242: Chapter 242 Qing'ai City

Qingai City does not have a direct teleportation plaza because it is simply too close to the Hengduan Mountains.

High-tier Yao Beasts already possess intelligence not inferior to humans. Although humans have not had large-scale conflicts with the Yao Beast tribes for the past tens of thousands of years, a war between humans and Yao Beasts did happen a long time ago.

If a teleportation Formation were set up in Qingai City, once a large number of Yao Beasts rushed out from the other side of the Hengduan Mountains, they could quickly use the teleportation Formation to capture human cities one by one.

Therefore, human Cultivators specially established a buffer zone. Not only Qingai City, but other cities close to the Hengduan Mountains also do not have teleportation Formations.

This buffer zone is very wide. After leaving the last teleportation Formation, Lin Qing traveled at the normal flight speed of a Tenth Rank Early Stage Cultivator for a full half a month before faintly seeing that giant city from afar.

Qingai City stands majestically at the end of the buffer plain, backed by the towering Hengduan Mountains, covering an area of tens of thousands of miles in radius. After flying for another moment, Lin Qing landed at the city gate.

Unlike many other cities within the Central Continent, Qingai City not only has towering city walls and flight-prohibition Formations, but also Cultivators resembling soldiers guarding the city gates and walls.

You must know that there are no Dynasties in the Central Continent. Lin Qing has not seen this kind of pattern for a long time. With just a sweep of his Divine Thought, Lin Qing saw through the background of these soldiers.

They are all Disciples from some major factions, and their strengths are generally at the seventh or eighth rank, occasionally with a 9th-rank Cultivator. As for the guarding, it feels more like a mere formality. They just stay in their respective positions and do their own things; some are sitting cross-legged to Cultivate, while others are drinking and chatting in groups of three or five.

"Stop, pay the city entry fee."

The squad leader guarding the city gate only had a 9th-rank cultivation base, but he was not intimidated by the Tenth Rank aura emanating from Lin Qing's body. Instead, he arrogantly stopped Lin Qing and demanded the city entry fee.

Standing behind Qingai City are major or even super factions, and there are Level 11 powerhouses holding down the fort in the city. Ordinary Tenth Rank Cultivators truly have to follow their rules.

There are quite a few Level 11 powerhouses in the Central Continent. Generally, major factions will have a few, and the number inside super factions is even greater. It is not strange at all for such a majestic border city to be equipped with a Level 11 powerhouse.

"How much?"

"One million Spirit Stones."

Just as Lin Qing was preparing to take out the Spirit Stones, he suddenly paused upon hearing the city guard's words. His expression darkened somewhat, and he asked in a cold voice:

"One million? Do you think I'm easy to bully?"

One million was enough to buy two Luoxia Valleys. Such an exorbitant city entry fee was simply unheard of. If these Cultivators dared to wildly inflate the price just because Lin Qing was a newcomer, Lin Qing wouldn't mind turning this place upside down.

Sensing Lin Qing's cold tone, the city-guard Cultivator couldn't help but explain. Although he had many major factions backing him, he was ultimately only at the 9th rank. If the person before him was a reckless hothead who killed him instantly, it would be of no use even if someone avenged him later.

"Fellow Daoist, I really am not tricking you. The city entry fee is charged according to one's cultivation base. Since Fellow Daoist is a Tenth Rank Cultivator, the standard for the entry fee is one million."

This extremely minor conflict sparked discussions among the others at the entrance. Lin Qing learned from their discussions that the city-guard Cultivator truly hadn't lied to him, so he handed over one million Spirit Stones to enter the city.

Stepping into the city, the roaring din of voices and the mixed stench of Yao Beasts in the air rushed over him. Aside from a small number of weapon shops and taverns along the street, the goods in the remaining shops were mostly Yao Beast fur, flesh, and other Materials, giving Lin Qing the illusion of returning to Yanguī City in the Xia Kingdom.

Cultivators generally do not deliberately release their Divine Thought in places where populations gather. After all, no one likes being spied on. Wantonly releasing Divine Thought in some large cities is likely to provoke dissatisfaction from others and might even offend some powerhouses with bad tempers.

Lin Qing is the same. Whether in Wanyan Spirit Pavilion or some large cities, he rarely releases his Divine Thought.

However, even without using his Divine Thought, Lin Qing still gathered a lot of useful information relying on his acute five senses.

Among them, the news about the Cloud-patterned Elk had already spread like wildfire in the city. It was killed by a Level 11 powerhouse and would be auctioned in a large auction house in the city.

This auction is not like the one in Qianbao City; the auction house belongs to the type where anyone with money can enter. Lin Qing only needs to go and buy the Cloud-patterned Elk fat when the time comes, which can only be considered a very ordinary shopping trip.

Lin Qing now has a net worth of tens of billions, and the price of Cloud-patterned Elk fat is at most around ten billion, so he doesn't have any financial pressure.

What Lin Qing is more interested in is information on some other Yao Beasts. The Southern Domain is half the size of the Central Continent. If he blindly goes in to search, even Lin Qing might need to spend several years, which would be far too slow.

The few types of Yao Beasts Lin Qing needs are not low in rank, and their rarity has reached the level of rare treasures. It is obviously impossible to get news about them right on the street, but he learned of a good place from someone else's mouth.

Xunshan Pavilion.

Xunshan Pavilion is an organization jointly established by many major factions. It only exists in cities bordering the Southern Domain like Qingai City. Inside, one can accept or issue bounty missions related to Yao Beasts, which has almost the exact same nature as a mercenary guild.

The Level 11 powerhouse who killed the Cloud-patterned Elk naturally hoped that the Materials in their hands could fetch a good price, so they left plenty of time for the news to spread so that those in-need external powerhouses could rush over.

Now, there are still five or six days until that auction starts, so Lin Qing decided to go take a look at Xunshan Pavilion first.

Qingai City is very large, and there are also many Cultivators here. Most of them are doing business related to Yao Beasts, so the area covered by Xunshan Pavilion is also exceptionally large, not even much smaller than that auction house in Qianbao City.

Approaching Xunshan Pavilion, the shouting voices of Cultivators began to reach Lin Qing's ears.

"Lieyun Team is recruiting people. Led by a Tenth Rank Cultivator, familiar with the routes and steady in coordination. Looking for Fellow Daoists above the 9th rank who act calmly."

"Huangshu…"

The styles of such border cities are all quite similar. Under the influence of the environment, many teams were born here just like in Yanguī City, making a living by hunting Yao Beasts or taking on bounties.

With Lin Qing's current strength, he no longer needs to rely on a team. If he were to really join a team, others not only wouldn't be able to provide him with help, but would instead hold him back.

However, Lin Qing saw two familiar figures among these teams again—Ren Wudi, who had already broken through to the 9th Rank Peak, and Qiyue, who still remained at the 9th Rank Early Stage. Moreover, they were actually staying in the same team.