Chapter 1052 - A City
A city!
This was a field. Even though there were ancient trees, they were extremely spa.r.s.e. The earth was dry and hard, without mountain peaks separating them, and that was likely why a city was constructed here, appearing more powerful and imposing.
s.h.i.+ Hao was stunned. He found it just like that?
Was this the place of the Archaic Contract of Alliance? It was so solemn and respectful, grand, exuding a type of unmatched great aura.
Did reaching here mean that he was approaching the Desolate Border? Or was this to say that this was the outermost region?
s.h.i.+ Hao’s heart rose and fell greatly, his expression complex. From the last great era until now, this region had probably remained a land of conflict, right? It was definitely frightening.
Throughout the long river of history, there were definitely many exceptional heroes who roamed about this place, with quite a few of them buried here. Those inspiring and tragic past events were worth reminiscing about.
These were things that perhaps happened too long ago, but they were inextricably linked to the present, because those enemies were still there, to to be more precise, their descendents were still in this world.
It was to the extent where the original enemies were also still alive!
And they were going to come over precisely through the Desolate Border.
s.h.i.+ Hao wanted to know what kind of people these were, or to be more precise, what kind of creatures they were. It was because he wasn’t sure they were people, even if there might be large amounts of humanoid beings.
Even though he experienced that Immortal Ancient dream, he saw too little. Those creatures were covered in gray mists, only claws and scales occasionally appearing, humanoid figures hurriedly flas.h.i.+ng past.
“I have to get closer to this city and get to the bottom of this.”
On the plains, ancient trees were spa.r.s.e, but all of them were tall, every single stalk several hundred zhang tall. They were like small green mountains.
As he got closer, he discovered that the city was quite populated, seemingly still lively enough to be considered bustling. It was because there were all types of noises that sounded, the voices not that soft.
“En?!”
Soon after, s.h.i.+ Hao saw a group of men that rushed out from the city, rus.h.i.+ng in his direction.
Was he discovered? s.h.i.+ Hao’s eyes became serious.
Fortunately, they then rushed in another direction. They were similarly a group of armored mounts, with a heavenly deity leader. This was quite shocking, this place really did have experts everywhere!
What made him feel a bit better was that when he looked inside the city, there were quite a few people whose cultivations weren’t that high, some even at the supreme expert level.
In this type of strange city, people with weaker strength like this were few in number.
It was because in s.h.i.+ Hao’s imagination, regardless of whether this city had fallen or if the people of the higher realms controlled it, there should be large amounts of experts. It would be difficult for any weak individual to survive here.
Then, he saw one person, witch!
She was inside the city, just as weird as usual, beautiful to a ridiculous degree. However, no matter how he looked at how she was acting, she looked like she was leisurely strolling about, not feeling any sense of nervousness.
s.h.i.+ Hao was stunned. How did this fella muddle her way through? She even seemed to be so carefree, not worried about anything at all.
Moreover, most importantly, how did she end up getting here before him?
This place wasn’t that far from the city gates, so s.h.i.+ Hao could see everything inside clearly. The number of people here really wasn’t small, with many different races. There were extremely powerful creatures, as well as weak individuals.
However, the witch already transmitted sound, saying, “Little brat, stop hiding, I noticed you a while ago.”
s.h.i.+ Hao was shocked. In the end, he stopped, looking at the witch who was already leaving the city and coming over. He had all types of questions.
“Hey, hey, hey, stop staring at me as if we’ve never met. Staring blankly like that, it’s as if I’m facing a piece of wood.” The witch was beyond beautiful, but her mouth was just as sharp as always, without any restraint.
“You defected?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked. Of course, he didn’t believe it much himself, but he understood in that instant. He made a huge mistake, this city was definitely different from what he had imagined.
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting? So weird, just like you.” The witch ridiculed.
s.h.i.+ Hao understood, this city hadn"t been captured.
“How did you get ahead of me, arriving even before me?” s.h.i.+ Hao then continued to ask.
“Young man, what are you implying?” The witch shot him a sidelong glance, feeling extremely discontent and a type of provocation, as well as a type of smiling expression, saying, “Could it be that you felt that you are quite lacking, cultivating three strands of immortal energy, yet still ended up arriving after me? Feel extremely unsatisfied? But this is reality, brat, you are still too far off.”
s.h.i.+ Hao was given a harsh las.h.i.+ng with words, but he truly couldn’t say anything in retaliation. He indeed had these types of thoughts, feeling that he was quite strong, already arriving fast enough, yet still ended up falling behind.
“Yi, why aren’t you acting all c.o.c.ky like usual? Could it be that you realized the distance between the two of us? Little fella, work hard then!” The witch put on a proud and experienced look, and after saying this, she couldn’t help but laugh.
“What kind of methods do you have? How exactly did you end up ahead of me?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked, still somewhat unwilling to accept this.
“Did you forget the three great supreme beings flung us out to different spots? I was sent to the very front, so of course I’m a bit faster.” The witch said candidly.
s.h.i.+ Hao didn’t believe this, because the three great supreme beings would at most send people out a million li, while the path he had walked the past few months crossed who knew how many millions of li, difficult to a.s.sess.
He believed that he could overtake anyone in front of him, thus he didn’t believe the witch’s words.
“As luck would have it, the place where I landed on had an ancient transport formation, directly sending me to this city.” The witch explained a step further.
s.h.i.+ Hao was speechless. This was a bit too unfair right? He went through nine deaths one life, encountering all types of dangers along the way, while the witch reached here with a single step, just too easy.
“How did you notice me?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked. He was quite confident in his own concealment methods, yet the witch found him while he was outside the city.
“Because you’re too weak, if I wanted to find you, I could do so with just a turn of my hand.”
When s.h.i.+ Hao heard these words, the root of his teeth directly began to itch. The witch was intentionally acting smug, leaving him quite annoyed.
“Speak, what is going on?” s.h.i.+ Hao’s expression was unkind, putting on an appearance like he was going to take action.
“You had a damaged paG.o.da on you, while I have a stone bead on me. You should remember that those two fellas know each other.” The witch said.
When s.h.i.+ Hao heard this, he became a bit disappointed and frustrated. The little paG.o.da had left for a long time, following Willow Deity into the Primordial Gate. Where was it now? Where did it go? Did it truly arrive at the very forefront of the battlefield?
Or was it to say that they broke free, entering the holiest place?
s.h.i.+ Hao wished to see them again, only, he knew that it wasn’t likely. At the very least, he didn’t have that type of ability right now.
It was obvious that the stone bead on the witch detected s.h.i.+ Hao, and that was why she was able to immediately sense his arrival.
“Why are you acting all sneaky and secretive outside, not daring to go in?” The witch asked.
“Can’t you use better words? Why would you call someone like me sneaky and secretive? You actually have the nerve to talk about a heroic person like me in that manner?” s.h.i.+ Hao glared at her.
“A foodie, a little thief!” The witch muttered.
Then, s.h.i.+ Hao learned about some of the truth from her mouth. This city was quite special, but it still wasn’t the enormous city they were looking for.
He was thus shocked. A ma.s.sive city like this wasn’t even their destination?
“Are there many ancient cities like this in the forbidden region?” He found this hard to understand. It was the uninhabited region, so how could there be so many cities?
“There aren’t that many, the amount rather few.” The witch said.
She told s.h.i.+ Hao that the true ancient city was over a hundred times more grand than this one, incredibly imposing like a Heavenly Emperor’s city, standing tall at the border.
“You should already know that from the past until now, there had always been exceptional figures entering that city to fulfill the Archaic Contract of Alliance. Meanwhile, they also have disciples, their later generations also taking root in this region.”
“You are saying that the city before us is a place where the descendents of those exceptional figures reside?”
“Correct, the population grew larger and larger, thus becoming a city.”
s.h.i.+ Hao suddenly understood. This city similarly carried special meaning, because since they found this place, then that meant they weren’t far from the true enormous city.
“Why aren’t you leaving then?” s.h.i.+ Hao was confused. Since the witch already reached this place, it made more sense for her to continue towards the true enormous city.
Soon after, he obtained a piece of shocking information. There were opportunities in this region, rumored to have a Qilin egg.
“Pure blooded Qilin?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked with shock.
“Correct, there have been some irregular sights recently, sometimes in the mountains and valleys, sometimes underground. Many people saw a white little Qillin appear in the void.”
When he heard the witch’s words, s.h.i.+ Hao couldn’t remain calm any longer. It was because he thought back to the little girl in the Immortal Ancient dream, she had previously carried a little White Qilin.
s.h.i.+ Hao entered the city with the witch, telling her along the way that he had previously been cut off by a group of experts.
“There were these type of people after all!” The witch was also shocked.
She learned of many things from here. In recent years, a terrifying aura seeped out from the Desolate Border, making a few people go mad. To be more precise, their minds were invaded, their intelligence confused.
Only, this type of people hid rather well, normally difficult to find.
Meanwhile, this time, s.h.i.+ Hao unexpectedly encountered a group of people that belonged to the city’s experts. This situation was extremely serious.
“The Desolate Border is about to become chaotic, they are about to pa.s.s through as expected!” s.h.i.+ Hao said to himself.
The witch’s expression was also grave, feeling that great chaos was coming, the situation terrible to the extreme!
s.h.i.+ Hao entered the city, not leaving immediately, instead temporarily staying here. It was because he also wanted to look for that Qilin egg.
In reality, many people in the city were looking, because recently, that White Qilin irregular scene would appear from time to time, many people now knowing about it.
“Cannot let Six Crown King obtain it!” s.h.i.+ Hao said. Ning Chuan had Qilin patterns upon birth, so if he encountered the Qilin egg, there were too many unpredictable things that might happen.
Just two days later, s.h.i.+ Hao also saw the irregular scene. In the distant mountain valley, there was auspicious light that surged. A little White Qilin appeared, vivid and lifelike.
The cultivators all went mad, all of them rus.h.i.+ng over, s.h.i.+ Hao no exception, rus.h.i.+ng forward.
Then, his mind was shaken, immediately becoming stupefied. That irregular scene’s little Qilin was clearly the one he saw from Immortal Ancient, there was no mistake!
What left him the most shocked was that there was another sound that rang out in his mind, an immature voice, saying, “Why do you look a bit familiar?”
“We met not too long ago! You didn’t die, surviving?!” s.h.i.+ Hao’s voice was even shaking.
“Nonsense, I slept for so many years, how could I have met you before?!” The little Qilin said.
“A dream back to Immortal Ancient, we met before in Southern Sea Purple Bamboo Forest, you were carried in a young lady’s arms!” s.h.i.+ Hao said.
“What, it’s you, you… were actually in this era!” The little Qilin cried out, and then it began to cry, feeling incomparably grieved, saying to s.h.i.+ Hao, “I was waiting, waiting for so many years, waiting for her to appear again, but she’s gone, never coming to find me…”