Chapter 131: A Hefty Bounty
Yuntian Immortal City — Main City.
Gu Mo had assumed that the main city of Yuntian Immortal City would be larger than the other four subsidiary cities. Yet contrary to his expectations, the main city was actually smaller in scale.
However, as he breathed in the rich spiritual energy that permeated every corner of the main city, Gu Mo understood at once: just based on this alone, the main city already far surpassed the subsidiary cities.
This was because the main city of Yuntian Immortal City was built upon a fourth-grade spiritual vein. In other sects, such a place would be considered a forbidden area that even core disciples would struggle to gain access to.
But in Yuntian Immortal City, the area with the fourth-grade spiritual vein was open to outsiders. While there were some conditions for entering the main city, compared to the requirements of other sects, these conditions were exceedingly lenient.
At this moment, Gu Mo finally understood why so many cultivators sought entry into the main city. For those without the backing of a major sect, Yuntian Immortal City's main city was an incredibly attractive destination.
Gu Mo couldn't help but wonder: were there Nascent Soul-level cultivators residing in this main city? And not those officially affiliated with Yuntian Immortal City, but rogue Nascent Soul cultivators drawn here by the lure of the fourth-grade spiritual vein.
If that were truly the case, then Yuntian Immortal City's strength couldn't be underestimated. Those rogue Nascent Soul cultivators, though unaffiliated, would definitely take action should the city face any serious threat.
After all, fourth-grade spiritual veins were extremely rare, and even if one existed, it was likely already claimed by a Nascent Soul cultivator. A treasure like Yuntian Immortal City—open to all and unclaimed by sectarian boundaries—was not something anyone would tolerate being destroyed. Rogue Nascent Soul cultivators cultivating here certainly wouldn't sit idly by if trouble arose.
Gu Mo wasn't the only one with this thought. Almost every cultivator who came to the main city had similar speculations. It was precisely this line of thinking that kept various powers in the cultivation world from daring to harbor any designs on Yuntian Immortal City.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang, this way…"
Just as Gu Mo was marveling at the uniqueness of the main city, a voice called out. He turned to see a blue-robed young man—Si Daolong, an external core cultivator Gu Mo had met in the southern district while using his false core avatar.
It was also Si Daolong who had invited him to this gathering of Core Formation-level cultivators, which was the reason Gu Mo had come to the main city in the first place.
As for "Fellow Daoist Jiang," that was the alias Gu Mo used for his false core avatar—Jiang Li. His main body's pseudonym was Hu Shuo; his avatar's pseudonym, Jiang Li.
Given how bad Gu Mo was at naming things, it was no small feat that he'd come up with two names that actually sounded meaningful.
"Fellow Daoist Si!"
Gu Mo stepped forward to greet him.
Although Si Daolong was only an external core cultivator, he was clearly wealthy—rumored to be a direct descendant of a Core Formation clan. Due to limited talent, he had given up on forming a true core and instead refined a demon core, becoming an external core cultivator.
Currently, Si Daolong was in the immortal city to build connections on behalf of his clan—this was how Gu Mo had gotten to know him.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two headed toward a Grade-B courtyard in the main city—the venue for the gathering. In Yuntian's main city, the courtyards were divided into three grades: A, B, and C. Grade-A courtyards were directly connected to the fourth-grade spiritual vein and suitable for Nascent Soul cultivators.
Grade-B courtyards connected to third-grade spiritual veins, and Grade-C to second-grade ones. The rental prices increased exponentially with each grade.
To rent a Grade-A courtyard, one needed more than just money—additional qualifications were required. Grade-B and Grade-C courtyards, however, had far fewer restrictions.
"Whew… As expected of a Grade-B courtyard. This place isn't much worse than our family's own cultivation sanctuary," Si Daolong said, inhaling deeply as he stepped inside.
The abundant spiritual energy in the courtyard held no particular allure for Gu Mo. He didn't need spiritual energy to cultivate—solar essence alone was sufficient. Of course, he could use spiritual energy if he wanted to, but with his inferior spiritual roots, it was hardly efficient. He'd rather spend his time on more productive pursuits.
So upon entering the courtyard, Gu Mo's attention immediately turned to the other cultivators already present. Since this was a Core Formation-level gathering, all attendees had to be at least external or false core cultivators.
Sure enough, Gu Mo's quick scan revealed only external and false core cultivators. There were no true Core Formation cultivators in sight.
That was to be expected—true Core Formation cultivators wouldn't deign to associate with external or false core cultivators. To them, external and false cores were defective paths, destined to reach their ceiling early. Only those who had formed a true core were seen as having limitless potential.
Everyone present understood this dynamic, which was why the event's organizer hadn't even bothered inviting true Core Formation cultivators—doing so would have only led to humiliation.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang, this is Fellow Daoist Sun."
Si Daolong proved to be an excellent host, introducing Gu Mo to other cultivators as they arrived. The others, upon learning Gu Mo was a false core cultivator, were quite willing to get acquainted.
Before long, Gu Mo had made several new connections. Though most were mere nodding acquaintances for now, such networks always began with small steps.
"Thank you all for coming to this humble gathering."
At that moment, an elderly man leaning on a cane appeared, cupping his hands respectfully to the group. He was the host of this gathering. And given that he'd managed to rent a Grade-B courtyard for the occasion, it was clear he wasn't lacking in wealth.
As a newcomer, Gu Mo had come just to observe and listen, with no plans to participate. After all, the gathering's main purposes were to exchange treasures, discuss cultivation insights, and share intelligence.
As for treasures, Gu Mo had already decided to enter his top-tier abacus magic artifact into a major auction. His most valuable possession on hand was merely a mid-grade flying sword.
And cultivation insights? Gu Mo's true body was still only at the Foundation Establishment stage—what insights could he offer? Intelligence gathering was likewise a dead end for him.
Still, even as a bystander, the gathering opened Gu Mo's eyes to the reality of cultivators at this level.
"Has anyone heard? Fenghua Sect has offered core formation resources as a reward for a bounty on members of Qinglu Sect."
During the intelligence-sharing portion of the gathering, an external core cultivator suddenly spoke up.
Gu Mo instantly snapped to attention. That Fenghua Sect was placing a bounty on Qinglu Sect members wasn't all that surprising—but that they were offering core formation resources as a reward? That was ruthless.
Even more shocking was that the bounty targets weren't Qinglu Sect's Core Formation elders, but merely two Foundation Establishment disciples—one of whom was Yuan Niya.
The other… was Gu Mo himself.
Being the subject of such a "hot topic" sent a chill through Gu Mo. It wasn't hard to imagine the frenzy this would ignite among Foundation Establishment cultivators nearing breakthrough.
What were core formation resources, exactly? It wasn't just a single Golden Core Pill—they included a complete set of supportive spiritual medicines. Even if the attempt to form a core failed, the cultivator's life could still be saved. Only a full kit like this qualified as true core formation resources.
While such resources were useless to external and false core cultivators, for anyone from a clan or sect, they represented a chance to cultivate a new Core Formation powerhouse. The temptation was irresistible.
Even lone cultivators could auction them off for a fortune.
It was clear: Fenghua Sect was going all in to eliminate Gu Mo and Yuan Niya. And the reason was simple—after thorough investigation, they had concluded that these two were the only Foundation Establishment disciples in Qinglu Sect with even a sliver of potential to one day reach the Nascent Soul stage.
Yuan Niya's potential could be summed up in a single point—she was the second true disciple of the Qinglu Sect (in truth, the top true disciple). Though the Qinglu Sect had already been destroyed, a Nascent Soul-level sect's evaluation of its disciples was unquestionably objective.
As for Gu Mo, he had once achieved the remarkable feat of killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator while still at the peak of the Qi Refining stage. Based on this, the Fenghua Sect concluded that these two were the most likely to reach the Nascent Soul realm.
Since they knew Yuan Niya and Gu Mo could one day pose a massive threat to the Fenghua Sect, it was only natural to eliminate them while they were still weak.
However, the Fenghua Sect couldn't locate either of them. As a result, they issued bounties with generous rewards.
Killing a single Foundation Establishment cultivator would earn one a full set of Core Formation resources. Such a reward would tempt even Core Formation cultivators, let alone those at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. The moment either of them revealed themselves, they would be hunted relentlessly.
Naturally, in addition to Yuan Niya and Gu Mo, the Fenghua Sect also placed bounties on other disciples of the Qinglu Sect, though with more modest rewards.
After all, most of the Qinglu Sect's elite disciples had already been killed during the previous True Disciple Trial by the Fenghua Sect. The remaining ones had little hope of ever forming a core, much less advancing to the Nascent Soul stage.
As for the Core Formation elders of the Qinglu Sect, the Fenghua Sect issued no bounties at all. Not only were bounties on Core Formation cultivators far more costly, but the Fenghua Sect also deemed the chances of those elders advancing to the Nascent Soul realm even lower than that of Yuan Niya and Gu Mo.
Bounty-hunting Qinglu's Core elders simply wasn't worth the cost.
"I'll let you know next time we gather, Daoist Jiang," said Si Daolong with a clasp of his hands as he bid farewell to Gu Mo outside Cloud Sky Main City.
"Alright!"
Gu Mo nodded in response.
On the way back to the southern city, Gu Mo's brow furrowed slightly. The bounty issued by the Fenghua Sect was still a thorny issue for him. While his concealment technique had reached the Grand Completion stage, making it nearly impossible for others to detect him directly, identifying someone didn't always require seeing through them outright—clues and traces could be enough.
Take his identity as a spirit plant master, for example, or the unique plants he used. Gu Mo had interacted with the Fenghua Sect's members quite a bit and had killed many of them on his journey to Cloud Sky Immortal City. In doing so, he had employed several of his signature plants.
Given the Fenghua Sect's foundation as a Nascent Soul-level sect, acquiring such intelligence wouldn't be difficult. And with the issuance of the bounty, such details had likely already been made public to improve the chances of locating Gu Mo. That meant Gu Mo would have to be far more cautious when using his plants moving forward.
Fortunately, his true body remained holed up and kept a low profile, unlikely to engage in combat. Meanwhile, his false-core incarnation hadn't been included in the bounty. After all, cultivators with false cores had no future, and thus weren't worth wasting bounty resources on.
Of course, this also meant that the Fenghua Sect hadn't realized this was actually Gu Mo's avatar, assuming it to be just another false-core cultivator from the Qinglu Sect.
Besides, using new plants could significantly reduce the risk of exposure. "Looks like I'll need to divert more of the Sun Essence toward the vending machine," Gu Mo thought to himself.
The Tier-1 Sun Essence harvested from his spirit fields—aside from a bit used for feeding his fish—had all been poured into expanding the Black Mist Space. Gu Mo's main focus had been on the cultivation zone within that space, which he had now named the Cultivation Space.
As the black mist in the Cultivation Space continued to dissipate, more cultivation flowerpots began to appear. At present, Gu Mo had four usable cultivation flowerpots.
This would drastically increase his efficiency in upgrading plants.
Four pots were more than enough for now. The speed at which plants could be upgraded depended more on the quantity and quality of Sun Essence than the number of pots. Additional pots would only significantly increase efficiency if he had an abundant supply of Sun Essence, which he clearly didn't yet.
So, four pots were sufficient for his current upgrade needs. Going forward, he planned to focus on clearing the black mist around the vending machine to see if any new plants would be unlocked.
Using new plants would greatly reduce his chances of being identified.
However, as the Black Mist Space expanded, the difficulty of dispersing the mist increased. The larger the area, the more mist had to be cleared for each inch of progress—often several times more than before. Especially since Gu Mo was still using only Tier-1 Sun Essence to do so.
Still, upgrading the Tier-3 Sunflower took top priority, so Gu Mo was reserving his Tier-2 Sun Essence for that task. Fortunately, the Fenghua Sect wouldn't be able to locate him in the short term, so a slower pace in clearing the mist was acceptable.
As for Yuan Niya, she had the protection of Core Formation elders from the sect. As long as she didn't recklessly leave her hiding place, her safety wasn't much of a concern.
Of course, that assumed their hiding spot wasn't discovered. If it were, the Fenghua Sect would undoubtedly dispatch Nascent Soul-level cultivators to wipe out the remaining Qinglu Sect members, erasing the threat once and for all.
Time passed.
It had been nearly a year since Gu Mo arrived at Immortal City. In that time, nothing major had occurred. His false-core avatar had traveled extensively, attending various gatherings and getting acquainted with many external-core and false-core cultivators.
In contrast, his true body remained far more discreet, constantly working in the spirit field.
"In just a few more months, the Sunflower will advance to Tier-3!" Gu Mo looked at the nearly full upgrade bar on the flowerpot and felt a surge of anticipation.
A Tier-3 Sunflower would bring him a transformative leap—just as the Tier-2 version had once elevated him while he was still in the Qi Refining stage.
Additionally, as the black mist around the vending machine receded, part of a new icon began to emerge. It wouldn't be long before Gu Mo could purchase new plants.
"Hmm!"
Just as he was looking forward to the arrival of the Tier-3 Sunflower and the new plant, someone triggered the formation outside the spirit field.
"Daoist Fang!"
Stepping out of the formation, Gu Mo saw the beautiful and alluring Fang Jiaoyan.
"Daoist Hu, the Immortal City's supply date is fast approaching. Have you made your preparations?" Fang Jiaoyan's lovely eyes fixed on Gu Mo.
Getting Gu Mo to cultivate Sword Bamboo had been the main reason she had risked going against her family's wishes to lease this top-tier Tier-2 spirit field to him.
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