Many stalls adorned the cobblestone street, with people loudly promoting their products. MingYue could also see some people standing in front of restaurants, inns, shops, and taverns, calling for people to come.

‘This place is very prosperous. Compared to the city under a sect,’ MingYue thought to herself.

‘Did you never come to the city under ShangXi Temple?

They give many protections to the commoners, so it’s not weird that the city looks flourishing. But I heard it’s only for people that join their religion.’

‘Well, that is not weird, but I still wonder why immortal cultivators create their own religion; usually, they don’t care about commoners.’

As MingYue replied, she walked into one of the restaurants. Since she had never entered a city like this, she wanted to try the food.

Restaurants, taverns, and inns are also good places to look for news. With her sharp hearing, she could easily hear what other people were talking about around the table.

As she entered, her lips curled into a smile as there was already a commotion in place.

There were two groups in conflict while everyone else watched with glee. Based on their appearance, she could tell both groups were cultivators, with qi flying in the air.

Usually, commoners would already run away as far as they could, but here they were not worried.

Trying to completely regulate cultivators would not work, so ShangXi Temple made a compromise for cultivators who wanted to have conflicts; they could fight it out in the public arena.

This became a source of entertainment for the people. ShangXi Temple also used it as an income source by turning the fight into a gamble.

“Where did you get that information? You should know my sect won’t just let this go,” said one of the men from a group wearing a blue robe.

The other group was like a gathering of independent cultivators. Each had their own unique clothing.

“You may be my ex, but you think I am obligated to tell you about that? Since you chose her, you made your choice,” said one of the women from the other group.

MingYue then asked nearby people what had happened based on the information she had.

It seemed the blue cultivator group overheard what the other cultivators were talking about, and then matters turned even more complicated when another cultivator came from the blue group who turned out to have some personal problem with one of them.

The man suspected the woman used their past relationship to get this information. He had shared some methods with her in the past to have access to the sect’s information network.

The man was a core disciple of his sect, so he had special privileges compared to others.

However, their drama was not interesting to Ming Yue; what interested her was treasure.

It seemed the sect had found an old dwelling of an alchemist with a big herb garden. Based on the rumor, the herbs were at least a thousand years old, not to mention there should be many pills, books, and cauldrons in the dwelling.

As long as they could break the security created by the alchemist around the perimeter, they would gain access to all the resources.

This piqued MingYue’s interest since that was what the BaiYue sect most needed now. They already had a realm rich in energy; she just needed this plant seed now to see what it would produce.

In theory, they would still grow since mana and qi are very similar. They should retain the effect but make it milder, allowing easier consumption at the cost of effectiveness.

But this is not a problem since turning many herbs into a pill will increase the effectiveness manyfold.

MingYue started considering making another stop before going to her destination but remembered her master’s situation was dire.

She sighed and turned her attention elsewhere. Hearing more information would only make her feel more interested.

But before she left, MingYue made sure to learn the sect’s name, Sky Ember Sect.

She moved to another place, taking a short break before moving toward the teleportation array. Paying the fee of 100 low-grade Spirit crystals, she moved to the next city.

Leaving the array, MingYue was surrounded by many cultivators; they asked her for some information before asking her for some levy.

This made MingYue frown since usually she only needed to pay when using, not when coming out.

“1000 low-quality Spirit crystals? Or no pass,” they said while surrounding her.

In contrast to the city she was just in, Mystic River City’s situation was far different.

chapter hosted on m,vle-mpyr

She hadn’t even taken a step out of the array place and was already surrounded by more than ten cultivators. Hearing the number they asked, she was sure they just wanted to rob her clean.

Even with her current average appearance, she could feel one of the cultivators ogling her body, making her feel disgusted.

These cultivators wore orange robes with a letter on their uniform that read ‘Yang.’ There were mixed genders; some men, some women.

She could see, based on their appearance, they seemed to have just had a fight.

There was also some fresh blood splattered around the area. This was clearly not their first time.

‘Ambushing everyone coming through the portal? No wonder some people warned me,’ she thought.

Before she entered this place, some of the guards told her that Mystic River City was in conflict.

Since it’s out of their jurisdiction, there is nothing they can do. The only agreement ShangXi Temple had with the city was to keep the array active.

As for who took the power or what kind of conflict happened there, they didn’t care.

MingYue’s lips curled into a cold smile, “Ten thousand? I see you guys must be very rich then.”

“Rich? Haha, we wish. Well, if you cannot pay in coins, then just give us all your belongings. Or you can pay with something else,” one of the men said while getting a glare from his female comrade.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep