Chapter 292: Chapter 201: The Grandeur of the Royal City, Notifying Luo Yu, Old Friends from Qianyuan City Have Arrived
If Liang Yuewu hadn’t been in seclusion healing at this moment,
with his spiritual power, he would have instantly sensed Jiang Shu’s location,
and in the very first moment of the missile launch, could have gotten far from the Liang Family.
But there were no ifs.
The specially made S-class missile blasted out at ten times the speed of sound. Intense heat rose on its surface within an instant, burning the air, like a blazing sun smashing straight into the attic where Liang Yuewu was meditating in seclusion.
"Boom!"
The luxurious attic was swallowed by flames.
The massive explosion rang out across Yunzhou’s state city,
shaking heaven and earth!
All the Martial Artists who had kept their distance from the Liang Family, ready to watch the show, trembled all over. The deafening noise and blinding light shook them to the core.
*What an utterly terrifying attack.*
*Treasure?*
*No way, even a treasure couldn’t unleash power like this!*
"Ancestor!"
Liang Tingwen, who had barely just leapt a few dozen feet into the air, felt his pupils contract violently. He could clearly feel that the ancestor’s mighty aura inside the attic, which had once hung high and bright like the moon, had faded in that instant, growing so faint as to be nearly unnoticeable, and then disappeared completely without a trace.
*The ancestor... shattered?*
*No!*
*Impossible!*
The ancestor was a Detachment Realm powerhouse—beside Furnace Fire Realm, who else could kill him!
Screams, furious shouts, and the sounds of panic and flight erupted throughout the Liang Family compound, wave after wave.
The missile’s aftershock continued, with countless severed limbs sent blasting out of the Liang Family grounds by the immense shockwave.
The Liang Family, a powerful clan that had stood for nearly a thousand years, in that instant became a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
The earth cracked; buildings collapsed.
"Big brother!"
Leaping up to steady the nearly unconscious Liang Tingwen, Liang Tingtao’s eyes blazed with grief and rage. This kind of power had already surpassed everything he understood.
Treasure attacks always bore incredibly obvious primordial power and spiritual fluctuations.
But that iron missile had fallen without any trace of either.
*Could this be divine punishment?*
*What kind of being had their Liang Family provoked?*
...
"These Thunder Peng Netherworld Wings really were the best thing for killing and looting, chasing or fleeing."
High in the sky, Jiang Shu streaked like a bolt of lightning, instantly covering thirty miles.
At the moment the armor-piercing missile exploded, he could sense several Detachment Realm powerhouses in Yunzhou’s state city soar into the air, their spiritual power sweeping the heavens.
If not for the Thunder Peng Netherworld Wings,
he would have had no option but to use the Two Realms Shuttle to escape.
*After all, in the Da Jing Dynasty, without absolute power, you’d always have to bow before the authority of the court.*
*Killing a Detachment Realm powerhouse and destroying half a great clan—this was way too big.*
"Though Detachment Realm is the Sixth Realm of Martial Arts, it still stuck within the scope of mere flesh. Faced with a missile, you could only dodge—if hit, death was certain."
The whistling wind lashed at his ears as Jiang Shu muttered.
*While he hadn’t seen Liang Yuewu’s death with his own eyes, he knew—under a missile, all were equal.*
*If you wanted to resist a missile head-on,*
*you had to climb to a higher realm.*
Furnace Fire... Primordial Pill.
He sprinted onward, day rising, moon sinking.
"Furnace Fire Realm, the world as a forge, and I am the flame within. It means merging with the world, strengthening your own ability to refine Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. But Spiritual Cultivation’s different. Spiritual Cultivation strengthens the body starting from the spirit."
"This time when I return, I have to get myself a higher-level meditation technique!"
*He didn’t know just how powerful Furnace Fire Realm truly was,*
but piecing things together from what scraps he’d heard, Jiang Shu could roughly infer how the cultivation worked.
The Furnace Fire Realm’s strength came down to the strength of the surrounding world itself.
If the Heaven and Earth here had thin Yuan Qi, a Furnace Fire practitioner’s power would sink to rock bottom.
*But Spiritual Cultivation wasn’t like that.*
*Spiritual Cultivation focused on oneself, starting from the spirit to strengthen the body.*
After stepping into the Fetal Breathing Realm, the shackles on Jiang Shu’s body were completely broken, and every day he could feel his life force growing stronger.
If a little over a month ago, his body had only barely broken the sound barrier, his fist deadly at a hundred steps,
now, even without using Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, just the force of his own punch rivaled a Cloud Bomb—he could smash a Xuanxing skyscraper flat with one hit.
And this was just the beginning of Fetal Breathing Realm!
After days of flight, Jiang Shu finally arrived at the heart of the Da Jing Dynasty: King’s City!
King’s City didn’t belong to any prefecture. Its vastness could not be described in words.
From the sky, Jiang Shu could plainly see at the city’s far southern edge, storms massed and spring rain fell in sheets.
While up here in the north, the skies stretched clear and blue.
He could even spot, within just one city, several small hills. The hills were fenced in by soldiers and turned into private hunting grounds for nobles.
He didn’t even have to get close; the city’s imposing presence crashed over him like a wave.
Above King’s City itself, there was a transparent barrier—a shield, within which powerful primordial and spiritual energy currents swirled.
They blocked all primordial power and spiritual power from seeping in.
"So this is King’s City... No wonder—even the greatest state city only has geniuses from the Little Dragon Tiger List; the real monsters all gather here."
Landing quietly on a plain not far from the walls, Jiang Shu used Concealing Steps until he stood before the gates, finally letting himself become visible.
At the base of the towering city walls—over a hundred meters tall—soldiers at Blood Exchange Realm patrolled up and down. Even Acupoint Passage Realm experts, who could run roughshod over an entire state city, had to obediently queue up and register to enter here.
"Jiang Shu, from Yunzhou. Here’s your identification token—head over there and pay one Essence Yuan Great Pill and you’ll be able to enter the city."
"Of course, the Essence Yuan Great Pill only guarantees you a month of coming and going. If you want to stay longer, you’ll need to pay the fee again, once each month."
Putting the token away in his sleeve, Jiang Shu stepped into King’s City.
One Essence Yuan Great Pill didn’t seem expensive, but in truth, it was only an entry ticket.
Inside King’s City, everything from lodging to food was extravagant to the extreme. Ordinary people simply couldn’t live here.
Tracing anyone’s ancestors back, they’d be linked with nobility, renowned clans, or perhaps even royal blood.
The children running and chasing in the streets may not have begun their martial practice, but every step they took in play moved like fledgling martial arts forms.
Skin pale and healthy; bones and sinews strong; their churning blood rivaled that of any average person on Xuanxing.
Taking things easy, Jiang Shu strolled slowly, keeping his primordial and spiritual power carefully hidden.
This was King’s City; what he needed to do was familiarize himself with the place as quickly as possible and learn all there was to know.
Get his hands on a supreme cultivation technique, reach the Detachment Realm, and enter the Hundred Kingdoms Tournament!
"Is this young lord’s first time in King’s City?"
Just as Jiang Shu decided to do what always worked—find an inn, and get the lay of the land from a bellhop, a voice suddenly sounded at his side.
He glanced over and saw a slightly chubby youth rush up with an ingratiating smile, "If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me. I know everything in King’s City—there’s not much I don’t know."
"Anything from food and clothing to places to stay and play. Where the most beautiful women are, which merchant guilds have the juiciest gossip, which families have the deepest foundations—I’m your man."
"You even know where supreme cultivation techniques can be bought?"
Instead of refusing, Jiang Shu smiled and tossed an Essence Yuan Great Pill his way, "Just chat as we walk. Lead the way—to the Luo Family."
"Hey—thank you, young lord, for your generosity!"
At the sight of the Essence Yuan Great Pill, the youth’s eyes went wide. He stuffed it into his chest, glanced around furtively, and his voice turned a touch servile.
"So the young lord wants to go to the Luo Family. That’s up in North City—bit of a hike. I know a shortcut, but maybe you’d like to see more of King’s City, so let’s go the main road."
Glancing at Jiang Shu and seeing a slight nod, the youth went on,
"Since it’s your first time in King’s City, let me give you a few pointers. Here, the greatest power absolutely belongs to the Dynasty’s court. You saw the protective barrier outside King’s City, right? Folks say it’s a primordial power array that the court begged off the True Martial Sect."
"That array shields all of King’s City—Detachment Realm powerhouses can’t break in by force, they have to meekly queue up at the gate. Pretty amazing, right?"
There was no mistaking the pride in the youth’s words. He pointed to a row of tall, packed buildings nearby, "That’s the Qian Family. Not a noble clan, but the court’s honored ministers. They seldom opened their doors before, but now with the Hundred Kingdoms Tournament coming up, you can’t even count how many geniuses have come streaming home from outside training."
"The doors of the great families all stand open—they want to poach these geniuses before anyone else can."
"Doesn’t King’s City have the Dragon Tiger List?"
Sensing the strong auras coming from inside the Qian Estate, Jiang Shu asked casually.
"Oh, the geniuses on the Dragon Tiger List are one thing, but actually, there are far more geniuses who don’t fit on any ranking. Take Luo Yu from the Luo Family you’re going to—he was number eight on the Dragon Tiger List not long ago. After he returned, within just a month, he advanced to Detachment Realm!"
"People say he found some incredible fortune outside. A lot of King’s City’s geniuses are like that. The Dragon Tiger List, in the end, is just the geniuses of the Dynasty. But those who enter the Hundred Kingdoms Tournament—those become sect geniuses. The gap there is way bigger than the Little Dragon Tiger List to the main list."
"By the way, young lord, do you know Young Lord Luo Yu at the Luo Family?"
The more the youth talked, the more excited he became. Wondering if he’d get to visit the Luo Family soon, he asked curiously. When Jiang Shu didn’t answer, he realized he’d overstepped and quickly changed the subject.
*Makes sense.*
*Luo Yu was a Detachment Realm powerhouse now.*
*Even before that, he’d been eighth on the Dragon Tiger List.*
*As generous as this young lord was, in the end, he’d still come up from a state city somewhere in the Dynasty.*
*That marked him as a genius from the Little Dragon Tiger List.*
*He’d seen plenty like that before.*
*Heading to the Luo Family, maybe he was trying to join up—after all, jumping from Little Dragon Tiger to Dragon Tiger List without a powerful clan at your back was damn near impossible.*
*He guessed all this to himself.*
The youth kept up a commentary as they walked: ancient architecture, noble honors, family legacies...
Until they arrived at the Luo Family.
Two huge stone beasts guarded the gates, regal and imposing.
A line of Martial Artists queued up at the entrance, registering their identities, hoping to become retainers.
"Young lord, are you here to meet someone, or do you want to join as a retainer? Want me to queue for you?"
Thinking of the Essence Yuan Great Pill he’d received, the youth lowered his voice.
Maybe it was news of Luo Yu breaking into Detachment Realm and shaking all of King’s City: these days, more and more Martial Artists showed up at the Luo Family’s door.
After all, if Luo Yu truly won a spot in the Hundred Kingdoms Tournament and got into a sect,
the Luo Family would become one of the biggest clans in King’s City overnight.
Their retainers would share in the glory, too—there’d never be a shortage of martial resources.
"No need."
Jiang Shu pulled a jade token from his storage bag and tossed it over, saying, "Give this to the gatekeeper. Tell them someone from Qianyuan City’s past has come for Luo Yu."