Chapter two hundred and forty eight vicissitudes of life
Just like other places in Nanman.
To enter the Shahu Oasis, you also need to pay a city fee, which is called a "security fee" in local parlance. The forces here gave it such a name, which seems to show its rationality.
A spiritual stone is not expensive.
Lu Zhong handed over the spirit stone and walked into the city. After passing through the city wall and a thin protective shield, the originally dry and hot air suddenly became moist.
At the same time, the spiritual energy suddenly became rich.
Compared with the harsh environment outside, the interior of the oasis is indeed much more livable.
It seems to be a festival in Tiandao Territory.
Pedestrians were crowded on the road, and from a distance we could see a mass of black heads. The festive atmosphere was particularly strong.
On both sides of the street in front of you, the flags of various shops fluttered in the wind. It also has a bit of the local characteristics of Tiandaoyu. The monks here like to hold banners, so the streets are full of colorful signs and slogans.
The Water of Yingquan is now available, if you want to buy it, hurry up!
The Sand Scorpion Caravan is recruiting new recruits, and talented people from all walks of life are welcome to sign up! (Note in small print next to it) Priority will be given to those who practice water magic and exercises.
The matchmaker's marriage center helps you create a bridge of immortal love!
Lu Zhong took a few more glances and found it a bit interesting.
Especially the slogan at the end is another feature of the Heavenly Sword Territory. Compared with other places in the Southern Barbarians, in the Heavenly Sword Territory where immortals and mortals commonly live together, there are obviously more cases of intermarriage between monks and mortals.
We stopped and walked along the way and bought a lot of special food.
Soon we arrived in front of "Tianyan Mansion".
There is an endless flow of people here, and it is no surprise that the Foundation Establishment True Cultivators are here. Even Jindan Master can be seen occasionally. While Lu Zhong is slightly frightened, he can't help but admire the Tianyan lineage's ability to do business.
He was not in a hurry to go in and first inquired about the situation.
If you come to Tianyan Mansion to deduce secrets, you must first explain your needs. Only after Tianyan Mansion has assessed the risks will they give you the required fees. If the assessed risks are too high, there is even a possibility of rejection.
Not all monks who come here can get the results they want.
What most people can get is basically an unclear prophecy.
After understanding the situation, Lu Zhong walked into Tianyan Mansion and stated his needs. He soon received a reply, and he had to pay a fee of 100,000 spirit stones.
"So cheap?" He was slightly startled.
Then he reacted again, thinking that he was used to being lavish.
One hundred thousand spiritual stones is definitely an astonishing amount for ordinary monks. It is enough to train a young monk who has just completed introducing Qi into his body into a true cultivator of foundation building.
In other words, the price should be very high.
After Lu Zhong agreed, a deacon presented the spiritual contract. The terms were quite detailed, stipulating the respective obligations of both parties and the division of responsibilities in the event of unforeseen accidents.
"Please wait a moment, distinguished guest, we will make arrangements for you right away."
After saying that, the deacon took the signed spiritual contract and bowed out of the room.
This is just a cup of tea.
Just when Lu Zhong was impatient, an old man in black cassock walked into the door, raised his hands and apologized: "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. This is the result you wanted."
"Oh?" Lu Zhong took it and read it, his expression became uncertain.
For a moment, he didn't know whether he should say his luck was good or bad.
Regarding the whereabouts of half of the book page, Tianyan Mansion gave a clear location, which is located in the Shaxuan Valley in the Western Region. According to Shaxuan Valley, it is located in the Western Sword Region. After so many years of changes in the world, it is unknown what has become there.
It seems that it is not easy to get half of the remaining page.
Thinking of this, Lu Zhong did not choose to give up.
"Let's take a step and see..."
The only thing left to achieve the magical power of incarnation is the last half page. If you are afraid of difficulties and give up, it will be really hard to give up!
…
The first step to heading to the Western Territory is to repair the cross-border teleportation array.
After returning from the Heavenly Sword Territory, Lu Zhong first went back to the Bihai Sect, took a lot of formation materials, and then took the Sky Stone to the Poisonous Insect Valley.
Passing through Lvcuifang City.
Thirty years is enough time to make a huge difference.
Affected by the outbreak of the beast tide, this place has long been deserted.
Where can I still see the prosperity of the past?
As far as the eye can see, there is a green mountain top, with several ruins hidden among the wild grass, and soon these traces will disappear, and everything will return to its original wild state.
From here, Lu Zhong descended to the ground.
Today, the Great Forest Sea in the north has become a paradise for monsters and beasts, and a forbidden area for human monks. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decided to gather his breath and sneak in.
Following the previous route, we soon came to a poisonous swamp.
"After all, we are still a thousand miles away from the Poisonous Insect Valley, right?" Lu Zhong looked at the boundless poisonous swamp in front of him and couldn't help but feel surprised, and then he felt a little worried.
Without control for such a long time, we still don’t know what the poisonous insect swarm will develop into.
Maybe a third-level individual has been born.
"Anyway, let's go and take a look first." Lu Zhong thought of this and took a Five Treasure Pill in his mouth. This pill is a third-level pill that can detoxify most of the poisons in the Southern Barbarians.
A Five Treasure Pill is worth nearly ten thousand, but in order to preserve mana and deal with unexpected events, it is still worth using it.
The elixir takes effect quickly.
The discomfort caused by the body's exposure to toxins immediately subsided like a tide.
After confirming that it was safe, he disappeared and rushed towards the Poisonous Insect Valley.
On the way, we met several swarms of poisonous insects, each numbering in the hundreds. From a distance, we could see a swarm of venomous insects, either carrying prey back to their nests, or spitting saliva everywhere.
Their saliva is poisonous, and after contaminating land and water sources, poisonous swamps will form over time.
"It's just like what's recorded in the classics."
Lu Zhong avoided these small swarms of insects and quickly reached the location of the former Poison Insect Valley. The original valley had been shrouded in thick poisonous mist, and from a distance it looked like a purple-black Poison Pool.
In this heavy poisonous mist, there are gourd-shaped insect nests one after another.
They are all nests of green-spotted ghost insects.
Obviously, the green-spotted ghost insect is the final winner of the Poisonous Insect Valley.
After the rest of the insect swarm was defeated, they either fled here in a hurry, or were completely wiped out by the green-spotted ghost insect, leaving not a single individual.
Turning around, we came to the old passage into the underground palace. As expected, it had been flooded by poisonous water. The only good news was that there were no traces of poisonous insect activity. As long as the poisonous water was eliminated, we could enter.
Seeing this, Lu Zhong took out a piece of "cangyicao" and drank it.
When he released the poisonous insect swarm, he had already anticipated the possibility of the insect swarm getting out of control, so the selected insect swarms were actually carefully selected.
Echinacea is specialized in relieving the poison of green-spotted ghost bug.
Diving into the poisonous water, the body-protecting aura was corroded to the point of sizzling sound. The concentration of poisonous aura contained in the water was extremely high, and it had begun to corrode the body, but it was not a worry because of the presence of the yamgrass.
Go forward along the passage, clear the obstacles on the way, and soon arrive at the underground palace.
Affected by the activities of poisonous insects, the magic circle he had left behind had long been damaged. The walls of the underground palace were chewed like sieves, poisonous water filled them inside, and the teleportation circle was severely damaged.
"Another big project!" Lu Zhong calculated the workload and his scalp felt a little numb.
But for the sake of external incarnation, he could only grit his teeth and do it.
Repair begins.
First, he set up several restrictions to press out the poisonous water in the underground palace, and then began to repair the walls of the underground palace, mainly using the "fossils into mud" spell. He mixed some "Yantooth Beast" ashes into the wall, a kind of
The natural enemy of the green-spotted ghost bug. In this way, the green-spotted ghost bug will instinctively avoid this place, which can reduce the chance of damage to the underground palace.
After a lot of work, the underground palace was finally repaired.
In order to determine the effect of the ashes, Lu Zhong specially used scene recall to conduct reconnaissance, and there were indeed signs of avoiding the green-spotted ghost bugs outside.
very good!
I felt relieved and immediately started repairing the teleportation array.
The process is purely physical labor.
The difficulty in arranging the teleportation array lies in the calculation of precise spatial orientation, and the calculation results are reflected in the array. Lu Zhong has the assistance of gray fog space, so he only needs to reproduce it intact.
…
Yanhufang is close to Yanyan Lake, which is where the name comes from.
Every morning and evening, there will be hunting teams returning to the lakeside dock. They will stop at the dock area to sell prey, which are basically the eyeless monster fish in the Smoked Lake.
Eyeless monster fish is a general term.
There is no daylight all year round underground, so there is no need for such things as eyes. Most of the indigenous creatures here are blind and rely on other ways to obtain information.
Perhaps because it grew up in the Smoked Lake, the demon fish always smells of sulfur no matter how it is handled.
Today, when food is scarce, monks and mortals who cannot afford it can only use it to satisfy their hunger. Compared with starving to death, the inedible monster fish is nothing.
As the "sunlight array" on the top of the market gradually becomes brighter, more and more people come to the dock area to buy fish.
All the light in Yanhufang is provided by this array.
The formation rises and the formation ceases.
For the new generation of Westerners who have to live thousands of feet underground to avoid the contamination of scarlet spiritual energy and have never seen the surface.
This is what a day looks like to them.
"what is that?"
Suddenly, someone noticed a purple light appearing in the lake.
The purple light became more and more dazzling, and it was rapidly approaching the dock. When the monks on the shore saw this, no one dared to ignore it, and they all pulled out their crudely made magic weapons and put on a defensive posture.
"Clang clang clang!"
The alarm bell sounded loudly.
At the same time, the brightness of the solar array rose to its highest level, illuminating Yanhu Square in every detail.
The strong light penetrated the smoke of the Smoked Lake, and people on the shore could see clearly that what was approaching from the lake was actually a purple flame, and the water vapor evaporated wherever it passed, bringing up a huge thick fog.
From a distance, it looks like an ancient giant beast is approaching.
"Is that a monk inside?" A monk who had practiced Qi-gazing had the courage to take a look inside. He burst into tears and almost went blind, but he also saw something from inside.
"How could it be a monk!" A foundation-building cultivator who came over retorted.
The permeating purple flame exudes a terrifying aura that makes the soul tremble, and this is definitely not something that a monk can emit, at least she can't do it at this early stage of foundation building.
"Could it be the legendary Jin Dan Zhenren!"
Someone shouted something, and the crowd fell silent for a moment.
Since the establishment of Yanhufang, the monks here have never seen the real Jindan, so in the eyes of the new generation of people, monks of this level have become legends.
Who would have thought that we would meet him today!
Fear suddenly came over like a tide, drowning everyone on the dock.
Lu Zhong saw this scene from a distance, but he didn't expect that his appearance would frighten the people here.
Half a year ago, he finally repaired the teleportation array.
When I set foot in the Western Region again, what I saw was a horrifying scene.
Everywhere you look, everything turns dark red, the earth is covered with scarlet pools of corruption, and the sky is filled with scarlet aura that is so rich that it is almost substantial.
Under such circumstances, traveling has become an arduous task.
After flying for less than half a day, the accumulated scarlet corrosion was enough to endanger his life, forcing him to stop and use Purple Nether Fire to purify it.
After all, the time spent on the road has not been purified much.
So after discovering traces of monks' activities on the ground, we followed the ruins to find them.
So this scene happened.
Pressed before the bottom line of the monks on the shore, Lu Zhong stopped his progress and removed the Purple Nether Fire that purified the scarlet and corruption in his body, allowing his body to be revealed.
Looking at the old foundation-building monks on the shore, he could not help but frown as there was no fresh blood among them.
Only thirty years have passed, and the world of Immortal Cultivation in the Western Region has already degraded to this extent?
At this rate of regression, it may not take more than a hundred years for the practitioners with the highest cultivation among the human race here to only have the peak level of Qi refining.
And these are all given by Him.
Thinking of this, Lu Zhong picked up a ball of mud from the bottom of the lake and used the magic of turning mud into stone to form a rock pillar. Then he touched the storage ring in his left hand, took out ten thousand kilograms of rice from it, and piled it on top of the rock pillar.
"A small gift to show your sincerity."
Immediately, he looked at the people in the city and said, "Please send someone out to talk to me."
There was a commotion among the people on the shore after hearing this, and finally they elected a late-stage Qi Refining monk, who is now the owner of Yanhufang, Li Yuming. With all the foundation-building cultivators guarding the city, Yanhufang is qualified to send out to talk things over.
, there is only one candidate left.
"Junior Li Yuming, I have met my senior!" Li Yuming said calmly.
As he spoke, his eyes couldn't help but move to the pile of spiritual rice next to him.
Is this the spiritual rice recorded in the classics?
It is as crystal clear as jade and exudes an alluring fragrance. Not to mention that there is a very rich spiritual energy in the spiritual rice, which is many times stronger than the Linggu grown in the workshop.
Noticing this scene, Lu Zhong estimated that the value of spiritual rice to the monks here was several times higher than it had been in thirty years. But he estimated that these people would not be able to exchange anything for spiritual things.
Otherwise, his cultivation level would not be so low.
"Answer me a few questions, and these spiritual rice can be given to you."
"Yes, senior!" Li Yuming suppressed his excitement and said.
"Is there a large settlement nearby?" Lu Zhong asked.
"Twenty years ago, a monk who claimed to be Ye Ling Immortal City arrived and said that this city was five thousand miles northwest of Fang City. At this time, this was the only information that I knew."
"Yeling Fairy City?" Lu Zhong looked strange after hearing this.
As far as he knew, this city had been reduced to a dead place thirty years ago.
Now that the changes in the world are intensifying, where can monks still exist?
Seeing that he only got this answer, he asked the next question.
"Do you have any means to get rid of the scarlet aura?"
The reason why Lu Zhong asked this was because he found that the monks here had no traces of being corroded by the scarlet aura, which showed that they most likely had mastered the means of purification.
"Senior, we mainly rely on taking scarlet mushroom powder to eliminate the influence of scarlet aura." Li Yuming said, taking out a bottle of red mushroom powder from his pocket.
"This is Scarlet Solitary Powder, but although it can purify scarlet aura, it is highly poisonous, so..."
"It's just poisonous, it's okay."
Lu Zhong took out an antidote pill and drank it, then pinched it secretly to detect malicious intent.
Seeing that there was no problem, I took out a little dry powder and drank it.
"The effect is average, better than nothing." Lu Zhong quickly came up with the result. He was not satisfied with it. He immediately looked at Li Yuming and said, "How much scarlet red dry powder do you still have? Get it for me. One bottle of dry powder will be exchanged for one pound."
Lingmi.”
Currently, he is still in the Yeling Territory, which is thousands of miles away from the West Extreme Sword Territory. Preparing some Scarlet Solitary Powder can save a lot of time. Otherwise, it will take him about three to five years to reach the Shaxuan Valley.
I don’t know when I’ll be back after taking out the remaining pages.
"Ah yes!" When Li Yuming heard this, he couldn't hide his mood and laughed out loud with joy.
This senior is really a kind person!
When he returned to the dock, he truthfully reported the conversation between the two and the transaction request proposed by Lu Zhong to the several foundation-building cultivators at the dock.
There was nothing to discuss, everyone unanimously approved.
After living underground for a long time, they have long lost the idea of returning to the surface. It is useless to keep the Scarlet Solitary Powder, so they might as well take this opportunity to replace it with spiritual rice.