Sproutfield City was along the coastline and used water from the ocean to irrigate their fields after removing the salt from it to sell separately.
The entire city was covered in knee-deep water with boats and gondolas floating on top of them at every moment. The houses were built onto the ground, steadied by metal rods that dug deep into the earth.
They lifted the houses above the water.
The mortals were the ones that used the boats while the cultivators simply flew. Although, they still used a boat from time to time.
Alex sat on a gondola in the center along with the other three while a young guide steered their boat through the water.
The water fields had plants growing throughout most of them, with many only having only sprouted just recently. He could tell where the name of the city came from.
Despite all the water, Sproutfield City was one of the best cities in the entire continent for growing plants and herbs. There were thick trees to the west and north that had created a forest that had its roots in the water, and the massive fields grew anything and everything that was sowed.
"What's the population of this city?" Alex couldn't help but ask.
"Around 400 thousand people," the guide answered. "It increases during the major harvest in the summer."
Alex looked around at the growing plants and could feel how impressive the life force in all of them was. "Do the plants here grow faster than elsewhere?" he asked.
"Oh, does senior know something about growing plants?" the man asked excitedly. "Yes, plants in these waters only take two-thirds of the time as they would in other places. If they take normal time, they still come out better than they would in other places."
"After all, the water here is filled with Qi that comes directly from the Ocean."
Alex nodded. He had an inkling that was the case.
After taking the salt out from the water, which was harmful to the plants, what remained was tons and tons of Qi-enriched water, that the plants absorbed. This was so much better than plants naturally trying to absorb Qi directly from the earth or the air.
Alex stayed in the city for about a week. At that time, he visited the marketplace to buy various alchemy ingredients that have quite potent energy in them. He watched people sow and reap plants from the water using Qi techniques that make it all seem so seamless.
He went to see how they separated salt from the ocean water and found out that they had 3 different spirit veins dedicated to the process.
Two were there to purify the water of the salts, and one was there just to pump water in and out of the city. Barely any other cities even dared to do so as no one wanted to waste 3 separate spirit veins just to grow some plants.
Sproutfield City only did so because it was in the Emerald Kingdom, which was known for its plants and trees.
Alex tried local delicacies at various restaurants, through which he found out that the people living in these places liked their food a bit too salty. They were used to the salt since that was the main export of the town.
Once he explored it enough, he left exactly 7 days later to go to another city.
He visited Willowgrove City, and then Ivyhaven. Then, he moved on to the Vineyard City.
This was another special city that grew nothing but grapes and berries, turning them into wine at the end of the season.
Alex prepared his trip around this, going to other cities before coming here. He arrived just in time for the Wine festival, where the old wines were brought out to enjoy and the freshly picked grapes and berries were made into new wine that would be put away for future use.
The wines made here were stored inside a special formation that was used to push Qi into all of them. As such, by the time they came out, they became Spirit wine, the only type of wine that could affect a cultivator.
Alex decided to enjoy some. He drank a few glasses of the different types of wines, and after forcing his body not to burn away the toxins that affected him, he could enjoy the feeling of being tipsy.
This wasn't a feeling that came all the time, so he enjoyed it while he could.
The Wine festival lasted for a week and a half. Once that ended, Alex bought some wine from the city and left.
He went to Herbshire City then to Greenleaf City to Bramblethorn City. He went on to Verdantwood City, Jadefern City, ending up finally at Leafshade City.
This would be the last city he was going to visit as only 2 weeks from now, he had promised to enter the Hundred Blossom Valley.
Alex was stunned when he first saw the city from hundreds of kilometers away. It wasn't the city he saw precisely, but rather that which gave the city its name.
Leafshade. He saw the leaves that made the Shadow.
It wasn't that the leaves were massive, but rather they were many. He saw a massive tree that spread horizontally, growing on top of a lonely mountain, casting half the city in its shadow.
The tree itself wasn't very tall as it was wide, and it hung downward on all sides in the shape of an umbrella, with large vines dropping to the ground.
Alex only saw the houses and buildings near the foot of the mountain when he came close enough to the city.
The local people called it the Guardian Tree. However, Alex could tell that it was an overgrown Elder Banyan tree. The vines that fell from the tree were used in many aspects of everyday life in this place.
They were thick enough that there were multiple houses built along the sides of it without worry of it falling. The dried vines were also used for timber during the winter. The newly grown ones at the top were also used as ingredients for a medicinal paste that was widely used across the city.
The tree also gave off a heavy wood aura, making it a haven for anyone that wanted to absorb only that aura.
Alex spent his days cultivating in this place, trying to understand Wood aura to gain its dao. Unfortunately, he had some of the worst Wood Spiritual Roots, so he could not understand anything from the aura.
But he made a mental note to bring his daughter here one day so she could absorb it all. Ronron would love nothing more than this.
After spending some time in the city, he and the elders left, finally heading back to Greenheart City. Alex was told that there weren't any other unique cities to the south of the Capital unless he went to the ocean, so Alex didn't feel bad skipping all of them.
He arrived at Greenheart City just a few days before he was to enter the Hundred Blossom Valley.
He went to the Palace and met up with King Jin again, and spent the next few days waiting for the day when he would enter the valley.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢