Chapter 201: Traps, Traps, Traps Everywhere (1/2)

Xiankan, the Nephrite capital!

This was Lu Yun’s first real glimpse into the world of immortals. The capital wasn’t so much a city as it was a hub world. Heavy traffic roamed about towering architecture like any other city, but a good number of giant glowing orbs filled the air, every one of them a small, standalone world.

Renowned clans and aristocratic families lodged in these floating worlds instead of the buildings within the city. Owning a small world in Xiankan was testament to one's identity and status.

Lu Yun took in a deep breath and abruptly sensed signs of a breakthrough in his stagnant cultivation! There was an abundance of qi in the surroundings, or more precisely, immortal energy. It was almost ten times as thick as even Life Province!

And this was just the outer city.

Ambient energy within the small worlds was more than a hundred times denser than in Life Province. Even though Lu Yun had occasionally viewed the capital through his envoys’ memories, he still couldn’t help but be awestruck when faced with the real thing.

“First time in Xiankan, bumpkin?” mocked a haughty voice.

Cultivators around them sniggered at Lu Yun’s look of wonder, sneering at him with self-importance and conceit. Their gazes made Lu Yun very uncomfortable; these people didn’t just think they were superior, but were picking on him on purpose.

Xiankan is a minefield!

“It is indeed my first time here.” Lu Yun kept a level head and nodded slightly.

Upon entering the city, he, Qing Han, and Ge Long had disembarked and stowed the fortress ship. Chen Xiao had taken it from a powerful clan in Nephrite Major, and Lu Yun didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to move against him.

If anyone dared attack him, a Nephrite official, in the capital, it’d be considered a challenge of the imperial court’s authority. No matter who the attacker was, they and their faction would be eliminated by the court, especially in sensitive times like these.

If Lu Yun courted death himself, however, that was another story. Outside the city, the fortress ship could protect him from powerful immortals, but here, it would only doom him.

Expressions further sharpened with arrogance and condescension upon hearing his response. A peculiar atmosphere descended, as if the crowd were teachers to a humble, grovelling supplicant.

“Ignore them.” Qing Han stopped Lu Yun from engaging them in a conversation. “Cultivators in the outer city are mostly degenerates, struggling to live. They don’t dare enter the inner city, nor do they have the courage to adventure in the outside world. Thus, they hole up here and hide away.”

“What did you just say, brat?!” The cultivator who’d spoken shot Qing Han a malicious glare, manifested a sword, and pointed it at the imperial envoy. “On your knees and apologize, or die!”

Rumble. He released the power of peak transformed spirit realm.

“He doesn’t know who you are?” Lu Yun looked askance at the cultivator.

“They’re just a bunch of lowly scum who bully the weak and fear the strong,” Qing Han scoffed. “I go in and out of Xiankan on my fortress ship and rarely walk about in the outer city. They don’t have a chance to know me.”

“Fortress ship?” came a derisive snort. “You sure know how to run your mouth. Don’t blame me for not knowing mercy if you don’t apologize and compensate me with thirty thousand immortal crystals!”

How important could nascent spirit and refined spirit realm cultivators, followed by an elderly golden core servant, possibly be?