Mortal: I am the young sect master of the Thousand Illusions Sect

Chapter 75 Tianxing City

Stepping out of the teleportation hall of Tianxing City, a salty, damp sea breeze carrying a faint spiritual energy rushed towards me. Looking up, the majestic Tianxing City, perched atop a giant solitary peak, came into view.

This place belongs to the direct jurisdiction of the Star Palace. It is the core hinterland of the Star Sea within the Chaotic Star Sea and the largest commercial hub in the entire sea area. The entire city is built on a towering mountain that rises from the sea. It stretches from the foot of the mountain to the top, with a total of eighty-one floors arranged in a staggered pattern. Half of the city floats among the endless sea of ​​clouds, and below the mountain is the vast and boundless ocean.

Suspended jade walkways connect layer upon layer of pavilions, and spiritual channels are carved into the rock walls to draw living water from the mountain's spiritual veins to flow around the city. Magnificent palaces stand side by side, and various spiritual lights often flow and flicker on the eaves and corners of the halls. Cultivators often fly back and forth on their swords in the low sky, and large and small flying boats traveling to and from various islands are moored at the floating dock.

The streets and alleys are filled with shops, alchemy workshops, pharmacies, restaurants, and inns. Spiritual herbs, rare stones, monster skeletons, talismans, magical artifacts, and all sorts of rare treasures are available. Independent cultivators, traveling merchants, and travelers from all over the Chaotic Star Sea gather here, and the noisy bargaining sounds permeate the entire city.

Su Mixin walked to the Star Palace office next to the teleportation hall, where a Foundation Establishment cultivator dressed in the Star Palace's uniform white attire quickly greeted her.

The man's gaze swept over Su Mixin's hands without making a sound, and he immediately noticed that she was not wearing the exclusive residency ring of Tianxing City.

"Greetings, senior. Is this your first time visiting Tianxing City?"

Su Mixin nodded slightly: "I've come to apply for a residence permit for Tianxing City."

The Foundation Establishment cultivator immediately put on a humble smile: "Senior, any Core Formation cultivator can apply for permanent residency in Tianxing City for free."

After he finished speaking, he took out a red ring magic artifact from his storage bag and presented it to the owner, explaining carefully: "This ring magic artifact is the permanent residence certificate of Tianxing City. It only needs to be refined and recognized by a drop of blood essence. Even if it is lost by accident, no one else can steal it. You can go back to the Star Palace Office at any time to apply for a new ring."

Su Mixin accepted the red ring, forced a drop of her essence blood from her fingertip onto the ring, and instantly refined it. After thanking him, she turned and bid farewell to the office.

As soon as they stepped out of the Star Palace's territory and onto the main street, several cultivators at the early stage of Qi Refining, and even some ordinary people, immediately surrounded them. They all bowed and greeted them from a distance of about ten feet, asking questions all at once.

"Is this your first time visiting Tianxing City, senior? Would you like to hire someone to guide you?"

"I have spent decades in Tianxing City, and I am familiar with every street and alley. I am willing to guide you, senior."

"Senior, my hiring fees are the cheapest. Please choose me to guide you."

Su Mixin's gaze swept over the group of people soliciting business in front of her, and finally landed on the rather thin young man at the back of the crowd.

He raised his arm and pointed at the thin young man at the end of the crowd, saying calmly, "You're the one."

Seeing this, the other guides waiting to find work looked disappointed, but none of them went forward to bother or make a fuss. They all bowed and dispersed one after another.

Having made their living around the teleportation hall for many years, they are all very perceptive. Although they are low-level cultivators or even mortals without divine sense, they can tell a lot about a person's cultivation level without using their divine sense to detect it. Anyone who can spend a lot of spirit stones to take the inter-island teleportation array into the city must be someone whose status and cultivation level are far beyond what they can afford to offend. They would never dare to have any thoughts of getting involved with such people.

The thin young man, Qin Zhou, quickly stepped forward, bowed deeply again, and said respectfully, "Junior Qin Zhou greets senior."

Su Mixin nodded slightly. She briefly scanned him with her light and noticed that he had the cultivation level of the first level of Qi Refining, but his body was thin and frail, and his skin was dry and withered. Even if his cultivation level was low, he should still be superior to ordinary people. Why did he end up like this?

This person was strange in every way. He had some doubts in his heart, but he did not immediately ask for the reason. He raised his hand and summoned the Yellow Crystal Flying Boat. The golden sword energy slowly flowed out from his body and merged into the flying boat.

Huang Jingzhou had a flash of inspiration and floated steadily in mid-air.

Su Mixin leaped lightly and landed steadily on the flying boat.

Seeing this, Qin Zhou didn't dare to delay. He quickly leaped onto the side of the flying boat and carefully stood firm.

"Take me to the office in the city that rents out cave dwellings. You lead the way," Su Mixin instructed.

Qin Zhou quickly bowed in agreement. He first glanced at the red ring on Su Mixin's finger, then pointed to a spot and introduced familiarly, "Senior, are you planning to stay in Tianxing City permanently? Those houses and residences on the sacred mountain of Tianxing City are planned for the cultivators of Tianxing City to live in, and the rent is quite reasonable."

"As for detached cave dwellings, I've heard that they're much more expensive to rent than residential houses, and both houses and cave dwellings require a minimum lease term of one hundred years."

The Yellow Crystal Flying Boat slowly ascended into the air through the space between the suspended jade walkways, shuttling between the staggered buildings. On both sides, pavilions and shops stood side by side, and everywhere one could see cultivators coming and going and ordinary people making a living. The scene was one of prosperity and grandeur as the first magnificent city in the Chaotic Star Sea.

Soon, guided by Qin Zhou, Huang Jingzhou arrived at a pavilion at the foot of the sacred mountain. After landing, the two walked towards the pavilion.

After entering the attic hall, Su Mixin found a stone table where no one was handling business and slowly sat down. The white-robed Star Palace cultivator on duty behind the table looked up and subconsciously swept a wisp of divine sense over the two of them.

Upon detecting that Su Mixin possessed the cultivation level of the Core Formation stage and noticing the red ring from the Star Palace Core Hairpin on her finger, he quickly rose, cupped his hands, and asked respectfully, "Senior, are you here to arrange the rental of a cave dwelling?"

Su Mixin nodded slightly: "I want to rent a ready-made cave dwelling that I can move into immediately, with priority given to higher-level locations, the higher the level, the better."

Upon hearing this, the white-robed cultivator from the Star Palace replied truthfully: "Senior, please forgive me. All the cave dwellings above the fifty-first floor of the Holy Mountain have been allocated to the Star Palace staff for their own use. Only the cave dwellings below the fiftieth floor are open for rent to the public. Please allow me to review the vacant records."

After speaking, he took out a jade slip, examined it intently for a moment, and then reported: "Among the remaining empty cave dwellings, the highest level is the forty-eighth floor, where there is still one empty cave dwelling, and the forty-seventh floor has two remaining, for a total of three."

Having said that, he handed out the three jade slips containing details of the cave dwelling. "The jade slips detail the cave dwelling's location, internal layout, and structure..."

The interior's functions and century-old rental prices are available for reference by the previous generation.

Su Mixin took the jade slip, probed it with her divine sense, and quickly made up her mind: "I will choose the forty-eighth floor."

""

After speaking, he probed his storage bag with his divine sense, took out twenty-nine lustrous mid-grade spirit stones, and neatly placed them on the stone table.

The white-robed cultivator counted the spirit stones and, finding them correct, took out a yellow restriction token from his storage bag. He presented it with both hands and carefully instructed, "With this restriction token, you can freely enter and exit this cave dwelling for a full hundred years. When the lease expires, you can come here to confirm whether you wish to renew. If you do not renew, the cave dwelling will be reclaimed by the Star Palace. Please keep it safe, senior."

Su Mixin carefully put the yellow restriction token into her storage bag and, without lingering any longer, gestured to Qin Zhou beside her. The two of them then turned around and stepped out of the rented pavilion in the cave.

After leaving the rented attic, Su Mixin summoned the Yellow Crystal Flying Boat again. Qin Zhou quickly followed and boarded the flying boat. The flying boat slowly rose into the air and flew steadily towards the forty-eighth floor of the Holy Mountain.

As they passed through the swirling clouds, the surrounding buildings gradually thinned out, and the concentration of spiritual energy was several times denser than below. Soon they arrived at the entrance of a cave dwelling shrouded in spiritual light and indistinct in appearance. This was the residence that Su Mixin had just chosen.

With her feet firmly on the ground, Su Mixin casually took out five low-grade spirit stones from her storage bag and handed them to Qin Zhou, calmly instructing, "Come wait outside the cave entrance early tomorrow morning. I need you to guide me around the streets and alleys of Tianxing City and familiarize me with the city's layout. Your payment will not be delayed."

Five low-grade spirit stones were an income that Qin Zhou could only earn after a long period of hard work. Upon seeing this, the young man's eyes lit up, unable to hide his joy. He carefully took the spirit stones with both hands and bowed repeatedly, saying, "Thank you for your generous gift, senior. I will definitely keep my appointment on time tomorrow and will not dare to be late!"

After thanking him repeatedly, Qin Zhou reluctantly took his leave and hurriedly walked down the mountain path towards the lower level of the sacred mountain.

After Qin Zhou's figure disappeared around the bend in the mountain path, Su Mixin took out the yellow restriction token and infused it with spiritual power.

With a buzzing sound, the shimmering white spiritual light barrier surrounding the cave entrance slowly dispersed to both sides, and the heavy stone door opened inward automatically.

Stepping into the cave, he slowly surveyed the entire area.

Although the cave dwelling could not compare to the vast, magnificent, luxurious, and exquisite Mi Xin Palace of the past, its interior was well-planned and complete. It had a reception hall, living quarters, a meditation room, a separate alchemy room, a fire chamber for drawing in the underground fire veins, and a storage room. It lacked none of the basic infrastructure needed for daily cultivation.

The cave dwelling is surrounded by seven or eight acres of flat, open land, rich in spiritual energy. It is more than enough to cultivate spiritual flowers and herbs, or even transform it into a private medicinal garden.

If you find that too much trouble, planning it as a garden landscape is also quite suitable.

He then carefully surveyed the area around the cave, secretly studying the protective formations set up by the Star Palace. The formations and restrictions set up by the Star Palace were quite good, and their power was definitely enough to stop ordinary Core Formation cultivators.

However, Su Mixin was always cautious and prudent in her actions, and was unwilling to rely entirely on the existing formations. She immediately took out the formation flags and formation plates, and spent most of the day setting up two formations, the Eight Gates Locking Mist Formation and the Reversed Five Elements Formation, around the cave.

With the formation set up, Su Mixin began to work. Looking around the cave, he sighed slightly. Over the years, except for those few years when he hunted demons in Panlong River in Yuanwu Kingdom, he had always handled various miscellaneous matters by himself, with a group of servants and maids always on duty and following him.

Now, managing this enormous cave dwelling all by himself would be a real challenge for this young master of a sect who is already accustomed to a life of luxury.

Looking at the empty garden, Su Mixin decided to find some servants or maids in Tianxing City when he had some free time. It's hard to go from luxury to frugality. Although he was a practitioner of asceticism, enjoying life was not a conflict between asceticism and frugality.

After making up her mind, Su Mixin returned to the quiet room of her cave, sat cross-legged, and quietly adjusted her breathing to rest and recuperate, waiting for Qin Zhou to lead the way to explore the entire Tianxing City the next day.

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