Chapter 9

{It's going to be Monday tomorrow, Xiaolong wants to make a push for the new book rankings. In the past, Xiaolong didn't care too much about the new book rankings, but the result was a painful lesson, so this time he has to make a push. I hope everyone will support him, and Xiaolong thanks everyone in advance.}

Lingfeng dragged the bodies of four people to a mass grave, casually dug a pit, and threw the four bodies into it. However, he didn't rush to cover the pit but summoned the Azure Dragon.

Under Lingfeng's control, the Azure Dragon leaped into the pit and bit into their necks.

In the next moment, the bodies began to wither at a visible speed, as if all their flesh and blood were being devoured by the Azure Dragon, which was quite eerie.

Soon, the four bodies turned into four shriveled mummies.

Then, the Azure Dragon climbed out of the pit, slipped into Lingfeng's trouser leg, and swam to his chest, transforming back into a dragon-shaped tattoo.

At that instant, a powerful force surged from his chest and merged into his divine soul.

"Hmm!" Lingfeng squinted his eyes, a look of enjoyment on his face.

This was one of the Azure Dragon's abilities, to devour flesh and blood to enhance the owner's divine soul. In just a short while, Lingfeng felt his divine soul improve.

Then, he waved his right hand, and the pile of earth immediately filled the pit.

Back at Xiaoying's house, he found that the old village chief had already left. Lingfeng didn't ask anything, ate a simple meal, and said, "Xiaoying, pack up, we're going to the city later."

"To the city?" Xiaoying asked curiously, "Why are we going to the city?"

"To buy you some new clothes!" Lingfeng smiled.

"Ah!" Xiaoying really didn't expect Lingfeng to say that.

"By the way, did you burn that book?" Lingfeng asked.

"Not yet," Xiaoying was reluctant to burn it. After reading it carefully, she found that the cultivation technique was truly advanced. Burning it would be a waste.

"Give it to me." Lingfeng could see what Xiaoying was thinking. It was like a beggar who suddenly got a new piece of clothing; how could they bear to throw it away?

Though the analogy wasn't quite right, it perfectly described Xiaoying's current feelings.

"Oh!" Xiaoying reluctantly took the book out of her chest.

Lingfeng saw this and felt a bit helpless, as the book was wrapped in several layers of cloth.

Lingfeng had no choice; with his current cultivation, he couldn't protect such a thing. If it leaked out, it could bring disaster.

So, it was better to be cautious.

Taking out the book, he looked at Xiaoying and asked, "Have you memorized the contents of this book?"

"Yes, I have." Xiaoying nodded.

"Good." Saying this, Lingfeng split the book in half and threw the first half into the fire, which instantly turned to ashes.

Xiaoying watched the raging flames, feeling a pang of pain in her heart.

"Brother, what do you plan to do with the second half?" Xiaoying was curious.

"Sell it!" Lingfeng said calmly.

"How can you sell it?" Xiaoying had never heard of selling a cultivation technique in halves; only a fool would buy it.

"Why can't it be sold? Although this half doesn't mention the cultivation of true qi, the Profound Heaven Force is a genuine martial technique. You've seen it, haven't you?" Lingfeng countered.

"I know, but the Profound Heaven Force can only be used to its full potential when paired with Profound Heaven True Qi. Without the true qi, the Profound Heaven Force's power will be greatly reduced." Xiaoying had read it several times and knew that the technique and the true qi were a set, and only the Profound Heaven True Qi could bring out the technique's full power.

Without the true qi's enhancement, the Profound Heaven Force's power would be significantly reduced.

"That's exactly what I want. Do you think I would let outsiders cultivate such a good thing?" Lingfeng smiled.

Although this technique was of the middle-grade Earth Rank, its ability to temper true qi and the body was unmatched even by the upper-grade Earth Rank techniques. If his foundation wasn't already solid, he would have cultivated this technique first.

It was only because of Xiaoying that he took out this technique; anyone else wouldn't even think about it.

"But will anyone buy it?" Xiaoying didn't believe it.

"Stupid girl, you underestimate this technique too much. Even without the true qi cultivation method, it can still enhance an ordinary martial artist's strength by thirty percent." Lingfeng said confidently.

"That's true!" Xiaoying had also read the technique and understood it.

"Prepare yourself. We'll set off immediately and try to sell the technique as soon as possible, so we can buy you some new clothes."

...

Xiangyang City was divided into the inner city and the outer city. Xiaoying lived in the outer city, which was directly adjacent to the city's outer walls, serving as the first line of defense for Xiangyang City.

The inner city, on the other hand, was a city within a city, separated by a tall and thick wall, dividing the entire city into two regions, with the inner city inside.

The residents of the inner city were either wealthy or powerful. Even a family like the Cao family didn't have the资格 to live there, giving an idea of the situation inside.

However, this layout left Lingfeng speechless.

In this era, the power of demonic beasts far exceeded that of ordinary humans.

Once a beast tide erupted, the thin outer city wall and the sparse restrictions and formations would be unable to stop the demonic beast army's assault.

Once the demonic beasts broke through the outer city wall, they would face the defenseless civilians, akin to wolves entering a sheep pen, with predictable results.

The true experts, however, would huddle in the inner city, a turtle shell. Lingfeng even suspected that once a beast tide erupted, they wouldn't leave that turtle shell.

People often say that with great power comes great responsibility, but here, the ordinary people were expected to "protect" the experts.

In fact, Lingfeng didn't know that this arrangement had a purpose. The root cause of the beast tide was to hunt for food. Once they were full, they would retreat.

Therefore, they built the inner and outer cities.

The outer city was more like a slaughterhouse prepared by the inner city residents for the demonic beasts to hunt humans.

In the eyes of some inner city residents, the people in the outer city were not humans but human-shaped food for the demonic beasts.

Many people in the outer city knew this, and some larger families understood it well.

Therefore, they went to great lengths to enter the inner city, transforming from human-shaped food into true humans.

But was the inner city so easy to enter?

At this moment, Lingfeng and Xiaoying had already arrived at the entrance to the inner city. They saw several sword-wielding guards standing at the gate, looking at the outer city residents with disdain.

Seeing this, Lingfeng was even more speechless. However, this wasn't something he could change alone, so he didn't say anything and led Xiaoying to enter.

"Brother, we can't just go in. We need to buy a pass at the city gate," Xiaoying quickly pulled Lingfeng and explained.

"A pass?" Lingfeng was confused.

"Yes, outer city residents need to buy a pass to enter the inner city. A regular pass only allows an outer city resident to stay in the inner city for one day. If the time limit is exceeded, they will be expelled," Xiaoying nodded.

"Is there such a thing?" Lingfeng was annoyed. The division into inner and outer cities was one thing, but this was just treating ordinary people like dirt.

"Actually, we are already very content. It's because of the existence of these experts that we can live a relatively peaceful life. Without them, we would have been eaten by the demonic beasts long ago," Xiaoying didn't think much of it, mainly because she was already used to it.

"How much does a pass cost?" Lingfeng asked.

They didn't have much spirit stone on them, and if they couldn't even buy a pass, selling the cultivation technique would be out of the question.

"It costs five lower-grade spirit stones, but I have a visitation pass issued by Xiangyang Academy, which allows me to enter Xiangyang City for free once a month. I haven't used it this month, so we only need to buy one," Xiaoying said.

"Five lower-grade spirit stones? That's so expensive." After these days, Lingfeng understood what five lower-grade spirit stones meant to an ordinary person like Xiaoying. It was half a year's income.

Spending half a year's income to enter the city once was a very high price.

"It's still relatively cheap here. I heard that in Fengcheng, which is over a thousand miles away, a one-day pass costs ten lower-grade spirit stones," Xiaoying said, with a hint of relief.

Indeed, if it were ten, she would have wasted a whole year's effort.