It took Zhang Tie half an hour just to walk from Wa Emperor City's outer gate into the city proper, passing through the tunnel-like entrance in the gate.
Zhang Tie strolled along at an unhurried pace, while many young people visiting Wa Emperor City for the first time could not resist breaking into a run inside the gate tunnel, rushing toward the entrance.
Half an hour later, the view before Zhang Tie finally brightened. He emerged from the gate tunnel and entered Wa Emperor City.
Directly opposite the gate entrance stood a plaza roughly two square kilometers in size. Its entire surface was paved with bluestone. A broad avenue circled the plaza, forming an enormous roundabout, then stretched away into the distance in three directions—south, north, and east. Beyond the plaza, Zhang Tie saw rolling mountain ranges and villages.
Before coming to the Sky-Piercing Realm, Xuanyuan Hill had already been the largest city Zhang Tie could imagine. Yet Xuanyuan Hill covered only a little over a million square kilometers, whereas Wa Emperor City before him was ten times larger. Its population exceeded four hundred million; Wa Emperor City was practically a nation unto itself.
Those who had entered in lizard carriages had long since driven onto the avenue and sped into the distance. The lizard carriage Zhang Tie had seen at the entrance, bound for Hutuo Mountain to find the Black-Handed Yama Bian Heng, had already vanished.
The plaza teemed with people. The young first-time visitors to Wa Emperor City had gathered there in groups, wandering about and curiously taking in the legendary Wa Emperor City.
At the heart of the plaza was a commercial district that had everything one could need—clothing, food, lodging, transport—and it was quite bustling. There seemed to be several carriage dealerships there as well. Large