Chapter 547 – Visitors from Gem Kingdom, Smoke Rises Outside Tianyuan City

Inside the architectural treasure land known as the ‘Tower of Gods’, there were no skylights to let in sunlight. When the doors closed, only absolute darkness and deathly silence remained.

In this tower space as silent as death, Mu Yuan sat in meditation.

His body seemed to gradually fall into stillness along with the tower, yet his Divine Soul radiated a brilliance far beyond its normal state.

The architectural treasure land ‘Tower of Gods’ had no barriers at its periphery—anyone could enter. However, cultivating within this tower posed more dangers than the Four Extremes Ascension Altar.

By stilling the body, the Divine Soul’s radiance could shine brightly.

Just as a person’s sixth sense becomes sharper when the five senses are sealed, when the body falls into stillness and life withers, the Divine Soul struggles in the mire, bursting forth with extraordinary brilliance.

This process was quite dangerous.

If the body’s stillness was mishandled, it could lead to true extinction, leaving behind Foundation damage difficult to recover from.

The brilliant Divine Soul was like a flame suddenly fed with fuel, burning fiercely. This flame had no source and could exhaust itself at any moment, becoming nothing more than a flickering candle in the wind.

This intelligence came from Taixuan’s predecessors.

When stepping into this place, the heavens and earth had also given some subtle, intangible hints.

“Balance your body, support it for as long as possible before complete extinction, and use the Willpower Light to stimulate your Divine Soul to continuously burn, growing stronger through the burning.”

This was the cultivation method of the ‘Tower of Gods’ treasure land.

Not complicated.

However, if it were only this, it naturally wouldn’t be possible to rapidly strengthen the Divine Soul without side effects. The entire cultivation process both squeezed one’s body and forced the Divine Soul to grow prematurely. With this method alone, while the Divine Soul might significantly strengthen for a time, the future disadvantages would outweigh the benefits.

The fundamental point was that the opportunity treasure land not only provided the environment but also the ‘fuel’.

This was similar to the divine power that descends during heavenly baptism.

This was also why such structures were rarely privately controlled by Lords, as their operation was connected to the power of the world.

Mu Yuan pondered this, gradually clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, and began cultivating with single-minded focus.

Golden flames danced, and his Divine Soul grew inch by inch.

Cultivating inside the World Secret Realm was actually quite dangerous, let alone in the ‘Tower of Gods’, which had no rule barriers at its periphery.

If he were alone, he wouldn’t dare to meditate so peacefully.

Even Lords who had arranged for their subordinates to guard outside couldn’t help but feel anxious. After all, the Secret Realm was full of powerful individuals—how could a few territory subordinates truly provide protection?

Unless there were multiple world-class powerers.

Tianyuan City had such powerers, so Lord Mu could cultivate with peace of mind.

His Divine Soul grew increasingly brilliant, the shimmering golden light existing only in his Sea of Consciousness gradually illuminating the dark tower space.

“My Divine Soul has already grown three times compared to before, comparable to most ‘Peak powerers’ who have been immersed in the Soul Realm for many years.”

“However, this is only the limit for most people, not my limit.”

“I have a perfect Domain and perfect Divine Foundation, so naturally I can also condense a perfect Divine Soul. The Divine Soul isn’t restricted by heavenly and earthly rules like the Domain, thus, even among perfect Divine Souls, there are differences.”As a legendary being, he was fully capable of reaching even greater heights.

It’s just that this ‘Tower of Gods’ might not be able to provide sufficient mystical energy.

“Then, I shall continue my cultivation.”

Mu Yuan murmured silently, completely immersing his mind in cultivation once more.

…

Around the same time.

In the Ten Directions Island Region, ‘Isloria No. 2’ stood before the window of the epic structure, the Scepter of Heavenly Authority, gazing into the distance toward the horizon.

There, faintly visible, a dark line seemed to be emerging.

“The Monster Tide has indeed arrived.”

“And what’s more, this is likely no ordinary Monster Tide—it’s one concealing numerous Legendary Realm beings within.”

Isloria murmured, her expression calm and utterly unsurprised.

Beside her, a ‘Starlight Sage (epic form of Starlight Scholar)’ responsible for the daily maintenance of the Scepter of Heavenly Authority asked, “Should we sound a Level 1 alert and inform the Lord?”

The person in charge was somewhat nervous.

After all, most of Tianyuan City’s generals were currently absent. These individuals typically followed orders and assisted with tasks; having to make decisions themselves left them rather flustered.

Fortunately, Lady Isloria remained in the city to oversee affairs.

“A Level 2 alert will suffice. We can handle repelling this enemy assault ourselves,” Isloria said.

Their Lord had left a perfect incarnation in the city, along with several temporarily formed Starlight Avatars. However, whether perfect incarnations or Starlight Avatars, they essentially shared consciousness with the original.

Just like herself, when her various incarnations worked, it was actually multi-threaded consciousness—dividing her mind dozens of ways.

Handling documents, strolling through streets, meeting with subordinates, inspecting construction sites… such tasks weren’t taxing even with dozens of mental threads. But if she were engaged in combat against immensely powerful enemies, she would have to dismiss her incarnations one by one, retract her projected consciousness, and focus her mind to unleash her full strength.

The Lord was currently cultivating in the Tower of Gods, wholly dedicated to strengthening his Divine Soul. Of course, he couldn’t be disturbed at such a time.

Well, compared to cultivation, the territory’s safety was more important, but…

“This is just an expected attack from Dragon’s Slumber Valley. We simply need to defend according to the plan.”

…

“We seem to be approaching the legendary Tianyuan City. It’s said that this Tianyuan City Lord has only been expanding his territory for a few years, yet he has cultivated numerous Legendary Realm experts, and even possesses beings like the Giant Spirit God, who hold a place of renown across the world.”

Such a figure would rank almost second only to one, above millions, even within their vast Gemstone Nation.

A massive dark cyan-winged bird flew across the expansive wilderness.

Inside, over a hundred people performed their respective duties, maintaining the operation of this powerful weapon.

In the core area of the weapon, several experts with gems embedded in their foreheads were conversing. They were the gemfolk, a sub-race and the dominant beings of the Gemstone Nation.

A Legendary Realm expert with a radiant cyan gem on his forehead spoke, “We have already requested a batch of aid supplies from our ally state, the Taixuan Alliance, and Taixuan has agreed to send additional troops to assist our nation. However… this still isn’t enough. We must find our own solutions as well.”The Gemstone Nation suffered severe disasters, but the Taixuan Alliance was similarly affected and could not spare much strength.

The solution the Gemstone Nation envoy group devised was to seek aid from powerful Lords within Taixuan, paying a price to enlist the help of these top-tier Lords. Top-tier Lords often retained some reserves of power.

They approached several territories that had previously cooperated with their Gemstone Nation. However, several Lords expressed that they could not free up their hands in the short term, seemingly preoccupied with more important matters.

They then recalled the two powerful experts they had encountered on the outskirts of the Alliance—experts from Tianyuan City, one of whom had even slain a Hunting Grand Duke head-on, making him a truly world-class powerhouse.

After some hesitation, they set out for Tianyuan City.

After several days of traversing mountains and ridges, they were finally about to reach this city, which held numerous legendary achievements within the Taixuan Alliance and aroused the curiosity of countless people.

A Legendary Realm expert from the Gemstone Nation spoke up, “Tianyuan City seems to have many powerful figures in the Legendary Realm. As long as we can enlist the help of a few of them, we can effectively alleviate the situation in our Gemstone Nation. If we can even secure the assistance of that Giant Spirit God, it would be all the more cause for celebration.”

Their Gemstone Nation did have a Law Realm expert overseeing them. However, below the Law Realm Great Venerable ‘Chixing Lian,’ their entire Gemstone Nation, with its thousands of Miracle Territories, had failed to cultivate even a single world-class powerhouse. The number of Soul Realm experts was also limited, leaving them powerless to stop the increasingly fierce Monster Tide and the terrifying monsters emerging within it.

In contrast, Tianyuan City—a Miracle Territory, and one that had not been established for long—already boasted countless achievements in slaying powerful monsters.

At this thought, these Legendary Realm experts—who were also Lords of the Gemstone Nation—felt somewhat ashamed. It was their incompetence that prevented them from cultivating enough warriors and generals; they themselves were not strong enough and could only pin their hopes on external aid.

Fortunately, Tianyuan City was a newly built city, likely not very wealthy, and its demand for various Materials and Treasures was far greater than that of other powerful territories. Thus, there was still hope of enlisting the help of Tianyuan City’s experts.

Before their arrival, they had conducted thorough investigations, listing Tianyuan City’s potential needs one by one and preparing to the utmost. Several Legendary Realm experts felt confident of success, with the only question being how much they would have to pay.

Only the leader of this group, the Gemstone Nation heir ‘Hong Shi Jing’ with a ruby embedded in his forehead, was not as optimistic as the others.

He said, “Haven’t you noticed that a Monster Tide is gathering in the distance? The monsters here are gradually becoming more frenzied.”

“But it’s the era of the Heavenly Cataclysm; Monster Tides appear from time to time. Isn’t that normal?” asked the Legendary Realm expert of the Yaoging Gemstone.

Hong Shi Jing’s expression grew increasingly grave. “A mere Monster Tide wouldn’t be unusual, but within the tide, I faintly detected the auras of several Monster Legends. These Monster Legends must have noticed us as well, yet strangely, they quietly retreated.”If my guess is correct, Tianyuan City is about to face an attack from a powerful overlord force.”

Under such circumstances, how could they still hope to secure reinforcements? They had no way back either—their retreat was likely already cut off by the tide.Soon, the massive Tianyuan City appeared in the sight of the Gemstone Nation delegation. The city stood majestic, with undulating mountains and mist-shrouded clouds outside its walls.

The Dark Cyan Purple-winged Bird descended slowly as the Gemstone Nation envoy submitted their visitation application.

Hong Shi Jing gazed into the distance, “Indeed, Tianyuan City has already detected the converging tide and sounded the alarm.”

…

“Woo-aan-waan—”

“Woo-aan-waan—”

Tianyuan City’s Level 2 alarm had been activated, startling many residents within the city.

“An alarm? Are monsters attacking?”

“This is… Level 2 alarm. I heard it during drills. We need to… need to…”

Many panicked.

The vast majority of Tianyuan City’s residents had experienced the disaster of city breaches and mass casualties.

That fear of facing monsters was etched deep into their bones.

However, those panicking were mainly newcomers who had settled in Tianyuan City within the past month. The old-timers merely waved dismissively upon hearing the sudden alarm, “Just a Level 2 alarm. Stay calm, no need to panic.”

Most work in Tianyuan City followed a mentor-apprentice system where veterans guided newcomers. Seeing the old-timers so composed, the newcomers’ trembling hearts gradually steadied.

Still somewhat worried, they couldn’t help asking: “Old timer, is it really alright?”

The veteran proudly lifted his chin, “Just a monster tide, nothing to make a fuss about. Not only has Tianyuan City repelled monster tides multiple times, but I’ve even followed the city guard troops outside the walls and personally touched monster carcasses myself.”

He grew increasingly excited and proud as he spoke, “Those carcasses were as tall as small hills, and such terrifying remains were scattered everywhere, covering the wilderness outside the city. That scene, tsk tsk… you only need to see it once to never fear monsters again.”

The new residents gasped in unison upon hearing this.

Were their city’s warriors really that powerful?

Corpses covering the entire wilderness – wasn’t that too incredible?

But since more than one or two veterans said the same, the scene didn’t seem exaggerated!

“So what should we do, old timer?”

“What to do? Let me think… for Level 2 alert, besides not being allowed to leave the city, everyone should carry on with their normal activities within the city. Beyond that, we just need to believe, believe, and believe again… Well, if you’re really worried, you can head to nearby shelter facilities.”

…

In Tianyuan City’s Southern District, adjacent to the Central Plaza, the First Avenue—home to Tianyuan First Hospital, Tianyuan Grand Hotel, and Tianyuan City Grand Cathedral—was undoubtedly the city’s most bustling and prosperous golden location.

Even though Tianyuan City didn’t openly solicit businesses or attract countless professionals to work and strive here, numerous small and medium-sized shops had still opened along this street.

Most were run by residents, including basic tailor shops, general stores, carpenter workshops, tea houses, and similar establishments.

Some were ventures started by Tianyuan City’s core military personnel themselves.

Even with self-awareness, military units often weren’t skilled at delicate work, let alone running businesses. For them, this was pure torture.

But a few showed keen interest in such endeavors, not for profit-seeking purposes.General Dolai opened a large-scale ‘Slime Barbecue Restaurant’. Note, it’s not about grilling slimes, but rather features unique slime staff. Of course, grilling slime condensate is also possible. The biggest feature of this barbecue restaurant is that it has all kinds of ingredients, especially some peculiar and exotic items.

Besides official enterprises and the private businesses of military officers, Tianyuan City also hosts some industries established by external merchants.

There are offices set up within the city by neighboring great domains, the Gem Principality, and the Golden Principality.

There are business outlets of the Taixuan Alliance’s First Hand Commerce.

Additionally, buildings such as ‘Han Yue Pavilion’, ‘Exquisite Treasure Shop’, ‘Tyrant Dragon Fitness Club’, and ‘White Shark Commerce’ are quite prominent here.

These were built by familiar lords.

For instance, in Han Yue Pavilion and Exquisite Treasure Shop, several managers come from their respective territories and recruit workers within Tianyuan City.

At this moment, these managers couldn’t help but worry upon hearing the piercing alarm that suddenly resounded through the city.

But when they turned around, they saw their shop employees working as if nothing had happened, appearing even calmer than the shopkeepers themselves.

Shopkeeper: “???”

This is a city-wide alarm! A monster tide is approaching, and there might even be multiple legendary monster attacks. Are you people of Tianyuan City really this unflappable?!

“No way.”

After thinking it over, the shopkeeper felt they couldn’t just slack off like this.

Normally, when a city-wide alarm sounds, these shops also have the obligation to assist the local lord in defense. This is also a form of self-preservation.

Although typically, it’s the lord’s city defense troops who come to notify them to assist in defense.

Tianyuan City clearly doesn’t follow the usual norms.

In the First Hand Commerce branch, a burly man with fiery red hair sat in the main seat. His aura was majestic, clearly a legendary existence—in fact, an ‘ultra-veteran legendary realm’ expert just one step away from the peak of the Heaven-Earth Realm—’Blazing Palm Yang Kong’.

He wasn’t actually the shopkeeper of First Hand Commerce’s Tianyuan City branch; First Hand Commerce isn’t extravagant enough to station a legendary realm expert permanently in a city with limited business.

Blazing Palm Yang Kong had merely escorted a batch of supplies here not long ago.

Those below the legendary realm might be able to hide in their shops pretending nothing happened, but he was a noble legendary realm expert.

Noble status and obligations always go hand in hand.

If needed, he would take action.

“Go, inquire about the situation in Tianyuan City.”

…

In Tianyuan City, squads of elite soldiers had already assembled.

Hundreds of kilometers away from the city, crimson mist drifted—the tide had arrived.

(End of Chapter)