Hua Jian initially had no real concept of the Saint Sect’s stronghold, thinking it might be something like a large inn.
But when she actually arrived at the Penglai-Wanling Stronghold, she realized just how narrow her perspective had been.
The strongholds of these two Saint Sects were actually floating cities suspended tens of thousands of meters above the ground!
Cultivators with weaker strength couldn’t even fly up here!
“This stronghold was built a thousand years ago. Back then, the Sect Leader and the Wanling Sect Leader jointly agreed to have Yaoci design and construct this large base…” Su Xiaoxiao held Hua Jian like a chick as she flew toward the stronghold in the sky, explaining its origins.
Like Ma Shijie, she had been expelled from Linlang Pavilion. After all, given her relationship with Ma Shijie, it wouldn’t make sense if Ma Shijie was expelled and she wasn’t.
However, like Ma Shijie, Su Xiaoxiao wasn’t too discouraged. It was only Linlang Pavilion, not as if she had been expelled from Penglai itself. There was no need to feel sorry for herself.
Ma Shijie had packed up and arrived at the stronghold last night, while they were a bit slower and had just set out this morning.
Su Xiaoxiao was a peak Spirit King-level cultivator, already able to walk on air. But since Linlang Pavilion was some distance from the Penglai stronghold, she still used her flying Spirit Tool.
The cultivation world nowadays was nothing like before—flying Spirit Tools had become wildly diverse. In the past, cultivators all rode flying swords, with the only difference being the size or length of the sword.
Now, flying swords were considered a nostalgic relic. Over the past several thousand years, as wars gradually subsided, many cultivators with idle energy poured their efforts into improving flying swords.
The result was that flying swords hardly resembled flying swords anymore.
Cultivators now traveled in various ways: some rode whisk Spirit Tools, others bird-shaped Spirit Tools, and some even traveled by flying ships.
Well, that last one was Hua Jian’s own description, since she had just seen a winged ship about ten meters long fly past her side.
Su Xiaoxiao told her this was an older generation of flying ships developed by the cultivation world fifty or sixty years ago. There were still many cultivators fond of these ships, buying them as daily transport.
“I’ve never seen any of these things before…” Hua Jian murmured softly.
She felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, only now realizing how vast the real world truly was.
She had thought she had already seen the full scope of the cultivation world, but it turned out the true cultivation world had never fully revealed itself to her.
Only now, led by several senior Yaochi sisters from the Saint Sect, was she beginning to glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the real world.
So many things existed in the sky, and everything she had seen before had been so limited.
“Because the place we were in before was just a Spirit Vein tributary, the chance of powerful cultivators appearing was low. Even the Saint Sect didn’t focus its attention here. If Linlang Pavilion hadn’t thought this place could gather nearby cultivators and built a branch pavilion here, there probably wouldn’t be any cultivators gathering at all,” Su Xiaoxiao calmly explained to Hua Jian.
A Spirit Vein tributary meant scarce spiritual energy. Cultivating here was far less effective than in the abundant Spirit Vein main branch. Since powerful cultivators couldn’t be retained here, the area naturally wouldn’t develop much.
Low-rank cultivators could never access these new and strange things, and high-rank cultivators would never return to this barren land once they left—an endless dead loop.
Only Linlang Pavilion, eager to squeeze money from poor cultivators, would come to such a place to set up a branch pavilion and continue to drain Spirit Stones from ordinary cultivators by exploiting old secret realms.
“Actually, Linlang Pavilion has long thought that our branch pavilion’s Spirit Stone profit efficiency is too low. They’ve been wanting to expel some people and streamline the staff. This time, Ma Shijie and I just happened to be the ones caught in the crossfire.”
“Too low efficiency… Each person has to pay a hundred Spirit Stones as an entry fee, but almost no one brings back goods worth a hundred Spirit Stones. How is that low efficiency at all?”
“Greedy and never satisfied. I’ll tell you a secret, but don’t tell anyone,” Su Xiaoxiao lowered her voice and whispered to Hua Jian, “The main pavilion’s daily Spirit Stone income equals what our branch pavilion makes in several years!”
Hua Jian’s eyes widened. As far as she knew, this Linlang Pavilion branch sent nearly a thousand cultivators into secret realms daily. Each cultivator counted as one hundred Spirit Stones… What exactly was the main pavilion doing to make that kind of money?
“And we actually have too many secret realms here. They want to cut a few and have the cultivators focus on fewer secret realms. That way, they save on the maintenance fees for several secret realms and make the competition among cultivators fiercer.”
Ah, cutting maps but increasing the number of people per map, Hua Jian finally understood. Linlang Pavilion really was ruthless.
“Then the secret realm that Ma Shijie and I managed just happened to lose the good stuff that could attract people. It’s only natural that it got shut down,” Su Xiaoxiao shrugged.
As they spoke, the two approached the floating city, where disciples from the Saint Sect on duty greeted them.
Because this stronghold was jointly owned by Penglai and Wanling Sect, each sect assigned one disciple on duty.
The Penglai disciple was an ordinary young man carrying a Ling Sword on his back, seeming like a normal person.
But the Wanling Sect disciple was different—a seductive young woman dressed somewhat revealingly, with a brightly colored little snake coiled around her exposed arm.
Honestly, Hua Jian didn’t like snakes, so she instinctively shrank her neck.
“You must be Junior Sister Su Xiaoxiao, right?” The Penglai male cultivator immediately called out Su Xiaoxiao’s name.
After Ma Shijie arrived yesterday, she had already informed the stationed disciples that Su Xiaoxiao would be coming with Hua Jian today, so he naturally remembered.
His attention was fixed on Su Xiaoxiao, while the Wanling Sect girl shot a fiercely aggressive glare at Hua Jian.
“What a cute little girl…”
Under such a stare, Hua Jian shrank her neck even more. If she weren’t currently being held by Su Xiaoxiao, she might have instinctively hidden behind her.
“Lin, don’t scare the child. Go torment your own juniors if you want!” The Penglai disciple helplessly glared at his companion.
This Wanling Sect snake girl was pure trouble. He really couldn’t understand how Wanling Sect let her become an inner disciple.
“Ah, that junior of mine, I wouldn’t dare torment her. She’s the Elder’s soft spot, can’t even touch her roughly.” Lin tapped the little snake on her arm and replied regretfully, “That kid’s also timid—she looks like she’s about to cry whenever she sees me. Not fun at all.”