Not all the buildings in the city catered to human tastes. Some houses had bizarre shapes.
Some owners had taken the easy route, hauling in the skull of some unknown giant beast and turning it into a house with a few alterations.
There were skeletons of enormous snakes coiled into towers, made habitable with a little decorating inside and out.
Others had built nests in ancient trees.
In short, the demon cultivators who could establish homes like these in Dazhi City generally held considerable status.
The roads connecting every corner of the city might have formed a fairly orderly network without these strange buildings. Whenever a road encountered one, it had to bend and twist around it, yet somehow still pass its front door.
The buildings had all sorts of roofs: tile, thatch, feathers, bark, and even glittering gemstones. Some houses had no roofs at all, their occupants preferring the open sky.
The people who ruled the city lived on the mountain at its center. The pavilions and towers at the summit had an air of immortal elegance, but the buildings farther down grew increasingly unrestrained. Caves and shacks piled together in apparent disorder, exuding a sinister, demonic air when viewed from afar.
The magnificent buildings at the summit seemed to suppress the demonic presence below, while also symbolizing the city's order.
Order mattered. Once it collapsed, no one would come anymore, and no amount of promises would win their trust.
Beyond the city lay rolling mountains and boundless grasslands, rippling like emerald waves.
Heart-wrapping grass was a giant plant that grew twenty feet tall. Its drooping leaves were so tough that a person could climb onto one and lie down to sleep.
Ribbonlike roads wound far through the grasslands. Carriages drawn by fine-scaled steeds raced back and forth, while