Outside the city's north gate.
Rogue cultivators gathered in droves, each harboring their own thoughts as they watched the two men facing off above. The city's rules were strict, forbidding all fighting. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Northern Lands had once caused trouble here. As for their fate, they were still serving their punishment in the Chen Household's mines.
These days, anyone who got into a dispute in the city usually went outside the north gate. A tributary of the Li River ran nearby, known locally as the Rainfall River. Every month, around the middle of the month, its waters rose to form clouds and poured down sweet rain, hence its name.
The river was a hundred paces wide, its swift waters flowing toward Flat Lake near the Jade Flow Mountains. A few boats were making their way upstream. Seeing cultivators coming to duel, the boatmen hurriedly worked their oars and fled as though on wings.
Above the water, the two men gathered their qi and faced each other. Flecks of golden lightning spilled out, clashing with wisps of deep-blue Dao fire.
Daoist Changye was already beginning to regret it. For some reason, his blood had surged earlier, and he had insisted on accepting this duel. All his fellow cultivators from the north were watching; now he could not back down even if he wanted to.
He had never imagined he would lose. After all, his cultivation was two layers higher, and he had spent years roaming the borderlands of the Six Prefectures. Rogue cultivators survived by licking blood from knife edges. He truly thought nothing of these pampered sect disciples.
A little goading, and he put away his magic artifact. What a fool.
A sly look flickered across Changye's aged face as specks of blue fire gathered in