Holy City

The Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes released divine light as divine power flowed around his fingertips. Stroke by stroke, he inscribed the nine runes he had recorded within the Saint Spirit Furnace.

These were very likely Immortal Characters, possessing extraordinary power. Few things in this world could stand alongside these nine Immortal Talismans.

As for a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, that was impossible. With Ji Hao's realm, he simply could not see one.

A muffled rumble sounded in the sky, as though it had sensed the appearance of the Immortal Characters and wished to send down a lightning tribulation to prevent something that should not exist from entering the world.

Yet in the end, no heavenly punishment descended.

Ji Hao paid it no mind and continued inscribing with great focus. They were merely a few Immortal Characters. Such a massive mass of immortal flame had existed here for hundreds of thousands of years, yet heaven and earth had shown no objection.

They were only a few words, after all. Once the Nine-Character Immortal Talisman was completed, the Living Flame underwent another transformation, one that was anything but ordinary.

His divine sense transformed into flames and danced alongside the Living Flame, roaming freely between heaven and earth. This time, it was no longer solely the path of fire.

It encompassed all things. In truth, once the Great Dao reached a certain level, it began to merge with other Dao laws. The Living Flame, for instance, had fused with the laws of life.

Only after a full seven days were the innate patterns upon the Living Flame completely inscribed. Ji Hao roamed through endless Great Daos, and even a layer of sacred flame appeared over the surface of his body.

That was Dao-Transformation Fire. He had become too immersed in the Great Dao. Fortunately, the Living Flame's evolution was completed just as the Dao-Transformation Fire appeared.

This transformation even changed its color, turning it entirely pure white.

The Saint Spirit Furnace it formed was pure white throughout, as though forged from luminous immortal gold. It was incomparably sacred, with mysterious runes flickering across its surface.

Having finished the inscription, Ji Hao could not help but want to test the Saint Spirit Furnace's power.

He directly broke through and drew down a lightning tribulation. He brought out the Saint Spirit Furnace but did not interfere, allowing it to cross the tribulation on its own.

Dark clouds pressed down upon the city, threatening to crush it, as though the heavens wished to destroy Ji Hao.

Bolts of lightning slithered through the black clouds. The next moment, divine thunder descended to annihilate everything.

Five Elements Divine Thunder, Yin-Yang Divine Thunder, and Chaos Divine Thunder were all drawn into the furnace one after another. Nine-colored divine light refined them and fused them into one.

The Saint Spirit Furnace hung upside down in the heavens, releasing vast amounts of Nine-Colored Divine Fire to contend against the heavenly lightning.

In the end, the Saint Spirit Furnace suddenly expanded and swallowed even the tribulation clouds before transforming back into the Living Flame and returning to Ji Hao's body.

Crackling sparks flashed. The completely devoured lightning tempered Ji Hao's body, while he successfully advanced to the Second Heaven of the Four Extremes.

He would advance one heaven at a time. That made it easier to consolidate his realm.

If Ji Hao wished, he could have stepped directly into the Dragon Transformation Realm. He simply had too little understanding of the Four Extremes secret realm.

Ascending into Dragon Transformation only days after breaking through would make it difficult to guarantee his combat strength, and it would be even less beneficial for creating his own methods in the future.

After crossing the tribulation, Ji Hao headed north. He passed through a domain gate and arrived in the Northern Region. After flying for over ten days, crossing countless mountains and rivers and traveling who knew how many tens of thousands of miles, he finally neared the Holy City of the Northern Region.

The Holy City of the Northern Region was its absolute center. On this crimson land, it was as famous as the Primordial Ancient Mine, and the residents of the Northern Region regarded it as sacred ground.

Autumn winds rustled along the way, and fallen leaves covered the ground. Distant mountains were shrouded in layers of mist. Yet this was a pure land. Within a hundred and fifty miles outside the Holy City, everything was lush and green, with no trace of seasonal change.

Ji Hao had spent nearly a month in the Fire Domain. The Big Dipper had already entered late autumn, yet this place remained verdant without the slightest chill. Like spring, warm breezes brushed his face, vegetation flourished, and spiritual springs babbled.

A flock of wild geese flew past overhead, carrying a hint of late autumn's bleakness and reminding one that autumn had arrived.

The spiritual energy surrounding the Holy City was extraordinarily dense, many times richer than elsewhere. Ancient trees towered over a hundred meters high, their branches stretching toward the sky, while ancient vines coiled like horned dragons over the cliff faces.

At last, he saw the legendary Holy City, and it left him deeply shaken.

The ancient city was immensely majestic. Its walls lay like a vast gray dragon, stretching without end, as though cast from molten bronze and gleaming with metallic luster.

The magnificent gate tower stood a hundred meters tall, imposing and spectacular. From afar, the enormous ancient city gave off a suffocating sense of oppression. In Ji Hao's experience, only Hangu Pass could compare. So this was the center of the Northern Region's storms. The future Heavenly Emperor would truly resound throughout the Big Dipper from here... The Holy City, or perhaps the Divine City, was immensely grand, exuding an overwhelming pressure even from afar.

This city was truly ancient. It was said that in the endless ages long ago, it had floated in the sky, only falling to the earth during the Desolation era.

This Divine City was many times larger than the capitals of great nations, magnificent beyond compare. If one did not fly and instead crossed it on foot like an ordinary person, it would take ten days to pass through the city—and that did not account for exhaustion. With an ordinary person's stamina and pace, it would likely take a month.

The city was incredibly prosperous, with palaces standing in rows and broad ancient streets. Stone-Gambling Workshops, Immortal's Tower, Wind and Moon Palace, Sacred Lord Palace, Demon King Pavilion—everything was present, extravagance at its peak, with mortals and cultivators mingling together.

People flowed through the city, and half of them were cultivators. In a place like this, no one dared act rashly. It was said that if one threw a stone and struck ten people, nine would be elders from some great holy land, while the remaining one would be a supreme elder.

Ji Hao strolled through this great city, searching for Dao One Stone Workshop. Among the stored immortal gold, the Dragon-Pattern Black Gold Sword within the Nine-Aperture Stone Man was the easiest to obtain, perfect for fusing into his sword embryo.

As for its size, he remembered that the weapon of the Stone Emperor of Immortal Mountain was a Dragon-Patterned Black Gold Halberd. Once he killed him in the future and settled their karma, it would make a fine weapon.

Green Copper Gold Essence, Scarlet Jade Marrow, Starstone, and all manner of precious materials were casually displayed in the corners.

As he wandered down the street, he surveyed his surroundings. When he raised his eyes, he was immediately startled. Deep within the great lake, clouds and mist drifted through the sky, where many large ships floated alongside palaces and pavilions.

"What place is this?" Ji Hao wondered.

Someone who overheard him immediately looked down on him. "You've come all this way, and you're still pretending to be some innocent young man!"

"Big brother, I really don't know what this place is. Please introduce it to me." Ji Hao humbly asked for guidance.

Crowds passed around them, and rows of willows lined the lakeshore. The man glanced at him and said, "The famous Wonderful Desire Nunnery of the Holy City. You don't know it?"

"What kind of place is Wonderful Desire Nunnery? This is my first time in the Holy City." Ji Hao asked with a look of "confusion."

Of course he knew what Wonderful Desire Nunnery was, but he only recognized the name, not the place itself!

"Naturally, it's one of the Holy City's ten great pleasure grounds. You came to the Holy City for the first time and headed straight here. A fellow man of the way, indeed..."

"Wonderful Desire Nunnery!" Ji Hao looked up at it once, then turned and left.

"Forget it. Wonderful Desire Nunnery bewitches the mind. I'd better retrieve the Dragon-Pattern Black Gold Sword first. That's more important."

"Nothing to do today. I'll go to Wonderful Desire Nunnery and listen to some music."