Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 382: Chapter 352: Near Sea, Outer Sea

"Senior, if you plan to settle in the city, what are your requirements for a Cave Mansion?"

Chang Er seemed to have long since accepted his fate. After pouring out his grievances, he got back to his job.

Chu Mu asked, "What are the differences between the Cave Mansions in the city?"

"The Cave Mansions in the city are divided into four grades—A, B, C, and D. They’re also separated into a Housing District and a mountain cave area."

"Senior, look over here. On those nine tallest mountain peaks, the area from the halfway point up is where the A-Class Cave Mansions are. The middle section of the mountainside is for the B-Class Cave Mansions. Farther down are the C-Class Cave Mansions, and at the foot of the mountains are the D-Class..."

"The Housing District over there is also divided into several areas. The side near the lake..."

Chang Er rattled off the details with great familiarity. Chu Mu took a quick look around, a plan already forming in his mind.

"Alright, let’s head over there first."

Chu Mu nodded, pointing to one of the mountain peaks. His plan was very clear.

As for what kind of living Purgatory the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was, it had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Then please follow me, Senior."

Chang Er led the way respectfully. After about an hour, the two of them finally arrived before a magnificent, three-story pavilion that occupied dozens of acres. Behind the pavilion was a sprawling mountain range.

"Senior, this is the place."

Chang Er said cautiously, "I will wait for you at the entrance. If there’s anything you don’t understand, Senior, just call out."

Chu Mu entered the pavilion and came out only a moment later, toying with a Restriction Token in his hand. The waiting Chang Er hurried over to greet him.

"What’s the situation in this Chixia City, exactly?"

Chu Mu paused at the entrance, looking at the maze-like network of streets before him, and asked casually.

"Senior, are you asking about the powers within the city?"

Chang Er asked tentatively. Seeing the look on Chu Mu’s face, he pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "In the city, the Chen Family is the most powerful. They manage every aspect of the island."

"However, since you’ve come to Chixia Island, Senior, you should know about its special position in the Outer Sea."

"It connects the inner and outer regions, making it a central hub of the Outer Sea. A place like this naturally attracts many other powers."

"For example, there’s the Yun Xiao Business Alliance, which is very famous in the Outer Sea. Nearly thirty percent of the shops in this city belong to them."

"There’s also the Ten Thousand Beasts Zhao Family. That entire Housing District by the lake, as well as several streets to the south, all belong to the Zhao Family..."

As Chang Er rattled off the details with familiarity, a rough outline of the power structure began to form in Chu Mu’s mind.

The overall order in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World wasn’t too different from that of the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

The weak relied on the strong, the strong made the rules, and the weak obeyed those rules, offering up benefits in exchange for the space to survive.

It was just that in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, this principle was far more pronounced.

Take these Outer Sea islands for instance. The Chen Family basically never got involved directly. They stood aloof in the Cloud Realm, high above everyone else. If someone managed to snatch benefits from the jaws of a Demon Beast, the Chen Family would simply grant them nominal recognition, acknowledging their interests in the Outer Sea.

Then, you would have to hand over the majority of the benefits you’d risked your life for as tribute to the Chen Family.

It was like this in the near seas, and it was the same in the almost legendary Outer Sea.

It was a business with zero initial investment. The entire Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was working to the death for that one family.

A very logical and stable order enveloped the entire Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World in this way.

Suddenly, Chu Mu couldn’t help but think back to the Fire Attribute Spirit Vein in the Jingmen region.

A resource of at least Tier Three... if it appeared in the world, even Golden Core True Masters would likely be moved by it. A bloodbath would be inevitable.

If a Tier Three Spirit Vein were to appear here in the Vast Sea, the Chen Family would probably get involved personally.

After all, Chixia Island itself was only a Tier Three Spirit Vein.

After some brief contemplation, Chu Mu continued to familiarize himself with Chixia City in these Foreign Lands, with Chang Er as his guide.

After several consecutive days, Chu Mu finally committed the bizarre and motley city to memory.

Noon, Moon Sun Street.

Chu Mu tossed out a Spirit Stone Bag.

"Go buy yourself a Calming Pill."

Chang Er caught the Spirit Stone Bag off guard. Feeling its weight, he couldn’t hide his delight, yet he looked at Chu Mu cautiously. "Senior, isn’t this a bit too much?"

"Just take it."

Chu Mu waved his hand dismissively.

"Senior, your great kindness..."

"Alright, alright!"

Chu Mu waved his hand again, gesturing for Chang Er to leave. After bowing several more times, Chang Er finally departed, clutching the Spirit Stone Bag cheerfully.

Chu Mu glanced at Chang Er’s cheerful figure, his gaze wandering before finally settling on a magnificent pavilion not far away.

The pavilion was suspended in mid-air, dozens of feet above the ground. Amid a faint, swirling glow, a Light Ladder extended down from it. A considerable number of Cultivators were using the ladder to enter and exit the pavilion.

The pavilion was named Yun Xiao. From what he had seen, it was the largest shop in Chixia City and was said to be the headquarters of the Yun Xiao Business Alliance on the island.

A single pavilion that contained a world of goods; its fame in Chixia City was immense.

Chu Mu entered the pavilion, only to emerge a moment later. He walked along the street, occasionally ducking into roadside shops. He wandered like this for several more days before finally stopping and returning to his Cave Mansion.

His Tunneling Light flashed, and in just a moment, he landed in front of the Cave Mansion he had rented.

The Cave Mansion was located on Red Flame Peak in the Chixia Mountain Range. As a B-Class Cave Mansion, it was situated on the mountainside.

Amidst flowing mountain springs, within a tranquil bamboo forest, a quaint bamboo courtyard sat beside the spring. Behind the courtyard, a sheer cliff rose, and the entrance to a cave was faintly visible.

The entire area, spanning dozens of acres, was enveloped in an Array Prohibition. If he weren’t holding the Restriction Token, he would have found it difficult to glimpse the scene within.

’It’s a separate Array...’

Chu Mu was slightly surprised, but looking back at the bizarre city of Chixia, he understood.

Chixia City had no City Defense Array to speak of. The true Grand Array was the Island Protection Array.

’If such a magnificent Grand Array were to be divided into smaller, subsidiary branches, the amount of work required would be immense.’

’A Tier Two Earth Attribute Array...’

He sensed it briefly. As his Magical Power flowed into the Restriction Token, the Array Prohibition shifted, and a gateway appeared. Chu Mu stepped through it.

A bamboo forest, a mountain spring, a bamboo house.

The scenery outside the Cave Mansion was clear at a glance.

But the true Cave Mansion behind the bamboo house was another world entirely.

The cave extended into the belly of the mountain. Its walls had been solidified into steel using a Gold Attribute Technique, then inscribed with Array Prohibition and Artifact Patterns, fusing the entire cave into a single, integrated whole.

The Cave Mansion was not much different from others he had seen.

A Secluded Meditation Chamber, a place for Magic experiments, an Alchemy Room, an Artifact Room...

As a B-Class Cave Mansion, its Spiritual Qi was naturally quite dense. It was also worth mentioning that there was an Earth Fire Room inside, connected to the mountain’s Earth Fire.

After a quick tour to confirm that there was nothing out of the ordinary, Chu Mu exited the cave and stood in the bamboo forest, surveying his surroundings.

He pondered for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, his Magical Power flowed out, clearing a patch of empty ground beside the mountain spring.

He sent his Divine Sense into his Storage Ring. The next second, jade-black soil poured out onto the empty ground, forming a plot of Spirit Soil about ten meters long and wide.

Immediately after, Spirit Medicines of varying ages landed on the Spirit Field. Chu Mu got busy, carefully planting each one.

Although he had never systematically studied the Spirit Plant System, he still had some experience with Spirit Medicines.

He was well-versed in how to plant and cultivate them, and even how to maintain the quality of a Spirit Field.

In the Great Chu Inland Cultivation Immortal World, Spirit Fields were primarily created with Spirit Soil as the core, supplemented by a fusion of various Spiritual Materials to ultimately create the soil for the field.

This Spirit Field soil was also divided into Grades; the higher the Grade, the more effective it was for the growth of Spiritual Plants.

The one before him, for example, was a Tier Two Lower Grade Luofu Spirit Field. It was a type of Black Soil Spirit Field produced by the East Lake Xie Family, created using Tier One Upper Grade Black Spirit Soil as its core, supplemented with various Spiritual Materials, and processed through a series of complex procedures.

The specific method was unknown, but the Luofu Spirit Field was quite famous in the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

Back when he was roaming around East Lake, he had used his connections to purchase a good amount of it for the purpose of cultivating Spirit Medicines.

However, as he had been constantly wandering, the cultivation had been continuously postponed.

After several days of hard work, Chu Mu finally finished planting the hundred-odd Spirit Medicines. The not-so-large Spirit Field was now densely packed with all kinds of Spirit Medicines and Spiritual Plants.

’The Spirit Field is a little small. I’ll have to expand it.’

Chu Mu muttered to himself as he sized up the Spirit Field. With a flick of his fingers, dozens of Jade Scroll Books floated in the air.

These Jade Scroll Books were all things he had acquired in Chixia City.

They included records on the customs and culture of the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, maps of the Outer Sea, various miscellaneous records, and Bloodline Techniques.

The most numerous, of course, were the Pill Recipes he urgently needed.

In his few days in Chixia, he had obtained eight Pill Recipes, all of which were Tier Two.

Since the Pill Recipes came from Chixia, they were all, without exception, structured around Demon Beasts as the core ingredients.

In other words, he needed a sufficient number of... Demon Pills.

Chu Mu seemed lost in thought. He raised a hand and picked up one of the Jade Scrolls, which contained a map of the Near and Outer Seas.

The Vast Sea was boundless. The so-called "Near Sea" and "Outer Sea" were merely terms used by the Cultivators of the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

The so-called Near Sea referred to the sea region extending for about a million li from the Sea Border.

This sea region had been explored for many years.

While Demon Beasts weren’t nearly as extinct as they were in the Great Chu Inland, most High-Tier Demon Beasts had also vanished from the Near Sea.

The presence of Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World Cultivators was also dense across the many islands of the Near Sea.

The entire Near Sea could be considered a relatively safe region.

And the so-called Outer Sea referred to the boundless, vast ocean beyond the Near Sea.

Although many islands in the Outer Sea were occupied by Cultivators, it was clear that compared to the Endless Vast Sea, the places Cultivators could set foot were merely a drop in the ocean.

Given the boundlessness of the Vast Sea, one could only imagine how many Demon Beasts lived within it, and how many truly terrifying existences there were.

If the Near Sea offered some guarantee of safety, the Outer Sea was clearly a place of complete lawlessness.

Chu Mu thought silently. According to the information he had gathered, ordinary Vast Sea Cultivators generally limited their activities to the Near Sea region.

Only those who were both highly skilled and daring would venture into a perilous place like the Outer Sea.

Both means and Cultivation were indispensable.

Moreover, if he remembered correctly, there was a Teleportation Array on Chixia Island that led to the Outer Sea.

Chu Mu gazed down from the mountain. From the height of Red Flame Peak, he had a panoramic view of the entire city.

The Teleportation Array to the Outer Sea was located within the palace complex in the center of the city.

After staring for a moment, he withdrew his thoughts, his gaze shifting to survey his Cave Mansion before turning back to the Jade Scroll Books floating before him.

He leaped into the stone pavilion in the bamboo forest. As he sat down, he picked up another Jade Scroll. Sending his Divine Sense inside, he became immersed in the information it contained.

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