Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2151: Desolate River City

Shaking aside his curiosity regarding what might be on the other side of the spatial river cutting straight through the fragmented continent as his current strength and comprehension of the Dao of Space was far too low to traverse that kind of terrifying spatial anomaly, Xuan Hao continued towards Desolate River City. Only this time around, he followed along the side of the terrifying spatial river.

Using the opportunity to try and comprehend the terrifying spatial current flowing beside him, something that allowed his comprehension of the Dao of Space to speed up signifyingly compared to before because of just how profound the flow of those spatial currents were and the simple fact that the spatial currents themselves belonged to the terrifying spatial ocean outside that made even the fragmented continent seems like a small drop of water in the middle of vast endless ocean.

Speaking of the size of the fragmented continent, he wasn’t sure, as he couldn’t see just how big it was when part of it was cut off and using divine sense to go over the spatial river wasn’t really an option. Not to mention, he could also sense that the scope of the twenty ninth floor of the tower didn’t cover the entirety of the fragmented continent and only seemed to cover the part of the fragmented continent he had ended up on. Making him wonder if the thirty first floor of the tower would be taking place on the other side of the spatial river.

His reason for believing it might be the thirty first floor instead of the thirtieth floor having to do with the fact that he believed another resting floor would appear once he successfully cleared this twenty ninth floor of the tower where he would be able to get his hands on even more precious artifacts and cultivation resources that wouldn’t be available on the previous resting floors or the shop at the ground floor of the tower.

Although, he did wonder where this resting floor would appear, as he guessed it should also appear somewhere on the tenth floor of the tower.

Given how it might be sandwiched between two floors whose theme was undoubtedly the Dao of Space, he had a feeling that it would be above the cloud plaza in space above. Maybe in some kind of isolated space that made it impossible for those below to see it from the outside. After all, he had realized after going back to the tenth floor that it was possible to see the cloud plaza from below if one looked close enough.

In fact, when he had visited the tenth floor, it was already common knowledge to the few Elders that had managed to make it to the tenth floor of the tower that a plaza existed in the clouds above the resting area.

Of course, a few had attempted to reach this cloud plaza, but found themselves unable to go beyond the clouds and reach the cloud plaza located on top of the clouds. Only someone like Xuan Hao, who had already reached the twentieth floor and had been granted access to the cloud plaza, seemed capable of freely traversing between the two areas, though it was also clear that he reached some kind of invisible line if he attempted to ascend beyond the cloud plaza.

Still, different from the elders below, he hadn’t been able to glimpse the plaza or resting area that potentially existed beyond the cloud plaza.

In the end, he could only complete the twenty ninth floor and reach the thirteenth floor of the tower to figure out what lay beyond the cloud plaza. Hoping sincerely that it would be something more than just another place to spend his ascension coins on cultivation resources and artifacts.

…

Spotting Desolate River City slowly emerging in the distance after following the spatial river for a little over three hours without meeting as much as a single other living soul in the process, Xuan Hao let out a silent sigh of relief watching the increasingly large city that emerged at the edge of the horizon. Feeling happy that he hadn’t ended up walking in the wrong direction while he had shifted most of his attention towards comprehending the Dao of Space through the spatial currents of the spatial river.

A very real worry he had given how he hadn’t encountered a single living soul since he began travelling along the side of the spatial river, something odd considering how he would encounter a group of people once every few minutes before he had started travelling alongside the spatial river.

Hm? So many people?

And as he got closer to Desolate River City, he realized that the gate leading into the massive ancient city was filled to the brim with people waiting in line. From a glance, there was at the very least a few thousand people waiting around outside the city gates to enter, something very odd given how few people would dare linger around outside a city too long on the fragmented continent because of how a spatial anomaly might suddenly sweep through.

Even if those kinds of small-scale spatial anomalies wouldn’t be able to harm even the weakest of cities on the fragmented continent, it was deadly to anyone below the Void Monarch Realm, which was most people.

For this reason, instead of waiting around when a long line formed entering a city, people would instead scatter and be on the move so they would be able to react in time and avoid any potential spatial anomaly ahead of time. Preferring to spend a few days like this until the line in front of the city shrunk and made it easier to enter without having to wait in line for so long.

However, outside of the odd line that had formed before the main gate of Desolate River City, there was also another abnormality present, which was the strength of the people waiting in line.

Originally, it would be rare to spot even a single Void Monarch Realm cultivator waiting in line, but here, he could sense a few dozen in the Void Monarch Realm along with a few at the Void Integration Real.

This kind of terrifying lineup made it clear that something was wrong and made him remember the information the city lord at the Early Stage of the Void Integration Realm had shared with him about the city lord of Desolate River City breaking through to the Late Stage of the Void Integration Realm thanks to discovering some opportunity in an ancient ruin from the past before the fragmentation of the continent.

From the number of powerful cultivators present, it was clear that this information was not just accurate, but the ancient ruin in question was undoubtedly also far from fully explored, as these powerful figures wouldn’t have shown up without there being opportunities around for them.

Even if the city lord of Desolate River City might have wanted to monopolize the ancient ruin, with so many Void Integration Realm cultivators showing up and even more likely already inside the city, he had no way to keep everything for himself. Doing so would mean making an enemy of everyone… And strong as someone at the Late Stage of the Void Integration Realm might be, faced with the wrath of a dozen Void Integration Realm cultivators and even more Void Monarchs, there was no way for the other party to resist even if all of these Void Integration Realm cultivators had only reached the Early Stage of the Void Integration Realm, something that was unlikely given how two of those waiting in line should have already reached the Middle Stage of the Void Integration Realm if he guessed correctly.

Given his unfamiliarity with the cultivation realm itself, he still wasn’t entirely certain when measuring the strength of those at the Void Integration Realm and couldn’t entirely determine if they were at the Middle Stage or Early Stage of the realm, something he should be able to do with time as his knowledge of this unique cultivation path deepened.

Keeping this in mind, Xuan Hao decided to silently join the queue into the city. Taking the opportunity to ask the others waiting alongside him for information about the current state of Desolate River City and the reason for so many powerful cultivators to have gathered. Hoping to get more accurate information compared to just knowing about the emergence of some still unknown ancient ruin.

Thanks to this, by the time he entered Desolate River City along with everyone else, he knew that the ancient ruin that had helped the city lord of Desolate River City advance his cultivation hadn’t appeared somewhere close to the city like he had originally believed. Instead, it had emerged in the middle of the city itself.

Not below the city or anything like that, but instead directly shifting space at the core of the city. Expanding it to allow the emergence of the ancient ruin at the very center of the city.