Maple Forest City was more prosperous and flourishing than any city
Yet within the
Yang Kai was genuinely impressed.
The only thing that put him off was that entering the city required a payment of ten low-grade Source Crystals!
It made his heart ache terribly.
He wasn't the same as he had been in his home Star Domain—now, every single Source Crystal was extraordinarily precious to him, and he naturally couldn't afford to spend them carelessly.
The Source Crystals he had on hand had all been taken from the spatial rings of Byru Sect disciples, and there weren't that many—only a few thousand.
Originally, there had been four spatial rings, one of which had even belonged to a Dao Source Realm First Stage martial artist. But Yang Kai had given three of them to
That ring contained, besides the few thousand Source Crystals, only two Artifacts of rather unremarkable quality and some miscellaneous materials that weren't of much use.
After entering Maple Forest City, he didn't rush to find a place to stay. Instead, he wandered around, observing and listening to the conversations of the martial artists nearby, gathering intelligence that might prove useful to him.
After a full day, he had harvested a fair amount of information.
Just as he had suspected, the martial artists in Maple Forest City weren't particularly strong. Even some of the smaller forces in the surrounding area didn't have any truly formidable experts to their names.
The City Lord,
As for the smaller forces in the surrounding area, most of them also only had Dao Source Realm First Stage martial artists holding the fort. The sole exception was the Blazing Flame Hall, which had a Dao Source Realm Second Stage expert capable of quietly rivaling Maple Forest City's City Lord's Mansion.
However, Yang Kai knew that Hall Master Luo of the Blazing Flame Hall had already perished in Yuqing Mountain. Before long, the balance of power around Maple Forest City was bound to shift.
The tragedy of Yuqing Mountain had already reached Maple Forest City and was spreading across the entire Southern Domain at tremendous speed. After all, a Sacred Spirit, the Phoenix, had appeared there. It was bound to attract the attention and investigation of many powerful experts.
Of course, none of that was something Yang Kai needed to concern himself with. All he cared about was whether Maple Forest City could serve as a temporary foothold for him.
From what he could see, it would do just fine.
The lack of overly powerful martial artists meant he wouldn't face any great threats. He would have ample time to grow stronger at his own pace.
Having gathered enough intelligence, Yang Kai immediately decided to remain in Maple Forest City for the time being. At the very least, he needed to first convert the power within his body into Source Force before making any other plans.
When night fell, he made his way to a side hall adjacent to the City Lord's Mansion, where he found the on-duty personnel and went through the process of obtaining his identity token and completing the necessary formalities.
After all the hassle, another three thousand Source Crystals had been spent, which made Yang Kai grit his teeth in pain.
Still, though the cost was steep, it meant he could peacefully reside in Maple Forest City for a year. On top of that, he had secured a rather decent cave dwelling.
The cave dwellings had been built by Maple Forest City's City Lord's Mansion and were available for rent to any visiting martial artist, though the fees varied depending on the quality of the dwelling.
Yang Kai hadn't been stingy about this, because he knew that the speed of one's Cultivation was closely tied to having a good environment. So he had directly rented one of the higher-tier cave dwellings.
After leaving the side hall and going through yet another round of inquiries to locate the cave dwelling, he finally arrived at his new residence.
Using his identity token to activate the dwelling's protective restrictions, Yang Kai stepped inside.
Called a cave dwelling, it was really just a well-constructed house, outfitted with several sophisticated restrictions designed to prevent outsiders from prying in.
Yang Kai took a walk around and found it satisfactory. The spiritual energy within the dwelling was considerably denser than in the rest of the city—presumably due to some kind of spirit-gathering formation—and there were several rooms inside, each serving a different purpose, for him to use.
He didn't have particular demands in this regard. As long as he had a place to stay, that was enough.
The night passed without incident. Yang Kai simply sat cross-legged in meditation, simultaneously converting his power into Source Force and restoring his spirit.
It wasn't until the next day that he stepped out of the cave dwelling.
Walking along the streets, watching the diverse array of martial artists and the bustling foot traffic, Yang Kai's thoughts drifted.
When he had first entered the Star Domain all those years ago, his mood had been remarkably similar—filled with curiosity and a desire to explore, step by step growing from weakness to strength.
If he could do it then, he could certainly do it now!
With that thought, Yang Kai's gaze turned resolute.
It was just… he wondered how his two great allies were faring, and where Io and Ancestor Ghost and the others were now. If they hadn't been separated, combining everyone's strength would surely be better than facing everything alone.