102 Cloud King city. (1/2)
Li Yang left behind faint trails of lightning as he dashed, practically ignoring everything else as he moved. There were some places he had to move around, as the map he had taken warned him that there were rather powerful Demonic beasts or other natural hazards present in the area. But other than these few detours, he cut a straight line through the hidden realm, heading directly for Cloud King city.
If he was allowed to dash without being stopped, he calculated that he would reach Cloud King city in about a month, a testament to how large this hidden realm was. Of course, given how many people had entered this hidden realm and were currently taking part in this contest, as well as the myriad of Demonic beasts already living here, it was impossible for Li Yang to run the entire distance without being stopped.
He was forced to stop a total of five times, three times due to human groups and twice due to Demonic beasts. The Demonic beasts managed to stop him by swarming him in a manner that left him with no choice but to stop what he was doing and kill them, allowing him to gather up a few points as well as a few Demonic beasts corpses that would be useful for cultivation or arrays.
As for the humans that stopped him, two of the groups stopped him by chasing after him for so long that he found it easier to just turn around and kill them. The final group managed to ambush him thanks to an array they had set up ahead of time, probably preparing it to trap anyone who might move past their area. The array turned into thick chains that coiled around his body and forced him to stop, nearly sealing up his movements as the ones who set up the array charged at him.
Sadly for them, their array was unable to fully stop Li Yang, so he could dodge their attacks and divert part of his mind to finding the weak point of the array. Finding the weak point was far easier than unraveling an array like this so it didn't take too long for him to find a spot a bit weaker than the rest of the array. A well-aimed bolt of lightning and fire pierced through the spot and caused the array to crumble in that area, giving Li Yang enough room to kill off the assailants.
Due to these interruptions, as well as the fact that he often stopped running so that he could rest and restore himself to peak condition, it took him almost three months to actually reach Cloud King city. It took quite a bit longer than he first calculated, but he didn't regret stopping to rest. There was no telling what he might encounter in this hidden realm so it was best to always maintain his peak state.
He stood at the top of a tall hill covered in waist-high grass, looking down at the distant Cloud King city. High in the sky above him floated a massive continent, so large that he couldn't even see the end of it from his position. The bottom of the continent was covered in a massive array that released a bright light, acting as a type of replacement sun to cast light on everything beneath it.
Cloud King city was a very large city, almost filling up the entire horizon. The entire city was surrounded by a tall wall that seemed to be made from some type of bone, every inch of it covered in runes that gathered together to form a massive array that looked like a coiling dragon. The buildings in the city were made using a type of white stone that looked rather porous, the buildings were tightly packed right past the wall, but the distance between them grew longer as you got closer to the center of the city.At the very center of the city stood five golden towers that stretched towards the sky, with the tower at the center almost twice as large as the other four towers.
Li Yang only gave the city a quick sweep from his vantage point before he descended the hill and headed for the city, passing through the large metal gates that served as the entrance. Just by looking at the layout of the city, he was able to easily guess that the array needed to head up to the floating continent was likely located in the largest of the five towers.
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What Li Yang didn't know was that shortly after he entered the city, there was movement in the fifth golden tower. A somewhat burly man clad in the gray robes of the Puppet God sect was walking through the hallways of the tower, passing through a door made from a type of strange crystal and entering a rather large room. The room was rather exquisitely decorated, the couches and chairs in the room draped with the furs of Demonic beasts, a few rather rare flowers lined up against the walls.
There were several more people from the Puppet God sect seated on a pair of long couches that were separated by a wooden table covered in fresh food and wine. The man gave the people sitting around the table a courteous bow, delivering his report.
”I have received a report that a member of the Yuan clan has entered the city. He came from the opposite direction of the other Yuan clan members so I don't think that he belongs to the group that has been given a spot by the clan, he has likely earned his spot in one of the minor competitions. I have come to ask how I should deal with him?”
The Yuan clan and the Puppet God sect didn't have a cordial relationship, especially not amongst the lower ranks of the clan. It was very common for inner and outer disciples of these two organizations to battle and kill each other. One of the disciples that was currently eating, a man with short brown hair and blue eyes that looked to be in his twenties, raised his eyes slightly and gave it a bit of thought before giving a dismissive wave of his hand.
”If he's below the Immortal Rebirth realm, send Sun Ling to deal with him. If he's in the Immortal Rebirth realm then just ignore him for now. It's nice to thin the numbers of the Yuan clan, but it won't be worth it if we risk losing one of our stronger members, nor do we want to alert the other clans and sects that something is going on. We need as many of our people as we can get when we ascend to the Cloud God's Garden, otherwise, we might not be able to hold back the other sects when the Ocean God's Graveyard opens.”
The Puppet God sect had brought all their forces to Cloud King city, preparing to ascend to the floating continent with all their members. The reason behind this was that they had learned that the Ocean God's Graveyard was opening once more.The floating continent, the Cloud God's Garden, was a very special place in this hidden realm, it was one of the main reasons the Huo clan could become one of the strongest clans. It was also the existence of this continent that forced the Huo clan to allow the other sects and clans to take part in this competition time after time.
The Cloud God's Garden did not come from this planet, in fact, it didn't even come from this universe. It had been discovered countless years ago by someone whose name had already been lost to time, drifting from owner to owner before eventually being bought by the people who would one day found the Huo, Tian, and Duan clans. They had then joined forces to create this hidden realm around the continent, using it as the core of the hidden realm.
Of course, very few people actually knew the truth of the Cloud God's Garden, only the very top disciples of each sect and clan were ever told the full truth. Most people didn't even know about the existence of this continent, they were simply told that the Huo clan allowed others to enter this hidden realm out of the kindness of their heart.
Of course, this 'kindness' only existed as long as none of the others that entered this hidden realm found any good resources. It was one thing for a member of a large clan or sect to acquire any good resources, but once an unaffiliated cultivator found anything good, he might be thoroughly 'convinced' to sell what he had found.
There were countless strange places that spawned wondrous resources on the continent, but there were some that stood out from among the rest. One of these places was the Ocean God's graveyard, a part of the continent that was usually locked up by an array that had existed on the continent since it was first found. After being used as the core of this hidden realm, it had only opened once before, and it was using the resources found in this graveyard that the Tian clan had managed to take the top position amongst all the other clans and sects.
Now that the Ocean God's Graveyard was opening again, and seemingly none of the other sects and clans knew about it, there was no way the Puppet God sect would miss this chance. They had prepared for this for several years already, there was no way they would let anything go awry now. The burly man gave another courteous bow and then left the room, handing the order over to Sun Ling.
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