He mentally reviewed the situation of Vientiane City.
Zhang Ling took out a grayish-yellow scroll from his body. The scroll opened at once, densely covered with small dots of light, with as many as hundreds at a glance.
The brightness of the light spots also varied. In one area depicting auspicious clouds, a flickering green dot was visible.
Zhang Ling looked at the scroll for a while, taking considerable effort to roughly determine his location.
This was a map of the Liuyun Sea (流云海: Flowing Cloud Sea), with the light spots representing islands, and the brightness indicating their size. The green dot was his current location.
This map alone cost him more than three thousand spiritual stones, enough to buy a high-quality, top-grade magical artifact.
Fortunately, it was worth the price. This map was specially made, and it was also a magical artifact itself. It was said that the light spots on it were drawn with special materials, seemingly a material containing magnetism.
With this map, he would basically not get lost in the inner sea of the Liuyun Sea.
The marked locations were all the islands controlled by the human race, though some islands without spiritual veins or were simply too remote were not included.
After adjusting his direction, Zhang Ling hurried towards the location of Vientiane City.
His reason for acting alone was also a matter of helplessness. Because the location of Vientiane City was special, there were basically no other medium or large islands nearby. Therefore, there were no teleportation arrays available.
Of course, it wasn't that there were no teleportation arrays available at all. On a special type of medium-sized island, there were teleportation arrays that directly led to Vientiane City, but they were not open to rogue cultivators.
It should be known that teleportation arrays are not ordinary formations, but special among special formations. Whether it is the material for arranging the teleportation array or the location, there is great attention to detail, involving spatial orientation and the like, so naturally, it is not something that one can arrange as one pleases.
And now, most of the teleportation arrays in the Liuyun Sea were passed down from ancient times. Very few were arranged by later generations.
Of course, a large island like Vientiane City naturally had teleportation arrays established, but most of them were one-way teleportation arrays, and the locations they led to were also the desolate areas.
He had been traveling for more than a month.
Along the way, he encountered many islands of various sizes. These islands were basically only inhabited by a small number of mortals.
Of course, there were also some deserted islands. During this time, he also encountered some cultivators, and once he encountered islands occupied by cultivators and people, Zhang Ling would naturally avoid stopping to prevent encountering evil cultivators who rob.
Another two months passed in this way. On this day, Zhang Ling stood on the flying boat, holding a map in his hand, looking at the giant silhouette on the horizon, and couldn't help but sigh.
After months of long journey, he finally arrived at his destination.
Vientiane City was even larger than Zhang Ling had imagined. The immortal city was built on a ring-shaped island. The entire island was within the scope of the immortal city, and there was a giant mountain hidden in the clouds in the center.
Outside the giant mountain, there was a ring of islands with a large area. Both the giant mountain and the ring-shaped islands were amazingly large, two or three times larger than the previously stayed in Bishui City (碧水城: Green Water City).
At this moment, it was the moment when the sun was just rising, and the entire Vientiane City was shrouded in a layer of rosy glow. It was completely a magnificent scene of an immortal city in the clouds.
The entire immortal city exuded an extremely majestic and amazing aura.
Zhang Ling controlled the flying boat to get closer and closer, and could vaguely observe that on the giant mountain that went straight into the clouds, there were dense buildings as small as ants.
This was completely a super city, and it was no wonder that the cultivators of the Liuyun Sea all yearned for this place.
When he was still dozens of miles away from the city, Zhang Ling slowed down the speed of the flying boat.
The nearby sky was not only him, and some escape lights would appear from time to time. Looking at the direction, they were all heading towards Vientiane City.
Zhang Ling sighed inwardly, it is really worthy of being Tianxing City (天星城: Star City)! At such a far place, he saw other immortal cultivators.
Among them, there were also some giant flying boats and airships, and of course, there were also many rogue cultivators like him, and there were also several escape lights that were extremely fast, obviously not ordinary cultivators.
From this, it can be seen that the strength of the cultivators who come and go to Vientiane City is not comparable to those medium-sized islands.
Looking at the scale of Vientiane City, the number of cultivators that can be accommodated is at least hundreds of thousands.
After flying forward for a while, there were more cultivators around him, Zhang Ling sighed slightly in his heart, and then accelerated his speed.
After a cup of tea, he arrived at the edge of Vientiane City.
The outermost area of the immortal city was bare, and there were no city walls built like other immortal cities, but every dozens of miles, you could see a tall stone pillar standing on the ground.
These pillars looked grayish-white as a whole, with a faint layer of spiritual light flowing on them. At a glance, they were not ordinary things. Each one was fifty or sixty feet high.
These were the "Dingfeng Stones (定风石: Wind-Stabilizing Stones)", a famous special building in Vientiane City. There were a total of one hundred and eight of them. Their usual function was to weaken the strong winds around them.
The Liuyun Sea is located in the sky, and there are often some strong winds, and protection is indispensable.
In addition to this basic function, once a war comes, these Dingfeng Stones will be connected together to form a huge shield to protect the entire Vientiane City in it.
With this layer of protection, Vientiane City can stand to this day.
......
After a while, Zhang Ling landed on a long bluestone street. There were no city walls here, so naturally there were no city gates. But every hundred miles, there was a special street, and these streets were the main roads here.
Walking along the long street to the end, there was an arched building with some houses built on it, looking like an archway, and there was a thin layer of blue light curtain under the archway.
Walking here, Zhang Ling thought for a while, and knew the intention of this layer of light curtain, turned his head and looked to the side, he saw a small team of more than a dozen people next to him.
There was a small room in front of the team, and Zhang Ling also followed behind these people and lined up.
Before long, Zhang Ling entered it. It was not big, only ten feet wide, with only a screen and a black wooden table, sitting an old man in the middle stage of foundation building.
This person looked up at Zhang Ling, and said in a muffled voice: "Is this your first time here, or are you here to reissue the city entry token?"
"First time here."
Zhang Ling replied calmly, and then the old man simply asked him about his origin, and began to process the city entry token for him.
After a while, Zhang Ling walked out of the small room, holding a cyan jade card in his hand, which was the Vientiane City pass.
It cost him ten spiritual stones. This token allowed him to stay in the city for a year.
The cost was similar to other immortal cities. Holding the jade card, he passed through the light curtain, and he entered Vientiane City.
Walking on the street, Zhang Ling found that there were many monks coming and going, and after a while, he saw more than a dozen foundation building monks.
Half an hour later, he found an inn and fell asleep in the room.
After all, it was still very tiring to fly with the tool for several months.
Zhang Ling woke up leisurely until the afternoon of the next day.
In the following days, he wandered around the streets. He also knows more about Vientiane City.
......
Vientiane City is roughly divided into three major areas. One is the outermost ring where it is now located. This is a ring-shaped area and the area with the most monks. It is divided into eight major workshops.
He is now in the "Baiyun Workshop (白云坊市: White Cloud Workshop)" in the northeast. These eight workshops are not high or low and are very prosperous.
The second is the area near the giant mountain in the ring-shaped area. This is a windless zone, which is a bit special.
Due to the special environment of the Liuyun Sea, the islands are floating in the sky. This area floats with many mountains of different sizes. The most famous forces and shops in Vientiane City gather on it.
Every force that can occupy a mountain alone is not small and is the most prosperous area.
The third is the giant mountain. According to Zhang Ling's understanding, this giant mountain was not here at all, but was found by high-level monks from the wilderness after the Liuyun Sea was formed in ancient times.
It is said that a special spiritual mine is produced in the core of the giant mountain, which can prevent the erosion of turbid air in the wilderness. Therefore, it was transferred here abruptly, which is also the reason for the establishment of Vientiane City.
This special spiritual mine is called Tianxin Stone (天心石: Heaven's Heart Stone), which is an important spiritual object for monks here to resist the erosion of turbid air. There are some special substances on the Tianxin Stone. As long as you wear a small piece, you can walk freely in the wilderness for decades without being harmed by turbid air.
Every monk who enters and exits the wilderness must wear this item. Of course, it is not to say that you cannot enter and exit the wilderness without Tianxin Stone, but you must always use spiritual power to offset the erosion of turbid air.
Although there is a high-quality spiritual vein on the giant mountain, it is special in itself, and only a small part of it can be used to live in. Among them is the official force of Vientiane City, "Vientiane Palace".
Vientiane Palace is not a separate force, but a force formed by a monk alliance. Its main members include casual cultivators, sects, and some large business alliances.
Vientiane City does not have a city lord. Vientiane Palace is the council of elders, which is used to manage Vientiane City. And those who can enter the Vientiane Palace are all high-level monks.
This kind of joint force is very common in the Liuyun Sea. Basically, all the forces that control large islands are like this. No force can independently control a large island.
The important reason for forming this alliance force is also because the human race must jointly fight against wild beasts and even the demon race.
This pattern has existed for tens of thousands of years.
......
After coming to Vientiane City for more than ten days, Zhang Ling also had plans. This morning, he stopped a beast cart. Under the leadership of the coachman, he headed towards the center of the ring-shaped area.
The beast cart drove along a street paved with white stones towards the city center.
There are many pedestrians on the road, and they come and go. Vientiane City is like this every day. Among them, there are many monks who enter and exit the wilderness to hunt wild beasts.
The clothes of these people are mostly a bit tattered, mostly gray, black, and white clothes, brocade robes and other clothing.
The beast cart stopped and went, and it took a whole hour before they arrived at a huge square in the central area.
This was still his destination, and it took so long to pass through a workshop. If you wander around it, it may take a few days to complete the workshop.
At this moment, there are many beast carts parked in the square, as well as some small and medium-sized flying boats and other flying instruments.
The square covers an area of dozens of acres, and there are black heads everywhere. Zhang Ling shook his head when he glanced at it. This can be called a sea of people.
Along the four weeks of the square, there are many shops, and they are also crowded with people. Some monks are talking eagerly about something, and some are constantly entering and exiting some shops, which seems bustling and lively.
When the beast cart arrived here, it was naturally impossible to move forward.
Zhang Ling got off the car and walked towards the edge of the square. Soon, he saw a small pavilion built of white jade stone.
Each of these roads is about ten feet high, which is obviously much higher than other buildings.
And there is also a row of guards standing in front of the huge palace gate. They are all dressed in white and holding shining spears to guard there. And the cultivation base is also a uniform Qi refining peak.
There is a pure black ink jade carved plaque on the pavilion, with three characters engraved on it "Bai He Ju (白鹤居: White Crane Residence)".
Zhang Ling showed his identity token and walked in. Soon after, he walked out. And behind him followed a huge white crane spirit beast.
This spirit beast is two feet high, and its strength has also reached the peak of a first-order monster. Zhang Ling walked to an unmanned place, and with a wave of his hand, a small cloth bag appeared in his hand, which was full of some cyan small fruits.
Zhang Ling took out two and fed them to the white crane, and shook the token at the white crane twice.
I saw the white crane chirping a few times, then opened its wings and stooped down.
Zhang Ling touched the head of the white crane and flashed to its back.
"Go to Baichen Hall (白辰殿: White Chen Hall)"
Zhang Ling patted the body of the white crane, and said his destination in the air, and saw the white crane cooing, and its body flashed with white light, turning into a white rainbow and carrying Zhang Ling into the air.
There are naturally air bans in Vientiane City, and only those high-level monks are not subject to this restriction.
Qi refining and foundation building monks mostly take animal carts when walking in the city, and if they want to enter the windless area in the center, they must also use other tools.
Bai He Ju is specifically established for this purpose.
There are many flying spirit beasts raised in it, which can be driven by monks. The white crane under Zhang Ling is rented by him for five spiritual stones, and its strength is only for a short day.
After the white crane flew into the air, Zhang Ling also saw a lot of light flying in the air around him, including white cranes, blue birds, and a black feather giant eagle. These are all flying spirit beasts who rented Bai He Ju with him and entered and exited the windless zone.
After traveling for a distance, Zhang Ling came to the windless zone. At this moment, the white crane also flew to a height of hundreds of feet above the ground, and its speed suddenly increased by more than doubled, and it flew quickly towards the northeast.
Along the way, Zhang Ling saw many mountains of different sizes. These mountains all had a layer of spiritual light of various colors. Some of them were hidden in the mist and could not be seen clearly, but most of them were large shops and other places.
Zhang Ling's purpose is not these. The Baichen Hall he is going to is a place directly controlled by the Vientiane Palace. There, he can rent a spiritual vein cave.
This is his purpose. With a safe place to stay, he can better attack the golden core.
