Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
Located at the edge of the inner ring of Xingluo Prefecture, it was a gathering place for fifth-tier Nascent Soul level demon beasts.
According to the records on the map, there were two fifth-tier spirit veins on Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain, brimming with spiritual energy.
There were countless spiritual herbs of all kinds, and an extremely wide variety of demon beasts.
Because of this, rogue cultivators often went to Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain to try their luck.
But the demon beasts on Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain were incredibly powerful—there were at least three peak fifth-tier demon beasts comparable to Nascent Soul stage perfection.
Within hundreds of thousands of miles around, no human force dared to openly provoke the demon beasts on Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
The nearest human forces to Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain were three cities with Nascent Soul stage cultivators stationed in them, located three hundred thousand miles away.
Beyond that, within three hundred thousand miles of Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain,
Apart from a few rogue cultivators who had no better place to go and thus braved the pressure to secretly occupy some spiritual mountains and blessed lands within that range for cultivation,
These rogue cultivators had to constantly face attacks from the demon beasts on Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
Every year, a large number of rogue cultivators fell to the demon beasts of Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
Even so, for the sake of cultivation, a steady stream of rogue cultivators entered this region every year, searching for unoccupied spirit veins.
The reason Ye Qingxuan chose Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain as his city-building site
Was not only because of its superior environment, but also because of its geographical location.
Within ten thousand miles of Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain, apart from some small hills, most of the area was flat plains.
This would make it convenient for Ye Qingxuan to build his city and save him a lot of trouble.
Moreover, within a million miles of Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain, there were no Spirit Transformation level forces.
In the early stages, this would allow him to avoid conflicts with Spirit Transformation level forces.
The nearest Spirit Transformation level force to Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain was actually one of the sixth-tier demon beast gathering places—the Water Marsh Kingdom.
About two million miles away from Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
Once the city developed, Ye Qingxuan’s next target could be the Water Marsh Kingdom.
Therefore, taking all these factors into consideration, Ye Qingxuan had made up his mind to choose Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain as his city-building site.
After making his choice, Ye Qingxuan didn’t rush to inspect Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain in person.
He took out a fifth-tier flying boat and flew back in the direction he had come from.
He planned to return to Qingguang City first.
After setting up a teleportation array in Qingguang City, he would then go to Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain.
By the time Ye Qingxuan returned to Qingguang City, it was already the fifth day since he had left.
“Why didn’t you leave?”
Seeing Zhou Qingguang still staying in Qingguang City without leaving, Ye Qingxuan was somewhat puzzled.
Ye Qingxuan had assumed that after he took over Zhou Qingguang’s city, the other man would leave in anger, unwilling to serve under him.
He hadn’t expected that Zhou Qingguang would actually stay.
Seeing Ye Qingxuan return, Zhou Qingguang led Heifeng, Qingyu, and Xueyu forward, smiling and speaking earnestly:
“We juniors have nowhere else to go. Please, Senior, take us in.”
Ye Qingxuan looked at Zhou Qingguang and the three behind him, and nodded slightly:
“Since that’s the case, I’ll give you two choices.”
“I’m planning to build a new city.
The first choice: you make a dao oath and submit to me completely. From then on, you’ll manage the new city for me.
The second choice: you continue as the City Lord of Qingguang City, managing it for me and supplying my new city with resources and talented individuals with dual-attribute spiritual roots or above.
Unless necessary, I won’t interfere in Qingguang City’s affairs.
However, I’ll take at least seventy percent of Qingguang City’s guard corps and mortal residents.”
Whether it was building a new city or later expanding his commercial empire, Ye Qingxuan needed a large number of people.
He couldn’t rely solely on puppets to handle everything.
So from now on, Ye Qingxuan planned to cultivate a group of his own subordinates.
A towering building rises from the ground—talents, too, needed to be cultivated step by step, laying the foundation for his future expansion of his commercial empire.
As for whether Zhou Qingguang might have his own schemes, Ye Qingxuan didn’t care.
In the world of cultivation, strength ultimately had the final say.
As long as his strength could crush Zhou Qingguang and he didn’t reveal his true trump cards, he had nothing to fear from any little tricks Zhou Qingguang might pull.
Hearing the two choices Ye Qingxuan gave him, a look of pleasant surprise appeared in Zhou Qingguang’s eyes.
He lowered his head, trying to keep his voice steady:
“Subordinate is willing to manage Qingguang City for Senior!”
Zhou Qingguang hadn’t expected that after all this going around, Qingguang City would end up back in his hands.
Although Qingguang City would be under Ye Qingxuan’s authority going forward, as long as the fourth-tier spirit vein remained in his grasp, Zhou Qingguang didn’t care about the city’s population decreasing.
“Alright, from now on, just call me Young Master!”
Being called “Senior” over and over made Ye Qingxuan a bit uncomfortable.
But for the moment, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t think of a better form of address, so he had them call him Young Master.
After all, over the years, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu had gotten him used to being called Young Master.
“Yes, Young Master!”
Then, Ye Qingxuan thought of something else and looked at the three behind Zhou Qingguang, saying:
“The contracts binding those three and the other guard corps members—release them now.”
“Whether those three go to my new city or not, let them choose for themselves.”
“As for the guard corps members, at least seventy percent will be transferred to my new city. The remaining thirty percent can decide for themselves whether to go.”
Since these people chose to stay, Ye Qingxuan naturally assumed they were willing to join his ranks.
If they still refused a normal transfer order from their superior, then there was no need for them to stay under him.
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s words, Zhou Qingguang didn’t hesitate. He immediately took out a stack of contract documents and cast a spell to release them.
These contract documents were a special type of magical treasure.
They could be used to bind cultivators below the Spirit Transformation stage.
Anyone who made a contract and violated its rules would be suppressed and tracked by the contract.
Although the binding effect wasn’t particularly strong, under normal circumstances, no cultivator was willing to risk violating a contract.
Seeing their contracts released, slight ripples of emotion appeared in the eyes of Heifeng, Qingyu, and Xueyu.
Although their contracts only had a hundred-year term, being able to end them early and gain their freedom was naturally something they wouldn’t refuse.
Heifeng was even already thinking about whether to take the opportunity to leave Qingguang City directly.
But considering he had nowhere to go for the time being, Heifeng temporarily dismissed the idea.
Seeing that Zhou Qingguang was being sensible, Ye Qingxuan didn’t make things difficult for him further, saying:
“Alright, you can go now. For the time being, manage Qingguang City well for me. As for other matters, we’ll discuss them after my new city is built.”
“Yes, Young Master!”
After Zhou Qingguang left with Heifeng, Qingyu, and Xueyu,
Ye Qingxuan went to an empty area in the center of Qingguang City.
After setting up a concealment formation, Ye Qingxuan took out a pre-prepared array plate and began setting up the teleportation array.
The more array stones used in a teleportation array and the more profound the teleportation runes carved, the farther the teleportation distance.
With the expertise of Ye Qingxuan’s true body as a sixth-tier mid-stage array master, the array plates he refined
Could establish teleportation points across most of Xingluo Prefecture after setting up the teleportation array, allowing mutual teleportation.
After the teleportation array was set up,
Ye Qingxuan made a copy of the synchronized array base and left Qingguang City once again.
