On the pedestrian walkway of the expressway, two figures moved one after the other, creating gusts of wind as they sped towards the Spirit Qi Conservation Area.

It was Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

At this moment, Zhang Yu was using his “Running Car Legs” to rush along, while Bai Zhenzhen, from time to time, was enveloped in flashes of lightning, utilizing her newly learned “Electric Light Leg” technique to keep up with Zhang Yu.

Unlike Zhang Yu, who was focused on enhancing his physical strength, Bai Zhenzhen was preparing for the martial arts competition. So, besides cultivating her Dao Heart, mana, and physical strength, she invested more effort in practicing martial arts techniques.

This “Electric Light Step” was one such combat technique, allowing Bai Zhenzhen to perform short-distance, high-speed movements in battle. It was more agile, versatile, and explosive than the “Running Car Legs,” making it more suitable for combat. At the moment, she was using it to travel while practicing.

Under the sunlight, Bai Zhenzhen could feel a wisp of warmth continuously flowing within her body. It was her True Spirit Root absorbing the spiritual energy from the light.

However, her True Spirit Root was gradually adapting to light and darkness adjustments, able to understand Bai Zhenzhen’s intentions and wouldn’t darken her appearance.

On the other side, under the sunlight, Zhang Yu felt as if molten lava was flowing through his entire body, frantically devouring the spiritual energy descending from the solar light.

Simultaneously, he was calculating a cost-benefit analysis.

Their trip to the Spirit Qi Conservation Area was to leverage Xiong Wenwu’s connections, hoping to rent a spot on a spiritual vein cheaply to cultivate.

After all, although his physical strength had been increasing rapidly these past few days, relying solely on techniques to enhance his Dao Heart and mana was too slow for Zhang Yu’s liking.

It was said that spiritual veins not only possessed a dense concentration of spiritual energy, greatly enhancing mana refinement efficiency, but also improved physical constitution, dispelled ailments, and prolonged life over time, offering countless benefits.

“Renting an entire spiritual vein is definitely out of the question. With the money I have, I’ll see if I can rent a spot for me and Zhenzhen to cultivate inside the spiritual vein.”

Although he had income from the Dark Tutoring World, Le Mulan, Yu Xinghan, and Song Hailong, along with the initial 200,000 yuan endorsement fee, Zhang Yu’s expenses were also considerable. For example, one Hunyuan Pill every three days cost 24,000 yuan, each set of Nine Dragons Acupuncture cost 10,500 yuan, and his food expenses had reached 1,500 yuan per day due to his continuous focus on body refinement and the constant increase in physical strength. Furthermore, he had to pay 15,000 yuan in loan interest after the beginning of May.

Zhang Yu checked his account balance again, which was at 570,000 yuan.

He thought to himself, “Renting a spot inside a spiritual vein shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

They continued to speed along, and increasingly more factories began to appear around them. White smoke billowed from the massive chimneys, and they could see the Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry’s sign on some of the factories.

Just as Zhang Yu’s gaze swept across the rows of factories, he suddenly exclaimed, “What’s that?”

The land that had seemingly been a factory was now a ruin, with broken walls and debris everywhere, as if it had been through a great battle.

There was even a palm print several hundred meters wide on the hillside not far away, with fragments of towers, walls, and machinery scattered across it.

Barriers of light enveloped the ruins, with warning signs floating on the surface, resembling the caution tape at a murder scene.

Zhang Yu asked, “Was there a war here?”

Bai Zhenzhen glanced over and said, “Don’t you know? This was quite popular online half a year ago. It was a factory caught evading taxes.”

“The tax evaders resisted on the spot, using various flying swords and magical artifacts, killing most of the tax inspectors.”

Zhang Yu was shocked. Were the tax evaders in Kunxu so powerful?

Bai Zhenzhen continued, “Then, the tax inspectors summoned the divine power of the Heavenly Tribute Oversight Deity, who destroyed the entire factory with a single palm and extracted the souls of most of the culprits.”

“Most?” Zhang Yu was intrigued. “What about those whose souls weren’t extracted? Did they die or escape?”

Bai Zhenzhen replied, “They committed suicide the moment they saw the Heavenly Tribute Oversight Deity descend.”

Zhang Yu swallowed hard, once again grateful that he hadn’t evaded taxes in Kunxu.

They continued their journey, soon seeing a massive arc on the distant horizon.

It was their destination, the Spirit Qi Conservation Area.

It was said that long ago, this Spirit Qi Conservation Area was once the territory of monstrous beasts, with several powerful Great Demons lurking within.

The so-called Great Demons were powerful demons; now, demons were called Demon Descendants.

Unlike monstrous beasts, which were regarded as animals, Demon Descendants often possessed true intelligence, capable of integrating into society, life, and work.

However, the Great Demons in this area were later defeated by the company’s security forces, and the conservation area changed hands several times, eventually being bought by Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry and managed to this day.

It was said that the area still retained its natural features and various monstrous beasts that originally lived there. Of course, all of this had become Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry’s assets.

Zhang Yu looked closely and noticed an enormous glass罩 covering the continuous mountains and hills.

As they approached, they could see dense patterns of runes on the glass罩, the power of formations isolating the inner and outer worlds.

Besides this, Zhang Yu could see many red warning signs.

They were similar to things like, ‘Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry Private Property, Please Purchase Tickets and Enter Through the Main Gate.’

Bai Zhenzhen looked and cursed, “How stingy! They don’t even want to let out a little bit of the air from the conservation area?”

She had initially hoped to be able to蹭 some of the spiritual energy and air coming from inside the conservation area through the boundary, but now it seemed that they had guarded against this possibility long ago.

They continued forward, arriving at the ticket office at the main entrance of the Spirit Qi Conservation Area.

Seeing that the ticket price was only 5 yuan, both Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu were shocked. What difference was there from it being free? Was Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry doing charity?

Bai Zhenzhen immediately retracted her earlier criticism of stinginess. How was Red Pagoda Animal Husbandry stingy? They were incredibly generous.

The two opened their phones to see if there were any discounts, and were surprised to find that the conservation area’s rating was only 1.3.

But after the ticket seller stuck air meters, spirit qi monitors, and weight monitors on them, they understood why the tickets seemed free and why the rating was so low.

The ticket seller said, “The air in the conservation area costs 1,999 yuan per cubic meter, water costs 2,888 yuan per liter, and spirit qi costs 3,999 yuan per unit.”

“The price list for all plants, animals, and even soil, stones, and other materials in the conservation area is in the user manual. I’ll send it to you; please accept it…”

Zhang Yu looked at the densely packed list of charges in the user manual and was speechless.

Everything inside the spirit qi conservation area, whether it was air, water, food, or anything else, cost money. An average person could go bankrupt just by picking up a few stones.

Bai Zhenzhen nervously said, “Yu, breathe less when we go inside. It’s too expensive.”

After buying the tickets, the two first entered a sealed cabin. As the rear door closed, they were completely isolated from the outside world.

Then, as the front door opened, Zhang Yu felt an incredibly fresh air wash over him.

Just by taking a deep breath, Zhang Yu felt completely refreshed, and the flesh and blood all over his body seemed to relax.

“This is… air?”

“What have I been breathing before?”

He felt that the air he usually breathed was like exhaust fumes compared to this.

“So I’ve been in such a terrible air environment, but I’m used to it?”

Zhang Yu walked out of the sealed cabin, fully immersed in the environment of the conservation area.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yu felt as if he had been cleansed from head to toe, and the qi and blood in his body became more lively.

Even in such a fringe area, Zhang Yu could feel that the concentration of spirit qi in the air was almost the same as in the quiet room with spirit-gathering effects in Songyang High School.

As the two walked quickly along the sightseeing path, the spirit qi in the air became increasingly dense. Bai Zhenzhen’s spirit qi charges had risen to over 500, scaring her into suppressing her True Spirit Root and temporarily preventing it from cultivating spirit qi.

Zhang Yu also felt that the spirit qi absorbed by the Great Sun Qi Sea from the light was even denser. Cultivating here for a day would probably be worth several days of cultivating outside.

Bai Zhenzhen patted her chest in fear and said, “This damn place is too easy to go bankrupt in. Let’s leave as soon as we meet Xiong Wenwu.”

Zhang Yu nodded. Being in this spirit qi conservation area made him feel more dangerous than being at a gang fight scene.

He also thought, “It’s so expensive to breathe and cultivate in the outer areas. How much will it cost to go to a real spirit vein?”

At that moment, he doubted whether he could rent a spot in a spirit vein this time.

Especially when he opened the map and saw that there were three spirit veins in the conservation area, running through 7 districts and more than 20 mountains, but all of them were off-limits to tourists. Either they were private territories that had been rented out for a long time, or they were various pastures, factories, and plantations…

It could be said that all the areas that tourists could enter were on the periphery of the spirit veins.

However, Zhang Yu couldn’t afford the price of breathing and cultivating in these outer areas for a long time.

“Alas, ordinary tourists can only enter the conservation area and cultivate on the periphery of the spirit veins. There’s no way to get inside.”

At this moment, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen no longer hoped to rent a spot in a spirit vein. They would be satisfied if they could find a way to cheaply蹭 the air on the periphery of the spirit vein.

“Let’s go see Xiong Wenwu first and see what he has to say.”

Xiong Wenwu’s appointment was at the breeding base, a remote location on the edge of the conservation area.

The two followed the map all the way, and every time they passed a mountain peak, they could feel the spirit qi rising into the sky from the mountain peaks, which were heavily blocked by light screens and formations. The spirit qi was so dense that it was like it was raining spirit qi.

Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu even saw a light rain falling on the mountain from time to time, with spirit qi rising from the rainwater, which made them secretly tongue-tied.

These mountain peaks were where the real spirit veins were located.

Unlike the tourist area that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were walking on, which was just the outer area of the spirit vein, able to absorb a little air and spirit qi leaking from above.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen couldn’t imagine what those who stayed on the mountain were doing, that they needed to devour such a massive amount of spirit qi, and how much money they would have to spend per second.

Below the mountain peaks, on the tourist area side outside the light screen that isolated the tourists, Zhang Yu occasionally saw all kinds of poor people carrying oxygen tanks and water bottles,蹭ing on the mountainside, like small fish attached to a whale, sucking up the spirit qi overflowing from the spirit vein to obtain a cultivation efficiency far exceeding the outside world.

No… Zhang Yu denied the thoughts in his mind just now.

“These aren’t poor people at all. Being able to 蹭 here at the foot of the mountain, according to the billing here… they are rich people to us.”

“There are really too many rich people in Kunxu.”

Bai Zhenzhen on the side said, “I knew we should have brought oxygen tanks. Breathing here is too uneconomical.

Zhang Yu nodded in agreement.

More than ten minutes later, the two finally arrived at the so-called breeding base.