Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Arriving at the entrance to the city together with the merchant, Chu Yang was slightly taken aback by the strength of the guards and those trying to enter the city on foot. The guards all having reached the Nascent Soul Realm, while even the weakest one among those trying to make their way inside the city was at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm or above.

Even though he knew that this city served as an entry point to the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire for not only the former Sky Empire, but also a few surrounding empires, Chu Yang was still taken aback by the large number of cultivators present.

In a sense, the city was comparable to the capital city of a small empire like the Sky Empire… Or that was at least what he had heard from the merchant he had been chatting with for the past few hours, he couldn't be too certain about it, as he himself had never been to the capital city of the Sky Empire and had no way to do so now that the Sky Empire and its capital city had fallen.

The only way for him to see the capital city of a small empire would be for him to journey to another small empire bordering the Sky Empire. Not something he planned on doing, as it would at least add a year or longer to his journey to reach the neutral territory on the other side of the mountain range visible behind the massive city walls towering up in front of him as he waited in line together with his merchant friend.

Of course, during the time he had spent together with his new merchant friend he had also asked about other things than just the size of the Demon Mountain City.

For one, he found it curious that someone only at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm would make the dangerous journey to the Demon Mountain City. Especially given how dangerous the city was for someone with such a low cultivation realm according to the merchant himself.

The response he got was that while it was dangerous to trade inside the Demon Mountain City with his current cultivation realm only being at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it was well worth it, as stronger cultivators tended to have more spirit stones one hand compared to weaker cultivators. Even recounting an event where a powerful cultivator had passed by his stall and happened to take an interest in one of the things he was selling at the time before paying close to a hundred times the normal value of the item.

As for how he got to the city with his low cultivation realm? That wasn't really that complicated, as he lived in a small town located no more than half a month away from Demon Mountain City.

In the past, the town had been part of a smaller kingdom that had been under the Sky Empire and was part of one of the many trade routes that the Sky Empire had built up over its long history to facilitate trade with the Demon Mountain City.

Even though the Sky Empire had already fallen and become part of history, some of the trade routes that they had painstakingly set up by killing and removing any obstacles along the way, were still operational and could be used by weaker cultivators like the merchant who was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Although things would not continue like this, as demon beasts would inevitably return and cut off those trade routes for weaker cultivators, it at least served as a lifeline for many of the weaker towns and cities that had been left behind following the fall of the Sky Empire. Allowing them to continue functioning through trade with the Demon Mountain City.

Outside of that, Chu Yang had also asked him about the safe path through the mountain range, but even the knowledgeable eccentric merchant didn't seem to know much about the safe path through the mountain range. Only mentioning that he had heard information on it could be bought directly from the city lord's mansion at the center of the city.

But… With his cultivation realm only at the Foundation Establishment Realm, he simply didn't have the qualifications to get his hand on information like that even if he did have enough spirit stones on hand.

At the same time, the eccentric merchant also made sure to properly warn him about the dangers of the mountain range and how even people in the Soul Ascension Realm had ended up perishing inside it.

Though Chu Yang didn't directly state his intentions for asking about information on the safe path through the mountain range, it didn't take a genius to guess why he would ask such a thing.

Given that the Demon Mountain City was so close to the core region and could be considered a gateway to the core region for the surrounding smaller empires, it was obvious that information about the rich resources and far denser spiritual qi had spread among those who often visited the city.

For this reason, there was no lack of people wanting to enter the core region even with its obvious dangers. Hoping they would be able to take advantage of the richer resources to either break through a bottleneck that they wouldn't normally stand a chance at breaking through or try their luck at joining one of the powerful forces in the neutral region.

The reason why most people thought about joining the powers in the neutral region instead of the much larger and more powerful Blue Sea Empire and Wei Empire was that it was far harder to join those two forces and more dangerous to reach them.

After all, even though it would be easier to reach these two powerful empires after reaching the neutral territory between the two empires, it didn't change the fact that the neutral territory was just a border between these two massive empires… And anyone trying to enter their empire through the neutral territory would undoubtedly face a lot of scrutiny. Especially if they were trying to join either of the two empires…

"Next!"

Just at this moment, one of the guards standing at the gate leading into the city called out to Chu Yang and the merchant, calling them over for a simple inspection that everyone entering the city had to go through to prevent known bandits or demonic cultivators from sneaking inside the city.

Not too surprisingly, the inspection had become far more stringent following the surge in demonic cultivators from the depths of the Frozen Wasteland.

Of course, given that he wasn't a demonic cultivator, and the other party was only in the Nascent Soul Realm, Chu Yang felt confident that nothing would go wrong with his disguise, as he began approaching the guard that called out to them together with the merchant.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you, the price for entering the city is ten spirit stones." As they were about to reach the guard, the eccentric merchant suddenly pulled out ten spirit stones from his pocket as he said this.

"Ten spirit stones? Just to enter…?" Hearing what the merchant said, Chu Yang paused for a second as a look of disbelief appeared on his face. Thinking he had misheard the merchant.

"Yep, ten entire spirit stones! Those people know just how valuable it is for us weaker cultivators to enter the city and sell our things, so they decided to take their cut of it by robbing us with such high prices for entering the city.

Haaa… Because of that, this little entry fee only applies to those below the Domain Lord Realm, as those in the Domain Lord Realm and above can freely enter the city without paying anything. After all, with their strength, there is no need to try and sell things for the little bit merchants like myself can earn."

Nodding his head as he said this, the eccentric merchant handed over his spirit stones to the guard with a painful expression on his face before entering the city after a quick inspection.

"Spirit stones!"

"…"

Hearing the guard's commanding tone as he got to him, Chu Yang could not help smiling wryly as he pretended to take out a few spirit stones from his pocket before handing them over to the guard who just glanced over him a few times before allowing him to enter without causing any problems for him.

Although it was expensive for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm to pay 10 entire spirit stones to enter a city, it was nothing to someone like Chu Yang who had reached the Domain Lord Relam.

If anything, he just felt cheated out of his spirit stones after having learnt that he would have normally been able to freely enter the city without paying anything if he had not hidden his cultivation realm.

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