Chapter 93: Thousand Leaf City

Over a dozen days had passed.

Thousand Leaf City, the only great cultivation city within a million li radius, officially belonged to no major sect and was renowned as the "Holy Land of Loose Cultivators." It sat upon a high-grade spirit vein, with three Mid-Nascent Soul powerhouses permanently stationed there, though legend had it that three major sects held sway behind the scenes.

Viewed from afar, the city resembled a colossal white flood dragon coiled among towering mountain peaks. Countless streams of spiritual light converged upon the city from every direction, while merchant vessels of every color crisscrossed the skies above. It was a magnificent sight of merchants flocking from all corners of the realm.

In the distance, a cyan streak of light hovered silently in the air. The glow faded, revealing the figure of a young man. Jiuyou gazed upon the towering city, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

In the Tianyuan Sea, he had seen no shortage of cultivator cities; later, upon arriving in Lingchuan, he had witnessed even more. But a city as vast and magnificent as Thousand Leaf City, this was his first time.

Jiuyou did not make a spectacle of himself. He concealed his cultivation, transformed into a different youthful appearance, and used the city token he had obtained from the Crystal Spirit Sect to smoothly blend into the city.

Stepping through the city gates, he strolled in casually.

"Sigh, we'd better stay careful these days. Not only are the barbarians from the Northern Plains getting restless, but I've also heard that a powerful evil cultivator has appeared over in the Yunmiao Mountain Range. At the very least, they're a Nascent Soul-stage big shot. The Crystal Spirit Sect, one of the three sects of Yunmiao, was wiped out within a single day."

Two Foundation-Establishing cultivators walked side by side, murmuring about the recent rumors.

"Things really are unsettled. Who knows what kind of enemy the Crystal Spirit Sect managed to offend. I heard someone passing by Crystal Spirit Sect saw a bizarre giant hand descend from the sky. Oh man, let me tell you, that hand blotted out the sun with overwhelming might, and it flattened the entire sect in one go. And mind you, that was a sect with two Nascent Soul Ancestors!"

"Huh? I heard it was crushed by a giant foot instead?"

Not far away, Jiuyou's figure paused almost imperceptibly, then continued onward into the city as if nothing had happened, as though it had nothing to do with him at all.

He had anticipated that news of the Crystal Spirit Sect's high-ranking members being wiped out overnight would spread, but he hadn't expected it to become so distorted.

Still, no matter how wildly the outside world gossiped, Jiuyou didn't care. As long as he could increase his strength and recover his condition, what did destroying one sect matter? Even a hundred would be no different.

Over the following months, Jiuyou first wandered through the city, familiarizing himself with its entire layout and the locations of all the major shops. After that, he rented a cave dwelling rich in spiritual energy for a term of ten years and settled down for the time being.

Afterward, he changed his appearance time and again, donned different robes, and frequented the various shops, vaguely inquiring about leads on Jinli Stone.

He roughly described the appearance of the Jinli Stone: golden throughout, with golden spirit patterns drifting across its surface and a sharp, piercing aura.

But the shopkeepers either knew nothing at all, or had only heard a passing mention. Some even brought out similar-looking stones, yet none were what Jiuyou needed.

It seemed this Jinli Stone was even harder to find than he had anticipated. No wonder that cultivator surnamed Ye, an Nascent Soul elder from one of the nine great sects of Qian Prefecture, had only managed to refine thirty-two blades. Fully restoring the Jinli Sword Formation truly was a long and arduous road.

Jiuyou stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Though his face showed little reaction, there was no small amount of frustration in his heart as he walked slowly along the street.

Just then, his ears suddenly twitched. A faint blue-green light flashed in his eyes, and his Divine Sense instantly enveloped an area more than ten li in radius, locking onto a man and a woman in blood-colored dao robes ahead.

Judging by their attire, they were clearly members of the Blood Soul Sect. Both were Golden Core cultivators.

With a subtle flick of his Divine Sense, their words and mannerisms were fully laid bare before him.

"Damn it! The moment Master died, those old bastards couldn't wait to ransack the treasuries of our Seventeen Peaks. Master contributed so much to the sect, spent years undercover in Lingchuan, brought back plenty of useful intel, and ultimately died in the line of duty. Even without merit, there was still his hard work. How can they be so heartless? They kicked us straight out of the sect and forced us to come to Thousand Leaf City to do this grueling supervisor's work."

The man on the left spoke with bitter indignation, his tone dripping with resentment.

"Sigh, Junior Disciple. Our Blood Soul Sect is a great sect of the Demonic Path. Survival of the fittest and the strong devouring the weak have long been the norm. The three Late Nascent Soul elders turn a blind eye to all of it. At the end of the day, it's because our cultivation is too low. If we were both Nascent Soul cultivators, how would those elders dare treat us like this? And how would Master have died so unjustly?"

The woman on the right, wearing a blood-colored robe with a delicate jade pendant hanging from her waist, sighed softly and gave a gentle shake of her head. Then she changed the subject, as if something had just come to mind.

"Oh, right, Junior Disciple. That special ore Master had you search for before, have you found any leads on it?"

The dao-robed man nodded, then shook his head.

"Master seemed extremely concerned about that item. It should be an extremely rare material for treasures. I had actually made some headway and was hoping to claim credit for it, but the old man passed on before I could."

Before he even finished speaking, whether intentionally or not, or perhaps because the crowd was too dense, a young man in a blue shirt suddenly brushed past the man's side and bumped into him.

"Damnit! Which blind ant dares to cross my path?"

The dao-robed man snarled, whipping his head around to glare at the blue-shirted youth. But the young man didn't even look back, walking off without a word.

The dao-robed man furrowed his brow. He was, after all, a Golden Core cultivator. Even if he was no longer at the main Blood Soul Sect, he was still an outer sect steward. Already in a foul mood, and now someone dared to provoke him? Utterly courting death.

He was about to lose his temper when the female cultivator beside him, who had remained calm until now, suddenly grabbed his sleeve with visible alarm.

"Senior Sister, what's..."

The dao-robed man turned to look at her and, seeing the panic on her face, suppressed his anger. He was no fool who only knew how to rage blindly.

The woman shook her head gently and removed the jade pendant from her waist.

The dao-robed man glanced at it and saw the jade pendant giving off a strange glow. Shock flickered in his eyes.

"Isn't that the Spirit-Exploring Pendant that Master bestowed upon you, Senior Sister? They say this item only glows in the presence of those with powerful Divine Sense, and for it to light up, the Divine Sense strength must be at least that of a Nascent Soul monster! Could it be..."

The man immediately looked around, his gaze finally landing on the retreating figure in the blue shirt, his eyes filled with wariness.

Then, that wariness quickly turned to relief.

He lowered his voice, his throat dry: "Senior Sister, that person is..."

The woman did not reply. She only stared intently at the pendant in her hand, only letting out a long, slow breath when the glow gradually faded.

"Let's go."

She tugged the dao-robed man's sleeve, and the two quickly ducked into a nearby alley, unwilling to remain in that spot even a moment longer.

Jiuyou walked slowly through the crowd, his expression unchanged, yet the corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

He had heard their entire conversation loud and clear. He had also taken a glance at that Spirit-Exploring Pendant. It was nothing more than a small trinket for sensing Divine Sense.

"Getting happy a little too early, heh."

Jiuyou's eyes were calm. He clasped his hands behind his back and continued forward unhurriedly, his gaze sweeping over the shops and vendors around him as if nothing had just happened. But simply standing there, walking along, he gave off an unmistakable air of "stay away from me."

He muttered softly to himself.

"Prey this old man has set his sights on never gets away..."