He could clearly sense an immense Ancestral Dragon Spirit Vein beneath the entire Imperial Capital, supplying the city with almost limitless spiritual energy.
Countless powerful, concealed restrictions and formations lay hidden at crucial points throughout the city, and even within the void, forming a terrifying, enormous defensive system.
Once fully activated, even a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator would likely struggle to breach it.
Moreover, at least a dozen auras in the city stood out like torches in the night, all unmistakably at the Nascent Soul Realm. A few concealed auras even gave him a faint sense of danger.
Those likely belonged to cultivators at the seventh, eighth, or ninth level of Nascent Soul, or even great perfection.
Heavenly Zhao City had gathered almost all the finest resources of the Zhao Kingdom within its walls.
It was also the Zhao Family's stronghold. Investigating this place would almost certainly reveal the full extent of the family's strength.
"The imperial family's foundations truly run deep."
Li Yunjing strolled along the bustling streets, seemingly at ease, while taking in both the Imperial Capital's prosperity and its stringent defenses.
He did not rush to investigate more sensitive intelligence. Instead, he first found an elegant-looking inn in a relatively quiet part of the southern city.
Once settled in, he began wandering through the Imperial Capital like a genuine tourist.
He visited the trading markets where cultivators gathered, listened to storytellers in teahouses recount legendary anecdotes about the Zhao Kingdom Imperial Family, and admired the towering palace walls and stern guards from afar. He also "inadvertently" overheard scattered discussions about the northwestern war, resource allocation, and the movements of the major sects.
He silently committed all this information to memory, comparing it with what he had learned in the Black Wind Mountain Range and filling in the