The two cities stood side by side on top of the barren wasteland.
From above the gloomy sky, two shining sheets of paper fluttered towards the ground.
One of them flew towards the Immortal City and landed in the Heavenly Emperor’s hand.
While the other fluttered through the wilderness until it hovered in front of Gu Qing Shan.
Looking at the sheet of paper, Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of unprecedented sudden realization.
Almost instantly, he understood what the sheet of paper in front of him represented.
This was a form of communication that surpassed words and languages.
His soul instantaneously understood the authority that the paper represented.
And that the Heavenly Emperor within the Heavenly Palace had received the same kind of paper as well.
Gu Qing Shan reached his hand out to receive the paper sheet.
Immediately, lines of bloody red text began to appear in front of his vision:
[The Samsara’s Beast King realm has become accessible]
[All Chosen Saints must leave the Human realm and make their way to the underside of the world in search of everything within the Beast King realm’s great tomb]
[From this moment onwards, the faster and the more Merit one accrues, the more their strength would be unsealed]
[Attention: Within the great tomb, the only safe locations are the two cities]
[All Chosen Saints will be granted shelter within the two cities, where they would be allowed to rest, reorganize, and team-up before heading into the depths of the great tomb to fight]
[You are one of the two City Lords]
[Please bestow your Immortal City a name so that the Samsara can use it to notify all Chosen Saints of its existence]
As the messages appeared, Gu Qing Shan also received the same information from the paper sheet.
—–so I have to name it.
And since all Chosen Saints are going to be notified of the city, I can’t stall for any longer.
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and suddenly asked:
“I want to know what the Heavenly Emperor’s Immortal City is called”
Some fluctuations could be felt on the paper sheet.
Gu Qing Shan instantly understood what it was expressing.
——the Heavenly Emperor’s city was called the Heavenly Palace.
“The Heaven realm hasn’t become accessible yet and he has the gall to name his city the ‘Heavenly Palace’?”
Gu Qing Shan shook his head and turned toward his city.
——-it was a gigantic interstellar warship that had landed on the ground, temporarily shifting from its aerial form to its stationary form, which was outfitted with a few functions to make it more suitable to camp in the wilderness.
However, it was constantly maintaining a primed posture with energy flowing across its metallic surface, ready to abruptly take off at any moment.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and muttered: “In truth, I prepared this warship for the sake of a certain comrade who once had a home called the S.S. Divine Temple…”
“While ‘Divine Temple’ had a different meaning, it carried the same message as ‘Heavenly Palace’—— as a man of science, I believe that what truly deserves the respect of man isn’t some divine authority, but rather boundless space, billions of stars, and the eternal truth of the universe”
“…This city, let it be known henceforth as the Star Gazer”
The paper sheet fluctuated briefly.
And then, the paper sheet released some fluctuations that shot above the clouds before merging with a similar wave of fluctuations from the other Immortal City and disappeared without a trace.
—–they’d been transported to the Human realm.
The Samsara would inform every Chosen Saint of their upcoming trials, the way to unseal their strength, as well as—–
The existence of the two cities ‘Heavenly Palace’ and ‘Star Gazer’.
Time slowly passed.
After an unknown amount of time, the darkness around them slowly faded away.
Gu Qing Shan noticed that he was standing in the middle of the sky, while the Heavenly Emperor was standing a short distance from him.
There were countless visions below their feet.
Each Chosen Saint, no matter where they physically were, could instantly see both the Heavenly Emperor and Gu Qing Shan.
The paper sheets in Gu Qing Shan’s and the Heavenly Emperor’s hands then radiated some minute fluctuations.
They both understood the Samsara’s will right away.
It was their turn now.
———the two City Lords must now introduce their respective Immortal Cities so that the Chosen Saints could choose between one of them to enter.
The Samsara didn’t say what benefits this might bring them.
But being characters of their caliber, Gu Qing Shan and the Heavenly Emperor naturally recognized the implicated values.
The Heavenly Emperor took the initiative and announced to all Chosen Saints:
“My subjects, we have been through countless eons together, witnessing and suffering through the shattered Samsara, and now, I have finally created our Heavenly Palace!”
The giant city clad in colorful heavenly light appeared behind him.
The majority of Chosen Saints immediately cheered.
—–all of them were those who had faked their deaths after the Samsara shattered, they all knew the strength of the Heavenly Emperor as well as the Heaven realm.
The Heavenly Emperor’s solemnity had already been deeply ingrained in their minds!
“I will spare the meaningless formalities. Come to me and join the Heavenly Palace, receive your heavenly authorities and explore the great tomb together, we shall help the Samsara complete its evolution as fast as possible!”
After that, the Heavenly Emperor took out a badge.
He declared: “All Chosen Saints who have received a heavenly authority will be granted a Heavenly Badge, with which you will be able to receive your earnings, weapons, armors, pills, and necessities from within the Heavenly Palace’s vaults!”
The badge was activated and released a bunch of lights.
The lights were revealed to be treasures piled up as high as a mountain, overflowing almost like the ocean.
Seeing this, Gu Qing Shan understood right away.
——-I only managed to find a single warehouse before, inside of which there were numerous treasures hidden.
It’s a mystery just how many similar warehouses did the Heavenly Emperor prepare ahead of time!
——he had already predicted this!
This time, all the Chosen Saints cheered with considerable vigor.
Seeing this, the Heavenly Emperor couldn’t help himself chuckling boastfully.
While everyone’s powers are sealed and their Divine Weapons have been taken away, all of these are the next best thing within the realms.
To explore the great tomb, a solid set of armor, sharp weapons, healing pills, and other supportive products are all necessities for any Chosen Saint.
“Gu Qing Shan, it’s your turn now, but I suspect that no one would be willing to go to your city” the Heavenly Emperor said.
He stepped back with a boastful expression, clearly ready to watch things play out.
——it was Gu Qing Shan’s turn now.
All the Chosen Saints turned their gazes towards him.
Gu Qing Shan could only step forward as his gaze landed on the countless Chosen Saints with the paper sheet in his hand.
The Heavenly Emperor has past authority, countless subordinates, and immeasurable resources, so others are willing to work for him.
—–what doesn’t the Heavenly Emperor have?
Gu Qing Shan remained silent for a short moment before speaking: “Star Gazer city was founded by and for, we who walk the path of Evil, so fellow brothers and sisters of Evil, I welcome you all, and our previous arrangements will be kept as promised”
Some sparse cheers could be heard from among the Chosen Saints.
In the end, compared to the entire Samsara, there were pitifully few people who followed the path of Evil.
Hearing that, the Heavenly Emperor coldly sneered.
Trying to go against the Chosen Saint forces of the entire Samsara with only Evil doers, what a joke!
Just as well, I’ll be able to teach him a lesson with this.
At this point, Gu Qing Shan continued:
“Aside from those of the Evil path, we won’t restrict any others who come to our city”
Everyone was briefly stunned, unable to understand what he actually meant.
Gu Qing Shan explained: “No matter who enters my city, I don’t care about what you do, I don’t care about what you obtain from the great tomb, I won’t take anything from you, and I don’t have anything that I need you all to do”
“I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t obstruct others”
“In summary, I don’t care”
“That’s it”
After saying that, he stepped back.
—–complete silence.
The Chosen Saints all fell into thought.
Heavenly Palace city gave an extremely good offer, granting everyone a heavenly authority as well as supplies, basically everything one could ask for.
While Star Gazer city doesn’t offer anything at all, not even restrictions.
If I… seriously consider…
Taking Heavenly Palace city’s resources and carrying Heavenly Palace city’s official authority, wouldn’t that mean I need to work for Heavenly Palace city?
If I were to find something good, I might even have to hand it over to Heavenly Palace city.
Certain information and secrets are considered priceless treasures.
The Heavenly Emperor’s solemnity is unquestionable, so if he orders me to reveal such information, should I or should I not tell him?
Meanwhile, in Star Gazer city…
—–the City Lord said that this was a city of Evil.
They literally don’t care about you.
I can do whatever I want, however I want.
Then…
Many people had already made their decisions.
At this point, the paper sheets in Gu Qing Shan and the Heavenly Emperor’s hands began to vibrate.
They were radiating invisible waves of summon.
The Chosen Saints could sense them right away.
A heavenly being loudly declared:
「 I’m going first, I was originally a Heavenly Official, and today I will return to the Heavenly Palace! 」
Instantly, his body turned into a reverse shooting star and shot into the sky, bypassing the limits of space to fly towards the Heavenly Emperor’s Immortal City.
In that moment, the Chosen Saints of the Heaven realm rapidly transformed into shooting stars one after another, descending onto the Heavenly Palace like a meteor shower.
On the other hand, waves of evil creatures sparsely flew into Star Gazer city, clearly outnumbered compared to the Heavenly Palace.
Seeing this, the Heavenly Emperor boastfully said: “Gu Qing Shan, the fact that you managed to construct a city is beyond my expectations, but your path has come to an end”
Gu Qing Shan ignored him.
He was focusing his attention on the two cities that stood firmly on top of the barren wasteland.
Gradually, more and more shooting stars began to head towards Star Gazer city.
Until so many of them were flying at the same time that the whole city looked like the head of a torch, brightly illuminated by the starlight.
Meanwhile, the shooting stars on the side of the Heavenly Palace were gradually becoming sparser, which made it seem inferior.
The Heavenly Emperor’s expression changed.
“That’s impossible… the heavenly beings and divine beasts had all entered the Heavenly Palace, could it be that the others…”
The Heavenly Emperor narrowed his eyes to quickly reconsider the current circumstances.
Meanwhile, a line of bloody red text appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan’s vision:
[Your city’s population has reached a certain threshold, the Samsara is utilizing its Origin Power to unlock a hidden function for your city, please wait a moment, it will let you choose]
Gu Qing Shan quickly skimmed through and silently nodded.
—–as expected, a big population is necessary.
With more manpower, the city’s development would be different.
At this point, the Heavenly Emperor had already realized what happened.
“So when you said that you’d ignore them, you were purposely offering the opposite of my offer” the Heavenly Emperor coldly said.
Gu Qing Shan glanced at him and casually replied: “Of course, between the two of us, one person will be heading into Huang Quan first”
The Heavenly Emperor coldly sneered: “If you ignore all those Chosen Saints like you said, I can see your city losing all order, the sky filling with miasma, and eventually falling into complete chaos, irreversibly ruining itself”
Gu Qing Shan looked at him in surprise and nodded: “I agree”
The Heavenly Emperor observed him briefly and continued: “So you wanted to create a city of sins from the very beginning. If that is truly the case, you’re not worthy of being considered my opponent at all, you will lose the upcoming competition without a doubt”
Saying that, he waved his hand and transformed into a ray of light to make his way back to the Heavenly Palace.
Only Gu Qing Shan remained standing in the air.
At this point, numerous shooting stars were still flying into Star Gazer city.
Gu Qing Shan continued to observe for a while, gradually displaying an uncomfortable expression on his face.
If someone were here, they would be able to recognize that he was feeling embarrassed.
Clearly, so many Chosen Saints had come to him——
Clearly, even the Heavenly Emperor was angered by his decisions and left——-
So why was he feeling embarrassed?
But nobody was here.
So no one knew the answer.
Under the starry sky, only a weak murmur could be heard:
“The Samsara didn’t say anything about telling the truth…”
“… why did so many… actually believe that…”
