As soon as you enter Jade Dragon City, you can see a long main road leading into the distance.
The streets are bustling with people, and there are many servants who control monster carriages, greeting the passing cultivators. It is a prosperous scene. You can also see many statues standing on both sides of the street, and many stone tablets standing by the city walls.
Those statues are lifelike, as if they were real people, and they also emit a faint spiritual light. At first glance, you can tell that they were refined by cultivators. Moreover, they are all figure statues, and looking at their shapes and appearances, they are mostly in the image of Confucian scholars and literati.
Zhang Ling also noticed that some cultivators and mortals who had just entered the city would stop for a moment when passing by these statues, bow to the statues, or prostrate themselves in worship. They looked extremely pious.
This made Zhang Ling feel quite surprised. He took a few more glances and paid a little attention to the conversations of the pedestrians, and he gained some understanding of this.
It turned out that these Confucian scholar statues were all great Confucians who had emerged from Jade Dragon City over hundreds or thousands of years. They were once high-ranking officials of the Dragon Ze Kingdom and had made many achievements, so they could enjoy the worship of the world. Some of them were monks who came out of the Huangji Academy.
West Mountain Academy is built on the top of Jade Dragon Mountain on the east side of the city.
Within the Dragon Ze Kingdom, in large and small immortal cities, and even in mortal cities without monks stationed, you can see these great Confucian saint statues. This seems to be a tradition of the Dragon Ze Kingdom, which is fine for mortals.
Most monks also respect these saint statues. A big reason is that the Dragon family respects Confucianism, so in the entire Dragon Ze Kingdom, a large proportion of people practice Confucianism.
Speaking of which, this tradition is closely related to the Yellow Dragon Saint Monarch who created the cultivation method.
As the day of the West Mountain Conference gets closer, the number of monks gathering in Jade Dragon City is increasing every day.
Zhang Ling quietly released his spiritual sense and could easily sense that at least twenty or thirty Nascent Soul stage monks had gathered in the city. There were even more Golden Core stage monks and low-level monks.
Each West Mountain Conference attracts many monks from the Western Ridge Hundred Kingdoms. This conference can be regarded as a grand event in the nearby states.
After wandering around the city for a while, appreciating the customs and culture of the Dragon Ze Kingdom, Zhang Ling recruited a young monk in a gray robe to lead the way. He took him to the city's market and inquired about some major events that had occurred in the cultivation world recently.
The Eastern Region cultivation world has not been peaceful recently. It is said that there have been several small and medium-sized beast tides in the East Continent Islands recently due to sea demon race captives. The Dragon Ze Kingdom has sent many monks to suppress the beast tides there.
Sect disputes also occur frequently in the Western Ridge Hundred Kingdoms.
There are also some rumors about the Dragon family, the royal family of the Dragon Ze Kingdom. It is said that a traitor has recently emerged in the Dragon family. The Dragon family secretly sent direct descendant monks to pursue the traitor, and even used the Dragon Scale Sword.
The Dragon Scale Sword is not an ordinary treasure. This sword is one of the three spiritual treasures inherited by the Dragon family.
Jade Dragon City has two major markets, east and west, both of which cover extremely large areas. More than 100,000 monks come and go every day.
In the following days, Zhang Ling stayed in the two major markets. During this period, he spent a lot of spirit stones and collected many specialty spiritual medicines and other resources from the Eastern Region cultivation world.
He also collected many cultivation method books and studied the differences between the cultivation methods of the Eastern Region cultivation world and the Northern Plains and the Flowing Cloud Sea.
The biggest difference is the prevalence of Confucianism. Not only the Dragon Ze Kingdom, but also many monks in the Western Ridge Hundred Kingdoms practice Confucianism.
Confucian cultivation methods are quite slow at the beginning, but once you cultivate Righteous Qi to assist in cultivation, you will get twice the result with half the effort, or even advance rapidly. It has many benefits for breaking through cultivation bottlenecks.
As for what Righteous Qi is, it is not spiritual energy that can be absorbed from the world. According to the understanding of most Confucian monks, it is actually a kind of spiritual temperament, a kind of uprightness that is worthy of one's heart.
Some monks also understand Righteous Qi as a kind of talent. Therefore, many monks who practice Confucianism are erudite scholars.
According to Zhang Ling's understanding, cultivating Righteous Qi in Confucian cultivation methods is more like cultivating a state of mind. Being in a happy mood and having clear thoughts. This reduces the interference of inner demons in the cultivation process.
As for the West Mountain Conference, it will not begin for another half a month. The duration is generally about seven days, and there will be a trade fair every day.
Moreover, the level of the trade fair is getting higher and higher. The first three days are for low-level monks, and the trade fairs held in the following days will feature many rare spiritual objects, attracting high-level monks.
Among them, there will be some rare spiritual objects that Nascent Soul monks are interested in.
On this day, loud bell sounds rang out in Jade Dragon City. Hearing the bell, the monks in the city showed excitement and gathered towards Jade Dragon Mountain in the east of the city.
The mortals in the city also looked towards Jade Dragon Mountain in the east of the city. At this moment, the top of the entire Jade Dragon Mountain was glowing with golden light. The clouds and mist on the top of the mountain illuminated by the golden light were like a golden auspicious cloud.
Along with the bell, the auspicious clouds in the air continued to spread, turning into spots of golden light, covering the entire immortal city. It was like it was raining gold.
Zhang Ling, who saw this scene on a certain street, also smiled and thought to himself that it was rare for a trade fair to be so grand.
Soon after, many monks wearing yellow and white Confucian robes flew out of the auspicious clouds on the top of Jade Dragon Mountain. These people were monks from West Mountain Academy. The leader was a middle-aged Confucian scholar with the strength of the middle stage of Nascent Soul.
"Look, it's Mr. Bai Mo."
"I didn't expect that this year's West Mountain Conference would be hosted by Mr. Bai Mo."
"Mr. Bai has been in seclusion for a long time, for more than a hundred years. This time, he has come out of seclusion. Looking at his spiritual pressure, he seems to have reached the peak of the middle stage of Nascent Soul. It won't be long before West Mountain Academy will produce another great monk."
As soon as the middle-aged Confucian scholar appeared, many monks recognized him. On the street where Zhang Ling was, monks immediately began to whisper about it.
As Mr. Bai Mo spoke a few polite words, he announced the start of the conference.
The venue for the West Mountain Conference is not in the east and west markets in the city, but on Jade Dragon Mountain.
In the blink of an eye, many monks took off and flew towards Jade Dragon Mountain. These people's cultivation levels varied, some with Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment strength, and some with Golden Core monks.
The reason why these people were so eager to go up the mountain was related to a bonus before the start of the West Mountain Conference.
Each conference, West Mountain Academy will set up special restrictions on the mountainside. These restrictions do not test cultivation, but test the mind of the monks like an illusion. The first ten people to pass through can enter West Mountain Academy to practice for a year.
Although it sounds like nothing, during this period, these people can enter the academy's library and borrow cultivation method books at will. If they have the opportunity, they can also receive guidance from Nascent Soul monks, or even the dean.
This is an opportunity for these monks.
The Mr. Bai Mo who appeared just now, it is said that he was a loose cultivator in the Golden Core stage hundreds of years ago. It was by relying on this opportunity that he received guidance from the dean of West Mountain Academy and successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul stage. Thus, he joined West Mountain Academy and became the chief elder of the outer courtyard.
Of course, this matter is not attractive to Nascent Soul monks.
Sure enough, under Zhang Ling's spiritual sense perception, no Nascent Soul monks directly went up the mountain. These old monsters are actually waiting for the trade fair to be held in a few days.
Zhang Ling was not very interested in these monks going up the mountain. After watching for a while, he returned to the inn where he was staying and continued to sort out some of the materials he had collected in the past few days.
Time passed little by little. In the blink of an eye, several hours passed.
In the guest room, Zhang Ling was holding a black-gold stone the size of a thumb. Every once in a while, he would spray a wisp of infant fire to calcine the stone.
Don't underestimate this thing. It looks like charred charcoal and is unremarkable. This is a special material, Ink Gold Stone, that he bought from a large shop in the market three days ago for 500,000 spirit stones.
This material has not been seen in the Northern Plains cultivation world or the Flowing Cloud Sea. It is a specialty spiritual mine in the Eastern Region and is quite precious.
It is understood that the biggest function of Ink Gold Stone is to absorb a small amount of impurities in the body. Monks in the Eastern Region cultivation world will integrate Ink Gold Stone into their abdomen and often use it to absorb toxic pills produced by swallowing a large number of pills. It can also be used to absorb some special toxins. It can be regarded as a special auxiliary cultivation treasure.
The small piece he bought can basically be used for forty or fifty years.
After a while, Zhang Ling slightly refined the Ink Gold Stone with infant fire and absorbed it into his abdomen.
Like this kind of material that has never been seen before, he has collected several kinds in the past few days. Some of them are also useful to him.
A flash of spiritual light flashed in Zhang Ling's hand, and he took out a green jade box. Suddenly he thought of something and glanced at the direction of the room door. He whispered, "Come in."
While speaking, a yellow light was emitted. The layer of white light on the door dissipated.
With a creak, the wooden door opened. A middle-aged man in a Confucian robe walked in carefully, glanced at Zhang Ling, and quickly bowed, "Junior, Chen Xing, a disciple of West Mountain Academy, has met senior."
"You have been waiting outside for a long time, what is the purpose?" Zhang Ling did not look at this person, but opened the jade box in his hand and checked a green flower inside.
Chen Xing replied respectfully, "I am disturbing senior, please don't blame me. I am here to follow the task of the elders, to offer this list to the Nascent Soul seniors in the city, to provide seniors with the spiritual objects that our West Mountain Academy wants to collect this time."
Speaking, he took out a white jade slip in his hand.
Zhang Ling glanced at it expressionlessly, and a wave of his hand took the white jade slip into his hand. Although he had hidden his cultivation level in the city these days, he mostly maintained the early stage of Nascent Soul.
After all, he came here to inquire about rare material news, and a low cultivation level would be a mistake.
West Mountain Academy knowing that he is a Nascent Soul monk is not a concern. I just didn't expect that the academy's disciples would come to the door.
In a moment, Zhang Ling finished checking the information in the white jade slip.
It turned out that every time the West Mountain Conference is held, the academy will provide Nascent Soul monks with such a material list. The materials recorded above are some of the spiritual objects that West Mountain Academy needs to collect recently.
"Senior, there will be a secret trade fair on the last day of the conference, which only high-level people with Nascent Soul cultivation like seniors can participate in. If senior has the spiritual objects needed by the academy, please be sure to participate. The academy is willing to exchange rare materials or a large amount of temporary exchanges."
"I know."
"By the way, if senior needs any materials, you can also inform me in advance, and I will notify the academy elders, so that rare materials can be allocated at that time," Chen Xing said with a smile again.
Zhang Ling's eyes flashed, "I am here to find a rare spiritual object. Top-grade Wood Spirit Stone."
"Ah."
Hearing the material he needed, Chen Xing opened his mouth and was stunned for a moment. He smiled dryly and then regained his expression, pursing his lips. "It turns out that senior needs top-grade spirit stones. Such spiritual objects are rare in the world. There are few in the entire Eastern Region. However, it seems that hundreds of years ago, my West Mountain Academy did receive a top-grade spirit stone, but I don't know what attribute it is."
These words made Zhang Ling show a hint of joy. He just said it casually, but he didn't expect that West Mountain Academy seemed to really have a top-grade spirit stone.
Chen Xing's voice suddenly stopped, and he seemed to realize that he had misspoke. He quickly shook his head, "Senior, don't take what I said seriously. I just accidentally heard my fellow apprentices talk about it, and I don't know if it's true or not. However, I will inform the elders of what senior needs. If there is such a treasure in the academy, senior will not be disappointed as long as you participate in the secret trade fair."
Then Zhang Ling asked a few more questions, and Chen Xing retired.
Since there is news of top-grade spirit stones, he will naturally participate in the secret trade fair in a few days. Even if there is no news, many rare treasures will appear at this trade fair, and he will not miss it.
With a flash of spiritual light in his hand, Zhang Ling took the white jade slip again and carefully looked at the material list inside.
There are many materials listed on this list, most of which seem to be some specialty spiritual objects from the Western Ridge Hundred Kingdoms.
Zhang Ling is not worried about this. He carries many thousand-year-old spiritual medicines with him. If top-grade spirit stones really appear at the trade fair, it will not be difficult to exchange them.
