Blackwater City was a colossal city, one of the ten most renowned cities in the Foreign Realm.
It was also home to a celebrated academy, the War God Academy, one of the Foreign Realm's ten great academies.
Its foundations ran deep, and its scriptures were countless.
Cultivators who emerged from here were hailed as war gods, beings who could sweep unchecked across the Border Wasteland's battlefields, crushing everything in their path.
That was because this academy had an extraordinary origin.
It had once belonged to an Undying King, but that king had fallen in battle at the end of the Immortal Ancient era. The grounds he left behind had become this academy.
It was hardly surprising, then, that those who emerged from here bearing that title possessed strength renowned throughout the world.
Of course, few ultimately earned the title of war god. The vast majority of beings were merely a backdrop, for that title was not something casually bestowed.
Moreover, the War God Academy offered a thousand places for cultivation each year. Not only would Supremes expound the Dao, but Undying beings would also appear. Outside the Emperor Clan ancestral lands, it was already the finest sacred ground for cultivation.
The academy was not inside Blackwater City, but in a distant mountain range.
That place was peculiar. From afar, it looked as though ten thousand True Dragons lay dormant there. Only upon approaching could one see that they were mountain ridges, one after another. The resemblance was uncanny.
In some places, purple qi came from the east, carrying an air of peace. Elsewhere, crimson clouds surged like bloody light piercing the heavens, while other areas were engulfed in towering black mist, brimming with ominousness.
This was terrain of extraordinary complexity; its depths could not be fathomed at a glance.
In the past, the Undying King Luo Mo had cultivated here. These were ancient grounds he had left behind, and they were truly no ordinary place.
Of course, Luo Mo's descendants had moved away the very heart of these so-called ancestral lands. Otherwise, there would have been little difference between this place and the true ancient grounds of an Emperor Clan.
Even so, this remained sacred ground!
"A sacred ground for cultivation," He Xian praised. Two women and one man followed behind him. As for Hao Feng, the Heavenly Blade, Chi Menghong, and the others, he had sent them away. What were they following him for? He only wanted women!
Gu Rong was an exception.
Mo Xian had a slender figure, smooth hair, a delicate oval face, curved dark brows, and cherry lips. Nothing about her appearance suggested she was a woman who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Emperor Clan.
She was simply too exquisite, with a temperament untouched by worldly strife, beautiful beyond reason.
By now, Mo Xian had yielded, silently following behind He Xian as his maidservant. After the message she sent to the Emperor Clan backing her sank like a stone into the sea, she had quickly adjusted her mindset.
Especially once Mo Xian learned that she would soon return to her homeland, she could not help feeling elated.
She missed home. She had been away for many years and did not know how her younger brother was doing now.
Mo Xian followed close behind He Xian, accompanied by immortal mist. She looked ethereal and graceful, like a banished immortal maiden emerging from deep within cloud-veiled mountains, soothing the hearts of those who saw her.
She did not know why He Xian had come to this academy. Logically, the Crane Clan Ancestral Land had to be far superior, whether in its environment for comprehending the Dao or the resources it could provide. That was beyond doubt.
As it happened, someone else shared her confusion. Hua Lan asked softly, "Your Highness, what have you come to this academy for?"
"Checking in!" He Xian answered with a smile, leaving them utterly baffled.
The mountain gates were grand, shimmering mist billowing around them. The academy occupied an enormous expanse.
"Let's go in!" Together, they stepped into the War God Academy.
The Great Dao Palace was an enormous palace suspended in midair, large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands without difficulty, shrouded year-round in chaotic mist.
This was one of the War God Academy's most famous places for comprehending the Dao, for experts regularly came here to expound scriptures and impart the profound mysteries of the Great Dao.
Below, mountain ridges stretched in clusters, their vital essence rising in shimmering clouds.
In midair, the Great Dao Palace remained suspended year-round, mysterious laws of order flowing around it, accompanied by the mother qi of all things.
This was not merely a place for expounding scriptures, but also an arena! The enormous palace was spacious enough to seat hundreds of thousands together, yet only a thousand members of the War God Academy could enter to listen to Dao scriptures and contemplate the Great Dao throughout the year.
Thus, this place always remained very spacious, never filled to capacity, with ample room for sparring.
At the center of the enormous palace lay a collection of meditation cushions, neither more nor fewer than exactly one thousand.
Today, a Supreme on the verge of becoming Undying was expounding the Dao. The seats below were packed, and all manner of extraordinary visions unfolded. Dao laws transformed into dragons that wheeled and danced, while order became great Dao golden lotuses blooming in the void.
There were also ten thousand rays of auspicious light, dragons and phoenixes crying in unison, and more.
Within this Dao palace, as that Supreme uttered words of gold and jade, the Great Dao rumbled as though heaven and earth were being cleaved into existence. Vast swaths of symbols spread out, embodying the most fundamental essence.
He Xian listened at the entrance for a moment, then left again. His check-in was complete.
This was the advantage of being born in the Foreign Realm. In the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, a being approaching the level of a True Immortal expounding the Dao would surely have driven everyone into a frenzy. It would have been regarded as a tremendous opportunity, especially by the younger generation.
He Xian left and entered Blackwater City, intending to depart through another city gate.
However, he still stayed in Blackwater City for several days.
That was because a dungeon that had existed for several eras lay here, notorious for its horrors. It was the Blackwater Heavenly Prison, the greatest prison in the north, where Shi Hao would one day be confined.
The dungeon was deep, exceedingly dark, and unbearably damp, untouched by sunlight throughout the year. The instant they entered, waves of roaring reached them, thunderous and deafening.
They could see prison after prison holding members of all sorts of races they could not name, each immensely powerful.
Led by a Supreme, He Xian entered the deepest reaches of the dungeon.
He said nothing, merely stepping quietly into a cell. This area was deserted, as though no prisoners were held here.
This heavenly prison was dim and utterly devoid of any trace of life. A deathly stillness hung over it, as though no sound or disturbance had arisen here for more than an era.
"Activate the seals!" He Xian shouted.
"Well..." The Supreme guiding him hesitated.
"Whatever happens, I'll bear the responsibility alone." He Xian had come to this heavenly prison precisely to temper his flesh.
Unsurpassed sealing restrictions had been inscribed within the Blackwater Heavenly Prison. This was one reason it could imprison such peerless figures. With the restrictions fully activated, even a Supreme would be refined into bloody liquid within moments.
When an extremely faint dark glow appeared, He Xian immediately felt it. The entire cell abruptly filled with sinister yin energy and bone-piercing cold. His body was compressed as an invisible force emerged, seeking to tear him apart.
His flesh instinctively erupted with dazzling golden light, but He Xian suppressed that instinct and offered no resistance.
At that moment, worry appeared on Hua Lan's face. Her expression grew tense, her brows tightly knitted. Though she had only followed him for a few days, she already seemed genuinely concerned for He Xian.
Most terrifying of all, as time passed, the cell grew wet. Black droplets of dew appeared, rolling down the walls.
The next instant, He Xian frowned as pain struck him. Those black dewdrops had actually corroded his skin, something almost impossible to believe.
Yet the corners of He Xian's mouth lifted.