Chapter 251: Imperial City Scene, Treasures Hidden in the Market

Seeing Wang Ping agree, Luo Qingyang's smile widened: "Haha, good! Junior brother, you're straightforward! Then let's set out."

After speaking, he flicked his sleeve, and a gentle strand of spiritual power wrapped the three. Wang Ping only felt his body lighten, already turning into three streaks of light with Luo Qingyang and Qin Xue, flying toward a huge teleportation array deep in the Dao Institute.

Passing through that teleportation array emitting strong spatial fluctuations, in the blink of an eye the surrounding scenery completely changed.

A vast, mighty, ancient yet vibrant aura surged forth.

Human Emperor City!

Wang Ping steadied his feet, looked up, and even though he had been mentally prepared, his heart uncontrollably pounded violently, deeply shaken by the sight before him.

The first thing he saw was the towering city wall whose top could not be seen.

The wall showed a dull bronze color, covered with countless scars from blade cuts, axe chops, and magical bombardments.

Moreover, countless intricate runes, flowing with faint spiritual light, wandered the wall's surface like living things, together forming a colossal, unimaginable super defensive array.

Simply standing at the wall's base, one could feel a suffocating, heavy pressure, as if facing a slumbering primordial giant beast.

The city gate stood open, reaching a height of thousands of zhang, with constant flow of people, carriages, and exotic beast mounts, yet orderly.

The city guards wore standard spirit armor, their aura vigorous, eyes sharp as hawks, at least Golden Core cultivators.

Once Wang Ping stepped inside the city, the scene was utterly different from outside.

It was not the jade pavilions and divine palaces he imagined, but rather a giant city perfectly blending ancient simplicity with ultimate prosperity.

The streets were wide enough for more than forty ordinary carriages to travel side by side, the ground paved with extremely hard qingang stone. Buildings on both sides varied in style: there were simple stone halls, exquisite wooden towers, towering pavilions piercing the clouds, and even floating island palaces in midair.

Pedestrians passing by were overwhelmingly cultivators; Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators were commonplace, while Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation were not rare.

Occasionally one could sense a few threads of deep, abyssal, gloomy aura—those at least belonged to experts of Void Refinement or higher.

In the sky, there were many variously shaped airships, yet strangely no cultivators flew through the air.

"How do you feel? Isn't it livelier than you imagined?" Luo Qingyang said with a smile beside him, clearly not his first time bringing a newcomer here.

Wang Ping took a deep breath, suppressed his shock, and nodded: "Indeed. Mighty, vast, inclusive, and moreover a vigorous vitality and order. No wonder it's the core of humanity."

Qin Xue's cold voice explained from the side: "The Imperial City is not only the center of power, but also the greatest hub of commerce, exchange, and cultivation."

"All myriad races have establishments here; countless cultivators seek opportunities. Hidden dragons and crouching tigers, also fish and dragons mixed together."

Luo Qingyang, familiar with the place, guided:

"That tallest black tower over there is the Hall of Merit, where various conquest and exploration missions are posted and top-tier resources exchanged—it is the city's most central area.

"Beside it, the jade tower housing a sea of books is the Myriad Laws Pavilion, recording countless dao arts and divine abilities.

"We're not going there today; we're heading to the East Market, which is the liveliest, perfect for strolling, and where interesting things often turn up."

The three followed the crowd toward the East Market. The closer they got, the denser the flow became, with vendors' cries, bargaining, and chatter mingling into a unique market bustle, utterly different from the tranquility of the Question Dao Palace and the etherealness of the Divine Mountain.

Along both sides of the street were official shops selling pills, talismans, and magical devices, as well as cultivators casually laying out cloth on the ground to display odd trinkets. Spirit

Herbs, ores, beast bones, damaged dharma treasures, ancient jade slips… varieties abundant, dazzling to the eye; many things Wang Ping had never even seen, the spiritual light and treasure aura dazzling his vision.

While Wang Ping listened to Luo Qingyang's enthusiastic introduction, at that moment his mind shuddered.

The silver stone gate in his mind actually trembled slightly.

"What's going on with this Transcendent Sir?" Wang Ping asked.

【Strange…this feeling…faint as if something is subtly drawing me in? Not a fragment】The voice of the silver stone gate echoed in Wang Ping's mind with a hint of doubt, as if it too were trying to discern the source of that sensation.

Wang Ping felt a stir inside, his exterior unchanged as he chatted and laughed with Luo Qingyang and Qin Xue, yet secretly he began to follow that faint sensation, slowly adjusting his direction.

That sensation came and went like a candle in the wind, yet continually pointed toward a rough direction.

After passing through the bustling main thoroughfare and turning into a relatively quieter side lane, he finally stopped before a stall tucked in a corner, hardly visited.

The stall keeper was an old man wearing a wide bamboo hat, his frame hunched, his aura vague and indistinct, seeming out of place in the bustling market, indifferent to the business before him, now meditating with closed eyes.

On his stall there was no dazzling spiritual light, only a few shattered weapon fragments devoid of spiritual aura, several dull, unremarkable stones, and two or three irregular shards that looked like remnants of some broken implement.

What attracted the silver stone gate's sensation was precisely one of those fragments—about fist‑sized, uniformly ash‑gray, its surface riddled with natural holes, as if eroded by eons.

It lay there quietly, no different from the surrounding "trash," emitting no energy fluctuations.

Wang Ping suppressed his excitement, kept his voice calm, pointed at the stone fragment, and asked, "How much for this?"

The hatted old man didn't even lift his eyelids, his hoarse voice like a broken gong: "Three thousand spirit crystals, or something of equal value."

Luo Qingyang beside him frowned slightly, stepped forward, and said, "Boss, this seems a bit… this object has no spiritual aura, its material isn't a rare ore, just a common chaotic stone you can find anywhere—isn't this price excessive?"

Three thousand spirit crystals is an astronomical sum for an ordinary Golden Core cultivator; selling a plain stone for that much is indeed excessive.

The stall‑setting cultivator said indifferently: "Maybe! But I picked this up near the Immortal Realm Great Rift—just that fact makes it worth the price!"

"Immortal Realm Great Rift?"

Wang Ping's heart stirred; he had never heard that name, but being able to bear the words "Immortal Realm" showed it was no trivial matter.

He noticed that even Qin Xue, who usually remained calm beside him, had a flicker of barely perceptible disturbance in her cold eyes upon hearing that name.

Luo Qingyang's smile faded a little, his tone turning serious: "Boss, items picked up near the Immortal Realm Great Rift are indeed curious, but they can't be guaranteed to be treasures. Moreover, what comes from that place is unpredictable in fortune or misfortune—three thousand spirit crystals is too high a risk."

The stall keeper said no more, closed his eyes again to meditate, giving off an air of "take it or leave it."

Wang Ping hesitated not, directly drew three thousand spirit crystals from his storage ring, placed them in an ordinary storage bag, and handed them over: "I'll take it."

Only then did the stall keeper open his eyes; his cloudy gaze swept over the storage bag, his divine sense probed, he nodded, and with a swing of his thin hand the ash‑gray stone fragment flew toward Wang Ping.

The transaction completed, Wang Ping suppressed the urge to study it immediately, storing the stone fragment in his storage ring (in fact it was instantly transferred into the inner space of the silver stone gate).

【Exactly! It's it! Though merely a trivial speck of debris, it is indeed a carrier of the higher‑level world's origin! Kid, nicely done!】

The Transcendent Sir's voice brimmed with uncontainable excitement: 【With it I can repair part of my core damage, and the unleashed ability will far surpass your imagination!】

Wang Ping felt assured; those three thousand spirit crystals were well spent! When he was in the lower realm he could reach the spirit realm, now he has arrived in the spirit realm—could he possibly go on to the immortal realm?

But it's said that immortals have vanished, only a few true immortals cling to life—does the immortal realm still exist? Wang Ping deeply doubted.

But these aren't what he's considering now; after leaving the stall, Luo Qingyang couldn't help but ask:

"Junior Brother Wang, you… sigh, the Immortal Realm Great Rift is extremely dangerous, its yields are bizarre and unpredictable—spending three thousand spirit crystals on such an unknown object, isn't that a bit rash?"

Wang Ping gave a faint smile, saying: "Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother Luo. I merely feel this object is fated with me; as for its worth, opinions may differ."

He skillfully changed the subject and asked, "Senior Brother, what exactly is this 'Immortal Realm Great Rift'? It sounds extraordinarily remarkable."

Luo Qingyang saw that Wang Ping's mind was made up, so he stopped urging him, leading the way while explaining:

"It's a long story. Simply put, it is a terrifying rift where the barrier between our Spirit Realm and the legendary Immortal Realm is at its weakest, even having ruptured before."

"\"Immortal Realm? \" Wang Ping's pupils contracted."

"\"Not bad. \" Qin Xueqing's cold voice interjected, \"It is not a true Immortal Realm, but a shattered layered space between our Spirit Realm and the supreme Immortal Realm, said to contain part of the Immortal Realm's laws and matter. \"

"Countless years ago, a supreme being clashed, tore through the barrier, and formed this 'Immortal Realm Great Rift' that stretches across the void, impossible to dissipate for eons."

Luo Qingyang added: "Near the rift, space is extremely unstable, filled with terrifying void turbulence and shattered Immortal Dao laws; not to mention us Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, even Void Refinement and Union Stage experts who venture inside risk falling—but danger often brings opportunity."

"There, it occasionally spews out strange substances and fragments from the layered space, possibly tinged with a hint of Immortal Realm aura—some contain extraordinary principles, others are supreme materials for forging heaven-reaching spirit treasures or even Immortal treasures; each emergence brings a bloody storm."

He paused, looking meaningfully at Wang Ping: "So, anything that comes out of that place, no matter how ordinary it looks, always has someone willing to gamble on it. But nine out of ten bets lose; more often than not, it's a total loss, or even a backlash from an ominous thing. Junior Brother, if you encounter it again, you must be cautious."

Wang Ping nodded solemnly: "Junior Brother thanks you for the lesson." Yet in his heart he grew more curious about the origin of the silver stone gate, which could so clearly sense and require material from near the Immortal Realm Great Rift.

To shift the topic and also learn more about the top powers of the Spirit Realm, Wang Ping smoothly asked: "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, earlier in the city I felt the rules were extremely strict—cultivators all walk on the ground, hardly anyone dares to fly. I wonder what forces' taboos exist within the Imperial Capital?"

Luo Qingyang smiled and said: "Junior Brother, you observe keenly. The Human Emperor City is the core of humanity; naturally its rules are great. Unless permitted, only Void Refinement Stage or higher experts, or those with special duties, may fly. As for the forces..."

His gaze swept over the majestic city, his tone hinting at awe: "Within the Imperial Capital, the supreme authority is naturally His Majesty the Human Emperor, seated in the central Human Emperor Palace. Below him are the 'Thirty-Six Kings' and 'Seventy-Two Marquises' held in highest esteem."

"\"The so-called 'enfeoffment as king' requires at least a Union Stage expert who has made unparalleled contributions to humanity, gaining joint approval from the Human Emperor and the Council of Elders, to be granted a king's title,"

"For example, our Ninth Dao Academy's Dean Jiang Mingyuan is the 'Bright King'."

Upon mentioning their academy head's honorific, Luo Qingyang and Qin Xue showed a hint of pride on their faces.

"\"Those enfeoffed as marquises are mostly top-tier Void Refinement Stage experts, or individuals with outstanding contributions in a certain field. These kings and marquises each represent the most eminent clans, powers, or lineages within humanity."

"Together they form the heavenly pillars supporting humanity, guarding the vital points of the human realm's territories."

Luo Qingyang pointed to the distant floating island palaces: "Do you see? Those floating islands are mostly the mansions or offices of certain kings and marquises within the Imperial Capital."

"Many industries and resources within the Imperial Capital bear their shadow behind them; one could say that every move of the Imperial Capital tugs at the nerves of the entire human race."

Wang Ping listened silently, committing this information to memory. The Thirty-Six Kings, Seventy-Two Marquises, Union-stage enfeoffment as kings, Void Refinement-stage enfeoffment as marquises—this is undoubtedly the true core of human power and the ceiling of combat strength.

His own master, Bright King Jiang Mingyuan, is a member of this top tier.

"\"As for taboos? \" Luo Qingyang glanced at Wang Ping, saying meaningfully:

"\"Unless you, Junior Brother, rashly intrude into the Human Emperor Palace and the kings' mansions, there are almost no taboos for you! \"

Wang Ping's face showed surprise, but he kept his composure; during the ensuing stroll, he casually bought some unremarkable but sufficiently aged spirit herb seeds, intending to try planting them in his Sumeru Ring.

As for other dazzling treasures, he paid them no further heed; his thoughts had already flown back to the academy, toward the changes that the World Stone Fragment might bring.