Stargazing valley

The next day, Tianlong took the initiative to encounter a group of cultivators.

He wanted to know the location of the spirit pool.

They weren't surprised to know that the place was just a few kilometres north of the place where they had encountered Su Fei. She didn't manage to escape far.

One day later, they had reached their destined location. It was a deep canyon with steep sides.

The black soil there was rich in humus that contributed to the diverse vegetation surrounding it, though most of it was overshadowed by the humongous Sequoia trees.

A long narrow river flowed through the middle of the valley which had many dangerous aquatic lifeforms like Tigerfish and Blue scaled eel lurking in its depths. Individually they are not that strong, but if an entire school attacks, they could even devour a rank two beast in seconds.

One could sense the demonic energy of the mountain undergoing a quantitative change as they moved towards the north.

However, this wasn't surprising. Considering that beyond the valley, the late rank 1 and rank 2 beasts dwelled.

Despite the danger, there was an influx of cultivators in the area. The majority of them belonged to the Qi condensation realm. After all, it was only helpful for them.

Many people were stuck in the early stages of Qi Condensation for many years. The Luminescence spirit liquid was like a heavenly opportunity for them.

Increasing their cultivation base was only secondary, their primary reason for coming here was to search for opportunities.

A place where an ancient Spirit Spring is discovered, this kind of a place would most likely have some sort of secrets.

Unfortunately, none of them had discovered anything so far.

Even if they had, they didn't disseminate the news.

Why should they tell everyone that they had unearthed a treasure?

Heh, this was just courting death.

Due to the gathering of cultivators, the place quickly turned into a place for them to conduct trade.

Beast resources, medicinal herbs, spirit fruits these commodities which were readily found in the mountain, filled the different shops.

Most people here didn't carry interspatial rings. It was good to get rid of unwanted stuff as early as possible.

And just like that, the gloomy atmosphere of the valley transformed into that of a bustling bazaar.

Since so many people were coming here, there naturally was a need for places for them to spend their nights.

The group of Qingxue and Tianlong chose to select one of the inns with the most hustle and bustle of cultivators.

Even though the style of the building was simple, in this wild place, it looked exceptionally grand.

As the two entered it, they saw dozens of cultivators sitting inside a dimly lit room. Most of them were conversing with each other in hushed tones while eating and drinking.

A bald middle-aged man was standing at the reception. Having handled a lot of customers over the past few months, he already discerned that the two of them were new to the place.

Cupping his hands towards Tianlong he asked, "Welcome to our abode, how may I help you?"

Having perceived the cultivation of the two individuals in front of him, the middle-aged man found that the woman was in the peak third layer of Qi condensation while the other one was just in the early Qi condensation realm.

However, he could feel an aura coming from the grey-haired man that made even a fifth layer Qi condensation expert like him feel danger.

'There's more to this man than what meets the eye.' He mused.

Tianlong didn't know that the man had already judged him as a dangerous individual. It was the opposite of what he wanted.

Among the hundreds of cultivators that he saw outside, he only saw a few body refiners. They were too rare compared to Qi refiners.

Not wanting to stand out among the crowd, he completely sealed off his Body refiner's aura and only displayed his first stage Qi condensation cultivation base.

Also combined with the fact that he was walking behind Qingxue who had a higher cultivation base, others would believe that she was the leader.

Hence, he was surprised that the man had greeted him instead of Qingxue.

"Greetings, fellow cultivator." He returned the greetings. "We are new to this place and looking for comfortable lodgings with reasonable prices." He spoke straightforwardly.

"Very well… we have three different types of rooms to offer, each of them are located on the three different floors."

"1st floor, shared rooms, 3 spirit stones a day."

"2nd floor, private rooms, 10 spirit stones a day."

"3rd floor, private rooms with isolation formations, 15 spirit stones a day."

"Can we see the rooms on the 2nd floor?" Qingxue said after a moment of consideration.

"Sure!" The man smiled. His eyes shifted to a scrawny youth who was not standing too far. "Shi Fang! You heard them, go and show them all the available rooms on the 2nd floor!"

The man had just finished his job in the kitchen and was about to sit when suddenly the receptionist called him. It irritated him a bit.

Though all of the irritation went away when he saw a female among the two guests.

"This way please!"

Putting his best smile on his face, he led them towards the stairs. Even with a veil on, it was evident that she was a beauty.

As they were climbing, he was stealing glances at her from the sideways. Tianlong who was behind them shook his head at his actions.

"This one's name is Shi Fang. May I inquire fellow cultivator's name?"

"Zhou Yin." She languidly replied. "Has brother Shi been working here for a long time?"

Upon hearing her inquiry, he became excited. "Yes! I've been working in this place for four months now. There's almost nothing I don't know about this place." He said with a confident voice.

Giggling at his words, Qingxue moved a lock of hair in front of her face and tucked it behind her ears.

"Oh, then I would have to trouble brother Shi to enlighten me. I've just reached this place today and don't know anything."

Despite not being able to see her face, his heart started beating up faster at her actions and melodious voice. "What does fairy Zhou want to know?"

Qingxue didn't say anything and just gave a bright smile. Her beautiful eyes creased up like two crescent moons.

Shi Fang completely went into a daze and a foolish smile adorned his face.

"There are three major powers who have taken the spirit pool for themselves namely the Qin mountain bandits, Great Serpent sect and the Alliance sect…"

Had it been Tianlong, he would've needed to inquire around the place, buy information from the receptionists and such.

However, she achieved the very same thing with her feminine charm and didn't even have to show her face.

Obviously, the other person wasn't very bright.

According to his narration, the spirit pool was located inside a cave that was extending inside the northern walls of the canyon.

A recent earthquake had slightly cracked the walls and revealed its entrance.

Some adventurers found the glow emitted from the cave while they were travelling at night. After their discovery, they were delighted and blocked the cave with a stone again.

Unfortunately for them, the aquatic lifeforms residing in the river sensed spirit fluctuations and charged inside the cave. It was soon discovered by others.

Needless to say, it garnered lots of attention and even the Jade Core old monsters visited the place. The spirit water was just that valuable.

One could only imagine their disappointment when they saw the ridiculously poor quality of the liquid.

It was so poor in fact that only those in the early stages of the Qi condensation realm would receive any benefit from it.

Not giving up, they tried to find the source of the liquid. After all, something as precious as it must have an extraordinary origin.

Sadly, the aquatic beasts didn't let them have their way. The pool was infested with so many of those lifeforms that even a Jade core cultivator would become their feast should they dare to enter.

However, there was one stubborn old woman in their group. As a three hundred years old fearless devil cultivator, how could the threat of mere beasts deter her?

After taking sufficient measures, she charged amidst them, slaughtering everything that came in her path.

Three hours later, an old woman with a missing arm and eye charged out from the pool in a distressed condition and gave an enraged howl.

Her entire journey was fruitless.

After that incident, not many dared to charge in the sea of beasts.

People's interest slowly waned over time.

With the Jade core cultivators out of the equation, the Qin mountain bandits, the Great serpent sect and the Alliance sect claimed the pool for themselves and started selling the liquid to others. One could even directly cultivate in the pool if they were ready to pay the price.

While the money possessed by Qi Condensation realm cultivators may not be anything in the eyes of a Yin Yang Cleanser, but the same couldn't be said for their underlings.

"Would people even dare to buy from those bandits? I've heard that their boss has a very notorious reputation." Qingxue commented.

"Shh!" He made the shushing gesture and looked at his surroundings. After seeing that there wasn't anyone nearby, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fairy Zhou should be extremely careful while speaking about them! Even though they are bad people, they conduct honest business here. So they hate it when others speak ill of them." He spoke in a low voice.

Qingxue lowered her voice and apologised.

He waved his hands and said "No-no it's fine really! As long as you are inside our inn, the Great serpent sect and the bandits won't be able to harm you."

Tianlong raised his eyebrows. "By your tone, it seems as if the Great serpent sect is also up to no good."

Shi Fang sighed and said, "Their mistress Lu Yan is known for kidnapping handsome and talented men. You can say that she is a female version of Qin Houzi. Sigh, so many evil people…"

"Do they have some connection between them?" Tianlong asked.

Shi Fang shrugged. "I'm not qualified to know the inner workings of their organisation."

"What about the Alliance sect? I heard that they are just a group of rogue cultivators who have banded together under some Yin Yang cleansers." Qingxue asked in a soft voice.

Shi Fang gave a dry chuckle and said, "Well, you can roughly say that. Their leaders are also the weakest of the three powers but, they have the largest amount of members."

As they continued to converse, Shi Fang bought them to a room towards the eastern side of the building.

"This is the best room that we have here. Please take a look."

The room was slightly bigger than the average one. Due to its location, it was away from the bustling streets and was in a relatively quiet place. Qingxue selected it without hesitation.

Shi Fang looked towards Tianlong and said, "Now I'll show you your-"

Without letting him finish she interrupted, "There's no need. He'll stay with me."

Shi Fang frowned.

"With his weak cultivation base, I'm not confident in leaving my cousin alone." Qingxue sighed and put on a helpless expression.

Shi Fang nodded in understanding. He looked at Tianlong and slightly released his third layer Qi condensation aura as if trying to show his prowess.

"Fairy Zhou, if you encounter any problems in the future, you can contact me without any hesitation. Actually, why don't I show you the valley? It'll be dangerous for someone like you to roam alone." He said with an expectant tone.

Qingxue giggled and said, "Then I'll look for brother Zhou when needed. You mustn't renege on your promise then!"

"Of course!"

After locking the door, they exchanged a few more words, Shi Fang reluctantly left.

Even after they entered the room, Tianlong had a weird expression on his face while looking at her.

"Oh! Is that jealousy I smell?" Qingxue asked playfully.

He shook his head. "We both know that I'm not that kind of person… I was just thinking what if that man comes to disturb you later on?"

"Since you would be here, how would he dare?" She replied in a confident tone.

Tianlong wryly smiled. "Why should I clean up after your mess? Moreover, considering the circumstances, we might have to stay away from each other…"

Hearing this, she had a frown on her face. From her past experience, she could tell that the person would definitely come to find her again.

Just as she was about to say something, she saw him taking measurements of the room and drawing symbols on it using beast blood.

"Is that an isolation array you are drawing?" Her curiosity was piqued.

"Yes. Now keep quiet."

Qingxue pouted but didn't say anything.

Tianlong continued to draw with utmost concentration. Soon the symbols formed a huge circle containing the spirit stones.

The blood started to glow a bright shade of crimson, illuminating the entire room in an eerie glow. A translucent barrier could be seen across the room.

"Uh… it looks more like some evil cult's ritual formation rather than an isolation array."

Tianlong's frowned in displeasure. "It wasn't supposed to glow like this."

Even after a few minutes of checking it, he couldn't detect the flaws there within. "Well, at least it's doing its job." He sighed in defeat.

Qingxue watched the formation with a look of interest.

"Since when are you able to inscribe formations?" She looked at him as if sparkling eyes.

"I just dabbled in a few books in my free time, created a few simple ones before. But now it looks like I'm not very talented in that regard." He replied nonchalantly.

His brows were creased as he was thinking if the quality of blood was to blame, which may have caused the defect.

"Are you serious? You created a functioning array by just 'dabbling' in some books and also have the nerve to say that you are untalented!" Qingxue cried as she stared at Tianlong.

Tianlong ignored her comment and said, "Anyway, we'll now have 'true' privacy of the third floor without being labelled as rich moneybags."

He was aware that this array might no necessarily be able to block the spiritual sense of a Yin Yang Cleansing expert. However, it was still better than nothing.

Qingxue smiled and said, "True. It's honestly surprising how costly these rooms are. Also, did you see that they were selling the meat of demonic beasts? I think these inns are accumulating even more profit than those three organizations."

"That might not necessarily be the case." He calmly replied. "I'm pretty sure those people are extorting money from the lodgings in the form of 'protection fees'. There's no way they would keep their hands away from such profits. From the words of Shi Fang, I think this inn owner is paying the alliance sect."

Qingxue's eyes lit up as she nodded in understanding. "You are right, they wouldn't let others do business peacefully. Everyone would want a share of this meat. This would also explain why there are so few establishments in the area."