The people under the heaven calculated everything under the heaven. While all of them thought that they were in control, but in reality, they were all people in the calculations.
Wu Qi changed into a different visage and leisurely returned to An He City. Instead of going back to City Lord Mansion, he chose to stroll aimlessly along the streets in the city. With those celestial fiend puppets taking control in the City Lord Mansion, it was no different from having him personally at the scene. Furthermore, with the joint forces of eighteen celestial fiend puppets, there was nothing Wu Qi needed to worry about in the vicinity of An He City.
The four monks who were blocking off the city were long gone. As the saying went, a reckless person was always afraid of a rough person, a rough person was always afraid of a desperate person, and a desperate person was always afraid of a shameless person. Following Wu Qi's order, Madman Xue had redeemed all the oldest and ugliest prostitutes from the brothels in the city, throwing them into the water tanks placed next to all four monks one after another. Although the monks had cultivated to a stage where nothing could really move their calm minds, they still could not withstand from being laughed and mocked by several tens of thousands of cultivators in the city. In the end, they simply abandoned the water tanks and fled in a sorry state.
When Wu Qi arrived in the city, he saw a total of over one hundred old women standing outside all four city gates, scolding the monks who had left earlier. What was more, an old woman who was so old she looked to be at her last gasp, was standing there totteringly as if she could die at any time, waving a red handkerchief, jumping up and down as she roared furiously, "What a bunch of bald donkeys! It is their fortune after breaking one hundred wooden fishes in their past lives to have me taking a fancy to them! Why are they running away? I've just given them a few hugs and kisses! And, they can't even afford to enjoy a little romance such as this? Serves them right to be bachelors for the rest of their lives!"
On Pangu Continent, be it the territories ruled by the human race or immortal sects, since when had something as absurd and ridiculous as this happened before?
With just a group of over one hundred old women, four Guarding Monks from Golden Pavilion Temple were scared off. Even worse, all of them were eminent monks of Nascent Divinity realm! Several tens of thousands of cultivators in An He City were all laughing until they felt their stomachs hurt. When Wu Qi entered the city, he could still hear the heated discussions among cultivators and mortals, who were discussing whether they could use prostitutes to deal with those monks in the future!
Clicking his tongue, Wu Qi felt proud as he kept listening to the discussions around him as he walked along the street.
Fifteen minutes into the walk, Wu Qi saw a bookstore on the side of the street. There was a banner hanging on top of its door, with a rather bold statement written on it - 'Selling the Guide Books of All Rare Objects in the Universe'. It attracted Wu Qi interest, driving him into the shop hurriedly.
It was true that there were many rare objects recorded in the Scroll of Stealing. However, as Pangu Continent was constantly expanding, and many new and strange objects were being produced amidst the chaotic airflows on a daily basis. Furthermore, the Scroll of Stealing was something from an ancient era, it was impossible for it to have the records of all the rare and precious objects found on Pangu Continent now. Wu Qi felt that there was a need for him to update the data in the Scroll of Stealing, as new things were emerging endlessly.
The roomy shop was rather emptied in the center, with bookshelves standing against all four walls, on top of which were placed numerous jade slips that glinted with a faint radiance. These jade slips did not have a huge storage, and each had a label below, with remarks such as 'Special Product Catalog for Jing Province of Great Yu', 'Special Product Catalog for Huang Province of Great Yu', 'A Comprehensive Guide to Demons in Purple Ocean of West Ming', and some other similar labels.
A small counter was found at the innermost area of the shop, and an old man with an unattractive appearance was seen sitting on a wooden chair behind it, moving his head from side to side as he silently kept reading a paperback book. He was clad in a green robe and a small burlap hat, and had a demeanor of a farmer. Next to the counter was a nine-storied bookshelf. A total of sixty-three jade scrolls were placed on the bookshelf, each of them having a storage size at least one hundred times larger than those jade slips. As expected, they were labeled as well, such as 'Special Product Catalog for Thirty-Nine Eastern Provinces of Great Yu', 'Guides to Spirit Herbs Found in 108 Harsh Lands Around Great Yu', etc.
After briefly browsing through the bookshelves, Wu Qi came to the counter and lightly tapped on its surface with his fingers.
The old man put down the book and slowly raised his head, squeezing out a humble smile on his wrinkled face as he said, "Mm, we have a customer. Can I know what are you looking for? I dare not to say we have everything one is looking for, but we have most of the catalogs and guidebooks relating to various things that you might be interested in."
'Ugh...' Wu Qi stared at the smiling face of the old man and could not utter a word for a while.
The old man looked perfectly normal when he was reading the book with a bowed head, but when he raised his head, a pair of pale, cloudy eyes were immediately revealed. He was obviously a blind man, and when recalling how he moved his head from side to side as he read the book previously, Wu Qi felt it very strange.
After a while, Wu Qi laughed dryly and asked, "Please excuse me. Do you sell any maps here?"
The old man answered with a smile, "Maps? We do sell maps. We have the map for An Le County, and the maps for a few nearby provinces. But, you will get what you pay for. The map for An Le County costs one thousand gold coins or one hundred pieces lower-grade energy stones. As for the maps for the nearby provinces, each map will cost one hundred thousand gold coins or ten thousand pieces lower-grade energy stones. For every additional province, you need to pay an extra fifty percent of the original price!"
Wu Qi blinked his eyes as he gave the old man's pale eyeballs a careful look. With much curiosity, he asked, "What is the approximate size of a province?"
The old man laughed. "My dear customer, you are here buying maps without having any knowledge of the size of a province? I reckon you are going to travel soon, eh?" He pondered for a brief moment, before nodding and saying, "There is a Heavenly Steeds Palace in Great Yu, where various heavenly steeds with divine beast bloodlines are raised. Among them, the fastest heavenly steed can travel 100 million miles in a day and a night!"
Then, he stretched out nine fingers, flipping them back and forth as he said laughingly, "The distance traveled across by the fastest heavenly steed for 81 days will be the standard size of a province in Great Yu Dynasty! Therefore, it is extremely cheap when you can buy a map of a province with just one hundred pieces lower-grade energy stones!"
Upon hearing that, Wu Qi could not help but smack his lips. He was surprised by how big a province on Pangu Continent was.
He did not talk for some moments, then lowered his voice and asked, "How about... do you have the map for the entire Pangu Continent?"
During the moment when Wu Qi did not talk previously, the old man fished out a clay tea bowl from under the counter with trembling hands, and then slowly took a sip out of it. When he heard Wu Qi's question, he was so shocked that he had all the tea in his mouth sprayed out, then began to cough violently. It seemed a tealeaf had stuck in his throat, as the old man coughed until his face was shot with blood and he could not breathe properly.
Wu Qi rushed hastily to the back of the counter, pressing his palm against the old man's chest and gave it a few strokes, while placing the other hand on the back of the old man's neck and giving it a light tap, forcing out the thick and long tea leaf that was stuck in the old man's throat. The old man coughed and panted heavily, and finally had his breath come back to normal.
With his pale eyeballs rolling about, the old man murmured, "Stop joking here, Sir. You've nearly killed me with that! The map for the entire Pangu Continent? Hehe, apart from the 'Pangu's Map' in the Imperial Palace of Yu Dynasty, and the 'Universal Mirror of Mountains and Rivers' in the Heaven, which are both the precious treasures that can reveal the exact state of the entire Pangu Continent, who knows what Pangu Continent is like today?"
After taking another sip out of the tea bowl, the old man shook his head and said, "A high-ranking immortal official who serves the Heaven can get his hand on a portion of Pangu Continent's map, but that will be a land which people have looted several hundreds of times, a place where not many resources are left. As for the maps of the new lands, the Heaven is too busy in sending trustworthy Immortals to loot the resources. How would they provide those maps to the rest of the people?"
That stunned Wu Qi instantly, as he asked hastily, "How about Great Yu?"
Twitching his lips, the old man said with a smile, "Great Yu? Mm, a County Governor does have the maps to several nearby counties, and a Prefecture Overseer does have the maps to several nearby provinces. Besides them, only Generals who are stationed in different places have the maps to their respective regions. If you want the maps to the entire Pangu Continent, tsk, perhaps apart from the current Human Emperor, no one else will have them!"
Wu Qi was rendered speechless. Frowning helplessly and sighing, he asked, "Then... do you know where is the You Xiong Plain?"
The old man's pale eyeballs darted from side to side, and with a surprised look on his face, he stared at Wu Qi and said, "Don't you know that You Xiong Plain is actually the capital city of Great Yu?"
Laughing and clapping, Wu Qi said, "So, Great Yu's capital city is established in You Xiong Plain? Then, is it difficult to travel there?"
The old man shook his head straight away, "The place welcomes all members of the human race, and minces any Immortal cultivators who dare to step into it!"
The simple and straightforward answer made Wu Qi short of breath. The members of the human race could freely enter You Xiong Plain, while any Immortal cultivators who stepped into the place would be minced? Wu Qi asked grumpily, "Don't tell me that they will also mince those immortal officials from the Heaven?"
The old man kept nodding his head and said, "Not to mention those immortal officials, once there was a Primordial Immortal who visited You Xiong Plain by accident, and he was minced!"
Wu Qi gasped, and with effort, he smacked his lips. "A... Primordial Immortal? I thought that is a formidable existence, isn't it?" he asked while laughing dryly.
"Surely a Primordial Immortal is formidable, but any Immortal cultivators who dare to set their foot on the land within a radius of ten billion miles around Great Yu's capital city will be greeted with the same consequence," said the old man as he twitched his lips and smiled, "Unless he or she is the emissary sent by the Great Celestial Emperor of the Heaven, Ziwei Lingying, the rest of the Immortals will be killed instantly right at the moment they enter the place."
Wu Qi sunk into a deep silence. A few moments later, he sighed and produced a small pile of upper-grade energy stones. "I'm sorry to trouble you, Senior. Please give me a copy of the maps to the few nearby provinces, as well as the catalog of the 108 harsh lands around Great Yu! Mm, I also want those catalogs of rare and precious objects! Tsk, Immortal cultivators are prohibited from entering Great Yu's capital city? How boring is that!"
The blind old man fished out a few jade scrolls and jade slips while smiling, then gave them to Wu Qi. With one swift move, he collected all the upper-grade energy stones placing on top of the counter and shoved them into a pouch hanging on his waist. "It is always good to travel around Pangu Continent. A young man like you should travel often to widen your horizon! But, as an Immortal cultivator, you better not get too close to Great Yu's capital city, province city, county city, as well as their military camps, or you'll definitely meet a fatal disaster!"
Wu Qi shook his head and smacked his lips, then casually pulled out a packet of spirit teas which he harvested in Myriad Immortals Planet, and gave it to the blind old man.
"Never mind, I'll find another way through the Heaven! Tsk, all I want is just a map!" Wu Qi grumbled under his breath. Then, he turned to the old man and said, "Thank you, Senior! This is a pretty decent tea, give it a try!"
The blind old man was stunned a little, then he took the packet of tea with a smile. After that, from under the counter, he fished out another packet of tea and gave it to Wu Qi, "It is very kind of you to do that. In so many years, you are the first customer who has ever given me tea leaves. Mm, it is very fragrant indeed. But, you do try my tea as well. It tastes different!"
Wu Qi received the packet of tea leaves depreciatingly. After having a few more words with the old man, he shook his head and left the bookstore.
He took a few steps on the street, but all of a sudden, he felt something was not right. He spun abruptly, and he did not see any bookstore.
Originally, the bookstore had a restaurant and a meat shop as neighbors, but it was gone now, and the restaurant and the meat shop were standing right next to each other, with their businesses thriving.
A coldness rose up from the bottom of his heart. Staring at the little packet of tea leaves in his hand, Wu Qi murmured, "Was I seeing things just now?"
It was a broad daylight, and with Wu Qi's cultivation base, how would there be a ghost who dared to show up before him?