Chapter 3851: Haoyang City's Development

Haoyang City, on the Chaos Continent.

The streets were wide and clean, thronged with pedestrians, and shops were neatly arranged on both sides. Many cultivators wore garments embroidered with a green lotus pattern, identifying them as members of the Wang family. The Wang family had relocated tens of thousands of cultivators to Haoyang City. Zhenhai Palace, the Lan family, the Ni family, the Li family, and the Wang (汪) family also moved many cultivators here to settle in Haoyang City.

Over the past few millennia, the number of cultivators in the city had significantly increased. Occasionally, chaos beasts would launch raids, but fortunately, their numbers were small, and they were quickly dealt with.

Haoyang City was vast, fully equipped with all necessary facilities, and rich in cultivation resources. The Divine Weapon Hall was where artifact refiners crafted artifacts.

The hall was spacious and bright. Wang Qingfeng sat in the main seat, while Wang Yuyan, currently at the early True Immortal stage, was reporting to him.

"Ancestor Qingfeng, this is the raw Profound Water Jade Crystal ore recently extracted." Wang Yuyan took out a red storage bracelet and handed it to Wang Qingfeng.

Haoyang City contained a large Profound Water Jade Crystal ore vein, which the Wang family had organized personnel to mine. The raw ore needed to be refined before the Profound Water Jade Crystal could be obtained. A portion of the Profound Water Jade Crystal was submitted to the Nine Immortals Sect, another portion remained in Haoyang City, and the rest was transported back to the Tianchen Sea Domain.

Besides Profound Water Jade Crystal, they were also responsible for collecting various cultivation resources. These were either kept for their own use or sent back to Qinglian Island. On Chaos Continent, chaos beast cores were more valuable than immortal essence stones; some rare cultivation resources could only be exchanged for high-grade chaos beast cores. The Wang family regularly organized True Immortal cultivators to hunt down lone chaos beasts.

The distance from Haoyang City to Nine Immortals City exceeded one trillion li. The direct distance between Haoyang City and Golden Rainbow City was over five hundred billion li. Chaos beasts frequently appeared outside the city. Golden Rainbow City was controlled by the Meng family. The Wang family had no particular ties with the Meng family, so no direct teleportation array had been established between the two cities. Golden Crocodile City was a "Yellow" city controlled by the Qi family. Because Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan had saved Qi Hongfeng, Golden Crocodile City and Haoyang City had a direct teleportation array, allowing cultivators from both cities to travel freely, exchange goods, and trade cultivation resources.

Wang Qingfeng scanned the contents with his divine sense, a look of approval on his face, and said, "So much raw Profound Water Jade Crystal ore has been extracted? Excellent. Reward the cultivators responsible for the mining."

"Yes, Ancestor Qingfeng." Wang Yuyan affirmed, then recalled something and added, "Oh, Ancestor Qingfeng, Fellow Daoist Qi from Golden Crocodile City has invited you to a gathering. It's in half a month, and I heard many immortal artifact masters will be attending. The location is Golden Crocodile City."

When cultivators from the Qi family host gatherings, they generally invite True Immortal cultivators from Haoyang City to attend.

"Are only immortal artifact masters allowed to participate?" Wang Qingfeng asked.

"Not at all, other True Immortal cultivators can also attend," Wang Yuyan explained.

Wang Qingfeng nodded and said, "I understand. You may go." Wang Yuyan acknowledged and turned to leave.

Wang Qingfeng took out a red magic disk, injected a spell, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Lan, have Fellow Daoist Ni and the others not returned yet?"

All four gates of Haoyang City were guarded by True Immortal cultivators. Lan Fukong was responsible for guarding the East Gate, and cultivators returning to the city usually entered through the East Gate.

"Not yet, but they should be back soon! That chaos beast couldn't have gotten far. Fellow Daoists Ni, Wang, Chen, Li, and Cilei teaming up to eliminate a two-colored chaos beast at the early True Immortal stage should be no problem," Lan Fukong said. Not long ago, a two-colored chaos beast appeared near Haoyang City, and they immediately dispatched True Immortal cultivators to encircle and suppress it.

Just then, a hurried alarm sounded.

"Oh no, Fellow Daoist Wang, chaos beasts are attacking!" Lan Fukong exclaimed.

Wang Qingfeng's expression tightened, and he transformed into a streak of red light, flying out. Cultivators on the street converged towards the Green Lotus Hall. Wang family cultivators were giving instructions. The Green Lotus Hall housed the Green Lotus Diagram, a spatial Heavenly Treasure. Whenever chaos beasts attacked, cultivators below the True Immortal stage would take refuge inside the Green Lotus Diagram, which Wang Qingshan carried with him.

Soon after, Wang Qingfeng landed on the city gate. Three low-grade Immortal Exterminating Cannons were positioned on the city wall. Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan had left these three low-grade Immortal Exterminating Cannons, all deployed at Haoyang City's East Gate. Chaos beast attacks on Haoyang City consistently came from the East Gate.

Over a dozen chaos beasts appeared on the distant horizon, moving swiftly. Wang Yidao and four others rapidly flew towards Haoyang City, with the chaos beasts in close pursuit. A one-colored chaos beast with two pairs of golden bird wings on its back lunged at Wang Yidao. A thick beam of light shot out, striking the one-colored chaos beast repeatedly. The one-colored chaos beast let out a painful roar, a horrifying bloody hole appearing on its body, and it plummeted from mid-air.

With a thunderous crash, the one-colored chaos beast slammed into the ground, instantly creating a large crater amidst billowing dust. It was not dead yet, but it had lost its combat ability. Whenever flying chaos beasts approached Wang Yidao and his group of five, they were attacked by the low-grade Immortal Exterminating Cannons and fell from mid-air. The other chaos beasts, being slower than the flying ones, could not catch up to Wang Yidao and his group. They successfully escaped back to Haoyang City.

Among the dozen or so chaos beasts, most were one-colored, with one two-colored chaos beast at the mid-True Immortal stage. The two-colored chaos beast did not continue its attack; instead, it led the other chaos beasts away. The heavily injured chaos beasts that had fallen to the ground were abandoned.

"They actually used a two-colored chaos beast as bait to lure and kill us. Fortunately, we dealt with it quickly and escaped back," Cilei said with a touch of relief. Though chaos beasts haven't transformed into human forms, their intelligence is quite high.

"Don't venture too far. As long as you don't encounter a flying three-colored chaos beast, you'll most likely be able to escape back. A True Immortal stage guest elder from the Qi family pursued a chaos beast too far and was besieged by multiple chaos beasts, perishing in the process," Wang Qingfeng said. Chaos beasts are very cunning; they send low-grade chaos beasts to lure them, while their main forces lie in ambush elsewhere. Some cultivators, unwilling to give up on killing a chaos beast when it seemed within reach, pursued too far and fell into an ambush, losing their lives.

"Ancestor Qingfeng, the core." Wang Yidao took out a two-colored core and handed it to Wang Qingfeng.

The body of the two-colored chaos beast could fetch a considerable number of immortal essence stones, and its proceeds belonged to Chen Yueying and three others to divide among themselves. Wang Qingfeng nodded, put away the core, and said, "You've all worked hard. Go back and rest! If another lone chaos beast attacks, I'll send others to handle it."

Haoyang City adopted a rotation system where immortals took turns going out to hunt down lone chaos beasts. This not only honed their teamwork and increased their experience in dealing with chaos beasts but also allowed them to earn a small profit, serving multiple purposes. In addition, they also received a share of the profits from the extracted Profound Water Jade Crystal. The more Profound Water Jade Crystal mined, the greater their share, and vice versa. Prosperity for one meant prosperity for all; loss for one meant loss for all. This encouraged everyone to strive to protect the safety of Haoyang City.

Chen Yueying and the others agreed and returned to their respective residences. The alarm was canceled, and the cultivators who had entered the Green Lotus Diagram gradually emerged. Soon, the streets were bustling with people again, lively as ever, as if nothing had happened.