On the second day.
As expected, Wei Yang came to Nan Qiu garden and brought Fang and Bai to tour Shang clan city.
“Our Shang clan city is number one in the southern border in terms of size. Shang clan has operated here for thousands of years, transforming the entire Shang Liang mountain. Here, there are over ten thousand shops, and hundreds of thousands of people.”
“Both of you have not eaten yet, I’ll bring you to a famous breakfast shop, please follow me.”
Fang and Bai followed Wei Yang, along the stone pillar and descended.
After three layers, they came to a shop, called Early Spring.
Thousand layer agate cake, crab roe bun, golden field pancake, snow porridge…
“Shang clan city, from inner to outer, has first, second, third, fourth, fifth and outer city. If they were classified even more clearly, there are many zones as well, food zone, gambling rocks zone, caretaking zone, red-light zone and others.” Wei Yang introduced.
…
“This is the culinary zone, with many restaurants mostly owned by Gu Master chefs. The delicacies are endless.”
…
“This is the caretaking zone, most Gu Masters have excessive Gu worms, so they place them here for caretaking. The price is determined by situations, but ordinarily, a rank one Gu costs eighty primeval stones a month.
…
“This is the Gu fighting zone, this place is solely for Gu fights, Gu Masters cannot interfere, and can only control their Gu. If you two have appropriate Gu worms, you can give it a try.”
…
“This is the red-light zone, having the most number of brothels in the entire Shang clan city. Many Gu Masters come here to relax. You two have come here through the caravan, you must know the immense pressure during the journey. Here you can find women, men, and even Gu Masters. Are the two of you interested?”
…
As Wei Yang brought them around, Bai Ning Bing gained much insight to this world.
Shang clan city is bustling and flourishing, causing many to have lingering memories even after they leave.
A day’s time is too short, while Shang clan city is too huge, even if the three used horse carriages to travel, they cannot even cover one percent of the entire city.
On the third day, Wei Yang came over again to attend to Fang and Bai.
“This is the substitute refinement zone. You are both Gu Masters, you naturally understand the difficulties in refining Gu. To us, what we fear most is encountering a strong-willed wild Gu worm during refinement, or a Gu that an expert had left behind. The higher the rank of the Gu, the harder it is to refine. Back in the day, Empress Wu Ji spent eleven years just to refine a rank five dragon strength Gu. Thus, substitute refinement is a necessity, and has always been in the market.”
…
“This is the auction zone, every day there will be a small scale auction held here, every two weeks there will be a mid scale auction, and at the end of every month, there will be a large scale auction. Most items that appear on the auction are rare and coveted.”
…
“This is the battle zone, with over eighty battle stages. This place is always the most popular! There are single battle stages, for Gu Masters to experiment and practise using their Gu worms. There are dual battle stages for Gu Masters to exchange pointers, and even multi-battle stages, to experience multiple enemies at once.”
Just as Wei Yang had said, the battle stages were the most popular place in Shang clan city.
The place was chaotic and noisy, as human traffic stayed high, rank three Gu Masters could be seen everywhere.
“Big brother Wei, why are you here?” From among the crowd, a young man saw Wei Yang and immediately called out, walking briskly towards him.
This man was about twenty seven or eight years old, having a common face but gave off a strong aura.
“Little Xiao, I heard you fought your way into third inner city. Good job!” Wei Yang patted the young man’s shoulders, encouraging.
“Yes, I recently advanced to rank three middle stage, and my fighting strength improved as well. Come to think of it, I have to thank you for all your guidance, or I would have never made it this far.” The young man earnestly thanked.
“You have good talent lad, you could do it even without me, You are not thirty yet, but you have already reached rank three middle stage, that is much more impressive than me back then, haha.” Wei Yang laughed and said.
The young man gave Wei Yang an admiring gaze: “Big brother Wei Yang, how can I compare to you. You were only rank three middle stage back then, and already dominated the third inner city. At twenty five, you got the attention of the lord clan leader and was recruited. Now, you are already a clan elder, just look at Shang clan, how many external clan elders are there in total?”
“As long as you work hard, you can do it too.” Wei Yang encouraged the young man.
Soon after, he turned around, and explained to Fang and Bai: “The battle zone is one of the ways Shang clan recruit outside talents. Back then, I fought my way from the fifth inner city’s battle zone all the way to third inner city, and stayed on the stage for eighteen consecutive rounds before being recruited by lord clan leader.”
Back then, Shang Yan Fei was still not the clan leader.
After becoming his trusted aide, Wei Yang was also successfully promoted to an external clan elder after Shang Yan Fei got into power.
Bai Ning Bing suddenly realized.
No wonder the battle zone was so popular.
Shang clan’s enterprise was huge, and they needed manpower in many areas. Just relying on their clansmen would be difficult to handle the entire situation. The many generations of Shang clan young masters would definitely recruit a number of demonic Gu Masters for their own use.
If the young master that supported these demonic Gu Masters became the clan leader, then the demonic Gu Masters under them would likely become an external clan elder, enjoying the treatment of a clan elder.
Gu Master’s cultivation required lots of resources. Many demonic Gu Masters did not have a stable source of resources from their clans, and were often poor. Only by relying on a clan could they better survive.
Wei Yang was a successful example.
In Shang clan city’s battle zone, there are large numbers of demonic Gu Masters. In order to join the Shang clan, and become part of the righteous path, to become someone like Wei Yang, they had to compete as they fought their way up to the top.
“Battle stage, this place is filled with memories, guests, would you like to have a spar with me?” Wei Yang suddenly suggested.
“Big brother Wei is going on the stage?” Little Xiao suddenly became excited, his eyes gleaming.
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing looked at each other.
“Alright, then let me experience it.” Fang Yuan had expected Shang clan to probe into this, thus he went with the flow.
“Big brother Wei, you don’t come here often, this place has been remodelled many times, let me lead the way.” Little Xiao volunteered.
Wei Yang nodded: “Okay.”
Little Xiao asked: “Brother Wei, what field do you want, forest, mountain, wilderness, or desert, lake?”
Wei Yang turned around, asking for Fang and Bai’s opinion: “Let our two esteemed guests choose.”
Some Gu Masters specialized in mountain battles, some specialized in desert battles, the battle environment was an important element in affecting battle results.
“We can choose different stages here? What fields do you have?” Bai Ning Bing asked curiously.
Little Xiao heard Wei Yang address Fang and Bai as esteemed guests, and did not dare to drag on, quickly explaining to them.
The battle stages in the third inner city had around tens of different environments, almost encompassing all kinds of terrain that one could possible be in.
After hearing so, Bai Ning Bing could not help but have an urge to try: “Then let’s choose the flagstone stage.”
Flagstone stage, the most common battle stage, without any wind, snow, rain or sand as natural elements.
The specialized black flagstone, covered over a hundred meters of land.
“Quickly look, it seems to be elder Wei Yang.”
“It is elder Wei Yang, that’s him.”
“Although he has B grade aptitude, he was a successful story that left the battle stage, back then, I even competed with him.”
…
Wei Yang seemed to be popular as his appearance on the battle stage attracted many people’s attention.
But Wei Yang kept a low profile, using his clan elder authority to seal this battle stage, preventing outsiders from watching.
Only Little Xiao was left.
Wei Yang walked to the center of the stage: “According to normal rules, both sides of the competitors have to announce their cultivation, before assessing it fairly. But since we are just having a casual spar, we shall skip that. Please, have the first move.”
What he meant was he wanted to challenge both Fang and Bai single handedly.
Little Xiao stood outside the stage, gripping his fist in excitement: “Big brother Wei won as the weaker side back then, using his rank three middle stage cultivation to dominate the stage, and guarding eighteen rounds of battle. Almost every fight was a classic, now that he is rank three peak stage, I have to observe this battle carefully!”
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing gave each other a look, before suddenly attacking, moving towards Wei Yang from the left and right respectively.
“Going for close combat?” Wei Yang stood at the center, not moving as his body glowed in a golden light, forming a battle armor, protecting his entire body.
Pew pew pew
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing activated their spiral bone spear Gu as they charged towards Wei Yang.
Multiple bone spears spun as they penetrated the air, shooting towards Wei Yang.
“What Gu is this?” Wei Yang was confused in his mind, this was the first time he saw the bone spear Gu.
He did not dodge, intending to test out the power of the spiral bone spear Gu, and took three hits.
The light golden armor flickered, but managed to endure the hits.
“This Gu is not bad, having a spiral force and is good at penetrating defenses.” Wei Yang did not fluster, utilizing his primeval essence and causing the light armor to regain its toughness.
“My turn!” He lightly shouted, grabbing the air with both hands, as two broadswords of light formed from this air, shining brilliantly.
“It appeared, big brother Wei’s broadsword light Gu!” Little Xiao saw this, and spoke out in excitement.
Wei Yang grabbed the two broadswords, sweeping his gaze and choosing to charge at Fang Yuan.
“Broadsword light Gu and sword shadow Gu are known as the strongest attacking Gu among the rank three Gu worms…” Seeing Wei Yang approaching, Fang Yuan’s eyes shone with a sharp flash.
Even though the broadsword light Gu was strong, he was not afraid.
Jumping grass.
Two spring-like grass appeared on his feet, as he stepped on the ground and after gathering energy, Fang Yuan’s speed increased drastically.
Canopy Gu, flying bone shield.
Fang Yuan’s body shone with a white armor, and three white bone shields surrounded his body, circling continuously around his front, left, back and right.
“Good timing.” Wei Yang shouted, as he rushed to Fang Yuan, slamming both of his broadswords from above, intending to strike.
Fang Yuan did not dodge or avoid, raising his right fist and smashing right at it.
Wei Yang’s eyes shone with surprise, not expecting Fang Yuan to fight so bravely.
Two broadswords of light slammed down, as the white bone shields automatically blocked it.
The broadswords cut the white bone shields into halves, before landing on the white armor of the canopy Gu, giving off a strong white light.
At the same time, Fang Yuan’s fist his Wei Yang’s stomach.
Although he did not break the light golden armor, the huge force sent Wei Yang flying.
Bai Ning Bing rushed up at the crucial moment, waving her hand as multiple spiral bone spear Gu shot towards Wei Yang.
The attack was ruthless and decisive, with the intention of sending Wei Yang to his grave.
“Ah, danger!” Seeing this, Little Xiao screamed out.