"My friend..." Chu Qi changed the subject midway, "Excuse me, when did you come in here?"
Hearing Chu Qi's words, the middle-aged man who was lying on the ground suddenly moved. He turned around and faced Chu Qi, and said in a rather surprised tone, "I thought the newcomer would try to commit suicide, but I didn't expect a young man like you to be so calm."
Chu Qi: “…”
Without waiting for Chu Qi to answer, the middle-aged man continued, "I came here a month ago. After Qiucheng was closed, I was captured and made a slave because I couldn't pay the gold."
Since the person he was chatting with was not someone crying in despair, the middle-aged man started to talk more.
He not only told Chu Qi how he got to the dungeon, but also told him about the changes in Qiucheng.
*
It turned out that two months ago, there was an immortal in Qiucheng who could turn stone into gold and was "generous and charitable" and was willing to give gold to the people for free.
In addition to the people's love for gold, some monks were very curious about the technique of "turning stone into gold". The immortal promised to teach this method to other monks.
When the two pieces of news spread, people from the entire Central Region went crazy and rushed to Qiu City.
At first, everyone got what they wanted. Almost every place visible to the naked eye in Qiu City turned into gold.
A month later, the immortal said that he would take back the gold that had been given out previously. Those who were willing to return the gold could leave the city, and those who were unwilling to return the gold could stay.
Of these two options, most people choose the latter.
Who doesn’t want to stay in Qiu City and enjoy the happiness and wealth brought by money
From then on, Qiucheng fell into chaos.
Staying in Qiucheng, the immortals began to collect gold from the people in the city. Those who could not pay would be sent out of Qiucheng and return to poverty. Those who could pay continued to enjoy wealth and splendor in the city.
The gold in the hands of the people will eventually run out, and some people will gradually be unable to hand over the gold. At that time, they will have to go for "alchemy".
*
"Alchemy? How can a mortal learn the art of alchemy?"
Chu Qi couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this.
"You are new here, so of course you don't know about mortal alchemy. We have to keep moving the ore and put it into the furnace. Then the immortals will quench it and smelt it into gold."
"Where does the ore come from?" Chu Qi was confused.
As Yan Chi said, Qiucheng was refined into a magical instrument by an instrument refiner. In this way, Qiucheng is an independent space with no mineral veins. How to mine ore
"I don't know about this. It may be the method of the immortal."
After chatting, the cellmate reminded him, "It's getting late. You should go to bed early. We will go to work at dawn tomorrow. Otherwise, you will be sent to the oil pan without strength and become the fuel for alchemy."
This was the second time the inmate mentioned the "oil pan".
Chu Qi didn't continue talking, but just raised his eyebrows slightly, keeping this in mind.
Mortals need sleep. The cellmate looked very sleepy. He yawned and turned over to sleep. Chu Qi stopped disturbing him and focused on how to escape from prison.
Just when Chu Qi was about to cut the golden railing with the Guiyin Sword, a kind call appeared in his sea of consciousness.
"Lulu!"
—The successfully advanced gold-eating beast wakes up from its slumber.
Chu Qi was pleasantly surprised and quickly set up an isolation barrier around himself to summon the gold-devouring beast out of the contract space.
After the advancement, Xiao Jin had obvious changes. Its body grew half a fist taller, the horns on its head grew a lot bigger, and the tip of its tail was no longer a barb, but a small ball like a dandelion. Chu Qi looked closely and found that the thing that looked like a dandelion was also full of thorns.
“Lulululul.”
After Xiao Jin woke up, he was very happy to see Chu Qi, and at the same time he did not forget to wag his tail to show off his successful advancement.
Chu Qi reached out and touched Xiao Jin's head, "Xiao Jin has become stronger."
After a brief show-off, Xiao Jin looked around and didn't find Yan Jiuge. He couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.
"chatter?"
"Ayan is not here." Chu Qi told Xiao Jin where they were currently.
Xiao Jin looked serious after hearing this. Without Yan Jiuge, his master would be in great danger. The last time he was chased by bugs in the swamp was still fresh in his memory. Xiao Jin felt that he had to take on the responsibility of protecting his master.
Chu Qi did not notice the change in expression on his pet's face. He thought, "I was originally planning to go out by myself. Now that you've woken up, let's change the route out."
The teeth of the gold-eating beast can chew the strongest ores in the world, so gold is no problem.
"Let's go out from the back of the dungeon." His cell happened to be the last one, so he could just make a hole in the wall and get out directly.
After Xiao Jin understood what Chu Qi meant, it opened its mouth wide and took a bite at the corner of the wall.
It was similar to biting tofu. Xiao Jin bit off a big hole in it with a few crunches.
However, after Xiao Jin's sudden output, he suddenly stopped.
Chu Qi, who was squatting beside him, was a little worried. "What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"
"Pah, pah, pah!"
Xiao Jin turned his head and spat out a pile of mineral impurities in another direction, including dirt. The amount was almost the same as the "gold" he had just eaten.
The gold-eating beast would filter out the impurities in the ore, retain the purest part of the metal, and absorb it as energy. But the "gold" used to build the dungeon was obviously all impurities.
“Lulululul!”
Xiao Jin complained to Chu Qi feeling aggrieved.
"I'm sorry to have wronged you. I didn't expect that these were all fake gold. I won't eat them." Chu Qi touched Xiao Jin's head soothingly.
Then think about the art of turning stone into gold and "alchemy" that my cellmate mentioned.
Chu Qi had a rough idea of where the ore came from.
All the gold in the entire Qiu City is fake. It uses magic to transform it to look more like gold, but in reality it is still a pile of dirt and sand.
The Guiyin sword was unsheathed, Chu Qi activated the double mind method, and used Yan Jiuge's sword energy to cut open the corner of the wall. With the isolation barrier in place, the noise Chu Qi made did not alarm others.
This hole was also covered with spiritual magic, so nothing unusual could be seen from the outside.
Chu Qi walked out of the cave, and the gold-eating beast ran to his shoulder and stood there. When it rushed up, it passed by Chu Qi's wrist, and its hind legs were hit by something, and it almost fell from mid-air.
"!"
Really annoying.
Even if Yan Jiuge was not there, there was still a bad guy who would suddenly come and hit it.
The gold-eating beast bared its teeth at the vine ring on Chu Qi's wrist. It would definitely find an opportunity to take revenge next time.
Chu Qi naturally did not notice the fight between the spirit pets. Most of his attention was focused on the scene in front of him.
After coming out of the dungeon, the buildings of Qiu City appeared before Chu Qi's eyes. Just as the wanderer said, everything was golden, and he could see the jade inlaid on the wall.
It was night time, and the few lights still illuminated the autumn city magnificently.
This kind of color will make you tired if you look at it for a long time.
I don’t know how the people living in Qiu City can get used to it.
To be on the safe side, Chu Qi took out two talismans for concealing his aura from his Qiankun bag. These talismans were given to him by the sect master's uncle, and they could block the perception of cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage.
In the entire Yunhua Realm, there are not many powerful people in the Nascent Soul Stage.
The Central Region is where low-level cultivators gather, so there shouldn’t be such powerful beings there.
Chu Qi circulated his spiritual power and his body became as fast as the wind. He rose into the air, touched the top of the wall with his toes, and used the force to fly upwards again.
Chu Qi wanted to find the exit of Qiu City.
Since the wanderer was able to get out before, Qiucheng should also have an exit.
Standing on a high place, Chu Qi had a panoramic view of the entire Qiucheng.
There are many metal puppets patrolling in the city. The area under Chu Qi's feet is relatively quiet, while the other half is a little more lively.
When Chu Qi rushed over, he found that half of the people in Qiu City were carrying ore towards the city center.
After days of hard work, the people were dressed in tattered clothes. There were even half-grown children in the team. They were covered in dust and dirt, and were struggling to pull the ore that was bigger than them forward.
It is not difficult to guess that half of the people in the city will practice alchemy at night, and the other half will practice alchemy during the day.
Day and night, there is no end.
There was a look of confusion and depression on everyone's face, and they didn't know where they were or why they had fallen into such a situation.
There is "gold" all under their feet, but despite this, they still have to continue to work hard to carry the ore and "refine it".
The art of turning stone into gold was ultimately a lie, deceiving the people and monks who came to Qiucheng one after another. The people suffered the pain of alchemy in the city, and the monks... all became human puppets.
Chu Qi clenched his fists and felt very disgusted with the person behind the scenes.
Following the arduous and magnificent golden road, Chu Qi found the place where alchemy was located. It was somewhat similar to the "oil pot" described by his cellmate. There was a huge cauldron, with burning spiritual fire and some mortal firewood underneath. Turbid golden water was surging in the cauldron, as if the oil was heated.
The people who carried the ore needed to climb up high ladders and throw the ore in.
"Gurgle." The ore fell into the cauldron, and a few calm bubbles emerged.
Suddenly, with a "bang", a piece of ore fell and splashed boiling molten iron.
"Ah!" The person who threw down the ore was very frightened. His feet were splashed by molten iron. In severe pain, he fell towards the mouth of the cauldron.
Chu Qi's mind froze. His spiritual power surged in his hands, and he was about to save this person.
However, a spiritual power surged from the side of the cauldron and caught the mortal who fell from the platform before Chu Qi could make a move.
Before Chu Qi could breathe a sigh of relief, a gloomy voice came from the entrance.
"What a fool!"
"If you go in and pollute my alchemy pool, I will make sure all of you are buried with it."
"Calm down, Immortal!!"
In an instant, all the people who were carrying the ore knelt on the ground with terrified expressions.
The person who accidentally fell from the platform was thrown in the opposite direction by the spiritual power - and thrown onto the blazing flames under the cauldron!
Saving people was not the monk's original intention, he just didn't want mortals to pollute his alchemy pool.
In his anger, the life of that mortal was like a blade of grass, not worth mentioning.
"bass!"
A clear sound of metal collision was heard.
A sharp sword energy suddenly burst out from top to bottom, and the mighty momentum actually extinguished the blazing spiritual fire under the cauldron.
The mortal who was originally thrown into the fire was also lifted up by a gentle spiritual power, and even the wound on his foot was completely healed. The spiritual power placed him back on the ground far away, away from the vicinity of the alchemy furnace.
"Who is it? How dare you break into my Autumn City!!"
All the spiritual fires were extinguished, Yan Kuwu was furious. He didn't care about the mortal and swept towards the direction where the sword energy fell.
(End of this chapter)