The Cloud Mist Mountain Range was an exceptionally vast mountain chain within the Azure Sky Region, stretching from the cultivation world all the way into the mortal realm and untamed primordial forests.
However, like many large mountain ranges, it lacked powerful spiritual veins to support it. Only specific areas had relatively denser spiritual energy, creating valuable spirit lands.
The Qingyuan Sect occupied precisely these areas.
Previously, these spirit lands brought the Qingyuan Sect enormous annual rental income while also supporting numerous rogue cultivators.
Apart from these minuscule pockets of spirit land, over 95% of the territory had extremely thin spiritual energy.
This area was home to many poisonous insects and fierce beasts enhanced by the sparse spiritual energy. Some of these creatures could even, in an unexpected ambush, kill a cultivator in the early Qi Refinement stage.
This was because early Qi Refinement cultivators had relatively weaker physical bodies and insufficient spiritual energy to maintain a spiritual energy shield indefinitely, leaving them vulnerable to deadly poisons or packs of fierce beasts.
Furthermore, since these poisonous insects and beasts were only slightly touched by spiritual energy, they held little value for cultivators. This was a major reason why few cultivators ventured deep into the Cloud Mist Mountains.
With insufficient spiritual energy, it was nearly impossible for anything truly valuable to arise. In simple terms, the potential reward was far outweighed by the risk.
For mortals, there might be some useful things, but they were also extremely deadly. For a mortal to enter was simply seeking death.
This resulted in the deeply remote parts of the Cloud Mist Mountains being utterly devoid of human traces.
In truth, this situation was quite common in the cultivation world, not unique to the Cloud Mist Mountains.
The cultivation world was immense, so vast that even Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation cultivators could not traverse it all in their lifetimes.
Yet, despite its size, the number of truly valuable places was not high.
Only areas with rich spiritual energy could give birth to rare spiritual materials and precious herbs.
However, across most of the cultivation world, such spiritually rich places had long been occupied by powerful cultivation sects or monstrous beast factions. Any explorable areas had basically been thoroughly searched already.
Therefore, in this cultivation world where individual might suppressed all, the resulting class stratification was truly despair-inducing and insurmountable.
The only path for individual advancement relied on outstanding talent and willpower, striving against the odds step by step to become a member of the upper class.
The only comfort for ordinary people was the sheer size of the cultivation world and the multitude of different factions. Under intense competition, major powers were also forced to implement policies and make concessions favorable to ordinary people. Otherwise, if talent was siphoned away, their own faction would inevitably weaken continuously. As one waned and another waxed, destruction would not be far off!
Countless factions had been swallowed up and annihilated precisely because they became stagnant and oppressive towards ordinary people.
Thus, the cultivation world ultimately became what it is today. While core resources were completely monopolized, ordinary people still had room to survive, and sometimes even lived quite well. If one had talent, it was possible to join a major faction and eventually rise to a decent position.
At least, this was the cultivation world Qi Ping currently understood.
If Qi Ping were an ordinary rogue cultivator or a slightly talented one, as long as he avoided war, he could actually climb slowly to a decent position. If he was clever, he could always manage a fairly good life.
But as Qi Ping’s cultivation increased, he would inevitably have to compete for the core resources of his region. From Foundation Building level spirit herbs, materials, formations, techniques, and spells, everything would become increasingly precious. Especially resources at the Golden Core level—these were the core assets of every region, and obtaining them would be extremely difficult.
Qi Ping currently hadn’t thought of a particularly good method. For now, he could only take one step at a time.
One thing was certain: given his condition, he absolutely could not join a sect. The probability of attracting the attention of some old monster would be over 70-80%. This wasn’t baseless speculation but data supported by numerous bloody examples. Qi Ping would definitely not joke with his own life.
Qi Ping still had plans for earning spirit stones. What he truly lacked were channels to trade for advanced techniques and resources.
Deep within the Cloud Mist Mountains, in a desolate gorge.
This location was hidden. If not for Qi Ping’s massive swarm of bees, he would never have found this place.
Furthermore, this gorge was extremely far from Greenstone County, so its safety was basically assured.
The gorge was vast, filled with jagged, disorderly rocks. No soil, no animals, no plants, no water sources… only hard stone!
It was a truly godforsaken place!
Yet, standing at the bottom of the gorge and looking over this enormous canyon, Qi Ping’s face revealed an expression of great satisfaction.
“What a great place!” Qi Ping praised.
If anyone knew what Qi Ping was thinking, they’d probably curse him for being out of his mind.
What was so good about a place like this?
Little did they know, this was precisely the kind of place, rarely trodden by living beings, that Qi Ping needed.
“The space is large, enough to support me planting many things later, opening up vast spirit lands.”
“There are many similar gorges, so this place is not only inconspicuous but very hidden. Few animals pass by, perfect for me to conceal with illusion arrays.”
One man’s poison is another man’s meat. Qi Ping needed exactly this kind of place everyone else disdained!
This was what he wanted because it meant the chance of his territory being discovered was close to zero.
“This is the spot!”
After once again having his bees conduct a wide-area search of the surroundings to confirm no issues, Qi Ping decided: this was it!
This would be his personal territory!
Or, it could also be called his Druid Sanctuary!
“Let me think, how should I build this place?”
Looking at the area, Qi Ping also felt a bit troubled.
It was certainly safe, but just how safe it was equaled how troublesome it would be to develop. Everything would need to be built up by him step by step.
“Let’s take it step by step!”
Qi Ping realized trying to plan everything at once was also troublesome. It was better to do one thing well at a time, slowly letting his territory take shape.
“First, set up the illusion array and the array to conceal aura!”
Hiding his presence and spiritual signature was naturally the most urgent task.
So, Qi Ping began setting up the arrays. With his experience from the first-grade low-level illusion array and first-grade low-level concealment array, plus his current strength and powerful spirit sense, setting them up was straightforward.
It didn’t take Qi Ping long before an illusion array and a concealment array, covering roughly a hundred square meters, rose from the ground.
When Qi Ping’s figure merged into these arrays, he vanished from the gorge. The entire canyon returned to its usual, unchanged state.
But in reality, Qi Ping still stood there in the gorge, only his form and aura were masked by the illusions.
“Not bad, not bad. A bit crude, but sufficient for now. I can upgrade them slowly later!”
At this moment, Qi Ping was incredibly happy because he finally had his own exclusive territory!
“The most important illusion and concealment arrays are set. Next is building the other things…”
