As they spoke, the carriage had already entered the city.
The streets inside were a full twenty zhang wide, with shops packed side by side like scales on a fish or teeth in a comb. All manner of spirit banners hung above vermilion-lacquered lintels:
"Void Spirit Pills, upper grade first tier, for cultivators at the eighth and ninth layers of Qi Refining! Today's special: buy ten, get one free!"
"Supreme-grade first-tier ice silkworm silk, the perfect choice for refining water-attribute Dharma artifacts! To celebrate our shop's sixtieth anniversary, everything is five percent off today. This offer won't wait!"
There were even Qi Refining Stage rogue cultivators setting up jade tables in designated spots on street corners, displaying bottles of faintly glowing medicinal liquid and shouting at the tops of their lungs, "Supreme-grade Blood-Invigorating Powder! Treats cultivators' internal injuries and all manner of stubborn ailments!"
Though it was an immortal city, it was not all that different from a bustling mortal marketplace.
"Seniors, Earth Pass City's A-3 Street is just ahead." Gao Yuliang raised a hand to indicate the way.
Corpse-Blood True Person swept his triangular eyes over a roadside shop flying a banner that read "Three Corpse Demon Sect Specialties." The "Corpse Poison Pills" on its shelves were clearly inferior goods produced within the sect.
"Please look, seniors. That is the central peak ahead." Gao Yuliang's voice interrupted their observations.
An enormous green peak, a thousand zhang high, rose from the ground ahead. Clouds and mist wreathed its summit, where the spiritual energy was dense; there was evidently a high-tier Spirit-Gathering Formation.
The carriage stopped before the mountain gate, and Gao Yuliang handed over two jade slips. "Your cave abode command tokens have already been registered with the cave abode formations. The jade slips contain route maps of the mountain."