WOOSH!
The Heretical Lightning Skyship soared across the skies. As it did, it emitted bursts of lightning that'll wrap around it, if looked at from afar, it'll seem as if it'll transform into a lightning bolt from time to time. At the helm, Tao observed the surroundings with a tranquil expression. If one saw him, it'll be impossible to suspect that he was hunted relentlessly by many forces just a year before.
"Clear Divine City," Tao softly said, recalling the various forms of information he had regarding the city. Clear Divine City was truly divine in both appearance and residents. By comparison, it was a much greater Capital of Presba. Outside of the Xiantu Empire's Capital City, it was the largest, most powerful city within the entire continent.
Situated there were three heavenly-tier forces, dozens of imperial-tier forces, thousands of grand-tier forces, and countless weaker forces. The vastness of its land exceeded Presba's capital by hundreds of times and many times more complex. Despite being labeled as a city, many refer it as the Divine Battleground, many talents and forces wishing to make a sudden rise would venture within. Many, many fail in their attempts.
The corpses of the fallen could only become stepping stones for the successes.
The three heavenly tier forces were the Wu Clan, White Crane Sect, and Broad Creed Palace. The White Crane Sect had only become heavenly-tier force recently thanks to a member of their sect marrying a rogue cultivator who've developed their own Dao and built their first-floor Heavenly Shrine. After obtaining the dao, the White Crane current Sect master built her own Heavenly Shrine, officially rising the White Crane Sect's status to a heavenly-tier force.
This development occurred two thousand years ago. Since then, the White Crane Sect could be classified as an equal entity to the other forces despite their overall weakness. This was only due to the backing of a Heavenly Genesis Realm Mortal Dao cultivator. With this, they could be described as fearsome. Essentially, offending them was the same as offending that expert.
However, excluding external support, the Broad Creed Palace was the strongest force within Clear Divine City. They possessed three Heavenly Genesis cultivators with bestowed daos of the Xiantu Emperor. Despite this, they weren't actually subordinates of the Xiantu Emperor, but allies. It was odd, and many had speculations regarding their true relationship, but who within the realm had the courage to dig deeper?
"I still think we should wait for Young Lord Zai to return," Bai Lufeng commented beside Tao, his eyes filled with caution. In normal cities, he could, without restraint, act as he wished. However, this was Clear Divine City. The mortality rate in this city was massive, its undercurrents were far too deep, and the forces there wouldn't fear any half-step Perfect Aurora Soul Realm expert or someone who could rival a mid-True Essence Realm.
He feared Tao would take action, do something outrageous, and get them chased by peak powers. Over these years he realized that, while he may be a little troublemaker, Tao was an INSANE one! With some thought, this was reasonable. He was stripped of his status, imprisoned, and sent to the Deep Mines to die. If one looked deeply into this, they'll realize this scholar on the surface was a devil beneath.
He would also say things first, deal with the consequences later, and charmed any beautiful woman in his path despite his scrawny, scholarly appearance.
"The bounties on our heads should still be up...I fear…" Bai Lufeng had always been the cautious one, always acting within the limits of his capabilities, and luring the deep, dark and selfish desires of others to satisfy his own ego. That being said, he didn't wish to throw himself to death. This could be seen when Yan Zaizen intended to capture Diyi. After saying a few words, he took off in abandonment. If he had to die, he didn't want to die because of someone else's actions!
Screw your collateral casualty!
"It'll be fine. Clear Divine City isn't a place they can act carelessly, not to mention, this was for Young Lord Zai. We'll obtain information about the city, as per his orders." Despite saying this, his eyes flickered with unknown intentions. After his winning streak against every notable scholar in the other cities, he felt his competitiveness ignite fiercely.
Bai Lufeng could clearly feel his intentions and moaned inwardly. This man may seem harmless, but he was truly the devil in sheep's clothing. Witnessing the situation veer off into an unfavorable path, Bai Lufeng suggested, "how about we split up to gather more information?" His suggestion was definitely filled with his desire to separate himself from this dark star who didn't care about consequences. At least, he considered his enemies strength beforehand.
Tao's eyes lit up, a slight smile tugged at his lips, "Sure!" He didn't have any disagreements in doing so, Bai Lufeng often was too much deadweight anyhow. It'll be faster if he roamed alone. "However, I'm keeping the skyship."
"Huh!" Bai Lufeng felt dissatisfied by this arrangement, but what could he do? It's not like he could force Tao to give up reins of the skyship, and if he did, he probably wouldn't be alive after Yan Zaizen discovers this. After some thought, he felt this was beneficial to him. If he kept the skyship, it's possible it could be tracked by their enemies.
Arriving at the outskirts of the City, they swiftly separated.
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Several months passed since their separation. Bai Lufeng was like a cautious mouse as he traveled from one location to another for fear of being too overt. He kept his head down and gathered information in regards to the cities complexities. This was the first time he decided to diligently gather information and not indulge in his desires.
However, there was a reason.
When he arrived, he realized that the number of Origin Core Cultivators was insane!! If you see a cultivator, regardless of age, they were likely at the peak-Essence Formation Realm or higher. In comparison to Grux, this was terrifying. In the other cities, he noticed an upward trend in cultivation bases, but it was overly exaggerated here.
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Qi Unification Cultivators here were nothing more than lesser guards, waiters, and servants. Therefore, for every five Essence Formation cultivator, you'll find one Qi Unification Cultivator. The Origin Core Realm was similar! These people were littering the streets, flying about suddenly, and acting as guards to those with higher status.
Typically, cultivation bases would see a steep decrease due to the difficulties in ascending per stage, but heavenly-tier forces truly were different. With some thought, one could realize that Qi Unification cultivators longevity was about three times those at the Essence Formation, and Origin Core was the same. Because of this longevity discrepancy and resource accessibility in the continent, the situation of Origin Core experts walking about casually was produced.
With this, how could he not keep his head down? He couldn't swagger as he wished, because it's likely the True Essence Experts who could live from twenty-five thousand to forty-five thousand years depending on stage was likely even more exaggerated.
Currently, he was situated in a restaurant enjoying a delicious meal. He came here often to enjoy the food and listen in on casual conversations in hopes of gathering any form of useful information. Not to mention, he developed a liking towards general gossip.
For example, the Broad Creed Palace's Elder, Yan Shi, proposed to several girls in the White Crane Sect, and despite his status, talent, and handsomeness was rejected by all of them! This was a hilarious bit of information, considering he was the youngest Elder since Broad Creed Palace's inception. Or how it was said that Wu Kun — an Elder of the Wu Clan — had paid an insane and unreasonable price during the Asura Phantom Realm for a pill.
There was even a bit of gossip about one of the top three young beauties of Clear Divine City, was looking for a partner to accompany her. This caused many young men with exceptional talent to feel incredible elation! Many attempted to do all sorts of things to ensure they were picked.
"Did you hear? Broad Creed Palace's Head Scholar was challenged!" A middle-aged man with an Origin Core cultivation base said with interest.
"Challenged? Who would, no, who could be dumb enough to challenge them in any way?!" A younger man, with faint physical similarities to the middle-aged man spoke, his voice filled with anger and insult. It was obvious that he idolized the Broad Creed Palace. Bai Lufeng's eyebrows perked, recalling that fellow he hadn't seen in months - Tao.
"Tch! It's not that simple. Not only did he challenge, he won! At least, he won the first contest."
"What? Pfft, Gibberish!" The young man refused to believe what the other man was saying, gesturing his hands about as if swatting a fly. One could see he didn't like his faith being shaken and would be willing to close his ears to all those who say otherwise.
As if expecting this, the middle-aged man spoke, "Let me finish! It turned into a best of three, and during the last two matches, the one who challenged lost! Not only that, I heard he was forced into servitude for the rest of his miserable and foolish life!"
Hearing this, the young man's eyes turned bright and his posture was enlivened by the news. "Tch, people always overestimate themselves. He definitely cheated the first time, otherwise, how could he even conceive the possibility of a win? Even if he did win, it had to be by simple luck or unfavorable conditions!"
"..." Bai Lufeng's expression darkened considerably. Did Tao lose to the Broad Creed Palace? He scarcely believed such news. From his experience, he knew Tao was unreasonably intelligent. It was due to this very intelligence that he had immense pride and arrogance buried deep into his very bones. This and his unyielding confidence in his own abilities was quite similar to Yan Zaizen. If he lost, it's highly likely they cheated somehow or perhaps…
He pulled out a talisman and checked its fluctuations. It looked like a flat white coin and emitted faint traces of a cyclone forming. This was Tao's Life Talisman. An item only peak-Qi Unification Cultivators could produce. The talisman was interconnected to their origin and as long as they were alive it wouldn't change. However, if they were killed, the talisman would suffer a rebound that'd crack it.
After confirming the coin was intact, he sighed in relief. If Tao was killed somehow, then he could only imagine Yan Zaizen's reaction. As he recalled Yan Zaizen's Herculean Avatar Art, he shivered a little. He wasn't scared for Yan Zaizen, but for Broad Creed Mountain. This was indirectly offending a demonic genius without even knowing it. The fate of the Soaring Cloud Sect perfectly described how that situation ends.
After paying for his meal and exiting the restaurant, he couldn't help but sigh softly. Should he inform Yan Zaizen? Taking out a transmission talisman, he was about to do so when a flash appeared in front of his face. Stunned, he looked up to see a mesmerizing face before him.
This woman had skin as white as snow, black eyes as proud as a phoenix, dressed in elegant white clothing with the mark of a crane located at her lower torso. Her long black hair flowed as freely as the sky itself without any imperfection, her lithe body contained the most delectable curves benefiting of a beautiful woman, and thin eyebrows that seemed to perfect the ensemble of her bewitching existence.
"I…" Bai Lufeng was struck dumb by the sudden appearance of this goddess. However, as he stuttered unable to say anything, the woman revealed a soft smile that seemed to cause the world to lose its colors.
With a voice that was like heavenly larks singing, "Can I ask you...to be mine?" Her voice was very bewitching, but nobody besides Bai Lufeng seemed to have heard it or even noticed her appearance.
As if entranced, Bai Lufeng softly nodded in agreement without thought. "You're my hero. Please follow me," she gestured towards a direction and soared like an immortal through the air. Bai Lufeng followed along without hesitation. His cultivation base being pushed to its furthest to match her speed, as if he couldn't bear to lose sight of her figure. If others could see the woman, they'd recognize her as one of the top three young beauties of the Clear Divine City, the one who was looking for a partner!