Chapter 629: Entering the Divine Capital

"Star Core?"

Qi Qi Benchu was utterly bewildered, not understanding what it meant.

"You…"

Chi He Lian glanced at him, feeling nothing but weary disdain — these natives had no idea how vast the world was, didn't even know where they stood, no better than frogs at the bottom of a well.

But seeing the look on Li Yuan's face, she still reluctantly offered one explanation: "The stars hang in the vault of heaven, and in truth they are no different from the earth beneath our feet."

"Huh?"

Qi Qi Benchu grew even more bewildered, unable to fathom what stars had to do with the earth beneath his feet.

"…"

Chi He Lian couldn't be bothered to explain any further.

Li Yuan spoke up at just the right moment to break the deadlock: "What are the benefits of forging a city with a star core?"

The Common Lore Sphere held a sea of information, but his yuan coins were limited, so he didn't dig into everything unless necessary — he truly hadn't known that every sect in Tian Shi Yuan forged their cities from star cores.

"A city forged from a star core contains inexhaustible stellar power. Guided by divine patterns, it can provide light, warmth, drive carriages, nourish body and spirit… its marvels are beyond counting."

When Li Yuan asked, Chi He Lian explained in great detail.

Every sect and clan in Tian Shi Yuan that wished to forge a city chose star cores above all else. Mighty clans and great sects with powerful experts could reach up and pluck stars to forge their cities; lesser sects and weaker clans would purchase star cores instead.

Only a city forged from a star core could truly be called a city. A city forged from many stars could be a great city; a city where stars gathered in multitudes could be considered a giant city.

"What kind of city would that be?"

Qi Qi Benchu's spirit wavered; what Chi He Lian described was beyond anything he could imagine.

"Now that is interesting."

Li Yuan was somewhat astonished as well, but naturally didn't show it. He only asked a few details, and Chi He Lian held nothing back.

"It is said that the great cities of all the domains take as their model the Origin Divine City of old. That, they say, was the true supreme divine city — containing thirty-six Grotto-Heavens and seventy-two Blessed Lands, able to house tens of trillions of living beings together, possessing the majestic might to suppress all the heavens…"

As Chi He Lian spoke, a longing inevitably surfaced in her eyes,

for though every clan and sect claimed the post-Origin Age far surpassed the heyday of the Divine Dynasty, countless cultivators still yearned for that dynasty which had ruled over all clans and all the heavens.

"Tens of trillions?!"

Qi Qi Benchu counted on his fingers once, then again, and after a long while looked up, his face full of shock and doubt.

He couldn't imagine it, so it was hard to believe.

"The Origin Divine City…"

Li Yuan was reminded of the glimpse of a divine city he had seen when clashing with that suspected remnant shadow of a Divine King back in the Shen Zang Mi Jing.

It was a majestic construct whose full form he could not glimpse, grand beyond anything he could imagine.

Over these past few years, he had tried countless times to visualize this city, but he had only ever caught a corner of it, and being cautious by nature, his progress had been very small.

"I wonder if Daoist Qun Xing has the 'True Form Map of the Origin Divine City'?"

The mere thought made Li Yuan's heart race.

The imperial line of the Origin must surely possess the True Form Map of the Divine City — the remnant shadow of that suspected Origin Divine King, Daoist Qun Xing, proved as much — but whether Daoist Qun Xing had one was unknown.

If he did, then once Li Yuan broke through the sixth trial of the Shen Zang Mi Jing…

"…"

Seeing Li Yuan slightly lost in thought, Chi He Lian felt a secret smugness — so what if he had god-and-demon-grade talent? Wasn't he still just a native of some backwater?

She fell silent, ignoring Qi Qi Benchu's questioning gaze, and waited for Li Yuan to return to himself before preparing to try to persuade him to take her away from this realm.

"Kee!"

At that moment, a piercing eagle's cry exploded through the clouds.

After a long cry from the Plumed Eagle King, it dove down from the sea of clouds, and all the plumed eagles answered in kind, plunging down one after another, bearing layer upon layer of gale-force winds, and landing on the plain.

Whooosh~

The fierce wind kicked up clouds of dust.

Li Yuan landed on the ground, Chi He Lian in one hand and Qi Qi Benchu dangling from the other.

This was an exceedingly vast plain. Though the new year had just passed and spring plowing had not yet begun, one could still see the traces of fields — at a glance, it seemed to stretch all the way to the edge of sight, beyond the divine city.

A great river cut through the plain, flowing toward the distance; even through the night, one could see an endless stream of boats.

Ducheng had several such great rivers, swallowing and disgorging the resources of all the surrounding provinces — only thus could it sustain this imperial divine city.

"Tens of trillions…"

Qi Qi Benchu was still counting on his fingers.

He truly could not imagine what a city gathering tens of trillions of living beings would look like.

Setting everything else aside, the daily output of excrement alone, piled together, would probably stack up into who knows how many mountains…

"Kee!"

The flock of eagles landed; only the Plumed Eagle King remained hovering in midair.

"Wait here for a moment, junior brothers. I'll go outside the divine city first to find Senior Pang."

With that instruction, Long Yingchan had already ridden off on his eagle.

"Senior brother, do be careful."

Nie Xianshan muttered, but in truth his focus was razor-sharp; the Pure Yang Sword on his back trembled slightly, ready to leap from its sheath at any moment.

"Careful is good."

Long Xi Xiang was succinct — a rod-shaped ancient elephant spirit-dragon Jiang Mo Chu had already appeared in his hand.

"You…"

Nie Xianshan was left speechless.

Hearing such words from Long Xi Xiang left him with nothing to say in reply.

The two 'anglers' were both this cautious, and as the 'bait,' Li Yuan had switched out his Palm of Control long before leaving Dragon Tiger Temple; counting the Samadhi True Fire Seal merged into Dun Tian Zhou, he had six Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing empowering his body.

He had not relaxed even a fraction the entire way.

Yet the few of them were tight inside and loose outside, and even lit a bonfire on the spot; by the firelight, some swallowed pills, some sat in meditation to regulate their breath, quietly awaiting news from ahead.

"Kee-ah!"

After a while, the cry of an eagle came from afar.

"Move out."

Nie Xianshan rose first, summoned the eagle flock, and continued the journey.

As the saying goes, looking at a mountain can run a horse to death; at first glance the imperial capital seemed not far, but in fact it was still very distant—even at full speed the plume eagles flew for nearly half a shichen.

When the sky was just beginning to brighten, even Qi Qi Benchu could clearly see the full view of the great city on the plain as it gradually awoke.

……

The Wudadao Sect had not mobilized the armies of its various houses; the reason was none other than that this trip was never meant for storming cities and seizing strongholds.

On the eagles' backs, the true inheritors of Dragon Tiger Temple wore taut expressions, ready to strike at any moment.

But the expected interception never came.

The group went straight into the imperial capital without encountering any obstruction at all—not only did no experts of the imperial court appear, they didn't even see a few armored soldiers garrisoning the city.

The passage was unimpeded the whole way, so smooth that the accompanying Dragon Tiger true inheritors like Xin Xin Wenhua all found it inconceivable.

Although they had long known the imperial family had gone into hiding, this was hiding far too thoroughly.

They've already fought their way to our doorstep, and still they don't show themselves?

"They really did leave clean."

Looking down at the Divine Capital from the eagle's back, Li Yuan's expression was heavy and solemn.

Pang Pang Wenlong was certainly formidable, but the fourth layer of the Divine Palace alone was not enough to make the imperial court flee at the mere sight of him; in fact, judging from the intelligence gleaned through Listening Sound, over the past several years the imperial court had not slackened in the slightest.

Retreating again and again was not forbearance, but rather plotting something.

"Does this count as taking the imperial capital?"

Looking at the imperial city right before his eyes, Xin Xin Wenhua decisively leapt onto the plume eagle where Li Yuan sat, his tone doubtful and alarmed: "What is the Dry Emperor intending?"

"Don't know."

Li Yuan was also frowning.

Although he had learned from Listening Sound the intelligence regarding the imperial court's experts, he did not know what specific scheme was afoot.

"Let's see Elder Pang first."

Xin Xin Wenhua was somewhat disappointed; his heart had been churning and surging the whole way, nervous yet expectant—and this was the result?

"Mm."

Li Yuan focused his perception, not daring to relax in the slightest.

Even for him as he was now, he was deeply wary of those two old ghosts and Wan Wan Zhuliu; if caught off guard by a sneak attack, he feared he would suffer a serious loss.

But until they arrived beneath the Star Observation Terrace and gathered with the others, the expected ambush still did not occur.

'The fish won't bite the bait.'

Li Yuan sighed inwardly; Wan Wan Zhuliu was more cautious than he had imagined, refusing to take the hook entirely.

"Huff!"

Beneath the Star Observation Terrace, on a broad open ground, a sacrificial platform had been erected; Pang Pang Wenlong sat cross-legged upon it, and around the platform were one after another great cauldrons trembling and humming ceaselessly.

As they drew closer, they could even hear cursing voices coming from within the cauldrons.

"This is……"

Xin Xin Wenhua's eyelid twitched; every single one of those great cauldrons gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.

"These should be the evil gods Elder Pang captured."

Li Yuan naturally knew what was inside those cauldrons; the moment he landed, he saw the dazzling incense-fire radiance within them—these evil gods carried vast amounts of incense-fire!

In fact, incense-fire was the very foundation upon which these wandering ghosts and wild spirits endured in the world.

"At least a thousand wisps of seventh-grade and above incense-fire!"

After a quick mental calculation, Li Yuan found he could hardly look away; this incense-fire was enough for him to merge two more Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing into Dun Tian Zhou, and with luck perhaps even three!

"Huff!"

"Inhale!"

A long, drawn-out breathing sound came from atop the platform.

Beneath the sacrificial platform, the gathered grandmasters stood with hands at their sides, quietly waiting; the true inheritors and elders of the several great Daoist sects also kept their eyes lowered and behaved meekly, not daring to make the slightest sound.

"What ceremony is Old Pang about to hold?"

After quite a while, Li Yuan's gaze finally shifted away from those great cauldrons; watching Pang Pang Wenlong slowly inhaling and exhaling incense-fire on the altar, he felt a touch of curiosity.

Pang Pang Wenlong had captured and slain evil gods precisely to prepare for this ceremony.

Incense-fire was already the finest of offerings, and incense-fire that had been inhaled and exhaled by those wandering ghosts and wild spirits was an even finer offering!

"Huff!"

After a long while, Pang Pang Wenlong slowly opened his eyes, his tone carrying considerable regret:

"Such a fine opportunity and still they don't strike—the old ghosts really can hold their nerve……a pity, a pity for all this incense-fire."

Hum—

As his words echoed, the trembling of those great cauldrons beneath the platform grew even more violent.

"Argh!"

"Beast, you old beast!"

"Kill, I'll kill you! This god will definitely kill you!"

All manner of curses, pleas, and roars pierced out through the cauldrons—shrill, grating, chilling one to the bone.

"Noise!"

Pang Pang Wenlong frowned and swept his sleeve.

Then came a thunderous boom—dozens of thousand-catty great cauldrons all leapt into the air at once, spinning like tops at tremendous speed, faster and faster, until afterimages could even be seen!

"Ah!"

The shrill cursing and pleading gave way to a single, uniform wail of agony.

Yu Yu Xuanji rose to his feet, and with a whoosh, fierce yet bone-chilling flames leapt up from those dozens of great cauldrons!

"Bai Gui Zhou Kill?"

A low, bone-chilling voice suddenly exploded through the void.

"Here it comes!"

The crowd beneath the Star-Gazing Platform all jolted; they looked up and heard a single, resonant toll of a bell:

"Dang—!"

The bell's echo rippled outward, and the void stirred like the sea, raising ripples visible to the naked eye.

The next instant, a pallid, withered hand sprouting several blood-red eyes suddenly reached out from the void!

(End of chapter)