Swallowed Star 2: Land of Origin

The cave mansion that Emperor Qing rented was located in the Inner City of Yulan City, which looked ordinary from the outside, but once inside, the space was enlarged by more than ten thousand times.

Luo Feng and the other three walked in together.

"I'll divide the space first," said Emperor Qing, as the massive interior space naturally split into sections, with two small spaces at the corners, a common courtyard in the middle, and the remaining space split into two equal halves.

"You can decide how to build the interior space yourselves," Emperor Qing instructed.

"I choose the left side."

"Then I'll take the right side." Emperor Ming and Di Fu, without any objections, actively chose the two corner spaces.

Without any cost and being able to follow Emperor Qing and Brother Luo He, they had their protection; what more could they hope for? They clearly understood that without Emperor Qing and Brother Luo He, their survival in the city would be much more difficult, by hundreds or thousands of times.

"I will send you detailed intelligence on Yulan City for your perusal," said Emperor Qing as he walked towards his part of the space alone.

Emperor Ming, Di Fu, and Luo Feng each entered their own spaces.

"The place is not bad." Emperor Ming sensed the speed of energy absorption, "This absorption rate can reach 30% of my maximum speed! Not bad, I'm stuck at a bottleneck in strength anyway and my requirements for energy are quite low."

Generally, maximal energy absorption occurs during rapid growth periods. Once the limit is reached, only a minimal amount of energy is absorbed to sustain life.

...

"The space is quite large." Luo Feng looked around the spacious area, and with a thought, energy began to converge and formed various palace buildings such as wine pavilions, quiet rooms, guest halls, and more.

He then stepped to the highest part of the pavilion, happily took out a pot of wine, and while drinking, studied the intelligence on Yulan City.

"Yulan City is autonomously governed by cultivators."

"Yulan City is ruled by the Elder Hall, which currently has three Hall Masters and 327 Elders."

"Once you reach either the 'Late Stage Divine Emperor Enlightened One' or 'Half Primordial Level Combat Power,' you can apply to become an Elder. If you can partly drive Yulan City's defense system, you can become an Elder. If the driving extent is very high, you can even become a Hall Master."

Luo Feng looked at the intelligence.

Every Elder needs to enhance the defensive capabilities of Yulan City!

"The Elder Hall is really making contributions," Luo Feng observed the details closely.

Once one becomes a member of the Elder Hall, they need to reside permanently within Yulan City! This ensures the city's defense. They cannot leave Yulan City.

And those who can become members of the Elder Hall are strong enough to venture into the Dark Sacred Realm!

Every Half Primordial powerhouse certainly aspires to break out of the Braided Cage, and only in the Dark Sacred Realm can they find more opportunities to do so! Yet, members of the Elder Hall usually stay in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm and do not step out of Yulan City at all.

"So, those who can become members of the Elder Hall typically have avatars. They merely leave one avatar here. Their other avatars have already gone to the Dark Sacred Realm," Luo Feng speculated.

"Having an avatar itself implies that the core rulers of Yulan City 'The Elder Hall' members are probably all from the Source World."

Luo Feng deduced a lot of information.

The strong from the myriad worlds who lack avatars and have sufficient strength are not willing to stay in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm all the time.

"Living in Yulan City, cultivators need 1 Primordial Crystal every epoch. They also need a residence, all places of residence in the city… can only be rented," Luo Feng understood.

These fees are the official income of Yulan City.

They need to support a group of law enforcement cultivators! They need to maintain the city's defense system! The leftovers are then distributed among the three Hall Masters and 327 Elders. This income must be very substantial to attract these powerful beings to keep their avatars here for a long time.

"Inside Yulan City, below Divine Emperor level is mainstream, amounting to hundreds of millions."

"Divine Emperor level, there are several million."

Luo Feng looked at the intelligence.

Among the Enlightened One Lineage, those who can perceive a complete Great Dao generally don't find it difficult to become a Divine Emperor.

But those who rely on their bloodline, while they might seem to grow easily, their growth's limit depends on their bloodline! If the bloodline isn't strong enough, they might always be stuck at the ultimate level of a Godly King.

"Yulan City has intelligence organizations selling all the Divine Emperors' information. This intelligence costs 10,000 Primordial Crystals?" Luo Feng was alarmed; he could not afford it.

Moreover, the intelligence collected about these Divine Emperors might not be fully comprehensive.

For example, since Luo Feng had just arrived in Yulan City, naturally, there was no detailed intelligence on him externally.

"Brother Luo He," Emperor Qing's voice came from afar; he approached the entrance of Luo Feng's space.

"Brother Emperor Qing," Luo Feng immediately opened the entrance.

"The intelligence on all Divine Emperors in Yulan City, quite expensive, isn't it?" Emperor Qing came over and smiled, "But even this can only gather information on about 90% of the Divine Emperors at most. Because there are some who quietly break through as Divine Emperors, and if they don't reveal themselves, it's difficult to learn their information."

"Even the information being sold only records what can be detected, many Divine Emperors have hidden methods," Emperor Qing said, "But no matter what, you might not need to buy it in the short term. However, over time, it's better to purchase a copy."

"Buying a copy of the intelligence lets you know about all the formidable existences hidden in Yulan City. It lets you know who not to provoke," Emperor Qing explained.

Luo Feng understood.

"This intelligence is expensive and also contains a secret Heart Spell, prohibiting its dissemination," said Emperor Qing, "So I cannot pass it to you."

Luo Feng understood that gathering information on all the Divine Emperors in the entire city was no easy feat. If they sold merely a few copies, it would spread throughout the city. That would be a huge loss for the intelligence organization.

"Yulan City has abundant commercial and trade resources," Emperor Qing stated, "Here, Primordial Crystals are needed everywhere."

"I'll lend you 100,000 Primordial Crystals for now. You can pay me back after our hunt," said Emperor Qing as he waved his hand, causing a pile of 100,000 Primordial Crystals to fall beside him, glittering like brilliant crystal jade.

Seeing this, Luo Feng was truly moved.

Allowing him to stay in the Cave Mansion for free, even allocating half of the space to him. If one were to calculate the price, half the rental cost for a thousand epochs would also be 50,000 Primordial Crystals! It felt like a gift.

And now lending him so much! Just arriving in Yulan City, he was indeed at his poorest time.

"Emperor Qing, thank you," Luo Feng said without much ado.

"We just arrived in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, we're all in our greatest need of Primordial Crystals at this time. With Primordial Crystals, we can buy enough resources to strengthen ourselves," Emperor Qing said with a smile.

"Remember, when you go out to buy resources," Emperor Qing suddenly said earnestly, "carry fewer Primordial Crystals with you each time. In Yulan City, with enough temptation, murder, robbery, theft, all sorts of things can happen. Even if you have life-saving means, but if the treasures are robbed, the loss is still substantial."

"I understand," Luo Feng nodded.

Emperor Qing's intelligence already included detailed records.

Murders and robberies occurred occasionally, while thefts and scams, since they didn't involve life-threatening situations and official punishments weren't too severe, were even more common.

"Carrying less means even if you are robbed, it's just like paying tuition," Emperor Qing sighed, "The methods of theft in Yulan City are diverse and include tricks from various cultivation systems, many of which you have never seen before."

Luo Feng nodded slightly.

...

Only after familiarizing himself with the intelligence did Luo Feng leave the Cave Mansion alone to explore Yulan City, which he would be inhabiting for uncountable years to come. Heeding Emperor Qing's advice, he was very cautious and only carried 5,000 Primordial Crystals with him.

"With all five of my Avatars complete, I don't believe I can't protect these 5,000 Primordial Crystals," Luo Feng tread carefully, not bringing any other Secret Treasures; the most valuable thing he had was the 5,000 Primordial Crystals.

For this journey to the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, Luo Feng had energy reserves worth 1,200 times that of a Perfect Divine Body. The energy reserves left in the Land of Origin were minimal, but back home he was already invincible, and the Avatar energies were sufficient.

The 1,200 times Perfect Divine Body Energy Reserve, Luo Feng's five avatars collectively had 200 times Perfect Divine Body reserves, enabling him to reach his limits under normal conditions.

"Hum."

The moment Luo Feng left the Cave Mansion—

Various colorful protective systems enveloped the entire Yulan City, controlled by three Hall Masters and 327 Elders of the Elder Hall. Invisible and colorless fluctuations regularly swept across the city, and at this moment, swept past Luo Feng, too.

In the core area of the Inner City, there lay a huge Cave Mansion.

Deep inside the Cave Mansion.

A figure bathed in light sat there, his entire body seemingly forged from light, expressionless.

A red diamond-shaped gem was positioned between his brows.

Inside the diamond gem, massive amounts of information were being rapidly processed.

Information about all the Divine Emperors throughout the city was being collected.

"New member entering the city, Luo Feng. Residence: 99179 Cave Mansion, Tian Shui District, Inner City of Yulan City. Strength: Suspected Early Stage of Divine Emperor. He shares a Cave Mansion with Emperor Qing, suspected to be from the same Source World," information about Luo Feng was among it.

While this information was collected, it was also relayed to another mysterious entity.

...

Inside a huge Cave Mansion in the Inner City area of Yulan City, a massive spherical organism occupied the space.

The surface of the spherical organism occasionally showed faces that were either howling, sleeping, filled with hatred, or laughing, and the surface also featured numerous holes.

Countless holes, through which figures came and went.

"Luo Feng, a new Divine Emperor in the city? Living with Emperor Qing, he must not be poor."

"Let this newcomer feel the customs of Yulan City."

"He likely follows the most common system of the Enlightened. We can let him experience the power of other systems. Mo Yada, this is up to you."

A command was quickly issued.

Huff.

A short figure flew out from the numerous holes of the spherical organism.

"New Divine Emperor at the early stage?" The short figure chuckled weirdly, and at that moment, their organization had already locked onto Luo Feng, who couldn't hide anywhere in the public areas of the city.

Huff, the short figure went straight for Luo Feng's location.