Chapter 59: Baiyun City

The golden crow rises, and the first rays of sunlight spill across the earth.

In a wooden house within a canyon basin.

A sliver of morning sun shines through the window, illuminating the handsome face of a young man.

At this moment, the handsome youth is sitting cross-legged on his bed. His eyelashes flutter slightly as he opens his clear, black-and-white eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.

As he finishes his cultivation, the surrounding spiritual energy dissipates rapidly.

His gaze instinctively sweeps across the room, then he stands up, lightly pats his robes, and walks outside.

Passing several nearby wooden houses, he notices that several teammates have still not returned, so he heads directly toward the entrance of the Baiyun Sect formation.

Suddenly.

The air explodes, leaving two trails of shockwaves along the path, like twin dragons running side by side in play.

Half a day later...

A flash of yellow light suddenly appears, and Cheng Buzheng emerges in the wilderness.

With a thought, a tiny green lotus manifests within each of his eyes as he looks into the distance. At this moment, his clear, black-and-white eyes appear extremely mystical.

Looking from afar, he sees a range of mountains surrounding a massive canyon, the entire canyon shrouded in a layer of spiritual light.

This is precisely "Baiyun City," the cultivator city ruled by the Baiyun Sect.

Cheng Buzheng strides toward the entrance. Before long, he sees cultivators coming and going, queuing in an orderly fashion to enter Baiyun City.

At the entrance, three senior brothers sit on chairs before an antique long table, processing jade slips for those entering the marketplace.

The three senior brothers wear the sect's standard gray robes, with the small words "Baiyun Sect" embroidered on their cuffs.

From a distance, Cheng Buzheng can sense the powerful spiritual pressure emanating from them; they are all at the late stage of Qi Refinement, though he cannot discern their exact level.

At the entrance of Baiyun City, a massive stone wall displays a notice board, drawing the attention of many cultivators.

The surrounding cultivators discuss animatedly, their expressions varying from shock and excitement to deep thought.

"Daring to kill in Baiyun City... aren't they afraid of being hunted down by the Baiyun Sect?"

An elderly cultivator sighed faintly.

"Killing in Baiyun City will indeed put one on the notice board, but unfortunately, the sect won't pursue them with full force unless they kill someone they shouldn't have..."

Cheng Buzheng glanced at the figures on the notice board.

He silently committed them to memory.

"Killing people right inside Baiyun City... is this the cultivation world? If this is happening in Baiyun City, then in the wilderness... it must be even more dangerous."

The queue at the city entrance moved like a snail, incredibly slow.

An hour later.

The senior brother sitting in the middle glanced at his robes and spoke

"Junior Brother... present your sect identity token!"

Cheng Buzheng patted the storage bag at his waist and handed the token to the senior brother.

After a moment of careful inspection, the senior brother returned the token to him.

"Alright, Junior Brother... you may enter!"

"Next!"

After thanking them, Cheng Buzheng bid farewell to the three senior brothers and walked inside.

Those who are not disciples of the Baiyun Sect must pay one spirit stone to process a jade slip to enter Baiyun City.

Once a jade slip is lost, it must be reissued, and the slips have an expiration date, lasting only one month.

Within Baiyun City, specialized senior brothers conduct inspections; those caught with expired slips who haven't paid the spirit stone are fined ten spirit stones.

Having studied the "Encyclopedia of Cultivation" thoroughly, he understood that the sect's hidden benefits included not having to pay spirit stones to enter Baiyun City.

Of course, Foundation Establishment cultivators do not need to pay, and Golden Core cultivators do not need to queue—they can fly directly into the city. This was the law of the jungle in the cultivation world.

Upon entering Baiyun City, Cheng Buzheng saw streets filled with cultivators, the bustling crowds resembling a festive market.

Most were like him, at the early stages of Qi Refinement, but there were many more cultivators emitting much stronger spiritual pressure.

When powerful cultivators walked down the street, those with lower cultivation levels quickly stepped aside to make way.

The principle of the strong preying on the weak and the importance of rank and dignity were displayed vividly here.

Cheng Buzheng sighed inwardly

"If your cultivation is low, you don't even have human rights!"

He couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency.

Facing these powerful cultivators, his third-level Qi Refinement cultivation was truly nothing to boast about. In the food chain of the cultivation world, he belonged to the lowest tier of creatures, liable to be "eaten" at any moment.

Although, as a disciple of the Baiyun Sect, he would basically not encounter danger within the city, this identity would not serve as his life-saving charm in the wilderness.

Only his own cultivation was his greatest reliance.

Baiyun City covered a vast area, occupying almost the entire space within the canyon.

The city had a long history, built when the Baiyun Sect was first founded and passed down to the present day. From a small marketplace to the behemoth it was now, one could only wonder how much spiritual material and effort had been expended.

The center of the city contained many ancient palaces built from spiritual wood, some even incorporating precious varieties. One could not imagine how many spirit stones were spent on their construction.

The walls of the palaces, having weathered countless seasons and years, were mottled and grand, enough to awe any newcomer.

Along the surrounding streets, pavilions stood tall, merchants were busy, and people flowed back and forth. All the palaces and pavilions were constructed from spiritual wood.

Without hesitation, Cheng Buzheng headed toward the most bustling stall area of Baiyun City, one of the liveliest places in the city.

In the stall area, hundreds of cultivators were setting up stalls and trading, presenting a scene of immense prosperity.

Cheng Buzheng knew that with the spirit stones in his storage bag, his only chance to achieve his current goal was to search the stall area.

It wasn't that the items weren't in the shop district; it was simply that he didn't have enough spirit stones in his storage bag to support the higher costs of shopping in the formal shops.

He walked into the stall trading zone. Not far away, he saw an elderly man in green, at the late stage of Qi Refinement, sitting cross-legged on the ground. His stall featured a banner that read: "High prices paid for Purple Sun Fruit, Spirit Gathering Grass, and Cleansing Departure Flowers."

One look at the banner told Cheng Buzheng that this cultivator must belong to a cultivation clan.

Sure enough.

He observed the elderly man closely and saw that the cuffs of the green robe were embroidered with "State of Jin, Ding"—the Ding Clan of the Jin State.

Cheng Buzheng knew that the spiritual herbs written on this banner were primary ingredients for Foundation Establishment, along with some rare auxiliary herbs.

Even a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator would not have enough spirit stones to purchase such precious herbs.

These herbs would never depreciate in value; even the rare auxiliary herbs used to refine Foundation Establishment Pills were hard to find on the market.

As expected of a cultivation clan, they were incredibly wealthy, offering high prices for the primary and rare auxiliary ingredients of Foundation Establishment Pills. Only sects and powerful cultivation clans had the strength to do this.

Otherwise, having spirit stones without the strength to back them up would only result in losing both wealth and life.

Furthermore, Cheng Buzheng knew that the sect also had missions to collect primary and rare auxiliary ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills, which were always posted on the jade walls of the Command Talisman Pavilion.

Providing just one primary ingredient and two rare auxiliary herbs would allow one to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill at the Salary Pavilion.

This spoke to the scarcity and preciousness of these herbs.

Seeing this, Cheng Buzheng stopped paying attention and continued walking through the stall area.

(End of Chapter)