When it comes to cultivating immortality, it naturally starts with upgrading the herb garden.

Despite its name, Wanyelin is not entirely a forest.

Seventy percent of the area has been completely transformed into a city called Windleaf City, while the remaining thirty percent consists of mountains and forests, which have a beautiful name – Fallen Forest Mountains.

Song Chen's destination was Fengye City.

The city is vast and boundless, with vendors everywhere, and its prosperity far surpasses that of any other market town in Wandaobo.

The streets weren't particularly spiritually vibrant.

Song Chen was puzzled by this. In such a bustling place, the spiritual energy was unusually thin.

Its thinness is only slightly higher than that of the dead land around the North Ring Road, not to the point of nourishing the heavens and earth.

Before they could figure out what was going on, a loud voice, far louder than that of other normal vendors, burst in from afar. It was a young cultivator holding black bills in his hand.

"Come late or you'll miss out! Elder Qian has opened another altar! Only five spots left! Just 300 spirit stones each! First come, first served!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of cultivators surrounded him, trying to snatch one of the black tickets.

Song Chen curiously turned his gaze over and joined in to see what was going on.

But the worst part of watching the spectacle is not knowing what actually happened. So he quickly patted a seemingly honest-looking older brother next to him, and only then did he learn the tip of the iceberg about Mr. Qian.

It turns out that this Mr. Qian is a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator who occasionally holds lectures and charges admission fees.

Song Chen initially thought it was just another con artist using gimmicks and supposed cultivation to swindle money.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Qian had a very good reputation.

Not only are the sermons easy to understand, but people often achieve enlightenment and breakthroughs on the spot. Even after the sermon ends, five cultivators are randomly selected according to their ticket numbers for a special one-on-one Q&A session, which is extremely beneficial for cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm!

"Is it really that amazing? Three hundred spirit stones a piece doesn't seem that expensive!"

A thought arose in Song Chen's mind, but by the time he had thought it through, there was only one black ticket left, which sparked a fierce argument.

The cultivators were locked in a fierce and irreconcilable conflict.

"I clearly paid for this last ticket first, so why do you say it's yours!"

"Bullshit! What do you mean you paid first? I'd rather say I paid first!"

A middle-aged cultivator with a small build and spiky hair pointed his finger at the fat, muscular, dark-skinned, rough-looking man opposite him.

The two argued endlessly, and because they had both paid at the same time, the ownership of the illicit ticket remained undetermined for the time being.

The two of them turned to the man who had just sold the tickets and asked, "Whose tickets are they?"

The man pocketed the double amount of money, waved his hand, and said, "You decide for yourselves."

After saying that, the man fled far away and disappeared without a trace.

"You decide?"

Their eyes met simultaneously, and they began arguing incessantly.

Song Chen observed all of this and gained a preliminary understanding of the independent cultivators in Fengye City.

"Shorty! I've had my eye on you for a while now! Come at me if you dare!"

The dark-skinned, rough-looking man grinned, releasing an aura that revealed him to be at least at the ninth level of Qi Refining!

The middle-aged man with the Sky-Piercing Thorn was equally unyielding. His aura was palpable, his cultivation was not bad—he was at the eighth level of Qi Refining—and he retorted loudly:

"Come on then! Are you afraid of a country bumpkin like you?"

The dark-skinned, rough-looking man's cheeks were clearly flushed, indicating that he had been hit where it hurt.

Song Chen thought to himself, "They're just ordinary farmers?"

Only cultivators born from humble backgrounds would be angered by such crude words.

The dark-skinned, rough-looking man couldn't stand the mockery. He grabbed the magic bead in his hand, released a white light, and was about to make a move.

Top-grade magical artifact!

This magical artifact exuded an aura of attack, which even made Song Chen feel a sense of unease!

The crowd dispersed naturally, leaving the two of them space to fight.

Seeing the crowd disperse so naturally, Song Chen couldn't help but twitch his lips, thinking to himself:

"These people are used to this; it seems this kind of vote-grabbing is quite common! They're actually prepared to fight in the streets just to grab a single black vote? This Fengye City isn't so peaceful after all!"

Just as Song Chen was thinking this, a cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining, dressed in a law enforcement robe, rushed over from a distance.

The crowd immediately dispersed in a noisy commotion.

Without any cover, Song Chen was too embarrassed to look openly, so he found a nearby stall and pretended to buy something while secretly watching.

The stall owner was an old man, and he sold low- to mid-grade talismans.

"It's those law enforcement monks again, trying to steal our things once more!"

His gaze also turned in that direction, and he murmured to himself.

As Song Chen looked around, he moved closer to the old man and asked, "Sir! What's the background of this law enforcement cultivator?"

"You'll see!"

Song Chen was completely bewildered and could only continue watching the law enforcement cultivator operate.

The law enforcement cultivator squinted and said slowly:

"If you two wish to engage in a duel, please go to the designated dueling arena. According to the explicit rules of Wanye City, private duels are not allowed here. You two have clearly violated the rules, so we can only ask you to come to the Enforcement Hall for a proper discussion."

The two men, who were arrogant and domineering just a moment ago, immediately lost their arrogance upon seeing this Qi Refining Peak Law Enforcement Cultivator. They looked as if they had withered away, hanging their heads in dejection.

The middle-aged man with the soaring thorns even put on a smile and replied:

"We're not fighting! We're just playing around! Just playing around!"

The burly, dark-skinned man understood immediately and replied with a smile, "That's right! Your Honor, we're just having some fun! In this Wind Leaf City, who dares to openly make a move under the nose of a Golden Core True Monarch!"

The law enforcement cultivator glanced at the black ticket and raised an eyebrow:

"It's been a lot of trouble for me to come all this way to maintain order. You've wasted my time, shouldn't you compensate me in some way?"

Upon hearing this, the two looked at each other and swallowed hard.

The dark-skinned, rough-looking man glanced at the black bill in his hand, looking reluctant, and his gaze toward the law enforcement officer was extremely conflicted.

That's three hundred spirit stones!

His monthly salary is only three hundred spirit stones!

Upon seeing this, the enforcement cultivator's expression hardened: "Since you're unwilling, then I'll have no choice but to report the truth. What the higher-ups will say, and how well the two of you will fare in Fengye City, is beyond my imagination!"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man with the piercing gaze snatched the black bill from the dark-skinned, rough man's hand and presented it with both hands, a bitter smile on his face.

"This is just a small token of our appreciation; we hope the law enforcement officer won't find it offensive."

The dark-skinned, rough-looking man looked left and right, his face extremely grim, but he could only bite the bullet and say, "Please, Iron Faceless Enforcer, don't find this offensive."

Tie Wumian smirked, snatched the black bill, and flew away, muttering, "You two idiots, you should have handed over the bill earlier! You've wasted my time listening to the sermon!"

......

Song Chen stared in disbelief, his heart filled with turbulent emotions.

"They robbed you like that? Aren't you going to put up a fight?"

The stall owner looked up at Tie Wumian's figure and said, "He went in that direction, probably to listen to Master Qian's sermon!"

Upon hearing this, Song Chen's lips twitched, utterly speechless at the behavior.

As for the dark-skinned, rough-looking man and the spiky-haired middle-aged man, they stared at each other, snorted coldly, and left the place, though their departing figures looked somewhat forlorn.

"Sir! Does Fengye City really oppress the lower classes like this?"

Before witnessing this scene, Song Chen's impression of Fengye City was a 10 out of 10, meaning he longed to live there and cultivate there long-term.

Now his opinion of Fengye City is less than three points, and he wants to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible!

Simply put, anyone who sees such an outrageous scene will have a significantly lower opinion of Fengye City.

"How could that be! If everyone were like this, who would stay here! It's just that Tie Wumian is like this. He relies on his uncle, who is the deputy head of the Enforcement Hall, to bully people every month when it's his turn to enforce the law. He abuses his power and robs people of small amounts of money. Everyone is afraid of the power behind him and can't do anything about him."

Song Chen suddenly realized and breathed a sigh of relief.

That makes sense. If Fengye City were like this, with all the rogue cultivators running away, it would definitely be impossible to continue operating.

"Sir, what's your surname?"

Song Chen rolled his eyes and looked at the old man.

The old man sized Song Chen up: "My surname is Qin, just call me Old Qin. Are you new here?"

Song Chen nodded: "Yes, Elder Qin, I've just arrived in Fengye City and am looking for a place to stay. Do you know of any connections?"

"Well! You've come to the right person!"

The old man slammed his hand on the table, made a gesture of holding banknotes with one hand, and rubbed his fingertips together.

Song Chen's eye twitched, but he still gave three spirit stones as a fee for asking the question.

"This Fengye City has a third-tier spirit-gathering array that concentrates all the spiritual energy of the city in the cave dwellings, inns, and residential areas. There is no spiritual energy in other places, so if you want to live here long-term, you can only choose one of these three."

Upon hearing this, Song Chen immediately understood why the spiritual energy within the city was so thin.

The reason was quite unexpected.

First-order formations correspond to the Qi Refining Realm, second-order formations correspond to the Foundation Establishment Realm, and third-order formations correspond to the Golden Core Realm.

This formation was clearly created by the True Lord.

"Is this Fengye City truly managed by a Golden Core cultivator personally?"

Song Chen asked, thinking of this.

Elder Qin waved his hand, pointed to the ceiling, and reminded, "Keep your voice down! Are Golden Core True Monarchs people we can discuss?"

Song Chen realized he had misspoke and quickly shut his mouth. Then, he looked up in the direction Qin Lao was pointing and froze on the spot.

Hearing about a third-order formation and seeing a third-order formation are completely different concepts.

A massive spiritual energy gathering array hovered overhead, drawing in all the spiritual energy of Fengye City and precisely distributing it to corresponding areas—a truly astonishing sight.

Seeing Song Chen's expression, Old Qin chuckled inwardly, but he still explained things in detail, leaving nothing out.

"There are specific requirements for housing. Cave dwellings have the most abundant spiritual energy, and the cultivation speed is also quite good, increasing by 50%. However, the rent is very expensive, costing at least a hundred spirit stones a month. It's simply unaffordable for anyone who isn't wealthy."

"As for the inn, you have to pay for the spiritual energy yourself. The amount of spiritual energy you pay is the amount of spiritual energy you can get, up to a maximum of 50%. After deducting the cost of spiritual energy, it costs 50 spiritual stones a day, which is very low cost-effectiveness. It's usually only enough for one or two days."

"As for the cheapest dwellings, the spiritual energy is only slightly higher than usual, and the cultivation speed can be increased by 10% compared to outside. The rent is eight spirit stones a month. There are special rental methods that can enjoy discounts. Most Qi Refining cultivators live in these dwellings, which is considered acceptable."

Song Chen listened attentively and, having learned the rules for lodging in Fengye City, asked again:

"Then what is the purpose of this Enforcement Hall?"

Old Qin pondered for a moment and said, "Maintaining order is almost useless; unless someone is killed, we won't intervene."

The enforcement team seems to be just for show; we still have to rely on ourselves more!

In this light, someone like Tie Wumian is quite an oddball. We should avoid him in the future and keep our distance from trouble!

Song Chen immediately decided on his future strategy, bowed to Old Qin to express his gratitude, and briefly inquired about the location for renting a room before heading off to check in.

"This kid! So reckless, he didn't even tell me his name. Oh well! I see him as nothing more than a hopeless cultivator."

Seeing that Song Chen left in a hurry, Old Qin secretly remarked.

......