Yan Tie City

The journey to Yan Tie City was anything but peaceful. The man's panting and the woman's moans drifting down from overhead were like demonic sounds drilling into their ears, impossible to block out. And the two upstairs acted as if they had never gotten a free lay before—like they had taken something too. The noise never stopped. Even with Little Doctor Fairy beside him, he could not exactly turn into a human pile driver, could he?

Fortunately, the floorboards were sturdy enough, so there was no concern about anything leaking from above.

Yan Tie City was the nearest large city to Black Rock City. Even so, the two were still more than two thousand kilometers apart. Even riding a Flying Demonic Beast without rest would take a day and a half.

In truth, the Gamma Empire's territory was extraordinarily vast, spanning more than ten thousand kilometers. Qingshan Town, where Ling Li had trained in the past, lay in the northeastern part of the Gamma Empire, while Salt City, Desert City, and the other cities near the Tagor Desert were located in the southeastern part of the empire. The distance between them was roughly three-fifths of the Gamma Empire's north-to-south span. In the original story, Xiao Yan had said that walking from Qingshan Town to Desert City would take him at least four or five months. Counting that as one hundred and thirty days, Xiao Yan had then possessed the cultivation of a one-star Fighting Master. At five kilometers per hour—the pace of a normal march—and traveling ten hours a day, the distance between the two places was over six thousand kilometers. The Gamma Empire stretched more than ten thousand kilometers from north to south.

If even a medium-sized empire in the northwestern corner of the continent possessed such vast territory, just how immense was the entire Dou Qi Continent?

After enduring the demonic sounds for a full day and night, the Thick-winged Bird gradually slowed, and the commotion overhead slowly died down.

A few minutes after the Thick-winged Bird decelerated, the outline of a city gradually appeared at the edge of Ling Li's vision. As the bird continued approaching, a city dominated by azure blue came into view.

Unlike the crimson city Ling Li had imagined, Yan Tie City was entirely azure in tone. At the city gate, aside from a somewhat worn flag bearing the Gamma Empire's emblem—the Dark Sea Flood Dragon Beast—there was also a smaller banner emblazoned with an Azure Horned Horse.

At every corner of the battlements atop the towering city walls burned an azure flame. The flames rippled continuously like moving water patterns, giving off a hazy impression, yet the violent energy emanating from them showed that they were far from as tranquil as they appeared.

"This is actually a Beast Fire. I wonder what kind of demonic beast it came from?" Ling Li muttered inwardly.

Beast Fire was flame condensed by demonic beasts. Its nature was the same as the Qi-Generated Fire humans condensed themselves, but it was far more violent and powerful. Many alchemists who failed to obtain a Mysterious Flame would refine a suitable Beast Fire instead, increasing their chances of successful refinement and the quality of their pills.

Of course, for a demonic beast to condense Beast Fire was equivalent to releasing Dou Qi externally. Only demonic beasts at least as strong as Great Fighting Masters—third-tier demonic beasts—could condense Beast Fire. Combined with the violent energy within it, subduing Beast Fire was no easy matter.

When the Thick-winged Bird reached the city gate, it obediently landed atop the city wall. After a brief inspection, it took off again and flew toward the flying transport station in the center of Yan Tie City.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but when the Thick-winged Bird entered the city limits, Ling Li felt the surrounding temperature rise slightly. Once he stepped down from the bird, the sensation became even stronger, as though a wave of humid heat had washed over him.

Slightly startled, Ling Li grabbed at the air before him several times. After carefully sensing it, he murmured, "Eighty percent of the ambient energy here is water- and fire-attributed. No wonder it feels so strange. Two mutually restraining attributes actually coexist in such abundance. How rare."

"This is a holy ground for alchemists to cultivate. Water nourishes wood, and fire strengthens fire. Alchemists with fire and wood attributes would definitely benefit immensely from cultivating here," Little Doctor Fairy said as well.

However, contrary to Little Doctor Fairy's expectations, there were not many alchemists here. Even the Alchemist Guild was much smaller and more rundown than the one in Black Rock City, with scarcely anyone entering or leaving. What filled the streets instead was the constant clanging of blacksmithing.

The passersby were dressed rather lightly. Most of the bare-chested men had some sort of tattoo on their bodies, and Little Doctor Fairy felt that they resembled mercenaries who hunted demonic beasts. All of them exuded a fierce aura.

"You two are here for the first time, right? Do you know whose territory this is—" At that moment, a young man holding a dagger suddenly blocked their path and spoke with a smile.

"Get lost, or I'll chop you down." Before the young man could finish, Ling Li coldly cut him off, releasing his killing intent at the same time.

The nearly tangible killing intent almost made the young man drop to his knees. His hand trembled, and the dagger fell to the ground. Once he recovered his senses, he looked at Ling Li in terror before scrambling away.

Once the young man left, the few tails following the pair realized they had run into someone they could not afford to provoke. Rather than make trouble for themselves, they dispersed at once.

"You'd better stay close. This place is called the Little Black Corner Region. If some horny bastard snatches you away, I can't be bothered to save you," Ling Li continued before Little Doctor Fairy could speak.

Little Doctor Fairy shrank back at his words and unconsciously moved a little closer to Ling Li. After spending some time with him, she had discovered that as long as she did not resist, Ling Li seemed to treat her fairly well. Moreover, after following him, the pain that came once a month seemed to have lessened considerably.

Yan Tie City had originally been a pasture belonging to the Gamma Empire's Imperial family, specifically used to raise third-tier Blue Flame Horned Horses for the Imperial family. However, several decades ago, a rare ore called Lan Tie Ore was suddenly discovered here, transforming the place from an imperial horse-breeding ground into a land of blades and swords. Discovering Lan Tie Ore was both a good thing and a bad thing. The Gamma Empire's Imperial family was too weak, and its control over the region was simply too unstable, allowing countless forces to get involved and creating the current chaotic situation.

The chaos attracted those who came sniffing after profit, while also driving away people like alchemists, who cherished their lives above all else. It was said that someone had once slaughtered more than ten alchemists in this city. Although the culprit was ultimately ground to dust and ashes, it still caused those proud yet cowardly alchemists to designate this place as forbidden ground.

But Ling Li felt that this city was nothing special. The people here did not even meet the standards of desperadoes. Besides, there were city guards maintaining order—just how chaotic could it get?

Other than a small number of people who had come for profit and might truly have been blood-seeing wolves, most of the rest were just huskies. Even the mercenaries who entered the Monster Beast Mountain Range were fiercer than them. The title "Little Black Corner Region" had probably been spread by some alchemist with too much time on his hands.

Ling Li had come to this city on Ole's recommendation, naturally because of Yan Tie City's reputation as a land of blades and swords. He wanted to find a scabbard suitable for Dark Night here. Swallow Return, which he now regarded as a trump card, somewhat resembled an Iaido technique. Iaido without a scabbard—although he knew it was impossible for him to cut his own hand, it still left him feeling uneasy.

Back then, Ole had exaggerated this place to the heavens. He claimed that even forces powerful enough to reach the sky came here to buy weapons, that the weapons of certain faction leaders had been forged in this city, and after rattling off claim after claim, he had inevitably stirred Ling Li's interest.

"If I can't find what I want here, then once I'm strong enough, I'll definitely let that brat find out just how fast my blade is!"

PS:

There are some issues with Potato's map. I will make adjustments according to logic in certain places and enlarge the scale.

Roughly speaking, even the small empires in the northwestern corner of the continent have territories spanning ten thousand kilometers. Xiao Yan and Hun Tiandi's battle split Central Continent in half, yet that rift was only a hundred thousand kilometers long. One must remember that when Xiao Yan traveled through the Space Channel from Central Continent's northern region to its central region, several people hurried on without stopping for a full three months...

Fifty thousand kilometers in three months meant traveling more than five hundred li a day, at a speed of eleven kilometers per hour. A Dou Zun powerhouse's Space Channel was truly terrifying...