Chapter 452 - 451: City in the Sky, Tower in the World

Spatial displacement.

Li Jing and Chen Yuran quickly entered the underground palace’s interior, both frowning immediately after.

The palace interior was incredibly vast.

Compared to the layered space Li Jing had found in the Heavenly Saint Land previously, it was much larger.

However, upon looking up.

What met their eyes was a dreary, desolate piece of land.

Without any vegetation or living creatures, there was only a dusty, barren ground.

Could this place...

...truly be considered an underground palace?

A dwelling of a top-tier power from the Star Secret Realm of the past?

Li Jing and Chen Yuran exchanged glances.

Even if the underground palace was in this state, it was not a cause for concern.

The key was.

Based on their current situation, not to mention finding the team of the elder from the Heavenly Dao Sect, they didn’t even know where to look for the Taoist Origin Fruit.

With nothing but desolation in sight and even lacking any landmarks, they couldn’t just randomly choose a direction and hope for the best, right?

Just as they were at a loss, Chen Yuran suddenly noticed something that resembled a structure behind the swirling clouds on the horizon. Her eyes lit up and she exclaimed.

"Jing, there’s some type of building hiding behind the clouds to the south."

"A building?"

Li Jing was momentarily taken aback, instinctively turning his head.

Just then, the clouds moved to conceal everything.

However, in that fleeting glimpse, Li Jing was indeed able to catch sight of something behind the clouds that appeared to be a structure.

Without further thoughts, Li Jing tugged at Chen Yuran.

"Let’s go up and check."

"Okay."

Chen Yuran agreed.

The two rose to the sky, passing through the cloud layer swiftly.

Subsequently, they were astonished to find an entire expanse of palatial architecture extending endlessly above the cloud layer.

These palaces were located on top of the clouds, forming what seemed like a city in the sky.

At first glance.

It appeared as though they were constructed atop countless clouds.

The entire group of palatial structures was extraordinarily well-preserved and didn’t appear to have withstood the passage of countless years—it was splendid, majestic, and solemn.

Standing on top of the clouds and looking at the group of palatial structures above, Li Jing couldn’t help but express his admiration.

Such grandeur!

At this moment, he could easily sense that three types of rule’s powers were continuously exerting their influence throughout the entire group of palaces.

These included Space, Gravity, and Time.

After the Heavenly Dao Will of the Little Universe—Xiao Ai—came into existence, Li Jing’s understanding of the Power of Rules wasn’t limited by realms anymore. As long as the rules existed within the Little Universe, he could recognize them as long as he encountered them.

Space, Gravity, Time.

These three rules were the most basic among all the rules for a world, and they were also distinctive rules with unique properties among countless rules.

Any person who could master these three rules simultaneously couldn’t be an ordinary individual.

It was even harder to imagine how powerful a person who could imprint these three rules into buildings and create such a city in the sky would be if they were still alive.

Looking around, Li Jing led Chen Yuran to the front of a nearby palace building and then extended his hand to gently touch the main gate of the palace.

?

Seeing this action, Chen Yuran slowly typed out a question mark.

Was Li Jing...

Trying to go inside?

So...

Why didn’t he just push the door open?

While she was still puzzled, the palace in front of them vanished out of nowhere.

???

Chen Yuran.

Li Jing, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear when he opened his eyes, then turned his head and said.

"If nothing goes wrong, the elders from Tianyi Dao door should be somewhere in this Sky City. They may have encountered some changes or be trapped. This place is quite large, and we don’t have a clear direction to follow right now. How about we just collect everything on our way?"

"....."

Chen Yuran.

She didn’t know what Li Jing’s Little Universe looked like at first, nor she knew about his hobby of moving things into his Little Universe.

But now, she knew.

At this moment, facing Li Jing’s words, Chen Yuran found out.

Her boyfriend...

He’s really a genius!

People who entered the underground palace were mostly here to search for treasures, not to take the buildings found within.

Of course.

Wanting to take all the buildings too needed to possess a Little Universe like Li Jing.

Looking back.

Chen Yuran had to admit it.

Li Jing’s idea of collecting everything along the way was a good one.

She, still in the Fifth Boundary, naturally couldn’t comprehend why the continuous palace buildings could stand atop the clouds, but that didn’t mean she didn’t realize these palatial structures were very special.

Blinking her beautiful eyes twice, Chen Yuran asked curiously.

"After you collected that palace into your Little Universe, can it still fly in the sky?"

"Hmm."

Li Jing nodded.

Chen Yuran, utterly invigorated by his response, blurted.

"Let’s go! We’re robbing them blind!"

Li Jing couldn’t help but chuckle.

Raiding houses? That’s quite a stretch.

It’s more like robbing someone’s house blind. No idea whose though...

However, there’s no point in arguing about this.

The girlfriend is always right!

...

Li Jing was a pro at house-robbery.

With the imposing support of his Ninth Realm Primordial Spirit, stealing was as easy as pie for him.

In the beginning,

Li Jing, opting for caution, stuffed one palace after another into his Little Universe. After noticing that there were seemingly no defensive mechanisms or prohibitions in the "Sky City", he simply started moving entire portions altogether.

In just about half an hour, Li Jing had made it all the way to the depths of the Underground Palace.

By this time, most of Sky City had already entered his Little Universe.

Meanwhile,

He and Chen Yuran had reached the end of the Underground Palace.

Just like the Chaotic Border at the end of the Little Universe, a Chaotic Border existed in the Underground Palace as well.

Having seen the Chaotic Border, Li Jing and Chen Yuran could now gauge the size of the Underground Palace.

This palace was roughly equivalent to three Jianghai cities.

What puzzled the pair was-

The Underground Palace should inherently be filled with dangers, yet they hadn’t encountered any. Had the seniors and strong ones belonging to the Tianyi Taoist School previously cleared up all the dangers here?

Moreover, and more importantly-

The entire Sky City was nearly moved by now, but they still hadn’t seen any trace of the seniors and strong ones of the Tianyi Daoist School.

On the contrary, during Li Jing’s efficient burglary endeavor, the couple discovered a lot of treasures hidden within many palaces.

There were countless high-grade spiritual items and spirit plants.

Even heavenly Spirit Roots, there were at least a hundred of them.

These treasures typically existed within the palaces as potted plants, decorations and so forth.

Li Jing hadn’t touched these items.

With so many high-quality spiritual items, Spirit Plants, and even Heavenly Spirit Root-level spiritual objects, the Sky City’s palaces were brimming with thick and refreshing Spiritual Qi. It was best to let them be.

What intrigued Li Jing was-

It seemed that the buildings of Sky City had never been explored by the seniors and strong ones of Tianyi Daoist School.

No matter how pompous they were, they couldn’t possibly have neglected the Heavenly Spirit Roots, right?

Moreover, since the Underground Palace was ownerless, there was no real need to be respectful to any owner. Who wouldn’t take away a good thing if it was lying in front of them?

So.

Where did they all go?

Pondering over this question, Li Jing took the last part of Sky City into his Little Universe.

As expected,

Despite having completely moved Sky City, there was still no sign of the seniors and strong ones from the Tianyi Taoist School.

It wasn’t just Li Jing. Even Chen Yuran was equally clueless at this point.

They had already moved the whole city, and yet, they hadn’t found anyone, not even a single trace. What should they do next?

Search on the surface?

The surface was bare. What could they hope to find there?

"Jing."

Chen Yuran turned to look at him, her face grim.

Seeing her like that, Li Jing remained silent for a brief moment, squeezing her hand a little tighter.

"Since no one from Daoist School has explored Sky City, it means they didn’t go up. They were probably attracted by something else. Don’t worry just yet. Let’s explore around a bit more."

As he spoke, Li Jing took Chen Yuran to the ground.

Li Jing told Chen Yuran not to worry, but looking at the barren dust-laden plains stretching out endlessly, he, too, wasn’t sure where to go from here.

Chen Yuran seemed equally helpless.

After a moment of hesitation, Li Jing decided to giddy up the horse for lack of a better idea, and together with Chen Yuran, moved along the border of the Underground Palace.

The two had spent their entire journey up in the clouds.

The condition of the ground was only observed through the gaps in the clouds.

He figured they should first patrol around the Underground Palace, see if they came across anything of interest.

The Underground Palace was only about the size of three Jianghai cities.

With Li Jing’s Sky Control speed, it wouldn’t take long for them to make a complete round.

To be more thorough, Li Jing deliberately slowed down his Sky Control speed.

In no time,

The two had already covered half the distance.

Just as they were about to continue, Chen Yuran suddenly spoke.

"Jing, hold on for a minute!"

?

Li Jing halted.

"What’s the matter?"

"I think I just saw a tower."

Chen Yuran responded.

"A tower?"

Li Jing frowned.

He hadn’t seen any towers during his journey. He’d been observing the entire Underground Palace and didn’t notice any towers.

If there truly is a tower, how could he not see it?

Asking this question, Chen Yuran said.

"The tower is not in the underground palace, but in the darkness that surrounds it. You were moving too fast, and I only caught a glimpse of it, so I’m not too sure, let’s go back and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing was stunned.

The darkness surrounding the underground palace, isn’t that the Chaotic Border?

In the Chaotic Border, all that exists is endless nothingness.

Could a tower possibly exist there?

Turning his head back, Li Jing agreed and led Chen Yuran back.

On this journey along the edge of the Chaotic Border, indeed, he had not paid attention to what the border was like; he had been observing the interior of the underground palace all the way.

Although he found it unreasonable for a tower to exist within the Chaotic Border, since Chen Yuran said she saw it, there was a need to go there and confirm it.

Not long into their journey, Li Jing stopped, his brows furrowing.

He saw the tower that Chen Yuran spoke of.

A teal tower, nestled deep within the Chaotic Border not far ahead.

Quiet, and mysterious.

Li Jing saw the tower, and naturally Chen Yuran did too.

Confirming that she was not mistaken, she turned her head to look at him.

"Jing, what is this dark border? It seems like it wouldn’t be easy to go in."

"That’s the Chaotic Border signifying the end of the world."

Li Jing replied.

"In theory, it’s impossible for us to go in."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to touch the Chaotic Border next to him, yet his palm could not enter at all.

Chen Yuran saw this, and hesitated before reluctantly saying.

"If you can’t go in, why is there a tower inside?"

"It’s possible that the tower exists in another space."

Li Jing speculated, saying,

"The Chaotic Border is essentially an endless void of space with no reason to contain any objects. Putting aside the Chaotic Border, you should already know about the void space without needing me to explain."

While Chen Yuran was indeed aware of the concept of the end of the world, she was hearing about the Chaotic Border for the first time.

However, regarding the void space, countless researchers from the present world had already studied it exhaustively.

As a person from the present world, Chen Yuran certainly knew quite a bit about this.

There, there is no concept of time or direction; even the concept of spatial levels doesn’t exist. Any person who accidentally enters it would surely be lost and would find it enormously difficult to get out.

Having heard Li Jing’s words, Chen Yuran remained silent.

In front of them, they were unable to enter the Chaotic Border.

Even if they could enter it, it was definitively not somewhere to rush into without caution.

However, faced with the existence of the teal tower, she had a strong feeling that the masters and strong ones from the Heavenly Dao Sect were likely trapped in the tower located deep within the Chaotic Border.

Not only Chen Yuran, but Li Jing also had this feeling.

Presumably, the masters and strong ones from the Heavenly Dao Sect reached the tower using some method.

And then they couldn’t get out...

This theory made sense, didn’t it?

Turning his head to look at the tower, Li Jing could not help but feel both amused and exasperated.

If things really were as he suspected,

The courage of these people from the Heavenly Dao Sect was truly extraordinary.

Even he, a proper master of spatial rules, wouldn’t dare to enter the void space, so how could they dare to do so?

Of course.

The most ridiculous thing was,

They had the ability to do so.

However, at the moment, it wasn’t like Li Jing was completely out of options.

"Wina."

He softly called out.

The power projection of "tool person" Wina quietly appeared behind Li Jing.

Since Li Jing did not need to use Wina’s power this time, her power projection did not appear in a colossal size, but instead was the size of a regular woman.

After being summoned twice in the same day, Wina looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Chen Yuran was slightly taken aback when she saw Li Jing calling upon Wina.

She did not understand.

Why did Li Jing summon Wina?

While she was still puzzled, Li Jing looked at Wina and pointed towards the tower in the Chaotic Border, saying,

"Do you have a way for us to go where that tower is?"

Upon seeing this, Wina instinctively followed Li Jing’s pointer and looked in that direction. She then widened her eyes in surprise, revealing an astonished expression, and her voice resonated in a certain person’s mind.

"Master, are you sure you want to go there?"

Since Wina was not physically present but just her consciousness, she couldn’t communicate with anyone else.

The reason Li Jing could hear her words was just that her spiritual imprint remained in his cognition.

Right now, Wina did not disappoint Li Jing.

Obviously.

Upon achieving the rank of Supreme Godhood with authority over space, Wina saw the existence of the tower and grasped much related information with just one glance.

Without giving Wina a direct response, Li Jing said,

"Tell me more about where this tower is."

"Alright."

Wina nodded, her voice echoing once again in Li Jing’s mind.

"The existence of this tower is beyond ordinary, it’s a subspace that exists independently here yet strictly belongs to the same space level. The manifestation of such an ability could only have been done by someone breaking the unbreakable Chaotic Border, and then forcibly creating an independent space within the void. Such ability can only be described as defying Heaven, even I, who has a certain level of control over the authority of space and can be seen as an equal to the Supreme God, can’t accomplish it. It’s uncertain whether even the actual Supreme God can do it."

With that, she continued.

"It’s not difficult to send you inside. This Chaotic Border has been shattered before. Although it seems to have recovered well on the surface, it won’t be difficult to shatter it again. As long as I find the weak point, I can easily use my spatial authority to send you over. However, I can feel that there is an extremely dangerous existence sleeping within the tower, one that is beyond what I can handle with my projected power."

Hearing Wina’s description, Li Jing’s expression became gradually peculiar.

What Wina said was basically consistent with his prior guess.

The location of the tower is a space that was forcibly opened to exist independently by humans.

However, that’s not the key point.

The key is.

Wina can feel an extremely dangerous existence is sleeping inside the tower.

On the other hand.

Wina clearly mentioned.

Even the Supreme God, the leader of the Supreme God System with the same spatial authority, cannot forcibly shatter the Chaotic Border and open an independent space in the endless void, let alone her.

Could this be...

Could it be the Deceiving the Heavens, which Ling Ling previously mentioned, sleeping inside?

It sure seems highly probable!

The one sleeping inside the tower is likely the master who shattered the Chaotic Border and opened the independent space.

If he could do what even the Supreme God cannot, if he is not Deceiving the Heavens, then what could he be?

Remember.

The Supreme God is also Deceiving the Heavens.

And he’s infamous for that.

Although it is unknown what he has done, it is not difficult to infer from the few cryptic comments of the Heavenly Saint’s Heavenly Dao that not only is he resented by his Heavenly Dao, but the Big World’s Heavenly Dao also keeps him in mind.

Chen Yuran couldn’t hear Wina’s voice.

At this moment, Wina is only projecting a small part of her power, not as strong as before, making it unable to affect her.

Seeing Li Jing’s peculiar expression, Chen Yuran voiced her confusion.

"Jing?"

Li Jing looked at her upon hearing the call, hesitated a bit, then said.

"It could just be...a coincidence."

?

Chen Yuran slowly formed a question mark, then her eyes widened suddenly.

She of course remembered what she said a short while ago.

This time she had no choice but to respond.

While Chen Yuran was at a loss for words, Li Jing looked towards Wina.

"I basically understand the situation, you can just send Yuran and me over, I can handle the rest."

Li Jing made a decision, of course, Wina would not object.

She had some idea of how capable her master was.

After gazing at the Chaotic Border for a moment, a gleam of light burst forth in Wina’s eyes.

Then, her power projection soared and rapidly enlarged to an extent that nearly filled the overlapping space, before pointing her finger.

There were no sounds, no flashes of light, no colors.

A singularity formed nearby on the Chaotic Border near where Li Jing and Chen Yuran were.

The next second.

The Chaotic Border collapsed.

Then, both Li Jing and Chen Yuran felt a pulling force.

Before they could react, the space began to displace.

At the same time.

Wina’s power projection gradually dissipated as its energy was exhausted, leaving a voice in Li Jing’s mind.

"Master, the existence in the tower is invincible. If it wakes up, you can temporarily dodge its sharpness by hiding in the Little Universe and summon me. In the Little Universe, as an Innate God, I can directly descend and open a spatial passage to the Present World for you."

Li Jing was stunned upon hearing this.

What did Wina just say?

She can open a passage to the Present World in the Little Universe?

Holy shit!

Can she really do that?

This...

Doesn’t this mean that once I get to the Immortal Realm, I can return to the Present World at any time?

But upon further thinking, Li Jing felt a bit tasteless.

What’s the point of being able to return to the Present World easily, if the Big World’s Heavenly Dao wouldn’t allow him to return?

The moment Li Jing was pondering, the spatial displacement was completed.

He and Chen Yuran appeared near the tower.

Before they could steady themselves, they looked up to see over a hundred cultivators in the "uniform" of the Taoist school sitting collectively in front of the tower, practicing in meditation.

As her eyes fell on the crowd, Chen Yuran’s face lit up, and then like Li Jing had done before, she admired the seniors of the Taoist school wholeheartedly.

They really know how to wander around.

At the same time.

The hundred or so members of the Taoist school sensed something and opened their eyes one by one.

Seeing Li Jing and Chen Yuran, they collectively responded with a string of question marks.

They don’t recognize Li Jing.

But many of them recognized Chen Yuran.

Also.

Chen Yuran is currently wearing the "uniform" of the Taoist school.

How did this girl...

How did she get here?

A Fifth Boundary, how does she have the ability to come here?