Chapter 173 - 149: Going to the Floating City

Chapter 173: Chapter 149: Going to the Floating City

「The next day.」

Aunt Liu led Zhang Ji and his companion to the grand hall at the core of Yu Yi Grotto-Heaven.

There, Zhang Ji officially met the former chief sword-forger of the Celestial Sword Group, now the leader of the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Order: Ling Xuzi, the "Seven Tribulation Sword Master."

The left side of his body was covered in the marks of Spirit Patterns, while his right was overlaid with a crystalline substance.

His white hair was tied back, and upon closer inspection, one could see countless intricate Spirit Patterns on each strand. Even his eyes held dark golden Spirit Patterns.

This was a new-age cultivator who had undergone extremely profound Spiritual Energy modifications.

’For someone like him to join the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Order, let alone become its leader, sounds a bit far-fetched.’

But this was the path he had chosen.

"Please, sit," Ling Xuzi said.

Zhang Ji and Kong Jue took their seats. Aunt Liu, who had been standing nearby, turned and left.

The table was laden with food and drinks infused with Spiritual Qi. Kong Jue dug in without hesitation, while Zhang Ji simply watched Ling Xuzi, waiting for him to speak.

This was the first S-class Divinity Transformation Stage cultivator he had ever met, but the man had his power so well-concealed that Zhang Ji felt no threat at all.

He might as well have been looking at an ordinary person.

But that was, without a doubt, a false impression.

His control was simply too perfect; not even Zhang Ji, with his current level of Spirit cultivation, could get an accurate read on him.

"You’ve likely already read about the Ascetic Order’s purpose," Ling Xuzi began. "But I must repeat it. Our purpose is to cleanse the cosmos, to overthrow the unjust rule of the Celestial Dao Alliance, and to return Spiritual Qi to all people. This is an incredibly difficult and arduous task. It will require countless people to sacrifice themselves, one after another, striving ceaselessly to realize our goal, bit by bit..."

"Any more?" Kong Jue asked after finishing the pastries on the table.

"Heh, yes." Ling Xuzi chuckled and nodded.

A moment later, an attendant brought out more food.

As he ate, Kong Jue said, "Spare me the grandstanding. You give me money, I do the work for you. It’s that simple."

Ling Xuzi maintained his smile. "Shared interests are indeed essential for building a good relationship. Your demand is perfectly reasonable."

"I have a question," Zhang Ji said.

"Please, go on."

Ling Xuzi gestured for Zhang Ji to continue.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but the Celestial Dao Alliance’s foundations are incredibly strong. With the Ascetic Order’s current power, I’m afraid you can’t make the slightest dent. Do you have a concrete plan?" Zhang Ji asked.

Ling Xuzi replied, "That is precisely why I am meeting with you two personally today. We need more like-minded individuals to work with us. Our recruitment efforts are ongoing. The people of the Abyss of Eternity have the will but not the strength. To truly topple the Celestial Dao Alliance, we must dismantle it from within. We’ve already established a foundation in the Floating City, with our people in every trade and profession. We just need to accumulate enough power, and then we can execute our plan to completely overthrow the Alliance..."

’More empty words and platitudes,’ Zhang Ji thought.

’Most people already knew all this.’

’It was practically public knowledge, even to the Celestial Dao Alliance.’

After all, there was no barrier to entry for the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Order. As long as you were dissatisfied with the current system, you could just click "confirm" on the Order’s recruitment page on the Spirit Net, and you were officially a member.

As a result, it was nearly impossible to control.

The Ascetic Order itself was a disorganized, chaotic mess.

Its ranks were filled with agents from various powers, not to mention all the Loose Cultivators.

’But none of that mattered.’

’The core members of the Ascetic Order, the ones who had actually passed the trials, were genuinely powerful.’

Still, Zhang Ji managed to glean some information from the pile of platitudes.

’Their recruitment pages are still up, which means they haven’t caused that ’major incident’ yet and been completely shut down by the Celestial Dao Alliance.’

’The "Floating City Downfall" plan is still in its early stages.’

’Perfect. That means there’s a lot of room to maneuver.’

’Once chaos erupts in the Floating City, he’ll have a lot more options.’

’For starters, once the chaos begins, sneaking off to find that sealed artificial intelligence, getting the secret key to Celestial Secret City’s array, and taking the [Dao-Merging Jade Slip] shouldn’t be a problem, right?’

’And what about getting some ambrosia to grow a few trees, and maybe stealing an egg to eat while he’s at it?’

’That Spirit Beast Egg from Ten Thousand Birds Heaven... if memory serves, it has a Flood Dragon bloodline.’

While Zhang Ji had no intention of raising a pet, the egg of such an exotic Spirit Beast would be incredibly nourishing if he were to eat it.

The conversation continued.

Kong Jue didn’t have many questions. He had a mercenary’s mindset; he had simply hit a dead end at Bodhi Temple in Enlightenment Heaven and decided to change his environment to start a new life.

As for Zhang Ji, he had plenty of questions. He wanted to know exactly how far along the Ascetic Order’s plan was, down to the last detail.

But clearly, Ling Xuzi wasn’t going to share those kinds of details with him.

Once the discussion was over, Ling Xuzi began to assign their mission. "You are both rare talents," he said. "It would be a great waste to keep you here in the grotto-heaven. We’re very shorthanded in the Thirty-Three Heavens. I’ve arranged new identities for you both, which will allow you to go to the Floating City and carry out missions. Once you arrive, I’ll have someone meet you. From then on, you will only need to assist Mister Jiulin and the Saintess."

As he spoke, Ling Xuzi transmitted the relevant information to Zhang Ji’s and Kong Jue’s Consciousness Communicators.

One was a woman dressed in pure white robes, her face veiled with light gauze. Her exposed eyes were bright and beautiful, and she exuded an ethereal, otherworldly aura.

Zhang Ji recognized her instantly. It was an old acquaintance: Qu Wuyin, the [Saintess of a Thousand Eyes], a Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

She was a young woman, born deaf and mute, who had lived a difficult life in the Abyss of Eternity. Later, because she possessed a Celestial Spirit Root, she was taken in by the Ascetic Order and trained to her current level.

Although her auditory and vocal systems had been treated with Spiritual Energy modifications, she still did not speak aloud, relying instead on an exquisite Spirit Skill that resonated with the air to produce sound.

But despite her ethereal appearance, she was actually one of the Demon Possessed.

She had an unshakable faith in the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Order and would not hesitate to sacrifice her life at a moment’s notice.

She also had a particular fondness for gouging out people’s eyes; anyone with beautiful eyes would catch her attention.

The other person was a middle-aged man in black robes, his skin faintly red and covered in dense Spirit Patterns.

This was another of Zhang Ji’s old acquaintances: Yan Jiulin, the [Great Lord of Skin-Flaying]. He was a Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, an outlier who, when necessary, could unleash power at the Divinity Transformation Level. He was arguably the strongest person in the entire Ascetic Order, second only to Ling Xuzi.

He was once a core member of Profound Secret Spiritual Artifact Technology, but due to internal conflict, he was sentenced to be flayed alive and have his bones shattered. His Golden Core was crushed, and he was cast into the Abyss of Eternity.

But against all odds, he was saved by Master Yu Yi.

He then used the ancient Skin Painting Skill to reconstruct his skin and Spiritual Alloy to rebuild his skeleton. Not only did his strength not diminish, but it actually increased. He could even swap out a Painted Skin Spiritual Artifact to gain a completely different set of Spirit Skills, giving him access to a variety of attack methods.

Of all the Demon Possessed, he was the most extreme.

He was the primary driving force behind the Floating City Downfall plan.

Most of the tools needed to destroy the relevant array cores were crafted by him.

"I was only recently released from my confinement in the Spiritual Source, so I know very little about the outside world," Zhang Ji said. "I’m especially unfamiliar with the current techniques in the Cultivation Realm. Could the Ascetic Order provide me with some relevant data slips?"

’Before you agree to do something for someone, you first negotiate your compensation and benefits.’

’And if it’s a life-or-death job, you absolutely have to get a down payment before proceeding.’

’Only an idiot would dive headfirst into a job based on empty promises without getting anything upfront. You finish the job, and you won’t even know what hit you when they burn the bridge behind you.’

"I’ll need some Spirit Coins for my cultivation, too," Kong Jue added.

"Neither of those is a problem," Ling Xuzi said. "The Ascetic Order may not be wealthy, but we don’t mistreat our own."

Afterward, both Zhang Ji and Kong Jue received what they had asked for.

Zhang Ji received a data chip that looked like a jade slip with golden characters. It contained all the information from the Ascetic Order’s internal database of Cultivation Techniques, covering various training methods for the five realms: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Divinity Transformation.

This item was both valuable and worthless at the same time.

In this day and age, there was no shortage of Cultivation Techniques.

All sorts of optimal Cultivation Techniques had long since been developed.

Even getting one custom-tailored wasn’t difficult.

But it all came down to the same thing: without Spiritual Qi, even the best Cultivation Technique was useless.

Kong Jue, for his part, received a handful of Spirit Coins.

It wasn’t a large amount—only ten Level Five Spirit Coins in total.

This was equivalent to giving Kong Jue a little more than one Vermilion Fruit.

Kong Jue, however, was quite delighted.

Zhang Ji didn’t care about such a small amount of money, nor did he need Spirit Coins to cultivate.

But for Kong Jue, these ten Spirit Coins would provide him with enough Spiritual Qi for his cultivation for a long time to come.

It also confirmed that he hadn’t chosen the wrong path.

’This place might look like a dump, but they’re surprisingly well-off,’ he thought.

...

The suspension lift ascended from the Burial Ruin Abyss, heading toward the Dusty Sky Hub transit station.

Zhang Ji and Kong Jue had each changed into a new set of clothes.

From now on, they were mid-to-high-level personnel of "True Source Technology," a company in the Sixth Heaven, the [Many-Treasures Heaven].

Zhang Ji’s new identity was an elder, in charge of security.

Kong Jue was a deacon, responsible for external procurement and site inspections.

Their new identity information had been loaded onto their newly issued Divine Sense Communication Devices, and their Divine Sense authentications were logged in the Floating City’s central personnel database.

Even if the device was lost, a new one could be issued by using their corresponding Divine Sense information.

’From a certain perspective, the Floating City really is as leaky as a sieve,’ Zhang Ji mused.

Before long, they arrived at the Dusty Sky Hub, but they still had to continue onward to the Floating City.

This meant going through a security check.

A massive Spiritual Ability Mirror scanned the two of them, seeing right through them, inside and out.

Zhang Ji remained composed, but Kong Jue seemed a bit unnerved.

Soon, however, the mirror’s scan moved on, having identified them and found no issues.

Kong Jue breathed a sigh of relief. He touched the communicator the Ascetic Order had given him and sent a mental message to Zhang Ji. "Their tech is pretty impressive. It can even fool a ’Heaven-Peeping Mirror’."

Zhang Ji had little interest in engaging with Kong Jue, so he didn’t reply.

This made Zhang Ji’s attitude perfectly clear to Kong Jue. ’He has no intention of allying with an "ant" like me, a whole realm beneath him in cultivation.’

Kong Jue could only curse Zhang Ji as an old fossil in his mind.

After their identities were verified, the two were granted access to the Sixth Heaven. They boarded a suspension lift bound for the upper city and began their ascent.

The scenery below began to shift, and soon they were high in the sky.

Suddenly, the lift passed through a shimmering energy membrane. The air around them became much fresher, and the concentration of Spiritual Qi surged.

They had arrived in the Floating City.

Even the lowest concentration of Spiritual Qi here was Level Four, comparable to the cultivation Saint Lands built by the major powers in the Abyss of Eternity and even higher than the concentration outside Yu Yi Grotto-Heaven.

Every moment spent here was like breathing money.

Zhang Ji saw many people inside the lift who were already eagerly cultivating, unable to wait.

They were likely people from the lower city, up here on temporary business without residency permits for the Floating City, which was why they were desperately seizing every second.

Anyone who could afford to come to the upper city for business would be considered more successful than ninety percent of the population back in the Abyss of Eternity.

But they still weren’t accepted by the residents of the Floating City.

Some of the locals with residency rights in the Floating City kept their distance, choosing seats far away from them with expressions of clear disgust.

The class divide was visible to the naked eye.