202 Undying City
When Yang Lujia came to his second disciple’s world, he surveyed the surroundings to see if there was anyone who saw him coming out of nowhere. He was on guard because he felt a presence inside his second disciple’s world that made him feel like a prey ready to be hunted down.
He wasn’t kidding when he began to adapt to his cautious personality again. If the other party was so mysterious that even his own mental power could not detect the other party’s presence, he would be doomed as he knew that he had encountered someone above him in terms of strength.
But it was futile. The mysterious person was, after all, the old lady who harbored no ill intent against him. In fact, it seemed like she was doting on him due to her gaze toward him, which was a sharp contrast to her gaze toward the others.
Nevertheless, Yang Lujia believed otherwise. Hence, he carefully trod his way toward the direction where he wanted to meet with Cai Hong. He had already sent a message to this servant of his. While flying in midair, he really couldn’t help but think about Cai Hong’s loyalty to him.
It felt surreal.
He was becoming suspicious of him due to the mysterious existence he had clearly felt earlier. Perhaps it had something to do with Cai Hong. He wasn’t sure, as his instincts were telling him nothing was certain.
Along the way, Yang Lujia encountered many cultivators, but he did not have time for them. He just wanted to meet Cai Hong right away, as he wanted to know more about the Second Region before venturing to that place.
Not far away, there was a small city in a remote area. It was where Cai Hong was stationed. Currently, this remote area is the most secretive of all the cities in the Third Region. Basically, its intelligence spanned not only within the three regions but also the Autonomous Region. If one wanted to know about something like the secrets of the Autonomous Region, one would have to pay a large price.
Anyhow, this small city’s largest organizations wouldn’t present themselves and offer a certain amount of wealth. You would be the one who should approach them and ask for their service. Once you did that, they would then ask for what information you wanted to know so they could directly measure—approximately and appropriately—to avoid mistakes or mishaps. They would even know what kind of underwear the Holy Saint Emperor was wearing. It was just that no one dared to ask them.
This city was called the Undying City.
It was said that this city was even older than when this land became the so-called Third Region at this day. It was so old and there were simply old monsters lying dormant inside this city who had yet to come out from their seclusion.
Once, there was a Saint Emperor, a peak one at that, who went his way toward this city with an ill intention. It was because of his greed for more power that he chose to infiltrate the city despite hearing that this remote and small city was protected by several experts. In other words, he refused to believe other people’s claims.
Hence, not knowing that his insistence on entering and robbing the city of its precious treasures could lead him to die, he still dared to carry out his plans. However, right when he was about to attack an innocent child, he was suddenly stopped by an old beggar with just a gaze. That terrified him, and he fell butt-first. He even felt like life was seeping out of his system.
When Yang Lujia arrived before the city, he was shocked by the array formation that stood erect outside its vicinity. If it were not for relatively high cultivation, he would not have noticed the array formation at all. Although they were laced with rules, the pattern itself was something an ordinary Saint Emperor or even a peak Saint Emperor could not conveniently decipher.
Yang Lujia did not know about the story of the place, but from Cai Hong’s message, he thought that the place was more than just what it appeared to be on the surface. In fact, when he took a closer look, he already saw a lot of experts lurking around the corner.
He even found himself unable to exactly probe into their cultivation levels due to the restrictions brought upon by the formation. However, he was certain that he was stronger than these people. It was just that they all smelled like him—their aura contained the hint of the void.
“What’s wrong lately? Why am I encountering several people with the aura of the void? Are they that abundant in number to be staying here in the lower realm?” Yang Lujia asked himself and proceeded to enter the city.
When he entered through the formation, he found himself unable to believe what he saw. All of the people here were mortals, and each of them was protected by an aura covering their whole body. All of them were living harmoniously. Even a beggar had the luxury of eating food that normal people would eat.
When Yang Lujia arrived in front of a restaurant where Cai Hong invited him to be at, he also noticed that someone beneath the restaurant was an incredibly powerful expert—who was clearly cultivating, and the aura he emanated was not any weaker than someone above the Saint Emperor Realm.
“Wait, wouldn’t that mean that the Saint Emperor Realm isn’t the limit for one to reach while they are in Da Shikong? Why did they choose to remain here when they could ascend?” Another question arose in Yang Lujia’s heart. Nevertheless, he still entered the restaurant.
Upon entering, his gaze was immediately drawn to the food that was served to other cultivators and some mortals. They looked expensive, and Yang Lujia knew in his heart that by just the smell and sight of this food, they would be extremely tasteful!
“Greetings, Your Highness!” Cai Hong immediately knelt in front of Yang Lujia as soon as he saw the latter.
This directed the crowd’s opinion to their side and they looked at Cai Hong and Yang Lujia curiously. It was obvious to them that Yang Lujia must be someone who had very powerful backing. Even mortals were not ignorant of such a matter. Their gazes, however, were only reverence—there were no traces of fear in their eyes.
It was because experts like Yang Lujia were like gods to their eyes, who could bring them salvation or could save them whenever they were in danger. It was always this setup every time someone dared to rush in and infiltrate the Undying City’s vicinity.
Yang Lujia hurriedly pulled Cai Hong back up with his own bare hands. “You don’t have to kneel in front of them every time.” He was smiling when he said this, but the other party’s face turned pale as soon as he heard those words.
“But Y-Your Hi—”
“Don’t bother persuading me. If you are truly loyal to me and only me—then you should know that my orders are considered absolute. No matter who was ordering behind you, I do not care. If you do not follow my orders, you better just leave me alone.”
Cai Hong felt flustered about what Yang Lujia said. While he did not want to betray him, he also did not want to turn his back on the person who had been ordering him to go save Yang Lujia and all the likes. However, he still reluctantly nodded.
“Good,” Yang Lujia said with a meaningful smile.
Meanwhile, the person behind Cai Hong had already noticed that Yang Lujia had sharp wits. He was not someone he could take lightly. If he was only a child back then, the other party would not have to consider when he heard Yang Lujia’s words. However, it is different now. Yang Lujia could basically trample him and/or the others simultaneously.
“Cai Hong, tell me about what you know about this place before telling me about the things you gathered about the Second Region. I am curious as to what this Undying City is for and why it was called “Undying” City.”
Yang Lujia then came to learn about the Undying City, claiming to be the longest to have ever lived and survived in Da Shikong. It turned out that the Undying City had a legend that everyone in the city believed to be genuinely true.
“The Undying City is a city that has existed since ancient times. Therefore, the abundance of its resources is a hundred thousand or more, and the growth of its disciples was even higher than what Yang Lujia expected,” Cai Hong respectfully replied.
Meanwhile, the people who assumed that Yang Lujia was someone with a backing retrieved their reverent eyes from before. That was before they were able to see how strong he had become.
“It was called Undying because it was named after a specific man that the native here had given. That old man, who seemed to be so unfathomable, was so strong that they had to re-evaluate them by catching the old man off guard, but to no avail. With just a snap of his finger, all the experts in the Undying City died without them knowing how they died,” Cai Hong replied.
“Does that old man have the same aura as me?”
“Now that you thought about it, Your Highness. He indeed has some traces left on his body from my view,” Cai Hong helplessly replied. “In fact, there was one that was even more astonishing. That old man actually had the same bloodline as him—no, not exactly the same. I think it is due to Your Highness’ blood being mixed with several bloodlines.”