Chapter – 143 Pract.i.tioners’ currency
When Long Yu approached to greet Pond Snow, the other party certainly noticed him too.
“Is this Long Yu?”
Pond Snow turned his head to look at Long Yu and on seeing his appearance, he was a bit surprised.
The man standing beside him who was also his fellow traveller also looked at Long Yu and could not help but give a fierce flash.
“Does he belong to the Mongolian army?”
The man ruthlessly inquired.
“No, he does not.”
Pond Snow shook his head and this made the man calm down.
At this moment, Long Yu felt a very strong killing intention coming from the man standing beside Pond Snow and this compelled Long Yu to look at him.
From his appearance, it could be a.s.sessed that he was a tough guy. His chest was uncovered revealing the thick hair that covered it, his muscles were bulging and his face bore a cold and brutal look. Even when the killing intention dispersed, one could still feel its impact because of his strength.
He was at the 3rd layer of Zhenling realm!
Long Yu could a.s.sess the cultivation level of this man and was quite relaxed.
Even if an opponent of this cultivation level attacked him, he could get rid of him quite easily.
“Ha ha! Younger brother Long Yu, I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Pond Snow flashed a friendly smile towards Long Yu and said: “Earlier I heard that you had entered the Heavenly Thunder reservoir and died there. But now I can see that these rumors were not true at all!”
“Brother Pond Snow!”
Long Yu greeted him with a smile. “What business drew you here? And who is this fellow brother with you?”
Saying so, he looked into the eyes of the man with the hairy chest.
“This is Deng Shun, my friend.”
Pond Snow smiled and introduced him to this man.
“And you are Long Yu.”
Deng Shun looked into Long Yu’s eyes and said: “I have heard my master mention you earlier. You are a citizen of the Tang kingdom, then why are you wearing the armor of Mongolian army soldier?”
“Your master?”
Long Yu could still feel Deng Shun’s hostility and this made him frown.
“Younger brother Long Yu wore the enemy’s armor to infiltrate into their camp and he even managed to behead their Old General Man Yi.”
Pond Snow smiled and explained : “Brother Deng has some enmity with the Mongolian Kingdom so you must not be offended, brother Long Yu. The master of brother Deng Shun is one of the seven calamity stars on the Tian Yu continent, Xinghai Lun!”
Seven calamity stars, Xinghai Lun!
These words were quite unfamiliar to Long Yu as they were far away from Long Yu’s Tang kingdom.
However, even if he did not know about the seven calamity stars and Xinghai Lun, just by hearing these words he could sense that this man was scary.
Seven calamity stars were the top powerhouses of the Tian Yu continent.
Long Yu thought that even if this Xinghai Lun has not entered the realm of Man-Heaven harmony, he soon will.
However, what he could not understand was that why Xinghai Lun would mention him to Deng Shun. As far as he could deduce, there was no relationship between him and Xinghai Lun!
“Brother Pond Snow, what happened with the Ling clan villa?”
Since Deng Shun was still hostile towards him, he didn’t speak to him and asked Pond Snow directly.
“I gave it to a friend of mine. I have told them not to cause any trouble to the people of the Ling clan villa.”
Pond Snow answered with a smile.
“Thank you so much, brother Pond Snow. Such being the case, I should take my leave now.”
Long Yu nodded, ready to depart.
“Don’t you worry, younger brother Long Yu.”
Pond Snow stopped him from leaving and asked: “Before you leave, I must ask you, are you going to the Demon valley?”
“En.”
Long Yu asked: “Are you also going to the Demon valley, brother Pond Snow?”
“Yes.”
Pond Snow chuckled and explained: “Some time back, I discovered the lair of dragon beasts near the Demon valley, including a huge Shoushou monster of Zhenling 4th layer. Therefore, I asked brother Deng Shun to gather some men to attack the lair. If we succeed, we can get at least 20 spirit level items, including the neidans of these beasts which can enhance our cultivation or can be exchanged for other valuable items.”
The lair of dragon beasts!
Long Yu inquired Pond Snow: “In order to procure the neidans of these beasts, how do you plan to proceed?”
“We have decided to divide the rewards equally among the people who partic.i.p.ate in the ambush. So far, we have seven men. Do you want to join us, brother Long Yu?”
Some excitement flashed through Pond Snow’s eyes as he really wanted to use Long Yu’s strength here.
“Forgive me, brother Pond Snow. I have come here to settle some other business. I won’t be able to join you.”
Long Yu politely declined the proposal and then immediately asked: “You must be knowing this area pretty well, brother Pond Snow. Can you please guide me to the nearest trade city? I want to have a look at some goods first.”
Pond Snow was a little disappointed with Long Yu’s rejection but he did not care much about it.
He heard Long Yu’s query and casually replied: “800 miles from here, at the border of the Demon valley, there is Hun Yin city. All the martial experts who wish to buy weapons and goods before entering the Demon valley usually stop there. The market of Hun Yin city is always busy.”
“Hun Yin city – thank you so much brother Pond Snow.”
Long Yu took leave from Pond Snow and flapped his lunar wings. Immediately, his whole body rushed forward like a jet streamer.
Soon, Long Yu disappeared from the line of sight of Pond Snow and Deng Shun.
“Pond Snow, you invited a boy of Zhenling 2nd layer and were even ready to share the reward with him. This was unfair to other brothers.”
Deng Shun, on seeing Long Yu rush away, murmured calmly.
“Trust me, brother Deng Shun. Even if he is at 2nd layer of Zhenling realm, his strength exceeds that of any ordinary Zhenling 2nd layer expert.”
Pond Snow replied, narrowing his eyes.
“This boy is a thorn in my master’s way and he will get him killed. You should not form friendly relations with such boy.”
Deng Shun said: “Let’s go. The person my master has sent must be waiting for us at the Hun Yin city. We can attack the lair after meeting him.”
Pond Snow nodded and then both of them moved in the direction of Hun Yin city.
However, deep in his heart, Pond Snow was interested in Long Yu!
Pond Snow was well aware of the fact that the Long Yue Jindan that the prince Chu Chao Sheng had awarded to Long Yu definitely had something fishy about it.
He believed that even if Long Yu could escape Chu Chao Sheng’s schemes, he would definitely die inside the Heavenly Thunder Reservoir.
Now as it appeared Long Yu was not only safe and sound but had also enhanced his cultivation, stepping into the 2nd layer of Zhenling realm!
Pond Snow certainly knew why Xinghai Lun wished to kill Long Yu. But he was also sure that Long Yu would escape any a.s.sa.s.sination attempt and would not die so easily!
………………………
Long Yu sped away and soon noticed the outline of a large city emerging at the edge of the gra.s.slands.
The Hun Yin city was situated at the border of the Demon valley. It attracted various powerhouses of the Tang kingdom, the Mongolian kingdom and the United kingdom of j.a.pan. Most of the powerhouses that ventured into the Hun Yin city were already in the Zhenling realm.
Because of the access to the Demon valley, most of them could congeal formidable Zhenlings. Should a weak person enter the Demon valley, there was no way for him to come back alive!
This city did not fell under the jurisdiction of any of the three great kingdoms.
The Tang kingdom, the Mongolian kingdom and the United kingdom of j.a.pan – none of them dared to control the Hun Yin city because even the most ordinary martial experts of this city possessed terrifying strength.
If any of these kingdoms tried to control the Hun Yin city, it would cost them a great price, not to mention the other two kingdoms would not be spared either.
Since this city fell under the jurisdiction of no kingdom, it became a hub for the three kingdoms and the martial experts of this city enjoyed their freedom and were not bullied by anyone due to their powerful Zhenling cultivation.
Because of this, when Long Yu saw the outline of the city, he found a number of Zhenlings congealed by the pract.i.tioners.
This Hun Yin city was ten times busier than the Xi Guan city of the Tang kingdom!
Long Yu sighed. Even if the seven sects of the Tang kingdom attacked this city, even if Baiyun Zhong and other sovereigns were there to lead the attack, it would be impossible to seize this city.
Even though the Hun Yin city was ruled by no kingdom, the city had its own administration and several martial experts stood at the city gates to toll.
To enter the city, pay the toll!
To trade in the city, pay the toll!
The currency in the Tian Yu continent was divided into two categories.
One was the survival currency which included coins made of gold, silver and other metals.
This currency was only survival currency as its value was very low. Most of the Zhenling realm experts didn’t even bother about it.
For example, when Feng Lonsong bought a low-grade spiritual level Xuan Dan, he had to sell a lot of Feng clan’s property. That was just survival currency with low value.
While the other was the pract.i.tioners’ currency.
The pract.i.tioners’ currency usually contained traces of some heavenly tablet or some world law. For example, the mineral lode near the Ling clan villa could be dug up and the ore thus found could be used as the pract.i.tioners’ currency.
If acc.u.mulated, pract.i.tioners’ currency could allow an expert to comprehend any world law to the Imperial seal level.
Forging pract.i.tioners’ currency was an extremely difficult task. For example, a single lunar crystal coin would use up a lot of mineral lode ore and would contain only a small trace of Lunar qi.
Only the materials that had been under the impact of heavenly tablets could be used to forge pract.i.tioners’ currency.
Since the thunder mines of the Heavenly Thunder reservoir were absorbed by Long Yu, it was now a wasteland. The rocks that were continuously bombarded by the thunder mines could now be used to forge pract.i.tioners’ currency. The currency so forged could be called Heavenly Thunder crystal coins.
In this world of martial arts, there were 9000 world laws, so naturally, the types of pract.i.tioners’ currency were beyond count.
However, pract.i.tioners’ currency of any type could be called ‘crystal coin’.
A single crystal coin could buy a bucket full of low grade immortality pills or other goods of equivalent importance.
Different levels of immortality pills indicated their efficiency in promoting the cultivation of a martial expert. Low-grade immortality pills were not of much use to Zhenling realm experts.
Only the immortality pills and battle weapons of spirit level or higher were allowed to be sold in the Hun Yin city!
An immortality pill or battle weapon of low-grade spirit level would cost a martial artist around ten crystal coins.
To enter the Hun yin city, one must pay the toll of one crystal coin and this crystal coin was the minimum currency a martial expert would keep.
When Long Yu arrived at the toll gate of Hun Yin city, he had no crystal coins at all!