Yu Tingzhi's flying vessel sped onward for half a day before he saw a colossal beast, covered head to tail in scales and lying prone, floating in midair.
Wisps of cloud vapor seeped from the gaps between its scales, drifting around it and half-concealing its form. Its immense body looked like some celestial body hanging over the Earth Continent, yet it also carried an airy, ethereal grace.
At the arrival of the flying vessel, a hollow drumbeat sounded from within the colossal beast's body, shaking the void domain. Its soft tail, which had been curled behind it, unfurled all the way until it floated before the vessel.
A disciple beside Yu Tingzhi said, "Teacher, is that the Heaven-Roaring Beast modified by our Celestial Xia?"
"It is," Yu Tingzhi said.
He had his reasons for choosing to come here first. This was the Ajuma Divine Kingdom, whose entire populace lived within the body of an enormous beast. As this divine kingdom had originally been weak, it had always been most deferential to Celestial Xia.
What was rare was that, even after its strength had greatly increased through its exchanges with Celestial Xia over recent years, it had maintained its former respectful attitude, for they knew well whom their strength depended on.
Thus, they had firmly maintained a hierarchical relationship with Celestial Xia, serving as Celestial Xia's mouthpiece and eyes and ears, a nail driven by Celestial Xia into the various divine kingdoms.
The flying vessel now arrived atop the long tail. As the tail contracted, it entered the beast's body through an opening in the scales on its back. Once inside, the disciples looked around curiously. The buildings here clung to towering mountains with rushing springs flowing down them; it possessed both the scenery of a foreign divine kingdom and a