Practice begins with immortality

Three days later, the weather was just right, and Yu Chen brought Wang Bai to the City Lord's Mansion of Xuantie City.

Arriving at the City Lord's Mansion, Yu Chen said to Wang Bai, "Friend Wang, the place has been cleaned up and you can move in directly. However, I see that you are living alone here and it seems a bit lonely. How about I send a few maids to take care of your daily life?"

Wang Bai shook his head and declined politely, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Yu, but I am a diligent practitioner and used to living alone. Forget about having a maid."

Yu Chen did not force it, nodded and said: "In that case, I will not bother you any more. If Fellow Daoist Wang has any questions, you can ask the city guards here. They are all old people who followed the previous city lord. Just tell them if you need anything. By the way, this is a jade tube about the city defense formation, please accept it." After speaking, Yu Chen turned around and left.

After entering the palace, Wang Bai summoned a guard and asked him to fetch the city guards. The guard, named Ning Cheng, was a cultivator at the ninth level of the Qi Refining Stage. He didn't dare to neglect Wang Bai's orders and immediately obeyed and left. Not long after, the city guards arrived at the palace. There were four of them, led by a middle-aged man named Fu Long, the commander of the city guards, who had reached the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment stage. The other three were deputy commanders of the city guards, all at the early stages of the Foundation Establishment stage. Upon seeing Wang Bai, Fu Long and the others quickly saluted, "Greetings, Immortal!"

Wang Bai nodded, signaling them to excuse themselves, and then asked, "Do you know why I've called you here?"

Fu Long said respectfully, "Replying to the Immortal, we don't know, but as long as the Immortal has any instructions, we will do our best."

Wang Bai smiled with satisfaction and said, "Very good. I'm new here and would like to learn about the city's situation, such as population, commerce, public security, and so on."

Upon hearing this, Fu Long felt relieved. So it was this matter. So he reported to Wang Bai in detail what he knew.

"My lord, Xuantie City is a medium-sized city with a population of approximately three million, most of whom are cultivators. Business is also quite prosperous, with a wide variety of shops offering everything you need. As for public security, it is maintained by the city defense, and is relatively stable. However, due to the recent discovery of a spirit stone vein, quite a few cultivators have arrived from other places, but overall, it remains stable."

"Tell me about the forces in this city and the spirit stone mines."

"Sir, there are four immortal cultivation families in the city: the Situ, Lu, Bai, and Xi families. Most of their ancestors have reached the late stage of foundation building or even perfect cultivation, and they are all members of the Hundred Cities Alliance. These four families control 70% of the total business, and taxes are levied on them annually, each for 30% of their annual income in spirit stones, usually a little over 10,000 spirit stones per family. The alliance estimates that the spirit stone mine can produce nearly 100,000 low-grade spirit stones annually. 80% of the output of the spirit stone mine is to be handed over to the alliance. Of the remaining 20%, 10% belongs to you, sir, and the remaining 10% is used for daily maintenance. The same applies to the taxes collected."

After understanding the situation, Wang Bai returned to his mansion and thought to himself, "Based on this calculation, I can get a reward of nearly 20,000 spirit stones for guarding for a year. However, this is only the apparent income. There are still benefits in secret." For example, the second-level spirit vein, Wang Bai can enter it for free to practice.

Soon after, someone came to visit. They were all people sent by the powerful forces in the city to visit Wang Xiang's people. At the same time, they also prepared a gift.

At night, in a room in the Situ family mansion.

"Have the gifts been given out?" a middle-aged man asked the young man in front of him.

"It was sent out, but he also accepted the gifts from other forces." said the young man.

"Is that so?" A silence followed.

"13 years, another 13 years. When the ruins are opened next time, the opportunity that my Situ family has been planning for many years will be completely ripe. By then, our ancestor will break through to the Golden Elixir stage, and my Situ family will be able to occupy a city." The middle-aged man said excitedly.