Entering the city

After opening the exit, Liao Pantu, blowing his beard, shrank back into the Soul-Nourishing Pendant and floated in front of Lin Xiao:

"Put me in your arms."

Lin Xiao obediently reached out, took the Soul-Nourishing Pendant, and stuffed it into his chest.

Then he heard his Senior Liao transmit his voice to him:

"Let's communicate like this outside. Okay, now get out of here. The exit will close automatically in a bit."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao didn't waste any words and quickly walked out through the open exit in front of him.

When he came out, he discovered that Senior Liao's cave abode was located in an ordinary, desolate mountain wilderness.

Although it was a barren mountain, it was very tall. The exit was surrounded by wild and messy vegetation. Lin Xiao used the Air-Stepping Technique to leap into the air, ensuring that he would not leave any traces here.

But Lin Xiao recalled Liao Pantu's telepathic message:

"While it's good that you're being cautious, let me tell you first: the location where this exit opens is different each time; it's not some low-level cave abode entrance that can be easily discovered."

"Then why can we teleport in using the teleportation array?"

Liao Pantu for a moment before saying Qi Ingestion:

"Your teleportation array is of a high grade, and it only works if the user has been to the location before. If it weren't me, even if someone else used this teleportation array, even if they knew the general location, they still wouldn't be able to enter my cave abode because they haven't been there before. What's the problem with that!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao asked curiously:

"But now that I've been in, does that mean I can just teleport in directly next time?"

Seemingly not expecting this, Liao Pantu paused for a moment before slowly saying:

"If you ever come here again, besides my good disciple Yigao, please don't bring anyone else into my cave abode... No one else has ever entered my cave abode except for you, little one..."

When Lin Xiao arrived Yuanling City, guided by Liao Pantu, it was already noon.

Unexpectedly, Yuanling City is quite far from Senior Liao's cave abode. Even with his current Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation, it took him several hours to arrive.

The grandeur of Yuanling City is completely different from that of cities in the Mortal Realm.

Looking from afar, Lin Xiao could see that the towering city wall had a fine and smooth surface, which looked very solid. It was about a hundred meters high, but its width was not clear. It stretched far on both sides, and the end could not be seen at all.

Upon approaching, a strong sense of oppressive power immediately enveloped them.

The city gate of Yuanling City was also enormous.

According to Liao Pantu, the place Lin Xiao arrived at was the South Gate.

The South Gate actually has three gates: one large and two small.

The largest city gate was over fifty meters high and about forty meters wide, but it was tightly closed at the moment.

On either side of it were two smaller city gates, yet even these two smaller gates were twenty or thirty meters long and wide.

Such a magnificent city would be virtually impossible to build in the Mortal Realm.

However, in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, it doesn't seem to be a difficult thing.

As if sensing his thoughts, Liao Pantu transmitted his voice:

"Building this city isn't the hardest part; defending it is the most difficult."

Each of the thirty-six cities in the Southern Spirit Domain possesses an imposing presence no less than Yuanling City, and each city boasts formidable defensive formations. However, few know who the true city lords are, or who set up those powerful defensive formations.

As he spoke, he seemed to suddenly remember something and said to Lin Xiao:

"You'll have to pay an entrance fee when you enter the city. I remember it was about two Spirit Stone eighty years ago, but I don't know how much it is now. Also, remember, you can't use your Spiritual Power excessively in the city."

Lin Xiao nodded knowingly and said:

"Is there some kind of formation in Yuanling City that forbids people from using Spiritual Power in combat, or that if someone uses Spiritual Power Law Technique, they will be obliterated by the formation?"

Liao Pantu was taken aback by his apparent knowledge and said in surprise:

How did you know?

Lin Xiao chuckled and changed the subject, saying:

"Sigh, just a guess. Being a city lord is too good, isn't it? You can just lie around and have a steady stream of Spirit Stone coming in every day."

At the city gate not far away, a dense crowd of people were constantly going in and out.

However, looking around the entire city gate, there wasn't a single gatekeeper or anything like that in sight.

As everyone entered the city gate, they held Spirit Stone in their hands. Then, Lin Xiao saw that the Spirit Stone suddenly disappeared as if they were absorbed by something in the void the instant they entered the city gate.

Since cultivators roam freely here, one cannot casually use Divine Sense to investigate others, lest it cause unnecessary trouble. Therefore, Liao Pantu peeked an eyeball out of Lin Xiao's arms, looked at the situation at the city gate, and then transmitted his voice to Lin Xiao:

"They're holding five Spirit Stone. Tsk, the entrance fee has gone up, and by such a large amount."

Lin Xiao, however, was not concerned about the entrance fee of those few Spirit Stone. He asked:

"Their Spirit Stone just vanished. How did that happen?"

Liao Pantu then answered:

"That's a conditional restriction; it collects Spirit Stone once and releases the person once."

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered that Lin Xiao's Spirit Stone were still with him, so he took out the storage ring and handed it over.

Lin Xiao then saw a semi-transparent hand suddenly emerge from under his clothes at his chest, holding a storage ring containing 50,000 Spirit Stone.

"Take it."

"Oh..." He was a little worried. Would this restriction that could absorb Spirit Stone also absorb all the Spirit Stone in his storage ring?

Lin Xiao took the storage ring, but instead of wearing it on his finger, he put it in his pocket. Then he took out five Spirit Stone from it, walked to one of the small city gates, and followed the crowd as he entered the gate.

The moment he stepped through the city gate, he saw the Spirit Stone he had been tightly clutching in his hand vanish in an instant.

Lin Xiao couldn't help but glance at the Spirit Stone in his storage ring.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his storage ring was still full of Spirit Stone and had not disappeared along with the five Spirit Stone from before.

Liao Pantu, who saw through his thoughts, did not laugh at him, but instead transmitted his voice to him:

"Don't be careless. Although such cities don't easily fall into such traps, it's not unheard of. I once passed through a city whose finances had collapsed long ago due to the new city lord's extravagance. He even went so far as to modify the city's entry restrictions and steal all the Spirit Stone from those who entered."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised; there really was such a thing.

"Did no one resist?"

"Of course there were, but those who were robbed were all low-level cultivators. What could they do even if they resisted? Before long, the city was reduced to ruins."