Chapter 302 The City of A Thousand Lakes
“All nine of these Horned Darkwyrms are primordial variants, and merely a single one of them possesses a strength that can compare to a Golden Core Realm cultivator. Now, these nine wyrms are actually pulling a carriage for someone!”
“Only a figure like the Zhou Clan’s Fourth Young Master possesses a treasured carriage like this. He’s a rare talent of the Silken City’s Zhou Clan that’s an expert at the perfection-stage of the Golden Core Realm!”
“Yeah. I once heard that when Young Master Zhou was just born, he possessed extraordinary natural talent and possessed remarkable intelligence to the point of being capable of speech. The Zhou Clan’s Patriarch desired to give him a good name, yet was refused by him, and he made a vow that he was unworthy of a name until he became an immortal!”
“What resolution! No wonder everyone calls him the Zhou Clan’s Fourth Young Master. So it turns out that’s because of this.”
The Nine Dragon Treasured Carriage pressed through the clouds, and everyone revealed shocked expressions everywhere it passed. The people present only dared discuss in low voices after the carriage vanished within their field of vision.
“Presently, Young Master Zhou is a prominent figure in Silken City. Supposedly, even the current Emperor Chu was full of praise towards his natural talent. I really don’t know how figures like this cultivate to such an extent.” Wei Feng’s eyes revealed an expression of envy.
“Yeah. The strength of Young Master Zhou is a great mystery, and it can only be described as unfathomable.” Zhong Liao spoke with deep emotion.
Chen Xi heard all of this, and he endlessly gasped with admiration in his heart. I really didn’t know all this before I came out here, yet I’m greatly shocked the moment I did. There’s always a stronger expert than the previous. No one can guess exactly how many extraordinary geniuses and experts that looked down onto the world exist.
For example, if it was before, he’d utterly not heard of the names of the Zhou Clan’s Fourth Young Master, Huangfu Changtian, Zhao Qinghe, and the others. It wasn’t that they weren’t famous, but it was because the environment he resided in was too tiny, causing his knowledge to be too superficial, and he was utterly unable to come into contact with this information.
This feeling was like the feeling of being a frog at the bottom of the well, unless one went out to wander the world, one would never know how large the world was.
“Let’s go. We’re not far from Azure County City,” said Chen Xi indifferently. He wasn’t a person that would look down on himself and wouldn’t allow the state of his heart to be disturbed because of some incident.
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The Azure County City stood behind the Swallowray Mountain Range, its lands were fertile, possessed thick underground veins, and it occupied an area of a few tens of thousands of kilometers. Within the city were over 1,000 lakes of varying sizes that were scattered about all over the city, and it was called the city of a thousand lakes because of this.
Because the Azure County City’s location was rather convenient, being connected to the southern territory and neighboring the eastern sea, the number of merchants that went up and down from the city were countless like a school of carps moving through a stream. The commerce here was extremely prosperous, and it was the famous city of commerce in the central plains.
When Chen Xi followed Wei Feng and Zhong Liao to arrive at the Azure County City, he saw countless gleaming lakes filling this city. The larger lakes covered an area of almost 5,000km, and the smaller were a few hundred km in area, causing the entire city to be coiled in a layer of misty water vapor and seem faintly visible like a paradise.
The first feeling Chen Xi had when he stepped into this city was that it was tranquil and gorgeous, and it seemed as if it was covered in misty rain. The entire city had a picturesque landscape with gurgling streams, and it seemed beautiful and otherworldly, causing him to have tranquil feeling arise spontaneously from his heart as he walked within the city.
The streets here were winding and laid with planks of limestone that exuded an aged feeling, yet were rather spacious, and while the stream of people moved through the streets, it didn’t feel to be the slightest bit crowded.
Tranquil, gorgeous, and prospering. This was what Chen Xi felt at this moment.
Since they’d arrived here, Chen Xi didn’t make it difficult for Wei Feng and Zhong Liao any longer, and he let the two of them go, whereas he instead brought Mu Kui along to start looking around within the city.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Numerous cultivators stood on streaks of light and flew in the sky that was coiled with a misty rain while their clothes fluttered in the wind, causing them to seem like immortals. On the ground, there were instead cultivators from all over that were leisurely and unhurriedly moving about, either choosing treasures from stalls or entering into stores to purchase treasures.
As expected of the reputed city of commerce in the central plains that has gathered merchant groups from everywhere in the entire Darchu Dynasty. This place has naturally become the heaven of purchasing treasures in the hearts of cultivators. As he walked on the streets and looked at the cultivators that moved up and down, Chen Xi sighed endlessly with emotion in his heart.
“Let’s go! The Goldlake Meeting will begin tomorrow on Jadering Lake at the center of the city. It would surely be extremely crowded at that time, so let’s go occupy a place first.”
“There’s no need to, right? The Jadering Lake is a few thousand km in area, there’re 18 combat rings built on the lake, and it’s sufficient to accommodate a few tens of thousands of spectators. What’s the point of going so early?”
“Idiot! If we occupy a good place, then we’ll be able to carefully observe the battles on the combat rings. You should know that the experts that participate in the Goldlake Meeting are all at the Golden Core Realm. If we’re able to figure out some things from their battles, then it would be better than cultivating in seclusion for a few years.”
All along the way, discussions related to the Goldlake Meeting filled Chen Xi’s ears, and it was extremely understandable. After all, the Goldlake Meeting was only held once every 100 years, and it drew the participation of the Golden Core Realm cultivators in the younger generation of the central plains, northern barbaric lands, eastern sea, and southern territory. It was unavoidable that such a grand event would be bustling.
In next to no time, Chen Xi brought Mu Kui along to walk into an enormous building that was beautifully decorated.
This was the residence of the Darchu Dynasty’s Darchu Soulguard, and it was called the Goldlake Hall. All the Golden Core Realm cultivators of the younger generation that were participating in the Goldlake Meeting had to register themselves here.
When Chen Xi and Mu Kui walked in, a long queue had already lined up within the hall, and the people numbered at least over a thousand. There were both males and females that were extremely young, and they were waiting to have their skeletal age and cultivation measured. Because the Goldlake Meeting was only open to Golden Core Realm cultivators below the age of 30, those who didn’t satisfy the conditions were prohibited from participating.
All of this caused Chen Xi to recall the scene when he participated in the Hidden Dragon Rankings. But it was at Dragon Lake City at that time, and participation was restricted to only cultivators of the southern territory that were at the Violet Palace Realm, whereas, it was at the Azure County City this time, and it was a competition that gathered the young Golden Core Realm cultivators from all over the Darchu Dynasty. No matter if it was in terms of scale, level, or scope, there was no comparison between the two.
“Master, I won’t be participating, right?” said Mu Kui via voice transmission while they were lining up.
“That won’t do. Not only do you have to participate in the Goldlake Meeting, you even have to participate in the Allstar Meeting. On one hand, you can temper your strength, and on the other, what would you do if I have the fortune of entering the Primeval Battlefield?” Chen Xi shook his head.
“Enter the Primeval Battlefield?” Mu Kui was slightly dazed, and said with frustration, “I’m afraid it would be difficult for me to rank amongst the top 10 in the Allstar Meeting with my current strength.”
“How will you know if you don’t try?” Chen Xi smiled. Actually, he’d always been worried about this. After all, only a person that has obtained the top 10 ranks in the Allstar Meeting had the qualifications to enter the Primeval Battlefield, and if Mu Kui wasn’t able to attain the requirements, he would probably be unable to follow Chen Xi.
However, he still had a way in his heart, and it was to try putting Mu Kui in the Buddha’s Pagoda. If Mu Kui was able to slip through like this, then it couldn’t be any better.
Of course, all this was only something uncertain. Who knew if anything unexpected would happen at that time? So he couldn’t speak too soon.
“Alright, I’ll try my best this time and strive to follow up to Master’s footsteps!” Mu Kui tightly clenched his fists in secret. In his heart, being able to follow by Chen Xi’s side had already become the motivation to support him in doing anything.
But right after that, he was frustrated once more, and he said with a frown on his face, “But, I’m already over the age of 30, and I’ve cultivated for more than 200 years now…”
Chen Xi was stunned as well and frowned endlessly. He’d forgotten that no matter if it was the Goldlake Meeting or the Allstar Meeting, both of them required the measurement of one’s skeletal age.
“Nevermind, you don’t have to participate. If I really have the chance to enter the Primeval Battlefield, I’ll try my best to bring you along with me.” Chen Xi could only helplessly accept this fact.
“Thank you, Master. Then I’ll wait for you outside.” After Mu Kui finished speaking, he turned around and left Goldlake Hall.
“Look, it’s another fellow that wanted to try slipping through. Fortunately, he knew his own limitations and wasn’t noticed. Otherwise, he’d surely be locked in the Darchu Soulguard’s prison.” Someone let out a laugh of ridicule from the group of people that were lined up when he saw Mu Kui leaving suddenly.
Chen Xi frowned and looked over. He saw that person had a hideous appearance, was thin like a bamboo, had a trace of dense disdain on the corners of his mouth, and had a sarcastic expression.
“Shut up! Would you die if you stayed silent for a while?” A white clothed young man by the side of the thing young man frowned and berated.
“Alright, Senior Brother Su Chan. Since we’ve come out, I’ll obey everything you say, alright?” The thin young man pursed his lips as he turned around resentfully, and he seemed to be rather afraid of the white clothed young man.
Su Chan!
Chen Xi’s eyes squinted, and he recognized with a glance that the white clothed young man by the side of the thin young man was precisely the eldest son of the Dragon Lake City’s Su Clan, Su Jiao’s brother, Su Chan!
Presently, the entire Dragon Lake City Su Clan had already been completely wiped out, yet as the disciple of the Wanderingcloud Sword Sect’s Ancestor Ling Du, Su Chan wasn’t in the Su Clan on the day of its annihilation, and he was in the Wanderingcloud Sword Sect instead, so he’d escaped death.
Later on, when Chen Xi wanted to deal with him, Su Chan had vanished without a trace, causing Chen Xi to feel rather regretful in his heart as he knew that when one didn’t pull out weeds by the roots, there would be no end of future troubles.
But along with the passage of time, Su Chan seemed to have vanished into thin air, and not a shred of information about him had been spread out. Unknowingly, Chen Xi had almost forgotten the existence of this fellow, yet never had he imagined that as luck would have it, he’d actually encountered this fellow here!
Su Chan, oh, Su Chan. The heavens want you to die at my hands, and you can only blame your luck for being too terrible… But this place is the hall of the Darchu Soulguard, so I can’t attack and kill him. He seemed to want to participate in the Goldlake Meeting, so I can take my time to make a move against him. Thoughts surged within Chen Xi’s heart, and he quickly calmed down his feelings as he hid within the crowd so as to avoid being noticed by Su Chan and alerting him.
In next to no time, Su Chan had finished registering himself and left slowly with the thin young man. All along the way, he entirely didn’t notice that an ‘old acquaintance’ of his was within the crowd.
Not long after, Chen Xi passed through the measurement of skeletal age and cultivation as well, and he paid 1,000 Nascent Condensation Pills before obtaining a golden colored command token. He was already able to participate in the Goldlake Meeting by relying on this command token.
After placing the command token into the Buddha’s Pagoda, Chen Xi didn’t hesitate in the slightest to walk out of the hall and leave with Mu Kui. “Let’s go. We’ll first look for an inn to stay in. Once dawn arrives tomorrow, we’ll go witness the grandness of the Goldlake Meeting. Now that I speak of it, I’m feeling slightly impatient already…”