A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 901: Eve of the Martial Gathering

"Regarding Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, I've already looked into Profound City and the other three subsidiary cities, but haven't found any leads on her," Chen Yang sighed.

"You didn't find her?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"If Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit were in Profound City, then at the very least, I should've been able to find some information on her. However, there's no trace of her at all, so my guess is that she's either in Puppet City, or she perished to a scaled beast after entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Chen Yang replied in a grim voice.

Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he didn't say anything.

"I wasn't able to find Violet Spirit, but I was able to find out Shi Kong's current whereabouts. He's in the city lord's manor of Profound City right now, but he's been locked up in prison," Chen Yang continued.

"Why?" Han Li asked.

"I'm afraid the reason is unclear as the people at the city lord's manor have been very tight lipped about this subject, but rest assured, Shi Kong's life isn't under any threat at the moment," Chen Yang replied.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen. Even though you weren't able to find Violet Spirit, you were able to track down Shi Kong, so you've fulfilled my request," Han Li said, and Chen Yang heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"If that's all, then I'll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he turned to depart, and Chen Yang watched his parting figure for a while before returning to his inner chamber.

Daoist Xie was standing in a corner of the room, and upon spotting Chen Yang, he remarked, "You don't seem to be in a very good mood."

"If you were the city lord, and your subordinates went into the martial gathering with unjustified, blind confidence, I would think you would also be in a bad mood," Chen Yang sighed with a wry smile.

Daoist Xie offered no response to this.

"Yi Liya has the ability to make it far, but he's too conceited, and there's still a decent gap between him and the top combatants from the other cities. Gu Qianxun is probably the only one with any hope of reaching the top four. As for Fellow Daoist Li, I can't quite see through him, but I would presume that he's a little inferior to Gu Qianxun," Chen Yang mused.

......

Ater leaving Chen Yang's residence, Han Li returned to his own room and fell into deep thought.

It wasn't going to be easy to rescue Shi Chuankong from the Profound City prison. Having spent some time in Profound City, it had become apparent to him that Profound City was far more powerful than Green Goat City, so he had to proceed with caution.

On top of that, it was unclear whether Violet Spirit was dead or alive.

After sitting in silent contemplation for a long while, Han Li suddenly shook his head to clear his mind, then quickly composed himself.

This wasn't the time to be thinking about Violet Spirit and Shi Chuankong. At the moment, his top priority was to do well in the Five City Martial Gathering so that he could secure the Heavenly Qilin Crystal and remove the Black Tribulation Centipede from his body.

......

Inside a stone hall somewhere in Profound City.

A middle-aged man dressed in a beast hide cloak was sitting on a wide stone chair, and it was none other than City Lord Fu Jian of Excess Passage City.

Seated on each side of him were six Excess Passage City cultivators.

"It's clear that City Lord E Kuai is taking this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering very seriously, so the rewards will surely be quite extravagant. Hence, I want all of you to strive for high placings, particularly you, Duan Tong," Fu Jian said.

The bandaged man by the name of Duan Tong was seated right beside Fu Jian, and he gave a muffled grunt in response before falling silent.

Fu Jian seemed to have already grown accustomed to this, and he continued, "Setting aside Zhu Ziyuan of Profound City, are you confident in your ability to defeat Fang Chan of White Rock City and Feng Wuchen of Profound End City?"

"Feng Wuchen is faster than me, but as long as he can't break through my defenses, I'll be fine, and if he tries to engage me in close quarters combat, then that'll play right into my hands," Duan Tong replied.

"What about Fang Chan?" Fu Jian asked.

"I haven't faced him in battle before, so I'm not sure, but he was able to defeat Gu Qianxun last time, so he's clearly not to be taken lightly. After so many years, I'm sure he would've only become even more powerful," Duan Tong replied.

"I suppose it's a good thing that you're taking such a cautious approach," Fu Jian remarked with a nod.

......

Meanwhile, a steady stream of people was walking out of another stone hall elsewhere in the city, and before long, Qin Yuan and Feng Wuchen were the only ones left inside.

"You've been in seclusion this entire time, Wuchen. Have you made another breakthrough?" Qin Yuan asked with a smile.

"Indeed. Thanks to a culmination of many years of diligent cultivation, I was able to open another profound acupoint just yesterday," Feng Wuchen replied.

"Fantastic! That's a very good sign. A spot in the top three should be all but assured for you," Qin Yuan said as his smile widened even further.

However, Feng Wuchen's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn't appear to be all that pleased.

"What's wrong? Is there something on your mind?" Qin Yuan asked.

"For some reason, I can't shake the feeling that something's not quite right with this martial gathering, and it's making me a little uneasy," Feng Wuchen replied.

"Is it because you failed to secure a new weapon from Mistress Liu Hua? No matter how good a weapon is, it's still just an external aide. In the Scalptia Spatial Domain, the only thing that we can truly rely on is our physical bodies," Qin Yuan preached.

"You're right, Father. I must just be overthinking things," Feng Wuchen hurriedly replied.

"Having said that, it is rather surprising that Mistress Liu Hua refused to see you. Even when I personally went to pay him a visit, I was still shut out and refused an audience," Qin Yuan mused.

"Could it be because of those two from Green Goat City? Back when I first went to visit Mistress Liu Hua, Gu Qianxun suddenly pulled out some token, and they were granted an audience, while I was chased away. After that, I went to visit several more times, but I was shut out every single time," Feng Wuchen said.

"There's no way that a pair of rascals from Green Goat City could have so much sway and influence. I can only presume that Mistress Liu Hua is displeased with us for some other reason. I'll go visit him again after the martial gathering," Qin Yuan said.

"Regardless of whether it was because of those two, I'm definitely going to teach them a good lesson if I encounter them during this martial gathering. Gu Qianxun may require some effort for me to defeat, but that human..."

His voice trailed off here as a hint of cold killing intent flashed through his eyes.

......

At the same time, all of the cultivators of White Rock City were also gathered in a stone hall, while Sun Tu was delivering an address.

"The Five City Martial Gathering is about to commence, and all that I ask of you is that you do your best. At the very least, I want all of you to strive to make it out of the first round. Once we return to White Rock City, I'll present all of you with additional rewards based on your performances," Sun Tu declared.

"We'll be sure to give it our all," a gray-robed man immediately declared, and this sentiment was echoed by everyone else.

However, amid all of the raucous cheers, there was one sound that was rather out of place, and that was the sound of someone snoring.

The snores were coming from Fang Chan, who was seated to Sun Tu's left.

At this moment, he was laying sprawled out on a large chair, sleeping like a baby.

It seemed that he was having a great dream, and there was a blissful smile on his hideous face. Drool was dripping down from the corner of his mouth, and he occasionally smacked his lips together and muttered something unintelligible.

The more Sun Tu tried to rally his warriors, the louder Fang Chan's snores became, but everyone seemed to have already grown accustomed to this.

Right at this moment, Fang Chan suddenly opened his mouth slightly, and his snores became quieter, but also higher in pitch.

Before long, a burst of peculiar soundwaves were coming out of his mouth and nostrils, and the furniture in the stone hall began to tremble, following which everyone in the hall began to experience a numb and faint sensation.

"Here it comes again," everyone groaned.

A faint smile appeared on Sun Tu's face upon seeing this, and he flicked Fang Chan gently on the forehead.

Fang Chan shuddered as his eyes immediately sprang open, and he looked around at everyone with a dazed expression.

Sun Tu wiped the drool from the corner of his lips with his sleeve, then smiled as he reassured,, "Everything's fine, go back to sleep."

Fang Chan grinned in response, then got into a more comfortable position before quickly falling asleep again.

......

That night, the bright moon was hanging high up in the sky, and two figures were laying on the rooftop of a palace side by side in the city lord's manor, looking up at the starry night sky.

One of the two figures was none other than Zhu Ziyuan, the man who had claimed the top spot on several consecutive past editions of the Five City Martial Gathering leading up to this one.

He was accompanied by a stunningly beautiful woman wearing a suit of tight-fitting bone armor that hugged her alluring curves, and the woman complained in a quiet voice, "How could the city lord be so lazy and leave everything to instead of addressing the combatants of our Profound City himself?"

"Ziqing, we're in the city lord's manor right now. No matter how quiet you are, City Lord Du will still be able to hear you," Zhu Ziyuan said with an amused smile.

The woman was none other than Zhu Ziqing's younger sister, and she stuck out her tongue in a sheepish manner as she said, "The city lord is so kind and generous, he won't be bothered by something like this."

"This is your first time participating in the Five City Martial Gathering, so make sure to do your homework on all of the other city's combatants. Duan Tong from Excess Passage City..."

Before Zhi Ziyuan had a chance to finish, his sister interrupted him in a disgruntled fashion, "Alright, alright! This is already the seventh time you've said this! My ears are about to develop calluses if you keep this up!"