Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  Hongmeng's main interface is a city with ninety states, each with different sizes and areas. Even the smallest state has an area of over one million miles. Shen Shi is now just a young man who has not yet started cultivating, relying solely on walking to travel tens of millions of miles away to Haizhou Jinhong Mountain, it's feared that even after several years of walking, he still won't be able to arrive. Therefore, after all matters were confirmed and processed, the butcher decided to take him through the transmission array.

  There are two kinds of transmission arrays in the Hongmeng world, one is the ancient transmission array passed down from the Taigu era, which was engraved on the mysterious "Jintai Stone" and has been immortal for countless years. It is the only way to connect the main domain of Hongmeng to other domains. The second type of transmission array appeared much later, and it has only been around for over a thousand years since its birth. It was created by geniuses among humans who studied the ancient transmission array for many years, imitated the mysterious array, and created this strange object.

  Although both are teleportation arrays, the ancient teleportation array is too mysterious and strange. Compared to the ancient teleportation array passed down from the Taigu era, the teleportation array created by humans has many shortcomings. Firstly, no matter how hard human geniuses design and set up the array, they cannot achieve cross-border teleportation. From the Hongmeng main realm to other realms, the teleportation array will always fail. So far, it can only be used for long-distance teleportation within the Hongmeng main realm, but there is a certain natural limit to this distance. If the teleportation distance exceeds an unknown red line, the teleportation will inevitably fail, and strange things will happen from time to time, such as the mysterious disappearance of experimental animals like cats and dogs that year, which have never been found again.

  Apart from this, the ancient teleportation array built by Jintai Shi has a magical effect of naturally absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Every two hours, it can automatically absorb and replenish the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, triggering a cross-border teleportation. In contrast, the teleportation arrays created by humans themselves cannot achieve this no matter what, and can only rely on consuming the spiritual energy stored in spirit crystals to achieve teleportation. It is precisely because of this that the spiritual energy absorbed by the two is vastly different. The ancient teleportation array can teleport over a thousand people at once, while the human teleportation array can only teleport a maximum of fifty people at a time.

  There are still many similarities, but despite various shortcomings, it is incomparable to the ancient teleportation array that seems like a divine miracle. However, after thousands of years, the teleportation arrays created by humans have reached a relatively mature stage and are gradually becoming popular in the world, especially in the Cultivation Realm. Today, in the 90 states of Hongmeng City, each state has at least one major city with a teleportation array set up. Due to natural distance limitations, these human teleportation arrays can only transport people to adjacent states. The number of teleportation arrays actually reflects the prosperity and flourishing degree of that state to some extent.

  Lan State is similar to Yin State, both are remote and isolated states located in the southwest of Hongmeng's main domain. In terms of prosperity, Lan State is slightly inferior to Yin State, with only two transmission arrays in the entire state, both located in Hei Mu City, the most prosperous city in Lan State.

  With his mind made up, Butcher Shen led the way north to Kuroki Castle, and after half a month of traveling, they arrived at this large city in Rakuo.

  During this time, things finally got the best result, and both Butcher and Shen Shi relaxed a lot. They chatted more with each other, and from Butcher's mouth, Shen Shi learned about what had happened in Xilu City in recent days. It turned out that Tianyi Building sent a batch of spiritual materials to the mountain, including treasures offered to several elders of Xuanyin Gate. As the only "Yuandan Realm" great cultivator of Xuanyin Gate, Li Laoguai's treasure was naturally the most precious one.

  After the spiritual materials and treasures went up the mountain, what happened in between, how it went, the butcher couldn't say anything about it. In fact, what he knows now is also through the secret network of "Shen Xian Hui" branches all over the world, only a few lines of concise text. Anyway, things ended up like this: on the ninth night after the spiritual materials went up the mountain, in the dark and mysterious gaze of the Xuanyin Gate, a dazzling blue light column suddenly burst into the sky from the depths of the Tianyin Mountains, followed by an ear-piercingly mournful long whistle that shook the heavens.

  On the second day at dawn, the Xuan Yin Gate poured out, sealing off the Western Lu City and conducting a thorough search throughout the city.

  Upon hearing this, Shen Shi couldn't help but ask another question about his father, Shen Tai. The butcher didn't know either, but he comforted Shen Shi by saying: "The gods will keep their promises, since the matter has already been settled, your father must have been taken care of and arranged to live in a small town or city under an assumed name for several years until this affair blows over, then naturally there will be another chance for you and your father to meet again."

  Shen Shi listened and also felt the same way in his heart. Although he still had some thoughts about his father, after all, that was now his only relative in this world. But compared to the ten days of anxiety and fear after leaving Xi Lu City, now safely escaping from Yin Zhou and having a bright future ahead, it really made him feel extremely satisfied.

  Half a month later, Tu Fu and Shen Shi arrived at Kuroki Castle.

  This is a prosperous city that is not inferior to Xilu City. The streets are bustling with people, and there are many scattered cultivators coming and going. Occasionally, when hearing the conversations of some cultivators, it can be heard that the focus of everyone's discussion is the recent sudden change in the neighboring Yinzhou border, where a large sect of cultivators, Xuanyin Gate, has gone mad and is frantically investigating passing cultivators. In Xilu City, no one is allowed to enter or leave, and it has been sealed off for over a month, causing many scattered cultivators to complain. Among them, there are also various conflicts and disputes, but this time, Xuanyin Gate, which is usually relatively restrained, has suddenly become ferocious, killing dozens of scattered cultivators in just over ten days, with a bloody storm shrouding Xilu City.

  Such abnormalities naturally attracted attention from all sides, and I don't know how many people were guessing what had happened in the Xuan Yin Gate. And for those who really knew the inside story, such as Butcher and Shen Shi, when they heard these rumors, they just looked at each other expressionlessly, and then walked by as if nothing had happened.

  Although the city of Kuroki was bustling, Shen Shi, who had never been on a long trip since childhood, did not have any curiosity to wander around. At this moment, in his heart, apart from missing his father a little, it was all filled with yearning for the famous Xianzhen sect in Haizhou, far away in the south.

  Jin Hong Mountain, Ling Xiao Sect.

  That is the renowned and unmatched "Four Orthodox" sect, which has been passed down for thousands of years as the top aristocratic giant faction in the Xian Tian realm. For a young man from such a remote and small state to have the opportunity to enter the Ling Xiao Sect and cultivate, it's like getting a chance to leap over the dragon gate like a carp.

  What a wonderful and mysterious scene will it be, that fairy family's gate, that blessed place of good fortune, the sacred mountain's victorious realm?

  These days, Shen Shi had imagined it countless times in his heart, but each time he felt that his imagination was too childish and couldn't possibly live up to the reality of just how wondrous a place it was. And as for the butcher who traveled with him, he obviously didn't have a fondness for strolling around, plus the Xuan Yin Gate was still frantically searching everywhere, even though they were separated by an entire province, in this Hei Mu City there might not necessarily be no one keeping watch on their behalf.

  After arriving at Kuroki Castle, the two of them almost didn't delay, and Butcher led Shen Shi directly to the west city where the transmission array was located.

  This was the first time Shen Shishi had seen a legendary teleportation array, although Xiluo City was one of the most prosperous cities in Yinzhou, the teleportation arrays within Yinzhou were not set up in Xiluo City, but rather in another large city called Wocou City.

  Two teleportation arrays, each occupying an area of about one mu, can be considered large in scale. The array is made up of dark golden giant stones at the bottom, and dozens of large stones of the same material are cut into square stone blocks of different sizes on top, appearing chaotic but actually hiding mysterious laws, with a kind of invisible spiritual power flowing slowly inside the array.

  These dark golden stones are called "Spirit Stones", a kind of expensive spiritual material that contains spiritual power, and also the closest material to the ancient teleportation array's Golden Fetal Stones that can be found in the mortal world. It is worth noting that what makes the ancient teleportation arrays so mysterious and unpredictable, apart from their various strange and divine powers, lies in the Golden Fetal Stones that make up these arrays. For thousands of millions of years, not a single one has been discovered in all the known territories of the 108 realms of Hongmeng...

  These mysterious ancient arrays that communicate with the Hongmeng realms, who exactly created them, and where this Golden Fetal Stone came from, have been a mystery for thousands of years.

  At this moment, outside the two transmission arrays in Kuroki Castle, a considerable number of people had already gathered before Butcher and Shen Shi arrived. Looking around, there were almost over a hundred people. Shen Shi followed Butcher to look around, seeing the clothes, attire, and demeanor of the people around him. With his eyes trained from years of practice at Tianyi Building, he could tell that almost all of them were cultivators. A small portion might be disciples of some cultivation sects, but most should be loose cultivators.

  In front of these monks, at the entrance of the transmission array, two tables were placed, with more than a dozen men in the same gray clothes maintaining order. They divided the hundreds of monks into two rows, and each person who walked to a table would hand over a small bag or directly give three shiny little stones to the person sitting behind the table. From a distance, Shen Shi also recognized at a glance that those were all intact and unused spirit crystals.

  He furrowed his brow, glanced at the butcher beside him and asked in a low voice, "One transmission, three spiritual crystals?"

  The butcher smiled and said, "What do you think?"

  Shen Shi took a deep breath, the cost of this transmission array was indeed unexpectedly expensive, no wonder there were so many cultivators in Hei Mu City who came to ride on this transmission array. On the other hand, cultivators who could come here, whether they were disciples of the Xiu Zhen Sect or loose cultivators, must have had a good life.

  The butcher led Shen Shi and walked over, lining up behind one of the queues.

  The team continued to move forward at a fairly fast pace, after all, the gray-robed men in front only collected the spirit crystals and let them pass without any inquiry or investigation of their identities. As long as they handed over the spirit crystals, they could naturally use the transmission array, making it seem like a purely business-like transaction.

  After a while, Butcher and Shen Shi lined up at the front of the queue. At this time, Shen Shi also saw the entrance to two transmission arrays, each with a wooden sign that read "Yin State" and "Li State".

  The row of troops they were in was the transmission formation on this side of Licheng, Shen Shi's gaze silently lingered on the wooden sign with the two words "Yin State" for a moment before moving away.

  Behind the table in front of him, a middle-aged man glanced at Tufa and Shen Shi, saying lightly: "Chenghui, six spiritual crystals."

  Shen Shi hesitated for a moment, then turned his head to look at the butcher. He did have some spirit crystals on him, but they were given to him by his father Shen Tai when they parted ways, and there were only three of them. Emotionally and logically, he felt that it shouldn't be his turn to pay.

  Just a moment later, Shen Shi's face changed slightly, and the butcher standing next to him didn't move at all, not even a hint of taking out money...

  (Someone told me today why don't you ask for votes? I thought about it and found out that I didn't know what kind of votes to ask for here, a bit OUT haha...)