A moment later.

Following Zheng He, Gu Yan broke through the blockade of many low-level monsters and ran all the way out of the forest.

"This is terrifying. I will never go any further until my cultivation reaches the fifth level of the Spirit Opening Realm and I find a few powerful fellow cultivators."

Zheng He ran for half an hour, finally emerging from the forest in the distance. With no sign of any monsters in sight, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his eyes filled with lingering fear.

Gu Yan's figure gradually appeared before him, with golden robes, golden hair, and golden eyes, possessing an outstanding temperament and extraordinary handsomeness.

Zheng He's pupils contracted sharply. Just as he was about to say something, a hand as white as jade touched his forehead from a distance.

The two figures gradually disappeared, disappearing into the depths below.

Gu Yan closed his eyes tightly, and his divine sense directly and forcefully invaded his soul, searching for it.

Zheng He's body seemed to have been subjected to some great shock, his body convulsing continuously, and his pale face twitching from time to time.

An hour later, Gu Yan waved his hand, rubbed his temples, and muttered to himself.

He had just forcibly invaded Zheng He's soul and selected some useful information to view, including information about their current location, the Great Jin Dynasty.

The dynasty covered an area of ​​approximately 2.7 million li, with a population of nearly 30 million. It was divided into 23 prefectures, nearly 400 cities, and countless villages.

Gu Yan licked his lips. For him, this was an inexhaustible source of nourishment. Living in a place where spiritual energy was everywhere, the probability of being able to awaken one's spiritual potential was extremely high. In fact, the overall quality of nourishment might even surpass that of all life on the entire planet Earth.

However, we can't be too careless, because there are many other dynasties around, some of which are even more powerful than the Great Jin. And there are legendary sects in faraway places, but Zheng He's status makes it impossible for him to come into contact with them.

"The most powerful person here is only at the Spirit Sea Realm. Even if there are hidden experts, they are probably only at the early stage of the Foundation Building Realm. It seems that we have overestimated this place. It seems that we don't need to make any calculations. We can just push through and devour them."

No, what if things get too big and a powerful force from afar finds out, and a strong person comes looking for trouble? That would be a real problem.

I should support a dynasty, wage war, and annex other dynasties. This would be legitimate and would at least buy me a significant amount of time and resources for development.

Once Gu Yan had sorted out his thoughts, he suddenly realized that there was a lot of room for development. He could bring himself into an ancient dynasty and help them expand their territory. Surely no one would refuse that?

He straightened his robes, took Zheng He and returned directly to the ground. He looked at the storage bag on the other's body, grabbed it, and found that there were dozens of low-grade spirit stones, several weapons made of broken copper and scrap iron, and a lot of trash pills with many impurities inside, at least for him.

Yes, the term used here to refer to spirit stones is their grade.

Low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, and top-grade.

The four grades correspond to white, purple, blue, and cyan, respectively.

The highest grade he had ever seen before was a blue superior spirit stone. For the same size, the average spiritual energy quality of each stone was about 100 pieces. And the size of each stone was the same as the size that the Thousand Ghosts Elder had kept in his storage ring at the time.

Then Gu Yan pointed a finger at Zheng He's forehead.

puff!

A golden light pierced through, transforming into a corpse that fell to the ground.

He took out the soul-summoning banner, shook it gently, and a suction force drew the soul in.

"From now on, you will be called the Human Emperor Banner, and I will lead you on the path to immortality."

Gu Yan grasped the Emperor's Banner and said, "Over the years, it has made great contributions and should not be treated unfairly."

After throwing the corpse into the insect-breeding space, he swaggered off to a city a hundred miles away.

Along the way, many ancient-style people came and went, looking at him strangely. They were all cultivators at the first, second, or third level of the Spirit Opening Realm. Some were injured, and some claimed that they were going to hunt monsters to exchange for resources.

The men among them all looked on with intense jealousy, calling him a pretty boy...

The woman was trying to win his favor, but her looks were only average. His divine realm had so many stunning beauties of various races and countless set meals, which Gu Yan completely ignored.

They traveled another twenty or thirty li.

At this point, it was gradually noticed that squads of armored soldiers were patrolling back and forth. Many of the soldiers' armor was stained with blood, but it wasn't theirs; it was left behind from killing the monsters that had escaped from the mountains. This was also part of their mission.

As they approached the city, Gu Yan looked up and noticed that, perhaps because it was near the mountains, it was named Chong. The city walls were about forty meters high and about twenty li long, and every brick and tile was extremely sturdy.

When he used his divine sense to investigate, he also discovered a strange pattern on it. It was present in every place and together they formed a barrier, but it was not activated.

"Tsk tsk, is this a city protection formation?"

Gu Yan sensed those patterns and the word "array" instantly came to mind.

Moreover, he felt that the spiritual energy of the surrounding world was gathering towards the city, as if it were being drawn in.

"interesting."

He chuckled softly and followed the group into the city.