Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 500 - 1: Outside Saint Sect City

May 10, 2018

Departing from Golden Jade City, aboard the opulent Immortal Platform crafted by the Saint Sect, after a whole day of travel, the Celestial Divine Sword finally arrived outside Heaven-Reaching City with his companions.

Seeing Heaven-Reaching City spread across the horizon even from ten miles away, the mount beside the Divine Sword couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

Indeed, this is a city that would amaze anyone.

Since two thousand years ago, when the ancestors of humanity ended the Dark Era and established the civilization of the Immortal Dao, the lands of Xiangzhou have been expanded a hundredfold. From that initial small, impoverished island shrouded in Chaos, it has developed into today’s vast land sustaining billions of humans.

In these two thousand years, humans continuously transformed the world they inhabited, turning barren lands fertile and illuminating regions once covered by Chaos and darkness. And throughout these two millennia, regardless of natural disasters, human catastrophes, or Chaos frontier expansion, Heaven-Reaching City has always maintained its supreme status as the center of Xiangzhou.

This city is the first city since the establishment of human civilization and a unique, unreplicable miracle. Its establishment endured too much hardship and weathered too many storms. It also bears too much glory and brilliance. The Saint Sect was founded and grew here, establishing the world order of one Sect, three Academies, and seven great families in this place. Cyan Lotus Academy, Wuxiang Sword Academy, and Celestial Craft Institute all reside here, clustered around the Saint Sect. Encircling this core of Immortal Dao civilization, a colossal urban cluster with a population of over ten million expands outward, forming a majestic barrier that covers the horizon.

"Is this Heaven-Reaching City? So incredible."

The girl beside the Celestial Divine Sword exclaimed sincerely.

"I always thought Heaven-Reaching City was about the same level as Golden Jade City, but I never imagined the actual difference would be this vast!"

These words immediately sparked dissatisfaction from someone.

"The only differences are in city scale and population size, thank you. In terms of life expectancy, average cultivation, average education level, wealth gap, and other indices, Golden Jade City and Heaven-Reaching City are hard to distinguish in superiority. In fact, in the field of cultural innovation, Golden Jade City even leads slightly, and regarding per capita income, it leads by a lot..."

"But Heaven-Reaching City is ten times larger than Golden Jade City."

"Such excessive expansion has no substantial benefit, and instead hinders the city’s development potential. No matter how large an ignorant mob becomes, it remains insignificant."

"But Heaven-Reaching City is ten times larger than Golden Jade City."

"Tsk, only looking at size and not substance, this is the shallowness of you little virgins."

"I... Aren’t you a virgin!?"

"Spiritually, I haven’t been for a long time."

"You’re utterly shameless!"

"Oh? And you have the right to accuse others of being shameless? Did I ever say I’d bring you along? You’ve been eating my food, using my things, and riding the finest Saint Sect Immortal Platform for free all this way, and now you accuse me of being shameless? Your cheek is even thicker than your ancestors’. If you usually looked up, your height would be over two meters."

"Yours is half a meter thick!"

Listening to the bickering nearby, the Celestial Divine Sword seemed to return to the past.

In the Jiuzhou Era, his surroundings were never short of such quarrels, even when the Demon Army already pressed in with overwhelming force, Shang Lanfei and Zhao Yuming always had to battle it out first.

Unfortunately, that era is gone for good.

Looking at the urban cluster that left his primary mount in awe before him, Wang Jiu felt an inexplicable sadness creep into his heart.

The city that once stood here spanned the skies and shone for thousands of miles. Tens of thousands of cultivators gathered here, with countless cultivation sects, and ordinary humans relying on this Immortal Dao hub were as numerous as stars. Golden Cloud Peak symbolized the Myriad Immortals Alliance’s Immortal Dao never setting, its light persisting for millennia!

Compared to that, today’s Heaven-Reaching City seems like a desolate village.

And the entire Xiangzhou civilization, compared to the former Jiuzhou civilization, is merely an insignificant green shoot on scorched earth.

"I can understand how you feel."

Zhao Chenlu walked over to Wang Jiu’s side, sighing, "When I first came to Heaven-Reaching City, I felt exactly like you. This new civilization is so weak it inevitably worries one—if another Immortal Demon War happened, or even a medium crisis like those in the Jiuzhou Era, how could Xiangzhou endure? But soon I realized perhaps my revival from death wasn’t just to reunite with you but also to protect Xiangzhou. Even though Xiangzhou is very weak now, as long as we both guard it, it can certainly restore the glory of the Jiuzhou Era."

Beside her, Shen Qingming poured cold water on the situation, saying, "Your so-called guardianship of Xiangzhou involved barely reaching the Sea Overturning Realm after thirty-seven years of cultivation, only to be quickly betrayed and suppressed by a trusted subordinate, and then shamelessly extorting twenty thousand Spirit Stones from the Saint Sect for living expenses? Such a reliable Guardian God of Xiangzhou indeed."

Zhao Chenlu said with an unchanged expression, "At least it’s more reliable than a mild retard who can’t break the Wind Barrier in fourteen years."

After speaking, Zhao Chenlu didn’t wait for Shen Qingming to retort and took Wang Jiu’s hand, "Let’s go, the people from the Saint Sect have been waiting a long time."

——

Indeed, the people from the Saint Sect had been waiting a long time.

Zhao Chenlu and her companions departed from Golden Jade City on the morning of May 9th, and calculating with the flying speed of that astonishingly expensive Immortal Platform, they should have arrived at the foot of the Saint Sect by the afternoon at the latest. From noon, the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect had specifically dispatched two envoys to wait at the Immortal Platform station, one of whom was at the Immortal Envoy level. With the Saint Sect’s supreme status in Xiangzhou, such reception specifications were quite rare.

More rarely, these two envoys waited until the evening of the 9th without any news from Zhao Chenlu and her party, with several attempts to contact them yielding no reply, causing the envoys to start suspecting whether suddenly the opposing elders of Golden Jade City had changed their minds, collaborated with experts from other families, and ambushed and shot down the Immortal Platform of the former tyrant halfway through...

It wasn’t until late in the night on the 9th, approaching the early morning, that the reply from Zhao Chenlu arrived belatedly.

Of course, there was no ambush by any opposition; she was simply inspired on the way, took the Celestial Divine Sword to Bibo Mountain for a picnic and camped out while enjoying the scenery, which delayed her arrival. The estimated arrival time was delayed by more than half a day, and she requested the Saint Sect reception staff to prepare a banquet to welcome her...

Upon receiving this reply, the eyes of the two envoys almost burst!

What kind of a bird-brained person is this!? She let the Saint Sect envoys wait for a whole night just because she was inspired!? And she has the gall to ask for a welcoming banquet?!

If it were any ordinary Cultivator, having the chance to enter the Saint Sect would be considered a blessing of three lifetimes—who would have the guts to have the Saint Sect envoys greet them? Let alone be deliberately late, let alone actively request a banquet!

The young envoy wearing the green mask clenched the letter from Zhao Chenlu, gritting his teeth, "I’ve long heard that the City Lord of Golden Jade is arrogant and overbearing, not even considering the Saint Sect; earlier, I thought it was exaggerated rumors, but I didn’t expect her temperament to be even worse than the stories!"

Beside him, the envoy wearing the white mask laughed and patted his companion’s shoulder, "This is nothing. She also has the glorious track record of breaking the bones of envoys over a disagreement."

"What?! She even dares to lay hands on envoys of the Saint Sect?"

The white-masked person said, "That’s why it’s said she’s lawless. But that time, our people brought it upon themselves, bullying her shortly after she took office with a cultivation level not high in True Essence Realm, showing some negligence in attitude, and the Golden Jade City Lord was indeed straightforward and decisive, at the foot of Heaven-Reaching City, in front of countless Cultivators, she beat the reception envoy from the Saint Sect black and blue, with broken hands, and she was only 20 that year."

Such great feats left the green-masked envoy, who had just recently taken up the post of envoy, dumbfounded, "...Is she sick?"

"Haha, initially, I thought the same, but after staying long enough at the Saint Sect, seeing much, I realized it’s her strategy, leveraging the stepping of Saint Sect envoys, rapidly establishing her prestige. After all, she was too young at that time, her cultivation level too insignificant, suddenly in control of the wealthy and world-renowned Golden Jade City, inevitably attracting covetous eyes. Whatever means she deployed in Golden Jade City were seen as internal matters within the city from outsiders’ perspectives. Challenging the Saint Sect, however, was enough to make a name for herself across the world."

"But isn’t she afraid that we’ll retaliate against her?"

The white-masked envoy retorted, "Would the Sect Leader allow us to retaliate personally?"

"Of course not... But this isn’t personal retaliation; she was disrespectful first! Even for the sake of the Saint Sect’s dignity, she can’t be allowed to run amok like this, right?"

"Didn’t the Sect Leader say, as long as there’s enough talent, there’s no arrogance that can’t be indulged? The Immortal Cultivation Realm has never been a place of seniority and tranquillity. The higher she jumps now, the more it proves the Saint Sect’s indulgence towards her, and further highlights her value. Her deliberate negligence this time is probably to respond to recent rumors; she might occasionally stumble, but she quickly stands up again, not allowing others to take advantage."

The green-masked envoy considered it for a moment, having to admit his senior’s opinions made sense.

"So, we’re just stepping stones for her to make her mark on the world?"

The white-masked envoy laughed, "Why else would this task be pushed around until finally it’s given to you and me? The world’s most beautiful woman, getting to welcome her up close should be a dream task, right?"

Even though the green-masked envoy wore a mask, the intention of blushing was almost overflowing, "That’s true, indeed I was foolish and reckless... Sigh, what do we do now?"

"Wait patiently. Ultimately, she’s coming to the Saint Sect; it’s not us begging her to come. Once she’s had enough fun outside the city, she’ll come over. By the way, I’ll finally get to see my lovely little niece again."

At the end, the white-masked envoy simply took off his mask, revealing a stunningly handsome face.

Meanwhile, the green-masked envoy beside him held his mask even tighter, afraid that his senior might notice his face had turned even redder.