Chapter 867 - 661: Celestial Star City
Inside the Lingxiao Imperial Carriage, Qin Ming saw three Nascent Soul Level Divine Techniques lock onto him as they attacked.
His gaze turned cold, and the vast Spiritual Pressure on his body abruptly erupted.
"Divinity Transformation Cultivator!"
All of a sudden, the faces of the Blood Slaughter Three Fiends opposite him changed drastically!!
They instantly felt a suffocating spatial suppressive force crash down upon them, leaving them utterly unable to resist.
Each pair of eyes went bloodshot! They were frozen midair like statues.
"Hmph! You dare make a move against me? Then you can only blame yourselves for thinking your lives are too long..." Qin Ming finished speaking and was about to crush these few people.
But at this moment—
"Senior, please wait!!"
The richly dressed old man from the Celestial Palace Treasure Tower caravan who had just called to him for help forced himself to endure his injuries, descended before Qin Ming’s imperial carriage, cupped his hands, and said respectfully:
"Many thanks for Senior’s aid in saving us, but could these three villains be left to this junior to deal with?"
In the carriage, Qin Ming’s voice grew slightly displeased and cold: "Do I need to follow your instructions when I act?"
Hearing this, the richly dressed old man’s body trembled at once, and he hurriedly reported his identity and explained: "Please don’t misunderstand, Senior. This old man is Cao Hee of Celestial Star City’s Celestial Palace Treasure Tower. How would this junior dare offend you? It’s just that these bandits appear to have grasped our tower’s trading routes, so there must be an internal traitor. Thus I wish to keep them alive to interrogate them..."
As Qin Ming was mulling it over, his mind stirred, and he immediately withdrew the Spiritual Pressure from his body.
That group of Tribulation Cultivators seemed to think Qin Ming intended to let them off.
They hadn’t expected that this casual robbery would actually run into a passing Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator—who could they even complain to about this?
For this operation, these people could be said to have planned quite thoroughly. After all, they were targeting the Celestial Palace Treasure Tower’s caravan and had repeatedly confirmed that the strongest cultivation in the escort was only a Nascent Soul Stage leader.
Only then did they dare intercept and strike midway, but they hadn’t expected to bump into the unexpected variable that was Qin Ming...
"Senior, we were blind and failed to recognize your greatness! Please, magnanimous one, don’t hold a petty grudge..."
"We are willing to offer up all our treasures and Spirit Stones!"
The three who had just been slaughtering in all directions now had no trace of Evil Qi; they were as meek as little dogs, repeatedly begging for mercy toward Qin Ming’s carriage.
Between Late-stage Nascent Soul and Divinity Transformation lay an uncrossable chasm.
If Qin Ming wanted to kill them, he would only need to move a single thought.
Thus the Three Fiends also had no thought of fleeing.
And the reason Qin Ming didn’t immediately act was that a squad of cultivators was currently rushing over from afar.
Just as the Blood Slaughter Three Fiends finished speaking—
Buzz!
In the nearby void, a circular silver Array Pattern suddenly appeared, densely connected into a single whole, instantly expanding to several dozen zhang in size.
These silver tadpole-like Rune Restrictions emanated a special fluctuation; even with Qin Ming’s near Tier Five Array attainments, he couldn’t see through their intricacies.
He could only roughly judge from the spatial ripples they released that this Array that had appeared out of thin air should be some sort of Teleportation Restriction.
Sure enough.
In the next instant, a Flying Ship over ten zhang long flashed out from the silver Array. On it stood a squad of six or seven Silver Armor Cultivators, all of them Divinity Transformation Cultivators, awe-inspiring and imposing.
The leader was a middle-aged cultivator with a stern face who had even reached the Late-stage Divinity Transformation Realm.
This man’s gaze was sharp, his cheekbones and jawline chiseled as if cut by blade and axe, and between his brows surged a dense Evil Qi.
With just one glance, Qin Ming could tell this man had clearly been through countless battlefields and possessed extraordinary bearing.
The moment those Tribulation Cultivators saw the Silver Armor Cultivators appear, their expressions turned to utter terror, and they all tried to flee.
One Silver Armor Cultivator merely reached out casually into the void, and over a hundred Tribulation Cultivators exploded into clouds of blood mist—the methods were ruthless to the extreme, without the slightest hesitation.
Even of the Blood Slaughter Three Fiends before Qin Ming, two were instantly killed, leaving only one alive.
Shopkeeper Cao of the Celestial Palace Treasure Tower hurried forward to bow: "Greetings, Lords Star Guard. Many thanks for your aid!"
"So it’s a caravan of the Celestial Palace Treasure Tower. You may rise." The leading middle-aged Silver Armor Cultivator said blandly.
With that, he turned his gaze onto the Lingxiao Imperial Carriage.
Inside the carriage, Qin Ming could clearly feel the other party’s Divine Thought probing in without restraint.
"May I ask, Fellow Daoist, are you bound for Celestial Star City?"
From their earlier conversation, he had just learned that this squad of Silver Armor Cultivators was definitely Star Guards from Celestial Star City, people it would be unwise to offend.
Thus he flew out together with Mo Lingwei, a smile on his face as he cupped his fists and said: "Indeed. I, Lii Qianjie, am but a Loose Cultivator. Having long heard of Celestial Star City’s great renown, I intend to go there to settle down and cultivate."
The middle-aged Silver Armor Cultivator showed little surprise at this—after all, the cultivators heading to Celestial Star City each day were beyond counting.
Among them were also some High-Tier Cultivators; they were long used to seeing such people.
"I, Yao, happen to be leading a squad back to the Immortal City. In that case, Fellow Daoist Lii can travel with us."
"However, prior to that, we need to conduct an identity verification."
"Of course, that’s only natural. The two of us will fully cooperate."
After a brief exchange, Qin Ming learned that this Star Guard Captain before him was named ’Yao Tiannan’.
Their Silver Armor Guard squad from Celestial Star City had just finished a mission out of town and returned to the city. By coincidence, they ran into this incident here and came over to check it out.
And Celestial Palace Treasure Tower seemed to be quite famous in Celestial Star City. The Silver Armor Cultivators didn’t even ask; they directly handed that bandit leader over to the Cao‑surnamed old man.
When the Silver Armor Cultivators verified that Qin Ming and his companion had come all the way from the Profound Celestial Realm by Teleportation Array, several Star Guards couldn’t help but give the two a few more assessing looks.
Obviously, ordinary Divinity Transformation Cultivators couldn’t accomplish such a thing.
After that.
The middle‑aged Yao‑surnamed man flipped his hand, took out a white jade round disc, and said to Qin Ming, "I must apologize to the two Fellow Daoists. To prevent Alien Race spies from sneaking in, all Cultivators entering Celestial Star City must be identified by the Celestial Patrol Mirror."
Qin Ming and Mo Lingwei exchanged a look, then both slightly nodded.
It wasn’t hard for him to see that the mirror in the other’s hand was extremely special, a rare Spiritual Artifact.
Aside from recognizing Alien Race identities, this mirror likely could also reveal the Otherworld aura of Ascension Cultivators from the Lower Realm.
They simply hadn’t bothered to inform him of that.
Swish!!
A sheet of milky‑white radiance shot out from the Celestial Patrol Mirror, directly shining onto Qin Ming and Mo Lingwei.
Qin Ming didn’t feel much of anything, his expression unchanged, his heart as calm as still water.
As the mirror’s light flashed past, no abnormality appeared on either of them.
Which indicated that Qin Ming and his companion were pure‑blood Human Race.
The Yao‑surnamed middle‑aged Cultivator waved a hand and recalled the white jade round disc floating in mid‑air, his attitude much more relaxed than before:
"That’s enough. There’s no issue with the two Fellow Daoists’ identities. Please board the ship."
"However, obtaining residential rights in Celestial Star City is not an easy matter."
"Since Fellow Daoist Lii is a Loose Cultivator, would you have any interest in joining our Star Guard?"
This Star Guard Captain of Celestial Star City, seeing that Qin Ming possessed Mid‑Stage Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivation, also gave rise to some intent to win him over.
Qin Ming smiled faintly and replied, "I appreciate Fellow Daoist Yao’s kind offer, but I, Lii, have only just arrived. I plan to get familiar with things first, then decide."
"Very well. In that case, since our paths are the same, the two Fellow Daoists can accompany us to Celestial Star City. At that time, with my testimony, you won’t need to go through a second round of verification." The Yao‑surnamed Silver Armor middle‑aged man said.
Qin Ming nodded. Better to have fewer troubles than more.
He immediately put away the Lingxiao Imperial Carriage and, together with Mo Lingwei, prepared to board this Star Guard Dharma Ship.
"Elder Lii, please wait a moment!"
Just then, the Cao‑surnamed old man from Celestial Palace Treasure Tower flew over, took out a Purple Gold Token from his robe, and respectfully offered it with both hands as he said, "If not for encountering Elder today, this old man’s trade caravan would have been wiped out here. Such life‑saving grace is beyond words. This is our shop’s VIP Token. Please accept it. If Elder has any needs in the future, we will certainly do our utmost to fulfill them."
Qin Ming turned his head, took a moment to consider, then casually reached out and drew that Purple Gold Token into his hand.
He examined it briefly; this Token also seemed to be forged from special spiritual materials, decorated with cloud patterns on the surface.
After that.
The two boarded the Dharma Ship together with that squad of Silver Armor Cultivators.
Once the Dharma Ship turned into a streak of flowing light and vanished into the heavens in an instant—
The few surviving caravan Cultivators looked somewhat puzzled as they asked the Cao‑surnamed old man, "Shopkeeper Cao, why did you give that Elder a Purple‑Gold‑grade Token? Even if his arrival slightly diverted the Blood Slaughter Three Fiends’ attention, the ones who actually made a move were Lord Yao and his people..."
"What do you lot understand? The Star Guard Squad led by Elder Yao Tiannan is renowned even within Celestial Star City. A Loose Cultivator that even he values—how could such a person be ordinary? He must have qualities far beyond the common sort. With vision like yours, all these years in the Treasure Tower have gone to waste... Bah!" The Cao‑surnamed old man said, somewhat hating iron for not becoming steel.
"By forging ties with Elder Lii this time, we might gain unforeseen benefits in the future. Sooner or later, he’ll come to our shop in Celestial Star City to spend."
The Cultivators suddenly understood, utterly convinced by the Cao‑surnamed old man’s analysis.
...
On the other side.
Qin Ming entered the Dharma Ship. The space inside was extremely spacious, but the actual purpose of this ship seemed to be warfare. One could vaguely make out some traces left by previous battles of Magic, as well as Array Restrictions that combined offense and defense.
With the Star Guard Dharma Ship as transport, the time needed to reach Celestial Star City was directly shortened by quite a bit.
The Yao‑surnamed Cultivator simply steered the Dharma Ship to a stronghold where a large army of Cultivators was stationed, and activated several Teleportation Arrays in succession.
In just two or three days, they were transported to a vast boundless plain.
And on that plain, a towering white‑stone city wall, tens of thousands of zhang high, rose straight into the clouds, vanishing beyond the eye’s reach.
Its length was likewise utterly unknown, like a heavenly chasm standing across the endless expanse of the plain.
Along the top of the white‑stone high wall, at intervals there were structures similar to beacon towers. Above each stood an even larger Celestial Patrol Mirror, each a full several hundred zhang in size, monitoring everything outside.
What surprised Qin Ming was that aside from this ten‑thousand‑zhang high wall, no Defense Array light curtain of the Immortal City was visible.
"Fellow Daoists, we’ve arrived at Celestial Star City." The Yao‑surnamed Silver Armor middle‑aged man called out to them.
But Qin Ming searched for quite some time and still couldn’t find where the city gate was.
Seeing the puzzled looks on the two of them, the Yao‑surnamed Silver Armor Cultivator did not mock them, but instead explained:
"As one of the largest main cities of the entire Human Race in the Spirit Realm, Celestial Star City is naturally a strategic stronghold. In special times it must withstand Alien Race invasions head‑on, so there are no city gates set up. Under normal circumstances, all entry and exit is through Arrays."
...