Although the inner city was built inside the mountain, its streets were wide enough for ten carriages to travel side by side.
As soon as they entered, the flow of people sharply decreased, falling to less than half of that in the outer city.
However, Gu Masters could now be seen everywhere. Rank one Gu Masters were everywhere, mixed in with rank two Gu Masters, with an occasional rank three.
Ordinary mortals were very rare, after all, to enter here each person had to pay one hundred primeval stones. Many Gu Masters, even if they had personal servants attending to them, were unwilling to spend this unnecessary money.
The inner city was generally illuminated by a kind of fire-charcoal stone.
The fire-charcoal stone burned for a long time and produced no smoke. On average, every hundred steps, Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing would see a hole dug into the wall with a pile of fire-charcoal stones burning inside.
Although the heat emitted by the fire-charcoal stones was low, the continuous burning of so much charcoal still raised the temperature of the air in the inner city and made it quite dry.
Unlike the outer city, which had all sorts of buildings haphazardly, the buildings here had a unified structure. They were similar in appearance and all made of heat-resistant red stone.
Various branch roads extended out from both sides of the main street.
At the same time, every five hundred steps along the street, a giant pillar would appear.
On the surface of the pillar was a spiral stone staircase winding upwards, with railings on the outer side.
Through the stone staircase, people could go to the street on the floor above or the floor below.
The inner city was not a city in the ordinary sense, but a three-dimensional one. From top to bottom, countless streets were lined with houses, interconnected, and leading in all directions.
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing traveled deeper into the mountain. This was not yet their destination.
At a certain place, another checkpoint appeared.
The guarding Gu Masters were of a higher cultivation level, and the defenses were even more strict.
"Please stop, do you have a token?" the guard stopped Fang and Bai.
The Shang clan issued tokens with various permissions depending on the status of an individual.
"This is our first time here," said Fang Yuan.
He naturally didn't have a token.
"In that case, please pay two hundred primeval stones each," said the guard.
Fang Yuan paid the primeval stones, and the guard let them pass.
The two thus arrived at the fourth inner city.
After thousands of years of management by the Shang clan, the entire interior of the mountain had been transformed, with passageways dug out, and buildings sculpted and partitioned into districts.
Therefore, the inner city was extremely large, divided from the inside out into five districts.
The first inner city, also called the central inner city, was the political center of the Shang clan. It was also an important military site.
The second inner city, also known as the Clan City, was a residential area provided only for direct members of the Shang clan.
The third inner city had an elegant environment and fresh air, it was a high-class district.
The fourth inner city was a mid-class district. The fifth inner city was a low-class district.
Beyond that was the outer city. It had a huge flow of people and was a place for loading and unloading goods. Compared to the inner city, its management was quite chaotic.
This architectural structure was like a termite mound on Earth.
A termite mound stood four to ten meters high, and the colony lived inside. Tiny pathways interconnected, forming an extremely complex and delicate structure.
As soon as the two entered the fourth inner city, they immediately felt the air become moist and the temperature gradually drop.
The fourth inner city was a grade higher than the fifth inner city. This was not only reflected in the doubled entry tax, but also in every other aspect.
First, the lighting no longer used the cheap fire-charcoal stones, but instead a large number of a type of rank one grass Gu had been planted.
Its name was the Moonlight Creeper.
This vine-like plant attached itself to the cave walls on both sides of the street, spreading out, and could be seen everywhere.
Their roots and stems were deep blue, and their leaves were broad and large, emitting a faint, pale blue moonlight. A stretch of the passageway had thousands upon thousands of leaves, creating a continuous expanse of soft blue light.
Because of the mass of vines and leaves, the air here was damp and moisture spread. Near the ground, it settled and condensed into a mist.
The moonlight refracted in the mist, forming a hazy glow of light. Walking on the street gave one the illusion of strolling through a fairyland.
The buildings here already had carved decorations, artificial lawns, flower beds placed around, and occasionally rockeries, pavilions, and so on.
Pedestrians on the road were even rarer.
Rank two Gu Masters had become the mainstream. After all, for a rank one Gu Master, just the two hundred primeval stones at the entrance was a very significant expense.
The most obvious feeling was that walking in the fifth inner city, the streets were still noisy. Arriving here, it was much quieter.
The two of them traveled further inward until they arrived at a city gate.
"Without a token, if the two of you wish to enter the third inner city, you will have to pay six hundred primeval stones." The leader of the guarding Gu Masters was already rank three.
Fang Yuan paid the primeval stones and finally arrived at the third district.
This place was different from the fourth inner city yet again.
All the building stone used was Starstone.
This stone was a widely used auxiliary material in Gu refinement for Gu Masters. It could emit a brilliant starlight in the darkness.
The entire third inner city used Starstone. Not only the buildings, but even the streets were paved with slabs made of Starstone.
Looking around, the starlight stretched continuously, the field of vision was clear, no longer obstructed by the light mist.
The air was also incomparably fresh. There were pavilions, towers, red walls, and green tiles. They had also transplanted bamboo forests and famous trees, built rockeries, and even diverted spring water, making the streams flow gently.
The pedestrians on the streets were few and far between, quiet and pleasant, as if in a Star Palace.
"Truly rolling in wealth..." Bai Ning Bing made a rough estimate. The cost of the facilities just in the area before their eyes was an amount dizzying to her.