Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

The enormous city that appeared before Lin Feng, Xiao Yan and the others was similar to the Ancients" imperial city inside the Ancient Longevity World – except it was even more magnificent and splendid.

This city inside the Southern Wilderness was spectacular and seemed to contain uncountable scenes and images as rays of white light rose up into the sky, as if there were incalculable white lotus flowers blooming in the heavens.

The white lights were uninterrupted and continuous, as if they were never-ending. They seemed to pierce right through the past and interacted with the future while they blurred the pa.s.sage of time.

The liveliness and vitality embodied within meshed with the chaotic and barren plains of the Southern Wilderness. The entire region was filled with bleakness and desolate ancient energy, yet it was charged with the boundless spiritual energy of life that pointed to a future of limitless possibilities.

Lin Feng surveyed the surroundings. His gaze pierced through the void as he looked far beyond the horizon before he withdrew his gaze and smiled faintly.

The Southern Wilderness was barely populated. Besides a few farmers and mountain-dwelling villagers, most of its inhabitants were concentrated within a few regions. Cities were erected in these regions, and the citizens were lively while life was bustling.

At this point, the Emperor of the Ancients had apparently a.s.sumed control over these cities. The Ancients established magic formations and rituals that connected their spiritual energies to the Longevity City before Lin Feng and company.

The Ancients had successfully taken the entire Southern Wilderness under their wing and into their control.

There could be some dissenters that only temporarily recognized the Ancients as their rulers and those who had other thoughts in mind. There could be people planted by the Great Qin Empire, the Great Zhou Empire or by the Samsara Sect. However, resolving these issues one by one was only a matter of time with the Ancients" formidable power.

Not long ago, the Ancients had announced to the world that their nation would be called “Ancient State”. They would return to the Greater World through the Divine Lands" Southern Wilderness.

These measures were equivalent to establis.h.i.+ng a sovereignty to some degree. They relinquished their status as the supreme ruler of the entire world since the Antiquity Age and gave up their ambitions from long before.

Even if the Ancient State would eventually conquer the entire Divine Lands sometime in the future, it would be a new beginning and not a return of the Emperor of the Ancient"s decree.

Even though they understood this, the Great Zhou and the Great Qin Empire couldn"t relax with such a powerful neighbor next to their borders.

Lin Feng, Xiao Yan and company traveled forward and were getting close to Longevity City. They saw an elderly man stepping through void s.p.a.ce as he watched the sprawling city before him in silence.

“Greetings, senior s.h.i.+.” Xiao Zhener greeted the elderly man formally as she saw him. The elderly man turned around, and it was the Great Qin Empire"s supreme elder, third-level immortal soul stage cultivator, Prince Gunyang s.h.i.+ Zongmao.

The Great Qin Empire had received the Ancient State"s invitation as well. s.h.i.+ Zongmao was the one responsible for attending the Longevity City"s grand settlement ceremony.

Regardless of what the future held fore everyone, the Ancient State wasn"t forcing anything or a.s.serting their dominance as of now. Even if the Great Qin Empire had other thoughts and opinions, they wouldn"t abdicate the necessary formalities and they wouldn"t place their hostility on direct display.

s.h.i.+ Zongmao returned Xiao Zhener"s greeting as soon as he saw her, and immediately tilted his head in response. “Qing Ye Holy Woman, greetings to you as well.”

He turned towards Lin Feng"s Avatar of Ares and Xiao Yan. “Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, Inferno Emperor, greetings.”

The group of cultivators from the Great Qin Empire that travelled along with him hurried greeted Lin Feng, Xiao Yan and Xiao Zhener. There were several elders from the Ancients that accompanied s.h.i.+ Zongmao, ad they came forward to greet Lin Feng as well.

At this moment, the void s.p.a.ce in a distance separated. Under the guidance of the Ancient Brush Elder, who the Celestial Sect of Wonders were familiar with, the another company traversed through the air and arrived outside Longevity City. There was a middle-aged man at the head of this party, and Lin Feng and the rest were also aware of his ident.i.ty. He was the Great Zhou Empire"s Prince Yanliang, Liang Fu.

The Celestial Sect of Wonders didn"t do anything to the cultivators from the Great Zhou Empire that remained in the Divine Lands, and neither did they trouble the powerful cultivators that Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu took with them, except those that had committed unforgivable crimes. They handed everyone over to the new emperor of the Great Zhou Emperor, Liang Gan, to deal with and considered that part of the Great Zhou Empire"s internal governance and didn"t interfere.

Even though the Great Zhou Empire were ruling over the region with their subjects, nurturing new cultivators wasn"t an easy task for the human world of cultivation. Liang Gan had just succeeded the throne and his foundations were still shaky, and he faced pressure from the Great Qin Empire, the Royal House of the Northern Tribes and the new Ancient State as well. He didn"t execute some grand cleansing or purging, and most of the Great Zhou Empire"s powerful cultivators were respectively settled down by Liang Gan and subsequently reduced to submission.

However, Liang Gan wasn"t soft and appeasing all the time and he would never indulge his enemies so that they could turn on him in the future. He wasn"t a pushover either, and a small number of people were harshly dealt with while he dished out punishment and bestowed favors at the same time and swiftly consolidated and stabilized the Great Zhou Empire"s political situation.

Liang Fu, Liang Jingcheng and Liang Jinglie and the others all displayed their submission to Liang Gan. Even though Liang Gan"s mastery was still relatively low, he was the most suitable candidate for the throne in the current political backdrop.

Liang Fu was the Great Zhou Empire"s representative for the Ancient State and the Longevity City"s grand settlement ceremony, and he came forward to partic.i.p.ate.

Liang Fu and the Ancient Brush Elder encountered Lin Feng, Xiao Yan, s.h.i.+ Zongmao and the others, and there was naturally another round of formalities.

Once all the greetings had been spoken, Liang Fu turned towards Longevity City before them and revealed the same expression as s.h.i.+ Zongmao.

The two of them glanced at each other before they turned away. Their emotions were a little sullen, and they were direct descendants of their respective royal families. They could tell that the Longevity City before them was starting to accrue Energy of Draconic Origin that was formed by the mortals and citizens residing inside the Southern Wilderness.

Rays of white light that resembled light dragons waltzed and surged around in the sky as they came from all directions and descended into this sprawling city.

Xiao Zhener voiced, “Everyone, please.”

She took the lead and descended into Longevity City. There were many formation patterns and white rays of light flickering in the air above the city, and it was a colossal magic formation.

Lin Feng and Xiao Yan had been to the Ancient Longevity World before, and they tilted their heads in acknowledgement as they saw this. “Antarctica Longevity Grand Formation.”

The magic formation before them was the Antarctica Longevity Grand Formation that had been pa.s.sed down through the generations in the lineage of the Ancients, and it was relatively powerful and profound.

It was almost effortless for Gu Jun and the other powerful cultivators from the Ancients and their incredible abilities to create a monumental city from nothing.

Of course, they wouldn"t want a normal city. They spent quite a long time constructing Longevity City, as they sought to strengthen its foundations to make it into an impregnable fortress, while they attempted to establish a new Antarctica Longevity Grand Formation.

They weren"t just casually setting up a formation. They were trying to rebuild a new and powerful magic formation that rivaled the one inside the Ancient Longevity World that had been developed for many years.

The Ancients weren"t about to take a stroll in the Divine Lands and return to the Ancient Longevity World now that they were here. From now on, the Ancient Longevity World would become a place to withdraw into, and the center of development and flouris.h.i.+ng would be transferred to the Divine Lands" Ancient State.

The Longevity City was the Ancient State"s capital, and it was equivalent in status to the Great Zhou"s Tianjing City, the Great Qin"s Xiling city or the mountain gates of the powerful sects, and it was natural that it required careful planning.

The change in the flow of spiritual energy inside the Southern Wilderness came from this fact.

Besides s.h.i.+ Zongmao and Liang Fu, other powers were invited to observe the ceremony as well. Many sects near the border of the Southern Wilderness such as the Vast Sea Sword Sect, the Samsara Sect, the Great Barren Sword Sect amongst a few others, all sent their respective elders to attend the ceremony.

Even though the Royal House of the Northern Tribes were located in the north and their borders were separated from the Ancient State by the Great Zhou and the Great Qin Empire, they also sent representatives for the ceremony. They watched Longevity city with the same wary look on their faces.

The Ancient State served their guests with the utmost care and formalities.

However, they displayed more friendliness towards the Celestial Sect of Wonders apart from the typical formalities, and rightfully so.

Besides that, they were also relatively more amiable towards the Purple Clouds Sect and the Blue Pavilion Holy Man when the two parties met.

In the human cultivation world, the Purple Clouds Sect was only power that had endured from the Antiquity Age till now besides the Great Void Sect, the Mount Shu Sword Sect and the reborn Buddhist Sect,

Of course, the lineage of the Emperor of the Dead that everybody hated and ostracized was not even considered by the Ancients.

There was another round of spectacular celebration once their valued guests had all arrived. The Longevity City"s official settlement and the completed Antarctica Longevity Grand Formation made some parties jovial while others became a little dejected.

There was another powerful force rising up in the Divine Lands. It not only stirred up the local situation, it also had an impact on the entire Divine Lands" political situation.

However, the people that were the most concerned were definitely the Great Barren Sword Sect, the Samsara Sect, the Vast Sea Sword Sect and others whose territories were close to the Southern Wilderness. Other parties that were equally apprehensive were powers like the Great Zhou, the Great Qin and the Northern Tribes – nations and empires who had combined the mortal world and the world of cultivation.

The Great Zhou Empire and the Great Qin Empire had the most acute experience since they were of the same kind and they were in the closest proximity.

This was especially so when Liang Fu and s.h.i.+ Zongmao saw the white Draconic Energies that were channeled into Gu Jun"s body. Their emotions became increasingly burdened while they watched a single white lotus flower bloomed in the sky above his head, and a single petal felt like the creation of a new world.

There were other events after the ceremony. Several powerful cultivators took the chance to interact with other powers, and everyone shared their concerns and headaches.

For everyone, the most important person was naturally Lin Feng.

Inside the Longevity City"s royal palace, Gu Jun and Gu Yuankai sat on the main seats while Lin Feng sat beside them, and Xiao Yan and the other juniors stood behind him.

Xiao Yan didn"t have to do that with his current status. However, he did it willingly and Xiao Zhener stood beside him.

Lin Feng smiled and said, “We came in a hurry and our gifts are a little skimpy. Please forgive us.”

With that, he turned towards Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan produced a gourd and handed it over, and Gu Jun took it curiously. He opened the gourd"s cap as he swept the contents with his consciousness his consciousness, and his expression instantly changed. “The medicinal powers and the concepts contained within are extraordinary. However, I have never seen or heard such a pill before. What exactly is…”

Gu Yuankai was relatively adept with the art of forging pills and he studied the gourd for a moment before his white eyebrows started to twitch. “Forgive me for my ignorance. I have never seen this pill before. Even though I still don"t understand the effects, this pill is definitely not inferior to the Ten Sages Golden Pill, or other spiritual pills like the Trāyastriṃśa Elixir of Creation.”

Lin Feng smiled but said nothing. Xiao Yan placed his hands together and said, “This pill is called the Celestial Heavenmystic Golden Pill.”

“I devised it myself. Both of you are masters in forging pills, please do give me some pointers.”

Both Gu Jun and Gu Yuankai exchanged strange looks on their faces as they heard his words.

The Ancients were proficient in forging pills, and the Antiquity Age"s Emperor of the Ancients, Gu Changsheng, was one of the most skilled a manufacturing pills amongst the various human emperors. He shared the same reputation as Emperor Chong and Emperor Xia.

The Antarctica Longevity Grand Formation was the most suitable magic formation to support the manufacturing of pills, and the Ancients" original productions – the Prized Lotus Pill and the Longevity Pill – were products that had the same value as the Ten Sages Golden Pill, the Way of the Celestial Being Golden Pill, the Life Subst.i.tution Heavenly Pill, and the Bodhi Pill and the other top-tier spiritual pills.

However, it was because of this fact that they were acutely aware how difficult it was to invent such a spiritual pill.

Ever since the Great Void Sect"s Heavenly Born Daoist who created the Way of the Celestial Being Golden Pill during the Middle Age, n.o.body else had created a pill on a similar tier.

Therefore, the entire world was shaken when news of the Trāyastriṃśa Elixir of Creation"s invention first started to spread.

They suddenly realized why Lin Feng, Xiao Yan and company didn"t join the others when everyone else presented their gifts. It wasn"t because Lin Feng and Xiao Yan were arrogant and condescending – instead, it was the complete opposite. They didn"t want to upstage the main attraction.