daoxuan glanced at the elderly Thirteenth Uncle and immediately understood why.

It was not that the Chen Family was kindhearted. They simply had more will than strength; there were too few Chen Family cultivators.

Besides handling family affairs, Chen Xianhe also had to protect the safety of the clansmen in Changping County.

How could he have the energy to engage in such "side businesses"?

Furthermore, most mortal prisoners from Cloud Country were martial artists. Without cultivators to suppress them, ordinary Chen clansmen alone could hardly ensure that these agricultural serfs would not revolt or flee.

Coupled with the meager returns of exchanging ordinary grain for Spirit Stones, it was rather like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

Thus, the Chen Family had not developed this business.

As if recalling something, Chen Daoxuan continued, "These slaves originally belonged to some Cultivation Families in Cloud Country too, didn't they?"

At this, Chen Xianhe fell silent at first, then nodded. "That's right! The war between our Myriad Star Sea and Cloud Country has lasted for more than four hundred years. Fortunately, we have always been on the offensive, so most of those who suffered were mortals from Cloud Country.

Among these mortals, most men were sold as agricultural serfs, while the women became tools for the great immortal clans to breed descendants."

In just a few words, Chen Xianhe painted Chen Daoxuan a picture of an incomparably cruel cultivation world.

There had never been anything beautiful here. There was only slaughter even more brutal than in his previous life. In order to fight over resources, cultivators employed methods even more ruthless than before.

This was the sorrow of weakness. Whether in his previous life or this one, there was no difference at all.

Chen Daoxuan thought to himself.

Seeing Chen Daoxuan's grim expression, Chen Xianhe did not stop speaking.

As the future Clan Leader of the Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island, there were things he had to bear.

They had not told him these things before so that he could focus on learning Artifact Refining. That did not mean Chen Daoxuan could avoid them forever.

"Is weakness a crime?"

Chen Xianhe was taken aback by the question, then nodded and answered firmly, "That's right. In this world, weakness is a crime!"

The group continued onward.

After Chen Xianhe settled the accompanying clansmen in an inn in Guang'an Prefecture,

he led Chen Daoxuan toward the inner city of Guang'an Prefecture.

As the two advanced toward the inner city, Chen Daoxuan noticed more and more cultivators. By the end, he could hardly see a single mortal; everywhere he looked, there were cultivators.

"Although Guang'an Prefecture is said to be a city where immortals and mortals live together, cultivators and mortals do not actually live together. The inner city of Guang'an Prefecture, where we are headed now, is the true Guang'an Prefecture immortal city!"

Chen Xianhe explained as they walked.

Sure enough.

As they continued forward, a towering city wall appeared before them.

At the city gate,

a cultivator dressed in a blue robe embroidered with a fiery-red Spirit Pearl blocked their path.

"Stop. Please pay the city entry tax."

At this, Chen Xianhe took out two Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and handed them over.

"Go in."

The Zhou Family cultivator waved them through the city gate.

Chen Daoxuan looked back and saw a long queue stretching so far that its end was nearly invisible.

The moment he stepped through the gate,

Chen Daoxuan seemed to enter another world. The concentration of spiritual energy suddenly surged by more than tenfold.

"This is..."

Seeing Chen Daoxuan's astonished expression, Chen Xianhe explained, "This is a Spirit Vein! Beneath Guang'an Prefecture immortal city lies a third-tier Spirit Vein. That is why, the moment we entered its bounds, we felt the spiritual energy pressing against us."

Glancing at the sky, Chen Xianhe said, "Let's find an inn to stay in first. Every night, Guang'an Prefecture immortal city has Zhou Family cultivators clear out cultivators without residency rights, to prevent Rogue Cultivators from coming here to mooch off the spiritual energy."

Housing rentals in Guang'an Prefecture immortal city were divided into two types: short-term and long-term.

Short-term rentals were inns, generally rented for less than a month.

If the rental period exceeded a month, cultivators would often choose to rent a Cave Mansion from the Zhou Family, because it worked out cheaper than a short-term inn stay.

Because Guang'an Prefecture had abundant spiritual energy, the prices of its inns were painfully high.

Chen Xianhe and Chen Daoxuan rented only two rooms for ten days, yet they paid a full 20 Spirit Stones in rent—an average of one Spirit Stone per person each day.

And this was only at an inn with the lowest concentration of spiritual energy.

It was rumored that the Guang'an Immortal Mansion also offered Cave Mansions of four grades—A, B, C, and D—with each grade differing in living conditions and spiritual energy concentration.

Chen Daoxuan wondered how many Spirit Stones it would take to rent a top-grade A Cave Mansion.

Of course.

Cultivators who could afford an A-grade Cave Mansion were either disciples of other Cultivation Families or Rogue Cultivators with a specialized skill.

Ordinary Rogue Cultivators and descendants of small families did not even dare dream of it.