Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

After passing through three barriers, Long Chen finally entered the prefecture city. These three barriers weren’t to block enemies but to seal the spiritual qi of heaven and earth inside, making it so that the Auspicious Cloud Prefecture’s spiritual qi could only enter but not leave.

That was why every ten years, the spiritual qi inside the Auspicious Cloud Prefecture would reach a peak, to the point that it formed the auspicious clouds.

This was a sacred land containing all the power of the star-field. So, this event was a huge move, one that even shocked Long Chen.

Inside the city, spiritual qi washed over him, cleansing his heart and body. All his pores automatically opened and that feeling was hard to forget.

“As expected of the holy land of the Integral Heaven Star-Field. Its reputation is not fake.” Ying Bokong was extremely moved to be bathed by this spiritual qi. He had finally reached this legendary place.

“It really is a good place.”

Long Chen also couldn’t help nodding. He felt an indescribable closeness to this place, as if this place was welcoming him. Even his anger at the provocations of the demonic beast race faded.

“Master, causing a fuss outside the barriers is ok. Even killing people can be done if not done so brazenly. But here, everything is overseen by the Sacred Pill Hall. They are the absolute authority, and they will not tolerate a challenge. You cannot fight people here,” warned Ying Bokong.

“What if someone provokes me?” asked Long Chen.

“Don’t worry, no one would dare to take the initiative in attacking you. They will respect the rules,” swore Ying Bokong.

“Alright then.” Long Chen nodded. “Speaking of which, what will happen if I do fight?”

“Anyone who fights here will be subdued by the Sacred Pill Hall’s experts. If you don’t resist, you’ll be punished lightly or expelled depending on the severity. If you resist though or injure one of those people, you will immediately be killed. There are World Kings standing guard over this place, and not just one. Let alone disciples like us, even the overlords of the major powers in this star-field have to be obedient here,” said Ying Bokong.

“I’m just worried that some idiot will show off in front of me. My temper isn’t very good,” said Long Chen.

“Master, you still have to endure. You can always settle things after entering the Divine Lord Immortal Realm. Don’t fight here!” Ying Bokong jumped in shock at Long Chen’s insistence. If Long Chen really did fight here, he might also be implicated. He had waited several years for this opportunity.

“Fine. I’ll just take it easy.” Long Chen waved his hand. In any case, he would just do his best.

He knew that with the birth of his heart-devil, the more he suppressed himself, the more the dark energy would nourish his heart-devil. His heart-devil was very happy for him to be angered, as the dark energy was the foundation for its growth.

Long Chen couldn’t suppress himself too hard. Otherwise, once the power of his heart-devil grew too strong, it would control him.

“Speaking of which, master…” Ying Bokong suddenly became embarrassed.

“What is it?”

“Master, you’re an outsider. You can enter the Auspicious Cloud Prefecture for free, but if you want to enter the Divine Lord Immortal Realm, you need to pay quite a fee. How much money do you have? If you’re only missing a bit, I do have some here from plundering a few people. But if you’re missing too much, we’ll need to think of something else,” said Ying Bokong.

Native experts could rely on the spots given to them by their sects. They would be given a few immortal king crystals to enter the Divine Lord Immortal Realm.

An ordinary human needed to pay ten, while a mixed-blood person needed to pay thirty. On the other hand, demonic beasts had to pay more depending on the strength of their bloodline, going from one hundred to one thousand.

The stronger their bloodline, the more spiritual qi they would absorb when they advanced to the Divine Lord realm. In order to make sure that this place could be opened every ten years, they needed to charge more money for the people who used up more spiritual qi.

The likes of Ying Bokong needed to pay one hundred and seventy immortal king crystals. That was almost his entire wealth.

Although he had robbed a few people on the way, leaving him with almost two hundred immortal king crystals, outsiders who wanted to enter the Divine Lord immortal Realm had to pay double or more the price of natives.

Once inside, Long Chen would have to take a test that would evaluate his overall power. Just like weighing a pig, they would decide how much money he had to pay. The stronger he was, the more he had to pay.

Only now did Ying Bokong recall this problem, so he hastily explained it for fear that Long Chen wouldn’t have the money to pay. If he didn’t have that money at the crucial time, he might just kill Ying Bokong in his anger.

However, a lack of money wasn’t too big of a problem. According to the Sacred Pill Hall’s rules, if you really were strong enough, you could enter for free. But after advancing, you had to have ten children here before leaving. To put it frankly, it was using children to pay the debt.

Considering how domineering Long Chen was, Ying Bokong didn’t think that Long Chen would accept such a requirement.

“Is there a place to trade in the Auspicious Cloud City? The kind where you can exchange treasures for money?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes, there’s many of them. They are all businesses under the flag of the Sacred Pill Hall, so they’ll buy and sell anything. As long as you have treasures, you can trade them,” said Ying Bokong.

Long Chen instantly guessed that the Sacred Pill Hall had monopolized the market here. It was no wonder that the Huayun Trading Company was unable to enter. It seemed that the Sacred Pill Hall refused to allow them entry.

“No need to worry. As long as it’s about money, it’s not a problem,” said Long Chen.

Although Long Chen had been displeased with Ying Bokong at the start and had almost killed him in his anger, after a few days of knowing him, he felt that Ying Bokong wasn’t that distasteful.

Long Chen didn’t know if it was because the latter’s intelligence wasn’t very high or if he simply didn’t dare to act against him. But at the very least, this entire time, Ying Bokong hadn’t done anything but be entirely faithful to him.

Although Long Chen had placed a spiritual seal on him, it was not a slave seal, and Long Chen disdained investigating his secrets.

Perhaps it was precisely due to this that Ying Bokong could sense Long Chen’s pride. Long Chen didn’t view him as anyone important, nor was he on guard against him. That was because the difference between the two of them was so great. That made Ying Bokong not have as many misgivings and directly answer any questions that Long Chen had.

Hearing this, Ying Bokong was even more sure that this temporary master of his was a major figure from some star-field.

The two of them then entered the city. There were countless people here, and Long Chen was shocked to find that they were all Primals with overflowing Blood Qis. There were so many powerful heavenly geniuses that they simply seemed ordinary.

However, Long Chen ended up drawing quite a bit of attention. Some of those gazes were rather strange. Some were provoking and disdainful. Clearly, these people were all demonic beast experts. The human race’s experts would only appear later. They weren’t qualified to come here so early.

“Human, are you interested in being my companion?”

Just as Long Chen was looking around, a tender figure appeared before him.