Giant City

"Creak--"

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

Xu Yuan, who was half-crouched on the floor, immediately glanced to the side and met Ying'er's silent gaze.

Her tone was indifferent:

"Third Young Master, we have arrived at Jingjiang City."

"."

Ying'er was still dressed in that slightly provocative shadow guard attire from before.

However, the fact that she had pushed the door open without permission left Xu Yuan speechless.

They stared at each other in silence.

Oh, no—after glancing at Xu Yuan, the woman's eyes shifted to the Source Crystal clutched in his palm.

She watched it silently for two seconds, then turned and walked away without a word.

"Clack--"

The wooden door closed gently, and the room returned to a silence so profound it was as if Ying'er had never been there at all.

Xu Yuan watched this scene in silence for a long time, eventually letting out a helpless chuckle.

The strong always have their own pride, no matter which world they are in.

If they look down on you, they look down on you, and there is nothing you can do about it.

To these retainers and guest ministers, he, Xu Yuan—Xu Changtian—was indeed the Third Young Master, but that was only out of respect for his father and his eldest brother.

Without his father and eldest brother, he, Xu Yuan, was nothing.

Respect is something that can be given to you, but only on the surface.

If you don't want the surface-level respect, then they simply won't give it at all.

They rely on their strength to make a living, not on flattery or sycophancy.

If it were the original owner of this body, he might have already become furious due to his inner inferiority and sensitivity, but Xu Yuan couldn't care less.

Respect from others is something you earn yourself.

In a world that values extraordinary martial power, once Xu Yuan's own strength rises, the attitudes of these retainers and guest ministers will naturally change.

Why get angry over something so trivial?

However, that look in Ying'er's eyes before she left confirmed one thing for Xu Yuan.

This Source Crystal was indeed a test left for him by his eldest brother.

If you can obtain it before arriving at Jingjiang City, then it is yours to keep.

If you cannot, Ying'er would have simply dragged you away.

Heh~

Taking a deep breath, he tucked the Source Crystal into his Sumeru Ring, and after standing up, Xu Yuan began to tear the room apart once more.

Although he wasn't angry, the act still had to be performed.

Only after dismantling the furniture in Xu Changge's room, including the bed, did Xu Yuan finally stop.

He didn't feel very tired after tearing the place apart this time; his stamina was likely much better than the Siberian Husky he had in his previous life.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan walked to the wooden window and pushed open the tightly shut shutters.

As the room occupied by Xu Changge, it was equipped with an array that blocked the perception of soul intent.

However, it only functioned as a complete unit when the doors and windows were all closed.

To avoid Ying'er's surveillance, Xu Yuan hadn't opened the window for days.

Once he pushed it open, the scene before him

made the black pupils in Xu Yuan's eyes shrink violently!

The view before him was magnificent and awe-inspiring.

The sky was a vast, boundless azure, amidst the cries of birds and beasts, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of flying demonic beasts of various sizes screeched in the air.

As his gaze shifted downward, a massive, grand city, comparable in scale to a first-tier city from his previous life, came into view!

The scenery within the city was laid out in full: streets and houses were packed closely together, ring upon ring, with wide, bustling thoroughfares extending as far as the eye could see.

"." Xu Yuan.

This... is this the Jingjiang City that could be traversed with just two or three flat maps in Cangyuan?

As they drew closer, the giant Mystic Eagle beneath them had already begun to lower its flight altitude.

"Hum—"

As the Mystic Eagle soared high above the twenty-zhang-tall city wall, Xu Yuan's soul sense vaguely perceived a faint ripple.

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

"This is..."

Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes, instinctively extending his soul sense to investigate.

Unfortunately, the Mystic Eagle was flying too fast, and the range of his current soul sense was extremely limited.

By the time he reached out, the Mystic Eagle had already flown past the towering city wall.

He retracted his soul sense with a sigh, planning to check the situation at the wall again if he had the chance in the future.

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than Zhou Chen's voice suddenly drifted down from the eaves of the pavilion's roof:

"The Third Young Master is truly gifted; to be able to perceive the Spirit Inspection Array upon first entering the ranks is impressive."

"..." Xu Yuan.

Clearly, the soul sense he had just extended had been discovered by the man above.

"Who is it?" Xu Yuan asked softly.

Zhou Chen flipped down from the pavilion roof, vaulted through the window into the room, and offered a smiling, cupped-hand salute:

"Zhou Chen."

Xu Yuan looked at the man's stubbly appearance and recognized him as one of the people who had blasted open the cave dwelling at Hanging Heaven Cliff earlier.

He was likely one of the guards Xu Changge had left behind to protect him.

Xu Yuan fell silent for a breath, then asked in a low voice:

"This Spirit Inspection Array you mentioned, what is it?"

Zhou Chen smiled and cupped his hands again:

"It is normal for the Third Young Master to be unaware, as you have only just begun your cultivation. Demonic beasts are wild and difficult to tame; if they enter the city directly, they are prone to going berserk and harming people.

"If a demonic beast wishes to enter the city, it must pass the nine-fold examination of the Imperial Exotic Beast Bureau or the major sects. Once all examinations are passed, a special mark is injected into the beast's body, and only with this mark can it enter the city."

"..."

A flash of surprise crossed Xu Yuan's eyes.

He had not expected such a thing to exist in this world.

After a pause, Xu Yuan glanced sideways at the gargantuan city that stretched beyond the horizon below, his tone tinged with a hint of oddity:

"Is it over the entire Jingjiang City?"

Zhou Chen nodded slightly, as if it were a matter of course:

"Naturally."

Upon hearing this, a flicker of shock passed through Xu Yuan's eyes.

How could such a massive array exist in this world?

At the same time, many questions flooded his mind.

How was such a colossal array constructed?

Where did the energy to maintain the array come from?

As these thoughts flickered, finding no answers, Xu Yuan reined them in.

He paused, looked at Zhou Chen, and asked:

"And what if one enters the city by force without the mark?"

Zhou Chen raised a hand to stroke his stubbly chin, then grinned with a meaningful expression:

"There are other defensive arrays within the city."

Xu Yuan frowned: "Other arrays?"

Zhou Chen did not answer him immediately this time, but instead 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 instantly from before Xu Yuan's eyes.

Infusing Origin Qi into his eyes, Xu Yuan looked out the window, but found nothing.

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

About ten seconds after Zhou Chen disappeared, Xu Yuan suddenly saw

a demonic beast resembling a pterosaur plummeting rapidly from the dome of the sky!

Just as Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes to stare, Zhou Chen's voice drifted lightly from behind him once more:

"Third Young Master, see for yourself."

"." Xu Yuan.

The speed at which these powerhouses beside him vanished and reappeared was ghost-like.

Nodding slightly, Xu Yuan kept his eyes locked on the falling, broken-winged pterosaur.

As the pterosaur plummeted from the sky and entered the range of the Spirit Inspection Array, the beast's innate sense of crisis caused the ten-foot-long creature to flap its wings frantically.

But it was helpless, as one of its wings had already been snapped by Zhou Chen, and it continued its feeble descent.

Upon reaching a certain altitude, a streak of white rainbow light condensed in the mid-air of the great city and shot out in an instant!

Without a sound, The pterosaur was reduced directly to dust, leaving not even a bone behind.

"Third Young Master, this is the fate of any beast that attempts to force its way into the inner city without a mark."

Xu Yuan glanced at him:

"Mm, although it was very intuitive, couldn't you have just told me?"

"." Zhou Chen.

Clearing his throat to mask his awkwardness, Zhou Chen continued:

"Ahem, yes, and there is also the fact that this array not only defends against beasts, but it also defends against people."

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"Is this array effective against you as well?"

Zhou Chen grinned and shook his head:

"Too slow, it can't hit me, and the power is a bit weak."

However, after a pause, Zhou Chen sighed and added:

"Of course, these two types of arrays are only the standard ones. Many of the great arrays in the city are not usually activated, but once they are, even I could not make it out alive."

Xu Yuan was silent.

The automatic completion of this world left him feeling a sense of bewildered alienation.

Zhou Chen chuckled and patted Xu Yuan on the shoulder, acting quite familiar:

"Third Young Master, if the city didn't have these arrays, the world would have fallen into chaos long ago."