Chapter 563: Chapter 563

If you ask where the most prosperous place in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm is, all the cultivators in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm will say it’s Liuyun Immortal City.

In fact, the development of Liuyun Immortal City today has gone beyond being simply an immortal city; it has become a superpower centered around Liuyun Immortal City.

This superpower, unlike the "Celestial Dao Alliance" or the "Profound Purity Dao Alliance" with vast territories, is centered around Liuyun Immortal City, comprising twenty-eight immortal cities and over a hundred marketplaces, forming a commercial alliance known as the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" by outsiders.

It may not be the most powerful superpower, but it is definitely the wealthiest superpower.

Here, as long as you have spirit stones, you can purchase most spiritual objects below Tier Six, including many exclusive treasures from other cultivation realms.

Within Liuyun Immortal City, there are even specialty stores set up by some superpowers from other cultivation realms, specializing in selling treasures unavailable in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Zhouyang had long heard of the renowned Liuyun Immortal City, but unfortunately, due to various reasons, he had never had the chance to come and see it for himself.

This time, taking the opportunity to meet his dao companion Xiao Ying, he finally had the chance to fulfill his wish.

Before even reaching the actual Liuyun Immortal City, Zhouyang had already fully experienced its prosperity.

In the entire "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" area, there is a high concentration of spiritual mountain blessed lands of varying grades, with every peak, lake, or riverbank meadow containing spirit veins.

Moreover, the utilization rate of these spirit veins in these places has reached an astonishing level.

On the spiritual mountains, large orchards and medicinal gardens are typically cultivated, where many low-tier cultivators who are spirit plant cultivators diligently tend to those spiritual fruits and elixirs every day.

The lakes are home to a large number of aquatic spirit beasts, and the lake surfaces are extensively planted with lotus, water chestnut, and other aquatic spirit plants. Low-tier cultivators specializing in raising and caring for these spirit beasts and plants live in huts by the lake, feeding and deworming daily.

On fertile and flat riverbank grasslands, a large number of low-tier spirit grasses with weak spiritual qi are planted, grazing cattle, sheep, deer, horses, and other herbivorous spirit beasts on a large scale.

The spiritual flesh, spirit fruits, and other spiritual objects produced in these places are regularly collected by dedicated caravans, transported to nearby marketplaces or immortal cities for processing and sale.

From breeding and planting to processing and transport, to final sale, a complete cultivation industry chain unfolds clearly in Zhouyang’s sight.

The Zhou Family has always engaged in this kind of industry chain, but compared to the industry chain established by the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," the Zhou Family’s chain is utterly insignificant.

In terms of the variety and quantity of raw materials, the number of processed products, the customer groups, and the shipment volume, the Zhou Family’s industry chain is pitifully inadequate.

According to Zhouyang’s understanding, after countless years of development, the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" has even established parts of a high-grade treasure industry chain.

For example, Tier Four and Tier Five spirit pills, Tier Four and Tier Five spirit talismans, these items can all be mass-produced from high-grade spirit herbs and spirit grasses harvested from medicinal gardens and spirit fields.

In Liuyun Immortal City, there is a gigantic spirit medicine garden spanning tens of thousands of acres, producing a large amount of high-grade spirit elixirs annually. Over ten thousand years, the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" has established several high-grade spirit medicine gardens on some high-tier spirit mountains within its territory, providing a substantial amount of high-grade spirit elixirs each year for alchemy purposes.

While cultivators elsewhere toil through wilderness areas in search of spirit herbs and elixirs for alchemy and talisman making, the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" has already completed a high-end industry chain of self-production and self-sale.

Of course, that alone cannot sustain a commerce alliance, so "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" merchants are all over the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm and other cultivation realms, purchasing various high-grade raw materials and transporting them back to Liuyun Immortal City for processing.

Possessing memories from a past life, Zhouyang is acutely aware of the terrifying nature of such a complete high-end industry chain.

He knows that in major sects with long-standing traditions like the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, even without a conscious desire to establish such a high-end industry chain, the vast territories occupied by the sect can enable them to produce high-tier spirit pills and spirit talismans on a certain scale for use by sect cultivators.

But they definitely cannot achieve the long-term stable mass production that the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" does. This is evident from Zhouyang’s multiple visits to the Profound Sun Pavilion, where he found few Tier Five spirit pills or magical artifacts for sale.

As he is aware, these items can be purchased with spirit stones within Liuyun Immortal City, though the prices are quite steep.

Just based on this, saying Liuyun Immortal City is the most prosperous place in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm is absolutely correct.

As Zhouyang approached Liuyun Immortal City more closely, he felt this point even more deeply.

He was not a cultivator without worldly experience. Though it had been less than a hundred years since his core formation, he had already traveled through the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm and the Westernmost Cultivation Realm, visiting nearly a hundred immortal cities. He had a straightforward method for judging whether an immortal city is prosperous.

That is to observe the cultivators and caravans coming and going outside the immortal city. For those bustling cities, even if they are hundreds to thousands of miles away, no matter which direction you come from, you can see many cultivators and caravans entering and leaving the city.

Don’t think that just because cultivators have storage bags and storage rings, merchant caravans are non-existent.

Firstly, how much can a storage bag really hold?

And if a cultivator carries too many storage bags on them, won’t it easily attract the prying eyes of those with ill intentions?

Secondly, storage bags generally have no protective power, and once they encounter a battle, they can be easily damaged. Once a storage bag is damaged, most of the things inside will be destroyed.

This makes it inadvisable to place valuable goods in a single small storage bag.

As for storage rings, let’s not even mention that to use such a storage spiritual artifact, one must at least have a Purple Mansion cultivation. Asking a cultivator of Purple Mansion Stage to act as a porter, transporting low-tier ore and spirit grain, from a value perspective, is not worth it.

So, in the cultivation realm, merchant caravans not only exist but are extremely active.

Zhouyang didn’t know much about Liuyun Immortal City, so he couldn’t say much, but he knew a little about the situation in Immortal Sun City.

In a large immortal city like Immortal Sun City, with over a hundred thousand cultivators, the amount of spirit rice consumed each month reaches several million catties, and this is just the amount needed for the cultivators’ consumption.

In reality, many cultivators who have the means will also have mortal family members eat spirit rice to strengthen their bodies and prolong their lives.

Ninety-nine percent of this consumed spirit rice is purchased and transported from all over Daoxuan Country by merchant caravans. The same goes for other supplies such as spirit meat, spirit fruit, and spirit wine.

Because these caravans don’t arrange to arrive together, you can almost see the silhouettes of caravans ranging from dozens to hundreds of camel beasts on the flat roads outside Immortal Sun City every day.

At this moment, Zhouyang was still two or three thousand miles away from Liuyun Immortal City, but from his aerial view, every several dozen or in some cases ten miles, he could see one or more caravans flying different banners.

In some of the larger caravans, Zhouyang even saw cultivators with Purple Mansion Stage cultivation acting as escorts.

At the same time, during his journey, Zhouyang also saw various cultivators heading to Liuyun Immortal City, and among them were even some Golden Core Stage cultivators like him.

All of these indirectly confirmed the prosperity of Liuyun Immortal City.

Another thing that greatly broadened Zhouyang’s horizons was that, to facilitate exchange between various immortal cities and marketplaces within its borders, the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" specially trained a type of Tier Four demon beast known as the "Cloud Whale Beast" for passenger transport. These beasts were piloted by Purple Mansion Stage cultivators to travel back and forth, transporting those cultivators in need between various cities and marketplaces.

This "Cloud Whale Beast," although only a Tier Four demon beast, is over a hundred meters long, with a back several dozen meters wide, looking like a whale in the sea but with wide membrane wings on its sides, naturally possessing the ability to control airflow and fly through cloud seas, being able to fly for several days and nights without resting.

More remarkably, this "Cloud Whale Beast" is docile, and as long as it isn’t attacked, it won’t harm others proactively. After domestication, even a weak mortal standing on its back wouldn’t elicit its displeasure, making it an excellent choice for beasts of burden.

A single "Cloud Whale Beast" can accommodate over a thousand seats on its back, and each time it arrives outside a "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" immortal city or marketplace, it lands to pick up and drop off the cultivators who need a ride.

Since the "Cloud Whale Beast" flies faster than a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and very steadily, even Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators are often willing to spend a few or a dozen spirit stones to take the "Cloud Whale Beast" as a means of transportation.

The "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" could easily recoup the cost of purchasing the "Cloud Whale Beasts" simply through collecting these travel fees.

Yes, these "Cloud Whale Beasts" were all purchased by the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance."

According to what Zhouyang heard, the "Cloud Whale Beasts" originate from the overseas cultivation realm, and wild "Cloud Whale Beasts" are already extremely rare. Most "Cloud Whale Beasts" in the cultivation realm come from the beast gardens of several major overseas powers.

Those overseas powers raise "Cloud Whale Beasts" and only sell males externally. Even if they occasionally sell females, it is those who have lost the ability to reproduce.

Even so, not everyone can buy such strategically valuable spirit beasts as "Cloud Whale Beasts."

In the entire Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, only the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" spent a considerable sum to purchase some "Cloud Whale Beasts" from the overseas cultivation realm to use as passenger beasts of burden.

Other superpowers might be able to buy them too, but there’s no need because outside the sea, keeping a "Cloud Whale Beast" consumes a lot of spirit stones, and without the conditions like those of the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," they couldn’t make up for the spirit stones from travel fees alone.

Following such a "Cloud Whale Beast," Zhouyang finally reached the outskirts of Liuyun Immortal City by sunset of the day.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Zhouyang looked far into the distance at Liuyun Immortal City from high above, feeling extremely shocked.

This immortal city is built around a heaven-reaching peak, and at its center is the "Liuyun Immortal Mountain," reputed as the number one Spirit Mountain in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Liuyun Immortal Mountain towers at a height of 8,800 zhang, soaring into the clouds and piercing the sky, surpassing even the Heaven-Reaching Peak, the main peak of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

This Immortal Mountain, above 3,000 zhang, is perennially covered and shielded by arrays, accessible only to the high-tier cultivators of the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance."

Below 3,000 zhang lies the core, most bustling commercial district of Liuyun Immortal City, where the daily transactions of spirit stones allegedly reach tens of millions!

The commercial district is solely for trading purposes, and even the cave dwellings are reserved for the shop owners.

Therefore, the true residential and industrial areas of Liuyun Immortal City are situated in the expansive districts beyond the core commercial zone.

This truly is a vast district!

Liuyun Immortal City surrounds Liuyun Immortal Mountain at its center, forming an irregular circle, with any side of the district extending more than a thousand li deep. Including the area occupied by Liuyun Immortal Mountain, the district’s width is nearly three thousand li!

According to incomplete statistics, the number of cultivators within Liuyun Immortal City remains above 200,000 annually, of which about 30% work for the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" as low-tier cultivators, 40% are visiting cultivators, and 30% are settled here for cultivation.

Additionally, the vast district is home to hundreds of thousands of mortals, mostly related to various clans within the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," living in the district to perform the menial tasks that cultivators are unwilling to do.

Even so, this vast district still appears extremely spacious, a contrast to mundane cities where bustling crowds and traffic jams are common. Such phenomena are non-existent in this Immortal city, even in the most bustling core commercial zone.

Cultivators highly value their private space, and even though everyone knows the Immortal city is safe, strangers walking on the street maintain a distance of at least a zhang from each other.

This is one of the main reasons why Immortal cities are built so large despite their comparatively low permanent population.

Unlike many other Immortal cities, Liuyun Immortal City does not restrict air travel, nor does it charge entry or residency fees. It doesn’t even require cultivators to register, not even symbolically.

This means that any cultivator can freely enter or leave Liuyun Immortal City.

But this does not imply that Liuyun Immortal City’s security is poor.

On the contrary, as a commercial-intensive Immortal city, Liuyun Immortal City values its security more than any other Immortal city.

Everywhere within Liuyun Immortal City, surveillance arrays and artifacts are set up, with armored city guard soldiers patrolling continuously.

Any cultivator daring to injure others within the city will be detained and severely punished, or even executed on the spot.

Over the millennia, the number of cultivators who have committed violence in Liuyun Immortal City and escaped unharmed can be counted on one hand.

Once, a direct descendant of a major sect’s Nascent Soul Stage cultivator injured someone in the city, using their status to resist the law and refuse capture. The result was immediate execution.

Even then, the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator didn’t have the slightest thought of revenge and reluctantly accepted the result. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by N()velFire.net

This illustrates just how good the security of Liuyun Immortal City is.

After Zhouyang arrived outside the city, he didn’t hurry to enter but instead took out the "Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant" from his storage ring to send a message to his Dao companion, Xiao Ying.

Shortly after, a glowing green sword light shot out from the city directly towards Zhouyang, revealing Xiao Ying’s joyful face.

Half an hour later, Xiao Ying, with tears still on her face, brought Zhouyang to her cave mansion within Liuyun Immortal City.

This cave mansion is located on a Tier Four top-grade Spirit Mountain, where even just the annual rent exceeds five thousand lower-grade spirit stones due to the steep land prices in Liuyun Immortal City.

"Since Elder Qingyang informed me of the truth, I’ve been staying in Liuyun Immortal City with Xue Wei and others, waiting for news of your return while using alchemy to earn spirit stones for daily expenses."

"Now, this cave mansion originally belongs to Liu’s Pill Workshop, which cooperates with me. Because I’ve been helping them refine pills, earning them a lot of spirit stones, they’ve lent this as my temporary residence at no cost."

"I usually stay within the cave mansion to refine pills, while Xue Wei often takes Tongxuan and the younger generation out for training. Some years ago, that girl even went thousands of li away with a caravan, without telling me. She was utterly unruly, and I punished her with six months of reflection facing the wall before she started to be slightly restrained!"

"I haven’t told her of your return yet, husband. I’ll call them over to greet you in a few days."

On the jade bed within the cave mansion, Xiao Ying leaned against Zhouyang’s embrace, quietly recounting her experiences during Zhouyang’s absence.

Zhouyang listened to his Dao companion’s story and immediately, with a face full of guilt, whispered, "Ying’Er, you’ve endured so much these years, it’s all my fault, I deceived you, I have wronged you..."

"When I first heard Elder Qingyang reveal the truth, my heart was indeed filled with anger towards you, my husband. But after I calmed down, I understood your concerns; that you chose to deceive and conceal the truth because you were worried about me. Naturally, all grievances vanished."

Xiao Ying spoke softly, lifting her head to gaze at the man’s guilt-ridden face. Raising her jade-like hand, she gently caressed his smooth, handsome face; her beautiful eyes misted as she murmured, "It’s just that, my husband, we are one as Dao companions; nothing should remain unsaid between us. I would rather worry day and night, praying for your safety, than for you to deceive me. I would hate it if something were to happen to you and I wouldn’t even know why!"

"Never again! I swear, I will never deceive you again, Ying’Er!"

Zhouyang reached out to tightly embrace his Dao companion, bringing their hearts close together, and firmly declared, "No matter what happens in the future, I will face it with you; I will never leave you behind alone again!"

Xiao Ying said she worried about him, but during those decades in the "Dome Heaven Immortal Realm," wasn’t he also frequently anxious and concerned for her?

At that time, he was both worried that Xiao Ying hadn’t left Immortal Sun City in time and might be harmed by the fanatic revenge of the "Heaven-Sundering True Demon" from the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

He also feared that Xiao Ying might encounter trouble in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range upon returning to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm as he had arranged.

This constant fear tormented him greatly, prompting reflection on whether his decision to conceal the truth and deceive her was truly appropriate.

Now, finally reunited with Xiao Ying and hearing her sincere words, he realized his mistake.

After their heartfelt promises to each other, the couple soon dissolved all their internal knots, and Zhouyang took the opportunity to bring up the topic of Xiao Ying’s core formation.

When he ventured to the "Dome Heaven Immortal Realm," Xiao Ying was already at the Ninth-Layer of the Purple Mansion Cultivation. Now, forty-five years had passed, and forming the core was a matter of urgency that could no longer be delayed.

"When Elder Qingyang returned your storage ring to you, husband, he said he also handed over a [Jade Liquid Golden Pill] to me, as per your agreement. However, first, as this item is precious, it’s best not to use it without confidence; second, my constant worry about you over the years left me with no mind for closed-door cultivation."

As Xiao Ying spoke, she removed two storage rings from her jade-like hand and handed them back to Zhouyang, returning them to their rightful owner.

"Liuyun Immortal City is a good place; it’s safer for you to form your core here than anywhere else, Ying’Er."

"As for those spiritual objects for core formation, don’t worry; I will help you prepare them. We have plenty of spirit stones now, so there’s no fear of not being able to buy these things!"

Zhouyang, wearing the storage rings, confidently and proudly patted them, taking full responsibility for assisting his Dao companion in forming her core.

"Indeed, husband, with enough spirit stones in Liuyun Immortal City, you can buy anything. I happen to have a good relationship with Liu’s Pill Workshop, so why not ask them to help purchase these things? They’re familiar with the local area and buying these things will certainly be more convenient for them than for us."

Xiao Ying smiled slightly, warmed by his heroic willingness to spend so extravagantly for her, and offered her suggestion.

From Xiao Ying’s earlier accounts, Zhouyang already knew that the Liu’s Pill Workshop was an official member of the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," a business owned by the Liu Family of Hongliu River.

This Liu Family had joined the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance" only about a thousand years ago, not very long ago in terms of seniority. Currently, the family had one Golden Core Stage cultivator and five Purple Mansion Stage cultivators, managing a sizable marketplace named "Luoyan Square," primarily dealing in various spirit elixirs and spirit pills.

Liu’s Pill Workshop was the most important enterprise of the Liu Family within Liuyun Immortal City. Originally, it only had a Tier Four Middle-grade Alchemist from the Liu Family presiding over it, merely surviving in a place like Liuyun Immortal City, and not necessarily very profitable.

However, with Xiao Ying’s promotion to Tier Four High-grade Alchemist, the spirit pills produced by Liu’s Pill Workshop finally gained some reputation in Liuyun Immortal City and earned some commendation among the circles of Purple Mansion Stage cultivators.

Because of this, the Liu Family was willing to lend Xiao Ying this Tier Four High-Grade Cave Mansion to reside in, hoping to recruit her for long-term work at Liu’s Pill Workshop.

Indeed, Xiao Ying’s idea to have the Liu Family help purchase the items for core formation was a wise move; the Liu Family certainly hoped she would successfully form a Golden Core and thereafter help Liu’s Pill Workshop earn more spirit stones.

What’s most gratifying to Zhouyang, however, was seeing that Xiao Ying had finally matured, learning to make good use of her resources and connections.

Knowing that in the past, when she had just followed him to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, such a thing was impossible for her to achieve.

He nodded lightly with a smile of appreciation and said:

"Very well, since you trust the Liu Family, let them handle this matter. My identity is sensitive, so although I have a mask to conceal my identity, it’s best I don’t stay too close to you to avoid others guessing my real identity through you."

"Next, I will rent a Tier Five Cave Mansion in Liuyun Immortal City as a temporary place for cultivation and purchase some useful spiritual objects. If I can buy several portions of [Purple Heart Jade Marrow], that would be even better!"