Compared with the orderly restraint of Luminous Yang Commandery, Cloud Province Prefecture City was almost unreasonably vast.
Its broad main avenue, paved with bluestone, could accommodate dozens of riders galloping abreast, while towers and halls on either side soared to staggering heights.
In sheer size alone, it was more than ten times as large as Chang'an.
Jiang Yuechu walked beside Xu Ming, gazing up at the magnificent city that stretched beyond sight. A flicker of surprise quietly crossed her eyes.
She considered herself fairly well traveled.
Great Tang had already reached a pinnacle of prosperity, yet beside Cloud Province Prefecture, it still seemed somewhat paltry.
But the city's enormous scale was not what Jiang Yuechu found most novel.
Ahead, in the middle of the street, a blue-armored demon with a body like a small mountain swaggered past.
The ordinary people bustling around it did not scatter and flee. They could not even be bothered to spare it another glance.
An old woman selling noodle soup at a roadside stall even complained that its enormous body was blocking her sunlight, waving a dishcloth and impatiently shooing it away.
The blue-armored demon did not get angry either. It tossed down a copper coin, picked up a large bowl of hot soup, and strode away.
Mortals, demons, and cultivators mingled along the long street just like that, as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers yet leaving one another alone.
Walking beside her, Xu Ming noticed the girl's faintly furrowed brow and naturally knew what she was thinking.
"Does it seem a little strange?"
Xu Ming slowed his steps and said softly, "Elsewhere, cultivators stand far above everyone else, while demons eat human flesh and drink human blood. When mortals see them, they either worship them as gods or fear them like tigers."