Chapter 278 - 268: Sun’s Immortal City

Chapter 278: Chapter 268: Sun’s Immortal City

And so, Jiang Xu trailed the middle-aged cultivator like a silent phantom. He watched as the man passed through village after village, swapping out the Storage Bag at his waist along the way. Each exchange signified that taxes had been collected from several more villages.

After the middle-aged cultivator had visited about twenty villages, his flight path suddenly changed. He stopped weaving between the settlements and instead sped off in a single, fixed direction.

Jiang Xu’s eyes lit up, and he followed straight after him.

After flying for about an hour, a group of cultivators came into view, resting leisurely in a dense forest in the distance.

When the middle-aged cultivator saw them, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Instead, he picked up speed and flew directly toward their position.

Jiang Xu stared at the group of cultivators. One of them had a particularly powerful aura, clearly possessing a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation.

’So this is the person truly in charge of the Sun Clan’s tax collection. The middle-aged cultivator is just a gofer responsible for the initial pickups.’

Once the middle-aged cultivator arrived, he respectfully flew closer to the group and, without hesitation, handed over all the Storage Bags he had collected to the leading Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator glanced at the contents of the Storage Bags, made a quick calculation, and nodded, saying:

"Not bad, Uncle. The taxes from your forty-odd villages have all been collected. This quarter’s mission is complete. You may return to the clan."

Upon hearing this, the tense expressions on the faces of the cultivators began to relax. Their shoulders slumped in unison, and their clenched fists slowly unfurled, as if a heavy set of shackles had been cast off.

Someone couldn’t help but complain:

"This mission is finally over. Every time I have to interact with those outsiders, especially the mortal ones, I get the urge to vomit."

The others nodded in profound agreement.

To them,

the quarterly tax collection mission meant they had to temporarily leave their city and deal with the mortals of other surnames who lived outside its walls.

This process was an ordeal for them, a painful journey that went against their very nature.

At times like these, they felt an indescribable sense of oppression, as if the very air was thick with filth. Just a short stay outside the city gates was enough to stir a powerful feeling of discomfort and revulsion deep within them.

Fortunately, this mission wasn’t always assigned to their group. The duty was shared among all clan members on a rotational basis.

They shuddered at the thought, secretly feeling thankful.

During their upbringing, the concept of outsiders had been deeply seared into their minds through strict clan education.

They saw outsiders as impure beings who would defile them, believing these people to be not only inferior but also filled with malicious intent.

This disgust was like an invisible wall, isolating them from the outside world. So much so that even the simplest exchange felt like a desecration of their pure bloodline.

This belief was etched into their very bones like a brand, forming an insurmountable psychological barrier.

To them, even the most insignificant contact with an outsider could tarnish their purity and violate the sanctity of their clan’s traditions.

Jiang Xu listened to their discussion, his brow furrowed.

’These people seem a little different from the Cultivation Clans in Dinghai State.’

In Dinghai State, the Cultivation Clans didn’t actually discriminate much against mortals and outsiders.

’So why do the cultivators of this Sun Clan show such discrimination against the mortals of other surnames here?’

Just as Jiang Xu was pondering this, he saw the group ahead of him set off, flying toward the center of Greed Wolf Island.

Jiang Xu did the same, using Stealth to tail them from a distance.

...

Since most of the group consisted of Qi Cultivation Cultivators, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator matched his speed to theirs to accommodate them.

This meant that a journey that shouldn’t have been very long ended up taking over two hours.

Because of this, however, Jiang Xu idly observed the surrounding terrain and environment along the way.

As Jiang Xu ventured deeper, he discovered that the closer he got to the center, the more numerous and larger the villages became. A few small towns even started to appear.

These towns were not only densely populated, but also had the faint auras of a few scattered cultivators permeating the air.

As he was about to reach his destination, the view suddenly opened up, and a vast Spirit Field came into sight.

In the field, Low Tier Cultivators and mortals could be seen working hard side-by-side. Their labor was clearly divided, and they cooperated seamlessly to nurture the Spirit Field, causing it to emit dense fluctuations of Spiritual Power.

The residences of the Low Tier Cultivators and mortals living near the Spirit Field were far more prosperous than those in the other villages Jiang Xu had passed.

Their homes were more exquisitely built, with spacious, tidy courtyards surrounded by lush trees and the fragrance of flowers.

Everything, from the smoke curling up from the kitchens to the clothes drying under the eaves, exuded an air of harmony and affluence.

Their standard of living—be it their food quality, living environment, or daily necessities—was clearly superior to that of the ordinary villages far from the Spirit Field. The gap between them was like the difference between heaven and earth.