Chapter 156: Chapter 154: Zhenyue Immortal City (Extra Chapter 1/5 for book friend Polar Bear 2018, as a reward to the Alliance Leader)

In the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, Demon Beasts gather in groups. Every few decades or even centuries, high-tier Demon Beasts launch a “Beast Tide” assaulting the cultivation realm of the Liuyun Continent outside the mountains.

Therefore, in order to curb the damage caused by the “Beast Tide” to the cultivation realm of the Liuyun Continent, throughout countless years, various major forces of the Liuyun Continent cultivation realm, near the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, have successively built the six Immortal Cities of Ju Que, Cold Abyss, Jingyang, Qingsong, Zhenyue, and Bai Yun in strategic locations around the mountain range.

The six Immortal Cities are established in succession at various strategic locations on the periphery of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range. Each Immortal City houses at least three thousand regular troops of cultivators, not to mention the numerous cultivators who come to the mountain range to hunt Demon Beasts.

Every time a “Beast Tide” erupts in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, the six Immortal Cities serve as the forward bases to resist the “Beast Tide” onslaught. Without taking down these six Immortal Cities, the main army of the Beast Tide dares not venture deep into the cultivation realm of the Liuyun Continent, or else they would face the risk of being attacked from both the front and the back.

However, ever since the six Immortal Cities were successively established, there has been no record of a “Beast Tide” in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range successfully breaking through all six Immortal Cities consecutively.

Even in that “Super Beast Tide” which lasted over thirty years, it only broke through four of the six Immortal Cities. The last two remained firmly in the hands of human cultivators.

To this day, these six Immortal Cities not only serve as the forward bases for the cultivators of the Liuyun Continent cultivation realm to resist the “Beast Tide” onslaught but also provide supply bases for those hunting Demon Beasts around the periphery of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

Apart from excluding those low-tier cultivators, at least half of the middle-to-high tier cultivators, who are at the Foundation Establishment Stage and above, in the Liuyun Continent cultivation realm, have had the experience of hunting Demon Beasts in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

This time when the “Beast King Horn” was sounded, the cultivators of the six Immortal Cities had already received the news, knowing the “Beast Tide” was imminent, and even the request for assistance to the rear was transmitted immediately.

At the same time, the leaders of the six Immortal Cities also began to issue a large number of scouting missions concerning the “Beast Tide” to the Demon Beast Hunters in the city.

Dong Jianping is one such Demon Beast Hunter who received a scouting mission about the “Beast Tide.”

Originating as a Loose Cultivator, since he stepped into the Late-Stage Qi Cultivation, Dong Jianping has been working as a Demon Beast Hunter in the vicinity of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range. Now, even though his cultivation has reached the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, he is still in this line of work.

As a Demon Beast Hunter at the Foundation Establishment Stage, this is Dong Jianping’s second encounter with a “Beast Tide.” Last time he managed to find two corpses of Tier Three Demon Beasts amidst the “Beast Tide” and thus gathered enough Spirit Stones to successfully achieve Foundation Establishment.

Because of this experience, upon learning of the “Beast Tide” reappearing this time, he was not at all panicked but rather saw it as an opportunity.

He prepared to earn a sum of Spirit Stones during this “Beast Tide” and then retire from being a Demon Beast Hunter, returning to a safe area in the rear with his wife and children to establish a cultivation clan and spend the remaining decades of his life in peace.

Therefore, he was almost among the first batch of cultivators to accept the scouting mission for the “Beast Tide,” and after accepting the mission, he bid farewell to his family to head into the Broken Cloud Mountain Range on a mission.

For more than a month, he had been continuously sending back the intelligence he gathered from his scouting to Zhenyue Immortal City and received high praise from the chief intelligence officer there.

Now as the number of Demon Beasts gathering in the “Beast Tide” increased, and the sound of the “Beast King Horn” was heard less frequently, Dong Jianping judged, based on his experience and the information at hand, that the “Beast Tide” attack would likely occur within the next half month, hence he had already started to retreat.

However, less than half a day into his retreat, he suddenly saw a golden Sword Light flying overhead.

When he saw this golden Sword Light, he was secretly sneering in his heart, thinking that the owner of this Sword Light was really courting death to dare fly by sword at this time.

Yet, before this thought lingered for even a few seconds, the angry roar of Demon Beasts from the direction of the golden Sword Light made his face freeze with a smile, and without a word, he hastily released his Flying Sword and started to flee with Sword Control.

It was seen that from the direction of the beast roars, more than a dozen large Tier Three Demon Beasts were crossing mountains and ridges, closely chasing the two Sword Lights.

Although Tier Three Demon Beasts cannot fly, when they run at full speed, their speed is not much inferior to that of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator flying by sword. With their powerful physical bodies, even running for a whole day might not make them feel tired.

However, most of the time, terrestrial Tier Three Demon Beasts would not keep chasing a cultivator relentlessly because, to a Demon Beast, leaving the area they are familiar with would cause extreme insecurity.

Yet this time, for reasons unknown, those beasts were seemingly mad, chasing the two Sword Lights for two to three thousand miles before stopping by a thousand-foot-wide great river, angrily roaring at the distant Sword Lights on the opposite bank.

“I say, fellow Daoist, what kind of reprehensible act did you commit to provoke those Demon Beasts into such a relentless pursuit?”

In the small woods across the river, after dropping his Sword Light, Dong Jianping angrily questioned the owner of the golden Sword Light in front of him.

Being chased by a group of Demon Beasts for thousands of miles without reason, anyone would be in a bad mood; the fact that Dong Jianping didn’t act immediately is already very restrained.

“I truly apologize, it’s because of Fellow Zhou that you were frightened. This is a little token from Zhou, please kindly accept!”

Zhouyang, seeing Dong Jianping’s face full of anger, showed a flash of embarrassment on his face, then bowed slightly with a full face of apology and tossed a piece of Middle-grade Spirit Stone to him as a compensation gift.

A piece of Middle-grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for a hundred pieces of Low-grade Spirit Stones at the market rate, but in actual practice, no one would willingly exchange a Middle-grade Spirit Stone for Low-grade Spirit Stones unless it was at a premium.

Receiving Zhouyang’s compensation gift, and seeing his sincere attitude in apologizing, Dong Jianping’s anger dissipated somewhat.

Actually, he also knew that in such a situation, even if it were him, he would also prioritize fleeing first.

Just blame his bad luck for being caught on Zhouyang’s escape route, leading him to flee the entire way.

At this moment, seeing Zhouyang unwilling to explain the reason for the Demon Beast pursuit, while also apologizing and compensating him, he decided not to pursue the matter further.

He weighed the Middle-grade Spirit Stone in his hand, then put it away in his Storage Bag, waved a hand with a frustrated expression, and said: “Forget it, seeing that you sincerely apologized, Dong will not hold it against you, farewell!”

Saying that, he turned to leave.

“Fellow Daoist, wait!”

Zhouyang, seeing Dong Jianping about to leave, quickly spoke out to stop him, and then with an awkward smile, said: “To be honest, Fellow Daoist, Zhou is new to hunting Demon Beasts in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range and unfamiliar with the environment here, since Fellow Daoist is heading back to the Immortal City, I wonder if Zhou could accompany you for the journey?”

This cultivator in front of him, clearly a cultivator from the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Zhouyang, having encountered him, naturally didn’t want to wander blindly alone through the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

As for why he kept his true origins concealed, it was naturally for safety reasons, otherwise knowing he, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, crossed through the Broken Cloud Mountain Range to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, might even intrigue those with no ill intentions toward him.

Dong Jianping, hearing his words, eased his vigilance a bit, then casually said: “Bringing you back to the Immortal City isn’t hard, but how can Dong trust you?”

This place is the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, a land of no rules, Dong Jianping has spent over a hundred years as a Demon Beast Hunter, having witnessed and experienced numerous incidents of cultivators killing each other for treasures, how could he easily trust the stranger Zhouyang he just met?

“Zhou understands Fellow Daoist’s concerns, given that we are mere acquaintances met by chance.”

Zhouyang nodded slightly, understanding Dong Jianping’s thoughts, then shifted his tone: “How about this, Fellow Daoist just needs to point out the direction, and Zhou will clear the path ahead, this way Fellow Daoist can be assured, right?”

By taking the lead, he essentially exposes his back to Dong Jianping, showing his utmost sincerity.

Dong Jianping, hearing this, considered, feeling Zhouyang’s considerable sincerity, and given he was two cultivation levels higher than Zhouyang, it would be too unreasonable to refuse.

Especially when even if he rejected Zhouyang’s proposal, Zhouyang could still follow him,

In that situation, he’d either engage with Zhouyang or simply escort him away.

Thus, he might as well do him a favor and help Zhouyang out.

“Alright then, you go first, take this path.”

With clarity, Dong Jianping eased his expression, then extended his hand, pointing out the direction for Zhouyang.

Afterwards, with Dong Jianping, a local guide leading the way, Zhouyang’s journey turned smooth.

The two first traveled on foot for several days through rugged mountains until completely leaving the Tier Three Demon Beast activity area, entering the outermost zone of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, then they could liberally practice Sword Flight to hasten their journey.

Thus, on the tenth day since meeting Dong Jianping, Zhouyang finally saw the Zhenyue Immortal City that Dong Jianping spoke of.

This was Zhouyang’s first time seeing such a magnificent Immortal City.

This Zhenyue Immortal City rests upon a towering Immortal Mountain, the main peak of the mountain reaching over seventeen hundred zhang, surrounded by two auxiliary peaks over a thousand zhang tall.

These three thousand-zhang peaks form the vertices of a triangle, while three hundred-li long white cloud bridges suspended a thousand-zhang high form the triangle’s sides, linking the three thousand-zhang peaks into a whole, forming an upside-down triangle pointing toward the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

Meanwhile, beneath each of the three peaks, tall walls encircle the entire mountains, towering over a hundred zhang high and stretching over thirty zhang wide, with Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifact “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow” powered by Spirit Stones placed every several dozen zhang along, alongside Defense Corps cultivators seated nearby controlling the artifacts.

Behind these walls atop the Immortal Mountain, various towers, pavilions, and palaces emanating spiritual light rise, bustling with cultivators coming and going.

The area between the Immortal Mountain and the walls is where mortals reside within Zhenyue Immortal City.

“That is Zhenyue Immortal City, Fellow Daoist Zhou, since you have never entered the Immortal City before, you need to register your identity and background information at the registration area under the city walls, and then you can receive the Immortal Token to enter.”

In the sky, as Zhouyang was still reeling from the impact Zhenyue Immortal City left on him, Dong Jianping, accompanying him all the way, pointed out the place where he needed to handle entry formalities before entering.

Then, without waiting for his response, Dong Jianping’s Flying Sword moved, and he directly flew towards one of the three Immortal Mountains.