As the saying went, ‘The safest place is right under their noses.’ There was an extremely high chance Tan Zhihui would return to the Thousand Constellation Country in order to escape.
“First, we need to find a place to stay,” said Huang Xiaolong.
He had decided to wait for his target in Thousand Constellation Country.
As long as Tan Zhihui returned with the Glaze Devil Stele, Huang Xiaolong would definitely be able to feel it with his connection to the devil steles.
Huang Xiaolong wasn’t afraid about Tan Zhihui refining the stele in a short amount of time. After all, he had taken two whole years to refine the Myriad Curses Devil Stele. Even with the a.s.sistance of the Blood Eye Devil Stele and the body of the Devil Tower, he had taken two years! There was no way Tan Zhihui could replicate his feat and refine the Glaze Devil Stele in two years.
Even a peak genius needed a hundred years, even a thousand, several thousand years in order to refine a devil stele.
Even someone with a king of supreme G.o.dhead needed several tens of years.
Before long, Huang Xiaolong and the rest decided on a manor in Thousand Constellation Country, and he didn’t bother haggling about the price. By the time the day was about to end, all of them had settled down in their new manor.
There were tons of amazing inns they could stay in, but nothing came close to having a home. Without being restricted by money, Huang Xiaolong and the rest directly bought a manor in Thousand Constellation Country.
Huang Xiaolong had never lacked spirit stones anyway.
As soon as they settled in, Huang Xiaolong no longer left the manor. He entered seclusion immediately, and he used the chance to consolidate his foundation. Even though he had successfully refined the Myriad Curses Devil Stele and improve his strength, he felt that he was still too weak!
He wanted to become stronger as soon as he could!
Besides cultivating, Huang Xiaolong would occasionally retrieve the chaos lightning bead he obtained in the Barbarian Beastmen s.p.a.ce. He suspected it to be some sort of saint object, but no matter how hard he tried, he failed to discover its secrets.
Huang Xiaolong had a feeling that as soon as he managed to discover the secret behind the chaos lightning bead, it would be able to display its might. He could also feel that it contained a terrifying amount of power within it.
Even though he chose to wait for his target in the Thousand Constellation Country, Huang Xiaolong didn’t remain pa.s.sive. He sent Gao Changran, Lu Xiaoqing, and the others out to look for more information. As soon as they were to obtain information on Tan Zhihui, they were to report back to him immediately.
In a flash, half a month pa.s.sed.
Tan Zhihui was like a ghost. It seemed as though he had disappeared entirely from Heaven Devouring Empire.
Despite the combined efforts of all the experts from the thirty-six regions and nine empires, they failed to discover his whereabouts.
With Tan Zhihui being at the mid-Tenth Order Emperor Realm, it would be difficult for anyone to locate him if he had disguised himself as an ordinary citizen in any of the countries located in the Heaven Devouring Empire.
Several more days pa.s.sed.
Before anyone knew it, a storm was kicked up in Thousand Constellation Country.
As for the Thousand Constellation Country’s capital, there was no way it could escape the currents running through the country.
Huang Xiaolong had just left secluded cultivation when he saw tons of people crowding on the streets. He couldn’t help but feel a little curious. Turning to Gao Changran, Huang Xiaolong asked for the latest update.
“Your Majesty might be unaware, but the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range will be opening soon. Lots of experts from the Heaven Devouring Empire are gathering here just for that.”
“Opening of the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range?” Huang Xiaolong became a little curious.
Lu Xiaoqing, who was standing on the side, piped up as well. “The Thousand Constellation Mountain Range is the most important mountain range in the Thousand Constellation Country! There are countless ginseng hidden within, such as the Blood Jasper Ginseng, Dragon Purple Ginseng, Devil Master Ginseng, Grand Golden Crow Ginseng… and many others. The Thousand Constellation Country opens the mountain range every ten thousand years for people to enter to search for their chance of finding these precious ginseng!”
Huang Xiaolong was stunned for a moment. “Is the Thousand Constellation Country that generous?”
All the ginseng she had named were extremely precious treasures. They were things that couldn’t be bought, even with money. Even high-level Emperor Realm experts would benefit immensely if they managed to refine the top tier ginseng.
However, Lu Xiaoqing shook her head and explained to Huang Xiaolong, “Even though there are extremely precious ginseng in the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range, they are located at the deepest parts of the mountain range. Moreover, the ginseng should have already have developed a low degree of intelligence, the art of escaping and hiding should be ingrained in them. There aren’t many people who will manage to obtain a single one successfully. I’ve heard that only two people have managed to locate a ginseng in the past ten million years! Also, only cultivators below the Emperor Realm can enter the mountain range. Every time it opens, the Thousand Constellation Country will only allow ten thousand cultivators to enter…”
“Ten thousand people?” Huang Xiaolong was intrigued. “How do they pick the ten thousand partic.i.p.ants?”
Since there was a set number of people who could enter, he knew that there had to be a selection process.
Lu Xiaoqing replied. “Before they open the mountain range, a ten thousand miles heavenly bridge will appear. It leads directly to the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range, and the first ten thousand people who cross it will be able to enter. The moment the ten-thousandth person enters, the gates will close.”
“In order to cross the bridge, one has to apply for a slot. As long as one is below the Emperor Realm, they will be able to apply for a slot with one hundred low-grade chaos spirit stones. Talent doesn’t matter when it comes to the application process.”
“The Thousand Constellation Country really knows how to make money…” Huang Xiaolong shook his head and smiled.
One hundred low-grade chaos spirit stones were nothing to these powers, but it was a ma.s.sive amount when it piled up.
Lu Xiaoqing chuckled. “Your Majesty is right. The reason behind the Thousand Constellation Country’s high ranking in the Heaven Devouring Empire is because of the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range. It is also one of the richest countries under the Heaven Devouring Empire. Every time they open the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range, they will hand over a portion of the profits to the empire…”
Huang Xiaolong nodded his head. There was no way the Heaven Devouring Empire would allow the Thousand Constellation Country to monopolize such a fat piece of meat.
Huang Xiaolong continued to ask about the details regarding the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range.
He learned many things about the opening of the mountain range. For example, the ten thousand partic.i.p.ants could fight each other to the death over a ginseng, and the Thousand Constellation Country wouldn’t care about what happened. They were only responsible for opening the mountain range and nothing else.
As for how many ginseng one managed to obtain inside, it would depend on the partic.i.p.ant’s ability.
The only catch was that the mountain range would only remain open for ten days.
After ten days, all the partic.i.p.ants would be sent out without exception. However, if they wanted to leave before the ten days were up, they were free to do so.
“Is Your Majesty planning to enter the Thousand Constellation Mountain Range?” When Gao Changran noticed the interested look on Huang Xiaolong’s face, he couldn’t help but ask.
Huang Xiaolong nodded in response before turning to Lu Xiaoqing. “We shall head over to register tomorrow.”
With so many precious ginseng located within the mountain range, Huang Xiaolong knew that he had to enter to take a look. Since he wanted to increase his strength as quickly as possible, grabbing some high quality ginseng could allow him to enter the mid-Tenth Order Heavenly Monarch Realm sooner than he had expected.
Whatever the case, he would be able to detect Tan Zhihui’s presence if he appeared in the Thousand Constellation Country. As soon as Tan Zhihui appeared, he would leave the mountain range immediately.
When Lu Xiaoqing heard that she was also going to register for a spot along with Huang Xiaolong, she was stunned for a moment. However, she snapped back to attention and bowed respectfully.
“Your Majesty, should we accompany you?” The Chief of the Yin Crow Sect asked.
Huang Xiaolong shook his head. “There’s no need. All of you can stay with Gao Changran and continue to wait for information on Tan Zhihui.”
The more people he brought with him, the more eye-catching he would be. Huang Xiaolong decided to only bring Lu Xiaoqing along with him to register.