After a long moment, the middle-aged man finally spoke. "Don’t worry. I won’t kill you."
With that, the Spiritual Qi vanished, and Ye Xuan and Ye Ling’Er fell to the ground.
Hua hurried to Ye Xuan’s side and helped him up. Ye Xuan waved her off, signaling he was fine. He immediately went to Ye Ling’Er and asked, "Are you alright?"
"I’m fine, Brother."
Ye Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the middle-aged man. He knew the man definitely wasn’t intimidated by his killing intent.
The middle-aged man looked at him with a cold expression. "That was just a lesson. Remember, when I tell you to come with me, you come. No more nonsense, or you’ll suffer even more. Now, prepare a Beast Vehicle. Make it fast and of a high grade. I’ve been traveling through the night for the past few days, and even a Rank Five Beast died from exhaustion."
The man’s words left everyone dumbfounded. He actually claimed to have worked a Rank Five Beast to death. Just how far had he traveled in a single day—a thousand miles, or ten thousand? They wondered if he was just boasting.
"Where are you taking us..." Ye Xuan originally wanted to ask about their destination, but the man’s gaze suddenly turned icy. He immediately shut his mouth and turned to Hua instead. "Hua, prepare a Beast Vehicle. Everyone, I have to leave for a while. Don’t worry about me."
Ten minutes later, Ye Xuan and Ye Ling’Er sat on the back of a Golden Lion Beast, acting as drivers for the middle-aged man. Meanwhile, the man sat inside the carriage, leisurely sipping wine.
"Father, what do we do? Will Xuan’Er and Ling’Er be alright?" Ye Yizhou asked Ye Zeyun.
Ye Zeyun clenched his fists. "They should be fine. If he wanted to harm Ye Xuan, not even ten Ye Xuans would be his match. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like Ye Xuan has offended him. If he had truly angered this man, he wouldn’t be this polite."
"Then why did he take Xuan’Er and Ling’Er away?"
"I don’t know."
"Sigh, what is all this? The Ye Family has already become the controller of the main town. Logically, we should be living a good life now. But it’s only been a few days, and another expert is already stepping on our heads."
"Stop sighing! What is there to sigh about? Don’t you all know what the Cultivator’s world is like? There will always be someone stronger, just as there will always be a higher peak. Complaining is useless. Just as Ye Xuan said, our Ye Family will only face more hardships in the future. Rather than whining, we should seize every moment to consolidate and improve our cultivation!"
"That’s right, we need to improve. The Patriarch has given us so many resources; we must raise our strength quickly. Only by becoming experts will we be able to help when the Patriarch or the Ye Family faces danger in the future. We can’t remain bystanders like today, completely powerless to do anything!"
"We must get stronger! We will get stronger!" the members of the Ye Family growled in low voices. Their eyes burned with unwavering determination.
On the Beast Vehicle, Ye Xuan followed the middle-aged man’s instructions, heading northeast.
He asked Ye Ling’Er to help keep an eye on the Beast Vehicle while he closed his eyes. He wasn’t resting, but practicing Martial Techniques. Although he couldn’t carve Arrays on the Beast’s back, he couldn’t afford to waste their travel time either.
Inside his Sea of Consciousness, his Spiritual Body practiced Martial Techniques under the control of his will. This was the legendary method of cultivating through one’s mind. Only a Cultivator who had opened their Sea of Consciousness possessed the qualifications to do this.
Seven days later.
The Beast Vehicle had traveled continuously, day and night. Just as the Beast was about to collapse from exhaustion, a majestic city wall finally appeared in their line of sight. The towering wall resembled an endless, rolling mountain range.
"Brother, it’s a city!" Ye Ling’Er’s astonished voice rang out.
It was her first time seeing a true city. Even before getting close, she could feel a surging, vigorous power emanating from it. It felt less like a city and more like a primordial Fierce Beast. At the base of the wall, an endless stream of people waited in line to enter.
"As expected, he comes from a city," Ye Xuan muttered, frowning slightly. He then drove the Beast Vehicle to the city gates and stopped to join the queue.
He looked up at the city gates. The word "Dapeng" was carved into the stone above. Suddenly, the two characters seemed to come alive. Every stroke morphed into peerless killing intent, hurtling directly toward him. His expression changed, and he quickly looked away. Those characters had absolutely been carved by an incredible expert.
"Why did we stop? Are we there?" The middle-aged man’s voice came from inside the vehicle. He lifted the curtain, glanced outside, and ordered arrogantly, "Why are we queuing? Go straight in."
Ye Xuan didn’t say a word and drove straight ahead.
"Huh, someone is actually cutting in line!"
"Where did this greenhorn come from? This is Dapeng City, and he dares to cut the line?"
"Sigh, he won’t even know how he died."
The surrounding Cultivators watched with amusement, eager for a good show. No one stepped forward to warn Ye Xuan.
Soon, a soldier clad in silver armor intercepted Ye Xuan’s carriage, pointing a sharp spear directly at his face.
"Are you looking to..."
The soldier had been about to ask if he was looking for death, but before he could finish, the middle-aged man’s voice echoed out again.
"What, you’re blocking my carriage too? Are you trying to keep me out?"
The man pulled back the curtain, revealing his upper body. The moment the soldier saw him, he immediately bowed.
"My lord, it is my mistake. Please, go in."
Satisfied, the man finally smiled. "Let’s go. Head inside."
The Beast Vehicle slowly rolled into the city. The Cultivators in line behind them were utterly dumbfounded.
"He actually got in! That Beast Vehicle looks so ordinary. Could it have some serious background?"
"Damn, didn’t you see it just now? The middle-aged man had a Golden-Winged Roc embroidered on his chest."
"What? He’s... one of the City Lord’s men!"
The crowd subconsciously looked up at the flags fluttering in the wind above the city walls. They bore the image of a Golden-Winged Roc soaring with spread wings, its cold gaze looking down upon the world with disdain.
"Brother, such dense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!" Ye Ling’Er exclaimed the moment they entered the city.
She had originally thought the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the main town was rich enough. It wasn’t until she stepped into a true city that she realized the main town’s Spiritual Qi was practically nonexistent in comparison! She could clearly feel just how active the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was. The Spiritual Qi here had to be at least ten times thicker than in Ye Family Town.
Ye Xuan didn’t speak; he was equally shocked. He carefully sensed his surroundings. After a long while, he muttered, "The entire city is enveloped by an Array. That means those unknown carvings on the walls are Array Patterns. This Array should be a Spirit Gathering Array. Otherwise, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi here couldn’t possibly be this dense."
"But how many Array Masters had to be hired, and how much power was expended, to lay down this world-shocking Grand Array that covers the entire city?"
Ye Xuan was deeply astounded. The city was massive—what kind of Array Master could set up such an enormous Array? Carving these Arrays must have taken three to five years, perhaps even longer. Furthermore, how many astronomical resources were required to maintain it? Perhaps only a city of this scale could afford such an expense.
Having finally seen a true city, Ye Xuan felt as though his eyes had been opened; everything else now seemed insignificant in comparison. Compared to a city, any town—even a Three-Star Main Town—was nothing more than a tiny, inconsequential speck of land.