Phoenix City.
Beyond the city rose rolling mountains, lush with green trees, a naturally exquisite landscape painting of mountains and waters.
Within the city were gray tiles and blue bricks, crisscrossing streets, and bustling everyday life.
Unlike any city Xiang Yuan had visited before, Phoenix City's residents included both humans and the Demon Race.
In the marketplace, Demon Race members in human or half-beast forms could be seen everywhere. Some wore magnificent feathered garments, while others donned strange masks. The two races lived side by side and even intermarried, getting along in harmony.
At a shop along the street, humans sold everyday goods, everything from cloth to pottery. Several half-beasts haggled with the owner. In a corner of the square, members of the Demon Race performed acrobatics—swallows flying from their palms, boulders shattered upon their chests—drawing wave after wave of cheers from the crowd.
Of course, the two races living together inevitably led to conflicts that could not be reconciled. For instance, at one butcher's shop, a bull-headed man pointed at the beef on the chopping block and roared, "I don't eat beef!" After it was replaced with pork, a pig-headed man came over to voice his displeasure instead.
The whole scene was bizarre beyond words. When Xiang Yuan had first arrived, he had been dumbstruck, clicking his tongue in wonder. Once the bird was big enough, every kind of colorful forest could be found beneath it.
At a teahouse on the long street, Xiang Yuan strode in with two women and one zombie. Seeing how noisy it was downstairs, he asked the proprietor for a private room on the second floor.
The proprietor was an elderly human with a goatee, looking every bit like an honest businessman. Seeing that Xiang Yuan's group was extraordinary in both appearance and bearing,