Chapter Twelve: Zhongyang City

Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui arrived at the entrance of Zhongyang City.
By the entrance stood a stone pavilion, inside which two people sat—one in black and one in white. Upon seeing Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui approaching, they called out and asked them to come over.
Qu Yi went to the pavilion and said with a smile, “Dear fellow cultivators, what can I do for you?”
The man in black smiled and said, “There’s no need for suspicion, dear fellow cultivators. This is a rule shared by all ten cities in the Hundred Demons Mountain Region. Before entering the city, you must register your identities, after which you’ll be given an identity token.”
So that’s how it is. Qu Yi immediately smiled and said, “My name is Wu Qu.”
Qing Wu Gui replied calmly, “My name is Wu Qing.”
The man in black and the man in white burst into laughter, then took out two yellow round tokens. On the front side of each token was the character “Zhong,” and on the back, the character “Yang”—clearly symbols representing Zhongyang City.
“The these are the tokens of Zhongyang City,” the man in white said with a smile. “You may keep these tokens and stay in Zhongyang City for ten days. After ten days, you must leave. If you kill someone in the Hundred Demons Mountain Region and obtain that person’s token, you can return to Zhongyang City for another ten days of rest.”
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui’s expressions changed. Indeed, this was the Hundred Demons Mountain Region—a place created solely for killing.
In this region, the ten cities served as rest stations, providing a place for those exhausted from killing to rest, or for those nearing a breakthrough to meditate inside the cities. But after ten days, they had to leave again and return to the mountain region to continue killing.
Qu Yi had intended to inquire about Wei Yan’s whereabouts in Zhongyang City. Now he realized it would be very difficult to find Wei Yan’s trace so quickly. After all, the people in this city were all there to rest; they had no time to wander around. All they cared about was killing. It would be extremely hard to get any information about Wei Yan.
After hearing what they said, a smile gradually appeared on Qing Wu Gui’s face. This Hundred Demons Mountain Region was meant for him. Practicing the “Asura Demon Scripture” meant cultivating an Asura heart, and naturally, the more battles one fought, the more beneficial it was for cultivation. In endless battles, one could absorb others’ understanding of energy, deepening one’s own understanding even further.
“Good, we’ll keep that in mind,” Qu Yi said. He took the token and gave one to Qing Wu Gui.
Then, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui entered Zhongyang City.

“Ruthless, aren’t you feeling excited, eager to rush into the Hundred Demons Mountain Range to fight right away, right?” Qu Yi transmitted his voice through his spiritual sense as he walked along the streets of the city.
In Zhongyang City, there were hardly any decent buildings—only courtyards, all built for people to rest in. Naturally, Qu Yi had no interest in admiring the city’s scenery and instead asked about Qing Wu Gui.
“Yes, I really want to enter the Hundred Demons Mountain Range right now and have a good fight,” Qing Wu Gui said excitedly.
Qu Yi smiled, thinking to himself that a killing demon king was about to appear in the Hundred Demons Mountain Range.
Soon, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui arrived in front of a tall black castle, which was the residence of the city lord of Zhongyang City.
The city lord’s residence served only two purposes: as the city lord’s living place and for registering identity tokens and arranging residence in the courtyards.
Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui entered the residence and saw a statue on the left side of the hall—it was the statue of the city lord of Zhongyang City. Below the statue were details about the city lord, Yang Jue Yan, including his cultivation level and experiences. On the right side of the hall was a ten-meter-long reception desk, with two young girls behind it, both only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
By scanning the information about Yang Jue Yan with their spiritual senses, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui learned everything. With the strength of the early Golden Core stage, he entered the Hundred Demons Mountain Range, reached the late Golden Core stage after ten years, the late Yuan Ying stage after fifty years, the early Outward Emergence stage after a hundred years, and then defeated the previous city lord to become the new ruler of Zhongyang City.
Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui weren’t very surprised. Their cultivation time was much shorter than Yang Jue Yan’s, yet their achievements were even greater. Especially Qu Yi, who had reached the early Yuan Ying stage in just ten years, and that too by practicing all five elements simultaneously.
The two went straight to the reception desk and took out their identity tokens.
The two young girls immediately picked up their tokens respectfully and began registering them.
“Elder Wu Qu, Elder Wu Ren, your courtyards are number 36 and number 37 respectively. Just fly ten miles to the right once you leave the city lord’s residence,” said the slightly younger of the two girls with a smile.
Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui took back their identity tokens, nodded with a smile, and immediately flew out of the city lord’s residence.
At that moment, on the top floor of the city lord’s residence, in a room surrounded by black aura, a middle-aged man with a resolute expression and imposing presence retracted his spiritual sense.

This middle-aged man was none other than Yang Jueyan, the lord of Zhongyang City.
“Interesting. Two more young people have arrived, and they went straight to the heart of the Hundred Demons Mountain Range. They’re even more determined than I was back then, hehe.” Yang Jueyan smiled faintly before his expression turned serious.
As his expression changed, the dark light from all four walls suddenly flowed into his body, as if shaping his physique. It turned out that Yang Jueyan practiced body-refining techniques.
……
In Courtyard No. 36 of Zhongyang City, Qu Yi took residence there.
After a while, Qu Yi asked the Artifact God to scan the surroundings for any special formations or such. Once he confirmed there was no danger, he immediately entered the Inch Realm Sphere.
By the lake, Qu Yi sat cross-legged.
“Artifact God, I see that Qing Wu is restless after entering Zhongyang City. He really wants to head to the Hundred Demons Mountain Range to fight right away. I can’t stop him from practicing, but do you have any good suggestions?” Qu Yi asked.
If both Qu Yi and Qing Wu Guī entered the Hundred Demons Mountain Range to train, their vastly different training methods would make it impossible for them to stay together for long. Qu Yi was worried about Qing Wu Guī’s safety, which led to his question.
The infant-like Artifact God sat next to Qu Yi and said with a smile, “You don’t need to worry about Qing Wu Guī’s safety. I think he’s calm and much more careful than you. Besides, he has a Space-Transit Talisman, so he can escape in times of danger.”
Qu Yi looked at the Artifact God and said unhappily, “Artifact God, I know Qing Wu is safe, but there are too many dangers in the Hundred Demons Mountain Range. It’s possible he might encounter powerful opponents, and that would be a real problem.”
Anyone who could enter the Hundred Demons Mountain Range was undoubtedly an extraordinary person, especially those in the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase. If several such individuals surrounded Qing Wu Guī, it would be extremely dangerous.
The Artifact God pursed his lips, thought quietly for a moment, then sighed and said, “Sigh. I originally planned to wait until you finished scanning my basic formations before telling you about some advanced ones. But since you’re worried about Qing Wu Guī, I’ll make an exception and teach you a very useful formation first.”
Qu Yi immediately looked at the Artifact God with delight.
“Although I haven’t taught you the art of crafting artifacts yet, since you already possess the Qian Lan True Fire and the Pan Fire Cauldron, you should be able to create message tablets. I’ll teach you this Space-Transit Communication Formation then,” the Artifact God said reluctantly.

Among cultivators, during the Yuan Ying stage, Chu Qiao stage, and Fen Shen stage, the true fire in their bodies is all Qian Lan true fire. However, when Qu Yi reached the middle stage of the Jin Dan stage, the five-element true fire he possessed turned light blue. By the time he broke through to the early Yuan Ying stage, the color of his Qian Lan true fire was darker than that of ordinary cultivators, and its intensity was also much greater, comparable to that of cultivators in the later Yuan Ying stage.

Naturally, with Qian Lan true fire, Qu Yi could now start crafting weapons. In weapon crafting, after forming the core of the weapon, the most crucial step is sealing the array; otherwise, it would just be an ordinary weapon.

The Plan of the Weapon God was to let Qu Yi first master basic array knowledge before gradually understanding more advanced arrays, so that he could steadily achieve the highest accomplishments in the field of arrays. But to reassure Qu Yi at this moment, the Weapon God revealed to him an advanced array in advance.

The “Through-Air Communication Array” is an array used to transmit spiritual voices. Depending on the material of the device and the user’s cultivation level, the distance over which the spiritual voice can be transmitted varies.

“The Weapon God, I think I understand your plan. You want me to craft a communication token so that we can always determine Qing Wu Gui’s location and stay in touch, right?” Qu Yi said happily.

As long as he could locate Qing Wu Gui, Qu Yi was confident he could rush over immediately to ensure his safety.

“You’re smart,” the Weapon God said with a smile.

In a short while, the Weapon God implanted the “Through-Air Communication Array” into Qu Yi’s soul.

It took only a moment for Qu Yi to fully comprehend the array and even be able to reproduce it manually.

“The Weapon God, what materials are needed to craft this communication token? And how should I do it?” Qu Yi asked, a bit hesitantly.

At this point, Qu Yi knew absolutely nothing about weapon crafting.

The Weapon God glanced at Qu Yi, shook his head, then reluctantly implanted the methods and required materials for weapon crafting into Qu Yi’s soul.

“It’s time to tell you now. My method of weapon crafting is called ‘Weapon Heart,’ which corresponds perfectly to the name of my array theory, ‘Array Heart.’ It’s not yet the right time to explain ‘Weapon Heart’ in detail. I’ve already given you the method. With your current strength, you should still be able to craft a communication token,” the Weapon God said reluctantly, biting his lip.

Qu Yi chuckled and then began to study the method sent by the Weapon God in his soul, understanding it soon after.

“Starry Meteor Iron, Melodic Stone, Sky-Piercing Jade—so it only takes these materials after all. I’m quite lucky. I got the Melodic Stone from Master Qingyang’s storage bracelet, and the Sky-Piercing Jade from Zhan Jin’s storage bracelet. I already had the Starry Meteor Iron. All the materials are here now. Let me figure out the method of crafting and use it to create this communication token.” Qu Yi laughed heartily.
The God of Tools pouted in displeasure. To ensure Qingyang’s safety, he had made an exception and changed the procedure for teaching the formation spells and crafting methods, which made him very unhappy.