Chapter 160: Hundred Declarations City

As the azure light swept over the border between the Northern Plains and Ganzhou, Jiuyou's escape light slowed slightly. He glanced down at the sprawling battlefield below, his gaze piercing the clouds to land deep underground.

He took only a single look before withdrawing his gaze, his face holding no expression.

"Great Elder of the Blood Abyss Sect. Hmph," he muttered under his breath.

He paused.

"You have been slaughtering so wantonly lately, extracting souls and refining spirits," he murmured to himself. "I hope that by the time I return, that Nether Soul Spirit Mushroom of yours will have fully matured."

With those words, the azure light lingered no longer. It suddenly accelerated, streaking across the sky like an incredibly fine thread as it sped toward Ganzhou.

Several months later.

Within the borders of Dahan.

A rather sizable market town. Shops lined both sides of the street amid a cacophony of voices. People came and went along the main thoroughfare in the center of the market town, a web of varying spiritual lights intertwining above them.

Jiuyou had changed into an ordinary black robe, drawing no attention as he walked through the crowd. He crossed a few streets and turned into a reasonably large apothecary.

The shop was not massive, but its layout was tidy. Medicine cabinets lined three walls, with paper slips bearing the names of herbs pasted onto the wooden drawers. An old abacus sat on the counter, clearly having seen years of use.

A plump, middle-aged man stood behind the counter. A pale green jade pendant hung around his neck; it was translucent throughout, and though it was merely mortal jade, the carving was meticulous. A young shop assistant stood beside him, busy bundling up several packages of medicinal herbs.

Jiuyou walked to the counter and casually handed over a list of herbs. The shopkeeper took the slip, glanced at it, and quickly sized Jiuyou up.

"Ten stalks of Blood-Enhancing Grass, ten Blood-Activating Fruits, three bottles of Mountain Rock Pills... pack them quickly," he called out to the assistant without asking any questions.

The assistant offered a sound of acknowledgment and swiftly got to work. The abacus in the shopkeeper's hands clacked sharply as he calculated and muttered to himself, a hint of a smile on his face.

A moment later, the assistant handed over a heavy storage pouch. The shopkeeper took it and presented it with both hands.

"Senior, your herbs are all here. Please verify them," he said, beaming.

Jiuyou took the storage pouch. He swept his divine sense inside, confirming everything was correct, then casually tossed down a bag of spirit stones and turned to leave.

The shopkeeper caught the bag of spirit stones and weighed it in his hand. His smile faltered slightly.

"Senior, you overpaid!" he called out hastily. "These spirit stones are enough to buy two more portions."

Jiuyou paused and glanced back at him. He had intended to tell the man to keep the change, but his gaze caught on the shopkeeper's neck for a moment. The jade pendant was of ordinary quality, but the carving was quite deliberate. Its smooth lines made it clear that it had been worn close to the body for many years, polishing it with a thin, natural patina.

Jiuyou took another look.

"That's a nice piece of jade you have. Where did you get it?" he asked casually.

The shopkeeper looked down and touched the jade pendant at his neck. His smile deepened, and an imperceptible softness crept into his tone.

"To answer Senior, it's just an ordinary piece of mortal jade. It isn't worthy of your attention," he said. "My wife left it to me before she passed away, just to give me something to remember her by. Please excuse my sentimentality, Senior."

He paused.

"If Senior is looking for a finer jade ornament, there is a jade-carving shop just around the corner at the end of this street," he added. "The craftsmanship is quite good. I'm a frequent customer."

Jiuyou didn't say much after hearing that, only giving a slight nod as he withdrew his gaze. He raised his hand and pushed the bag of extra spirit stones back across the counter.

"Keep the extra," he said flatly. "Just charge me less the next time I visit."

With that, he turned and walked out of the apothecary. An azure light flashed at the door, and his figure vanished at the end of the street.

The shopkeeper stood there, staring blankly at the bag of spirit stones on the counter for a moment. Then he looked down at the jade pendant resting against his neck and smiled. He reached up, tucking the pendant back beneath his collar.

"Bring out the newly arrived spirit herbs," he called to the assistant.

Jiuyou had already flown out of the market town, streaking toward Hundred Declarations City. The wind whipped past him, making his robes snap loudly. He didn't look back, nor did he spare another thought for the jade pendant.

Whether it was the emotional tethers of mortals or the obsessions of cultivators, at his current realm, he was simply watching a fire from the opposite bank.

But how was he supposed to get through his Mortal World Heart Tempering?

Hundred Declarations City was located in the northeastern reaches of Dahan. Within the empire's vast map of powers, it was only considered second-rate.

Five Nascent Soul cultivators watched over the city, the strongest of them being at the Peak Mid-Nascent Soul stage. The entire city was built upon the slopes of a towering, solitary peak. A wide moat wound its way around the outer limits, keeping the city safe in its center.

Wrapped around the solitary peak, the city was divided into sixty-six vertical layers.

The bottom ten layers were largely inhabited by mortals and low-level cultivators. Above them, the eleventh through thirtieth layers housed shops, pavilions, and market towns where lower-tier cultivators purchased most of their resources. The higher one went, the greater the quality of the cultivators and the rarer the items sold. The uppermost six layers served as the private residences of the elders, honored guest-elders, and deacons of Hundred Declarations City, completely closed to the public.

Disguised as a Peak Golden Core rogue cultivator, Jiuyou hired a local guide. He quickly purchased some high-grade body refinement resources before seeking out the Cave Dwelling Bureau. After going through the familiar procedures, he rented a secluded cave dwelling on the fifty-eighth layer that boasted excellent spiritual qi.

This cave dwelling sat upon an auxiliary peak branching off from Hundred Declarations City's main peak, known as Spirit Pavilion Peak. There was only this single cave dwelling on the entire mountain, making it exceptionally quiet.

Upon arriving, Jiuyou first spread his divine sense outward, conducting a thorough sweep to ensure there were no hidden restrictions or spying arrays concealed within the dwelling. Only then did he set his mind at ease. He paid a hundred years' worth of rent and personally laid down layers of formations and restrictions before finally settling in.

Inside the cave dwelling on Spirit Pavilion Peak, within a newly hollowed-out artifact refining room.

Jiuyou sat cross-legged on a stone bed. A storage pouch sat open before him, and over a dozen objects of varying sizes drifted out from it—spiritual materials, spiritual ores, shattered dharma treasure fragments, and among them, those few Soul Netherstones.

These items all shared one trait: they were artifacts of the ghost path.

He had purchased some of them recently, while others were spoils looted after killing Demonic Path cultivators in the past. Regardless of their origins, they were all useful to him now.

His gaze swept over the items. His face was calm, but a solemn light flickered in his eyes.

A moment later, he waved his hand. The empty air behind him twisted slightly as a Giant Bronze Gate silently emerged, slowly rising to hover above the cave dwelling. The patterns carved into the gate were mottled with age, and a dark, flowing luster ran across its surface, exuding a heavy and oppressive chill.

Jiuyou looked up at the gate, remaining silent for a long moment as though making a final confirmation. Then he withdrew his gaze.

"Come, Nether Capital Gate," he murmured.

He formed a two-handed incantation seal, and the spiritual light around him flared brilliantly, illuminating the entire artifact refining room. The ghost path materials were drawn upward one by one. Enveloped in his magical power, they drifted slowly toward the bronze gate, converging in the same direction like rivers flowing into the sea.