Looking around and observing carefully, after noticing the mess and potholes on the ground, the expressions of the two men became gloomy.

One of the men with silver scales on his cheek said, "Something happened. Yang Teng and the others are probably in danger."

He pointed to the ground and said, "Although a battle broke out here, judging from the situation at the scene, Yang Teng and his men should have been captured without much resistance."

What this shows is self-evident.

The other person was a man with two dragon horns on his head.

He closed his eyes and sensed it slightly, then a cold murderous intent flashed across his face.

"I can't sense the mark on the space ring anymore. I'm afraid it has been erased."

"Damn it." The scaly man was furious and said:

"Who discovered Yang Teng and his group? With that treasure changing their aura and the large number of people in Jiuyang City, it stands to reason that Yang Teng and his group would not be exposed!"

"The puppet, dragon blood and other treasures are all in Yang Teng's hands. Now they can't be found."

The two were the venerables who accompanied Yang Teng on this trip to Lingyang Lake.

They attracted firepower in public, and when the time was right and they were sure that Yang Teng and the other two were completely safe, they proved to those who were besieging them that the puppets and other treasures were not in their hands.

In this way, no matter how unwilling others are, they have to give up.

If you don't get what you want, then there is naturally no need to fight to the death with the two venerables.

This is also the reason why after the Lingyang Lake troops were divided into two groups, the treasures were placed with Yang Teng. Not only was the safety of the treasures to be ensured, but also the safety of their own venerable was to be guaranteed so that he would not be targeted and attacked.

But who would have known that such a thing would actually happen, and that there was a Venerable who was secretly behind the scenes!

The two venerables of Lingyang Lake have basically concluded that Yang Teng and the other two had encountered a venerable, which is why they did not have much resistance and the mark on their rings was directly erased.

The two discussed it and searched the area for a while, but found no clues. They had to leave in frustration and returned to Lingyang Lake.

Don't let them know which despicable villain is bullying the weak! On the other side, Zhou Qing was getting closer and closer to Yuanfeng County.

He always let Kun's clone travel outside, while he himself concentrated on doing various things in his internal space.

Zhou Qing naturally also discovered the treasure that Yang Teng used to change his aura and conceal his identity.

Being able to hide this from most of the venerables is quite impressive.

But to be honest, this thing is of little use to Zhou Qing.

His means of hiding his identity are much stronger than this kind of treasure, and can be said to be flawless.

Therefore, Zhou Qing didn't pay much attention to the treasure. He put it aside for the time being. He would use it if it was useful in the future, and keep it if it was not.

By the time we arrived in Yuanfeng County, it was already daybreak. The Jiuyang auction had lasted for a long time, and we hurried on our way again, and a night had passed.

Zhou Qing came out of the space inside Kun's body and regained his human appearance.

Except for special places like Jiuyang City, the demon race is still quite conspicuous in most of the territories of Da Qi. Their open appearance will attract a lot of attention and even unnecessary trouble.

People entering the city and monsters entering the city are definitely completely different concepts.

Not long after, Zhou Qing passed by a small town. After thinking for a while, he entered the town.

There are quite a few people in the town, and it's quite prosperous. From the outside, there's no trace of the severe drought that occurred six years ago.

This is normal, people always have to look forward.

Zhou Qing cleverly inquired from the people here about the severe drought six years ago. After a while, he left the town directly.

According to the people in the town, it was really God's wrath that year. There was an unprecedented drought. No one knew how many people died. Their town was almost empty.

Some died, some escaped.

But then very suddenly, the drought ended, and for the past six years, the weather has been good and there have been no natural disasters.

Later, many people migrated from other counties, and Yuanfeng County gradually recovered and developed normally.

Zhou Qing also tried to find out, but the people in this town didn't know that the drought was caused by Du Shi Dao, and they just thought it was a natural disaster.

In fact, Liang Hai, the evil cultivator who had killed An Lang's family, did not know the inside story of the drought at first.

It was not until he was absorbed into the Tianmu Sect that he learned that such a natural disaster was actually man-made.

Ordinary mortals are too ignorant and it is difficult for them to know the truth of the world.

In such matters, they are always like scattered dandelions, completely without any autonomy and extremely fragile.

But does the Yuanfeng County government know about this?

An unprecedented drought suddenly broke out in this world, and it is hard not to associate it with supernatural powers.

Logically speaking, the Yuanfeng County government should conduct an investigation.

Uh... the government power of a county is definitely not enough.

"The drought ended suddenly..."

Zhou Qing flew away on the flying carpet.

This man-made disaster ended suddenly, it could only be that the people who were trying to save the world had given up.

I just don't know whether he gave up voluntarily or was forced to give up.

When we appeared in the civilized land again, we were already in Yuanfeng County.

Zhou Qing entered the city and conducted secret inquiries. Finally, relying on his identity, he went directly to the county's Ghost and God Department to learn about the official intelligence on the severe drought that year.

What surprised him was that the Yuanfeng County government actually determined that the drought was a natural disaster?! There was no trace of human intervention, let alone any way to save the world. It was just a pure natural disaster. It was just Yuanfeng County... bad luck.

According to the records of the Ghost and God Bureau, six years ago, only the local forces in Yuanfeng County conducted an investigation into the matter, and they did not report to Tianyang City when the incident occurred and ask them to send experts to investigate.

It was only after the incident that the masters from Tianyang City came to Yuanfeng County, but they found nothing and then gave a classification of the drought.

this……

Zhou Qing left the Ghost and God Department in confusion. He felt that any experienced old official monk would have doubts about such a sudden natural disaster, right?

Even if the local government in Yuanfeng County was not powerful enough to find out anything, they should have immediately reported to Tianyang City for help. Why did someone come only after the fact?

Also, even after investigating afterwards, how come no clues were found... Are Du Shidao's methods really so covert?

Perhaps, Tianyang City had already discovered that it was Du Shidao's work, but in order to maintain stability, they couldn't make it public, so they could only attribute it to a natural disaster? I couldn't figure it out, I really couldn't figure it out.

Breakthrough, Zhou Qing's heart moved.

Damn it, could it be that there is another traitor behind this? After what happened with Ye Zhong, Zhou Qing felt as if he had developed traitor syndrome.

Once you have suspicion, everyone looks like a traitor.

An Lang is very similar! After looking at Yuanfeng County, Zhou Qing felt that it would be better not to stay any longer. If there was any danger, he could not put himself in danger.

Run away.

No matter what the situation is, it would be best for him to talk to Qin Ming directly after arriving in Zhongtian City and let the Tianzhou government handle it.

Either the Tianyang County government is holding back for the sake of stability, or they really haven't found anything. Let the Tianzhou government investigate.

After leaving the county town, the flying carpet flew again and headed straight for Cangyuan County.

After letting An Lang meet her sister, Zhou Qing set out on his journey to Tiangui County without much delay.

First, we have to pass through Tianhai County.

Last month, Zhou Qing found a treasure map in a treasure chest. The treasure location recorded on the treasure map was in Tianhai County.

He did not forget this treasure map, so after entering Tianhai County, he went to the place recorded in the treasure map to look for treasures.

The overall strength of the cultivation community in Tianhai County is stronger than that in Tianyue County, but excluding the water tribes, it is not much stronger.

So Zhou Qing's treasure hunt went quite smoothly.

With his current strength, plus the help of Kun's clone, unless he wants to break into Tianhai, there is nothing in Tianhai County that can stop him, so finding a treasure will naturally not be a problem.

After spending a day, he got the treasure.

There was the nest of a water creature that had been dead for who knows how many years, showing the perfection of the saint's cultivation.

After Zhou Qing went in, he took away all his inheritance.

There are precious water materials, spiritual objects, magical tools, elixirs and so on, which is considered a good harvest.

What's there to be dissatisfied about when you get something for free?

This treasure hunt also allowed Zhou Qing to see the natural environment of Tianhai County. Compared with Tianyang and Tianyue counties, there are indeed more water areas and aquatic creatures in it.

Then Zhou Qing didn't stay in Tianhai for long and continued on his way.

After Tianhai, there is Tianbei County. This is the road he had taken the last time he participated in the martial arts school rating. Now he is an old hand.

On the way, Zhou Qing lamented to An Lang more than once that the world was so big. He had never seen such a big world.

Zhou Qing's current flying speed is definitely comparable to that of the Manifestation Saint Realm, but it will take a long time to fly across several counties at this speed.

You know, in Tianyue County, the distance between two neighboring counties is as close as eight or nine hundred miles, and as far as several thousand miles.

This refers to adjacent counties, not the ones that are one in the south and one in the north, or one in the east and one in the west.

You can imagine the size of a county.

If you fly from the two farthest counties in Tianzhou, the time required will more than double.

He is definitely flying faster now than in his previous life.

However, among the states of Da Qi, Tianzhou can only be said to be of medium to small area. In terms of the size of its territory alone, it is far from being called a large state.

In terms of land area, Da Qi is actually the smallest among the Three Kingdoms, which is related to the Ten Thousand Snow Mountains and the West Sea.

Don’t underestimate the Western Jin Dynasty. It is not by the sea, nor is it near monsters. It is close to the desert, and its area is much larger than that of the Da Qi Dynasty.

The largest country was naturally the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

But when compared with special places such as the Mountain and Sea Regions, the Ten Thousand Snow Mountains, and the Ancient Burial Desert, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty seems very small.

The mountain and sea areas are truly boundless primitive regions, with countless living creatures living in them.

One hundred thousand snow-capped mountains, these one hundred thousand are just a figurative number, there are more than one hundred thousand snow-capped mountains there.

And the snow-capped mountains there, not just one, can be counted among the 100,000.

Every snow-capped mountain is a continuous mountain range.

This is even more true in the Zangu Desert, where the yellow sand is endless and it seems as if there is no end in sight.

Please...collect 6_9_book_bar (Six//Nine//Book//bar)

If this desert is also counted as part of the Western Jin Dynasty, then it would have the largest land area.

The bird world is really big.

However, An Lang just rolled his eyes at Zhou Qing's words.

"What do you mean you've never seen such a big world? It's as if you've seen other worlds."

You are really good at judging people. You are right. I have seen it.

We flew all the way over Tianbei County and finally entered Tiangui County.

After finding the direction of Suzhen Palace, Zhou Qing turned the flying carpet.

I have to go to Suzhen Palace to see Shen Yu first.

It has been more than two months since he last saw Shen Yu, which is not a long time. However, he doesn’t know how long it will take him to come back from Xuandu Temple this time, so it is a very long time.

The location of Suzhen Palace is around the middle of Tiangui County. There is also a Suzhen City there, which was built by Suzhen Palace and is extremely prosperous.

However, Suzhen City is actually quite far away from Suzhen Palace. It is not right next to it, but it is also the outermost gate of Suzhen Palace.

Since Zhou Qing entered Tiangui County, he has discovered that the overall strength here is very good, and there are a large number of practitioners in those towns.

There is no doubt that this is because of Suzhen Palace.

Since ancient times, every generation in Suzhen Palace has had disciples who learned skills in the palace and then left to spread throughout Tiangui County and even further afield.

These disciples who left Suzhen Palace are naturally one of the sources of the numerous practitioners in Tiangui County.

They may not be able to teach profound methods, but they can certainly lead people to embark on the path of cultivation.

Most of the disciples who left Suzhen Palace had exhausted their potential and had no hope of making further progress.

If they stayed in the mountains, they would just be sitting there waiting to die, so Suzhen Palace was kind enough to let them go down the mountain.

Sometimes, the world is not a bad place.

Of course, once I leave Suzhen Palace, I can no longer consider myself a disciple of Suzhen.

It is impossible that after you come down the mountain, you can get married, have children, or even go astray and still claim to be a disciple of Su Zhen.

At that time, there was only Xiaohong, but no Suzhen disciple Xiaohong.

However, because of these reasons, Suzhen Palace can be said to be a holy place in the hearts of everyone in Tiangui County. Regardless of gender, everyone yearns for it.

Although they only accept female disciples, this does not affect them. Instead, it makes men more eager to go there...

After flying all the way, Zhou Qing arrived at Suzhen City.

This was the first time he had seen the portal of a top Taoist sect. The last time he went to participate in the martial arts school rating, for their convenience, the two sides separated before reaching Suzhen City.

An Lang was also outside. She asked in surprise, "Sir, why is Suzhen City like this?"

Suzhen City doesn't just look huge and ancient, the most peculiar thing about it is... it has no city walls.

This is a city without walls, and its style is very different from all the cities Zhou Qing has visited before.

The buildings stand on the land, well-planned and extremely neat, yet extending wildly without boundaries.

An Lang was surprised, but Zhou Qing was a little dazed.

"Yeah, how could there be a city like this..."

But the cities where he lived in his previous life were all like this, without any so-called city walls.

If the buildings in front of him were not in ancient style, he would have really thought that a modern city appeared in front of him.

"But this kind of city looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Zhou Qing collected his thoughts and said with a smile, "It feels like there's no restraint or boundaries."

Apart from anything else, the lighting will be much better.

A wall so tall that it reaches the sky blocks everything.

An Lang nodded, "That's true."

Without city walls, there would naturally be no such thing as city gates. But that doesn’t mean you can enter Suzhen City from just any corner; there are still designated entrances.

When he got closer, Zhou Qing discovered that outside the designated entrances, there was an invisible but mentally perceptible membrane outside the city's edge areas.

It is extremely vast and covers the entire city.

Formation?

Zhou Qing thought to himself, and saw that he was observing the membrane. There was a young man next to him who was talking to him with a smile.

"Is this brother's first time in Suzhen City?"

"Yes, it's my first time." Zhou Qing nodded. "I was a little surprised. It feels different from other places."

The young man said with great pride:

"Of course it's different. This place is directly protected by the Suzhen Palace. There is no safer place in the entire Tianzhou. Brother, you made the right decision to come here."

"You see the Light of Suzhen, right? It's the film of light covering this place."

"Is that called the Light of Suzhen?"

"Yes, that is the protection of the entire Suzhen City. Even though we don't have a city wall here, it is safer than a city wall. No one will be able to sneak in."

"Day and night, the light of Suzhen will protect us, allowing us to spend every day in peace."

The young man enthusiastically introduced Zhou Qing:

"If Suzhen City wants to expand, then the Light of Suzhen will continue to move outwards, freeing up new areas, which is very convenient."

Zhou Qing nodded, "This is indeed very convenient."

"This is my first time here, and I don't know what the rules are in Suzhen City. I hope my brother can give me some advice."

"First enter the city and talk as we go."

"Can."

Zhou Qing followed the young man into the city. He could see that this was a very outgoing resident of Suzhen City, who was quite proud of being a citizen of Suzhen City.

This mentality is not surprising.

If your hometown is prosperous, you will definitely feel proud of it.

This young man's mentality is quite healthy, and he may even despise all outsiders.

"In Suzhen City, the most important rule is not to do bad things. This is similar to other places."

"If you are here to do business and need to buy a store, you have to report to Suzhen Prefecture and get permission. In short, many things need to be reported there first."

"Every year, the masters of Suzhen Palace come to Suzhen City to recruit disciples..."

The young people were indeed very enthusiastic and fully demonstrated their sense of ownership.

Finally, Zhou Qing planned to treat him to a meal to express his gratitude, but the young man refused.

Zhou Qing walked alone on the street, observing the city.

The mental outlook of the people here is completely different from that of other places. They are high-spirited and full of vitality.

Everyone seems to be looking forward to it.

If the people of Suzhen Palace, a city directly governed by a top Taoist sect, were still in dire straits, it would simply be...

The world is too big for Suzhen Palace to manage.

But they can still control a city.

It is impossible to support the people of a city for free, but Suzhen Palace can give them a chance to support themselves.

As for the lower-class people, do they ask for much? Not much.

As long as I can survive through my own efforts, with food to eat and clothes to wear, it doesn't have to be good, just something is enough.

But such low demands and such humble people are still being plundered and trampled upon!

Zhou Qing looked around the city for a long time and thought it was really nice.

If he were a mortal, then this place would be like a fairyland to him.

(End of this chapter)