lcionline 67. Tianya City Domain
67. Tianya City Domain
Over the next six months, Gao Zhun and Ah Zhong explored almost all the secret realms in the Gao family that offered generous rewards for Nascent Soul cultivators. Because of their first experience, Gao Zhun adopted the principle of clearing secret realms quickly from then on, no matter what kind of secret realm it was. Fortunately, she and Ah Zhong each possessed different abilities, one having the Eye of Illusion and being good at breaking illusions, and the other having a metal-attribute immortal root, making them a capable team for clearing secret realms. After six months, the two had a better grasp of how to use their respective abilities, and their combat strength had also improved.
"It seems I still need to go out and gain experience. Although the family has no shortage of secret realms, I always feel that it lacks a bit of luck. Even if I visit all the secret realms that the Nascent Soul stage in the Gao family can enter in the next seven years, I will have no chance of winning the top ten in the competition."
At this moment, Gao Zhun, Ah Zhong, Madam Zhu, and a certain Gao Ling who was already able to crawl around on the ground gathered in Madam Zhu's study to discuss the plan for the remaining six and a half years.
“Going out is good too. I still miss the days when I was out there. Although I was homeless and full of dangers, nobody wants to be a hothouse flower, right?” Mrs. Bamboo said.
Ah Zhong echoed, "I agree with Madam's opinion."
"..." Gao Zhun went crazy: "Don't act like you don't know what I can't let go of. Xiao Ling'er is growing up so fast. She can crawl now. In another month or two, she will probably be able to babble and recognize people. Now that I'm going out to gain experience, what if she doesn't recognize me as her older sister? Who will I cry to?"
"You forgot, we have recording stones, right? I'll give you one night to record what you want to say to Ling'er at each stage of her growth. Then, as her mother, I'll naturally show it to my little daughter." With that, Madam Zhu took out several recording stones from her storage ring and tossed them to Gao Zhun, saying rather impatiently, "Go to Mingyu Pavilion tomorrow to pick up a few missions outside the city. I don't know where you learned this indecisive nature from; it's nothing like me or your father."
"Huh? Going out is one thing, but it has to be someone from outside this city..." Gao Zhun was speechless. This really is a mother; when she gets ruthless, no one can match her.
A city-domain is a geographical unit above a city. Taking the Gao family as an example, the location of the Gao family's inner and outer sects is actually a city. Centered on this city, the Gao family directly governs dozens of cities, and these dozens of cities are collectively called city-domains. There aren't many city-domains on the Immortal Spirit Continent; they are almost entirely occupied by ten inherited families and several top-tier sects and forces. The reason for saying "almost" is because there are extraterrestrial domains. However, most people have never been to the extraterrestrial domains. There are array formations and restrictions there that are beyond the imagination of the living world. No one except those from the extraterrestrial domains can enter or leave. Of course, if your mastery of array formations and restrictions is also beyond the imagination of the living world, then you can still enter and leave.
The division of city-regions is not so arbitrary, nor is it simply a matter of which faction owns which city-region. In fact, the size of a city-region is fixed; it's just a matter of who occupies it. Vast stretches of endless void separate city-regions. Besides teleportation arrays that allow direct access, most people also travel by flying ships that can navigate the endless void without getting lost. Of course, the latter takes years, a method Gao Zhun would never choose.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you something." Madam Zhu frowned slightly. Having not been out for a long time, she had almost forgotten. "When you go to other cities, remember, unless it is a life-or-death crisis, do not reveal your identity as a member of the Gao family. Now that I think about it, those villains who crippled my cultivation did so because they saw me use the Emperor's True Eye and knew that I was a member of the Xuanyuan clan. That's why they attacked me."
"Yes, daughter will remember this." This was the second time Gao Zhun had heard such words. First it was Elder Lei, and now it was Madam Zhu. Madam Zhu's words indirectly equated revealing her identity with a life-or-death crisis. In that case, she had to be even more careful. Fortunately, she could now use the Eye of Truth-Seeing with ease. She didn't need to reveal her conspicuous golden pupils to achieve the desired effect. Speaking of which, she had to thank the endless illusions in the Gao family's secret realm. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to master the knack of using the Eye of Truth-Seeing.
"Also, magic treasures can move people's hearts. I didn't care that you let Xuanyuan Huanyu see your house before, but you can't trust others like that when you're out in the world." At this moment, Madam Zhu was like a loving mother giving advice to her child who was about to go on a long journey. If this loving mother hadn't been the culprit who sent Gao Zhun on his long journey for training, she would probably have been even more moved.
At noon the next day, a young man dressed as a Confucian scholar and a young man dressed in black, looking like a guard, suddenly appeared in an inconspicuous teleportation array in the Yatian City Domain. These two were Gao Zhun and A Zhong, who had disguised themselves using immortal artifacts.
Yatian City is a city under the jurisdiction of the Yun family. The reason for choosing this place is naturally to find out Gao Ling's origins. It's not that she can't wait until the grand competition in seven years. At that time, all the major families and forces will send people to the Gao family to attend the ceremony. With Yun Mu Ning's talent, she will naturally be among the Yun family's entourage. However, even so, it is not impossible for her to come to Yatian in person to see her old friend. Therefore, when selecting tasks at Mingyu Pavilion, she deliberately chose tasks within the Yatian City region. There were exactly ten, no more and no less, which should be enough for her to do for a while.
This time, the teleportation location was finally not a desolate mountain, which made Gao Zhun very happy. The place was located in an alley of an ordinary mortal town, and there was an array outside the formation, so her and Ah Zhong's sudden appearance would not be noticed by the mortals passing by.
"This place is still far from the Yun family, Master. Shall we go on our mission first?"
Upon hearing this, Gao Zhun took out a map from her storage ring. Elder Lei had given it to her specifically because he knew she was going to the Yatian City Domain to do a mission. Except for the internal layout of the Yun family, which was unknown, the map showed the terrain of the rest of the region. At this moment, their location was in the lower left corner of the map, which was indeed too far from the Yun family territory in the center.
"It seems there's a hidden wilderness realm appearing nearby. My mission is to find out the identity of the owner of this realm and whether they left any legacy. So let's go check it out first. Having seen many hidden realms opened up by the Gao family ancestors, I've heard that this wilderness realm offers far more opportunities and dangers than the family's secret realms. I wonder how much greater."
Ah Zhong also glanced at the map. Gao Zhun had drawn a circle around the location of the secret realm, which was indeed not far from here, only a thousand miles away. However, could a secret realm so close to a mortal town be a secret realm opened up by some powerful being? Perhaps it was just a cave dwelling of a low-level cultivator, which had been exaggerated by some cultivators of similarly low cultivation levels.
Regardless, having accepted the mission, they still had to go and check it out. As soon as they stepped out of the teleportation array, Gao Zhun slapped an invisibility talisman on himself and Ah Zhong, then summoned his flying sword and headed towards the secret realm. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they had already arrived at their destination.
In front of cultivators, such low-level invisibility talismans were almost useless. Fortunately, they could still be used a few more times, so Gao Zhun removed the invisibility talismans from himself and A Zhong, preparing for future use. Seeing this, A Zhong could only turn his head away. With so many people outside this secret realm, why would his master remove a low-level talisman that someone had used once and then discarded, and put it back into his storage ring?
As expected, Gao Zhun's actions caused many people to scoff at her behavior and look down on her. However, the person in question didn't care. These were talismans she had made overnight, with a success rate so low it made her want to vomit blood. There weren't many in total, so of course she wanted to save money wherever possible. It wasn't that she was poor; she had several dozen immortal-grade talismans piled up in her storage ring, but she didn't need them right now.
"This fellow Daoist looks like it's his first time in this secret realm. He's probably here to find some good stuff."
A slightly lewd voice rang out beside Gao Zhun and A Zhong. Compared to Gao Zhun's confusion, A Zhong, who had been observing his surroundings, knew exactly who this person was. He was just a rogue cultivator who specialized in reselling secret realm maps, and a fool at that. Didn't he see that his master was so poor that he had to reuse low-level talismans? They didn't have the spare money to buy any secret realm maps.
"I'm not here to sell maps." As he spoke, the man had already set up a soundproof barrier around the three of them. The surrounding cultivators merely snorted and didn't pay much attention.
"Oh? Not selling maps? Then what do you want to sell?" Ah Zhong asked coldly, separating the man from Gao Zhun with a blank expression.
Perhaps it was because Ah Zhong was so impressive this time, even though they had all used immortal artifacts to suppress their cultivation levels and were only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, that they frightened the thin man who was at the middle stage of the Golden Core realm.
"Young master, your guards are quite imposing." The man glanced at Ah Zhong with lingering fear. He hadn't expected to find such a troublemaker so casually. However, after thinking for a moment, he braced himself and spoke directly to Gao Zhun behind Ah Zhong, presumably knowing that the young master behind him was the one in charge.
"Ah Zhong, let him speak." Gao Zhun moved Ah Zhong, who was blocking his way, aside and faced the man who was about to speak. He smiled gently and said, "My guards are very guarded. I apologize for making you laugh, fellow Daoist. May I ask how you are addressed?"
As Ah Zhong stepped aside, the man finally saw Gao Zhun's true face. He had only caught a glimpse of him from afar and hadn't paid much attention, so he didn't know the young master's appearance. Now, however, he saw that the young master was exceptionally handsome. For a moment, he was unsure whether the man in front of him would buy the item. He could only force an awkward smile and say, "My name is Rong Qi. I am a wandering cultivator. I happened to pass by this place and saw that a secret realm had opened, so I came to join in the fun and hopefully gain some opportunities."
Gao Zhun smiled and said, "So it's Fellow Daoist Rong. I am Huang Zhu. I didn't expect the first person to speak to me here would be someone who shares my ideals." (166 Reading Network)