Chapter 1406: Leaving Seclusion
As the excitement for the upcoming competition had begun to spread throughout the territory of the Star Shattering Sect, causing both established powers and wandering cultivators to gather towards the Falling Star City. At the edge of the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire, Chu Yang cautiously poked his head out of the small cave he had hidden himself inside of to stabilize his cultivation base after directly having broken through from the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm to the Peak of the Fifth Stage.
Although he had expected it to at least take him a week to stabilize his cultivation base given just how much his strength had improved, it ultimately ended up taking longer than that. Forcing him to remain hidden inside the small cave to ensure that he wouldn’t end up encountering any problems in the future because of an unstable foundation.
During this period of time, he had several close calls with demon beasts or cultivators who roamed the edges of the mountains. Only managing to avoid detection because their cultivation was too low to notice him without specifically looking for him.
The only time where he had been close to being discovered was when the people, he had originally been secretly following behind inside the mysterious secret realm emerged from the cave he had first come out of after leaving the mysterious secret realm.
Luckily, it seemed like those people were far too occupied by getting as far away from the mountain range as possible to notice him, as they had run straight past him. Heading directly for the city located a short distance from his current location.
If that Soul Ascension Realm cultivator had even paid a little bit of attention, it would have been over for him, as he had absolutely no way to hide himself from someone in the Soul Ascension Realm.
Of course, there was a chance that the other party would just ignore him, but considering how the people from his family had been acting when routing up people to serve as meat shields while exploring the secret realm, he doubted that the other party would do something like that. Especially considering that someone in the Domain Lord Realm would normally carry a large number of treasures on them.
Even though the other party was someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, there was no way that anyone could say no to what were essentially free treasures given their difference in strength.
“But that was the past… Now that my strength has stabilized, it’s finally time for me to check out that city.” Muttering this to himself while remembering how fearful he had felt when that Soul Ascension Realm cultivator had moved past him, Chu Yang didn’t waste much more time at the entrance of the cave before starting his journey towards the small city he had seen located close to the edge of the mountain range a few weeks earlier.
Although he had no idea how safe that city might be considering that it was also related to the one on the other side of the mountain range that he had a less-than-optimal experience inside of, he at least believed that he wouldn’t suddenly end up getting attacked the moment he stepped into the city.
The only thing he had to do before entering that city was ensure that his somewhat flawed disguise was fixed up, as it had been damaged and worn off during the last few weeks.
Even if it might not be that useful, it would at least make so people would have to take a second glance at him to discover that something was wrong.
Not to mention, even if they discovered that he was hiding his identity, this wasn’t something unusual inside the chaotic neutral region, as there were a lot of people who had come there escaping from something either in the Blue Sea Empire or the Wei Empire. Not wanting their identity to be revealed and their enemies coming after them.
Of course, there was at least some requirements in strength when it came to being someone who had escaped from trouble in one of the bordering empires, but that strength requirement was generally around the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm to Earlier Stages of the Domain Lord Realm as far as he knew.
The main reason for the strength requirements being that anyone weaker than that simply wouldn’t be able to travel to the neutral region from one of these empires. The distance was too far to traverse and dangerous.
Only someone close to the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm would be able to safely travel in and out of an empire like the Blue Sea Empire without encountering any problems along the way…
Arriving at the entrance to the small city he had spotted from afar, Chu Yang didn’t take long to realize that this ‘small’ city was in no way small. Instead, it was a massive city far larger than even the Falling Star City.
It wasn’t that he had failed to see such a massive city from afar, but instead because the city itself was mostly located below the surface with the walls of the city circling around a massive hole in the ground only visible after stepping inside the city. The hole in question being where most of the city was located, as shops and other buildings were precariously built on top of large wooden bridges spanning across the hole several thousand meters down.
Not just that, but there was also a large number of buildings built into the rocky sides of the hole itself. Especially so around the area where the large wooden bridges connected to the sides of the hole.
Put together with the countless smaller wooden bridges and hanging bridges that had been constructed to connect the different buildings and make them easily accessible to those below the Domain Lord Realm, the city located inside the hole turned into a seemingly endless maze that would be difficult for even locals to navigate.
“Even though I learnt about the existence of a city on the other side of the mountain range, I never expected it to be so massive…” Muttering this to himself as he leaned over the side of the massive hole that most of the city was located inside, Chu Yang could not help feeling a deep sense of shock.
By far, this was the largest and most unique city he had encountered to date!
Outside of that, he could also clearly sense that the strength of the people moving around inside the city itself was in no way weak. Already sensing at least, a dozen or so Domain Lord Realm cultivators and two people in the Soul Ascension Realm.
This level of strength was more than enough to make this city stand out even in the chaotic neutral territory. Especially so considering that this should only be the surface level of this city’s strength, as he didn’t dare spread his divine sense to investigate its true strength. Having sensed those powerful cultivators only because those people didn’t bother hiding their strength in the slightest.
Even more surprising to Chu Yang was the fact that the everyone inside the city itself was a cultivator, with most people being in the Foundation Establishment or Core Formation Realm and only children being in the Qi Condensation Realm or below.
This is indeed the core region of the continent; cultivation is far easier here. Allowing anyone to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm with little effort…
Seeing the clear difference in cultivation when comparing even the weakest people inside the city to those outside the core region of the continent, Chu Yang could not help understanding how the core region of the continent had managed to be viewed as the holy land for anyone seeking to advance their cultivation.
No matter which power, everyone would eventually move to the core region when they became strong enough to take advantage of the abundant qi between heaven and earth along with the countless natural resources that also existed there.
A pity… Even though the place is far better for cultivation compared to anywhere back in old Sky Empire, it comes nowhere close to the Shattered Star Peaks…
Even then, Chu Yang had personally spent his time cultivating in the rich environment created by the chaotic qi formation. So, in the end, the abundant qi that would normally end up swaying most cultivators to stay after entering the core region didn’t have any effect on him.
Instead of that, Chu Yang felt far more curious about the hole that the city was located inside of. Wondering where it had come from and how it was connected to the city itself.
That’s it! Now that I’m finally in the core region of the continent, I should use it to train and investigating the giant hole seems like a great first adventure, while also being a good chance for me to learn more about the neutral territory in the process!
And so, Chu Yang set off to explore the giant hole and the city inside of it as his first objective after stepping into the core region.
