32: Chapter 30 The Giant City 32: Chapter 30 The Giant City “Squeak—”
Lost in thought, Xu Yuan watched as the door was pushed open from the outside.
Crouching on the ground, he immediately glanced sideways and met Ying’er’s silent gaze.
Her tone was neutral,
“Third Young Master, we have arrived at Jingjiang City.”
Ying’er still wore the slightly provocative uniform of a Shadow Guard.
But her act of entering without permission left Xu Yuan silent.
They looked at each other without a word…
Oh no, after giving Xu Yuan a glance, the woman’s attention was immediately drawn to the Source Crystal he held in his palm.
She silently observed it for two seconds, then turned and silently walked away.
The wooden door gently closed, and the room fell into a quietude as if Ying’er had never been there.
Xu Yuan silently watched this scene for a long while, eventually letting out a wry chuckle.
The strong always have their pride, no matter the world.
If they look down on you, they do, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
To those vassals and Guest Elders, he, Xu Yuan, was indeed the Third Young Master—but only by virtue of his father and his elder brother’s standing.
Without his father and elder brother, Xu Yuan was nothing.
Respect is something that can be given to you, but only superficially.
If you don’t want even the superficial gesture, then it won’t be offered at all.
They rely on strength to make their living, not on flattery.
If it were the original self, perhaps he would be seething with inferiority and sensitivity by now, but to Xu Yuan, it did not matter.
Respect from others is won by oneself.
In this world where extraordinary martial strength is valued, once Xu Yuan’s own power grew, the attitudes of those Guest Elders and vassals would naturally change.
Why get angry over trivial matters?
However, the look Ying’er gave him before she left made one thing clear to Xu Yuan.
This Source Crystal was indeed a test left for him by his elder brother.
If you can obtain it before arriving at Jingjiang City, then it is yours to keep.
If you can’t, Ying’er would surely come and take you away.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan placed the Source Crystal into the Sumeru Ring, stood up, and once again started to dismantle the room.
Though he wasn’t angry, the act still had to be performed.
After taking apart the furniture in Xu Changge’s chamber, including the bed, Xu Yuan stopped his destruction.
This time, after finishing his demolition, Xu Yuan wasn’t as tired; his physical strength must be considerably greater than the family’s Husky from his previous life.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan stood up, walked over to the window, and pushed open the tightly shut wooden frame.
As the room where Xu Changge lived, the chamber was equipped with a Formation that shielded from will-spirit perception.
But it required all doors and windows to be closed to form a complete seal.
To avoid Ying’er’s surveillance, Xu Yuan had never opened the window in these past days.
Once he pushed it open,
The scene before him caused Xu Yuan’s dark pupils to contract sharply!
The view was breathtakingly grand.
The sky was a deep blue, vast and boundless,
Amidst the cries of hawks and chirping of birds, dozens, even hundreds of flying Demonic Beasts of varying sizes screeched as they soared in the sky,
A majestic city comparable in size to a first-tier city of his former world came into view!
He could see the city’s landscape at a glance; streets and buildings densely packed together, rings looping within rings, wide thoroughfares brimming with people that extended to the far ends of his sight.
Is this the Jingjiang City from the Cangyuan Chronicles that could be traversed in just a few map screens?
As they gradually approached, the giant Winged Dragon below had already lowered its altitude.
As the Winged Dragon soared over the city wall, twenty zhang high, Xu Yuan faintly sensed some kind of fluctuation.
They seemed to have passed through some kind of invisible barrier.
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes, instinctively stretching out his will-spirit to probe.
Unfortunately, the Winged Dragon’s speed was too fast, and his current range of will-spirit perception was exceedingly limited.
By the time he reached out, the Winged Dragon had already flown past the towering city walls.
Reluctantly retracting his will-spirit, he decided to take the opportunity to look into the matter at the city walls later.
Just as the thought occurred to him, Zhou Chen’s voice suddenly came from the corners of the attic’s flying eaves:
“The Third Young Master truly has an extraordinary talent, sensing the Spirit Testing Great Formation right at the Entry Level.”
Clearly, his will-spirit had alerted the person above.
“Who?” Xu Yuan asked softly.
Zhou Chen flipped himself off the attic, entered the chamber through the window, and bowed with a grin:
Xu Yuan looked at the scruffy appearance of the man before him, recognizing he was one of the people who had blasted open the cave dwelling at Xuantian Cliff earlier.
He was probably left behind by Xu Changge to protect him.
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then asked in a soft voice:
“What is this Spirit Testing Formation you just mentioned?”
Zhou Chen grinned and bowed again:
“It’s only natural for Third Young Master, who has just entered the path of cultivation, not to know.
Demonic Beasts have wild natures and are difficult to tame, bringing them directly into the city could easily lead to them rampaging and hurting people.
“If a Demonic Beast wishes to enter the city, it must go through the Imperial Court’s Strange Beast Division, or the nine-fold assessments of the major Sects.
Once it passes all the assessments, a special mark will be imprinted within the body of the beast, and only with this mark can it enter the city.”
A trace of astonishment flickered through Xu Yuan’s eyes.
This world actually had such practices.
After a pause, Xu Yuan suddenly glanced sideways at the gigantic city below, his tone taking on a touch of strangeness:
“Does the entirety of Jingjiang City have it?”
Zhou Chen nodded slightly, as if it were a matter of course:
At that, a hint of astonishment flickered in Xu Yuan’s eyes.
Did this world actually have such a vast Formation?
At the same time, many questions surged in his mind.
How was this massive Formation set up?
And from where did the energy to sustain the Formation come?
As his thoughts flickered without an answer, Xu Yuan restrained himself.
After a moment, he looked at Zhou Chen and asked:
what if one were to forcibly enter the city without a mark?”
Zhou Chen raised his hand to touch his scruffy chin, then grinned meaningfully:
“There are other protective Formations within the city.”
Xu Yuan frowned: “Other Formations?”
Zhou Chen did not immediately reply this time; instead, he looked up into the sky, as if searching for something.
A moment later, he suddenly grinned:
“Third Young Master, please wait.”
Having said that, his figure disappeared in front of Xu Yuan in an instant.
With Origin Qi filling his sight, Xu Yuan looked out the window, but to no avail.
The bodyguards left to him by Xu Changge were all too fast.
About ten seconds after Zhou Chen’s disappearance,
Xu Yuan suddenly saw,
a Demonic Beast resembling a Winged Dragon plummeting rapidly from high above!
As Xu Yuan watched with narrowed eyes, Zhou Chen’s voice lightly came from behind him again:
“Third Young Master, have a look for yourself.”
The way these powerful figures suddenly vanished and then appeared was as unexpected as a ghost.
With a slight nod, Xu Yuan continued to stare unblinkingly at the falling Winged Dragon with a broken wing.
As the Winged Dragon fell from the sky and entered the range of the Spirit Testing Great Formation, its innate sense of danger caused the ten-foot-long dragon to frantically flap its wings.
But to no avail, as one of its wings had been snapped by Zhou Chen, and it continued to plummet powerlessly downward.
When it fell to a certain height, a white rainbow light materialized in the expanse above the city and shot out in a flash!
the Winged Dragon was instantly reduced to dust, leaving nothing behind.
“Third Young Master, that is the fate that befalls a Demonic Beast without a mark, yet still attempts to forcefully breach the inner city.”
Xu Yuan glanced at him:
Although it’s quite visual, couldn’t you just have explained it with words?”
With a light cough to mask his embarrassment, Zhou Chen continued:
Additionally, this Formation can defend not only against Demonic Beasts, but it’s equally capable of deterring people.”
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:
“Is this Formation effective against you as well?”
Zhou Chen grinned and shook his head:
“Too slow, it couldn’t hit me, and its power is a bit weak.”
After a pause, Zhou Chen sighed and added:
“Of course, these two Formations are just the ones ready at all times.
There are many grand Formations in the city that are normally not activated.
If activated, even I wouldn’t be able to get out alive.”
Xu Yuan remained silent.
The automation of this world made him feel a sense of bewildering strangeness.
Zhou Chen patted Xu Yuan’s arm affably and said:
“Third Young Master, if the city didn’t have these Formations, the world would have been in chaos long ago.”