"We're here!" Ying Sumian's voice resounded throughout the ship. Yan Zaizen's originally tightly shut eyes opened, revealing a dazzling brilliance. If one looked closely, they could see a grin on his lips, his left hand was a deep black color, and his right hand was a pure white. He couldn't be more excited at this point.
Taking a step outside and onto the deck, his eyes widened in shock. He could see Sky Titan City and he couldn't help but think it was well worth its name. Unlike Xuanwu City, it had grey stone walls. But also unlike Xuanwu City, the majority of its buildings were skyscrapers! They seemed as if they could touch the sky, supporting it for the world itself.
He was panting at the phenomenal sight.
In his entire life, he had never seen anything remotely close to this. The walls themselves were incredibly tall, albeit not as tall as the highest building, but it was fairly close. On the surface of the walls were etched incredibly profound formations that almost seemed like runic markings of the ancients. The markings shimmered with slight light, but he imagined when activated, they would light the entire world in its brilliance. There were four gates, each pointing in the four directions, but the gate he saw had a giant depiction of a titan holding up a celestial star - an entire planet!
"This…" He was literally stunned speechless, and more so than any time in his entire life. It was like looking at the city of Divine Titans in person. The pressure it emanated made one feel naturally inferior and frail in comparison.
"Sky Titan City is the capital of the Earthly Titan territory." Ying Sumian suddenly appeared beside him. With a slight smile, she explained, "It can take your breath away." Her eyes dazzled with an odd glint unbeknownst to Yan Zaizen. He merely nodded absentmindedly in response, agreeing with her words. He was proof of that.
It took a long while before he recovered and he looked towards Ying Sumian. "Are you going to tell me what you need help with now?" He inquired, his eyes releasing a strong sensation of doubt and wariness.
She didn't seem panicked as she took a deep breath and spoke, "The Ying Clan is a second-tier clan that resides in the Sky Titan City. My younger cousin is troubled and needs your help. With your talents, you may be able to remedy her issue." She explained, albeit it was vague still, it remained that he could make some sense of this request.
After thinking about it, he realized it's likely this younger cousin of hers is hurt or poisoned like Bai Dongzhe, and she needs his help to expel it with his life law. Now he understood why, despite the Ying Family being a second-tier force — equivalent to the Yan Clan — they required him. They would have Qi Unification Realm Cultivators or at least similar, but sometimes you can't always use your profound cultivation base to dissolve your issues.
"I see." Yan Zaizen was actually calmer knowing this. It should be a straightforward job, and then he'll be off back to Xuanwu City and await the spatial platform.
"Oh! Does the Earthly Titan Sect have a spatial platform?" He inquired.
"Yes, however, you require permission from the Earthly Titan Sect to use, and wealth will have no effect." She stated flatly. This threw a wrench into Yan Zaizen's plans. If the Sky Titan Sect was easily accessible like the Xuanwu City, then he could just use it to get transported to Zhu Que City. Home would just be a step away with the Skyship in hand. Unfortunately, getting permission from the Earthly Titan Sect would likely be extremely hard with no status.
Thinking up to here, he looked at Ying Sumian. She felt his gaze and revealed a slight smile, "If you do this for the Ying Clan, using the spatial platform wouldn't be a problem." Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up in response.
Good! Good! Good!
Seems like the heavens are assisting me!
"Okay. Then let's do this." He had an expression of a grand expert, as if anything he wants to do, even if the world was against him, he could do so. After some late night practice, he was getting genuinely good at making these type of expressions.
After several hours, they arrived at the gigantic gate of the Sky Titan City. Being up close was truly astounding. The titan seemed too lifelike as if he could touch its skin and hear its heartbeat.
He expected entry was going to be slightly difficult, but it wasn't. The moment they flew towards the gate, a concentrated beam of light hit the ship nearly blinding him, but Ying Sumian was rather calm. She retrieved a badge and pointed it up at the light. The badge radiated a slight purple glimmer, and the light vanished. They were then allowed to just fly through a slight opening in the gate meant for small ships.
He could've sworn that while they were flying, the opening wasn't there, but it didn't seem like it had anything to cover it. It left him a little baffled.
"Only those with a titan's badge can enter. This opening is there, but it's also not." She tried to explain, but one could tell she didn't understand its mechanics either. Was it an illusion or a formation that was destroyed to create the opening, then produce material replacing what was destroyed? Could it possess spatial properties? Her explanation only made Yan Zaizen more confused and curious.
Ying Sumian steered the skyship into the opening skillfully. When they passed and he looked back, the opening vanished as if it was never there.
"Strange…"
The buildings were truly as grand as he expected, but he realized that besides the few skyscrapers that can be seen above the wall, a massive amount of the buildings were actually quite small. At least, they were smaller than the wall itself. For some reason, he felt a little relief. If all the buildings were as large as the wall, then he would probably lose his mind in wonder.
"How long till we reach the Ying Clan?" He inquired. He truly wanted to get done with this quickly.
"It'll only be a few minutes." She stated while navigating through the buildings, her voice calm. However, Yan Zaizen kept getting a weird feeling. Ying Sumian didn't seem like she had ill-intentions, but it felt like she had a hidden agenda. He started to think about her earlier words a bit more carefully and felt like the vagueness could describe other situations too. However, she had no reason to act against him. So perhaps he was just overthinking it.
It wasn't long before he finally saw the Ying Clan. The city was truly massive, and despite being called a city, it was more the size of a miniature state. Sky Titan City housed the myriad of upper-tier factions and clans in the territory, and not all of them had skyscrapers.
The Ying Clan didn't.
They had normal buildings, houses, and even businesses were operating out of it. It was more like a district. He learned from Ying Sumian that if he wanted to buy land on the Ying Clan's property, it was possible. He could also set up shop, or even start his own clan under the Ying Clan's protection.
"Why would I need protection in the city?" He couldn't help but ask. The city was well-fortified and ruled over by the Earthly Titan Sect. Its citizens and residents should be protected to the highest degree, right?
However, he was oh-so-wrong. The inside of the city was like a hotpot of many different forces, and therefore conflict and even wars would obviously take place. It was regulated by the Earthly Titan Sect, but only in case of massive wars. Minor skirmishes or even killing a young master can stew conflict, but it wouldn't elicit any reaction from the sect itself.
Essentially, you're protected from the outside, but inside with allied forces, it's fair game. Therefore, even executions occur or people killing a path towards a clan could occur. However, the forces had a complex system of alliances. Nothing incredible typically happens because offending a weak force may cause you to offend a stronger one leading to conflict with them instead.
The struggle for resources and hot-blooded personalities all put into a cage. This place didn't seem as majestic as he imagined.