Ye Chen wanted to travel to the Domain Lord's Divine City of Xiangyang Domain, located at the very heart of the region. It was at least nearly ten million li away from Xia Gu City, a distance that could only be described as utterly vast.
Even for him, with the myriad Daos complete and under the Heavenly Dao's suppression, he could not unleash his full power as he could on the Tian Du Continent, let alone shatter the void to enter the space between planes for high-speed travel. It would take him at least half a year to reach the Domain Lord's Divine City.
Fortunately, Xia Gu City was considered an extraordinary major city within Xiangyang Domain. Such cities generally had established transmission channels to other major cities.
Of course, it was not free to use. A fee had to be paid, not in the gold coins used by mortals, but in spirit stones—the common currency for cultivators and the most useful tender across the myriad realms, accepted wherever cultivators gathered.
Many transactions between cultivators were conducted using spirit stones.
It was worth mentioning that spirit stones were a type of mineral formed from condensed heaven and earth spiritual energy. Perhaps more accurately, they were divine objects born from the materialization of spiritual energy, containing rich spiritual energy that could be used for cultivation.
Materialized spirit stones were also very heavy. A single stone the size of a baby's fist could weigh ten jin, and the spiritual energy it contained was enough to sustain a Demigod's cultivation for half a month.
Naturally, the formation of spirit stones required spirit veins. Such divine minerals were generally controlled by major powers. Ordinary cultivators could only obtain a small portion, measured in jin.
To perform inter-city transmission, one needed to pay a fee in spirit stones, generally at least one hundred jin per person.
It was expensive, but that was the cost. The transmission array required considerable resources to maintain and was monopolized by the leading powers of the various ancient cities. To avoid payment, one either needed absolute strength or had to fly across the vast distances.
Generally, in a large domain like Xiangyang Domain—which was not very prosperous—over ninety percent of the area remained undeveloped wilderness. The distance between two ancient cities was at least hundreds of thousands of li, with some wilderness regions spanning over a million li.
To traverse hundreds of thousands or even a million li, an ordinary Martial God would need at least three to four months or longer. Even a Divine Transformation Realm expert would need over half a month. Moreover, the undeveloped wilderness was filled with various dangers and ferocious beasts.
Only a peak expert of the Saint Treasury Realm—a Saint—could cross such distances in just two or three days.
Naturally, for them, tens or hundreds of jin of spirit stones were nothing.
Unfortunately, having just arrived in the myriad realms, Ye Chen did not have many spirit stones on him. Seeing Chen Ruo following behind him like a little tail, his eyes lit up, though he asked somewhat awkwardly, "Miss Chen Ruo, may I ask if you have any spirit stones on you?"
"Spirit stones?" Bright eyes blinked twice beneath the black robe. Chen Ruo said crisply, "You mean this worthless stuff? This young lady naturally has plenty."
Hearing this would probably make many cultivators feel deeply inferior. Spirit stones were precious cultivation resources, typically used only for crossing cities or domains. Under normal circumstances, cultivators were reluctant to spend them on other things. Yet she called them worthless.
Then they saw Chen Ruo casually toss out a pile of spirit stones resembling a small hill. They shimmered with divine radiance, glowing brilliantly. Pure heaven and earth spiritual energy overflowed from them—they were all first-class, top-grade spirit stones.
Generally, spirit stones mined from spirit veins were not pure; they contained various impurities and needed refining to maximize purity. Even if rich in spiritual energy, they could not be completely pure, sometimes containing elemental forces.
When cultivators absorbed energy from spirit stones, they also needed to carefully refine it, absorbing the energy while removing impurities—a tedious process.
The pile Chen Ruo tossed out, glowing brilliantly with surging, pure, and dense spiritual energy, were essentially supreme-purity spirit stones that required no refining. Ten jin of these could match over fifty jin of ordinary stones. Moreover, they could be directly absorbed without purification,could be called / deemed top-grade or even supreme-grade spirit stones.
Their value was more than ten times that of ordinary spirit stones.
Furthermore, in this hill-like pile, each stone was at least the size of an adult's fist, with many as large as washbasins. There were at least over ten thousand jin before them, with a value comparable to a hundred thousand jin of ordinary stones—a considerable fortune even in the myriad realms.
Ye Chen could not help but take another look at this girl. Such ten thousand jin of supreme-grade spirit stones were clearly just a small part of what she carried, given out so casually. Chen Ruo definitely had much more.
Just who was this Chen Ruo, to possess so many supreme-grade spirit stones?
He became increasingly convinced that she must have come from an extraordinary major power, at least one comparable to the immortal Sacred Land of Chi Shen Valley, and was likely a little princess-level figure within her clan. Otherwise, she could not have entered the important grounds of Chi Shen Valley to steal the treasure.
As for whether she was a King-level figure, that was hard to say. This might just be a spell she excelled at.
Ye Chen waved his hand, creating a ripple in space that concealed the fluctuations of the area. Ten thousand jin of supreme-grade spirit stones could easily attract the attention of other cultivators in the city, inciting covetousness, robbery, and killing—endless trouble.
Just then, a subtle ripple flashed in Chen Ruo's eyes, though no one could detect it.
Ye Chen's expression remained unchanged. He casually took ten stones that could barely be considered top-grade, each about the size of an adult's fist, then asked Chen Ruo to put the rest away. Although such a stone could be considered top-grade, it was not as eye-catching as supreme-grade ones, and it could only barely be equivalent to two hundred jin of ordinary spirit stones.
Ten pieces meant two thousand jin.
Chen Ruo blinked her bright, clear eyes that seemed to contain spring water. "Don't you want them? You can take them. This young lady has as many of these as she wants."
Ye Chen shook his head. "This is enough. How many you have is your business. I can find spirit stones myself; you need not worry about that."
"Can you survey heaven and earth?" the girl suddenly asked.
Ye Chen was slightly startled. He looked at her but kept his expression unchanged. "I learned a bit from my master. I can barely manage a little."
The girl let out a long "oh" but asked no more. No one could see her expression beneath the black robe. She simply followed behind Ye Chen, walking without a word.
Soon, the two arrived at the center of Xia Gu City. There stood a massive transmission array. Using this array, one could perform inter-city transmission, spanning millions of li in an instant.
Ye Chen led Chen Ruo to the transmission array. There was an ancient stone gate—the transmission ancient gate—engraved with many extremely complex Dao marks and inscriptions, all spatial Dao marks and void array patterns used to construct spatial channels.
Beside the gate were guards collecting spirit stones, all genuine Divine Transformation Realm experts. A peak expert who reigned supreme in the Divine Transformation Realm was stationed there to deter those with ill intentions.
"Please open the transmission gate to Xiangyang City," Ye Chen said.
The guard could not help but take another look. Xiangyang City was the Domain Lord's Divine City, the central main city of Xiangyang Domain, tens of millions of li away. The required fee was naturally extraordinary, at least over a thousand jin of spirit stones—a considerable sum. He did not expect this delicate-looking youth to request it.
Other cultivators nearby were also surprised. When they looked at the youth and the black-robed girl, their gazes held more greed and fervor.
Just then, a pair of indifferent, icy eyes swept over them, instantly making them feel as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over them, their bodies turning cold with a shiver.
This was a warning from that super expert guarding the transmission gate, deterring these lawless individuals.
"One thousand one hundred jin of spirit stones per person," that Divine Transformation Realm supreme expert personally stepped forward and said.
Ye Chen handed over the dozen or so stones he had obtained from Chen Ruo. The spiritual energy shimmered, making everyone's eyes light up—they were top-grade spirit stones. Although only barely top-grade, they were still extraordinary.
That super expert could not help but take another look. So young, yet able to produce such top-grade thousand-jin spirit stones—they were definitely extraordinary figures not to be offended.
He politely asked them to wait, then personally opened the transmission gate, casting coordinate marks into it—clearly the spatial coordinates leading to Xiangyang Main City.
At this moment, Chen Ruo could not help but mutter, "Wrong. This coordinate has a slight error; it will deviate by about a thousand li."
The super expert was startled, looking at Chen Ruo. He did not expect this mysterious black-robed figure to notice. Ordinary people would not see it. Ye Chen was also slightly surprised because he had noticed it too; he just had not expected Chen Ruo to see it as well.
Chen Ruo giggled. "This is my special talent."
Just a special talent? Ye Chen fell silent.
The transmission gate opened. The ancient gate swung open, revealing a circle of dark, profound black hole—the transmission channel. Spanning hundreds of thousands or even millions of li in an instant, it could complete the crossing within just a few hours.
"You two, the transmission gate is constructed. You may enter for transmission at any time," the Divine Transformation Realm supreme expert said.
"Alright, thank you for the trouble." Ye Chen and Chen Ruo stepped into the spatial transmission gate.
Boom—
At that very moment, heaven and earth trembled, the void shattered. Over a dozen powerful figures broke through the void and descended. A closer look revealed the leader was none other than Chi Lin Wang and his group.
Chi Lin Wang led a host of experts onto the sky, looking down from above at Ye Chen and Chen Ruo within the transmission gate. His voice resounded across the heavens: "Little thief, I have finally found you!"
Instantly, the temperature of heaven and earth dropped many times over.