Chapter 786: A Longing for Mortal Virtues

"I see. It sounds like bloodlines are taken very seriously in the Devil Realm," Han Li mused.

"Power championed above all else in our Holy Realm, and weaker tribes are generally all enslaved and oppressed by more powerful ones, so the bloodline hierarchy is indeed taken very seriously, and that's even more so in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.

“Out of the Ten Hazards, only the Black Weasel King is more lenient in this regard, and that's why many of the low-grade tribes have moved here," Shi Chuankong sighed, seemingly not very pleased with the state of affairs.

Han Li offered no response to this.

At this point, the two of them had already arrived on the edge of Black Weasel City.

Up close, the city was even more majestic, and its tall city walls bordered the coastline.

There were city gates at set intervals along the city walls, and every single city gate was lined with ports where giant ships were docked, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.

"This is quite a nice city. Even though it was built by a demon beast, it looks no different from a city in the Immortal Realm," Han Li remarked.

"Among the Ten Hazards, the Black Weasel King is closest with the mortal world, and he encourages business and trade, so even though there aren't many high-grade tribes residing in his territory, their overall power is still nothing to be scoffed at," Shi Chuankong said.

"It sounds like the Black Weasel King can be referred to as a wise ruler among the Ten Hazards then," Han Li said.

"I suppose you can say that to a certain extent," Shi Chuankong replied with a peculiar look on his face.

Han Li was rather intrigued by Shi Chuankong's reaction, but he didn't ask any questions.

"Let's go," Shi Chuankong said, and the two of them flew toward the nearest city gate, where there were some soldiers clad in black armor, examining those who were entering the city.

However, the checks weren't very stringent, and Shi Chuankong approached the guards at the city gates for a brief conversation, then handed over a few black crystals, and the two of them were granted entry into the city.

Han Li made his way through the city gate, then inspected his surroundings momentarily before nodding in approval at what he saw.

The streets and buildings in the city were quite clean and well-maintained, and in particular, the streets were over a hundred feet wide and paved with very uniform and even black bricks.

There were many carriages parked on either side of the street, drawn by a type of dark green beast that had horse-like bodies, but wyrm-like heads.

The owner of one of the carriages immediately approached Han Li and Shi Chuankong.

He was a short young man with dark red scales all over his hands and feet, and he was only at the Nascent Soul Stage.

The young man had a pair of bright and intelligent eyes, and he said in an enthusiastic voice, "Is this your first time visiting Black Weasel City? Please consider hiring my carriage, it'll only cost one top-grade devil stone a day. My name is Lu Xie, and I grew up my entire life in this city, so I'm very familiar with its layout."

"Why does everyone have to travel by carriage? Is flight prohibited in the city?" Shi Chuankong asked.

"Indeed, flight is prohibited in the city by the Black Weasel King, and there are flight restrictions in the sky, so people in the city can only travel on foot or by carriage," Lu Xie replied.

Shi Chuankong exchanged a glance with Han Li, then nodded as he said, "This is indeed our first time in Black Weasel City, and we're here to buy some things. If you do a good job, I can give you two top-grade devil stones a day."

Lu Xie was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly replied, "You can count on me, Senior!"

With that, Han Li and Shi Chuankong got into the carriage, and they set off from there.

The green horse-like creatures were quite fast, and the surrounding scenery was flying past in a blur.

"Are there any prohibitions in Black Weasel City, Lu Xie?" Han Li asked while inspecting his surroundings.

"There are. The most strictly enforced one is that fighting is prohibited, regardless for what reason. Anyone who breaks this rule will be captured and stripped of their cultivation base. There's also a nightly curfew in the city, and whenever night arrives, one has to either leave the city or find an inn to stay in. Anyone who's discovered wandering the city at night will be captured and also punished very severely," Lu Xie replied.

"Why is there a nightly curfew?" Han Li asked.

Flight and battle restrictions made sense to him, but a nightly curfew was rather unexpected. For cultivators, night or day made no difference, and given how developed the business sector in Black Weasel City appeared, all of the shops had to be quite busy. The nightly curfew essentially cut operating hours by half, and that had to have quite a heavy impact.

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"The Black Weasel King mandated the nightly curfew. He says that people should go home at night, and that it's unbecoming and indecent to be wandering around at night," Lu Xie explained with a slightly awkward expression.

Han Li was a little speechless upon hearing this.

He had thought that the Black Weasel King had to have some special reason for enforcing a nightly curfew, but this was completely unexpected, and his impression of the Black Weasel King changed a little upon hearing this.

It was no wonder that Shi Chuankong had displayed such a peculiar expression when talking about the Black Weasel King earlier.

"Tell us about the city, Lu Xie," Shi Chuankong interjected.

Lu Xie was clearly very relieved that the conversation had diverged away from the Black Weasel King, and he said, "Black Weasel City is split up into nine areas, of which the three central areas are inhabited by the Black Weasel King and the Black Weasel Army directly under his command. Out of the six remaining areas, three are normal residential areas, and they're quite large, but they're inhabited solely by low-grade tribes, so there's not much to see there.

“Two of the remaining three areas are also residential areas, but reserved for high-grade tribes and powerful beings like yourselves, while the final area is the business area, where almost all of the city's best shops can be found. Almost all of the city's premium materials and devilish treasures are sold there, and a small fee is required to enter the area, but I'm sure that won't be an issue for cultivators of your caliber."

"We came to Black Weasel City on this occasion to buy some Purple Sun Warm Jade. Do you know where this material is sold?" Shi Chuankong asked.

"Purple Sun Warm Jade is a very rare resource produced in our city, and demand has always outweighed supply. On top of that, someone like me is not privy to information concerning the current market circumstances for Purple Sun Warm Jade. All I can do is take you to the best shops in the city and hope that you can find what you're looking for there," Lu Xie replied in a an apologetic fashion.

"That's fine, take us there," Shi Chuankong replied.

It wasn't like he had expected to find out anything from Lu Xie anyway, and Lu Xie hurriedly gave an affirmative response.

An hour later, the carriage drew to a halt in front of a giant city gate deep in the city.

The areas in the city were separated by some shorter city walls, and looking in through the city gate up ahead, one could catch a glimpse of a series of tall and opulent shops and throngs of people coming and going, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.

This was the city's trading area, and the carriage was stopped by some guards clad in black armor stationed at the city gate.

"Each person needs to issue one high-grade devil stone to enter the trading area, so that'll be three high-grade devil stones for the three of you," one of the guards declared.

Lu Xie turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong with a slightly awkward expression upon hearing this.

Generally speaking, this fee was always issued by the passenger, but Han Li and Shi Chuankong had only just arrived in Black Weasel City, so they were perhaps unaware of this unspoken rule, and Lu Xie hadn't informed them of this in advance.

Thankfully for Lu Xie, neither of them made a fuss, and Shi Chuankong tossed three high-grade devil stones at the armored guard, earning them entry into the trading area.

"Thank you, Senior," Lu Xie said with a grateful expression, and the carriage began to trundle its way down the street into the trading area.

Shortly thereafter, the carriage drew to a halt in front of a five-story pavilion, one that appeared rather unremarkable, but there were many customers entering and exiting the building.

Hanging above the entrance of the pavilion was a plaque that read "Floating Gold Pavilion".

"This is one of the largest shops in the city," Lu Xie introduced. "It doesn't look like it's anything special, but it's already been in operation for over ten thousand years and possesses tremendous resources. Please feel free to take a look inside, I'll wait out here for you."

Han Li and Shi Chuankong stepped off the carriage before entering the shop, and as they did so, Han Li made a point to take a subtle glance at his surroundings to ensure that there wasn't anything amiss.

As soon as they stepped through the entrance of the shop, a burst of faint devilish qi fluctuations swept over their bodies, and their vision blurred momentarily, following which they suddenly found themselves in a giant hall that was thousands of feet in size.

Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. Sure enough, there was more to the building than met the eye, and its interior was far larger than the exterior suggested.

On top of that, he had detected a sensory aura within that burst of devilish qi fluctuations just now, and that was most likely to examine their cultivation bases.

However, both he and Shi Chuankong had concealed their true cultivation bases, and an examination of this degree wasn't going to be enough to see through their guises.

The hall was lined with a series of giant display cabinets that were filled with merchandise. THe cabinets on the left contained all types of raw materials, while the ones on the right contained finished products such as pills and devilish treasures.

These cabinets were arranged in a very orderly and uniform fashion, making it very easy for customers to quickly track down the items that they were looking for.

Behind each cabinet was a green-robed employee, all of whom were serving customers with warm smiles on their faces.

All of these employees were in humanoid forms, and barely any inhuman features could be seen in them.

A beautiful green-robed female employee approached Han Li and Shi Chuankong, then said in a respectful manner, "Welcome to our Floating Gold Pavilion, seniors. We aren't qualified to serve esteemed guests at the True Immortal Stage, so please allow me to take you to an administrator."