A few minutes later, in a large mansion in the middle of the town.
Compared to the ordinary buildings in the outskirts of the town, the dwellings of Rank-3 martial artists were indeed treated differently, and even the stones of the courtyard wall looked smoother.
In the house, it was dark.
There were no servants and there seemed to be no family members. Fang Ping’s Mentality probed around for a moment and determined that there were no other people in the house.
At that moment, the lone man had already opened the courtyard door and entered the small courtyard.
The security seemed to be low. Perhaps he was used to being superior or maybe it was because there had been no large wars in the Nanjiang Catacombs.
In other Catacombs, once they were out of the city, everyone would be on high alert. It was completely different.
“Too complacent!”
Fang Ping shook his head slightly, but this was also good. The complacency would reduce the sacrifice of humans.
…
Not in a hurry, Fang Ping checked around. There were several other families near the house.
However, it seemed that there were no powerhouses. Those who were below middle-rank were considered not weaklings in Fang Ping’s eyes.
Once he was sure that safety was guaranteed, Fang Ping jumped over and entered the house without a sound.
The house was divided into two sides: the front, and the back.
Looking at the front yard, it seemed the owner was truly living the life; he had planted a lot of flowers and trees, and the energy was quite ample… Fang Ping wanted to pick and stuff them into his storage space. After he thought about it, he decided against it; it might leave a clue for outsiders.
…
A room at the back of the house lighted up.
Fang Ping held his breath and slowly felt his way forward.
He did not immediately attack. Instead, Fang Ping arranged a layer of Mentality Shield around the room. This might be difficult to block the middle-ranked but those below Rank-3 should not pose much of a problem.
Only then did Fang Ping push open the door boldly. The door closed instantly, and the Mentality Shield was raised.
“Oomph!”
Once Fang Ping entered the room, what greeted him was a leg!
In order not to damage the environment, Fang Ping felt that it was necessary to protect the facilities in the room. His Mentality immediately gushed out, and the person opposite him was rooted to the spot!
“Don’t act rashly.”
Fang Ping spoke using the language of the Catacombs. He was not even sure if it was correct, but close to it was enough.
Fang Ping sat down on the chair in the room and picked up the teapot on the table, his eyes betraying his desire of taking it away.
Was this made of jade?
No, it was a teapot carved out of a whole chunk of jade!
What the heck, were the martial artists of the Catacombs that rich?
He had never realized it before!
In the Magic City Catacombs, even after thrashing the Rank-7’s old lair, Fang Ping realized that the things used there seemed to be ordinary. He did not expect to see that a Rank-3 martial artist here could use this teapot made of jade.
Was it because the Magic City Catacombs lacked these resources? Or if they did exist, had they been all exploited by humans?
“Small money, small money, don’t bother about it.”
Fang Ping exhaled; he should not be materialistic. The purpose of him coming here was to first infiltrate the city and, more importantly, to see if Old Man Li could be saved.
Secondly, it was to gather information and help mankind to better understand Nanjiang’s Catacombs.
Putting behind thoughts of his own benefits, Fang Ping felt that he was rather broad-minded.
However, in the next moment, Fang Ping could no longer remain calm!
Next to the teapot, there was something that looked like a small furnace. The exterior was made of metal, and the inlay was an energy stone!
Fang Ping placed the teapot on it, fumbled for a while and after some time managed to understand how to operate it.
There was something similar to a switch. After Fang Ping pressed on it, the energy stone began to release energy, and then the water in the teapot began to heat up.
“Such luxury, such a waste!”
Uttering these words in his heart, Fang Ping did not use a cup but directly poured a few sips of hot water into his mouth using the teapot. He had rarely been able to enjoy himself since entering the Catacombs.
After savoring for a while, Fang Ping looked at the Rank-3 martial artist who had been suppressed.
“Speak!”
His voice was slightly dark and combined with the bloody stains on his face, he struck an intimidating figure.
When Fang Ping used his Mentality to hold down his opponent earlier, he had already scared the sh*t out of him.
A powerhouse who was above commander level!
The moment that Fang Ping scattered his Mentality, the other party did not call for help, but immediately fell to his knees trembling. “Master, what do you wish to know?”
Fang Ping currently was not releasing his Vitality Force. Even if he had, this Rank-3 martial artist might not even notice anything amiss.
Seeing that he was so cooperative, Fang Ping promptly ordered, “Tell me everything about Gigantic Willow City!”
The name Gigantic Willow City was among the information he gathered. As he had heard this name many times, whether he understood it correctly, Fang Ping did not care.
Once the words fell from his mouth, the martial artist kneeling on the ground shuddered immediately!
This was not a powerhouse from Gigantic Willow City!
Who?
Was he from Cretaceous City?
People from Cretaceous City would not ask for this information from a weak martial artist like him.
Who could it be then?
A powerhouse from foreign territories?
Despite the countless speculations in his mind, in the face of the death threat, the man began to speak about everything, regardless of big or small.
As Fang Ping did not ask specifically, his answers were also very muddled.
At times, when Fang Ping did not understand, he would ask the man to repeat a few times. This gave a confirmation to the Rank-3 martial artist that the powerhouse of commander level was probably a powerhouse from the foreign territory who had fought in the big war with the king today.
Fang Ping did not bother concealing it.
With the narrative of the middle-aged man in front of him, Fang Ping gradually learned the basic knowledge of the area.
Gigantic Willow City was the Royal City.
In the surroundings of the Royal City were many villages, towns, and even small cities!
In the Magic City Catacombs, Fang Ping did not see any small cities, but it did not mean that there were not any. Over here, nearby to the Royal City, there were some small cities built by high-ranked powerhouses and they were affiliated to the Royal City.
Building a city was the privilege of a high-ranked powerhouse. In the Royal City, there must be Rank-9, which was the king among the people of the Catacombs.
The place where Fang Ping was now was not a small city. There were not any high-ranked powerhouses holding the fort, but it was very close to the Royal City. There was a middle-rank powerhouse as a garrison in the town, or rather, this town was his manor.
Fang Ping had little interest in all this.
He was mainly concerned about the affairs of the Royal City.
Over at the Royal City, Willow King was the king of Gigantic Willow City. His subordinates were two Venerables and a commander-in-chief, all of whom were Rank-8 powerhouses. This was the existence of rankings.
Venerables were similar to the honorific title humans had for the Grandmasters. The commander-in-chief was a position similar to the commander of the Military Department in Capital City.
Under the commander-in-chief, Gigantic Willow City also had a two-digit number of commander-level powerhouses. As for the exact number, the man was not clear about this.
Next down, there were Rank-6 general-level powerhouses. These powerhouses were the mainstream of the Royal City, the upper class.
They either led the army, established a sect, or formed a clan.
The Royal City was the king’s world.
However, there were many forces in the Royal City, mainly clan forces, army forces, and sectarian forces.
Fang Ping was not clear whether the sect of the Catacombs was the same as that of human beings. He could only listen to this guy’s narrative and discerned that there was a sect-like force.
Gigantic Willow City also had interchanges with the outside world and had business dealings.
However, it was only toward the Monster Plant Clan!
Fang Ping, after detailed inquiries, was able to generally understand the meaning!
“There were two factions, the Monster Plant Clan and the Monster Life Clan?”
Fang Ping wondered in his heart, did the humans’ top management know? By right they should know, right?
It turned out that the Catacombs were also divided into two factions.
The two Clans of Monster Plant and Monster Life could be seen from the city emblem. If the city emblem was a plant, then it was regarded as the Monster Plant Clan, and if the city emblem was an animal, then that was the Monster Life Clan.
“Sky Gate City and East Sunflower City were both considered to be of Monster Plant Clan, as was Gigantic Willow City!”
“The Cretaceous City that they mentioned belonged to the Monster Life Clan.”
“The martial artists on both sides were not much different. The biggest difference was the tutelary!”
Fang Ping’s eyes were ablaze!
City emblems were not useless things!
According to the man, Divine Willow was the tutelary of Gigantic Willow City. To Fang Ping’s understanding, it was a monster beast: a plant monster.
Cities in the Catacombs were guarded by high-rank monsters beasts.
Fang Ping wondered if the monsters did it willingly, or were forced into it.
When the plant monsters had reached the high-rank, they were generally extremely strong. However, their main strength was not here, but rather, the plant monsters could gather energy and supply it to the people in Royal City to increase their cultivation speed.
This was difficult for animal monsters, or maybe they were unwilling to do it.
However, the Monster Plant Clan was also flawed, as it was difficult for the tutelary to move about outside.
On the other hand, the monster beasts from the Monster Life Clan could leave the city and go out to battle.
Fang Ping shook his head. For a while, countless thoughts appeared in his mind.
According to this Rank-3 martial artist, in the Royal City, Divine Willow could also lend Celestiality to the king. If Willow King was in Royal City, his strength would skyrocket. There was a time when Cretaceous King rode on the Cretaceous Beast King into battle with Willow King and was defeated.
Fang Ping did not know if these gossips were serious or just boasts, but he just listened to it.
The cities of the Monster Plant Clan were interconnected.
This included business dealings, co-organizing personnel to explore and open up new territories, as well as offensive and defensive alliances to defend against the Monster Life Clan.
This Rank-3 martial artist was not very clear of the specific situation.
Although there was cooperation, there was also competition.
Sometimes, there would be a war between each other. For example, if an energy mine was found, the two sides would also compete. This person had participated in such a war before.
All in all, the division of factions only prevented the two sides from being completely hostile. The cities of the Catacombs were generally independent.
“What’s behind the central mountain range in the depths?”
When Fang Ping asked this, the other party was at a loss and did not know how to answer.
He did not even know how many cities there were in the Nanjiang Catacombs.
He only knew that near Gigantic Willow City, there was Gigantic Pine City and Cretaceous City.
The ordinary people in the Catacombs and the martial artists below Rank-3 might only live in the vicinity of the Royal City for life, and would not venture too far into the dangerous outsides.
“What is the Foreign Territory?”
“Foreign Territory…”
This question was understood by the other party and he quickly answered it.
This was either common sense or a legend.
The legend was that the world they were in was not the only one. There were other worlds on the far side of the border and across the sea.
These worlds were not interconnected, as there was a Celestial Barrier between them.
Of course, this was just a legend, and the people in Gigantic Willow City just treated it as such.
However, today’s war made many people think of this legend, from which came the saying of the Foreign Territory powerhouses.
Facts also proved that the legend should be true.
There was no denial of this statement from the Royal City.
And the world where they lived in was long known as the Nine Southern Territory. This was also proof that their world was not the only one.
The powerhouses might know this fact, and only the weak would treat it as legends.
“Nine Southern Territory…”
Fang Ping pondered for some time and realized that the Catacombs were connected.
The language expert once said that the outermost periphery of the Catacombs was perhaps the endless sea. The outer periphery of the land was small blocks of grid-shaped areas, which were the Catacombs seen by humans.
At the center, there was a prosperous continent.
These speculations, in Fang Ping’s view, had a great probability of being correct at the moment.
“Were the Magic City Catacombs and the Nanjiang Catacombs far apart?”
“What is the so-called Celestial Barrier? Is it a space barrier? But since it is one world, why is it so deliberately separated?”
“What is the purpose of the Catacombs opening the passageway between them and the humans?”
“If there is a Central Territory, then why are the powerhouses in the Central Territory not opening the passageway there, or is it that the space nodes are permanently fixed and they can only guide the opening of the passageway?”
“Have the people like Commander Li ever been to the Central Territory?”
Fang Ping was once again trying to connect the dots!
Had these top-ranked powerhouses been there before?
Those people were extremely powerful. At least from what a lot of people were saying, Fang Ping knew that Commander Li of the Military Department was incomparably powerful and could even kill a Rank-9 in a one-against-three fight.
If Fang Ping had this level of strength, could he resist going to the Central Territory to explore?
At least Fang Ping felt that he would not be able to resist it!
Let alone being a Rank-9 which was the top existence, even if he was only Rank-7 he would probably dare to venture and explore the Central Territory.
If they went before, did the high-ranks already know the inside stories of the Catacombs?
“Status! Strength!”
Fang Ping murmured again in his heart. He could only take a wild guess every time, while those powerhouses at the top knew everything that was happening!
This time when he returned to the ground, in any case, it was necessary to obtain more information.
Whether the books that he brought back with Qin Fengqing were ever translated, he would still need to ask about it. From there, he could find out something.
Next, Fang Ping asked for some information about entering and exiting the Royal City.
Entering the city was not a complicated procedure, as the Catacombs did not prohibit the communication between the people of the Catacombs. Even if contact was cut off from the Monster Life Clan, it would only affect the high ranks. Even if those in the lower ranks met in the wilds, they would not necessarily fight a deathmatch.
However, Royal City was further divided into the inner and outer cities. The outer city was opened to people entering but the inner city was strictly guarded.
As for how to enter the inner city, this Rank-3 martial artist had never entered before. Only the middle-rank martial artists from the town had gone before.
Here, Fang Ping also learned an extremely important piece of information!
Royal City was built on top of an incomparably huge energy mine!
The tutelary of the city could have been the previous owner of the energy mine!
Large-scale energy mines were all renewable mineral deposits. Royal City would not kill the goose that laid golden eggs. Mining would not deplete the resources. The core which was the most important would not be dug, only some energy stones around the mineral deposits would be used.
Not only Royal City, but some small cities were also built on energy mines!
In other words, a city was essentially a mine!
Fang Ping’s eyes were almost green with envy!
This information was really important. Did this mean that if a city in the Catacombs were to be demolished, then it would mean getting a huge energy mine?
“Commander Li and the others didn’t destroy the city. What a waste!”
Fang Ping swore at them secretly. Although he knew that they had to look at the overall situation, the energy mines were really important.
Martial artists could use these energy mines to cultivate, and the results would be even better than using pills.
“Unfortunately, my strength is still weak. That Divine Willow, rather than saying that it is the tutelary of the city, it is more like the guardian of the energy mines. There are sure to be people here in the Catacombs who couldn’t resist their greed to steal the energy stones and, as a result, were killed and turned into nourishment.”
Fang Ping sighed in his heart and was a little tempted. With his energy shield, could he deceive the people?
It was very dangerous indeed!
This was not right. He would enter the city this time, not for the energy stones but to source for information.
The information on the Royal City’s army and the information on the high-ranks were of utmost importance.
As for the rest, they were all secondary.
Fang Ping once again admonished himself that at all costs he should not create chaos, otherwise he might die.
After asking the necessary questions, he watched the martial artist who was kneeling on the ground, trembling. Fang Ping pretended to show compassion on his face and was full of crocodile tears.
Since he had finished his questioning and the person was so cooperative, he decided to make his end swift.
His Mentality power erupted instantly, directly shattering the brain structure of the other party.
Fang Ping did not delay any further. He grabbed the corpse and quickly left the town. He ran all the way till he found a small forest and drove a few low-rank monsters to eat the corpse.
As for the few energy stones on the body of this Rank-3, Fang Ping laughingly accepted them, though he did not touch the things at the house.
Originally, he wanted to catch someone else from the town for questioning. Fang Ping thought about it and decided not to go back to the town. Instead, he walked to the other side along the outline of Royal City.
On the other side was Gigantic Pine City, and there were interactions between both sides.
To kill a passing Gigantic Pine City martial artist and then impersonating as one of them was more suitable. After all, they were all outsiders.
When the time came, it would be more appropriate to interrogate the people of Gigantic Pine City then.
After he made up his mind, Fang Ping did not delay further as time was precious.
He then turned on his energy shield, which was worth 10,000 Wealth per minute, or 600,000 for an hour!
Fang Ping did not dare to relax his vigilance near the city and his shield was always on. After a day and night, it would cost more than ten million Wealth!
“If I don’t make a fortune this time around, then I would have suffered a great loss!
“But I can’t stay too long here, otherwise, if I were to bump into a high-rank person, it would be troublesome.” In his mind, Fang Ping was doing a mental calculation.
He had now managed to conceal from the ordinary people without any problems, but if he were to encounter the high-rank powerhouses… it would be difficult to say if he could deceive them.
“Maybe I should pretend to be an ordinary person, but their status is too low, and their movements in Royal City will be restricted.”
With all kinds of thoughts running through his mind, Fang Ping could not help but think of the other people. What were those people doing now?
Were they alive or already dead?
