Ding Yi's proactive explanation made the Nine-Headed Snake's invitation to Xu Hei seem reasonable, without needing Xu Hei to say much.
His words turned his "surveillance" into a concern for Xu Hei's safety, given that there were assassins involved and the Nine-Headed Snake had made several big deals. Worrying was a normal reaction.
If Xu Hei were killed by an assassin in Liefeng City, how would he save face?
Xu Hei couldn't find any fault, so he clasped his hands and said, "Thank you for informing me. It's getting late, so I won't see you off."
Ding Yi quickly clasped his hands in return, "Since it was a misunderstanding, rest assured, Fellow Daoist Xu, I promise not to disturb you again."
Xu Hei said nothing more and retreated back to his cave dwelling, closing the door.
Ding Yi also left swiftly.
Inside the cave dwelling, Xu Hei sat cross-legged, his brows furrowed.
He didn't sense any malice from Ding Yi, nor from Luo Gang and the others before, not even from the Evil Sword Emperor Wang Xiu, with whom he had conflicts.
What kind of conspiracy could there be in Liefeng City?
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid," Xu Hei thought to himself.
On the outer battlefield, there was no distinction between day and night; the sky was always gray, and night was just a customary term.
Ding Yi returned to the City Lord's mansion, went to his private quarters, and sat at the table.
When no one was around, he took out a large amount of meat, placed it on the table, and devoured it ravenously. After finishing the equivalent of five cows, he lay down comfortably.
His already obese figure grew even larger, though not noticeably so.
"It's been so long since I had a feast, so long, I was almost starving," Ding Yi muttered to himself.
The following days were peaceful.
Xu Hei remained in seclusion for seven days until he recovered, without encountering any incidents.
As Ding Yi had said, there was no more surveillance, as if that day, Ding Yi was genuinely just guarding against assassins.
This left Xu Hei hesitant.
He had planned to leave, but if he left Liefeng City, where could he go? Would the outside environment be better than here?
Xu Hei left the cave dwelling and strolled through the streets of Liefeng City, observing as he walked.
In Liefeng City, the laws were strict, and everyone behaved themselves, not doing anything out of line.
Xu Hei estimated that there were ten thousand cultivators in the city, mostly at the Core Formation Stage, with even some Foundation Establishment cultivators. As long as they didn't leave the city or cause trouble, they could live here peacefully.
The overall atmosphere was harmonious, more like an ordinary mortal town than an outer battlefield.
"Young lady, aren't you afraid of being robbed while setting up a stall on the street ?"
Xu Hei stopped in front of a stall and asked the young girl running it.
The girl was only at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, her eyes clear and bright, yet her stall was filled with third-tier magical treasures.
"Haha, senior, you're joking. This is the safest city in the eastern wasteland. The robbers have long been dealt with," the girl replied with a bright smile.
"How did you get here?" Xu Hei asked again.
"My master brought me here. He said this place is better than the sect, with abundant spiritual qi, allowing for rapid cultivation. The living expenses are also covered by my master, so I do a little business here," the girl replied with a smile.
Xu Hei asked a few more casual questions, and the girl, being simple-minded, answered them all.
It wasn't until an elderly man at the Core Formation Stage arrived that Xu Hei stopped his inquiries.
"I am Guo You, greetings to Senior Xu!" The old man clearly recognized Xu Hei's identity and quickly clasped his hands in salute.
Xu Hei nodded slightly, left a pill, and turned to leave.
The old man took the pill, his face changing dramatically, instinctively wanting to hide it, but then he felt reassured, remembering he was in Liefeng City.
"Master, what kind of pill is this?" the girl at the stall asked.
The old man squatted down and whispered, "This is a Qingyuan Pill, which can help you break through to the Core Formation Stage. In our sect, it could cause a bloodbath."
The girl immediately showed an excited expression.
Next, Xu Hei visited the tavern, inn, marketplace, and other places, discovering that Liefeng City was extremely well-managed, with no petty crimes occurring.
This resulted in a peaceful city.
As long as the city's defenses remained unbroken, this peace would continue indefinitely.
"No wonder even Foundation Establishment cultivators are here," Xu Hei thought to himself.
He immediately found a shop and sold all the items he didn't need, exchanging them for spirit stones.
Previously, Xu Hei didn't have much need for spirit stones, but now, after raising insects, only by continuously providing spirit stones could he maintain a large enough insect army.
Additionally, artifact refining was also a task that consumed a lot of spirit stones.
In short, he was now very short on money.
Xu Hei threw the spirit stones into the Spirit Beast Ring and asked, "Bai Zhi, with what I've provided, how many insects can you produce?"
"With just this, I could barely make a single insect hair!" Bai Zhi replied impatiently.
Xu Hei's mouth twitched. He glanced at the environment inside the ring and found that there were two hundred more stone eggs. Considering the consumption of spiritual liquid and spirit stones, he had an idea.
Using up all these resources, Bai Zhi could probably produce three thousand eggs!
Combined with the existing ones in the ring, after some time, he could have a total of five thousand Spirit-Eating Ants. While it wouldn't be enough to dominate a region, it would be sufficient to deal with the few people in Liefeng City.
However, the hatching of Spirit-Eating Ants would still take time.
Moreover, raising insects was also a huge consumption. Without food and drink, the insects wouldn't have much combat power, so Xu Hei urgently needed a large number of spirit stones, the more the better.
Additionally, there was another issue: the drop of dragon blood Xu Hei consumed had yet to recover.
Although he had a spare drop of dragon blood sealed in a pill bottle, he was unwilling to use it unless absolutely necessary.
The same went for the Kylin Pill, which was even more precious than dragon blood.
"Pills are also a problem. I'm almost out of supplements. Ah, it's really a headache!" Xu Hei began to miss the days when Xu Bai was around.
Poverty came suddenly.
After much thought, Xu Hei decided to find Luo Gang to inquire about making money.
"You need spirit stones?"
Luo Gang slapped his thigh, generously took out a storage bag, and handed it to Xu Hei, containing a million spirit stones.
"Brother Luo, you misunderstand. What I need is a long-term business to earn money, not just to solve an urgent need," Xu Hei said helplessly.
But he still accepted the spirit stones.
Luo Gang didn't mind, as he had been waiting for Xu Hei to make a request.
"Making money is simple. I wonder if Brother Xu would be willing to join our Liefeng City as a guest official?" Luo Gang asked with a smile.
"Our Liefeng City's guest officials receive an annual salary of five hundred thousand spirit stones, but with Brother Xu's abilities, I'll offer you two million a year," Luo Gang said generously.
Two million a year was an offer no Elemental Infant cultivator could refuse. Whether it was Gongsun Bo or Wang Xiu, they were both recruited at this price.
However, for Xu Hei, who was raising insects, it was still too little.