Ning Xiu's body had almost recovered. After Qi Zhiheng told him the truth, he also took out a few pills and gave them to him: "These pills should allow Fellow Daoist Ning to recover quickly within this month. If you don't mind, please take them."
Qi Zhiheng gave Ning Xiu only a few blood-replenishing pills, which could indeed help Ning Xiu recover quickly. These pills were not difficult to make, and giving them away was considered a small favor.
Ning Xiu accepted Qi Zhiheng's pills without hesitation.
Once everyone was ready, they boarded Yan Yinyue's flying spirit boat. Yan Qingcheng hadn't brought many people, only about a hundred.
Qi Zhiheng's situation was even simpler. Besides himself and Yang Yitian, he only brought Li San and two other cultivators. Xiong Shuang was left in Yanqing City by Qi Zhiheng to watch over the remaining cultivators.
The Central Continent is vast, hundreds or even thousands of times larger than the other four continents combined. Therefore, the place they were going to was quite a distance away. It took them more than half a month to finally arrive at a city to rest temporarily and wait for the time to come.
The city gate bears the imposing name "Hongxi City"! This completely changed Qi Zhiheng's understanding of cities. It turns out that compared to these large cities, Yanqing City can only be considered a small town!
Seeing their expressions as if they had never seen anything like it before, Yan Yinyue explained, "It's a city in Zhongzhou."
After listening to Yan Yinyue's subsequent explanation, Qi Zhiheng realized that the information he had bought from other cities, as well as the information Yan Yinyue had given him, was only from the smallest cities. This was because the cities he had visited were all of the lowest tier. These small cities not only did not have information on higher-tier cities, but even if they did, they would not dare to sell it.
However, even with the information on those cities, it was of no use. Without a foundation, cultivators could only challenge the lowest-ranking city lords. If they wanted to advance to a higher level, they would have to wait another ten years.
Cities were divided into different tiers: third-class, second-class, and first-class cities.
The reason Yan Yinyue didn't mention these things was because any cultivator from the Central Continent knew about the city rankings here.
As for Qi Zhiheng, an outsider, he was exactly the kind of person who didn't know this!
Upon entering Hongxi City, the group was immediately led to their assigned accommodations.
Qi Zhiheng knew that the city exchanges took place in a secret realm. After buying a document from the information-selling place in Dao Hongxi City, he learned the detailed process.
When the time comes, they will travel to a secret realm a hundred miles away from Hongxi City, where the entire competition will take place.
The secret realm will open in a few days, and the party hosting this exchange conference will enter the unknown venue first.
If someone wants to enter the secret realm first, it's not impossible, but strangers need to pay a fee. The location of each event is different, and only first-tier cities get the opportunity to host; other cities are just there to participate. The resources they receive are basically the scraps left over by the other cities.
A powerful city, so powerful that even some formidable forces dare not provoke it.
There are some differences between cities and sects. For example, sects only allow their disciples to reside in their territories.
Cities are different. Most of the residents in them are just ordinary people, but in places like this, there are very few mortals. They have even divided up their own territories. So, the residents of these cities may be people from other sects or independent cultivators.
In order to avoid being annexed, some cities will even choose to attach themselves to certain sects. For example, at the foot of certain sects, there will be some affiliated cities. People in these cities can be selected to enter the sect, and relatives and friends of some sect disciples can also choose to live in these affiliated cities.
Large cities like Hongxi City don't even need to fear most forces, as they themselves can be considered a force in themselves.
After obtaining the information, Qi Zhiheng sold some pills and exchanged them for several high-grade and top-grade spiritual veins before returning to his residence.
He was interested in entering the secret realm ahead of time, but he was unsure if going now would have any impact, so he decided to ask Yan Yinyue.
Yan Yinyue was with Ning Xiu. After taking Qi Zhiheng's pills, Ning Xiu's body recovered quickly, so Ning Xiu had a very good impression of Qi Zhiheng.
Hearing that Qi Zhiheng wanted to visit the secret realm, they decided to go together.
After arriving in Zhongzhou, Qi Zhiheng had not yet experienced the secret realm here. When he heard that Ning Xiu planned to go with him, he agreed.
This is a secret realm exclusively for Hongxi City. To enter, one must pay 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, and that's only for ten days.
Once inside, everything obtained belongs to the cultivator. This is somewhat like gambling; what you get after entering the secret realm depends entirely on luck. If you get something more valuable than 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, then you've won. If you don't get anything worth more than 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, then you've wasted your time and spirit stones.
Ning Xiu had some understanding of these intricacies: "This secret realm has been developed so many times, there probably aren't many good things inside, and we might not even be able to make a profit. Most people are willing to go in because of the gimmick that it's a first-class city secret realm. This gimmick is more than enough to fool people from small forces and small cities."
Yes, that's a bit like the celebrity effect. Just like some famous celebrities endorse certain products, some people think that if a celebrity uses something, it must be a good product, so some people will rush to buy it.
This city is, after all, a first-class city, and some cultivators might think that the secret realm of a first-class city might yield some good things.
In reality, even if there were any good items, they had almost all been looted by the forces in this city. Even if you could find some things, they were just leftovers to deceive others and obtain spiritual stones.
Qi Zhiheng didn't bring many people with him. Only Qi Zhiheng and Yang Yitian came out to go. Yan Qingcheng only had Ning Xiu going. It wasn't that Yan Yinyue didn't want to go, but as the city lord, he had to wait in place.
In the end, only three people went.
When they went to register, the cultivators in charge of collecting fees had a hint of mockery in their expressions, but they quickly hid it behind a bright smile, creating the impression of being very welcoming.
Qi Zhiheng tossed out 300,000 high-grade spirit stones for the three people: "Three people, ten days."
The cultivator guarding the secret realm gave the three people three tokens as proof that they had paid the fee to enter.
After the three entered the secret realm, Yang Yitian said angrily, "Did you see the face of that guy guarding the secret realm just now? The way he looked at us was like he was looking at suckers! If he doesn't find something worth tens of millions after looking us like that, he'll make them furious!"
Qi Zhiheng glanced at the enthusiastic cultivators around him and thought to himself, "Aren't we all just suckers?"
"It's good that they don't think much of us. We can find better resources and then play dumb to take advantage of them! Let's keep a low profile so that we don't attract the attention of first-class cities," Qi Zhiheng comforted him.
Ning Xiu remained silent, only feeling that these two were unaware of the sinister intentions of the first-class city and were being somewhat delusional. However, the final result would reveal the truth to them, and they wouldn't believe him no matter what he said; instead, it would only demoralize them.
Just as they had expected, there were very few old spiritual herbs in this secret realm. However, Qi Zhiheng didn't care much. Instead, he focused on the varieties of spiritual herbs in this secret realm. As long as these spiritual herbs were planted in his own space, they would mature quickly.
The only drawback is that it consumes spiritual energy quite quickly, but adding more spirit stones and more spiritual veins can help maintain the status quo.
Qi Zhiheng began collecting some spiritual herb seedlings that were not previously recorded in the space.
Ning Xiu was somewhat puzzled: "These spiritual herbs are still young, so even if we pick them, they will be useless."
Qi Zhiheng offered a nonsensical explanation: "I plan to plant them after we conquer Houtu City, and we can harvest them in a few hundred years."
Ning Xiu: "..."
Ning Xiu looked at the remaining seedlings on the ground and said, "Since we're going to plant them, why not plant them all at once?"
Qi Zhiheng said, "We can't nip other people's seedlings in the bud. We don't even know if these spiritual herb seedlings will survive. If they all die after being planted, wouldn't I be committing a sin? One should know when to stop."
Ning Xiu: "...Fellow Daoist Qi is right."
"..." Qi Zhiheng suddenly felt that Ning Xiu was not as calm and tough as he appeared, and actually agreed with his excuse.
Qi Zhiheng was indeed a person of great fortune, and with his powerful soul force, searching for things was a hundred times easier for him than for ordinary people.
Ning Xiu watched as Qi Zhiheng and Yang Yitian initially collected some worthless seedlings of spiritual herbs, until they gradually discovered some spiritual herbs and objects that were hidden very well.
At first, there were just some normal spiritual herbs and spiritual objects, but later they even discovered a vein of a rare mineral—pearl stone.
Pearl stone is an excellent material for refining weapons, and it is rarely found on the market.
Ning Xiu was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped. If he hadn't been unable to find anything good in this secret realm on his own, he would have really thought that Hongxi City had escaped unscathed.
Seeing Ning Xiu standing there in a daze, Yang Yitian quickly called out, "Don't just stand there! Come on, let's dig together! There's so much, the two of us can't finish digging it all."
"Oh!" Ning Xiu realized what was happening and quickly went to help with the digging.
Qi Zhiheng felt that this was not a solution, so he released the Soul-Devouring Insects to help him.
The Soul-Devouring Insects weren't particularly strong, but their sheer numbers made up for it! They dug with their sharp claws and teeth, making them several times faster than Qi Zhiheng and his companions.
Qi Zhiheng was very satisfied with the performance of these Soul-Devouring Insects and planned to reward them with some pills later.
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