1: Chapter 1: Starting as a City Lord

Green Wood

On the magnificent and majestic edge of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, lies a city named White Cloud City.

In the city, a middle-aged man with a weathered face and hollow, lifeless eyes sat silently on the main seat of the City Lord’s Mansion, like a statue that had lost its Soul.

This person looked to be in his thirties or fifties, with a somewhat effeminate appearance, and a slender build, as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

That’s right! Wang Bin Transmigrated, and unexpectedly Transmigrated into the body of Green Wood, who had failed to Breakthrough to the Mid Stage Foundation Establishment.

Green Wood himself couldn't even remember his full name.

Ever since he stepped into the Cultivation World and Cultivated the Green Wood Art, he had simply gone by Green Wood.

Over the past two days, Wang Bin had slowly come to terms with this fact.

He had spent these two days fully organizing Green Wood's memories.

Green Wood was originally just an ordinary Loose Cultivator, possessing Three Spiritual Roots of metal, wood, and fire, with only average talent.

Among his Spiritual Roots, the wood Spiritual Root was dominant, which was why he chose to primarily Cultivate the Green Wood Art, a Cultivation Technique widely circulated in the Cultivation World.

When he was eighty years old, relying on a Low Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, he incredibly fortunately succeeded in Foundation Establishment, thereby gaining a Lifespan of two hundred years.

At that time, he was truly in the limelight among his Loose Cultivator friends, praised by everyone.

Thus, his self-confidence swelled at this time, and he felt that his Golden Core was within reach, so he began to Cultivate even harder.

However, twenty years later, he woke up as if from a dream, realizing that all of it was just his own wishful thinking.

In these twenty years, in order to obtain more Cultivation resources, he ventured deep into the Demon Beast Mountain Range multiple times, almost dying in the Yellow Springs several times, but fortunately, he was blessed with great fortune and escaped death time and again.

It was precisely these near-death experiences that made him fully recognize the cruel reality.

To put it bluntly, the fundamental reason for his struggles on the path of Cultivation was poverty; he couldn't afford Medicinal Pills.

In the world of Cultivation, expenses are astonishingly high, and the further one goes, the greater the expenses become.

Those Spiritual Mountains and blessed lands, places with abundant Spiritual Qi, had long been occupied by various renowned Sects.

And all the various mineral mines and Spiritual Veins in the Cultivation World were also owned.

Even some small mines and Spiritual Veins that major Sects didn't care for were occupied by various small Families.

He never expected that the Cultivation World would also be full of human relations, just like the secular world.

Those small Families occupied resources that major Sects disdained, but if a Loose Cultivator dared to snatch them,

They would immediately draw out the powerful backing behind them, and in the end, it would still involve a Disciple or Elder of a major Sect.

The survival of Loose Cultivators was extremely difficult, and Green Wood had not thought about changing professions to become an Alchemist, a Formation Master, or a Talisman Master.

Unfortunately, he neither had enough Spirit Stones to learn a side profession and practice skills, nor did he have a famous master willing to guide him.

In his helplessness, he could only occasionally do odd jobs, or risk venturing into the Demon Beast Mountain Range to collect medicinal herbs and hunt Yao Beasts, in order to obtain the resources needed for Cultivation.

In this process, risk was proportional to reward, and every action was fraught with great danger. He had often entertained the thought of killing people for their treasures,

But each time, due to his poor strength, inadequate equipment, and inner fear, he never dared to act on it.

In order to achieve his desired Golden Core Dao, Green Wood had no choice but to sell his freedom and join the Four Seas Commerce League.

He became an Outer Sect Disciple of the Four Seas Commerce League and was sent to guard White Cloud City on the edge of the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

Here, he could receive a yearly salary of two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Since he was not a talent cultivated by the Commerce League from a young age, his talent was only average, and he didn't understand human relations, he basically had no chance of being reused.

He also had no chance to learn the Sect's core Cultivation Technique, and in the end, he was helplessly sent to this desolate place.

He became the City Lord of White Cloud City in the Demon Beast Mountain Range; however, this so-called City Lord merely managed a small market.

This market was a resting point for Cultivators heading to the Demon Beast Mountain Range, and its main function was like an outpost.

Once Yao Beasts invaded human inhabited areas on a large scale, he would be responsible for reporting it to his superiors. The Spiritual Qi here was very thin, with only a Second-Grade Spirit Vein below.

Aside from the Spiritual Qi needed to maintain the Formation, the remaining Spiritual Qi was more than enough for three or four Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators to Cultivate.

This was also one of the reasons Green Wood chose to join the Four Seas Commerce League.

After all, as a Foundation Establishment Stage Loose Cultivator, normally absorbing Spiritual Qi either involved renting an Immortal Cave in a large city or setting up a Gathering Spirit Formation himself, both of which required a large amount of Spirit Stones.

Green Wood used the fifty thousand Spirit Stones he had painstakingly saved for twenty years (occasionally extorting some Cultivators in the city) to buy a Breakthrough Pill.

He had originally intended to use this Breakthrough Pill to Breakthrough to the Mid Stage Foundation Establishment in one go, but unfortunately, he was not sufficiently prepared.

At the critical moment of the Breakthrough, there was a severe lack of Spiritual Qi, which prevented the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Platform from successfully forming, ultimately leading to a failed Breakthrough.

Multiple Meridians in his body were fractured, and at that time, he simply didn't have the money to buy a Meridian Protection Pill.

If he wanted to buy a Meridian Protection Pill, he would need to save ten more years of salary.

He had intended to take a risk, but it ended in failure, and he died.

It was at this moment that Wang Bin, who had Transmigrated, took over his body.

After Wang Bin assimilated these memories, his heart was filled with emotion.

He never expected that the Cultivation World, like his previous life, had all good things owned.

Here, the situation of snatching resources was even more severe, and there was no legal protection; one could easily die and have their Dao extinguished if they were not careful.

Ordinary Cultivators basically had no chance to rise, and the plight of Loose Cultivators was even more difficult.

Wang Bin had been in this world for two days, but he had never heard the voice of the legendary System.

It seemed he didn't have that luck and could only helplessly accept this cruel reality.

Actually, on second thought, the current situation wasn't too bad.

After all, this was a magical Cultivation World, where anything was possible.

Moreover, he Transmigrated directly into the body of a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, although this body was already one hundred and twenty years old.

But at least he could still live for eighty more years!

In his previous life, he seemed to have died suddenly at thirty, right?

He wondered who would help him pay his mortgage? And who would inherit his wife?

His phone…

Wait! It's over!

No one would check the contents of his phone, right!

His lifelong reputation!

Heh heh, forget it! Alas!

Now, the only trouble Wang Bin faced was the multiple fractured Meridians in this body, which greatly affected his strength.

Although he wouldn't die, he couldn't exert the strength a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator should have.

Should he wait a few years to save enough Spirit Stones to buy a Rejuvenation Pill?

Or exploit the Loose Cultivators below to get some Spirit Stones from them?

Or risk venturing into the Demon Beast Mountain Range to hunt a few Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beasts?

A single Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast could be sold for tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, plus the wealth the Yao Beast itself possessed, perhaps hunting one would be enough.

But could he really defeat it?

This Green Wood only learned some simple basic wood-type Spells, and his equipment was very poor.

Although Wang Bin now had these memories in his mind, he had never used these skills before.

Green Wood's most valuable possessions were a Low Grade Magical Artifact Daoist robe, a Medium Grade Magical Artifact Flying Sword, a life-saving Medium Grade Magical Artifact shield, and a pair of Low Grade Magical Artifact boots.

Even if all these were added together, they wouldn't sell for ten thousand Spirit Stones.

He was truly living a miserable life!

There were also some miscellaneous items in his Storage Pouch, but they weren't worth many Spirit Stones at all.