On the ninety-foot-high platform, everyone had taken their seats. Having completed his task, the elder of Heavenly Mechanism City also headed toward his seat.
"Elder Qi, selling these Heaven-Hanging Mirrors alone must have filled your coffers to the brim this time, eh?" Cheng Yaojin teased with a smile.
"You flatter us, Duke Cheng. Heavenly Mechanism City can only build up a little wealth by making clever contraptions and curiosities. We can hardly compare to your vast holdings and deep foundations..." Elder Qi replied, looking slightly embarrassed.
Everyone smiled at his words but said nothing.
Heavenly Mechanism City was hardly the humble little establishment Elder Qi made it out to be, nor had it built its fortune on mere clever curiosities. Its various Yan Beasts, Floating Soaring Craft, and refined magic treasures and implements held immense appeal for cultivators and ordinary people alike. Its businesses had blossomed throughout the Three Realms, with shops even opening in the Underworld.
If commerce had been its only pursuit, even becoming the foremost trading association in the Three Realms would not have made Heavenly Mechanism City so remarkable. But every puppetmaster and Grand Puppetmaster under its authority was also a high-level cultivator of considerable strength. This was what allowed it to become a transcendent power standing shoulder to shoulder with the great immortal and demonic sects.
A densely shaded mountain forest appeared in the upper-right corner of the Heaven-Hanging Mirror facing due south.
Shen Luo descended from the sky as a streak of light and appeared in a clearing in the forest.
Before he could steady himself, two streaks of light descended in succession a short distance ahead, revealing two figures.
The first was lean, with an unusually long neck and a mustache that swept diagonally out to either side of his lips. Although he