Chapter 68: White Cloud City

After bidding farewell to everyone, Jianchen, led by Uncle Chang, directly boarded the flying eagle beast and flew away from Luo'er City.

Sitting on the back of the flying eagle beast, Jianchen lowered his head, his gaze blankly fixed on the large city thousands of meters below, his mood becoming incredibly complex. This was only the second time in the fifteen years since he came to this world that he was leaving Changyang Prefecture and Luo'er City.

The first time he left was to study at Kagas Academy, but this departure was entirely different. Jianchen knew that after this departure, he might not see his family for a very long time. Moreover, after this departure, he would have to wander alone on the perilous Tianyuan Continent, a place filled with the scent of slaughter. Everything would depend on himself. In the future, Jianchen didn't even know if he would have the chance to see his family again. After all, he had already learned enough from books about the situation on the Tianyuan Continent. It was a world where the strong ruled, and everything was decided by strength, far more dangerous than the world of martial arts in his previous life. With his current strength, wandering on this perilous continent, no one knew what would happen in the future.

Uncle Chang, sitting cross-legged on the flying eagle beast, glanced at the deep-in-thought Jianchen and said, "Fourth Young Master, everything from now on will depend on you. You must be extremely careful when wandering alone on the continent."

"I know what to do, Uncle Chang," Jianchen replied softly without turning his head.

Uncle Chang looked deeply at Jianchen, sighed inwardly, and then said nothing more.

The flying eagle beast flew straight through the sky at an altitude of several thousand meters, facing the red sun that had just emerged from the horizon. The fierce wind howled in their ears, blowing Jianchen and Uncle Chang's long hair and clothes wildly.

The flying eagle beast crossed several large and small cities and villages, and just as the sun was about to set, it finally flew over a small city.

Looking down at the small town below, Jianchen suddenly said, "Uncle Chang, drop me off here."

Hearing this, Uncle Chang looked down at the small city below, nodded slightly, and said, "Alright!" Then, Uncle Chang controlled the flying eagle beast to stop about ten miles outside the city gate.

Jianchen leaped off the flying eagle beast, turned around, and said to Uncle Chang, "Uncle Chang, you should hurry back. The Huayun Sect is likely already in Changyang Prefecture."

Uncle Chang, sitting on the flying eagle beast, nodded and said, "Fourth Young Master, take care of yourself."

Jianchen waved to Uncle Chang and then walked straight ahead towards the city ten miles away without looking back.

Uncle Chang remained in place on the flying eagle beast, his eyes fixed on Jianchen's back. Only when Jianchen disappeared from his sight did he sigh and murmur, "Fourth Young Master, I hope to see you again and be pleasantly surprised." The flying eagle beast's wings flapped fiercely, and with a whirl of sand and dust, it quickly ascended into the sky, returning in the direction it came from.

The sun was almost setting, and the sky was turning to dusk. When Jianchen reached the road leading to the small city, there were still many people walking towards the city, mostly mercenaries riding various magical beasts and some merchant caravans.

Jianchen's appearance naturally caught the attention of some people. Many of the mercenaries looked at him with a hint of caution, but when they saw his young face, the caution in their eyes disappeared.

Jianchen observed the mercenaries riding various magical beasts. They were mostly in their twenties to forties, some wearing armor, some in animal skins, and some in regular clothes. As he approached, Jianchen clearly felt the blood-soaked aura emanating from these mercenaries. With his rich experience, he knew these mercenaries had been through many battles.

The ten-mile distance was not far, and Jianchen soon arrived. He looked up at the city wall, which was about twenty meters high. The wall had clearly existed for many years and had not been maintained for a long time. The merciless passage of time had left clear marks on the tall city wall. Above the city gate, three characters were written in a flowing script: "White Cloud City."

"Hey, stop! What are you doing here?"

As Jianchen passed through the city gate, he was stopped by a guard.

Jianchen chuckled, reached into his spatial waist belt, and discreetly handed a few gold coins to the guard, saying, "Brother, I'm a mercenary. I'm here in White Cloud City for a mission."

The guard glanced at the gold coins in his hand and immediately smiled, saying, "Oh, if you have a mission, I won't delay you. Go ahead."

After entering White Cloud City, Jianchen walked for another two or three kilometers and arrived in a bustling commercial district. Although the sun had set, the district was still bustling with people coming and going, and the streets were lined with shops selling all kinds of goods.

The street was paved with large stone slabs, worn smooth by time, making the surface very flat. Even if a vehicle moved at a moderate speed, there would be no bumps.

Jianchen rubbed his stomach and walked directly into a tavern on the street. He hadn't eaten all day and was now starving.

"Welcome, sir!"

Under the enthusiastic greeting of a waiter, Jianchen found an empty table and sat down.

"Sir, do you want to stay or dine?" The waiter was a young man in his early twenties, with a professional smile that made people feel at ease.

Jianchen glanced at the mercenaries chatting loudly in the tavern and said calmly, "I'll stay and dine. What do you have to eat?"

The waiter immediately began to introduce the various dishes in the tavern, but all of them were the most expensive. The waiter had already seen from Jianchen's expensive clothes that he was a wealthy young master.

Jianchen didn't care about the prices and casually ordered a few dishes he hadn't tried before.

After a satisfying meal, Jianchen booked a medium-sized room in the tavern and went straight to rest.

The tavern was clearly not a high-end establishment. The medium-sized room was very simple, and compared to Changyang Prefecture, it was vastly inferior. The room contained only a wooden bed made of hard wood, a table, and a few chairs. Despite this, the room was very clean.

Jianchen had never been picky, and this room was quite satisfactory for him.

After closing the door, Jianchen sat down by the bed and took out the spatial ring his father had given him before he left, opening it to check the contents.

The spatial ring was indeed a high-quality item, with a much larger space than the waist belt, about a hundred square meters. In the center of the spatial ring, a small pile of items was stacked. The items were not many, and compared to the vast space, this small pile barely filled a corner.

In this pile, there were thousands of purple gold coins and tens of thousands of gold coins, as well as a small pile of magic cores, about forty to fifty in total. Most were second-tier magic cores, with only about ten third-tier magic cores and one fourth-tier magic core.

Looking at the items in the spatial ring, Jianchen felt a warm feeling in his heart. Although the items were not many, they were all very practical and exactly what Jianchen needed. This clearly showed Changyang Ba's concern for Jianchen.

Jianchen carefully placed the spatial ring close to his chest. He hadn't forgotten his father's words before he left: before his strength grew, he must never let the spatial ring be seen by others. Spatial rings were not as common as spatial waist belts and were very precious on the Tianyuan Continent. Although many people owned spatial rings, they were all either very powerful or from noble families with the strength to protect their wealth.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jianchen took out a few magic cores from his spatial waist belt and held them in his hands, then slowly closed his eyes and entered a state of cultivation.

The energy within the magic cores was absorbed by Jianchen at an incredibly fast rate. If someone were there, they would see the magic cores in Jianchen's hands emitting a faint glow. The energy leaking from the magic cores was so dense that it formed a faint, visible energy ribbon around Jianchen's body. At the same time, the first-tier magic cores in his hands were rapidly shrinking.

Since Jianchen's strength had broken through to the Saint level, and two purple and green light points had appeared in his dantian, his cultivation path had become very difficult. Although he absorbed the energy of the world at a speed ten times faster than before, only a pitiful one percent of the energy was actually absorbed. Even though the speed of absorbing the energy from the magic cores was faster than before, the amount of magic cores consumed was too great for Jianchen to bear.

The few first-tier magic cores in his hands were completely absorbed in just one hour. Then, Jianchen continued to take out more first-tier magic cores from his spatial waist belt to continue cultivating. Fortunately, he still had a few hundred first- and second-tier magic cores in his spatial waist belt, enough to sustain his cultivation for a few days. In the spatial ring his father had given him, there were also about ten third-tier magic cores and two fourth-tier magic cores.

The next day, when the sun was high in the sky, Jianchen finally woke up from his cultivation. He had used up about forty to fifty magic cores during the night.

"Ah..." Feeling the rapidly decreasing magic cores in his spatial waist belt, Jianchen sighed deeply, his face full of helplessness. The two purple and green light points in his dantian truly brought him endless troubles.

After calming down, Jianchen left the room and the tavern, walking leisurely on the street outside.

The morning air was particularly fresh, and the fiery sun in the sky had not yet emitted its scorching heat. The warm sunlight felt very comfortable on the skin. On the street, there were many mercenaries in a hurry, and merchant caravans were slowly passing by.

Jianchen went directly to the center of White Cloud City, to the Mercenary Guild. He had already thought through his next steps. The first thing he needed to do was to become a mercenary.