In the past, when Horse King heard these rumors about Greatsun Exchanges City, he thought they were greatly exaggerated. It wasn't until he entered Greatsun Exchanges City that he realized these rumors weren't exaggerated at all. In fact, he felt the reality was even more exaggerated than the rumors by a good margin.
Looking around, good heavens—the sky was filled with Spirit Beasts galloping everywhere.
These Spirit Beasts were enormous, each one larger than the last. The smallest were still seven or eight meters in size, while the largest were over ten meters.
Some Spirit Beasts resembled lions, others tigers, and still others wolves. Their bodies were covered in golden-red fur, and when they galloped, they looked like blazing flame beasts.
Horse King recognized this type of Spirit Beast.
They were the famous Firecloud Spirit Beasts.
Firecloud Spirit Beasts were known for their massive size, fierce temperament, immense strength, and ability to breathe fire. They were fiercely loyal to their masters and possessed formidable power. A single roar could intimidate True Immortals, and swatting a Superior Immortal to death was no trouble at all. An adult Firecloud Spirit Beast possessed strength comparable to a Golden Immortal.
Because of this, Firecloud Spirit Beasts enjoyed high renown in the Great Desolate.
There wasn't a man alive who didn't dream of owning a Firecloud Spirit Beast of his own.
But for most, it remained just a dream.
The price of a Firecloud Spirit Beast was so high that it was beyond the reach of many Common Immortals from ordinary backgrounds.
A single Firecloud Spirit Beast cub alone cost five to six million Immortal Stones—equivalent to a top-grade Immortal weapon or treasure. An adult Firecloud Spirit Beast cost over ten million, and that was just for one with average bloodline purity. The value of a Firecloud Spirit Beast with a pure bloodline was simply immeasurable.
Common Immortals from ordinary backgrounds in the Great Desolate, toiling away for a year outside, might only earn twenty or thirty thousand Immortal Stones. After supporting themselves, they'd have almost nothing left.
Although Horse King was a Great Luo Golden Immortal, he didn't earn much in a year either. With good luck, he might make a little over a hundred thousand Immortal Stones; with bad luck, as little as fifty or sixty thousand, or possibly nothing at all.
Five or six million was an astronomical figure to him.
Forget not having five or six million—even if he did, he wouldn't dare buy a Firecloud Spirit Beast. Raising one cost tens of thousands of Immortal Stones a year. Many people might be able to afford the purchase, but affording it didn't mean they could afford to raise it.
Many Common Immortals, after striking it rich overnight, would make buying a Firecloud Spirit Beast their first priority.
Because in the ten thousand years since the Present-Ancient Era began, the significance of Spirit Beasts had evolved beyond mere loyal guardianship. They had also become a symbol of status. Owning a Firecloud Spirit Beast not only allowed one to hold their head high and earn the admiration of Common Immortals, but also served to intimidate them. While it didn't grant absolute freedom to act with impunity, at the very least, ordinary Common Immortals wouldn't dare provoke you.
Most importantly, owning a Firecloud Spirit Beast could also attract the attention of many Immortal Maidens. Finding three or five Cultivation Partners would be no problem at all.
Times had changed. Immortal Maidens weren't like before, seeking a like-minded Cultivation Partner for dual cultivation and companionship. Nowadays, Immortal Maidens pursued refined and elegant lives, their vanity growing stronger by the day. Those from ordinary backgrounds wanted to find a wealthy Cultivation Partner to change their lives, while those from superior backgrounds sought partners who were both wealthy and highly cultivated. If an Immortal Maiden came from an Immortal family, she naturally sought a match from another Immortal family of equal standing.
In the past, Cultivation Partners held a very sacred place in everyone's hearts, and severing the bond was extremely rare.
Now?
Severing the bond had become a common occurrence. Either the man grew fickle, took a fancy to another Immortal Maiden, and tried to have his cake and eat it too; or the woman grew tired of poverty and coveted wealth, running off with either an elegant immortal from an extraordinary background or a nouveau riche immortal who struck it rich overnight.
Such incidents were commonplace.
Horse King himself was a prime example.
In the past, within the Golden Crow Secret Realm, his forthright and loyal nature had earned him many sworn brothers and a modest reputation. He had even formed a Cultivation Partner bond with an Immortal Maiden. He dreamed of leading his brothers to carve out their own territory within the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain, giving his Cultivation Partner a good life. But as fate would have it, precisely because of his loyal nature and standing up for his brothers, he offended someone he shouldn't have.
In the end, not only was he expelled from the Golden Crow Secret Realm, but his band of once blood-sworn brothers scattered and fled. Even the Cultivation Partner who had shared both hardship and comfort with him severed their bond and ended up with one of his former brothers.
From then on, Horse King began to abandon himself to despair. It was also around that time he started gambling, and from then on, he couldn't stop.
Hearing Horse King's story, Gu Qingfeng felt great sympathy. He truly hadn't expected this burly, seemingly carefree fellow to have such a painful, painful and unbearable past. He patted Horse King's shoulder and comforted him, "Out with the old, in with the new. That kind of Cultivation Partner is better off gone. Try to look on the bright side."
"There's nothing to not look on the bright side about. I got over it long ago. A woman like that isn't worth grieving over."
"As long as you're over it. We have money now. Later, I'll help you spruce up, and we'll play the part of the nouveau riche!"
"Great Lord, with eighteen hundred million in your hands, you're the genuine article—no need to pretend."
"We still need to spruce up! Don't you feel like everyone's been looking at us differently the whole way here? Damn it all."
"This..." At this moment.
Horse King was speeding through Greatsun Exchanges City on a Flying Sword, with Gu Qingfeng standing behind him. Compared to the numerous Heavenly Immortal Beasts of Greatsun Exchanges City, their single shabby Flying Sword seemed utterly out of place.
"It is a bit shabby, isn't it?"
"Forget you thinking it's shabby—even someone as unrefined as me finds it a bit shabby."
Gu Qingfeng glanced at the Flying Sword beneath his feet and said, "I get that you don't keep any Immortal birds or Spirit Beasts, but at least you could get a decent Immortal weapon Flying Sword. Just look at this thing of yours—pitch black and ugly as sin. And damn it, most importantly, I don't see anything profound about it either. Besides flying, what the hell else can this thing do?"
"Great Lord, please just make do for now. This shabby Flying Sword is all I have left."
To be fair, Horse King might not have kept any Immortal birds or Spirit Beasts in the past, but he did have a few decent-quality Immortal weapon treasures on hand. However, he gambled them all away later. Now, all he had left was this old, worn-out Flying Sword—a defective product at that, useful only for flying and nothing else.
"This shabby Flying Sword of yours looks like a defective product. And your spiritual sense connection to it feels weak and intermittent. I feel like it could fail and drop us out of the sky at any moment."
"This...
Great Lord, don't worry. Although this Flying Sword is a defective product and occasionally fails, still..." Before he could finish, the Flying Sword beneath Horse King's feet suddenly dimmed, as if its radiance had vanished. The two of them instantly plummeted from mid-air.
Fortunately, Gu Qingfeng reacted quickly and stabilized himself in the air.
Horse King wasn't slow either. As he fell, he swiftly circulated his Immortal energy, leaped up, and also came to a standstill in mid-air. He said awkwardly, "Great Lord, my apologies. I didn't expect it to fail at a critical moment. Wait a moment, let me repair it."
"Repair this piece of junk? What's the point?"
Gu Qingfeng snatched the Flying Sword from Horse King's hand. Without even looking at it, he tossed it aside and said, "Come on. I'll take you to buy a Spirit Beast."