Thunder City

The next morning, after saying goodbye to his parents, Li Wangxian left the Sun Church's mountain gate alone and set out on his journey to temper himself.

Of course, Uncle Jiang would follow in secret. Unless Li Wangxian's life was in danger, he would not show himself.

The admonitions and worries surrounding his departure needed no further telling.

For an outstanding talent with his sights set on Emperor Road, there was no telling how many such farewells he would face in his lifetime. There was no need to get sentimental about it.

Li Wangxian set off alone. His first destination was still Yang City. After all, Ziwei Ancient Star was far too vast, stretching across untold billions of miles, even larger than the Northern Dipper. Some even speculated that laws capable of opening up worlds were at work on Ziwei, creating domains within domains and boundless territory.

With his current cultivation, even decades of flight might not get him to Reed Continent.

Thus, the best choice was to visit ancient cities with large teleportation formations and use their Domain Gates to cross the void.

Not long after leaving the mountain gate, Li Wangxian used a Mystic Art to alter his appearance, transforming into a boy of thirteen or fourteen.

He then shook a wisp of yin and yang qi out of the Yin and Yang Immortal Seed and wrapped it around the jade pendant he had refined. Together with the Dao patterns inscribed on it, the qi concealed his aura.

Only after doing all this did he mount a streak of rainbow light and fly toward Yang City.

Naturally, his flight speed at the Dao Palace level could not compare with Uncle Jiang's at the second level of the Immortal Platform, which allowed him to reach Yang City in mere moments. Li Wangxian flew for nearly half an hour before arriving.

More than a year had passed, but Yang City remained as prosperous as ever. Streams of people filled its bustling streets. As he walked through the city, he occasionally heard cultivators discussing gossip and secrets they had picked up, or making plans to visit the Wind and Moon Pavilion together that evening.

But none of that bustle concerned Li Wangxian for now. After asking a few passersby for directions, he headed straight toward the city's teleportation formation.

Unexpectedly, everything went smoothly. The city's teleportation formation belonged to the Ziwei Divine Dynasty, which had been renting out access to its Domain Gates for years. Its procedures and prices were already well established.

If one had enough Source or rare treasures, there was even a massive Domain Gate that led directly to Reed Continent. But when Li Wangxian asked about the price out of curiosity, the answer made him grimace.

Even selling the entire Sun God Sect as it stood might not cover the cost.

After all, thanks to his tinkering, the few treasures the Sun God Sect had left had been all but used up.

He immediately abandoned the idea. He would just take his time, borrowing passage through the various ancient cities and sects!

After paying some Source, Li Wangxian received a token granting him passage through the Domain Gate the next day. He then found an inn in the city and quietly awaited tomorrow.

The night passed uneventfully. Not wanting to stir up unnecessary trouble, Li Wangxian behaved himself and spent the night cultivating in the inn.

The following day, he arrived early at the courtyard housing the Ziwei Divine Dynasty's local station. Hundreds, perhaps a thousand cultivators, were already waiting there.

Seeing this, Li Wangxian obediently joined the line and waited for his batch to depart.

Without a hitch, he stepped through the Domain Gate, crossed several million miles of void, and arrived at his next destination.

Thunder City was renowned even across Ziwei Ancient Star. Thunder and lightning wreathed the skies above it year-round, while outside the city, lightning poured down like waterfalls, almost forming a vast Thunder Sea. Its aura was so terrifying that it even disrupted the void.

As a result, Li Wangxian and the others could not emerge directly inside Thunder City. Instead, they crossed out of the void onto an altar in a mountain range a hundred miles outside the city.

Thunder City was surrounded by mountains, rivers, and great marshes. Because of its unique geography, the weather there was always gloomy, with frequent rain and thunderstorms.

All in all, it was not a good place for mortals to live, but for cultivators, it was an excellent place to temper themselves.

Thus, the city welcomed many cultivators every year. Some came to cultivate lightning-based divine abilities, while others sought to temper their bodies with lightning.

Some even came to mine. The region was mountainous and struck by lightning year-round, making it rich in thunder dao divine gold. There were even rumors that, countless ages ago, someone had unearthed dao tribulation gold here, an immortal gold that defied the heavens.

This was a sacred material reserved for Great Emperors to refine their weapons. Many Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons were forged from such immortal materials. But its rarity matched its value: there was precious little of it in the entire universe, and one could search the boundless world without finding any.

He had to admit that the passersby in this world really did have remarkable abilities. He had only just arrived, yet his fellow passengers on the "void train" had already supplied him with so much explosive news.

Li Wangxian had originally planned to quickly gather the information he needed, then cross the void toward Reed Continent. Now, however, he could not help considering staying for a few days to test the strength of his physical body against the lightning.

As for immortal gold, Li Wangxian did not believe his luck could possibly be that good. Something that had not appeared for years would show up the moment he arrived?

Only a movie would dare write something like that.

Li Wangxian soared into the sky, heading for Thunder City. He needed more detailed, accurate information before taking action.

After flying some distance, Li Wangxian turned to look behind him and said, "You've been following me for quite a while. Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

The cultivators behind him dropped the pretense. There were four in total, and they spread out, one on each side, to surround him.

Then a middle-aged man with a bushy beard spoke first. "Young fellow, would you rather part with your money to ward off disaster, or suffer a little bloodshed?"

"I understand parting with money to ward off disaster, but what do you mean by bloodshed?" Li Wangxian asked curiously.

"Obviously, we beat you up, then take your valuables," a male cultivator beside him answered loudly.

Li Wangxian found this curious. These robbers seemed rather polite! He asked, "So, from the sound of it, you only take money, not lives?"

"Correct. Heaven cherishes life. How could we lightly incur the sin of killing?"

The bearded man answered Li Wangxian with complete seriousness.

Li Wangxian was momentarily at a loss. This fellow seemed serious. Was he a Buddhist?

"Uncle, robbing people on the road creates bad karma too!"

The bearded man nodded in wholehearted agreement. "Indeed. Let all that bad karma fall upon me."

Li Wangxian gave a dry laugh. "How heroic!"

Was this a case of 'if I don't enter hell, who will'?

Why had this world suddenly become so strange?

"Boss!"

A female cultivator nearby signaled to the bearded man that it was time to get to work. The conversation had wandered a little off course.

"Young brother, have you decided?" the bearded man asked Li Wangxian kindly.

Li Wangxian replied just as kindly, "I choose to beat you all into the ground."

The bearded man frowned. "Young brother, every one of us is an expert in the Four Extremes Realm. You're still so young. You probably haven't reached the Four Extremes Realm yet, have you?

"Take your uncle's advice. Don't try to act tough and earn yourself a pointless beating."

"True, I'm still one step away from the Four Extremes Realm, but I think that's enough to beat you," Li Wangxian said with a faint smile.

"Arrogant! Do you think you're a holy son or divine son from one of the great holy lands?" a somewhat dark-skinned young male cultivator shouted.

To this, Li Wangxian replied quite seriously, "Holy sons and divine sons probably couldn't beat me either."