Chapter 1 Brother and Sister

  Tongzhou border, located in the northwest corner of the Mortal Realm of Xianling Continent, adjacent to Honghuang...

  Since ancient times, the Xianling Continent has been said: Hongyuan is a place where monsters roam, this land not only connects the Eastern and Western States, but also lies between the mountains and canyons, with dense forests, countless cliffs, endless wilderness, and danger lurking everywhere, it's not a place for ordinary people to enter casually...

  This land is about ten thousand miles away from the Great Zhou Dynasty, and there are countless countries in between. It's impossible for ordinary people to reach here even after walking for several years... Even if a cultivator has achieved great success and can fly with their sword using boundless magic power, it would still take them several months... That's why this place is called the "Land of Peril" by the cultivators in the Mortal Realm of the Xianling Continent.

  "The Desolate Land was originally thousands of miles away from the mortal realm, but hundreds of years ago, the demonic beasts of the Desolate Land suddenly invaded the Eastern State, triggering a catastrophe on the Spiritual Continent. As a result, the major sects of the Eastern State gathered their cultivators 300 miles outside the Desolate Land and fought against the demonic beasts for ten days and nights, ultimately defeating them. From then on, the Seven Orthodox Sects of Daoism, led by the Return to Origin Sect, joined forces with the various sects of the Eastern State to build eight cities 100 miles outside the Desolate Land, using the Eight Trigrams Formation to seal off the demonic beasts within the Desolate Land."

  "For hundreds of years, the seven sects of Taoism each held a corner, stationed in the northwest border, not daring to make any rash moves. The ferocious beasts of the Desolate Expanse also occasionally invaded the borders, and with each incursion, the reputation of Tongzhou Prefecture was established..."

  High up in the cloudless sky, a sword hummed with delight, two figures stood still and steady on it, they were Lü Chen and Lü Xue, two disciples who had rushed from afar within the Great Zhou territory.

  "Huh? Master, Daozong has seven gates, where did the eight city pools come from..." Upon hearing this, Lu Chen was slightly puzzled.

  Dust Dao said, "You don't know that this Eight Trigrams Qian Kun Formation is a forbidden formation. It contains the principles of the eight wildernesses of heaven and earth, the mutual transformation of yin and yang, and it cannot be formed without all eight sides. Therefore, the eighth city was established by an alliance of countless small sects of cultivators. This city is called Tongzhou Xianmeng City. Don't look at the complex origins of this city, but behind it lies a powerful figure who sits in formation."

  "Big shot?"

  "Hmm, this person is a first-class loose cultivator, named Yue Xuan True Person. He has been self-enlightened to the cultivation of immortality, living deep in the mountains and forests for many years. When the demon beasts invaded the border hundreds of years ago, he had already reached the later stage of Golden Elixir cultivation. After so many years have passed, I'm afraid he has now reached the Nascent Soul stage."

  "Ah, the prenatal period." Lu Chen sighed: "No wonder they can organize these small sects."

  Lao Chen smiled and said, "Although the Xianling Continent has the Daozong Seven Gates as a top-notch sect, this Xianmeng is not bad either. It's just that Yue Xuan doesn't have any ambitions, so Xianmeng has never been very famous. This time, I'm taking you to enter the city of Xianmeng, and through it, you can continue your cultivation."

  "Master, we've been flying for two months now, but I still don't know what kind of cultivation we're going to do this time?"

  He turned his head back, looked at Lu Chen with a low gaze, and smiled: "It's very simple, I want you to enter the Hongyuan."

  "Ah?" Upon hearing this, Lu Chen almost fell off the flying sword: "Hong Huang? Master, you're not mistaken, are you? Didn't they say that Hong Huang has already been sealed?"

  "It's been sealed, but not entirely." Lu Chen had expected this expression from the other party. He didn't mind and instead said: "When people say it's been sealed, that's just a term used by the mortal realm. In reality, for us cultivators, the Desolate Expanse is actually an ideal place to cultivate. There are herds of demonic beasts there, which can put you in danger at any moment, allowing you to hover between life and death, thoroughly comprehending the Dao. Cultivating there will be much faster than inside the sect."

  With that, Liedusten's expression solidified, and he said in a clear and powerful voice: "Especially for you, the Da Yan Xian Jue requires several times more spiritual power than ordinary people. If you don't cultivate here, it's impossible to reach the eighth layer of Qi Refining in three years. So this will be the only place where you can complete your cultivation. You must work hard for me. Three years later, if you can't reach the eighth layer of cultivation, you won't need to return to Qianyu Gate, let alone being my disciple..."

  "I understand." Lu Chen thoroughly understood that he had a high regard for himself, and it seemed that he had come up with this radical method to stimulate himself to study diligently.

  "That's the Desolate Era, this way, in the following days, wouldn't he have to spend three years under the ferocious gaze of countless demonic beasts? Indeed ruthless." Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

  "We're here."

  Just as Lu Chen thought of this, he heard a low shout from Chen, and with the flying sword suspended in mid-air, a huge city appeared on the horizon.

  "I'll send you here, can't enter the city, and the next section of the road will be walked by yourself. Remember, you must give me a hundred times more effort to reach the tenth layer of Qi cultivation." Lü Chén exhorted, then casually pulled out a volume of scriptures and a flying sword, handing them over to Lü Chén: "You've always wanted the Swordsmanship Mystical Cultivation scriptures, right? Here's the secret manual for the Kōng Yuán Sword, as well as this lower-grade artifact, and 100 spirit stones, all given to you."

  If it were before, Lu Chen would have been overjoyed to obtain these treasures. However, now that he thought about entering the Desolate Expanse and dealing with demonic beasts soon, he just couldn't get excited no matter what.

  With a helpless expression, he handed over the thing to him, Lu Chen didn't even glance at it and directly threw it into the Qiankun bag. Then he said: "Master, are you leaving now?"

  "Not leaving? What am I still doing here?" Leng Yun furrowed his brow.

  "Oh, no, it's just a casual question..." It was clear that Lu Chen didn't want to enter the city.

  He gave Lu Chen a stern look and said, "Practice hard and come back alive."

  Saying so, Liao Chen no longer paid attention to Lu Chen, mounted his flying sword and left in a flash.

  "Isn't this nonsense? Do you think I want to die? Alas, why is Lord Dao's life so bitter? Having boarded a pirate ship." Lu Chen sighed inwardly and shook his head as he walked towards the city gate.

  ……

  Tongzhou has a total of eight major cities, just like the one introduced by Liedust. The other seven major cities are all named after the Seven Gates of Taoist Sects, and this Xianmeng is no exception.

  Walking on the official road for a while, the city of "Xianmeng" with its majestic and powerful law enforcement was already in sight.

  Lu Chen looked at him helplessly and slowly walked towards the city gate.

  "Halt! What are you doing?"

  As soon as he arrived at the city gate, Lu Chen was blocked by two cultivators guarding the city. He opened his divine eyes and took a look: "Wow, even the guards are at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. The power of this Immortal Alliance is not ordinary."

  Lu Chen exclaimed in admiration and clasped his fists together, saying: "Two fellow Taoists, I think I'll enter the city."

  "Entering the city?" One of the burly guards, with a broadsword on his back, looked up and down at Lu Chen before saying in a deep voice, "So you're new here. If you want to enter the city, first pay the toll."

  "Tolls?" Lu Chen was taken aback, thinking: "Master didn't say anything about paying tolls to enter the city."

  Lu Chen looked puzzled, and another young Taoist priest with a pleasant appearance said, "Of course, you have to pay a fee. One low-grade spirit stone can buy an entry permit."

  "Oh..." Although still somewhat puzzled, Lu Chen took out a low-grade spirit stone and handed it over.

  The big man no longer troubled Lu Chen, but instead turned around and took out a small iron plaque from under the square table behind him, handed it to Lu Chen, saying: "Take this, input a thread of spiritual power in and you can use it. Also, you need to register your identity here."

  "Oh, oh~" Although the attitudes of these two people were not very good, Lu Chen still responded with a more-is-less attitude.

  "What's your name?" The big man asked, holding a scroll in his hand.

  "Lu... Jade Lake." Lu Chen didn't mention his own name, only reporting his Taoist name.

  Dahan didn't mind and continued to ask: "What kind of spiritual root?"

  "Huh, must I be asked? " Lu Chen unwillingly curled his lip: "Earth."

  "What land?" The two Taoist guardians of the city heard this and were stunned for a moment, looking at each other without saying anything.

  "Cultivation?"

  "Practicing Qi for five layers..." Lu Chen said casually, without exaggeration. Anyway, there was no one here who knew him, so it didn't matter.

  "Five floors?"

  This time, both the city's Taoist priests were shocked and exclaimed. The big man closed the book in his hand, looked up and down at Lu Chen and said: "Practicing Qi for five layers?"

  "En. Is there a problem?" Lu Chen also felt surprised and thought: "What's wrong? Is the fifth floor very high?"

  The two of them exchanged a glance again, their eyes filled with an incredulous expression, but in the end they didn't say anything and let him go.

  Lu Xichen nodded in gratitude and thought to himself that there were too many rules here, so he walked slowly towards the inside.

  Not far away, Lu Chen, with his keen ears and sharp eyes, overheard the conversation between the big man and the young man.

  "You think you can come here with just five layers of Qi refinement and a single Earth Spirit Root? Where did this arrogant kid come from?"

  "Whatever, anyway I've paid the spirit stone, whether you live or die has nothing to do with me..."

  "Dead?" Lu Chen's footsteps paused, and he turned his head in doubt.

  At this time, a figure quickly approached and appeared beside him, startling Lu Chen.

  "Heh heh, fellow Taoist, you're a first-timer in Xianmeng City, aren't you?"

  The one who rushed up close was a Taoist priest wearing a yellow robe, with an unimpressive and thin appearance. He had a pair of cunning eyebrows and beady eyes, a garlic-shaped nose, and a pointed chin, looking every inch not like a good person.

  Lu Chen took two steps back, keeping a distance from the other party, and looked at the yellow-shirted Taoist priest before frowning and saying, "What's wrong? Not allowed?"

  "No, my friend has misunderstood." The yellow-robed Taoist smiled and hurriedly clasped his fists together, introducing himself: "I am Li T'ao, delighted to meet you..."

  "I just heard your name at the city gate. I think you should be a newcomer to Hongyuan, do you need any protection?"

  Bodyguard, Lu Chen could still understand this sentence, but he didn't need one.

  "No courtesy is too small when offered with sincerity; no gift is too humble when given with goodwill." Lu Chen shook his head and declined, "Sorry, I don't need it."

  Li Tao's face changed, and he looked displeased, but he still maintained a smile and said: "Fellow Daoist, please wait, I suppose you don't know the terror of this Hong Huang yet."

  "How can I know? How can I not know?"

  Li Tao snorted, his body straightening slightly: "Fellow Daoist, don't be careless. This is the Desolate Expanse, where even low-level demonic beasts are comparable to Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivators... With your cultivation, it's likely to be very dangerous..."

  Li Tao glanced at Lu Chen with a somewhat disdainful look, but immediately turned into a sincere expression: "Don't worry, fellow Daoist, our price is fair, only four pieces of low-grade spirit stones are needed every day, and you can also get some shares from the demons we hunt, how about that?"

  Lu Chen finally understood: this Li Tao must have heard the city guard's inquiry about his situation just now, and then he remembered everything in the past, before finding himself to make a profit.

  "No wonder the two Taoist priests who were guarding the city just now would say such disdainful words, it turns out that the demonic beasts in this vast wilderness are so powerful, even the lowest level ones have to have a cultivation base of at least seven layers of Qi Refining." Thanks to Li Tao's appearance, Lu Chen gained his first important piece of information about the Vast Wilderness.

  However, Lu Chen still didn't plan to ask for help from others. This wasn't because he didn't want to, but because Li Tao's appearance really made Lu Chen uneasy. If they were to go to the desolate wilderness together, it was likely that Li Tao would be killed and robbed of his wealth.

  Lu Chen shook his head again, and his mind was not on Li Tuo at all.

  Finally, Li Tao's face turned gloomy. He didn't expect Lu Chen to be so stubborn. Knowing the terror of Hong Huang and still not planning to hire himself, such a person really doesn't know how to live...

  Actually, Lu Chen was unaware that in the Hong Huang territory, anyone who came to practice here had to have at least seven layers of Qi refinement. Otherwise, it would be difficult to even protect oneself, let alone make rapid progress. And someone like Lu Chen, with only five layers of Qi refinement and no attack power as a Tu Ling Gen cultivator, was fundamentally unable to move around in the Hong Huang territory. Li Tao had taken note of this point, and people like Lu Chen were hard to come by in Tongzhou's eight cities, which is why he had the idea to ruthlessly take advantage of Lu Chen.

  But who would have thought that Lu Chen was not on the right path at all, and instead had become wary of himself.

  Li Taomei furrowed her brow and coldly snorted, "Since that's the case, I won't say any more. Fellow Taoist, take care of yourself, and I hope to see you again in the future."

  Having said that, Li Tao swung his sleeves and walked away with big strides in a huff.

  Lu Chen didn't care about Li Tao's reaction at all, and coldly looked down on Li Tao with a glance. He also turned his head and walked towards the city...

  Along the spacious street, Lu Chen saw vendors selling all sorts of materials, some were hawking on the street, while others were selling things in their shops. There were low-grade Xuan Gong Miao Fa, Dan Yao Miao Yao, Dao Fu Zhu Bi... and many other types, even flying swords were for sale. From this, Lu Chen also understood that in the Xianmeng City, silver was worthless, and the only possible currency for trading was Ling Shi.

  For the first time arriving at the edge of the Desolate Border, Lu Chen was not familiar with the situation here, so he decided to ask around. As for this kind of foolish young man, Lu Chen's heart was extremely clear. The best place to understand these things is in places like inns and tea houses where people come to rest.

  Lu Chen found a larger inn in Xianmeng City, ordered several steamed buns and two catties of cured meat, and gave a piece of low-grade spirit stone to the waiter. What he wanted to know was soon known.

  "The Xianmeng City gate will open at 4 am, and people can enter and exit freely with their ID cards. At 10 pm, the city gate will close, and no cultivators will be allowed to enter or exit. Guests can stay in small shops or rent a small courtyard on East Street for rest. Of course, the small shops are cheaper, but those courtyards are safer and quieter, although they cost several times more."

  "There are places in the city that collect and purchase beast materials, a bit bigger is the Xianmeng Auction House, smaller ones are numerous, various shops all have collection. Customers can also trade with people, speaking of safety it's still the Xianmeng Auction House, and they will regularly hold Xianmeng auctions to sell some rare treasures that are hard to come by on ordinary days."

  "In the vast wilderness, there are boundaries to be divided. Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage have three places where they can come and go freely, relying solely on their own cultivation. Their strength is generally around the 7th, 8th, or 9th layer of Qi Refining. As for the 10th layer, it's extremely dangerous. Further inside, one would likely need to be in the Foundation Establishment stage, or even the Golden Core stage. In fact, the vast wilderness is very perilous, as many of the demonic beasts here are pack animals. Some places that a Qi Refining 7th-layer cultivator can enter may not necessarily allow them to leave unscathed, hehe..."

  "Oh, and also, fighting is not allowed in Xianmeng City, no matter what the reason. You'd better be careful, otherwise it will be troublesome..."

  ……

  The shopkeeper was introducing with a serious expression, and Lu Chen was also listening carefully. He finally remembered some things he wanted to know and let the shopkeeper leave with a smile, holding a low-grade spirit stone.

  Then he handed over a piece of spiritual stone, rented an upper room and temporarily settled down.

  Lu Chen didn't notice that at the moment he left the table, a pair of eyes with ill intentions poked out from a corner upstairs, and the owner of these eyes was Li Tao.

  In front of a small square table, sat Li Tao and another young man who looked quite similar to him... with the same pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, and even both were at the same level of Qi training, seven layers.

  "Second Brother, it's this kid. Hmph, he's only cultivated to the fifth layer of Qi Refining and still has a single Earth Spirit Root. Entering the Desolate Expanse is simply seeking death." Li Tao was clearly still fuming about Lu Chen's lack of progress.

  The person next to him, slightly more stable than Li Tao, raised his head and glanced in the direction of Lu Chen going upstairs, saying calmly: "It doesn't matter, it's just a business deal, if it can't be done then it can't be done. After a few days when big brother comes back, we'll go to the eighth layer of the Qi training area to take a look around, are you still worried about not earning spirit stones?"

  Li Tao nodded in agreement, but there was still a hint of discontent between his eyebrows. He couldn't help but say in a low voice, "Second Brother, in my opinion, although this kid's strength is not high, he may have some valuable items on him. Since he wants to enter the Desolate Expanse alone, why don't..."

  As she spoke, Li Tao made a slashing motion with her hand across the base of her neck: "It's a waste to let the demon beast off easy, better to..."

  Li Tao's second brother hesitated for a moment, then said: "A little guy who has only cultivated his energy to the fifth level shouldn't have many good things. Don't think about this kind of thing for now. If you encounter it, just do it along the way. Otherwise, there is no need to follow him all the time."

  "Heh heh, me too." Li Tao nodded repeatedly as she listened.

  Lu Chen didn't know at this time that he had just entered the vast wilderness and some things hadn't been made clear, but he had already been targeted by someone with ill intentions.