Chen Ming became a streak of light and sped over the sea, leaving the bloody battlefield far behind.
Slaying the Azure Wind Pirate Band's three late Golden Core leaders and over a hundred underlings had been no more than a minor interlude for him.
The road of cultivation was long and perilous. Such battles would only grow more frequent in the future.
He did not let victory go to his head. Instead, he saw things more clearly-although his twin Golden Cores gave him a considerable advantage in combat, the Chaotic Star Sea harbored crouching tigers and hidden dragons. The old monsters at the Nascent Soul Stage were the ones who truly stood at the summit. His modest abilities still amounted to little before them.
The next two days passed without incident. He occasionally encountered small bands of pirates foolish enough to cross his path, but once they sensed his late Golden Core aura from afar, they wisely detoured around him, not daring to provoke him. Chen Ming could not be bothered with them either and focused on his journey.
On the morning of the third day, the outline of a towering city finally appeared where the sea met the sky.
Tianxing City.
This vast city, built upon an enormous coral reef, was a singular wonder even among the tens of thousands of islands in the Chaotic Star Sea. The entire city rested on a reef spanning hundreds of li. Through countless generations of cultivators' management and expansion, it had long since become a colossal hub of commerce, cultivation, and intelligence.
Seen from afar, its walls soared into the clouds, its gate towers stood in closely packed rows, and buildings of every kind followed the contours of the terrain, stretching inland from the coast in layer upon layer. Its grandeur was