Dual Cultivation

"Ah! Have mercy!"

Those who were not immediately slain by the guards pleaded them for mercy when their plans to enter the portal without paying failed miserably.

The spectators were not surprised when they saw this. In fact, there are always people trying such stunts.

It was so common that people could be seen attempting to do so almost every day.

Some people would succeed in entering the portal without paying, but the majority of them would fail before they could even get close with some even dying in the process.

After entering the portal, Su Yang could see the other people that had entered the portal, and all of them were traveling through a seemingly endless wormhole.

"Darling, how are you feeling?" Luo Ziyi, who was directly beside him, asked.

"A little lightheaded," he said.

"That is expected since this is technically your first time entering such a powerful teleport formation in that body."

Su Yang looked around and said, "It should take a couple of days before we arrive at the other side, right? It's been a while since I entered one of these even from before."

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"Yes, it should take three to four days— provided that we don't encounter any Rift Demons."

"Rift Demons, huh?"

"You probably don't know this since you recently came back, but Rift Demons are becoming more of a common occurrence," she said.

"Really? How common are they becoming?" Su Yang asked with a surprised look on his face.

"They used to appear once every 100,000 trips, but nowadays, they are appearing around once every 10,000 trips."

"That much of a difference? How are the people dealing with this change?"

"They have decided to hire Immortals to take care of these Rift Demons. Do you see that man in the front of the group? He's an Immortal Cultivator at the 1st level of Immortal Ascension. His job is basically to take care of the Rift Demons if they ever decide to appear."

"So they just continue teleporting back and forth? Heavens… I cannot imagine doing such a job, especially at that cultivation…" Su Yang said.

He cannot imagine becoming an Immortal Cultivator just to become a guard for others, spending most of their time in this boring space, going back and forth endlessly.

"I understand where you're coming from, but these guys are paid incredibly well and sometimes even receive recognition from the Heavenly Emperor. That's why the prices went up so much, and that's also why most Immortals do this job— for a chance to receive the Heavenly Emperor's recognition."

'All just to become the Heavenly Emperor's dog? What a miserable life they must live…' Su Yang sighed inwardly.

"If you think about it, they actually have a pretty good job. If a Rift Demon only appears once every ten thousand trips, and each trip takes between three to seven days depending on where you're going and coming from, you basically have decades of inactive days while getting paid incredible amounts of wealth, and if you're lucky, you can even go your entire career without seeing any Rift Demons."

"And if you're unlucky and encounter a Rift Demon even more powerful than yourself…" Su Yang said with a smile on his face.

"Well, a couple of Immortals have actually died already doing this job, but it doesn't stop others from wanting to do it due to its limited slots and desirable rewards." Luo Ziyi said.

"In fact, 500 years ago, a Rift Demon that rivaled even Gods appeared inside a wormhole, and it slaughtered all ten thousand people that were traveling to Martial Heaven including eight Immortals. It shocked the entire Four Divine Heavens afterward."

"Really? I remember something similar had occurred about 50,000 years ago, and the Rift Demon killed a dozen Immortals at that time. I wonder if the recent incident was done by the same Rift Demon." Su Yang mumbled.

"It's not impossible considering how few Rift Demons with such prowess are out there." Luo Ziyi sighed.

"Let's hope we don't encounter that monster since even I won't be able to save us if that happens."

Three days passed in a flash, and before they realized it, the end of the wormhole was already in sight.

Once they exited the wormhole, they appeared in the capital city of Jade Heaven, Divine Jade City.

"It's been a while since I last visited Jade Heaven…" Luo Ziyi mumbled in a low voice as she looked around the decorated city.

Compared to the capital city of Celestial Heaven, the capital city of Jade Heaven was incomparably more decorated and luxurious at glance with many buildings made out of expensive materials that radiated with spiritual energy.

However, this was expected from the richest world out of the Four Divine Heavens, ranking first when it comes to economy and overall wealth.

"Do you miss this place?" Su Yang asked her, who originated from Jade Heaven.

"Not really," she said with a smile on her face.

After spending a few moments gazing at the scenery, Su Yang and Luo Ziyi went to the nearest teleport formation within the city, using that to teleport to the city situated right beside the Jaded Garden.

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Once they arrived at the city, they immediately realized that something was off about the city.

It was incredibly quiet, almost as though the place was a ghost town.

However, there were still people living within the city, as they could feel many presences around them.

"Did something happen to this place? It used to be bustling with people when I last visited." Su Yang asked the person managing the teleport formation, who was also the only person in sight.

The man looked at him with raised eyebrows for a moment before speaking, "When was the last time you visited this place? A few hundred years ago? Ever since the poison fog appeared in the Jaded Garden, people have been leaving their houses less and less, only coming out when necessary, or they risk dying from the poison fog that sometimes gets carried by the wind and enters the city."