Chapter 290

So Fang Yu immediately retracted all his qi, advancing through the Five Elements Land.

Ten thousand li from the center of the Five Elements Land, there stood a great mountain, its entire surface covered in fiery red rocks, with clusters of flames rising from within.

Inside the mountain were three Zhu Que.

Three Zhu Que resided in this mountain, which in past ages had been avoided by virtually no other beast— even the water-elemental holy beast Xuan Wu, when besieged by these three Zhu Que, would flee in panic.

But on this very day, a Five Emperor Canopy suddenly descended upon one Zhu Que, and the terrifying Five Emperor Seals instantly imprisoned it.

"What? An enemy has attacked?"

The other two Zhu Que immediately let out furious roars, but before they could react, another Five Emperor Canopy descended and sealed them both.

"Three Zhu Que—good."

A voice echoed here, then gradually faded away.

And Fang Yu had already arrived at his next destination.

This time, the victim was a Huang She, an extremely powerful beast, comparable to a 7th Stage of Divine Abilities Golden Core Realm expert—but before Fang Yu, it could no longer stir up any trouble.

Another Xuan Wu was sealed.

Another Bai Hu was sealed.

Three thousand fire crows were sealed.

Three thousand wood apes were sealed.

……

As Fang Yu sealed more and more creatures, he realized a problem: these sealed holy beasts and beasts still struggled, and if there were too many, they would hinder his own strength—after all, imprisoning so many Five Elements holy beasts comparable to Golden Core Realm experts by himself alone was no simple task.

His magic power must not be scattered too thin, even though his magic power surpassed that of peers in the Heavenly Man Realm by more than a hundredfold.

Fang Yu knew it was time to leave, and time to digest these gains.

"This is truly a fertile land…"

Fang Yu activated the Five Elements Spirit Talisman, and instantly the heavens spun and the earth turned; a temporal-spatial passage appeared before him.

Without hesitation, Fang Yu passed through the spatial passage.

If someone at this moment looked from the endless starry void, they would see a folded black line darting among countless stars—between two stars separated by hundreds of billions or even trillions of li, this folded black line instantly traversed hundreds or thousands of stars, heading toward the universe's center, a vast, boundless world of dark yellow hue.

That vast, dark yellow world was the Xuan Huang Great World.

The Xuan Huang Great World resembled a boundless elliptical egg, suspended at the universe's center, its immense volume surpassing any star—even if a hundred billion stars were gathered and fused together, they would still be smaller than the Xuan Huang Great World.

The entire Xuan Huang Great World was layered upon layer upon layer, concealing countless dimensions, each layer hiding infinite mysteries.

Surrounding the Xuan Huang Great World were boundless nebulas, each nebula comprising hundreds of billions of stars, teeming with countless lifeforms, and within those nebulas lay mysterious voids.

The entire universe was immeasurably vast, its number of species and cultivators unknown, and countless legendary tales unfolded every moment.

That black line traversing the folded space was the temporal-spatial passage created by Fang Yu's spirit talisman.

The Five Elements Land was infinitely distant from the Xuan Huang Great World; human flight alone could never reach it. Only through spatial rifts could instantaneous teleportation be achieved.

This spirit talisman could open such a temporal-spatial passage, allowing Fang Yu to traverse it with incredible speed.

Hu hu, hu hu!

After waiting a moment within the dark passage, countless winds rushed in from outside, and a bright light appeared at the passage's end—Fang Yu shot through it and found himself back before the Savage God Temple, just one step away from entering the Five Elements Land.

"Finally returned to the Xuan Huang Great World."

Fang Yu looked at the familiar surroundings and knew he had truly returned to the Xuan Huang Great World without incident during this interstellar journey.

And the Five Elements Land was now "visible" to him.

When Fang Yu's spiritual sense penetrated the Five Elements Spirit Talisman, he saw a tunnel leading deep into the Five Elements Land, and could discern much of its mountains, lands, perilous zones, and even some places steeped in demonic aura.

He could now return to the Five Elements Land instantly if he wished.

That meant he could enter and exit the Five Elements Land freely, without any obstruction.

This was an excellent development—so long as he fully digested the gains he had obtained in the Five Elements Land, he could continue reaping many more benefits.

"Now, it's time to pay a visit to the Tangpaimai Society. It seems this is not far from the Da Xuan Empire."

Fang Yu's thoughts shifted as he considered his next steps.

His current realm was 5th Stage of Divine Abilities Heavenly Man Realm—he must cultivate enough Divine Abilities, and perfect or fully complete each one, before he could enter the 6th Stage of Divine Abilities Return to Oneness Realm.

Among the many Divine Abilities he cultivated, the Great Five Elements Art—the Five Emperor Great Demon Divine Ability—could be considered five supreme Divine Abilities, or even a single Great Dao, his very foundation.

With the Great Five Elements Art as the jewel before him, the Yuhua Sect's Eight Divine Abilities excluded all Five Elements Arts; what remained were the Purple Lightning Yin Thunder Knife, the Heavenly Cold Xuanming Force, and the Jiugong Divine Step Art.

As for the Divine Abilities he obtained in the Shrouding Heaven Realm, there were few: the Natural Dao inheritance from Zhuofeng counted as one; the hundreds of characters within the Three Lifetimes Bronze Coffin seemed not to qualify as Divine Abilities.

In the Perfect World, he had acquired many great and supreme Divine Abilities—even ones rivaling the Three Thousand Great Dao: the Cao Character Sword Art, the Liu God Technique, the Six Realms Reincarnation Heaven Art, the Primordial True Explanation—all were excellent; the ancestral techniques of various races could only be considered great Divine Abilities, and the concept of perfecting them to full completion remained vague.

After all, the Perfect World did not seem to have the notion of refining great Divine Abilities to full completion by absorbing essence and qi.

And the many Divine Abilities cultivated by Dong Xuan Dao Ren must be practiced, especially the one Great Dao he left behind: the Great Cutting Art!

Though inferior to the Great Five Elements Art of the Three Thousand Great Dao, this was Fang Yu's first Great Dao of the Three Thousand, and he must cultivate it well, perfecting it to full completion.

Thus, as Fang Yu pondered, he flew toward the Da Xuan Empire.

The Da Xuan Empire was filled with legends: it was said that within its borders lay a vast market where any rare treasure or precious material could be purchased, and some even claimed that cultivators had unearthed fragments of ancient Dao artifacts there.

Compared to the auction halls of the Da Xuan Empire, the Wan Gui Sea Market established by the Xiandao was utterly insignificant.

Fang Yu flew at incredible speed, leaving a white line through the void; after a stick of incense's time, a vast expanse of white appeared in the distance—these were walls, hundreds of men tall, spotless and pristine.

Within the walls, towering buildings rose from the ground.

From afar, the city was packed with dense crowds; outside, roads stretched in all directions.

Even in the sky, people flew back and forth, descending into the city.

Fang Yu gazed into the distance, trying to see the city's end—but even though his spiritual sense could cover a hundred or even several hundred li, he still could not see its end.

This city of the Da Xuan Empire had expanded for thousands of li—towering buildings stood shoulder to shoulder, broad streets ran through it, palaces dotted the landscape, and countless rivers flowed within, their green waves rippling.

Seeing this scene, Fang Yu, though aware of the Da Xuan Empire's might, had never before witnessed such a magnificent city.

A city stretching thousands of li!

No need to compare it to the stone village of the Perfect World; even in the Shrouding Heaven Realm, only a few Divine Cities or Shengcheng could rival it—but this city is merely an ordinary one under the Great Xuan Empire.

One can imagine the terror of the Great Xuan Empire.

In comparison, Long Yuan City is like a backwater little market.

Once, Long Yuan City, as the ancient capital of the previous dynasty, was filled with song and dance, bustling traffic, shops and towers, countless li-long streets, thriving like fire fueled by oil—but now, compared to this city, it instantly became a filthy, chaotic, backward backwater market.

Even the Viceroy's mansion of Fang family, the first family of Long Yuan, couldn't match a larger shop in this city. As for cleanliness and tidiness, it was vastly inferior.

Not to mention the massive palaces within the city.

"The Great Xuan Empire is truly the number one empire. Any other nation seeing such cities everywhere would dare not dream of challenging the Great Xuan Empire—only submit."

Fang Yu sighed as he manifested his form—not his true appearance.

He landed directly on a very wide road in this great city; passersby who saw Fang Yu descend from the sky immediately showed respect and deep admiration.

"This is definitely a master of the Divine Ability Secret Realm! That aura—no Physical Body Secret Realm cultivator could possess it, unlike those who rely on magic treasures to fly. When will I ever reach such a level?"

"To cultivate into the Divine Ability Secret Realm is incredibly difficult. Unless one first reaches the 10th Stage of Physical Body, then signs up at a Wuxue Sect secular dojo, one might—by luck—be accepted as an outer disciple and receive elixirs. But without elixirs, we can never reach the 10th Stage of Physical Body."

"We should figure out how to earn some Xuanhuang coins to buy elixirs."

"Watch out—the patrol soldiers are coming. Let's avoid running into them."

As some ordinary civilians of the 6th and 7th Stages of Physical Body spoke, a rhythmic clatter of marching steps came from the other side of the street—a hundred-man squad, all clad in yellow armor, wielding long spears, powerful beyond measure, each one at the 7th Stage of Physical Body, Realm of Strength.

These were patrol soldiers.

All of them at the 7th Stage of Physical Body!

Such a realm would qualify one as a Wu Gong Master in the Da Li Dynasty—able to take disciples, receive reverence from commoners—but here, they are mere soldiers.

Ordinary privates.

Even the squad leader of this hundred-man unit had reached the 9th Stage of Physical Body, just one step away from the 10th Stage.

Fang Yu marveled at this sight.

Walking through the streets of the Great Xuan Empire, he felt the aura of a Celestial Empire; compared to it, the Da Li Dynasty seemed petty and provincial.

The head of the Fang family had reached the 10th Stage of Physical Body and held high position and great power in the entire Da Li Dynasty, deeply valued by the Emperor—but here, in the Great Xuan Empire, he would be only one realm above these patrol squad leaders.

The people of the Great Xuan Empire were all strong and robust, exceptionally skilled in health preservation; most notably, there were no beggars or starving people in any of its cities—everyone had food to eat and clothes to wear.

Moreover, every resident here knew some Wu Gong; even frail women were at the 3rd or 4th Stage of Physical Body, and those with slightly better means were all strong at the 5th Stage of Physical Body, Divine Power Realm.

In the Da Li Empire, the 5th Stage of Physical Body, "Divine Power," was enough to command as a regional general, leading thousands of troops into battle, earning great merit, even possibly being granted a noble title—but here, they were just ordinary citizens.

Even patrol soldiers were experts at the 7th Stage of Physical Body, "Divine Strength"—let alone the general populace of this number-one empire.

Fang Yu knew from the myriad worlds that the ordinary farmers of the Great Xuan Empire grew rice from "Baiyang Rice" seeds, distributed by the government through Zhongtaiyi Sect, yielding thirty to fifty thousand jin per mu; because of Baiyang Rice, the Great Xuan Empire's population numbered tens of billions, yet not a single person went hungry.

The imperial court of the Great Xuan Empire also teemed with hidden dragons and tigers.

In other great empires, Divine Ability Secret Realm masters could ignore the Emperor entirely—Fang Qingxue, having achieved the Divine Ability Secret Realm, could make the Da Li Dynasty's imperial edicts wait—but in the Great Xuan Empire, that would be suicide; many of its Wang Hou, Princes, and Imperial Princes were themselves Divine Ability Secret Realm masters.