Chapter 23: The Imperial Situation
"This is not what I'm afraid of, they don't even know it was me who did it." Gu Yun said somewhat carelessly, as for whether these people would go and inform on him, Gu Yun didn't really believe it, because if that were the case, the informant themselves might be the first to suffer.
"Senior, I've heard that the disciples of these sects all have a nameplate placed within their own sect. Once they die, the nameplate will shatter, and it's possible to track down the person who killed them from it. Senior, you should be careful." Weng Yuan said with some concern, seeing Gu Yun's expression.
"Oh, there's such a thing? Does the imperial official have something like that too?" As soon as he said it, Gu Yun immediately thought of Li Jinyang, whom he had killed. That was the lord of a county town! If the empire found out it was him who did it, that would be big trouble. He didn't think he could single-handedly resist a Xiu Zhen Empire.
"Yes, the imperial officials and those sect disciples will have this thing." When Weng Yuan heard Gu Yun's question, his heart skipped a beat. This person wasn't someone who had even killed imperial officials, was he? That would be too bold.
"Oh, I see. Then can you tell me about the entire empire's situation? This is my first time out, and I'm not very familiar with these things yet." Upon hearing this, Gu Yun also felt a bit relieved that he hadn't entered the city yet, or else who knows what would have happened.
Wengyuan was even more convinced that Gyun had killed an imperial officer. He hastily told Gyun about the situation in the empire.
At this time, Gu Yun finally knew the current situation of the empire. The entire Hua Zhou Empire has five continents: Gan Zhou, Yue Zhou, Yang Zhou, Xu Zhou, and Jing Zhou. Each continent has several cities, and each city is divided into several counties. He is currently in Xu Zhou's Chi Cheng City, Liangping County. Liuhe Men is the first major gate of several county towns near Liangping County, with over a thousand disciples. The master and elders of the sect are all at the stage of crossing the tribulation. Of course, this can only be said to be in Liangping County, and there are many such sects throughout the empire, which are not considered major sects at all.
The six major sects in the empire are the Medical God Sect, the Five Elements Sect, the Refining Sect, the Immortal Thunder Sect, the Heavenly Sword Sect, and the Diamond Sect. The Medical God Sect is undoubtedly the first among them. Although their medical practitioners have no attacking power, their healing skills are unmatched, and they play a crucial role in wars, so they receive strong support from the empire. In addition, they also have an outer sect where people who want to practice medicine but lack talent can join and learn combat techniques. These individuals originally had decent talent, and with the Medical God Sect's elixirs and assistance, their cultivation speed was very fast, making them powerful fighters. It wasn't until now that Gu Yun learned that the Medical God Sect actually has an inner and outer sect distinction. He wondered how his father managed to borrow the medical classic from within the sect.
And next is the Xian Lei Gate, whose ancestor is said to have inadvertently obtained a secret recipe for making five-element Xian Lei using crystal stones. Crystal stones are transparent stones used after spiritual stones, which are considered waste in the eyes of cultivators. However, this secret recipe for making Xian Lei can turn waste into treasure by carving some arrays inside, and after success, it can be detonated with the cultivator's spiritual power, and the explosive force is quite strong, even the smallest one is equivalent to a Jindan period cultivator self-detonating. And if a Jindan period cultivator self-detonates, even an Yuanying period cultivator would not die but peel off a layer of skin. According to legend, their gate has a Xian Lei with the strongest power, which can flatten a mountain with a radius of ten miles and a height of one kilometer into flat ground.
It is now the most desirable treasure for cultivators. Although this treasure is one-time use, it is also a lifesaver, and its price is not low, completely unaffordable for ordinary cultivators. Moreover, it played a significant role in the empire's war, and now almost all of their Five Elements Thunderbolts have been purchased by the empire.
The third is the Five Elements Sect, which cultivates the Five Elements Kung Fu. The entire sect is divided into five halls: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Each hall's disciples cultivate one attribute, exceling in Five Elements Taoist magic and formation techniques. Their Taoist magic is also very ingenious, belonging to a difficult-to-deal-with type of person, especially when the opponent's five elements gather and form a large Five Elements Formation.
The Fourth Refining Sect is a sect that specializes in refining magical artifacts, and its own attack power is not very high. However, the technique of refining magical artifacts is also unparalleled. Which cultivator does not need magical artifacts? Therefore, the status of people in this sect within the empire is also very high, and few people will offend them without reason.
The fifth Golden Gate, the cultivation method is similar to Gu Yun's Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique, both of which cultivate the physical body and are close-range attacks, also belonging to a very difficult-to-deal-with cultivator.
The Sixth Heaven Sword Sect, the cultivators of this sect are all sword cultivators. They don't use flying swords like ordinary cultivators, but instead cultivate their own bodies into swords, achieving a state of unity between man and sword. Once they succeed in their cultivation, they become invincible among cultivators of the same stage, and can even challenge those of higher stages. Of course, this is only when both parties' magical treasures are at the same stage.
It's just that the sword energy they cultivate is too overbearing, causing great damage to the meridians. If not careful, it can lead to the destruction of the meridians, so there are not many people who cultivate this way. However, every one of them is undoubtedly a well-known figure in the cultivation world. The first reason for their fame is that their attacking power is the strongest among the six major sects. Another reason for their fame is that they are the poorest in the cultivation world, often unable to find even a low-grade spirit stone on their bodies. This is because all their spirit stones are spent on buying dan medicine to protect their meridians. It's precisely this way that their relationship with the Medical God Sect is also the best, one needs dan medicine and the other needs protection.
Of course, the empire is not just these major powers. The empire itself has an Imperial Academy, and the basic skills that everyone in the empire can cultivate from birth are published by the Imperial Academy to help the empire nurture talent. Every few years, the Imperial Academy sends people to various parts of the empire to find children who have successfully cultivated the basic skills before the age of seven. These children, under the cultivation of the empire, if they reach the Yuan Ying period, must serve in the empire's army for 100 years. After 100 years, if there is no breakthrough again, they can retire and still receive the spiritual stones distributed by the empire every month. If there is a breakthrough during this period, the treatment in the imperial army will also be improved, and the service period will be extended by another 100 years. And so on. However, if one's cultivation in the military reaches the Great Vehicle period, the empire will let him retire immediately and join the Imperial Supply Hall. From then on, they must stay in the Imperial Supply Hall to serve the empire until they ascend to immortality. Therefore, the Imperial Academy is truly the largest force in the entire empire.
Others are some immortal families, these families are formed by the ancestors of the family who have obtained some advanced immortal skills and passed them down. Their strength is not as strong as that of the Imperial Academy and other six major sects, but it is stronger than ordinary sects. Now in the empire, there are only four immortal families: Su, Gong Sun, Li, and Wang.
Wengyuan told Gu Yun about the situation of some major powers in the empire, and later Wengyuan told Gu Yun more things about the empire. The currency circulating throughout the entire empire is Ling Shi, which is divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower. One upper-grade Ling Shi can be exchanged for one hundred middle-grade Ling Shi, and one middle-grade Ling Shi can be exchanged for one hundred lower-grade Ling Shi. Moreover, apart from those controlled by a few major sects, all other Ling Shi are in the hands of the empire. Cultivators who want to obtain Ling Shi have only three options: join some major sects, do tasks for the empire, or sell their belongings.
This resulted in the empire's cultivators being divided into three categories. One category was those with good innate talent, who were taken under the wing of the empire and large sects. These individuals would receive a certain amount of spirit stones every month. The higher their cultivation level, the better and more abundant the spirit stones they received.
Also, if your strength is high enough, you can help the empire with tasks such as capturing wanted criminals and escorting goods in exchange for spirit stones. Alternatively, you can also rob them, but that way, you'll become a wanted criminal of the empire, waiting to be hunted down.
In the end, there are people like Weng Yuan who lack talent and strength as a cultivator. In order to obtain spiritual stones, they have to go outside to find various herbs and minerals to exchange for spiritual stones, but this is not a good method either. Not to mention that the price of the things they find will be suppressed by others, it's also easy to get killed and robbed. If they hadn't met Gu Yun today, they would have been robbed already. But for the sake of spiritual stones, they have no choice, because without spiritual stones, their cultivation speed will slow down a lot.
This couldn't help but make Gu Yun feel a little sympathetic towards the plight of these people, and at the same time, he felt even more deeply the cruelty of the Cultivation World. However, he was powerless to change anything, or perhaps it was simply impossible to change. Because in this world, since humans existed, the strong respecting the weak had always been present, and no one could change that.
At the same time, Gu Yun also came to realize that in the empire, people like them were the majority. After all, those with good innate abilities would always be a minority. They had to rush around every day for the sake of spirit stones, and thinking about this, Gu Yun suddenly thought of an idea. He himself was currently refining pills and equipment, which required large quantities of spiritual medicine and minerals. If he relied solely on himself to find them, it would be a bit too much to handle. It would be better if he purchased them from these people at a higher price than others. So, Gu Yun immediately shared this idea with Weng Yuan and the others, and they could set their own prices.
