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Practically all of the Cloud Tower Treasure Ship’s passengers were cultivators.
So long as you paid a sum of spirit stones, you could cover long distances in comfort and arrive at your destination.
There weren’t just restaurants and tea houses on board; there were also all manner of shops selling cultivation-related goods from all over the Netherworld: spiritual and divine materials, pills, treasures, and rare curiosities.
Of course, all of this cost money.
When he wandered the Netherworld in his past life, Su Yi enjoyed disguising himself and traveling on such ships. On board, he could meet cultivators from different places, with different origins and experiences. He could also hear all sorts of rumors.
But this time, there was no need for a disguise.
An unfamiliar young man like him wouldn’t attract much attention anyway.
The Cloud Tower Treasure Ship had yet to set off, but the restaurant on the top floor was already quite lively.
“Who’d have thought that during the Lantern Festival on the night of the fifteenth, in addition to everything that happened in the Six Paths Royal Territory’s Ziluo City, something shocking would happen in the Dark Capital?”
“What exactly happened there?”
“I’m not sure, but they say the Yin-Yang Road to the Dark Capital has been severely damaged. The experts exploring the Nine Great Purgatories are most likely trapped inside, never to return.
“This is going to have serious consequences! I heard that at least ten Emperors have entered the Dark Capital’s Nine Great Purgatories to test themselves over just the past hundred years. Now that the Yin-Yang Road has been destroyed, I’m afraid they’ll find it difficult to leave.”
….some of the other customers’ conversations drew Su Yi’s attention.
Something happened in the Dark Capital? Su Yi fiddled with his wine and sank into thought.
The Dark Capital was a forbidden ground within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
Beneath it were Nine Great Purgatories, each a separate world.
Each layer of purgatory contained numerous malevolent powers. The further down you went, the more terrifying they were.
Starting at the sixth layer, the evil powers spread throughout each layer were enough to threaten Emperors!
Thus, the Sixth Purgatory and below were seen as forbidden grounds to everyone beneath the Imperial Level!
In his past life, Su Yi once explored the Dark Capital, but it wasn’t to kill demons. Rather, it was to gather ancient fragments of the Grand Dao.
To the vast majority of the world’s cultivators, the Nine Great Purgatories of the Dark Capital were full of boundless peril, but to some people, they were like blessed grounds just bursting with opportunities.
Exploring them wouldn’t just temper and refine your cultivation base; if you hunted the demons living there, you could gather ancient and rare fragments of the Grand Dao!
If you were lucky, you could even acquire a complete power of the Grand Dao!
To the best of Su Yi’s knowledge, entering the Dark Capital didn’t just require entering the City of the Wrongfully Dead first; you also had to pass through the Yin-Yang Road.
The Yin-Yang Road connected the real and unreal. It was like a fleeting and ethereal spatial rift, and years might pass between appearances.
Yet now, according to these cultivators, the Yin-Yang Road leading to the Dark Capital had been severely damaged during the most recent Lantern Festival!
The consequences of that would be severe indeed.
Su Yi knew that quite a few old-timers would spend many thousands of years in the Nine Great Purgatories to temper themselves and gather fragments of the Grand Dao.
Without the Yin-Yang Road, the cultivators spread throughout the Nine Great Purgatories would run into big problems when it came time to leave!
“It’s most likely true. Not long ago, news spread that the Falling Feather Spirit Empress entered the Dark Capital several hundred years ago, and she’s yet to return,” someone said in a low voice.
When Su Yi heard that, the hands holding his wine stiffened, and his eyes silently narrowed.
At that moment, his immovable boulder of a Dao Heart quivered.
The Falling Feather Spirit Empress!
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That was Little Leaf’s title in the Netherworld!
She… Why would she go to the Dark Capital…? Su Yi’s expression shifted.
He’d come to the Ghost Lands to visit the Ghost Serpents and retrieve the sword he’d entrusted to Little Leaf’s care, the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos.
Who’d have thought he’d hear such bad news as soon as he arrived in the Ghost Lands?
“I heard about that too. They said that there’s been upheaval amongst the Ghost Serpents in response to this incident!”
“What kind of upheaval?”
“Think about it; the Falling Feather Spirit Empress was the leader of the Ghost Serpents. They’ve prospered under her leadership, becoming a first-rate faction of the Ghost Lands Territory.
“Now that word of the incident in the Dark Capital has spread, how could the Ghost Serpents possibly remain calm?
“They’re like dragons without a leader; disaster is surely brewing. The Ghost Serpents are a major clan, with three major side branches. I’ve heard that the forces of the three branches have all taken action. All have voiced their desire to see a new leader appointed!”
“How could the main branch possibly agree to that?”
“It’s because they’ve refused that a major conflict is brewing!”
……
When the topic of the Ghost Serpents came up, many of the customers had something to say. A lively debate followed.
This was because, of late, this incident had drawn more attention than any other here in the Ghost Lands.
Su Yi listened in silence. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself.
When dragons went without a leader, conflict was inevitable.
This had indeed been an unbreakable rule since antiquity.
Five hundred years ago, when he reincarnated, the Grotto of Abstruse Force suffered internal division, leaving it beset by both internal and external danger.
Not long ago, in the days leading up to the Lantern Festival, Ziluo City’s Cui Family had faced a similar precarious predicament in Cui Longxiang’s absence.
Now, the Ghost Serpents were obviously facing comparably severe problems after the recent changes to the Dark Capital!
Su Yi rubbed his forehead and thought to himself, If I send Ye Xun home at a time like this, I’ll be placing him directly in the line of fire.
After all, the kid’s Little Leaf’s little brother, as well as an ‘old-timer’ of the Ye Family’s main branch.
He proved his Dao and became an Emperor tens of thousands of years ago. It doesn’t matter how pathetic he’s become. The moment he shows up, they’ll see him as an elder!
But an elder with no actual abilities like Ye Xun has no hope of turning this situation around.
I wonder whether Old Man Ye Nanzheng is in Ghost Serpent territory? If so, this will be a lot easier to resolve… Su Yi sank into thought.
Ye Nanzheng was an old relic of the main branch of the Ye Family. Going by seniority, he was Ye Yu and Ye Xun’s uncle.
Thirty thousand years ago, the old-timer was already a highly influential authority figure.
Hm? As he pondered, Su Yi suddenly sensed something, and he instinctively looked out the window.
The restaurant was on the top floor of the treasure ship, and from his spot by the window, Su Yi could see the scenery outside Cloudsong City’s gates without impediment.
An ornate carriage flew out of the gates, then landed at the ferry crossing. Three people walked out.
The leader was a thin man in long, navy robes. He had a sickly, weary look on his face.
One of his two companions was a fierce-looking middle-aged man in purple. He wore warrior’s robes, and he had a saber strapped to his back. As he looked around, his eyes crackled with electricity.
The other was a young man in purple. He was handsome, with fair skin and red lips, and he wore a feather headdress.
The saber-wielder in warrior’s robes seemed to sense something, and he suddenly looked up at the restaurant on the highest floor of the treasure ship. There, he saw Su Yi gazing at them through the window.
The middle-aged man’s eyes glinted like knives, as if firing beams of electricity from afar.
But it was as if Su Yi didn’t even notice. He simply retracted his gaze.
However, inwardly, he felt a bit strange.
“What a coincidence…” Su Yi raised his cup and drained it.
….
“Your Excellency, earlier, someone took note of us. I’m just not sure whether they did it inadvertently or not,” the middle-aged man in warrior’s robes said not far from where the treasure ship was moored.
The leader of the group frowned, then coughed and waved dismissively. “No harm done. Caution is a good thing, but there is no need to panic over nothing.”
The middle-aged man in warrior’s robes nodded.
“Father, why not use the ancient transfer array to return to Tianya City? Why bother taking a Cloud Tower Treasure Ship?” muttered the young man in purple. “It’s too slow; we’ll waste at least seven days on the road.”
The thin man leading the group sighed. “I can say with certainty that there are people watching every transmission array to Tianya City. The moment they realize who we are, trouble is sure to follow.”
He paused, then said, “Given the circumstances, a passenger ship is our safest option.”
The purple-robed young man’s expression was a bit overcast, but he said nothing.
The thin man thought for a moment, then said to the middle-aged man in warrior’s robes, “Tu Yong, in a bit, go have a drink at the restaurant on the topmost floor and see whether there’s anyone suspicious there.”
“Yes, sir!” Tu Yong solemnly assented.
The purple-robed young man’s eyes lit up. “Uncle Yong, I’ll go with you!”
The middle-aged man in warrior’s robes hesitated, then subconsciously looked at the skinny man.
The skinny man smiled warmly. “Take him! It’ll help him gain experience.”
Only then did the middle-aged man in warrior’s robes nod his agreement.
The group then walked onto the Cloud Tower Treasure Ship.
Shortly afterward.
Rumbling filled the air as the mountainous treasure ship rose into the sky, carrying thousands of passengers. It bore through the clouds and flew into the distance.
The passengers came in all stripes, including men and women of all ages, as well as life forms of other races.
However, most of them had something in common: none of their cultivation bases were all that impressive, and none of their origins were all that illustrious.
After all, the Cloud Tower Treasure Ship was, ultimately, a commercial passenger ship.
Those of impressive backgrounds had treasure ships of their own, and they rarely mixed with ordinary cultivators.
Those with lofty, powerful cultivation bases typically disdained the slow flight speed of such vessels and rarely boarded them.
Within the restaurant on the ship’s top floor.
When the middle-aged man in warrior’s robes and the purple-robed youth walked in, they didn’t attract much attention. This was because their auras were entirely unassuming.
However, the middle-aged man in warrior’s robes, Tu Yong, discovered that the young man in blue formerly seated by the window had already left.
“Did that young man do it on purpose, or was it an accident?” Tu Yong frowned slightly.