Chapter 481: Looking Openly

The city wasn't solely composed of buildings that conformed to human aesthetics; some houses were also oddly shaped. To save trouble, some simply brought over the skull of an unknown giant beast, slightly modified it, and used it as a house. Others used the skeletons of gigantic snakes, coiling them into towers that, with some interior and exterior decoration, became perfectly habitable. Some even built nests in ancient trees. In essence, anyone capable of establishing a residence in such a manner within the city was generally a demon cultivator of considerable status in the Great City.

The city's interconnected roads, which would otherwise have been quite orderly, twisted and turned whenever they encountered these peculiar buildings, yet still had to pass directly in front of their entrances. Buildings featured a variety of roofs: tiled, thatched, feathered, bark, and even sparkling gemstone roofs. Some structures had walls but no roof, favoring an open-air design.

Those who controlled the city resided on the mountain in its center. The pavilions and towers at the summit exuded an ethereal aura, while the structures descending from the peak appeared unrestrained—including caves, shanties, and a sense of chaotic stacking—giving off a sinister, demonic vibe from a distance. The grand architecture at the summit seemed to suppress the malevolence below, also symbolizing the order within the city. Order was crucial; if it collapsed, no one would return, and no amount of promises would be believed.

Outside the city lay rolling mountains and an endless expanse of grassland, undulating like green waves. Heart-wrapping grass, a giant plant reaching two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) in height, had tough, trailing leaves that one could climb onto and lie down to sleep. Ribbon-like roads wound across the grassland, where carriages pulled by Scaled Steeds galloped back and forth, and other Scaled Steeds grazed.

The Scaled Steeds possessed conical, serrated heads, upright ears like black leather, and flicked black forked tongues. Their bodies were covered in fine scales resembling snake skin, their eyes were like sapphires, and their bodies were man-high with leopard-like torsos, lion tails, and sturdy iron hooves. They were swift as wind and possessed exceptional load-bearing capacity, able to travel a thousand li (approximately 500 km) in a day. Here, they fed on heart-wrapping grass, easily tearing open its tough outer skin with a single bite and then gnawing on the tender, bamboo-shoot-like core, layer by layer. Beneath the rustling, fallen heart-wrapping grass in the prairie, a Scaled Steed was likely grazing. The lingering mist beneath the grassland had not entirely dispersed, drifting towards the road, only to be occasionally swept away by passing carriages.

On the mountain within the city, occasional streaks of light soared high and dipped low, either departing into the distance or arriving from afar.

Dong...

A single bell toll from the city's mountaintop reverberated in all directions, and the rising wind caused the waves of the grassland to dance. Shi Chun, leaning against the doorframe, came to his senses. He looked up; it was the noon bell, precisely midday. Two children, holding pinwheels, ran past the doorway, giggling hand in hand. In the window of the building opposite, a spirit cat guarded the sill, curled up and dozing. Through the window diagonally opposite, one could see demonic bats hanging upside down from the rafters inside. On a nearby eaves, a large centipede crawled, seemingly patrolling the house for its owner, or perhaps chasing after children in the street from the rooftop, its eyes gleaming with an eerie light.

Third Miss Dong Liangying emerged from the backyard, carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers her younger brother had just gathered that day. She walked behind the counter, filled a vase with water from a pot, and arranged the flowers. Daily duties at the counter, repeating the same tasks, were monotonous, so she appreciated such floral decorations to bring a little more beauty and freshness into her life. Dressed in a goose-yellow gown, with a slender waist and brows as graceful as painted strokes, her features exuded youthful radiance. With bright eyes and pearly teeth, she had just turned nineteen—remarkably young in the cultivation world, at an age like a flower bud, with a cultivation level of initial martial arts mastery. With limited cultivation resources, her progress, accumulated little by little, was naturally modest. For ordinary people with fantasies but no ambition to act, who merely sought a stable life, their so-called cultivation was simply a means to strengthen their bodies and prolong their lives.

Her gaze inadvertently fell upon Shi Chun's back, leaning against the doorframe. Her eyes slightly narrowed. As she slowly lowered her head to gently smell the flowers, supporting the vase, she used the bouquet to conceal her scrutinizing gaze. They weren't just acquaintances anymore; this Wang Ping had been here for a year already. A year was neither a long nor a short time, in terms of getting along. The family generally approved of him, the only one with slight reservations being her father. What was wrong with someone who was both thrifty, capable, and proper? This, however, was precisely where her father occasionally harbored doubts. While finding such a good deal was beneficial for their family, her father's philosophy was that there were no easy bargains in the world. Still young, her views naturally didn't align with her father's. She felt his ideas were too harsh, believing no one in the world was perfect.

The only thing that struck her as odd about Shi Chun was that no matter how they interacted, he seemed to maintain an invisible distance from their family, even though his words and actions conveyed friendliness. Initially, she thought this was fine; it put the family at ease. But as time went on, she began to feel it wasn't ideal. With three women in the family and no other men besides Shi Chun—who was also quite handsome and possessed a calm, detached aura not seen in their neighbors—it would defy human nature to claim that after living together day in and day out, the three women felt nothing at all. Moreover, Shi Chun was quite poor, which made it easy for people to think there wouldn't be any serious issues.

Dong Liangying, presiding at the front desk, had heard occasional taunts suggesting Shi Chun was angling to become a live-in son-in-law. However, Shi Chun's words and actions drew a clear boundary, and the daughters, having grown up in such a disciplined household, naturally kept to their roles. Thus, there was no ambiguity between them, maintaining a pristine and pure atmosphere. Therefore, Dong Liangying would only occasionally observe Shi Chun discreetly like this, pondering what he might be lost in thought about while leaning by the door. No man would stay here forever just for this small amount of money, would he? He was bound to leave eventually, wasn't he? Her sisters also speculated that he would probably leave sooner or later.

Suddenly, a tall man with thick eyebrows and large eyes appeared at the doorway. Dong Liangying recognized him as Gao He, a friend of Wang Ping and a former colleague from the stables. After Wang Ping started working here, Gao He frequently visited the bookstore to read, often stressing that, like Wang Ping, he was fond of books. He occasionally cadged a meal, becoming quite familiar with the owner's family.

Wu Jinliang, who had just run up the steps, ignored Shi Chun for a moment and instead looked inside. His eyes met Dong Liangying's, and he waved, calling out, "Third Miss, I'm taking Wang Ping to buy a few things. We'll be right back."

Dong Liangying brushed her hands together and, addressing Shi Chun who had turned to look, said, "I'll watch things here. It's lunchtime, so come back soon."

Shi Chun bowed slightly in thanks. It was fine for him to be away for a little while; his low wages afforded him this small freedom. Before turning to leave, Wu Jinliang couldn't resist glancing back at Dong Liangying several more times, sighing inwardly, "This guy, there's just no comparing. He reads books and gets to live in a house with three beautiful women. Where's the justice in that?"

Once outside the bookstore, he exhaled, "So the saying 'in books, one finds beauty like jade' is true."

Shi Chun couldn't be bothered with his fanciful thoughts.

After they passed through the main street and entered a secluded area, Wu Jinliang lowered his voice, "News from home: An Wuzhi's cultivation has broken through to the Earth Immortal realm. Damn it, the progress aided by this divine fire attribute is too fast! At this rate, I really don't know what realm they'll reach before their cultivation returns to a normal pace." Shi Chun couldn't answer this question either. There was no precedent to refer to; currently, the only previous case they knew of was Situ Gu, who had absorbed six divine flames. For those who had absorbed ten or twenty, they truly had no one to compare against. Tong Mingshan and Zhu Xiangxin's cultivations had also broken through to the Great Attainment of Human Immortal realm. Their overall progress was significantly slower than An Wuzhi's. Whether this was due to An Wuzhi's superior cultivation talent or an advantage in his combat techniques, they were unsure.

In any case, it was good that their own people were progressing quickly in cultivation. However, this progress wasn't achieved by the divine fire's power alone; it required immense cultivation resources. Over three years, nearly two billion had been spent on Tong Mingshan and the other two. Though it was a painful expenditure, Shi Chun continued to fully support their cultivation advancement. Following Tong Mingshan's clumsy performance in the artifact refining competition, Shi Chun produced several fire-attribute cultivation methods for the trio to choose from. These were cultivation techniques secretly hidden within the remains brought out from the lakeside tower in the Divine Fire Domain. He allowed each of them to select a method suitable for their own practice. These cultivation methods of ancient grand cultivators were likely far superior to their original sect's techniques. Of course, if there was a good cultivation method, he would prioritize Wu Jinliang; that went without saying.

However, out of the nine cultivation methods from the tower, six were fire-attribute. Only three were available for Wu Jinliang to choose from, which essentially meant no real choice. It still came down to which one suited him best, as even the best technique was useless if it didn't match one's talent and couldn't be mastered. After experimenting with different methods, Wu Jinliang ultimately chose a cultivation method called 'All-Forms Technique'. Shi Chun then kept this technique from being widely transmitted, offering the other two methods only to other members of the Mingshan Sect to see who might be suitable for their cultivation. Chu Jingting politely declined. He originated from the 'Azure Ripple Sect' and practiced water-attribute cultivation methods. To switch to a completely different attribute would require him to relinquish his current cultivation and elemental source to re-cultivate from scratch. He was unwilling to endure that suffering or abandon the cultivation he had painstakingly accumulated over many years.

Wu Jinliang, too, had suffered greatly while re-cultivating another method. Reforming his elemental source was an unpleasant experience, and he had even considered giving up, especially since he was now wealthy and free from worries about food and clothing. He persevered only under Shi Chun's strict reprimand and pressure, taking nearly two years to successfully reshape his elemental source. It was only after he crossed that threshold and truly embarked on the cultivation of the 'All-Forms Technique' that Shi Chun quietly took him away from Sheng Shen Continent's Royal Capital, essentially personally overseeing Wu Jinliang through that difficult stage.

At this point, Shi Chun, who had been contemplating for a while, felt a slight sense of crisis. With his subordinates' cultivation advancing so rapidly, the future situation seemed uncertain. In the short term, they might remember his kindness or rely on the cultivation resources he provided, but what about the future? Could he expect someone destined for greatness to always remain subservient to him? Thinking of this, he felt a restless urge to emerge from seclusion and found himself missing the demonic ways.

After careful consideration, he suddenly said, "I've been searching here for over a year, and still no clues for 'Death-Defying Incense.' Wasting time like this is not a solution; we need to change our approach."

Wu Jinliang immediately knew he had another idea and asked, "What do you mean?"

Shi Chun mused, "If the person connected to the 'Death-Defying Incense' is truly hidden in this area, and we can't find them covertly, then perhaps we should try a more overt search."

Wu Jinliang was curious, "How do we search overtly?"

Shi Chun casually grabbed a small biscuit box and handed it to him, saying, "Actually, I have some 'Death-Defying Incense' myself. Take a whiff."

"Huh?" Wu Jinliang looked bewildered, his face filled with questions. He quickly took the box, opened the lid, and saw a black ointment. After examining it, he brought it to his nose and inhaled gently. He indeed smelled a refreshing, subtle fragrance. He couldn't help but ask skeptically, "This can't be 'Death-Defying Incense,' can it? The legendary fragrance should be much stronger than this."

Shi Chun replied indifferently, "If a shop announced it had 'Death-Defying Incense,' someone unfamiliar with it, like you, would react normally upon smelling it. But what if someone who *does* understand 'Death-Defying Incense' smelled it?"

"What reaction..." Wu Jinliang muttered, then suddenly realized, understanding that what he held was not Death-Defying Incense at all. "You mean, we bait them out? And then, whoever reacts unusually, we investigate them specifically?"

Shi Chun took the small biscuit box back, closed it, and put it away. "If I were that person connected to the 'Death-Defying Incense,' upon hearing that a shop in the city was also displaying 'Death-Defying Incense,' I'd surely be tempted to come and see for myself. There's nothing to lose by looking."

With that, he suddenly turned around, no longer heading into the secluded depths but returning towards the bustling main street they had come from. With his back to Wu Jinliang, he instructed, "It's not good for you or me to appear personally. Send a message to call Chu Jingting, Lao Changtai, and Xiao Sheng to handle this matter." Given his current strength, even from this distance, he could transmit his intentions and will to Sheng Shen Continent's Royal Capital at any time. He only needed to arrange two or three people near two or three 'Xun Gates' to act as communication nodes. The person receiving the message would immediately pass through a Xun Gate and relay it to the next node. The expensive round-trip fees for entering and exiting the Xun Gates were no longer a concern.