This was an extremely ancient city. It lay in the middle of the desert like a slumbering beast.
However, even from a distance, it was possible to see the divine light enveloping it. Within the desert, it was particularly conspicuous.
According to Dongfang Yuyang, this ancient city was a remnant from the ancient era, and it still contained some of the immortal charm from that era. It was one of the Dongfang family’s treasures.
When the Dongfang family had come out of seclusion, they had brought out this ancient city. However, this was not their ancestral land. No one knew where their ancestral land was.
Only once Long Chen got closer to the city did he sense just how huge it was. It was like its own world. It contained its own spatial laws and was actually larger than it appeared on the outside. Once his flying boat got closer to its walls, it seemed particularly miniscule in comparison.
Many miles before he could reach the city, an invisible force suddenly appeared, stopping his flying boat. At the same time, four of the Dongfang family’s disciples appeared in front of it. The four of them were all women, and they smiled warmly.
“Please show us your invitation,” asked one of them respectfully.
The four of them were young, but the Heavenly Daos revolved around them. They were actually all awakened Empyreans.
Long Chen couldn’t help being stunned. It seemed that he really had been a frog at the bottom of a well. Back when he had killed two awakened Empyreans, it had been enough to shake the continent.
Now that these ancient powers had appeared, Long Chen found that those Empyreans he had slain were far from the first batch to appear. More awakened Empyreans had long since appeared in this era, but the powers that they came from were low-key and concealed the fact. Now, they were all appearing at once.
Long Chen walked off the flying boat and gave his invitation to the woman. She received it with both hands, and upon seeing his name, she was startled.
“So you are this era’s expert. How fortunate. May I ask how many attendants you brought? It will be much more convenient to arrange things if I register them.”
“It’s just me.” Long Chen shook his head. He waved his hand, putting away his flying boat, indicating that he was on his own.
The four women were even more surprised. It seemed that all the big figures that had come had brought a group in grand style. For Long Chen to come alone surprised them.
“I’m just a very poor soul. I can barely feed myself, let alone afford attendants,” said Long Chen.
The four of them laughed, feeling that his sense of humor was very refreshing. A top expert who was so at ease and laid back was truly rare.
“Mister Long Chen, please follow me.” One of them led Long Chen into the city. The huge gates and stone walls were covered in mysterious runes, not one of which he recognized.
Upon walking in, he felt three waves of power sweep past his body. This was clearly the ancient city’s protective formation.
Long Chen felt that this formation was not at all inferior to Pill Valley’s divine formation. So this was the foundation of an everlasting family? It was truly powerful.
They followed the path, entering another gate and then another. Long Chen found that each gate had different runes operating on them.
“This ancient city really is powerful. Even without activating the formation, it possesses such power. If it was activated, just how powerful would it be?” sighed Long Chen.
Hearing his praise, the woman said, “This ancient city is the Dongfang family’s divine object. In truth, even we don’t know how powerful it is. After all, things are peaceful now, and there aren’t any large-scale battles. There’s no use for such a battle fort.”
Long Chen’s heart shook. It seemed that this city wasn’t as simple as just a city. Could it be like the Mo Mountain Seal? It was its own battle fort? If that was the case, then who could block such a humongous object?
“Could it be that this city doesn’t have any historical battle records?” asked Long Chen curiously.
“Of course there are…”
The woman was about to continue speaking when a middle-aged man who just happened to be walking past them interrupted. “How can you be messing around while receiving guests? What’s next?”
“Little Cui understands her mistake!” The woman attending Long Chen immediately lowered her head and apologized. It seemed that this middle-aged man’s status was extremely high.
Long Chen examined him. He was a Netherpassage expert without resonance with the Heavenly Daos that would signify he was an Empyrean. However, his aura was well hidden, and Long Chen was unable to determine what step of Netherpassage he was on.
“My apologies, this girl plays around too much and neglects her work. Don’t take it to heart.” The middle-aged man smiled slightly to Long Chen and then said to Little Cui, “Hurry and take the guest to the Soul Harmony Courtyard. Take note of your image in the future.”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man nodded to Long Chen before leaving.
Little Cui continued leading Long Chen forward. After being chided, she didn’t dare to continue speaking.
“Is he your boss? Why is he so fierce?” asked Long Chen.
This sudden question elicited a chortle from Little Cui. Covering her mouth, she said, “Please don’t tease me. If I’m seen like this, I’ll be scolded again.”
In an everlasting family, when would people ever call someone above them boss? They were always given grander and proper statuses. Furthermore, Long Chen’s questioning expression was truly funny, while Little Cui didn’t have much experience with the outside world.
“He is our manager. Although his cultivation base isn’t very high, he has a great deal of authority and is in charge of this gathering of past and present heroes. All our actions directly relate to the face of the Dongfang family, so our actions have to be perfect. We can’t mess around… ah, I shouldn’t say any more, or I’ll be scolded again.”
Little Cui also didn’t usually like speaking to strangers. When it came to attending all the previous experts that had already arrived, she never said more than she had to. But for some reason, even though it was her first time meeting Long Chen, she didn’t feel that she needed to be on guard, and so her mouth loosened.
“What are you afraid of him for? Who told you that rules have to be followed? I cultivate precisely doing whatever I want to do. If you’re stuck to the rules, why bother cultivating at all?” said Long Chen with an expression of righteous indignation.
Little Cui could only beg for mercy as she held back her laughter. Just where was the air of a supreme expert? Long Chen seemed more like a scoundrel to her. There was something about Long Chen that made him seem like an old friend to her. Although she knew that Long Chen was teasing her, she couldn’t help it.
Long Chen could only stop teasing her. Originally, he had been hoping to learn some useful information from her, but then he felt it was improper for him to bully such an inexperienced lady.
That middle-aged man had appeared just as Long Chen was asking about the history of the ancient city. That was too coincidental. He clearly didn’t want Long Chen investigating any information about them.
If he really did learn anything valuable from Little Cui, she would definitely be punished afterward. So Long Chen decided against continuing.
Unexpectedly, there were transportation formations within the city that they entered. After going through two of them, they arrived at the Soul Harmony Courtyard. A giant gate was present in front of it, with the words Soul Harmony Courtyard written in immortal characters. Long Chen recognized them.
On the other side, he could see a mountain range with a verdant forest. Scattered throughout were some pavilions that blended into the background. Bursts of fragrance came from within.
“Mister Long Chen, this is the Soul Harmony Courtyard. Once you enter, there will be other attendants to look after you,” Little Cui said respectfully before leaving.
As soon as Long Chen walked in, more of the Dongfang family’s disciples came over to him. They were all beautiful women.
However, these women were not as powerful as Little Cui. They were just ordinary Empyreans whose manifestations hadn’t awakened.
That made Long Chen sigh with relief inside. If all of them were awakened Empyreans, that would be crazy.
Clearly, Little Cui and the others that had received him at the walls were some of the Dongfang family’s most outstanding disciples. They were only set up as attendants when the higher-ups needed them to be, and these women were the true attendants. In any case, having four awakened Empyreans greet newcomers was definitely amazing. Even Long Chen had been shaken. Now seeing these ordinary Empyreans, he felt much better.
These women were much more professional. After checking his invitation again, they gave him a spatial ring.
When Long Chen looked inside, he saw that it was a gift the Dongfang family had prepared. Inside was a foot-tall jade bottle. Although it was completely sealed, it didn’t stop a refreshing feeling from exuding out of it.
“Peak grade Soul Calming Elixir!”
Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked. Such a thing had already vanished from the continent, and it existed only in some ancient records.
There were many kinds of Soul Calming Elixir. However, this kind of peak grade Soul Calming Elixir was not something that could be refined. It was something that could only be produced when a vein of blood soul ore formed a spirit spring that absorbed the essence of the ore.
Even ordinary Soul Calming Elixir was very valuable, but to Life Star experts, it only had miniscule effects. However, if it was peak grade Soul Calming Elixir, then it could allow them to cultivate twice as fast with half the work. It was a very precious item.
“Mister Long Chen, this is a map of the Soul Harmony Courtyard. There are many different areas that are open to you. There is an auction area and a trading area where you can make transactions according to your own needs. The true gathering of past and present heroes will only start in three days. During this time, you can freely roam about. If you need any help at all, you can come find one of us at any time.” One of the attendants also took out a map for Long Chen after giving him the Dongfang family’s gift.
“An auction area and a trading area?”
Long Chen’s eyes lit up. He wondered if he could get anything good there.
