Chapter 52: Archive City

The journey from the mountain to the nearest city was strangely peaceful. The surrounding ecosystems that should have held beasts were silent. No such creatures came to the outer area.

Alaric quickly realized this was most likely due to the unclean spirit they had defeated a few hours before. They might not have felt it due to the natural coldness that exists at the top of that mountain, but unclean spirits bring a certain form of unnatural chill whenever they are present. This feeling is not like the natural chill you feel in the physical body, but one felt in the core of a being. An instinctual form of wrongness, a feeling of goosebumps on a hot day, a feeling of unease, a chilly sweat running down your spine, etc.

The animals, far more attuned to their instincts than humans, could sense the lingering stench of danger on the wind. They had retreated deep into the heart of the forest, vanishing into the dense undergrowth and shadowy hollows where they felt safest. Though the unclean spirit itself would never have hunted them, the beasts could not know that, and their primal wisdom dictated caution. Many would avoid the area for days, others for weeks or even months, only returning once the invisible miasma of dread had fully dissipated. Such was the way of survival for the wild things: better to heed the warnings of the world than to risk annihilation.

Alaric and his cohort continued their walk, undisturbed, until the path opened onto a vast clearing dominated by a colossal city gate wrought entirely from gleaming silver. The gate’s polished metal surface dazzled in the sunlight, throwing back shards of light across the stone road. Intricate carvings and ancient runes covered every inch of the portal, each one pulsating with a latent energy that seemed to coil and uncoil beneath their feet, an unspoken warning that any attempt to breach the gate by force would be met with swift, devastating retribution.

Standing before the towering 150-foot silver gate, Alaric swept his gaze over the elaborate carvings. Instantly, he recognized the script as runes, a language he had studied intimately, each symbol carrying layers of meaning etched deep into the metal. From the complexity and density of these runes, Alaric could discern that this gate, and by extension the enormous city wall, was fortified with formidable enchantments. Even the most determined body refinement realm cultivators would find it nearly impossible to breach such defenses.

A squadron of twelve guards awaited them at the gate, each one offering a welcoming smile. Their armor, though forged from ordinary mortal steel, was crafted with exceptional care, bearing the intricate insignias and flourishes of master artisans. The air around the guards seemed to ripple with a gentle, reassuring energy, enveloping newcomers in a sense of safety and calm that contrasted starkly with the imposing gates behind them.

Alaric gripped the sack tightly slung over his shoulder. Instead of feeling safe, he felt weird, not by the knightly aura they held or the attire they wore but because of what he sensed on them, or rather, what he did not sense on them.

They were normal mortals, without the slightest shred of origin energy.

This wouldn’t be strange and might even be ignored by others, but to Alaric, this was a very peculiar scenario.

This city was not a normal one. According to Tian and visitor records, this city is called Archive City. It was one of the few cities considered closest to the center of the Grand Archive World, the Archive Mountains.

As the main planet and residence of the head of the Galactic Human Territory [Tian], it was massive, spanning approximately 126,000 light-years. This made traveling for mortals, and even for body-refinement realm cultivators, difficult. Just traveling from one city to another would take a full mortal lifespan at times.

This was one of the reasons Alaric was thankful the mountain he was on was just a few hundred kilometers away from this city. It only took a little time and running at full speed to get here.

This particular city was different from the others that surround the Archive Mountains. It was called the beginner city.

Anyone who aspires to join this sect has the right to enter without any means of identification or proof of alignment with any factions. The city was particularly loved by cultivators without any factions or backing, because one could purchase resources from here as long as they had the thought of joining the Archive Mountain.

In simple terms, it was a city for beginners, for the poor to begin their cultivation journey. This city was the go-to for most young cultivators because many were from lowly backgrounds and lacked support. The divide between the cultivator families and factions, and the common man, was so vast in terms of resources that it could not be closed by hard work, no matter what.

This made the city, which was often closed during normal times, crowded in times like these, when the Archive Mountain was about to begin selecting fresh cultivators.

Through these alone, Alaric could already deduce that the laws within the city must be very strict, but he didn’t expect it to be guarded by normal mortals.

The difference between a flesh and sinew refinement realm cultivator and a normal mortal was so vast that it was despairing. It was a gap that was impossible to bridge. Alaric, for instance, could, with effort, reduce a small mountain to dust; a mortal is like an ant to him right now. It was said that mortals were so fragile that cultivators avoided interacting with them altogether for fear of wiping them out; the same was true the other way around. Mortals were so fragile, cultivators disdained talking to them; they were filth to their gaze.

If a fight between cultivators were to break out in this massive city, who would stop them? These normal guards? That was impossible to even conceive; they would be reduced to atoms before they even got near if the conflict is intense enough.

He could only hope these were just the case for guards outside the city, because if it were the same inside, then things are not that simple in this place after all, cultivators were anything but peaceful.

Sigh

He let out a quiet, almost imperceptible sigh, the sound swallowed by the vastness of the city walls and the distant murmur of the bustling crowd beyond.

The guard at the front, clearly the leader of the group, strode forward with confident enthusiasm. Each step sent a chorus of metallic clinks echoing across the stony ground, his heavy armor shimmering as he moved beneath the midday sun.

"Welcome, young man. Do you need help carrying the bag over your shoulder? I am sure one of my guards wouldn’t mind giving you a hand." He said softly.

Alaric’s brow furrowed with a subtle frown. Instead of replying immediately, he turned to glance at Eva, searching her serene, beautiful face for reassurance. She caught his gaze and offered a small, confident nod, her eyes clear and steady.

He couldn’t sense anything wrong in what the man just said; in fact, he couldn’t tell if he was lying or trying to deceive them. His body language and heart rate were calm and stable. He wouldn’t believe anyone would be nice without any ulterior motives. He still hasn’t found one kind person in this world, other than Eva, of course, not even Tian was kind without ulterior motives, even if those motives were harmless.

Eva, on the other hand, had an ability to detect if someone was lying. It was a swordsman’s instincts. They could tell when something was true or false, some more than others, and with her deep resonance with swords, her ability was enhanced massively.

This was why he glanced at her. She should be able to tell whether their kindness was genuine or just fabricated.

After confirming, he replied, "Ah, no, sir. It is no problem at all. This sack is not heavy for me at all. Thank you for offering, sir."

"Hahaha," he laughed loudly, "there’s no need for thanks, young man, this is part of our job. You must be here to register for the Archive Selections this time. It’s a few months away, so you should make sure to gather resources and prepare well for the selection."

"Thank you for the advice, sir. We will make sure to prepare for this selection."

"Yes, this time’s selection is quite different. It has been almost a hundred years since the last selection; you should make sure to prepare well so you can enter. No one knows when the next selection will be."

Alaric frowned at that. Usually, sects are selected every decade. For it to have been almost a hundred years since the last selection, it means something had gone wrong somewhere. Before he could fish out more information, the guard retreated while shouting. "Open the gates."The Archive City was enormous, covering 85,000 square kilometers and home to hundreds of millions of residents.

The architecture was strangely modern, featuring massive structures capable of housing hundreds of natives. It was no wonder outsiders desired this place and sought to stay, even in times when there was no selection; it was a wonder and architectural attraction to the rather backward nature of other places.

Sadly, it is impossible to access this city during normal times. Every outsider is banned from approaching its gates during normal times. Some who are bold enough to force their way are often not heard from soon after.

This made Alaric, who had explored a large area in the past week, believe that this city was being protected by a powerful cultivator.

...

"Hello, young man, would you like to check out my store? I have a lot of items suitable for cultivators."

"Good morning, young sir, are you looking to buy some pills? They come with a generous discount."

"I sell wild chaotic boar meat

At this moment, a week after his arrival, Alaric was walking down a rather busy road. There were hundreds of vendors along the road’s edges selling items to make a daily profit. Some even approached him with bright smiles, offering their services, but he ignored them. He didn’t even bat an eye, nor did he bother to respond to them.

His attitude didn’t seem to faze them at all; they just brushed it off, still holding their enthusiastic smile, looking for other potential customers.

’Either they know how to perfectly control their expressions, or there is something very wrong with this place.’

If it were just one of these people who was affected by his lack of response, he might be more inclined to believe this happy atmosphere was real, but having spent an entire week here with everyone constantly being in a state of happiness, he found that very hard to believe.

Furthermore, no matter how hard he looked for them, he couldn’t find a single body refining cultivator that was a native to this city. The ones he did find were outsiders waiting for the selection that would begin in six months.

’Are there really no body cultivators residents here? I don’t know about anything higher than that, but I at least expected some foundation real cultivators here.’ He couldn’t help but sigh.

’I wonder how Eva is doing. She doesn’t seem to mind the enthusiasm that much.’ The two of them had separated this morning to accomplish separate missions. He was to try to investigate what was wrong with the city, while she was to buy alchemical resources with her money.

The money they have with them was gotten from trading with Tian. The two of them had nothing physically of value to trade with him, so they instead traded their knowledge and experiences with the man.

He traded his knowledge of alchemy while Eva traded her experience using resonance.

He could tell that this knowledge was not that valuable, but Tian still gave a very generous amount. He was just trying to be helpful, but not overly so.