Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Entering the city, Yan Zaizen and Wu Yuanxu were quite surprised. There were various districts, with each vast territory having their own set of them. Residential, shopping, main, and more. There were also main districts that were either run jointly by the heavenly-tier forces or the Xiantu Empire’s regime.

Not to mention, it was vast! Truly vast! Just in ten thousand li, there were hundreds of different territories, from minor ones controlled by subordinate forces or major ones who had their own sovereignty. Independent forces had relations but they were truly independent with their own land, resources to mine, fish to gather, fields to pluck, and their own import and exports.

It was like states and small countries. The complexities within each territory were just as vastly intricate as their sizes. Sometimes, forces may be wiped out suddenly so everyone makes it a priority to cultivate and strive for protection within their land. Due to this, many alliances have been established and many had unfair terms and agreements.

In Yan Zaizen’s hand was a medallion, it was remarkably similar to Ma Xiuren’s ’Xiuhei - Heavenly’ medallion but instead of those words, the medallion had ’Wu’ & ’Elder’ on both sides. It was the medallion Wu Kun gave him after their exchange. Due to Yan Zaizen’s profound body and soul cultivation, Wu Kun felt it was right to befriend Yan Zaizen for the future despite feeling the rip of his wallet.

Therefore, Yan Zaizen now had a token that represented Wu Kun. If one utilized their qi-essence, they could activate a formation that reveals its benefits and who it belonged to. This way, it was recognized by the clan.

His intention was to travel to the Wu Clan, meet Wu Kun, and see if he could utilize his resources to search for Tao and Bai Lufeng. With a cultivation base at the late-True Essence Realm and a heavenly-tier force behind him, the resources available to him shouldn’t be small. It would be far easier to do this than scour the entire city offending everyone.

After a few hours of traveling, they arrived at the Wu Clan’s Capital City - Hanxu City. If Xiantu City could be considered the capital of the Xiantu Realm, then Clear Divine City was the capital of the Xiantu Continent, and each territory had their own private capital city. In truth, the number of cities on the continent was astonishing. It truly was like each territory was a state or small country.

Wu Yuanxu was pleased during their travels. In truth, Yan Zaizen could’ve arrived here in minutes by shifting through space, but Wu Yuanxu was excited and wanted to see everything. As someone who never left Presba, he was truly fascinated by it all.

As for Yan Zaizen, he relented quickly as he also wished to see the sights. Spatial shifting was a little too boring for his taste, he preferred this style. It reminded him of when they traveled to Presba’s Capital City. By using a very slow skyship, they saw many sights and experienced many things.

As those memories rushed into his mind, he couldn’t help but miss Tao and Bai Lufeng. Tao would constantly teach him patiently, and Bai Lufeng would always try to corrupt him, but they were fun and felt warm to be around.

Tao was like a big brother who had a hidden perverted streak and Bai Lufeng felt like that old uncle that was overly honest and often indulged in his desires. He couldn’t wait to travel the rest of the Xiantu Realm with them.

Once they reached the gates of the city, they were stopped by two armored guards that had mid-Origin Core qi cultivation bases. This shocked Yan Zaizen deeply. Sure, in the Asura Realm, there were thousands of powerful cultivators, but these people had such a cultivation yet guarded the gates. This was fascinating to him.

However, after gaining entry thanks to the medallion, his shock strengthened. The city was filled with Qi Unification and Origin Core cultivators. They littered the surroundings like citizens, and even the weakest person he saw was at the mid-Essence Formation, and this was a child that looked like he was five.

This shocked him too horribly. The difference in cultivation standard was immense. Since the Essence Path typically required materials only, it’s to be expected from a prosperous city, but it was still shocking.

However, if Yan Zaizen would ask how many comprehended their own conceptual law? The percentage would still match Presba’s; same could be said about World Laws. There were just too little. Qi cultivation may seem high in this continent, but talent was talent. Innate bodily efficiency at absorbing essence, conversion speed into qi and comprehensive talent were vastly different things.

For example, Yan Zaizen’s comprehensive talent in laws was absolutely monstrous, rivaling and even exceeding Heavenly Genesis experts, yet his original bodily talent was garbage that the same resources on him would be a tenth as effective on an average person.

To explain, he needed ten times the resources to reach the same level as someone with average talent. This was the very reason why he was regarded as trash in his clan, and reasonably so. It was also why people didn’t suspect him not using his resources when he gave them to Ya Qinqan, but assumed they just weren’t effective.

A short, middle-aged man arrived in a grey robe with the symbol for ’Wu’ embroidered on his torso. He approached Yan Zaizen and made a short bow of respect, immediately placing himself on a lesser status than Yan Zaizen. Yan Zaizen inspected this man. He seemed to be four thousand years old but only in the late-Origin Core Realm. At this time, at most, he’ll have one or two thousand years before his lifespan finished. However, his foundation was exceptionally solid. Breaking through to the True Essence Realm was just a matter of course for him.

"Lord Zai, I apologize for the wait. Currently, Wu Kun is in secluded cultivation, but he’s made arrangements for your stay. My name’s Wu Jin; I work for Wu Kun. I’ll be your guide and, if you need anything, please feel free to ask and I’ll try to achieve it to the best of my ability." His words were spoken professionally and appropriately, holding a dense amount of respect within.

Yan Zaizen softly nodded at this. Since Wu Kun obtained the Apex Essence Pill, it’s likely he’ll be in secluded meditation for several years before exiting, perhaps even a decade. He expected as much but still came with the medallion as a representative of his guest status.

"I need you to find two people, can you do that?" Inquiring, Yan Zaizen felt a little anxious in his heart.

"Of course, Lord Zai. All you have to do is pass along their profile and as long as they’re in the Xiantu Realm, they could be found." He responded quickly. Normally, Wu Jin would never agree to this even if the person was a late-True Essence Cultivator. They weren’t a force to search for someone, there were many other forces and channels that should be asked instead.

However, Wu Kun had given explicit orders to please Yan Zaizen by any means outside of suicide. At first, he felt odd in his heart, but after learning that Yan Zaizen had a Perfect Aurora Soul Realm and body cultivation that could rival a peak-True Essence expert, he immediately felt it was only as expected.

The true point of information was Perfect Aurora Soul Realm. This was something that could rival a late-True Essence expert, but the things they could do was far, far greater. Someone at that realm was greater than having ten late-True Essence Cultivators in your command.

This was not an exaggeration.

"Here. Their names are Tao and Bai Lufeng," he handed Wu Jin a soul jade filled with their characteristics and appearance.

"Please, follow me and allow me to show you a residence befitting someone of your stature Lord Zai. You can rest there while I complete your task." Wu Jin said respectfully.

Yan Zaizen nodded, looking at Wu Yuanxu. "After settling in, let’s sightsee the city." When he said this, Wu Yuanxu’s eyes lit up like christmas lights in the night. With a soft chuckle, Yan Zaizen followed Wu Jin.