Giant City

"Squeak—"

As he was lost in thought, the door was pushed open from the outside.

Xu Yuan, crouching on the floor, immediately turned his gaze toward the doorway and met Ying'er's impassive stare.

Her voice was flat.

"Third Young Master, we've arrived at Jingjiang City."

"."

Ying'er was still wearing the same somewhat revealing Shadow Guard outfit as before.

But she had entered without permission, so Xu Yuan said nothing.

They stared at each other in silence.

Or rather, after giving Xu Yuan a glance, the woman looked at the Source Crystal clutched in his hand.

She watched it quietly for two seconds, then turned and left without a word.

"Click—"

The wooden door closed softly, and the cabin fell silent, as though Ying'er had never been there.

Xu Yuan watched the scene in silence for a long while before letting out a helpless chuckle.

The strong had their pride, no matter what world they lived in.

If they looked down on you, then they looked down on you. There was nothing you could do about it.

In the eyes of these retainers and guest advisors, he, Xu Yuan—Xu Changtian—was indeed the Third Young Master. But he only had that status because of his father and elder brother.

Without them, Xu Yuan was nothing.

They could give him respect, but it would only be skin-deep.

And if he didn't want the superficial kind, they could simply give him none at all.

They made their living through strength, not flattery.

If he were still his original self, his insecurity and sensitivity might have already driven him into a rage. But Xu Yuan couldn't have cared less.

Respect had to be earned.

In a world where extraordinary martial strength reigned, once Xu Yuan grew strong enough, the attitudes of these guest advisors and retainers would naturally change.

It was nothing worth getting angry over. Why bother?

Still, Ying'er's look before she left had confirmed one thing.

The Source Crystal really was a test left for him by his elder brother.

If he could get it before reaching Jingjiang City, it would be his.

If he couldn't, Ying'er would simply haul him away.

Heh.

Taking a deep breath, he put the Source Crystal into his Sumeru Ring. Then he got up and started tearing the room apart again.

He wasn't angry, but he still had to keep up the act.

Only after dismantling all the furniture in Xu Changge's cabin, bed included, did Xu Yuan finally stop.

This time, tearing the room apart hadn't tired him much. His stamina was probably already a good deal greater than that of the husky he'd had back home in his previous life.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, walked to the wooden window, and pushed it open.

As Xu Changge's cabin, the room had been fitted with an array that blocked the perception of Will Souls.

But it only worked when the door and all the windows were shut, forming a sealed whole.

To avoid Ying'er's watchful eye, Xu Yuan hadn't opened the windows once in all these days.

The moment he pushed one open,

the sight before him

made his dark pupils contract sharply!

The view was magnificent.

The sky was a deep blue, stretching endlessly overhead.

Amid the cries of eagles and birds, dozens, even hundreds, of flying demonic beasts of all sizes shrieked across the sky.

His gaze shifted downward.

A magnificent city, comparable in size to a first-tier city in his previous life, filled his view!

He could see the city in its entirety. Streets and buildings stood row upon row, circling inward, while broad thoroughfares reached in every direction and bustled with people, stretching to the very edge of his sight.

"." Xu Yuan.

Was this really Jingjiang City, which the two or three flat maps in Cangyuan had made look like a place you could run across in no time?

As they drew closer, the colossal Mystic Eagle beneath them had already lowered its altitude.

"Vwoom—"

As the eagle soared over the twenty-zhang-high city wall, Xu Yuan's Will Soul faintly sensed a strange ripple.

It seemed they had passed through some kind of invisible barrier.

"This is..."

Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes and instinctively sent out his Will Soul to probe.

Unfortunately, the Mystic Eagle was flying too fast, and the range of his Will Soul's perception was extremely limited.

By the time he sent it out, the eagle had already passed the towering wall.

He reluctantly withdrew his Will Soul, deciding to investigate what had happened by the wall if he got the chance later.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Zhou Chen's voice came from the eaves of the pavilion overhead.

"Third Young Master truly has exceptional talent. You've only just entered the ranks of cultivators, yet you can already sense this Spirit Inspection Array."

"." Xu Yuan.

Clearly, the man above had noticed the Will Soul he'd sent out.

"Who's there?" Xu Yuan asked quietly.

Zhou Chen flipped down from the pavilion and through the window into the cabin. He cupped his hands with a genial grin.

"Zhou Chen."

Looking at the man's unkempt beard, Xu Yuan recognized him as one of the people who had blasted open the cave dwelling at Hanging Heaven Cliff.

He was probably another of the men Xu Changge had left behind to protect him.

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then asked softly,

"You mentioned a Spirit Inspection Array. What is it?"

Zhou Chen cupped his hands again with a genial grin.

"It's only natural that the Third Young Master wouldn't know, having just begun cultivating. Demonic beasts are wild and hard to tame. If they enter the city directly, they could go berserk and hurt people.

"For a demonic beast to enter the city, it must pass the ninefold examination administered by either the imperial Exotic Beast Bureau or one of the major sects. Once it passes every test, a special mark is placed inside its body. Only with that mark can it enter the city."

"."

A flicker of surprise passed through Xu Yuan's eyes.

So this world had something like that.

After a pause, Xu Yuan glanced out at the sprawling city below, his voice tinged with puzzlement.

"Is the whole of Jingjiang City covered by it?"

Zhou Chen nodded, as though the answer were obvious.

"Of course."

A trace of astonishment flashed in Xu Yuan's eyes.

This world actually had an array on such a colossal scale?

At the same time, all sorts of questions sprang to mind.

How had they set up such a vast array?

Where did they get the energy to sustain it?

His thoughts raced, but there were no answers, so Xu Yuan let them go.

After a pause, he looked at Zhou Chen and asked,

"What happens if something without a mark tries to force its way in?"

Zhou Chen rubbed his scruffy chin, then grinned meaningfully.

"There are other arrays protecting the city."

Xu Yuan frowned. "Other arrays?"

This time, Zhou Chen didn't answer at once. Instead, he looked up at the sky, as if searching for something.

A moment later, he suddenly grinned.

"Third Young Master, wait a moment."

With that, his figure vanished from Xu Yuan's sight.

Xu Yuan focused Source Qi into his eyes and looked out the window, but saw nothing.

The bodyguards Xu Changge had left him were all too fast.

A dozen or so seconds after Zhou Chen disappeared,

Xu Yuan suddenly saw

a demonic beast resembling a pterosaur plummeting from high above!

As Xu Yuan squinted at it, Zhou Chen's voice drifted lightly from behind him again.

"Third Young Master, see for yourself."

"." Xu Yuan.

The way these experts around him kept vanishing and reappearing was like something out of a ghost story.

Xu Yuan gave a slight nod and stared without blinking at the falling, broken-winged pterosaur.

The pterosaur plunged from the sky. As it entered the range of the Spirit Inspection Array, the beast's instinctive sense of danger sent it flapping wildly.

But one of its wings had been snapped by Zhou Chen, so it could only keep falling, unable to slow its descent.

When it reached a certain height, a streak of white light gathered in midair over the city and shot out in an instant!

Without a sound,

the pterosaur turned to dust, leaving no trace of its corpse.

"Third Young Master, that's what happens when a demonic beast without a mark tries to force its way into the inner city."

Xu Yuan glanced at him.

"Mm. That was certainly clear, but couldn't you have just told me?"

"." Zhou Chen.

He gave a light cough to hide his embarrassment, then continued.

"Ahem. There's also this: the array doesn't just keep out demonic beasts. It works on people too."

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked,

"Would the array work on you too?"

Zhou Chen grinned and shook his head.

"Too slow. It couldn't hit me, and its power's a little weak."

After a pause, Zhou Chen sighed and added,

"Of course, those are only the arrays that are kept ready for use. There are plenty of powerful arrays in the city that aren't usually activated. Once they are, even I wouldn't be able to get out alive."

Xu Yuan fell silent.

The way this world kept filling itself in around him left him feeling adrift in a vast, unfamiliar place.

Zhou Chen chuckled and clapped Xu Yuan on the shoulder, acting as though they were old friends.

"Third Young Master, without these arrays, the whole world would've descended into chaos long ago."