Chapter 126: Wild City, Central Plains is the real world of immortal cultivation, the past of the mountain village, Li Changqing
Yeshi is just a general term.
Generally speaking, many wild markets have names. Compared to the cumbersome registration of names by sects in academies, wild markets only need to come up with a name and then add an address in front of or after the name.
For example, the wild market built by Daming and Yushoumen together with spiritual energy, the name officially registered in the academy is called "Wuyalin, Northeast Endless Mountains, Mingyu Wild Market".
However, these are names that will only be used when the academy is officially registered or when some document is issued.
Well, if it reaches a certain scale, or the taxes paid to the academy every year reach a certain scale and standard, the academy may allow it to build a teleportation array, and a formal name will also be needed.
Because the teleportation array must have exact spatial coordinates and the location must be determined, otherwise the space channel will collapse.
"How about it, sir? How about this Jiupin Wild Market?" Looking at the gradually approaching building complex, Liu Quan said as if seeking credit.
The wild market also has grades.
The first grade is the highest and the ninth grade is the lowest. The tax standards of wild markets and academies of different grades are also different.
The 9th, 8th, and 7th grade wild markets have a unified tax of 10% of the annual income, and are exempt from tax in the first year. The 6th, 5th, and 4th grade wild markets have a unified tax of 20% of the annual income.
The third, second and first grades represent 30%.
Especially for a first-class wild market, which is equivalent to a big city for cultivating immortals, in addition to basic taxes, if the income in a certain year suddenly increases sharply and exceeds more than half of the previous year, additional taxes must be paid.
"How much land does it occupy?" Jiajing asked, looking at the rain and fog below, where shuttles, flying magic tools, and flying pets kept landing and stopping, as well as people who were in a hurry or leisurely coming with their partners.
"Three hundred acres," Liu Quan placed his hands on the shuttle fence, stroking the gem with his thumb, and said with satisfaction, "It meets the minimum standard for the ninth rank, but it can still be expanded."
“When we have more money, we can continue to extend and expand the east and west sides, but for now it is enough.”
The grades of the wild markets are calculated based on the annual income.
Jiajing knew this. He looked around and saw a wide lawn on the right, an endless forest on the left, and endless mountains above. Behind him was a transparent river about six or seven meters wide.
"Boom boom boom." The shuttle hummed and stopped in an open space outside the wild market. Jiajing and Liu Quan jumped down.
Seeing Liu Quan's flying shuttle, many casual cultivators in ordinary clothes parked their flying magic tools, flying pets, and flying swords, and couldn't help but cast envious glances at him.
"This is the portable shuttle from the Earthly Branches series of shuttles from the 'Daxuan Shuttle Line': the Shenyouxu Shuttle - Autumn Wind Dance," a middle-aged casual cultivator said to the person next to him, "It's priced at 50,000 Spirit Sources!"
"It's just for show, neither high nor low, what's so good about it." A casual cultivator looked at the flying sword in his hand and said with disdain.
"Brother Xu, when we get married, let's buy one too. It's not expensive. My sisters all have one, and I want one too..."
A female monk held the arm of a male monk and said enviously.
"I heard that there is a second-hand shuttle business in the wild market. It is 90% new, but the price is 80% off the price of a new one. When the major sects start to recruit independent cultivators, they can save a lot of extra spiritual energy and buy a flying shuttle..."
The male monk looked at the envious eyes of his fellow Taoist beside him, a hint of pity flashed in his eyes, and he thought of a compromise.
"Yes!" Hearing her lover's agreement, the female cultivator happily hugged her lover's arm, pressed her cheek against his, and smiled sweetly with her head raised.
There are also shuttles here, but not many. Including Liu Quan's one, most of them are of the same brand, but with different properties.
"Sir, you see, it's not easy for a casual cultivator to survive in the world of immortal cultivation." After enjoying everyone's gaze, Liu Quan smiled and put away the shuttle, then said with emotion: "On Arcturus, it is very difficult to establish a sect or join a sect!"
As Liu Quan spoke, he walked side by side with Jiajing towards the entrance of the wild market in the distance, and Jiajing listened quietly.
"Under the clan system, the nine-rank family system is implemented. After a sect is established, the clan territories will be divided according to the strongest cultivators in the sect... The nine-rank family system corresponds to the nine realms on the road to immortal cultivation."
"Nine pairs of Qi refining; eight pairs of foundation building; seven pairs of golden elixir... three pairs of fusion; two pairs of Mahayana. The first-class family against the soldiers and the disbanding immortals..."
"Once the territory is determined, the sect can only recruit disciples within its own territory and is not allowed to cross the border."
"And independent cultivators have no fixed place to live, are not recognized by any family, and will not be easily recruited into a sect."
"Moreover, after getting used to the life of a free cultivator, some people, when they get older, are unable to join a sect, or they are used to it."
"If independent cultivators have children, most of them will choose to send them to a local family to raise, and have no further ties with them. If the child has good talent, he will be sent to a sect for training."
“So, if independent cultivators marry, most of them have to endure the pain of separation. Otherwise, if the children grow up, no one will want them, and they can only continue to be independent cultivators…”
Simple wooden sheds, houses and canvas tents were lined up.
It looks chaotic and crowded, but it is in good order, with rows of people forming narrow alleys. The vendors are busy in front of their stalls, with their goods neatly displayed.
The monks walked alone or in groups of two or three, shuttling between the stalls. Some lowered their heads to check the items in their hands, while others chatted with the stall owners in low voices, one after another.
In the misty rain, the puddles on the ground reflected a faint light, and the shadows of the monks moved with their steps. Raindrops fell on the awning of the stalls, making subtle sounds from time to time. The air was filled with the smell of herbs and the faint aroma of rice.
In front of some food stalls, several monks gathered together, holding scrolls in their hands, seemingly discussing something. Not far away, some young monks gathered and talked about cultivation.
The entire wild market seemed peaceful and orderly in the drizzle, and the breath of life was revealed in every corner.
Liu Quan and Jiajing came in from the east gate and talked as they walked along the alley, which was neither wide nor narrow.
"Some independent cultivators with aspirations," Liu Quan said, moving aside to let a reckless boy of about ten years old, dressed like a waiter, pass by with a plate of three bowls of wontons. He smiled and shook his head, and said, "Independent cultivators with aspirations will seek a way out."
"Gather together in some areas of the Central Plains, or in border jungles, forbidden areas for cultivators, or chaotic places, and form some loose cultivator alliance forces. These forces are not recognized by the academy."
"When they attack each other, casualties are common, ha!" Liu Quan sneered, and then sighed, "In fact, these chaotic areas are just allowed to exist."
"They also understand that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Among the major clans in the Central Plains, there is no longer a rule that forbids annexation and conquest among the three generations of leaders. Naturally, the strong will prey on the weak."
"Open and covert fighting, killing people for treasures, revenge, tyranny, bloodshed, dark collusion of interests, haha!"
"The Central Plains is prosperous, but beneath the prosperity, it is full of filth and darkness. Immortal cultivators are never pure. In contrast to the two, the ferocious wilderness seems to be a pure land."
Hearing this, Jiajing also breathed a sigh of relief. Just from his own feelings, it was not difficult to find that the Great Wilderness was indeed peaceful, and even the vengeful 'Yellow Wind Valley' was bound by rules.
As for the Central Plains region, it goes without saying that the Central Plains is prosperous and home to countless sects. There must have been many sects that had passed the rule that within three generations of leaders, no annexation or conquest of each other was allowed.
Therefore, it goes without saying how cruel survival is in the Central Plains.
"To put it bluntly, some of the chaotic areas between the major sects are buffer zones for the fight between the two sides."
"But because of this, it has become a fertile ground for countless independent cultivators, such as some assassin organizations, the black market that secretly survives by relying on the wild market, the trading of life essences, spirit veins, and furnaces..."
"Furnace?" Jiajing was curious.
"Some special cultivation methods, if practiced by practitioners with special physiques, after reaching a certain level, can be supplemented with the method of taking yin to replenish yang, or taking yang to replenish yin... In this way, the furnace will die, and everything, even the life span, will be returned to the master..."
"The dual cultivation method we often talk about is the predecessor of these furnace and cauldron methods. Some people say that these evil furnace and cauldron methods were developed by the academy, while others say that they were passed down from the 'Fang Su', 'Xin Su', and 'Di Su' ruled by the Taoist sect."
"Oh, some people say that it was passed down by the 'Weixiu' and 'Jixiu' ruled by Buddhism... The details are hard to verify."
Can furnace and cauldron cultivation and dual cultivation speed up cultivation? After Liu Quan's explanation, Jiajing seemed to be thinking. "Aren't you afraid of side effects when practicing furnace and cauldron cultivation?" Jiajing asked again.
"A high-quality furnace and cauldron cultivation method naturally has no side effects." Liu Quan shook his head and said, "In the Central Plains, third- and fourth-grade wild markets are traded on the black market, but they are very expensive."
"I heard, I just heard, that in the great city of immortal cultivation in the Central Plains, Dayan City, there was a report that..." Liu Quan looked around and said in a low voice: "In a black market auction, someone from the 'Purple Light Immortal Sect' bought a furnace and cauldron cultivation method..."
"In the end, it was purchased at a high price of 35 million spiritual energy. Tsk tsk!"
"But later, the Purple Light Immortal Sect denied this statement. Whether you believe it or not is a matter of opinion..." Liu Quan said, shaking his head slightly. Seeing Jiajing's thoughtful look, he smiled and said:
"In fact, there is no evil in Taoism, but people are evil. If you want to experience the method of dual cultivation, you can go to some of the top immortal cultivation cities in the Central Plains someday. There are places that provide dual cultivation services."
As he spoke, Liu Quan raised his eyebrows at Jiajing.
"This is also... for sale?" Even Jiajing was surprised.
"Hi!" Liu Quan waved his hand indifferently, "Of course, there is an organization of female practitioners who specialize in practicing this special method."
"But it's very expensive, 200,000 for a single trip, 400,000 for two trips, and about 3 million for an overnight stay... It's not cost-effective. Those who can afford 3 million will go and raise a small furnace. Who would play with these?"
"The Central Plains is truly prosperous and eye-catching..." Jiajing was filled with emotion in his heart. A glimpse of the whole picture can reveal the whole picture. Even though he was the emperor, he was numb to extravagance and could not help but marvel after hearing this.
If these female cultivators who specialized in the furnace and cauldron methods were placed in the mortal world, they would definitely be the legendary fairies or the goddess of Luo River.
If you can spend money to have a night of lovemaking with a fairy or the legendary Goddess of Luo River, and it can also strengthen your body, who wouldn't want that?
Looking at the wilderness again at this moment, it seems that apart from being huge, it is really barren. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a countryside.
"So, Black Wind Village is also..." Jiajing asked after listening to Liu Quan's deeply touching words.
"Well, when I joined Black Wind Village, there were only five of us, including the three leaders, Old Song, and Old Xu. Ha!"
Old Xu, Xu Tian. The current head of the Ming Dynasty Criminal Court, is also a high-level official. Although he is not an elder, his status is special. When I was in the mountain village before, I heard that he was Dugu Ying's exclusive guard.
Previously in the Inheritance Pavilion, among the twelve children, the one who sat in the first row, next to the fat boy Dugu Donglai and Li Yu, was Xu Shan, a dark-skinned, simple-looking kid about eight years old.
He is the son of Xu Tian, the master of the Punishment Hall.
"Tsk," Liu Quan said, looking forward and snorting, as if he missed those days very much, and said: "They were the simplest, yet most motivated and ambitious bandits I have ever seen."
"Sir, do you believe that some people are born to be heroes, or what you call superiors?" Suddenly, Liu Quan looked at Jiajing and asked.
"Of course." Jiajing nodded and replied.
Taizu was born a cowherd, but he was able to gather a large number of famous ministers and generals around him, and even in troubled times, he could still make people convinced.
This is the natural born hero and superior!
In addition, there are Emperor Guangwu of Han Liu Xiu, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, etc.!
At this time, the two had arrived at the most prosperous center of Yeshi.
Teahouses, wine shops, pawnshops, inns began to appear here, and more and more stalls were set up. The noise became louder and louder. The air was filled with the aroma of food, which made people salivate.
"The boss is such a person!" Liu Quan nodded affirmatively, and then said: "He would organize the brothers to go to the wilderness regularly to listen to the lectures of the old teacher in the dilapidated temple and learn to read and write..."
"Unfortunately, the fighting became fierce later, and the old master died in a fight between monks. The Black Wind Village had no place to live... He was obviously a bandit, and robbing was his profession, but he refused to set rules and talk about morality."
"There are so many rules and regulations, such as not robbing the old, weak, sick and disabled, not bullying the weak, and putting morality first," Liu Quan said, shaking his head and laughing, "Black Wind Village doesn't look like bandits."
"More like a family started by a big idiot? Not like... a sect? Even less like! Well, a jack of all trades, haha... He was laughed at by his peers, but they couldn't do anything about him, he was too strong!"
"Many independent cultivators joined and left, and those who remained in the end were all brothers who admired the style of the big boss."
"We just traveled all the way through the chaotic areas of the Central Plains, running around. When we heard that a secret realm had been opened, we would take our brothers over there and drink some soup with the big sects. If there was any treasure that appeared there, we would rush over... Occasionally we would accept some small tasks from the big sects, but those that were despicable were rejected."
"That's why Old Song once joked that following the boss means going hungry for nine meals in three days... The boss said that he wanted to give his brothers a way out and he wanted to establish his own sect!" Liu Quan's eyes moistened unconsciously as he spoke. He sniffed and continued:
"But how difficult is it to establish a sect?" Liu Quan smiled and said, "To be honest, I don't believe he can do it at all!"
"Because to establish a sect, you must have the recognition of the academy, and it doesn't mean that you can establish a sect just because you have reached a certain level of cultivation."
"It also needs to be recognized by the academy. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many Jindan-stage bandits and even some Yuanying-stage leaders of the loose cultivator alliance..."
"And the most direct and fair way to establish a sect is to gain merit in war!"
"Not only that, especially for a mountain stronghold like ours, we have to go through the review of the academy. We have no history of slaughtering mortals, no wanted warrants issued by the academy, etc...."
"Now that I think about it, the boss's decision was so wise. Maybe he had been quietly preparing for it."
"We hid from here and there, offended this person and that person, many brothers died, and many like-minded brothers stayed. Finally, we got the chance. Maybe it was God's blessing!"
"The academy issued a document to open up the wasteland, and the war of opening up was launched. The eldest master led his brothers from the Central Plains, earning spiritual energy as they went.
Oh, it’s too expensive to take the teleportation array from the Central Plains to the Great Wilderness. The teleportation fee is 10,000 spiritual sources per person.
Just like that, I came all the way to the Great Wilderness, feeling uneasy, not sure if I would be rejected by the academy. Fortunately, everything went well, and then I set up camp until I participated in the war of opening up and made meritorious contributions..."
“Now that I think about it, it’s a miracle!”
Listening to Liu Quan reminiscing about the past in the mountain stronghold, the huge and burly Dugu Yinglai with a deep voice appeared in Jiajing's mind again. At this moment, Jiajing had a clearer understanding of this leader.
"Hiss, I talk too much without realizing it, hey..." Seeing Jiajing silent, Liu Quan scratched his head awkwardly, then pointed to the entrance of the alley not far away, where there was a canvas hanging with the words "Zixian Bookstore" written on it and said:
"Sir, we're here!"
"Yeah." Nodding, Jiajing gathered his thoughts, and then walked towards the alley with Liu Quan. At the alley entrance, there were several notices from the academy regarding the wanted evil cultivators and the clearing of wasteland.
At the edge of a quiet alley, a medium-sized bookstore stands quietly.
There was a recliner at the door, on which lay a handsome scholar wearing a light white robe and holding a small purple teapot.
The scholar closed his eyes and swayed leisurely.
A handsome and elegant face should be a sunny face, but the teardrop mole at the corner of the eye makes the face more inexplicably feminine, and a sense of leisure and ease emanates from it.
But what was surprising was that there was a book floating next to him, turning pages automatically, and making sounds from time to time.
Sometimes there are male voices, sometimes female voices, old people, children, and the content sounds like a vernacular story.
"Mr. Li!" Liu Quan gave Jiajing a look, then smiled and stepped forward, bowed and said with a smile: "I am Liu Quan, and Mr. Zhu Cong, the fourth elder of the Daming Immortal Sect, is here."
Liu Quan is very humble, but this is normal.
The other party is superior to him in terms of both status and cultivation. This is the basic way of dealing with things.
As Liu Quan finished speaking, the young man raised his slender hand, and the speech book automatically flew into his hand.
The young man then opened his eyes.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
