169: Young Tiger List
With this, his total assets soared to over twenty million spirit crystals; he had made a fortune!
But when he excitedly went to buy some cultivation resources, he found he couldn't pick out anything truly good.
Those treasures he had desperately farmed in the Red-level Secret Realm were nowhere to be found, whether in branches of major chambers of commerce like "Youyuan" or "Azure Mist," or in the inconspicuous little shop before him.
Zhang Sheng frowned, his Divine Sense sinking into the "Survival Manual for New Prefecture Cultivators," and only then did he suddenly understand.
Major chambers of commerce did occasionally display Heaven-Grade Jade Slips with Five Elements attributes, but the price tags were enough to give anyone a heart attack just by looking!
As for Spell Jade Slips with special attributes like wind, thunder, ice, or light? Forget about it!
You probably couldn't find a single one in all the shops in Heavenly Injury City.
Even if there were any, they would only make an appearance at top-tier auctions.
There were Heaven-Grade Cultivation Technique Jade Slips, but they were only listed in the core stores of major chambers of commerce.
And the most crucial method for "condensing the True Embryo"? It was pitifully scarce!
What you could buy on the market by throwing money at it were, at best, common goods like Xuan-Grade or Huang-Grade, with starting prices easily reaching millions of spirit crystals.
The root of all this was written nakedly in two words: Monopoly!
Major Sects! Youyuan Chamber of Commerce! And the actual controller of this land—the most powerful Imperial Dynasty!
These behemoths might have friction between them, but they were surprisingly tacit in controlling top-tier cultivation resources, jointly building a high wall.
Only at this moment did Zhang Sheng truly see the essence beneath the prosperous facade of Heavenly Injury City: this place served nothing more than the lowest masses of the cultivation world.
True powerhouses and big shots probably considered it a waste of time to even step inside.
Want to access those rare resources? A Cultivator only had one path—squeeze into the circle of some major power.
Every power had its own stepping stone.
And the fastest brick was to fight one's way into the "fledgling tiger ranking."
To put it plainly, this ranking was a combat power leaderboard for Cultivators below the Divine Power Realm in Qingchuan Prefecture, only accepting ruthless individuals under a hundred years old, with a total of one hundred thousand spots.
The ranking was generated by the mysterious "Ascending Heaven Pavilion" through a special Magic Treasure.
As for how they accurately captured Cultivators' combat data and ranked them? No one knew; it could be called the black-box algorithm of the cultivation world.
The manual also pointed out the dilemma of the New Prefecture that Li Sheng had mentioned—the root cause lay in the "Opening Wars"!
New Prefecture Cultivators could safely refine peaceful Spiritual Qi entirely because they were protected by the "spirit suppressing pillar formation."
The price, besides paying spirit taxes to maintain the formation, was being conscripted by Azure Mist Prefecture to participate in cruel Opening Wars!
The number of conscripts was directly linked to the area of territory occupied by the New Prefecture.
Countless New Prefectures were dragged down and collapsed by war in just this way.
After a New Prefecture fell apart, the Cultivators were either absorbed by other prefectures, became refugees, or gritted their teeth to save money and try their luck in the Central Command City.
Tens of thousands of years of accumulation had formed a massive urban belt around the Central Command City of Azure Mist Prefecture.
For them, the best option was to squeeze into the Central Command City; the second best was to join a nearby New Prefecture; the worst was to become a refugee—in this dog-eat-dog world, the fate of a refugee was either to be captured as a slave, intercepted and killed by bandits, or to fill the belly of a wild beast.
"What a fucked-up world!" Zhang Sheng cursed inwardly.
He made a decision in an instant: if he was going to join, he would join the strongest Imperial Dynasty!
Two paths lay before him: The first was to follow the established procedure and wait a year to participate in the selection for "Qinglan Academy" organized by the Command City.
The second was simple and brutal: fight his way directly into the fledgling tiger ranking!
As long as he was on the list, olive branches from various major powers would naturally come flying at him.
By then, entering Qinglan Academy would be a piece of cake!
After coming out of the Tianshui shop, Zhang Sheng began to study the "omniscient guide" Jade Slip.
This thing was essentially a super-enhanced version of a communication Magic Treasure.
Regarding the "Song Xuan Sha" mentioned by the shop assistant, intelligence showed: this guy had just entered the True Fetus Realm when he slaughtered a Cultivator on the fledgling tiger ranking and successfully replaced him.
Besides this hardcore way of stealing a spot, more Cultivators chose to make a name for themselves in the Opening Wars, which could also get them on the list.
Zhang Sheng hadn't decided which method to use to rush the ranking.
Right now, the shops, restaurants, and various industries in Heavenly Injury City were all backed by the shadows of major powers.
A New Prefecture Cultivator with no background wanting to open a shop? Not a chance.
He visited a few more shops, and sure enough, they were much the same, merely with different areas of focus.
"Two paths... I'll run through a few more Guard Cities to get the lay of the land first." Zhang Sheng made up his mind and walked towards the "spirit suppressing pillar" that stood like a giant pillar supporting the sky in the center of the Guard City.
Outside the commercial district was the residential district.
There was one benefit to buying a house here: you no longer had to pay the "residency fee."
But the housing prices... "Damn! A small, dilapidated house of a few hundred square meters with a property right of only five hundred years, and they dare to sell it for tens of millions of spirit crystals?" Zhang Sheng's mouth twitched. The assets he had saved up from hacking down so many bandits along the way were barely enough to buy one.
"Colosseum! Special price today! Three hundred spirit crystals a ticket! Don't miss out as you pass by!" A shout came over.
Zhang Sheng looked up and saw a huge disc-shaped building standing not far away.
"True Fetus Realm deathmatch! It won't end without blood! You can't lose out, you won't be cheated!"
Zhang Sheng casually tossed out three hundred spirit crystals and walked in.
Behind him, a lean man also followed him in silently.
Zhang Sheng was well aware of this tail, but acted as if he hadn't seen it.
As soon as he stepped into the Colosseum, a deafening wave of roars slammed into his face!
"Trash! Rip out his heart and liver!" "Damn it! You made me lose another hundred thousand! Hack him to death!"
The air was filled with the hysterical mania of the audience and an unshakeably thick smell of blood—a "pickled" stench of blood that had soaked in over the years, mixed with the odor of decay.
A huge protective formation tightly covered the fighting platform in the center.
Zhang Sheng looked up and happened to see two gladiators with the word "Slave" branded on their necks fighting for their lives on the platform.
Just then—Boom! With a loud bang, the heavy gates of the Colosseum slammed shut!
The whole venue was instantly in an uproar, all eyes shooting toward the figure at the door.
But the next second, the clamor stopped abruptly as if it had been strangled by the throat.
The reason was simple—the person at the door was dressed in black profound robes, embroidered with a unique tree-pattern emblem.
Everyone present recognized this emblem.
The official mark of Azure Mist! The symbol of the supreme imperial power of the Song Kingdom!
"It's Song Xuan Sha!" someone whispered in exclamation.
The person who had arrived was actually Song Xuan Sha, who had just fought his way onto the fledgling tiger ranking!
Zhang Sheng had seen his image on the "omniscient guide."
Thick eyebrows and big eyes, tall stature, and especially young, looking at most eighteen or nineteen years old.
"Everyone," Song Xuan Sha's voice was not loud, but it clearly suppressed all the noise, carrying an unquestionable coldness, "A few days ago, the remnants of the Chiyang Demon Sect, Mu Xingyan, fled to the vicinity of Heavenly Injury City. Although he has been executed, it is hard to guarantee that his accomplices are not hiding in the city!"
"By the order of the City Lord, a city-wide search begins immediately! Everyone, stay where you are and cooperate with the inspection!"