The Journey of Immortal Cultivation

She let out a long exhale, watching him step into the giant mouth of Chi Wen, then took a stride into the black teleportation array. She slowly retreated to the shore and sat cross-legged with her eyes closed.

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Yuan Hou emerged from the water, ascending the steps one by one.

The place where he appeared was surprisingly a shallow pond, its banks constructed from fine stones, and the pond’s bottom etched with subtle arrays. Influenced by these arrays, the water swallowed by Chi Wen only swirled to the edge of the pond and never overflowed.

This place was peculiar; it was unexpectedly a highland, and the pond’s water cascaded down the highland’s edge, forming a waterfall over twenty meters high.

To his surprise, he emerged at the highest point of this inner palace, standing in place for a moment before stepping forward leisurely.

Beneath the waterfall, the deep pool branched into a dense network of waterways, almost covering the entire inner palace.

Perhaps no one would have guessed, the most mysterious place in the underground palace was surprisingly built within a rupture valley, with a total area not exceeding fifteen mu (less than ten thousand square meters). Yuan Hou seemed somewhat surprised, but he soon understood: When that Chi Wen was captured back then, it was probably quite young, with limited terrain within its belly, probably only capable of accommodating a place this size.

Looking out, there were also pavilions here, but their style drastically differed from human architecture.

Pavilions on the water were not the usual hexagonal or octagonal, nor had glazed tiles, but were supported directly by four thick, dark timber, with the roof covered with large pieces of leather, somewhat resembling Mongolian felt tents, but with sides exposed to the wind. Just a few pavilions radiated understated luxury, and such timber that could stand firm for tens of thousands of years without rotting was rare indeed; it was sediment wood, used in the God Demon Prison to store sea bags, made from such timber.

Even in ancient times, it was a priceless treasure, yet here it was merely pavilion building material. Yuan Hou glanced over, immediately knowing those few pieces of leather used as canopies were skinned from at least four or five giant demons, refined using special methods. The pavilion’s adornments weren’t of flowers, birds, insects, or fish, but bold metal rivets, still glistening with a faint silver luster.

Human world’s water pavilions and singing stages were unseen here. High platforms and buildings with thick walls appeared instead, with small, square windows on the walls, probably originally used in war, later evolving into decorative architecture.

The most peculiar were the houses here. Almost every one was built with reddish-brown boulders, each door standing at least ten feet high, with roofs mostly between seven and ten feet high, the rock cutting not fine, imparting a rugged style to the buildings, roofs with minimal slope, and blood-red color, made from Red River Bank’s soil fired into blood cotton tiles, windows not large generally. Overall, these houses were not like civilian residencies but more akin to fortresses, a habit seemingly preserved from a distant past, unchanged even within this king’s sleeping grounds.

In this place, any comparatively large, lavish residence on exterior walls, roofs, or door pillars would be adorned with tusks, ribs, or even skulls of great monsters.

This was a barbarian custom, using demon bones personally killed as adornment for their homes, a tradition inherited from their ancestors.

Yuan Hou stood on the highland and looked out at the panoramic view for a moment before jumping down along the rock layer, walking on the equally reddish-brown road surface. He seemed very familiar with the road conditions here, the heavy footsteps echoing in the empty inner palace, further accentuating the deathly silence here.

The first path he passed was a straight street, originally supposed to have many stalls on both sides, still seeing traces of counters once placed on the stalls. Next was a gigantic bronze gate, with rusty hinge ropes, yet the wolf-teeth shaped edges on the gate gleamed fiercely.

From birth to disappearance, this race almost spent their entire time in ceaseless battles, even the women and children among the Barbarians could easily knock down a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Naturally, they wouldn’t, like humans who have enjoyed peace for a long time, dedicate efforts to carving beams and painting rafters, flying eaves, and ornate brackets.

From the watchtower here, walking further inside for four li, passing through densely arrayed houses, they would reach the core of the entire inner palace—Royal City.

Here, the architectural layout was naturally grand and imposing, even the layout seen matched the positions of the stars in the sky. If the past bustling scene, filled with soldiers and weapons, had appeared, it must have been magnificent, but unfortunately now no one sweeps the wild paths, growing many weeds, even all sorts of vines and wildflowers spilling from many houses’ door gaps.

Standing at this place and looking around, one couldn’t resist a lingering sense of nostalgia for a bygone glorious home, now lining a melancholy taste of decline.

The largest, most luxurious building here reached a height of fifty meters, each giant boulder constructing it was at least ten feet square, appearing exceptionally grand. Most notably, its gigantic pillars engraved with patterns of two enormous war beasts, these war beasts had majestic bodies somewhat resembling elephants, but with short trunks, mouths stuffed with mouth bits, revealing sharp tusks, looking eerily terrifying.

Yuan Hou paused slightly in front of this majestic building, then left with his hands behind his back, there was nothing he wanted here.

According to the barbarians’ tradition, the most lavish building in any Royal Mausoleum must be dedicated to the divine statue of the barbarian ancestor, with successive wise monarchs only qualified to sleep in the adjacent grand hall. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote recommendation tickets, monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)