Martial Arts: Start by Obtaining the Wild World

Chapter 262 0261: Zi'an County
Now, Cheng Zongyang feels as if he is going down the mountain just like when he first entered the wilderness: curious, cautious, and excited.

I want to discover something from it, but I am also afraid of what may appear.

Therefore, on the way down the mountain, he was careful, holding a shrunken soul-gathering stele in his left hand and a Tang sword in his right hand. In order to ensure his own safety, he did not dare to rush on the road recklessly, lest he be discovered by the immortal cultivators who occasionally flew over the sky.

Fortunately, we didn't encounter any danger after going down the road and going around half of the mountain.

It took him about two hours to reach the place where the fire and smoke were coming from.

Cheng Zongyang took out a telescope from a tree and observed. He thought it would be a small village in the mountains, but it turned out to be just a thatched house.

Outside the thatched hut, a family of four was working in the yard - chopping wood, watering the vegetable garden, feeding chickens, etc.

Watching this scene, Cheng Zongyang did not take any action, but instead observed their attire.

Seeing that it was basically the same as what he was wearing, Cheng Zongyang breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to make any trouble because of the clothes.

Seeing this, he climbed down the tree and gradually approached, finally listening to the faint conversation of the family.

"The languages ​​are somewhat similar. Fortunately, I can understand them." Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly, then put the Soul Gathering Stele into the market hut, leaving only the Tang sword.

But when he was about to go over, he remembered something, and immediately entered the fifth layer of the fresh-keeping layer of the market hut, picked out a large wild deer, and then left.

At least there should be a reason for passing by, which can also reduce the other party's suspicion.

This time, he carried a big wild deer weighing about 200 kilograms and came near the family, then shouted at them outside the man-high fence.

Cheng Zongyang's movements naturally attracted the attention of the middle-aged man in the family. He stared at Cheng Zongyang with a vigilant look.

The fact that someone can carry such a big wild deer and walk in the mountains is enough to prove that he is a warrior!
The woman quickly pulled her two children, who were about ten years old, aside.

"Brother, sister-in-law, don't misunderstand." Cheng Zongyang threw the deer corpse at their door, pretended to wipe off the non-existent sweat, and said with a fist:

"I'm sorry to bother you two. I'm Cheng Zongyang, a hunter who just came to this mountain a while ago and lived in another mountain. I went out hunting this morning and came here following this deer. After I killed it, I came to bother you and ask for a glass of water."

The man stared at Cheng Zongyang and listened to his words, as if trying to identify what Cheng Zongyang said and whether he was lying.

But in the end, he also clasped his fists and said, "You're welcome. I'm Wang Shou. In this sense, you and I are neighbors." Then, without turning his head, he said to his wife beside him, "Mother, go and pour a bowl of water for the guest."

"Thank you." Cheng Zongyang smiled.

But he was also surprised by the other person's accent, which was obviously different from what they had just said in private.

Obviously, the accent of their family just now should be closer to the tone of their hometown. And what they said to him should be some kind of Mandarin.

Soon, the woman came out with a bowl of water. Wang Shou took it and walked to the door. But he looked tense and had not relaxed at all.

Cheng Zongyang sighed inwardly, knowing that this was not easy to fool, but he smiled cheerfully, took the bowl with both hands, drank the water in a few gulps, then handed the bowl back and asked, "Brother Wang, can I ask you a question?"

Wang Shou handed the bowl to his wife, looked at Cheng Zongyang, and after a moment of silence, he nodded slightly: "What do you want to ask?"

"Where is the nearest county town? How do I get there? I want to sell the deer and exchange it for some money to buy some supplies." Cheng Zongyang said politely.

Wang Shou frowned when he heard this: "Where are you from?"

Cheng Zongyang's heart tightened, thinking that he must have said something wrong. But he kept smiling and replied, "I am not from here, but I ended up here for some reason. Can you tell me, Brother Wang?"

After Wang Shou was silent for a moment, he finally relaxed and said, "You are from another county, right? If you are from Zi'an County, you will naturally know how to get there."

Cheng Zongyang shook his head and said, "That's right. But I can't tell you where it came from. Of course, if you can answer a few of my questions, I will give you this deer."

Wang Shou did not ask any more questions, but said to Cheng Zongyang: "This place is under the jurisdiction of Licheng, one of the eight major cities, and is called Zi'an County. If you want to sell deer, you can go to Zi'an County. Follow that path to the county road at the foot of the mountain, and go east to arrive."

He had already concluded that Cheng Zongyang was not a local, as he looked very young. He was either a runaway from a crime or someone who had left home.

Cheng Zongyang bowed and said, "Thank you for your advice, big brother. But what are the rules for the ownership of this place and the situation of the immortal cultivators? Can you tell me in detail?"

Hearing this question, Wang Shou confirmed his guess again. Seeing Cheng Zongyang's goodwill, he relaxed a little. After thinking for a while, he said, "Then please come in and sit down."

"Thank you!" Cheng Zongyang clasped his fists and smiled.

There was an unknown tree in the yard with lush leaves. The two sat down in the shade of the tree and started chatting.

Cheng Zongyang learned from Wang Shou that this was the area under the jurisdiction of Licheng, one of the eight major cities, and was called Zi'an County.

Through these, Cheng Zongyang continued to make indirect inquiries and found out the overall pattern of the world.

——The realm of life, the realm of ice, the realm of fire!
There are eight major cities in the living area, namely Qiancheng, Duicheng, Licheng, Zhencheng, Xuncheng, Kancheng, Gencheng, and Kuncheng!
Each big city governs eighteen county towns, and each county town governs various idle villages.

The immortal cultivation sect manages all the major cities and county towns.

Through this casual conversation, Cheng Zongyang finally heard what he wanted to hear.

But he couldn't continue to ask about more things, such as the Ice Region, the Fire Region, the immortal cultivators, the immortal cultivation sects, the Soul-breaking Land, etc. Otherwise, his origins would really arouse suspicion.

This can only be learned slowly by going to Zi'an County. Of course, he didn't think the other party could know so much.

After asking for directions to Zi'an County, Cheng Zongyang suddenly asked as he was leaving: "Brother Wang, how much can this deer be sold for?"

"Money?" Wang Shou was stunned, then smiled: "This is an ordinary beast, not a strange beast or a demon beast. It has low edible value and is purely for filling the stomach. If I sell it to a butcher, I will probably get only a dozen spirit crystals."

Spirit crystal? Cheng Zongyang paused and took note of the currency unit. He also thought to himself that this was not a transaction of gold or silver, but spirit crystals. From the other party's tone, he could tell that this should be the lowest transaction currency.

"Then I won't take it with me. I'll give it to you, big brother, as a reward for clearing up my doubts. Goodbye."

Having said that, Cheng Zongyang bowed and immediately went down the mountain without paying any attention to Wang Shou's shouts.

When he arrived at a county road intersection at the foot of the mountain, Cheng Zongyang had a vague idea of ​​the world.

He was not in a hurry to travel, but entered the wilderness world in an uninhabited place.

He told Ding Xing what he heard and asked him to record it.

Luo Dingran was busy with other things and couldn't stay here all the time, so he asked Ding Xing to take notes.

He had to record all the situations in this world and reorganize them into a book later. When he returned to Yufeng County, he would have a detailed explanation of the world of immortal cultivation. At the same time, Luo Dingran and Ding Xing could also make some guesses about this world based on these data.

After coming out again, Cheng Zongyang continued to head towards Zi'an County.

Along the way, he was also thinking about the situation of the world.

The names of the eight cities were taken from the eight trigrams, and he didn't know if there was any meaning in them. Otherwise, why were there only eight great cities for cultivating immortals?
Along the way, Cheng Zongyang also saw many different kinds of travelers.

Some could run by ripping beasts, some could fly by controlling objects, and some, like him, could walk on two feet, ride on horses, or ride in sedan chairs.

In addition, along the way, he often heard some warriors with weapons yearning to break the mirror and become extraordinary, and heard ordinary people envying becoming immortal cultivators.

Most of the words were fragmentary, and I couldn't hear them all. But at least I could be sure that there were warriors and ordinary people in this world.

It took two hours to walk there, and from afar, Cheng Zongyang saw a big city surrounded by a majestic and tall city wall!
Even from a distance, one can see the thickness of the wall, which has stood firm despite the vicissitudes of life. The wall is inlaid with black mottled bricks and stones. Under the huge wall in front, there are three gates, one large and two small!
“Oh my god, such a big city is actually just a county town?” Cheng Zongyang was also a little confused at this time.

When he was traveling all the way to the seaside from Xiangyang Prefecture, he also looked at the scale of the county town, and it turned out that it was not even as large as the county town here!
As he got closer, I felt more and more insignificant!

The wall of the county town alone is about 100 meters high! Cheng Zongyang didn't understand why it was built so high, and each brick... that was no longer a stone, but a huge stone like the one used to build the pyramids!
"What a grand plan!" Cheng Zongyang was shocked. The city wall alone was enough to shock him!

Among the one big and two small city gates, except for a few people riding in sedan chairs, the rest of the people go through the other two "small" gates.

In and out, each is organized.

But Cheng Zongyang estimated that this "small" door was more than 20 meters high and 30 meters wide.

The big door is twice as big as the small door!
"It seems that there are certain class rules in the county town." Cheng Zongyang continued to speculate in his mind, and did not act independently, but followed the people entering the city into the county town.

Fortunately, it was free to enter the county town, which was open 24 hours a day, with no curfew.

This means that everything in the county is open 24 hours a day and business can be done all day.

"It's free to enter the city, but in the future, you have to pay to enter Yufeng Immortal City, right? Ordinary people don't have to pay, but warriors, regardless of their level of cultivation, have to pay at least one or two taels."

Cheng Zongyang was planning in his mind and entered the county town.
At the same time, a noise like countless bees buzzing around his ears came and filled his ears. If it weren't for his natural ability to adapt, he really couldn't stand this noisy environment.

As far as the eye can see, the spacious streets of the county town are carefully planned. Traffic in and out is orderly, and shops are lined up on both sides of the street, with a wide variety of goods, attracting people from all directions. Some of the open spaces on both sides of the shops are bustling with people, hawking, bargaining, talking, and shouting, which is very lively!
Cheng Zongyang suddenly felt a blockage in his chest.

Feeling this extremely prosperous atmosphere, he suddenly felt an urgency to build Yufeng County into such a scene!
He even had the illusion that this was Yufeng County!

"This is what I want the Yufeng Fairy City to look like!" Cheng Zongyang slowly exhaled, gradually letting out the pent-up breath.

It was at this time that he realized that there were no shops with one or two floors here, almost all of them were seven or eight floors or more. There were even many attics with more than ten floors!

The first and second floors might be shops, but from the layout of the floors above the third floor, Cheng Zongyang had guessed that it might be a "hotel" or a "rental house".

At this moment, he seemed to understand why the county wall was so high.

"This is a full utilization of the space in the county town." Cheng Zongyang sighed.

Only by building upwards can more people be accommodated! This is also what he will do in the future to transform Yufeng County.

Along the way, Cheng Zongyang looked like a tourist, or like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, a pure country boy who had never seen the world.

Medicine shop, weapons shop, herbal medicine shop, beast taming shop, restaurant, brothel, gambling house, etc.

There are also many vendors setting up stalls.

"Come on, come on, the first-grade fire essence collected from the Fire Region only costs three low-grade spirit stones for one!"

"Brother, come and have a look. These thirty-year-old spiritual herbs were collected from Shuiling Mountain. They are extremely rare and should not be missed...Brother, come and have a look..."

"…I've calculated it. I'll give you thirty-six spirit crystals. If you exceed that, I won't recognize you."

"Selling it off! It's the second-grade herbal secret handed down from my family."

"Come, come, the bone-purifying powder that improves the spiritual bone aptitude only costs fifty spiritual crystals..."

"...No, these herbs are all fresh and not defective. How can you lie with your eyes open and say they are defective? I won't sell them to you anymore! I won't sell them to you anymore! These herbs were collected with great effort, so there is no problem selling them..."

"..."

Cheng Zongyang was dazzled by what he saw, but as he only looked and did not buy, through the transactions of many people, he gradually figured out the world's monetary system.

As he guessed, Spirit Crystals were the lowest trading currency.

A spirit crystal is about the size of a mung bean, and one hundred spirit crystals can be exchanged for a low-grade spirit stone.

The Fire Domain and the Ice Domain each have a specialty, called Fire Essence and Ice Essence, which have different grades and values.

They can not only be used as materials for refining tools, but also assist in refining pills and practicing. Therefore, the market demand is not low. However, due to the excessive exploitation of ice, fire, and mountains in various places by humans in the living world, many resources are relatively scarce.

As for the amount of spiritual stones contained in this world, he estimated that there shouldn't be too many.

But slowly, Cheng Zongyang also noticed something wrong.

The area belonging to the living domain is not big, and it has to support so many ordinary people, warriors, and monks. The resources of the living domain alone, in the past hundreds of years, have not been exhausted, but will be decreasing, right?
But it can still meet the needs of so many people, and the pricing system is quite stable.

What's the problem?

Cheng Zongyang took note of this question and continued wandering around the county town.

He saw that there was a park in the county town, a winding river, and brothels lined up on both sides of the river, with beautiful women adding to the fun.

He continued to record a lot of things, as well as some inspirations that could be used in Yufeng County in the future.

The focus is on prices, consumption levels, the power of Zi'an County, the situation of the immortal gate, etc.

He heard a lot from various places, gathered the information together, and improved the intelligence manual a lot.

(End of this chapter)