Chapter 1063: What Is This

What audacity!

Ye Chen took a deep breath, utterly shocked by the vastness of Youdu Gucheng and the formidable prohibitions it held. The array patterns hidden in the shadows were incredibly subtle, radiating an aura of utter destruction.

The one who built Youdu must have been a being of immense divine power, undoubtedly a figure who could pierce the heavens and traverse the earth.

Cultivators entering or leaving Youdu—whether at Tianjing, Zhun Huang, or Huangjing levels—were all on their best behavior, not daring to cause any trouble, as if deeply wary of Youdu’s master.

Ye Chen shifted his gaze from the city walls and glanced around before making his way to the city gate.

The guards at the gate were all clad in armor and armed with spears, with the lowest among them at the peak of Zhun Tianjing. This sight left Ye Chen speechless once again; even the gatekeepers here had such high cultivation, making him feel utterly inadequate.

“Esteemed fellow daoist,” Ye Chen stopped in front of one guard, cupping his hands and bowing humbly.

“What is it?” The guard glanced at Ye Chen, his tone indifferent.

“May I ask… where is this place?” Ye Chen asked with a smile, a question that made the guard pause and size him up with a strange look.

“Fellow daoist?” Seeing the guard hesitate, Ye Chen tentatively called out.

“Zhuque Xing.” The guard replied after a moment.

“Then, does this Zhuque Xing belong to Zhutian Wandui?” Ye Chen quickly followed up, hoping for a clear answer.

“Yes.” The guard’s tone remained indifferent.

“It’s Zhutian Wandui, it’s really Zhutian Wandui.” The guard’s response thrilled Ye Chen beyond words. This news was more exhilarating than anything else; after a hundred years of darkness and hardship, he had succeeded.

Beside him, the guard eyed Ye Chen’s excitement and scrutinized him again, his expression turning even stranger. This raggedly dressed person seemed completely off, to put it plainly—he looked like he had some kind of problem.

“Then, fellow daoist, do you know about Kunlun Xu?” Ye Chen, still buzzing with excitement and oblivious to the guard’s odd gaze, asked again.

“Kunlun Xu?” The guard was taken aback and shook his head in confusion.

“You don’t know?” Ye Chen was stunned, puzzled in his heart. According to what Donghuang Tai Xin had said, Kunlun Xu was renowned throughout Zhutian Wandui, yet this guard had never even heard of it.

“What about Da Luo Zhutian?”

“I don’t know.”

“Da Xia Shen Chao?”

“I don’t know.”

“Shen Dian and Jiu Huang Tian?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you think again?”

“Zhutian Wandui is boundless, with ancient stars as numerous as the hairs on an ox, and each star has countless forces. If you just throw out a name, who the hell would know it?” The guard shot Ye Chen an impatient glance.

“But those aren’t ordinary forces.” Ye Chen said earnestly.

“Then tell me, which ancient star are these ‘heavens’ and ‘halls’ of yours on? If you specify that, I might know.”

“Well…” Ye Chen coughed awkwardly. He truly didn’t know; he hadn’t realized Zhutian Wandui had so many ancient stars, let alone where Kunlun Xu and the others were located.

Thinking about it, Ye Chen felt a headache coming on. He hadn’t asked for details before coming, and now, after all the struggles to reach Zhutian Wandui, he couldn’t even find Kunlun Xu, and no one he asked had a clue.

As he pondered, Ye Chen subconsciously studied the guard.

He guessed that the guard’s cultivation was too low, limiting his experience and knowledge, which was why he hadn’t heard of Kunlun Xu.

Asking a stronger expert would be more reliable!

Ye Chen stroked his chin, muttering to himself.

Meanwhile, the guard noticed Ye Chen staring and felt uncomfortable, barking, “Do you have business or not? If not, get lost from here.”

“I do, I do.” Ye Chen chuckled awkwardly and stepped toward the entrance of Youdu.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going? Come back!” Ye Chen had barely set foot inside when the guard yanked him out. “Trying to get in without paying? Are you kidding?”

“Oh, right, I forgot about that.” Ye Chen smiled sheepishly. “How much is it?”

“Not much, just one piece.” The guard held up a finger.

“Easy enough.” Ye Chen reached into his robes, fumbled around, and pulled out a large piece of Ling Shi, which he had hastily formed on the spot—it was as big as a brick.

“Keep the change.” Ye Chen shoved the Ling Shi into the guard’s hands and casually walked toward the gate.

“You little brat, you’re messing with me!” The guard cursed from behind and dragged Ye Chen out again.

“What’s going on?” Ye Chen looked at the guard in bewilderment.

“What’s going on? What the hell is this?” The guard held up the Ling Shi, his face full of irritation as he glared at Ye Chen.

“Ling Shi, of course!”

“Ling…” The guard choked on his words. “Get lost!”

“Fellow daoist, you…”

“Scram!” Before Ye Chen could finish, the guard raised his spear, veins bulging with frustration, leaving Ye Chen completely baffled about what he had done to upset the gatekeeper.

Ye Chen knew better than to push it; taking down this guard would be simple, but there was more than one guard here, and behind them loomed the unfathomable Youdu. Even a group of Zhun Huang didn’t dare act out, so he certainly wouldn’t cause trouble. As a newcomer, it was best to tread carefully.

Under the guard’s scolding, Ye Chen scratched his head and backed away several hundred zhang, still clueless about what had happened.

If Donghuang Tai Xin had seen this, she would have been furious. The tenth emperor of Great Chu, who had fought for Great Chu, protected the myriad domains, and slain a great emperor, was now being berated by a mere gate guard.

Little friend?

While Ye Chen was lost in confusion, someone poked him with a finger, prompting him to turn around.

What he saw was a scrawny old man with yellowed teeth, hair like a bird’s nest, looking utterly disreputable from every angle.

Though the old man appeared unreliable, his cultivation was extraordinarily high—he was a genuine Zhun Huang, proving the old saying: you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“Want some treasures? I’ll sell them cheap to you.” Ye Chen was still marveling at this when the old man winked and gestured with his hands in his sleeves.

As he spoke, the old man rolled up his sleeve.

Ye Chen’s eyes lit up, realizing the old man’s sleeve contained a whole other world, like a miniature universe dotted with stars, holding various treasures—magical tools, pills, ancient scrolls, and array patterns.

The more Ye Chen looked, the more astonished he became; the treasures in the old man’s sleeve were plentiful and all of exceptional quality.

“How much for that pagoda?” Ye Chen asked, withdrawing his gaze to look at the old man.

“Not expensive, just three hundred.” The old man held up three fingers.

“Three hundred?” Ye Chen exclaimed in surprise.

“If it’s too much, I can knock it down a bit—two hundred and fifty, no less.”

“Deal.” Ye Chen was straightforward, reaching into his robes again and pulling out another brick-sized piece of Ling Shi, formed on the spot.

“What… what is this?” The old man stared at the Ling Shi in Ye Chen’s hand, stunned.

“Ling Shi, obviously!”

“Ling… Ling Shi?” The old man’s mouth twitched, and he stepped back, sizing up Ye Chen with a strange expression. Truthfully, Ye Chen’s face looked even stranger, as the old man’s reaction mirrored the guard’s exactly.

“Come here, kid.” The old man placed a hand on Ye Chen’s shoulder and looked at him meaningfully. “Be honest with Grandpa: did you just crawl out of some remote mountain?”

“I guess you could say that.” Ye Chen nodded vaguely.

“Then I get it.” The old man stroked his beard.

“What do you get?”

“Look at this stone.” The old man pulled out a palm-sized, irregularly shaped stone from his robes. It glowed brightly, and to Ye Chen’s surprise, it contained the power of heavenly origins.

“Good stuff.” Ye Chen rubbed his chin.

“Of course it’s good.” The old man grinned, breathed on the stone, and wiped it with his sleeve.

“Senior, do you have more of these stones? How many? I’ll buy them all.”

“Buy them? With what? Your junk stones? Do you even know that what I have here is money—the currency used throughout Zhutian Wandui?”

“Money… money?” Ye Chen’s mouth twitched, his expression turning hilariously complex in an instant.

In that moment, he pieced together a lot. The standard currency in Zhutian Wandui wasn’t Ling Shi, but stones like the one the old man held.

No wonder. Ye Chen scratched his head and glanced back at the gate guard. No wonder the guard had been so furious; using Ling Shi as money would make anyone want to throttle him.

Oh, great! Ye Chen had thought he could turn spiritual energy into Ling Shi and be wealthy anywhere, but now he realized he was flat broke. It was all just his own delusion—he was a complete pauper.

“Donghuang Tai Xin, your joke isn’t funny at all.” Ye Chen instinctively looked up at the hazy void. If he’d known, he would have asked her for a few million as travel funds.

“This is called Yuan Shi—remember that.” As Ye Chen wallowed in his frustration, the old man sauntered off, muttering to himself the whole way. “What bad luck. I was just nine hundred short of buying a house, and now I run into a penniless fool.”

“Yuan Shi.” Ye Chen murmured to himself, finally understanding. He had just made a total fool of himself.

Compared to Ling Shi, Yuan Shi was far more precious.

Ling Shi contained spiritual energy, but Yuan Shi held the essence of heaven and earth—a completely different level. The people of Zhutian Wandui certainly knew how to live it up, using such valuable stones as currency.

To think that the heavenly origins in even one Yuan Shi could help a Zhun Tianjing peak expert in Great Chu break through to Tianjing. After all, the reason cultivators at Zhun Tianjing peak in Great Chu couldn’t advance was the lack of heavenly origins.

And ironically, Great Chu’s heavenly origins had been sealed by Tianxuan Gate, leaving only a trace, barely enough for one person to reach peak cultivation.