Chapter 1101: The Ferry Pilots

In the Fifth Star Ring, the passage of time was calculated by means of the little vortexes that would appear in the red aurora in the sky. When 1,000 vortexes appeared, it counted as one year. After that, the aurora vortexes would disappear, and a new year would begin.

At the moment, there were 753 vortexes in the red aurora.

Xu Qing was currently looking up at the vortexes. This was the thirtieth vortex-day in which he had been traveling. If he traveled at this speed in Revered Ancient, he would have been able to go from the imperial capital of humankind all the way to Sea-Sealing County. But here, he was still on the border of the south of the Fifth Star Ring.

The lands were still swampy. The Fifth Star Ring was massive.

At least I’ve finally reached my destination.

He looked up ahead in the swamp to a majestic city.

The city was the color black, and beneath the light of the aurora, it looked like a sleeping beast. In the gloom, it was hard to see the entirety of the city with the naked eye. In fact, it was so large that, from what Xu Qing could tell, it was like one of the prefectures back home.

In the memories of the Imperial Sovereign’s servant, this city... was actually considered rather small in the south of the Fifth Star Ring. There were a lot of cities like this in the south, but there were also many that were larger.

Most cities controlled by the servant’s clan were like this one. As for the larger cities, given his status and cultivation base, he had never seen any of them. For his entire life, he had lived in the remote parts of the south.

As for the clan his lord and master had belonged to, Xu Qing had learned something about it during the soulsearch. Although that clan had some sizable territory in the periphery of the south, its patriarch was only a Quasi-Immortal Grand Emperor. In other words, they didn’t really count as a domineering organization. There were other such forces in the south.

It seems to me my previous understanding was a bit flawed,

Xu Qing thought as he looked at the city. Given what had played out at the spirit mine, he had assumed that since the guardian was an Imperial Sovereign, the strongest member of the clan would probably be one of the legendary Summer Immortals. As a result, he had really put his guard up.

But clearly, Summer Immortal was a level of personhood considered uncommon no matter where you went.

I still need to be careful. There are as many powerful experts in the Fifth Star Ring as there are clouds in the sky.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Qing headed straight toward the city.

Given the current level of Xu Qing’s cultivation base, it was an easy thing to alter his physical appearance and aura, plus hide his cultivation base level, so that he looked like the Imperial Sovereign’s servant. Considering he also had the servant’s identity medallion, it was easy to get into the city. He didn’t run into any obstacles.

Before long, he was through the city gate. There were people everywhere, most of them being cultivators. Mortals were in the minority.

There were lots of shops, and a buzz filled the air.

Given Xu Qing’s past experiences, going into this city and seeing so many cultivators left him feeling a bit dazed. He had never seen anything like this, not even back in the imperial capital of humankind back in Revered Ancient. There were just so many people.

Without even realizing it, Xu Qing started feeling like a stranger in a strange land. That was just human nature. Sometimes wide-open spaces will feel unfamiliar to people, but the reverse can also be true. Crowds of people can leave one feeling like a stranger.

But Xu Qing had grown up traveling to all sorts of places, so despite that feeling, he managed to stay calm and just blend into the crowd.

He spent some time analyzing the people around him. He tried to identify ways that he was different, then make adjustments so that he would fit in. For about half of a vortex-day, he spent time studying the accents, mannerisms, and other nuanced differences between himself and the local cultivators.

From the conversations he overheard, he was also able to get a sense of what things were like in the Fifth Star Ring and in this specific city. Although the information came in bits and pieces, he managed to get more than enough as he searched for a specific type of shop.

At the moment, he was standing just outside the type of shop he had been looking for. It had three floors and a very luxurious facade on the outside. A lot of cultivators were coming in and out. Inside, he could see rows of shelves filled with all sorts of magical treasures. All of them were sealed so that they couldn’t be taken away, but at the same time, had accompanying jade slips with descriptions of the items used. This place was obviously a shop that sold magical treasures.

Xu Qing walked into the store and looked around the first floor at the various items for sale. After a moment, he sighed inwardly. Back in Revered Ancient, magical treasures were rare, and most of them would be precious treasures that could form the backbone of an entire sect. For example, Seven Blood Eyes had those blood-colored eye treasures. To find random treasures unaccounted for was even rarer, and most of them were just fragments. Most of the time, what you found unaccounted for were really just magical devices. But this shop had all sorts of magical treasures.

Xu Qing thought back to Revered Ancient.

Most of the magical treasure fragments back in Revered Ancient actually come from the gods. Perhaps if Eminent Desolation never came to Revered Ancient, it would have ended up similar to this place. But as it stands, there’s a huge difference between the two.

What’s more, there’s another reason Revered Ancient never became like this. And that’s because the Summer Immortals reached a dead end in Revered Ancient. But here in the Fifth Star Ring, it’s been a long time since they found the path leading beyond Summer Immortal. That’s why this is such a flourishing place.

Xu Qing didn’t spend too much time browsing the magical treasures. Though they were nice, given his current level, he didn’t need any of the things on the first floor.

Soon he proceeded to the second floor of the shop. That was where he found what he was looking for. It was a map of the Fifth Star Ring.

One of the salesgirls on the second floor noticed Xu Qing looking at a jade slip that was a Fifth Star Ring map. Walking over, she smiled and said, “Maps like that are very expensive. And that’s truer the more detailed they are. Senior, that particular one is a very detailed map of the south. However, I have to warn you ahead of time that it’s a copy. What’s more, it has a warding spell on it that prevents it from being copied again.”

Xu Qing looked away from the jade slip. “I need more than just the south,” he said coolly.

The salesgirl’s eyes lit up and she flashed another pretty smile. “We do indeed have higher-level maps like that here at the Immortal Treasure Palace. We have branch locations throughout the Fifth Star Ring, so it’s only natural that we have maps of all sorts. Senior, exactly what type of map are you looking for?”

Xu Qing thought for a moment then looked at her. “I want the entire Fifth Star Ring, including information about all the organizations and all the chosen. I want something very comprehensive.”

The woman smiled until her eyes were slits. Inside, she was speculating that Xu Qing was probably involved in the Trial of the Hunt. Those were the only type of people who would want a map like that. After all, he was essentially asking for a map that would have information about all of the enemies he would be up against from throughout the star ring.

And of course, the people who were part of the Trial of the Hunt were all killers to the core. With that thought in mind, the woman became a bit more respectful.

“We do have maps like that here in the Immortal Treasure Palace. But if you calculate the cost in immortal jade, it’s quite high....”

Xu Qing flashed his hand to reveal a huge pile of immortal jade pieces. Then he put them away and looked calmly at the salesgirl.

“Please, follow me to the third floor, Senior,” she said quickly.

He nodded and followed her up. The third floor was less crowded. It was full of partitioned areas where business could be conducted safely and privately.

The salesgirl led him into one such partitioned area, then bowed and left. Some time passed, whereupon she returned with a silver tray. Atop the silver tray was a white jade slip.

Xu Qing waved his hand, causing the jade slip to fly over to him. He quickly scanned it with divine will. A huge map appeared in his mind’s eye. It showed the east, west, south and north, and included information about all the sects and clans. It also had details about local conditions and customs. It also listed information about local chosen.

It was very detailed. That said, most of the information was blurred out by a warding spell so that you couldn’t read it until you bought it.

Xu Qing was pleased. Retracting his divine will, he wasted no time in handing over a large amount of immortal jade to buy the map. The salesgirl respectfully escorted him out, and soon he disappeared into the crowd.

Once safely away in the crowd, Xu Qing changed his appearance and aura a few times. After he was sure that no trouble had arisen because of his purchase, he settled on the appearance of an ordinary cultivator and just let the crowd carry him along. At the same time, he started taking in the basic information from the map.

The Immortal Capital is in the very middle. It’s a holy place that you can’t get information about.

There are four regions on either side of it, to the east, south, west, and north.

Although they’re often called regions, they’re actually entire planetary systems. And each of them is further divided into east, west, south, and north. However, because this entire place is the Fifth Star Ring, people tend to name things based on the perspective of the star ring as a whole.

Each of the four great planetary systems is home to many sects and clans.

The most orthodox of the organizations are as follows: the Grand Immortal Mountain in the southern planetary system; the Sword Immortal School in the northern planetary system; the Star Ring Pagoda in the eastern planetary system; and the Dao Immortal Sect in the western planetary system. The reason those four groups are considered the most orthodox is that they are led by Lower Immortal patriarchs who have been appointed by the Immortal Capital as heavenly inspectors.

Outside of the Immortal Capital in the Fifth Star Ring, there are a total of sixteen Lower Immortals serving as heavenly inspectors! Four of them are leaders of those major sects. But the other twelve are incarnated as heavenly bodies that serve as inspectors in the aurora in various assigned locations.

Thanks to the information from the map, Xu Qing was finally starting to get a fair picture of what the Fifth Star Ring was like. He was also able to determine where exactly he was.

I'm on the outer edge of the southern planetary system, close to the western planetary system. In fact, I’m very close to the border, which is formed by the God Blood River.... According to the description, it’s supposedly a river made from the blood of gods. There are some dangerous and gruish entities in that river, such that only someone with a Grand Emperor cultivation base can cross it.

The God Blood River forms the border between the west and the south, and ordinarily speaking, you can’t get across it. Cultivators who want to get to the other side have to take ferries....

Because of that, there’s a unique profession on the river. They’re called the ferry pilots.... Only a ferry pilot can get you safely across the God Blood River. And that’s because the ferry pilots all come from the Immortal Capital. Apparently, they’re convicts who committed crimes there, and as part of their sentence, they have to serve as ferry pilots.

The cost of passage across the river isn’t spirit stones or immortal jade. It’s longevity.

The first time you cross the river, you have to give the ferry pilot six days of longevity. That’s because the journey takes six days.

The second time you cross the river, the cost increases. It becomes a sixty-year-cycle.

You can’t go a third time. And that’s because the cost of a third trip is all of your longevity.

Upon seeing that information, Xu Qing’s heart pounded.