Immortality starts from the liver proficiency

Chapter 312 The Golden Age of Yujing
"How can you shoot out three different kinds of force?!"

"Of course I practiced."

"...No ordinary person could possibly maintain two different types of external energy within their body at the same time..."

"That's what happens when I'm not an ordinary person."

"..."

Five days passed quietly as Xu Yunfan comprehended the Ten Extremes Martial Arts.

When he lifted the carriage curtain again, the majestic walls of Yujing City stretched across the horizon like a giant dragon.

The rising sun gilded the nine-zhang-tall Xuan Tie city gate with gold trim, and the four gilded characters "Cheng Tian Qi Yun" on the lintel were faintly visible in the morning mist, with a strange luster flowing around them.

The official road was widened three times at this point, but it was still so congested with carriages and horses that it was impossible to pass.

Carriages with canopies bearing the flags of various prefectures lined up in long rows, while silk caravans from Jiangnan Circuit and camel caravans from Yanbei Circuit crisscrossed the streets.

The yamen runners in black robes held water and fire sticks to maintain order, but many more martial arts practitioners carrying knives and swords leaped directly onto the branches of the ancient locust trees by the roadside, and the gnarled branches of those centuries-old trees were trampled until they developed a glossy patina.

Xu Yunfan narrowed his eyes, his pupils reflecting a mysterious scene that ordinary people could not see.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged in from all directions like countless silver threads, weaving an invisible net that covered the sky and blocked out the sun above the Jade Capital City.

These spiritual energies were not chaotic, but followed an ancient rhythm. The biting cold mist from Yanbei Road, the warm and moist vapor rising from Jiangnan Road, and the essence of green wood drifting from Jiannan Road all surged towards a vortex deep within the imperial city like rivers flowing into the sea.

Even more astonishingly, wherever these spiritual energies flowed, they left pale golden trails in the void, as if an invisible giant brush was outlining talismans for heaven and earth.

This Jade Capital City was clearly set up by a master strategist, but now this stratagem has run into a huge mess.

On the "Azure Dragon Position" on the east side of Yujing City, a shocking fault appeared in the originally seamless network of spiritual energy.

The key point of the formation where the six dragon veins converge, which should have been the pivotal area suppressed by the "Xuanhuang Pool", is now like a rift valley cleaved open by a heavenly sword. The pale golden spiritual energy flows here and then strangely twists and dissipates, forming a "spiritual energy vacuum zone" with a radius of hundreds of feet in the void.

What's even more alarming is that this flaw was by no means formed naturally.

The edges of the fault bore jagged tear marks, and a dark red aura could be faintly seen spreading like a spider web, clearly indicating that someone had forcibly broken through the foundation of the great formation with overwhelming power.

"Something interesting..."

Xu Yunfan's eyes flashed. If he didn't possess many special characteristics, such as the ability to find dragon veins, he wouldn't have been able to see this change.

He followed the flow of spiritual energy and gazed into the distance, where he saw six majestic mountains outside Yujing City, resembling sleeping giant dragons coiled up.

To the northeast, "Azure Dragon Ridge" stands tall towards the sky, its ridges rugged like dragon horns, while "Tiger Crouching Mountain" to the southwest lies prone, resembling a giant dragon reaching out its claws.

The Vermilion Bird Terrace to the due south is entirely crimson, with sulfurous fumes constantly emanating from the cracks in the mountain, as scorching and oppressive as a dragon's breath.

Six mountain ranges converge to form a ring within a hundred miles, and the earth's energy connects to the Xuanhuang Pool beneath the imperial city via underground rivers, forming a natural "Six Harmonies Spirit Locking Array".

"No wonder that successive dynasties all chose to aim for the throne in the capital..."

Hearing Xu Yunfan's exclamation, Li Haomiao couldn't help but reply, "This city is magnificent and imposing, fortified by successive dynasties, and has never been breached by any army..."

Fang Mushan, who had come along, asked with some curiosity, "Then why would there be a change of dynasty?"

Li Haomiao glanced around, smiled, and slowly said, "Only the most skilled experts can decide whether or not a dynasty should be overthrown."

Xu Yunfan lightly tapped the window frame with his fingertips, his pupils slightly contracting. In his perception, enhanced by the "I Ching Marrow Cleansing Technique," there were at least thirty streams of Qi at the Marrow Cleansing Realm or higher hidden within a radius of a hundred feet.

In the northeast corner of the teahouse, three men wearing straw raincoats were breaking up flatbreads; their knuckles were as thick as cast iron.

Beneath the flagpole of the escort agency on the west side, the old man carrying a sword exhaled frost mist with his breath; he must be a sword cultivator from the "Hanjiang Duyu" lineage of the Sword Pavilion.

Most astonishingly, in the shadows of the city gate, there was a seemingly hunched beggar, with dust suspended three inches around him, creating a negative pressure zone around him with each breath.

A grandmaster of organ training!

Li Haomiao's Qianlong Pendant suddenly became hot. He whispered, "The old man selling candy under the third willow tree on Zhuque Street."

Xu Yunfan looked in that direction and saw that the old man's left little finger, which was missing half, was missing from the hand that was making the sugar figurine.

Li Haomiao said, "It is the symbol of the Imperial City's secret guards, the 'Severed-Finger Yama'."

Xu Yunfan: "...Your royal family is really strange. Is it only those who have lost a finger who can join the secret guards?"

Li Haomiao looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "How could that be? The guards are trained from a young age; it's just that some features make them more noticeable..."

Seeing Xu Yunfan's noncommittal expression, Li Haomiao continued to argue, "Of course they definitely don't approve of this. Heaven knows what those people are really thinking..."

As Li Haomiao continued his incessant chatter, the convoy moved slowly forward with the crowd, when suddenly the sound of a golden gong resounded from the city tower.

Twelve red-armored warriors pushed open the side door, and out filed out a group of men and women in white carrying zithers.

The woman at the head of the group lightly touched the tops of their heads with her toes, and the jade pendant at her waist reflected the characters "Tian Shu" in the sunlight.

"People from the Tian Shu Sect?"

Xu Yunfan stroked the bowstring of the Sky-Splitting Bow, still remembering how he was chased like three stray dogs by the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Pivot Sect in the eight-hundred-mile glacial wasteland.

Fang Mushan snorted coldly, his fists clenching so tightly they cracked: "Just a lackey of that witch. Back then, in order to curry favor with that old hag, she even dared to offer up her own ancestor's 'Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record'."

At this point, a hint of sarcasm flashed across his face: "The Tian Shu Sect deserves a great deal of credit for the Empress's success back then."

Li Haomiao's expression was indifferent, his knuckles unconsciously rubbing the Qianlong Pendant at his waist: "Aiding the wicked and willingly degenerating, these people are nothing but opportunists who should only live as rats in the gutter. I never thought that they could walk openly on the street today... and even swagger around so ostentatiously."

Xu Yunfan didn't reply, but slowly slung the Sky-Splitting Bow back behind him.

A wisp of pure yang energy remaining on the bowstring inadvertently scorched through the bluestone slab at his feet.

Xu Yunfan offered no comment, simply watching the Tian Shu Sect disciples disappear into the distance.

He killed two Holy Maidens of the Tian Shu Sect back then. Although he didn't kill the first one himself, she died indirectly at his hands.

Once the conflict between the two sides is discovered and ignited, there is no way to ease it; it is best to keep a low profile if possible.

Xu Yunfan withdrew his gaze and followed the convoy as it slowly entered the gates of Yujing City.

Upon entering the city, a wave of noise hits you. The streets are teeming with people, the bluestone pavement is worn smooth by countless footsteps, and the pavilions with flying eaves and brackets stand side by side, their gold-painted signs dazzling in the sunlight.

In a teahouse by the street, several wandering swordsmen wearing straw raincoats were talking in hushed tones, the iron plaques with the character "Xuan" hanging from their waists faintly visible. At the window on the second floor of a silk shop, a girl in a pale yellow dress leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance, a silver bell on her wrist trembling slightly with her breath. It was the "Soul-Capturing Bell" of the South Sea Sound Killing Sect.

(End of this chapter)