Painting of the Nine Immortals

The Sun was hanging high in the sky. It was noon.

By the border of Yuezhou existed an ancient city. An city that had been forever standing and was ageless.

The city appeared regal and majestic. Like a crouching ancient beast, it laid there, making everyone who took a peek at it fearful. The walls of the city were splattered with blood spots that exuded with the vigor of age – mysterious and eerie.

Though the blood spots had experienced much events since the history of time, they still existed. Because the color of it remained bright, a very powerful threatening energy was seemingly seeping through them, as if to ask people not to forget about the grave war that happened not too long ago.

The rumors also claimed this to be the case. However, as to whether it’s real or not, it could not be verified.

This place is located between the borders of Yuezhou and Yunzhou and its name is the City of Sin. As long as visitors cross the border, walk through a forest, they would be able to see this grandiose and imposing city.

Ling Xian arrived at the foot of this city after crossing the forest.

When he arrived at the entrance of the city, a rush of opposing energy greeted him. Immediately, he looked up and stared at this ancient city that was heavy like a mountain. He couldn’t help but to exclaim.

“The City of Sin, we meet again.”

During the lost century, he had been here and was compelled to live here for a while.

For the time being, the City of Sin was the messiest and coldest place in Yuezhou.

Because this city was located on a place that was quiet and extremely cold, the controlling forces of Yuezhou never attempted to manage this place. Therefore, as time went on, this city had become a forgotten land of Yuezhou, a place where hoodlums, nomads, and cultivators who had committed crimes came into hiding.

Because the most ruthless group of people in Yuezhou gathered here, it wasn’t hard to imagine how disorderly and chaotic this place truly is.

Here was where you can witness the darkest side of the human beings. No matter when and no matter where, a bloody war in the most violent manner was playing inside this city. This city was the best at this in the entire Yuezhou.

As for the small things like cheating and stealing, it’s not uncommon in this city. Every single cultivator who lived here had to act carefully and defensively, or else, maybe the next moment, their heads would be chopped off.

Coldness, cruelty, and numbness filled every single corner of the city and they happened on everyone. Therefore, as time went on, people forgot the original name of this city and gave it a new name.

The City of Sin.

However, Ling Xian did know the original name of this city and how this city came to be. He also knows of the secret event that this city was associated with.

As for what the secret event entailed, he was not for certain.

“What a giant mockery. The ancient city that once guarded the land of this continent did not expect to be named after the City of Sin.”

Ling Xian exclaimed. Because he was once curious, he went to search up all the ancient records related to this city. Though everything that had happened had drifted away with time, some legends and rumors were passed down.

Therefore, after making a herculean effort, he finally figured out the name and history of this city.

The Guardian City.

Rumor had it that a long long time ago, this City already existed within Yuezhou. It acted as the last line of defense for the human kind and helped defend against the foreign kinds and the demons’ attempt at invasion.

In other words, without this city, Yuezhou might already be taken over by the foreign kinds and all the human kinds here probably would’ve been wiped out. Therefore, to commemorate the glorious achievements of this city, people named it the Guardian City.

However, as time slipped by, people began to forget all the accomplishments this city had and instead, replaced the word Guardian with Sin. How ironic was this?

Though the words guardian and sin are not exactly antonyms, the root meaning of these two words are not kind of contradictory.

“Time truly is the gentlest bastard in the world.”

Ling Xian softly sighed and murmured to himself, “It can hide the truth from others and have people forget all about this city’s past glory. What a ruthless knife time is.”

“However, this really has nothing to do with me. Let the ignorant and clueless citizens live without ever knowing of the truth. It’s good enough that I know the truth myself.” Ling Xian softly grinned and began to walk towards the entrance door of the city.

The city consisted of many evil criminals and their families. Therefore, the population of this city was quite a lot, and it was rather crowded on a daily basis.

Through the entrance of the city, one could see that there were many heads on the street and it was extremely clamorous.

Just as Ling Xian was about to enter, he suddenly stopped his footsteps. Then, he wiped off the smile off his face and his expression turned stern.

In the next second, he curved his back, bowed, then formed a fist and cupped it with another to indicate the deep respect he felt towards the Guardian City.

Though this city was a lifeless being without a soul, it had helped the humankind with its survival and deserved true respect from everyone. This was why Ling Xian made such a strange move.

Just as he was paying his respect, the ancient city suddenly behaved strangely.

Originally, there was an extremely powerful spiritual array set on top of this city. However, because it had experienced far too much, the ancient array was now completely damaged and had no more energy left within.

Yet at this time, the City of Sin was awakening because of Ling Xian’s arrival. The cracks all over the walls of the city began to brighten, emitting a mysterious amount of energy.

Sadly, the effects were temporary and the cracks dimmed down again in just a second.

“This energy…”

Feeling the fleeting spiritual energy, Ling Xian’s brows tightly knitted together. He quickly used his Qi and scanned the grand city in front of him.

However, no matter how he searched and investigated, he could not find anything out of the ordinary. However, he was very certain that what he had sensed before was not wrong.

“I shouldn’t be wrong to sense that strangeness. It seems that this ancient city has many secrets.” Ling Xian mumbled. He decided to let go of what was happening and plan to deal with them at a later date.

Because he was standing by the entrance of the city, those inside the city saw Ling Xian and saw what he did to the City of Sin. Then, sarcastic voices inside the city arose and people began to laugh at his strange movements.

“What a dumb ass. Did water enter his brain through his ears?”

“Haha, who the hell bows to a city? This person must be retarded.”

“That’s right. This is too funny. You dumb ass!”

Everyone chimed in their comments, their voices full of mockery.

It was true. Ling Xian’s actions were very strange and it was weird of him to bow to the city. It was obvious that no normal person would do something like that, and thus anyone would think that water entered his brain or he was retarded.

But this Guardian City had much achievements in the past. Though it was some thing not alive, it deserved the respect of everyone and deserved even the superpower to bow!

Therefore, Ling Xian bowed to indicate his respect.

It wasn’t that his brain had gone rust. It meant that he was a person with flesh and blood, affectionate and righteous!

Those who were cursing him were truly ignorant idiots whose stupidity couldn’t reach another level.

“What a group of idiots. They don’t even know the truth about this city and they dare to call me stupid.”

Ling Xian glanced at the group of people and felt too lazy to be angry with them. If a dog would bite you, could you bite back?

However, since he showed no response, those people thought he was scared. They began to laugh uncontrollably, and a few individuals started to check him out without any kindness.

At a messy place like this, fists were logic and fists were reasons. Whoever had the bigger fist could claim ownership over all. And the weak could only stay quiet and accept the bullying.

Therefore, seeing Ling Xian’s silence that made him appear weak and easy to take advantage of, many people started to plot against him and thought of stealing his storage pouch.

“Based on how he is dressed and the temperament he possesses, it is obvious that he isn’t from our Yuezhou. He is most likely from another continent.”

“Hehe, normally, when a rich man comes here, he is followed by many servants, and there are many strong people to accompany as well. Since this man is here by himself, he is either extremely talented, or he is very ordinary and doesn’t have enough capabilities to have subordinates.”

“That’s right. Based on what I see, I think he belongs to the latter group. Which powerhouse would do something so dumb?”

Everyone inside the city had a mocking face on as they continued to attack him with sarcasm. They checked him out from head to toe and pondered over whether or not they should make a move against him.

“Planning on killing me?”

Ling Xian’s lips revealed a cold smile. He was not a flower that grew up in a greenhouse. After all, he once lived inside the City of Sin for a few years, how could he not know what they were planning?

Here, capabilities rise above all else. Capabilities is also the only thing that can chase away all these delinquents. No matter what, if you have no capabilities or your performance is weak, you can only be sliced into pieces by others!

“It looks like I have to teach these people a lesson.” Ling Xian’s expression was cold and he hissed.

“Hmmmph!”

A cold snicker filled the air but it was as loud as nine consecutive thunders that rocked the sky!

Immediately, the faces of the group of people inside the city turned pale. It was as if a hammer was knocking on their chests, they puked out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Then, everyone’s stare changed. They were no longer carrying mockery and underestimation, or even the slightest deviousness. What was written on their faces were of pure shock. It was the same amount of awe they would display as if they saw a ghost.

A cold hiss made everyone here puke out blood, how dominating was this?

How could they not be utterly shocked?!

“My god, what cultivation level is this person? One cold hiss can make me puke blood?”

“No way. This person must be at the advanced stage of the completion level. There is no other way he can be this strong!”

“Damn it! We provoked a completion leveled cultivator of the advanced stage! Which bastard said he is weak? Open your dog eyes and look at this! You call this low in cultivation?”

“We are screwed. Completion leveled cultivators are very high in status and have an endless amount of energy. A flick of their fingers is enough to destroy us!”

Everyone’s heart was shaking in fear and this fear was also written all over their faces. Their bodies were even trembling.

Not even in their dreams did they think that a target they chose to take advance of would simply hiss and cause them to puke out blood. Not even in their dreams did they think that a young man who appeared so young, would be a completion leveled powerhouse!

It’s like when you think you were dealing with a sheep and was about to swing your knife, you realized that the sheep had transformed into an aggressive lion!

Remember that in the City of Sin, there were only a few completion leveled cultivators. Every single one of them were powerhouse figures that others had to look up to!

Therefore, how could these people not fear fearful. Even though they were all nomadic criminals who have witnessed everything, they remained fearful down to their souls. They were terrified that Ling Xian would wave around his sleeve and chop off their heads.

In the Taoism community, especially in the City of Sin, powerhouses had an unlimited amount of special rights. Ignoring the fact this group insulted him first, Ling Xian could kill them at will just because he was in a bad mood.

As a result, these people were scared to the extreme.

However, would Ling Xian kill them?

No. He would feel that doing so would dirty his hands.