Yunping City

Upon entering Yunping City, they found every trade flourishing and crowds flowing through the streets like woven threads. As the administrative seat of Yunping County, which spanned three thousand li and had a population in the tens of millions, Yunping City enjoyed thriving commerce, with shops lining both sides of its streets.

Yunping City was home to both cultivators and mortals. Yet the two were distinct, so the city was divided into inner and outer districts. Mortals lived in the outer city, while cultivators resided in the inner city.

After passing through the outer city and reaching the inner city gate, they found that the entire inner city was covered by an upper-grade second-tier formation. At present, the formation was operating only at its basic level, gathering spiritual energy from heaven and earth to support the cultivation of those within. A light-screen barrier at the inner city gate prevented mortals from entering.

The Liu Household cultivators passed smoothly through the barrier into the inner city. Liu Changxu discovered that the spiritual energy here was far denser than on Peach Blossom Mountain. Cultivating here would be much faster than back home.

The Liu Household cultivators had come to Yunping City partly because it lay along their route and they needed to rest and replenish their supplies. More importantly, on the next leg of their journey, a caravan without a Foundation Establishment cultivator overseeing it would face terrible danger-death nine times out of ten.

The Liu Household planned to travel to Purple Forest Market alongside the caravan of the Wu Household, a Foundation Establishment lineage in Yunping County.

The Wu Household of Yunping Mountain was the only Foundation Establishment lineage in Yunping County, with a heritage stretching back more than eight hundred years. It currently had two Foundation Establishment cultivators and over five hundred Qi Refinement cultivators. Its seat, Yunping Mountain, stood two hundred and eighty li outside Yunping City and possessed an upper-grade second-tier spirit vein. The Wu Household's territory spanned over two thousand li, making it the undisputed master of Yunping County.

Yunping City was jointly administered by the Azure Cloud Sect, the Wu Household, and Yunping County's six Qi Refinement lineages. The Liu Household of Peach Blossom Mountain was one of them.

Forty percent of Yunping City's profits went to the Azure Cloud Sect, thirty percent to the Wu Household, and the remaining thirty percent was divided equally among the six Qi Refinement lineages.

Naturally, enjoying these rights also meant shouldering the corresponding obligations. If Yunping City ever faced danger, each lineage would have to dispatch cultivators to defend it.

Two Foundation Establishment cultivators were currently stationed in Yunping City, one from the Azure Cloud Sect and the other from the Wu Household. Its Qi Refinement cultivators came from the Wu Household and the six Qi Refinement lineages.

As one of Yunping County's six major Qi Refinement lineages, the Liu Lineage also maintained a shop in the inner city called Peach Blossom Pavilion, which served as both its base and its storefront in Yunping City.

Peach Blossom Pavilion mainly sold the various spiritual goods produced by the lineage and purchased those it needed. Members of the Liu Household also stayed there when they visited Yunping City.

Liu Changxu followed the other Liu Household cultivators to their own Peach Blossom Pavilion and felt a warm sense of familiarity.

The person in charge of Peach Blossom Pavilion was Liu Changxu's eighth aunt, Liu Shifeng. She was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, beautiful and dignified, with a cheerful, generous disposition that made her well suited to managing the lineage's shop.

Since his eighth aunt, Liu Shifeng, had taken charge of Peach Blossom Pavilion, its business had improved considerably. It no longer struggled to scrape by as it once had, and she had also supplied the lineage with plenty of useful intelligence.

By now, his eighth aunt, Liu Shifeng, had gathered the lineage's cultivators stationed in Yunping City to welcome the arriving clansmen, led by Grand Elder Liu Qiusheng.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Liu Changxu and the others were ushered into Peach Blossom Pavilion. Under his eighth aunt's arrangements, each was given a room in which to rest.

Once Liu Changxu entered his room, he eagerly opened a Storage Bag belonging to the evil cultivator he had killed.

The late-stage Qi Refinement evil cultivator had possessed five Storage Bags. Opening one, Liu Changxu found nine hundred spirit stones, eight hundred jin of middle-grade first-tier spiritual rice-snow crystal rice-and three hundred and twenty middle-grade first-tier spiritual fruits-purple rosy jujubes. There were also some lower-grade first-tier talismans and two bottles of the lower-grade first-tier medicinal preparation, Qi Refinement Powder.

Clearly, this Storage Bag had belonged to a cultivator from some Qi Refinement lineage whom the evil cultivator had robbed. These spiritual goods could fetch a substantial number of spirit stones, leaving Liu Changxu delighted.