Chapter 286 - Guizhong City
The young man gave a frivolous smile, and spoke: “To be accompanied by one so beautiful is to be blessed by the heavens… Young pharmacist, since this prince saved you, how about you keep this prince some company?”
The purple-robed teenager glanced at him in loathing: “If you’re unhappy about it, then just let me go. Don’t talk nonsense!”
The young man raised an eyebrow, but didn’t get angry. Instead, he reached out a hand, and held the pharmacist’s jaw between his thumb and index finger: “If this prince doesn’t let you go, and insists on bullying you, what’ll you do then?”
The purple-robed teenager sneered and said: “If you have the guts, then you can try it!”
After this exchange, the young man in the black brocaded changpao laughed in a bright and clear voice. Then, he seized this purple-robed teenager by the waist, and dashed back down just like before.
His voice slowly filtered through the wind: “Whether you get bullied or become this prince’s honored guest will depend on your skills! Outsider, if your skills aren’t any good, then don’t blame this prince…”
After the purple-robed teenager was seized under the crook of this person’s arm, his drooping head lifted slightly, and revealed an exasperated look.
The Road of Death was indeed filled with dangers. After going in, he was able to travel with that secluded disciple who protected him at first, but as more time passed, the greater the dangers became. When that secluded disciple was powerless to help, they eventually parted ways. Originally, he had his psychic power to protect himself, but after supporting himself for a few days, the recovery of his psychic power was unfortunately extremely slow. He also no longer had any medicinal pills as a shortcut. At this point in time, his strength had been exhausted, and he had nearly been eaten by that monster flower.
Now, he had been saved by someone. Listening to this stranger’s words, according to what he previously heard by chance, this was a prince who came from the Central Continent. Merely, this prince’s temperament was strange. He didn’t know if he was lucky or unlucky.
But in any case, this was considered as reaching his destination as well.
Only, he didn’t know where that pure-hearted and foolish Junior Sect Brother of his and that cunning adoptive older brother had gone. Were they safe right now?
It was a pity that he was busy adapting at the start, and later on, he was fighting with everything he had all by himself. From beginning to end, he wasn’t able to scout things out…
At this moment, the “pure-hearted” junior and “cunning” adoptive brother being thought about were running along an expansive and wide road. Soon, they were going to enter an enormous, ancient city that practically spanned the horizon.
This place was the final ancient city. Every person who could come to the previous ancient city alive knew that this place was the end point. So long as they could pass through this ancient city, they could smoothly reach the Central Continent.
However, the method of how one specifically crossed over was, nevertheless, inside this ancient city.
After arriving at a location that was a dozen or so kilometers away, Gongyi Tianheng halted his footsteps.
Gu Zuo furrowed his brows. Clinging to Tianheng’s shoulders, he spoke with concern: “Big brother, we’ve already reached this point, but we still don’t know how Senior Sect Brother Xu is doing. Although he has someone to accompany him, we also don’t know how strong that person is&#k2026; For these past few days, we haven’t seen any traces of Senior Sect Brother Xu nor have we heard anyone mention him. It truly makes me worried.”
Tianheng said: “Ah Zuo, don’t worry about it too much. Even though Senior Sect Brother Xu hasn’t appeared on this road, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he has met with misfortune. Since the other secluded disciple also hasn’t been seen, maybe they were sent to another road after going into the entrance. Therefore, you and I might not meet him.”
Gu Zuo pursed his lips: “Even if he’s on another road, I don’t know if he’s safe or not…”
Tianheng saw that Gu Zuo really was quite concerned about Xu Lingxiu, so Tianheng comforted him: “Right now, it’s useless to worry. After we enter the Central Continent, we can think of a way to join an organization. Then, it won’t be too late to come back and make some careful inquiries.”
Gu Zuo thought that this was reasonable, and nodded his head. He said with some embarrassment: “Yes. Since everyone is heading towards the same place, for better or for worse, we’ll always be able to ask around. Moreover, Senior Sect Brother Xu is very smart. He’ll certainly be able to protect himself and survive without a hitch.”
Tianheng naturally smiled, and agreed with his sentiments.
Thus, Gu Zuo slowly eased his heartstrings.
Soon after, however, Tianheng’s voice became somewhat grave: “Ah Zuo, it’s already the final ancient city. I’m afraid we’ll need to be even more careful. Otherwise…”
Gu Zuo’s heart stirred: “Is big brother worried about the Third Prince?”
Tianheng faintly nodded: “For the past few days, the Third Prince hasn’t made any movements. However, we previously heard how great a loss he suffered. If he just let this go, wouldn’t that bury and tarnish the heart of his path of martial arts? He certainly still has something up his sleeves. The calmer he is, the angrier he’ll become. He should’ve already been drawn out by us. In this final, ancient city, he’ll come to search for our ends.”
Gu Zuo understood, and nodded his head: “I’ve already made preparations. We killed all those subordinates of his, so haven’t we been waiting precisely for this day?”
Tianheng sighed: “We can’t let our guards down. Ah Zuo, how many poison pills do you have left?”
Gu Zuo silently counted: “I have a total of eighteen pills.”
Because he had been saving them all the while, there really were lots left over.
Tianheng briefly pondered: “Keep them on hand. Once anything goes wrong, brandish them immediately. There’s no longer any need to save them now. There’s also no need to hold back against the people of that Third Prince. It’s just that we need to be mindful of the others who’ll try to benefit from the conflict. This time, although it has only been the Third Prince who has been pursuing us relentlessly, there’s still two more people on this Road of Heaven’s Chosen whose strengths are not lower than that of the Third Prince. You and I need to prudent and vigilant.”
Gu Zuo’s expression was stern and upright: “Big brother, rest assured. I understand completely.”
Tianheng gave a few more instructions, and discussed some tactics and other similar topics. Unwittingly, even though they had slowed their speed, they had already reached the front of the final ancient city.
This ancient city was also the only city that erected a stone tablet that kept the city’s name.
Guizhong City.
It would be assumed that this was established by the first batch of Peripheral Continent people who used this passageway to return to the Central Continent… Guizhong — To return to the Central Continent.
The meaning within this name was clear.
This time around, the city gates didn’t have any guards. Gongyi Tianheng carried Gu Zuo on his back as they entered the city. What they saw was an incredibly bustling and lively scene. And this kind of liveliness seemed somewhat different from what they’d seen in the previous ancient cities.
Although those ancient cities had commoners, travelers, and all kinds of stores, so long as one watched carefully, one could sense a bit of discordance about those people — This was because there wasn’t a single martial artist or pharmacist among them! They were all completely ordinary. This, instead, made it seem unusual.
However, in this final Guizhong City, it was like any of the cities that Gu Zuo had once seen in the Cangyun Empire. There were common folk, but there were also martial artists. In fact, the great majority of the people in this place were martial artists. On the contrary, the common people were extremely sparse. Moreover, when the commoners here were compared to the “commoners” previously seen, they discovered that these common folk bore a type of flourishing vitality. It was totally unlike those fellows who were called commoners but had the strengths of monsters.
Gu Zuo didn’t quite understand.
Where did these people come from? According to their strengths, there were Houtians and Xiantians present. They certainly weren’t the people who had come from the each of the expanses. Could it be that these people lived in this ancient city? That also wasn’t right. He had heard that the bizarre fog in this Road of Death was very dense. It was basically impossible for anyone to survive.
After Tianheng looked around, he turned his gaze towards a few Immortal Realm martial artists. Their temperaments were incompatible with this place. It seemed that these people were like them. They were all outsiders.
The others dwelling in this city were rather cordial and enthusiastic. He saw the Immortal Realm martial artists, and went over to inquire about some matters. They gave replies — If there was anything they didn’t know, they would shake their heads and point towards some location to the east side.
Hence, Tianheng raised his foot, turned around, and walked towards that eastern location.
Gu Zuo recollected his thoughts: “Big brother, we’re going?”
Tianheng said: “Since this place is different from the other ancient cities, we’ll work in accordance to how we handled things on the Peripheral Continents. Right now, we’re newcomers, so we should go to a place where we can scout out information.”
Gu Zuo blanked: “This way?”
Tianheng talked about the matters he’d previously seen. After that, he said: “It should be.”
Gu Zuo also saw a couple of martial artists swiftly pass by. Sure enough, they were going in this direction. However, Tianheng wasn’t anxious. Every one of his steps were stable and assured.
Speaking of which, why hadn’t they seen any of the Third Prince’s tracks… Could it be that he had some kind of plot? It probably wouldn’t go that far, right?
Not long after, Tianheng and Gu Zuo reached the eastern side without any problems.
This place was an even more bustling street. The figures of those few martial artists who ran ahead just now had disappeared in front of an old tower.
Gu Zuo: “That’s the place.”
Tianheng carried Gu Zuo as he walked over. They sized up the tower at the entrance.
Then, a teenager with a clever appearance scampered over: “Have these two honored guests come from the Peripheral Continents?”
Gu Zuo talked with him: “Yes. How did you know?”
The clever teenager revealed a smiling expression as if he was a little proud of himself: “If any of the guests who come from there want to leave alive, they all need to come here to us!” He gave another look to the two, “Do these two guests want to come in?”
Gu Zuo pressed on Tianheng’s shoulders: “Big brother?”
Tianheng smiled: “Naturally, we want to go in.”
Gu Zuo believed in his dear big brother’s judgment, and nodded to that clever teenager as well: “Please lead the way.”
The clever teenager seemed to have guessed their decision long ago. He turned around, and shouted: “New guests have arrived! Bringing them to the Jiazi Room—”
Tianheng didn’t hesitate, and quickly followed him.
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