Lu Chen stayed in Azure Moon Ancient City in the Central Region for over half a month, gathering news of major events in the cultivation world and the movements of various great sects and holy lands.
In a few days, the Purple Mansion Holy Land would open a Domain Gate through the void. Cultivators who wanted to travel to the Southern Region for various reasons could use it to make the journey.
Of course, a lofty holy land would not do good deeds for free. This was a business, too, and Loose Cultivators who wanted to use its Domain Gate to cross the void had to pay a steep price.
It was not impossible for Loose Cultivators to make the journey themselves, but it was extremely troublesome and dangerous. Flying from the Eastern Wasteland's Central Region to either the Southern Region or the Northern Region would take several years at the very least, making it even less worthwhile.
Thus, for most Loose Cultivators who wanted to travel between regions, using a major power's Domain Gate was practically the only option.
Three days later, Lu Chen arrived at the Purple Mansion Holy Land, a place where dragon veins converged. Towering peaks rose in rolling ranks, like a True Dragon lurking beneath the earth. Exotic flowers bloomed across the land, and rare grasses grew in swaths. It was both majestic and beautiful.
In this region, the Purple Mansion Holy Land was the sole sovereign, ruling over the vast land, and it was now at the height of its prosperity.
Rumor had it that this generation's Purple Mansion Saintess possessed a powerful physique spoken of in legends. She overshadowed the Holy Son and was an extraordinary woman rarely seen in this world.
Several hundred people waited outside the mountain gates, each with their own reason for traveling between regions.
"Young brother, are you heading to the Southern Region too?" asked a burly man with a thick beard.
"I heard the supreme Demon Emperor's tomb has emerged. I want to go and have a look." Lu Chen smiled and replied casually.
"The Demon Emperor's Tomb is a meat grinder now. Who knows how many disciples of great sects have been buried there? You're so young-you'd best not harbor any fantasies." An elderly cultivator with graying hair offered this advice, taking him for a young cultivator who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth.
"You're quite right, senior!" Lu Chen smiled calmly, offering a perfunctory reply.
The group included men and women, old and young. Their cultivation levels were difficult to judge and varied widely.
After a long while, the enormous mountain gates swung open, and several cultivators in Daoist robes emerged. At their head was a middle-aged man in purple robes, his expression stern and his steps light and ethereal.
"Once you enter, obey the rules!"
A chorus of assent immediately rose from the crowd. No one dared act recklessly in a holy land.
They stepped forward in turn. Without needing any further instruction from the purple-robed man, each presented their treasures. Crossing the void required a hefty payment.
"A Sea of Bitterness cultivator's weapon? Do you think we collect scrap?" The purple-robed man cast it a contemptuous glance and waved the first cultivator away.
"Please make an exception, senior," the cultivator pleaded desperately. "I've refined this weapon for twenty years. It's my most precious treasure."
"What use would it be even if you'd refined it for a hundred years? Even weapons forged by Dao Palace cultivators are unacceptable if they're made of ordinary materials." The middle-aged man from the Purple Mansion Holy Land wore an arrogant look.
Although unwilling to accept this, the cultivator dared not cause trouble and could only withdraw dejectedly.
The second person was an elderly cultivator who presented a silver hammer. It looked quite extraordinary, but a large piece had broken off.
"What use is a damaged piece? Take it away!"
"This is a powerful magical treasure forged by a cultivator who entered the Four Extremes Realm," the elderly cultivator explained cautiously.
"With damage this serious, it's already scrap. What use is it? Rather than spend the resources to repair it, we might as well forge a new one." The purple-robed man looked impatient and waved him away.
"One stalk of firecloud grass!" The third cultivator stepped forward and produced a white jade box. He opened it to reveal a palm-sized herb, red as fire, its surface crystalline and its fragrance spreading through the air.
Satisfaction appeared in the purple-robed man's eyes. He snapped the white jade box shut and said, "A rare spiritual herb. You have a place."
"One bottle of blue jade essence!"
After many people in succession had failed to pass, the thirtieth presented a bottle of jade essence that shimmered with an enchanting luster.
"Such pure jade essence fluid. Even venerable masters in the Four Extremes Secret Realm can use this. You may enter." The purple-robed man's eyes burned with desire. Reluctantly, he handed the jade essence to a fellow disciple behind him and let the cultivator through.
Using the passage here demanded an exorbitant price. The treasures and spiritual herbs many offered did not meet the requirements.
"It's only a trip from the Central Region to the Southern Region, not across the entire Eastern Wasteland. Yet they still demand such an outrageous price!" Those who had failed were disgruntled, murmuring among themselves off to the side.
Apart from the holy lands, even some of the most powerful great sects lacked the ability to cross directly to the Southern Region in a single journey. This was therefore the only route available to many Loose Cultivators.
When Lu Chen's turn came, he took out a fist-sized piece of fire crystal source. The purple-robed man was startled, and greed actually appeared in his eyes. Excitedly, he said, "Rare, pure fire crystal source! An exceptional resource for cultivating fire-attribute techniques."
A small source mine vein often yielded only a pound or two of pure source. Variant source was worth more than ten times its weight in pure source and was extraordinarily precious.
An enduring major power like the Purple Mansion Holy Land naturally possessed all manner of resources and treasures, but it had many disciples, and its consumption was immense.
Ordinary disciples had to contribute to the holy land before they could exchange those contributions for precious resources. Though they lived better than Loose Cultivators, they could not simply take whatever resources they wanted.
The rare piece of pure fire crystal source contained a vast amount of fire-attribute divine energy and drew many gazes. The purple-robed man cradled it in his hands before reluctantly passing it to a fellow disciple behind him. "Do you have any more variant source like this? We're willing to pay a high price."
"Senior, this is the only piece of variant source I have. Is it enough?" Lu Chen asked.
Those pieces of fire crystal source had all been found in the divine fire earth vein where the Great Accomplished Saint Spirit had fallen. They contained vast amounts of refined fire energy, and there were only around a thousand pieces in total.
"You really have no more?" the purple-robed man asked again.
Lu Chen shook his head and replied casually, "This is the only resource my master left me."
The purple-robed man felt deeply disappointed. Even a holy land was willing to exchange large quantities of pure source for variant source. "Although it's only one piece of fire crystal source, you pass."
An hour later, the selection finally ended. Of the several hundred Loose Cultivators, only a little over a hundred had passed, and all had paid exorbitant prices.
"Return here in three days. We won't wait for latecomers." The purple-robed man had everyone leave an identifying mark, then returned to the mountain with his fellow disciples.
Crossing the void was no simple matter. It required an expert proficient in Dao Patterns to inscribe them, and the process consumed enormous amounts of essence, energy, and spirit. It was far beyond the capabilities of ordinary cultivators.
Whenever the Purple Mansion Holy Land allowed Loose Cultivators to use its Domain Gate, it was usually because someone from the holy land needed to cross the void. The Loose Cultivators were merely tagging along, allowing the holy land to collect a substantial amount of extra resources and treasures.
Naturally, this spatial transport gate to the Southern Region was being opened because of Qing Emperor's Tomb.
For the sake of the legendary supreme treasure, the Desolate Pagoda, eminent figures from the various holy lands continued to travel to the Southern Region.
Only Lu Chen knew that no matter how fiercely these holy lands and Desolate Ancient Families attacked, the Azure Emperor's Yin Tomb would not open. They would leave behind nothing but heaps of white bones.
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