A Chaotic World

Chapter 341: Sacred Cliff City

The entry requirements for Sacred Cliff City was considerably more relaxed than that of Divine Storm City.

Proofs of entry were being sold at the city gate for a relatively affordable price of twenty low ranked beast cores each, and would allow an individual to enter and exit the city freely for thirty days.

Apart from checking for the proofs of entry, the city guards did not ask any other questions of the people moving in and out of the city.

Lu Tianzi and company each bought a proof of entry before stepping into the busy streets of Sacred Cliff City.

"Let's first secure a place to stay," Young Master Xuan Hao suggested. "Shall we go check out the famous Fortune Queen Inn? It might be a little expensive, but from what I have heard, it is definitely worth the price. If Brother Tianzi and Sister Qianxue are travelling on a budget, I am more than willing to pay for your share as well."

Now that they had reached the city, Young Master Xuan Hao's incredible background was starting to show.

Even if the Fortune Queen Inn was expensive, he could easily afford to pay for everyone's share if he wanted to.

"Don't worry, we should be able to afford it as long as it is not too expensive," Lu Tianzi politely turned him down.

As long as he could help it, Lu Tianzi did not want to be indebted to others for no reason.

While his background might not be able to compare to that of Young Master Xuan Hao, Lu Tianzi was considered relatively rich as well, especially after collecting the belongings of the numerous dead members of the Blazing Wings organisation back at Bog Town.

These include the Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm Dongran couple, who had accumulated resources over the years as the leaders of both a noble family and an underground organisation.

"Haha, it's good that Brother Tianzi agrees. I can't wait to see what the Fortune Queen Inn has to offer!" Young Master Xuan Hao did not bother hiding his anticipation as he started asking around for directions.

This was also Young Master Xuan Hao's first time at Sacred Cliff City, so he was unfamiliar with the way around as well.

Fortunately for them, the Fortune Queen Inn was as famous as Young Master Xuan Hao had said. The very first person whom they asked for directions was already able to point them to its exact location.

"Welcome, valued guests!" a beautiful young lady dressed in a tight fitting cheongsam greeted them with a radiant smile when they entered. "How may I help you?"

"We are looking for rooms to stay," Young Master Xuan Hao replied while struggling to keep his eyes from straying. "We will be staying for a while as well, so please give us your best rooms."

"I will see to it immediately," the young lady nodded. "Renting four of our Queen rooms will require a deposit of four hundred low ranked beast cores. Can I trouble our valued guests to pass me the deposit while I get the staff to prepare the rooms for you?"

Lu Tianzi's lips twitched when he heard what she said.

A hundred low ranked beast cores per room, and that was just the deposit. Young Master Xuan Hao was not joking when he said that it was expensive.

Thankfully, it was still not an amount that Lu Tianzi was unable to fork out.

Lu Tianzi promptly passed two hundred low ranked beasts cores over to Young Master Xuan Hao, who then paid the young lady.

"Thank you for your cooperation," the young lady's smile seemed to grow even more radiant upon receiving the beast cores. "Please follow me to your rooms."

The young lady led them up multiple flights of stairs to a quiet section of the Fortune Queen Inn, where they were each shown to their respective rooms.

After agreeing to meet at the lobby in two hours' time, each of them started to check out the rooms that they had been given.

Lu Tianzi could not help but nod in satisfaction as he inspected his surroundings.

Apart from being spacious and comfortable, there was also an intricate concealing formation shrouding over each room, providing the guest with some much appreciated privacy.

At the same time, the World Origin Energy within this entire section of the Fortune Queen Inn was rich and dense, making it an ideal environment to rest or cultivate.

It was indeed deserving of being one of the best rooms in the famous Fortune Queen Inn.

Since he had some time to spare, Lu Tianzi sat down cross legged as he delved into a state of light meditation.

Ever since fighting Chengban, he had been constantly on the lookout for his pursuers.

This was the first time that he had some time to relax and consolidate his gains in terms of comprehensions and insight.

There were simply too many gains during this period that Lu Tianzi had yet to properly digest.

First was his comprehensions into the Law of Swords.

Comprehensions into a world law was no simple matter. He might have taken his first step through the door, but there was a whole new world beyond.

It was going to take a lot of time and effort before he could smoothly wield the Law of Swords in battle.

Apart from the Law of Swords, there was also his newly gained insights into using water as a medium of combat.

Lu Tianzi was able to do so with relative ease back at the Canal of Misery, but that was also partially because he had been surrounded by water.

In most other battles, it was highly unlikely that his surroundings would be this advantageous.

That being the case, he would have to think of new ways to fully make use of the water element in combat.

Of course, these things take time. Two hours was hardly a long period of time by any measure, and he was not expecting to suddenly have an epiphany either.

All he wanted was to properly digest what he had already learnt, so that as to form a basic foundation for the future.

Lu Tianzi ended his meditation on time and went out to the inn lobby, where the rest of them were already waiting.

Under Young Master Xuan Hao's lead, the group went on to visit Sacred Cliff City's famous marketplace.

Sacred Cliff City was indeed deserving of its name as the City of Artificers.

Most of the shops opened in the marketplace and on the streets were selling various types of equipment and accessories, as well as raw materials that could be used to forge new ones.

There were even numerous Origin Core rank treasures on sale, and Lu Tianzi could not help but feel tempted upon seeing them.

However, each of these Origin Core rank treasures came with a scary price tag.

Even with Lu Tianzi's current wealth, he could only afford a few of them at most, and that would mean emptying out his entire savings.

Obtaining more Origin Core rank treasures was obviously a good thing. But unless he found a treasure that was truly suited for Nanlan Qianxue or himself, Lu Tianzi was reluctant to spend carelessly.

At the same time, Lu Tianzi was surprised to find that even Young Master Xuan Hao had not purchased anything even after visiting quite a few shops.

"Is there nothing that Brother Xuan Hao has taken a liking to?" Lu Tianzi asked curiously.

"It is not like that," Young Master Xuan Hao shook his head with a meaningful smile. "There are indeed many treasures that I am tempted by, but each Origin Core rank treasure is too expensive. Before the auction, I would like to hold back as much of my funds as possible. Otherwise, I might just miss out on the real treasures, and that would be too much of a loss!"

"The auction?" Lu Tianzi asked again.

"Oh, did I not mention this earlier? Haha, my apologies for that," Young Master Xuan Hao laughed in embarrassment. "One of the main reasons I decided to come to Sacred Cliff City was for the biennial Sacred Lotus Auction that would be held in a week's time. Every time the Sacred Lotus Auction is held, countless treasures would appear. In the past few Sacred Lotus Auctions, there are even treasures that can move the hearts of Overlord powerhouses! If Brother Tianzi is interested, we can go take a look together."

"I certainly am interested," Lu Tianzi nodded.

Since he was already here, there was no reason not to go take a look at such an event.

Who knows, perhaps he might even be able to obtain something useful there!

"That's decided then!" Young Master Xuan Hao said. "The day is almost coming to an end as well. Why don't we go back and have a good rest for now? Let's meet up again in a week's time."

Lu Tianzi had no objections, and neither did the two ladies.

Just like that, the group returned to Fortune Queen Inn.

Lu Tianzi told Nanlan Qianxue that he would be staying in his room for a while before returning to his room.

This time, he set up a sealing formation as well as a secondary concealing formation as insurance, to further eliminate any slim chances of others spying on him.

After that, he took out a beautiful diamond-shaped crystal from his spatial ring, which in turn lit up the entire room with a seven-coloured flowing light spectrum.

This was none other than the Seven Lights Prism that Lu Tianzi had obtained from the Divine Storm Palace as a reward for curbing the unrest at Bog Town.

The Seven Lights Prism was known for its dreamy aethetics, as well as its ability to draw in beasts and nourish plants.

But Lu Tianzi was not interested in any of that.

Instead, what he was most interested in was the concentrated Spiritual Essence within.

It had already been a while since Lu Tianzi had broken through to the Peak Essence Condensation realm in the Spiritual Essence system.

During this time, he had been patiently refining the impurities in the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence within his inner world. With the personal experience from his Slaughter Essence system, he could already be considered somewhat of an expert in this field, and the process had gone much smoother than expected.

Now that he was done refining the impurities in his Spiritual Essence system, he was intending to rely on the Seven Lights Prism as a source of energy to break through to the Origin Core realm in one go!

With a decisive swing of his Moon Culler, Lu Tianzi directly smashed the Seven Lights Prism into pieces, releasing a burst of Spiritual Essence that flooded the entire room.

Weng-!

The sealing formation set up by Lu Tianzi immediately buzzed into action, trapping all of the released Spiritual Essence within the confines of the room.

Once that was settled, Lu Tianzi closed his eyes in deep meditation as his body frenziedly absorbed the Spiritual Essence around him, channelling all of it towards the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence within his inner world.

By now, the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence was already extremely dense and compact.

No matter how fast Lu Tianzi absorbed the Spiritual Essence around him, introducing them to the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence in his inner world was a completely different matter.

Adding to the already compact ball of Spiritual Essence was a process that required time and patience.

Luckily, Lu Tianzi was not in the hurry.

There was still a week before the agreed meeting time with Young Master Xuan Hao, and that was more than enough time for this process to complete.

Lu Tianzi sat there unmovingly for the next few days, his thoughts focused within his inner world.

He even paused his practice for the Eternal Wraith Sword, and the Moon Culler remained in his spatial ring instead of floating around the room.

This was a crucial point in his cultivation, and Lu Tianzi did not want to risk screwing it up.

On the evening of the sixth day, Lu Tianzi finally let out a deep breath as he opened his eyes.

In his inner world, the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence had condensed into a solid orb of Spiritual Essence that was less than a tenth of its original size.

Despite his exhaustion, Lu Tianzi could not help but smile upon sensing the presence of this solid orb.

This was a true origin core of the Spiritual Essence system.

First Cycle Origin Core realm of the Spiritual Essence system achieved!