Chapter 669: Chapter 669: The Unexpected Information
Despite the fact that Zen was only at the Virtual Tribulation Realm as of now, Master Xiao knew the relationship between him and Letitia all too well.
It was promising that Zen might eventually become the core leader of the Cloud Hall. Furthermore, Master Xiao wanted to have a chance to ask Zen for help in arranging a sect-protecting array. However, he encountered some dilemmas in doing so. First, it was difficult for him to turn to Zen for help. Second, he was not related to Zen in any way and he was also not his friend. Then again, it was fortunate that he was able to become acquaintances with him, and he therefore promised himself that he would be able to find a better opportunity to speak up next time.
All of a sudden, a purplish black stream of light rapidly flew across the sky. Within the span of mere seconds, it had already traveled several miles.
Even though Zen's moving speed was extremely fast, it would still take him a couple of days to arrive at the Cloudy City. In order to reach the Cloudy City as soon as possible, he then planned to redirect his route. At the present, he was now heading towards the Ethereal City as his first stop, the big city to the east of the Central Region, instead of the Cloudy City itself.
In reality, the Cloudy City was built with the support of the Cloud Hall, while the Ethereal City relied on the sustenance of the Ethereal Spirit Sect. As for the headquarters of the World Commercial Alliance, it was located in the Oracle City. As a matter of fact, there was an even bigger sect behind every prosperous city.
Moreover, there were transmission arrays set up in these large cities that were accessible. If Zen could use them to pass through the Ethereal City this time around, it would take him a significantly less time to get to the Cloudy City.
After two days had passed by, Zen successfully arrived in the air above the ancient city.
If the Oracle City was considered to be the most prosperous city in the entire Central Region just because of the World Commercial Alliance, then the Ethereal City would be regarded as the most ancient city in the Central Region. This was due to the fact that the Ethereal Spirit Sect had a much longer history than that of the World Commercial Alliance.
As Zen approached the Ethereal City and hovered above in the air, he could easily view the skyline of the city which was filled with magnificent ancient buildings. Furthermore, the buildings had some historical allusions to them. In fact, there were various ancient poems and phrases that mentioned their existence. All in all, it was undeniable that the Ethereal City was indeed a famous city in history.
Advancing towards his destination, Zen sensed a no-fly ban in the area. It was said before that the restriction in the Ethereal City was set by Arnold, but it was destroyed afterwards. After that, the Ethereal Spirit Sect spent a huge amount of money in hiring numerous runic experts to set up the no-fly ban once more.
With Zen's current strength, he could choose to ignore this no-fly ban. Nonetheless, after contemplating by himself for a while, he shrugged and decided not to cause any unnecessary trouble and promptly descended onto the main road. Without much preamble, he began to walk towards the territory of the Ethereal City.
In the distance, several armored warriors could be seen standing at the entrance of the city. Those guards were also constantly observing the individuals who entered and exited the gate.
Given the system of the ancient city, the ordinary mortals wandering about without even a shred of life vitality in their bodies could freely explore the premises. However, if they happened to be warriors, they would then be instantly stopped for questioning.
The moment that Zen walked over with his head raised high, a hand signaled for him to stop as the armored warriors noticed his presence.
Apparently, these armored warriors were mere nature creatures. With wary expressions visible across their faces, they gave Zen a careful once-over and realized that they could not figure out Zen's cultivation level. As their postures wavered because they became confused, one of them politely addressed him, “Hey. There is a rule in the Ethereal City that we have to check on which sect or clan each warrior belongs to. Independent warriors are not allowed to enter the city.” The young warrior hesitated before continuing, “May I ask which sect or clan you are from?”
As of the moment, all of the large sects were trying their best to limit the living space of the independent warriors. Even the Ethereal City had prohibited the independent warriors from entering the city and made sure that they did not go too far. This was basing from the terrible experience that there were some places where the city members had a big conflict with the independent warriors and even killed hundreds of independent warriors.
“That is to say that an independent warrior is not even allowed to enter the city, right?” Zen raised an eyebrow, slightly affronted by the news. He felt annoyed and was in disbelief by the reality he had to face. In this case, the independent warriors had no other choice then aside from joining those sects.
“Well, that's how it is here,” the armored warrior stated with a grin. Appraising him over once more, he then continued, “You also know the current situation in the Central Region, right? If you happen to be an independent warrior, I can help you find someone to invite you to join the Ethereal Spirit Sect. With your powerful strength, you can surely join it.”
Just then, the armored warrior observed that Zen briefly hesitated and seemed to ponder over something, so he immediately assumed that Zen was truly an independent warrior.
With an immediate shake of his head, Zen faintly grinned before dissenting, “Thank you for your good intentions. However, I am a member of the Cloud Hall.”
“The Cloud Hall?”
The armored warrior's eyes flashed with unbridled surprise at what Zen had just uttered. “Can you prove that you are one of its members?” he inquired.
Zen looked down and lightly tapped the ring hanging on his chest, taking out a token from inside the ring and bringing it up for every one of them to see. The disciple card that Zen acquired after joining the Cloud Hall seemingly gleamed in the sunlight.
Humming to himself, the armored warrior pretended to look over the token several times. Truthfully, he was not from the Cloud Hall, so how could he ever determine if the disciple card the young man had showed them was actually real or fake? However, even if he was putting on an act as he scratched his chin in fake contemplation, he still had to try his best to check it.
In fact, there were several stubborn independent warriors who were unwilling to join a sect and continued to live on their own terms. Despite of this, these same individuals also had to enter these large cities to deal with their things. Because of this, they had no choice but to entrust others to make counterfeit copies of the disciple cards of those sects.
After examining the token for a while, the armored warrior passed the disciple card back to Zen with an affirmative nod. As the group of armored warriors made way for Zen to pass through, Zen nodded as well before finally entering the Ethereal City.
In this ancient city, the streets that adorned the town, as well as their assorted delicacies, were all distinctive. Upon feasting his eyes on the unique structures and famous treats, Zen did not rush to the transmission array. Instead, he strode towards the famous Moon Pavilion in the Ethereal City as he planned to rest for a short while before continuing with his journey. Ṝ𝓪₦ọʙĚȿ
The Moon Pavilion was not spectacularly large or tall like other establishments due to it being only three stories high. However, it was directly adjacent to the limpid river, and the scenery one could see if he happened to take a glimpse at it was extremely beautiful and elicited feelings of tranquility. Since ancient times, many people had turned up in this pavilion to recite poems. Thus, the Moon Pavilion had a first-class reputation as people spent a lot of money and time enjoying themselves there.
Once Zen had randomly ordered a few simple yet elegant dishes, Zen looked into the distance, leaning his head on his hand absentmindedly. Inside the pavilion, there were a handful of scholars shaking their heads and chanting an old song at the tables beside where he sat. When they were in high spirits, they picked up the chopsticks located on the table to beat the bowl from time to time. The men who beat the bowl seemed to be adept at beating it rhythmically, so the beating sound they made sounded pleasant.
Amused at the performance, Zen also found it interesting when he heard this and even clapped after they performed. Grateful for the attention, those people flashed Zen a quick smile.
As a matter of fact, most of the scholars situated in the Moon Pavilion were not warriors. At this time, Zen also sighed deeply, a little wistful at the thought that such a kind of ordinary life was also great and enjoyable in itself. Despite this, Zen ultimately understood that the path he had chosen for himself, a warrior, was something intrinsically valuable and there was no reason for him to retreat.
From the first day he had started to pursue and cultivate the martial arts, he was destined to struggle against the heaven, the earth, and everything in between. Even though he thought it was possible for him not to reach the land of promise even if he kept on cultivating himself, he understood that he was definitely falling into the everlasting perdition if he retreated now.
While the scholars busied themselves with playing and singing at the same time, several warriors walked in the pavilion. Apparently, these particular set of warriors were all at the Illuminating Soul Realm, and they immediately shouted out loud the moment they came in, as if they owned the place. As they exuded such haughtiness by being disruptive, the scholars who were in the Moon Pavilion stared at them angrily.
On the other side, those warriors did not seem to be aware of this fact, or did not care at all. Striding inside with their heads held up high, they just despised and ignored the mortals.
Unimpressed by the sight of the boisterous group, Zen turned around and continued to mind his own business, eating his food and drinking. However, his ears managed to pick up the flow of their conversation and it slightly intrigued him.
“Alas! I'm so tired!” one of them pronounced, stretching his arms languidly before placing them behind his head. “The Ethereal Spirit Sect members do not treat us as disciples at all! They just treat us as slaves.” The warrior huffed and gulped down his wine, venting to the others about the unfair treatment and the unhappiness buried deep in his heart.
“Shh! Do not speak so loud. If the inner disciples of the Ethereal Spirit Sect happened to hear your words and told the sect leaders about this, you would definitely be in trouble by then!” another warrior reminded him in a low voice while looking at his companion with a strict expression.
Upon hearing their exchange, the realization finally dawned on Zen. These warriors were independent warriors before. Due to having no other options, they had to join the Ethereal Spirit Sect despite having initial doubts. It was obvious right then and there that they were not satisfied with their current situation.
“Alas! I hope this matter can end soon. Otherwise, if we continue to wander around the city in a state of extreme nervousness and fear, it's going to be really tiresome!” one of them exclaimed, frowning at the thought of the reality they were facing.
Shaking his head forlornly, another warrior replied, “I think that if the young lady of the Xi Clan were able to find a man to sleep with, everything could be resolved.” Zen heard a pregnant pause before the man's next words made him suddenly still. “And Eddie would not care about or think about her anymore!”
The minute he overheard those words, Zen was instantly surprised and his ears perked up. 'What does he mean by that?' he thought to himself. “The young lady of the Xi Clan?” Zen muttered, as something started to form in his mind. Furrowing his eyebrows, he clasped his hands in front of him, foregoing the food in front of him to gather his thoughts instead.
What he had just heard was certainly strange, for Eddie was considered to be the strongest and most powerful person in the Central Region. Therefore, he could surely surround himself with all the women his heart desired. If Eddie himself, despite his reputation, kept on thinking about that woman, she must have been special; perhaps, she had something to do with the Purple Power Body.
While Zen was in the middle of deliberating with himself, his figure suddenly flashed. As he was just sitting still a moment ago, he suddenly appeared next to the group of the discussing warriors in the blink of an eye while maintaining his sitting position. Moreover, what was more baffling was the fact that the stool he was sitting on also moved over with him, but from the beginning until the end, he did not make a single sound. It was as if he had acted like a ghost.
When the group of scholars witnessed the scene unfold before their very eyes, they assumed straightaway that they had seen something wrong. Blinking in disbelief, they rubbed their eyes and looked once more, only to discover that Zen managed to stealthily move his stool more than ten feet away from his original place. With their expressions visibly brightening and their eyes lighting up with undiluted surprise, they all instantaneously believed that they had just encountered a master.
As for the group of warriors who were drinking the wine and enjoying themselves in their table, they were also reasonably startled by the sudden appearance of Zen. With a hard look, one of them glared at Zen and asked, “Hey, what was that for?”
“Clank!” Without breaking eye contact, Zen passively dropped a supreme life vitality crystal onto the table. With a serious tone, Zen immediately said, “I'll pay for the wine and food.”
The moment the warriors laid their eyes upon the glistening supreme life vitality crystal, they found themselves gasping and unable to look away from it.
Everyone was well-aware of the fact that the prices of the food in the Moon Pavilion were awfully expensive, and an average person could definitely not be able to afford it. Nevertheless, it was possible for a warrior to dine there, as one or two low-grade life vitality crystals would be sufficient enough to pay for consuming food in the pavilion for half a month.
Astonishingly, this supreme life vitality crystal that Zen casually threw out was more or less equal to about a million low-grade life vitality crystals. In other words, with this exceptional supreme life vitality crystal, Zen could book the entire Moon Pavilion and have extravagant meals there every day for several years.