Zixiao Star, the homeworld of Zixing, one of the three great powers of the Star Domain.
Alongside the Water Moon Star of the Heng Luo Commerce Alliance and the Sword Star of the Sword Alliance, it stood as one of the three most preeminent cultivation stars in the entire Star Domain. These three cultivation stars were leagues ahead of all others—whether in the density of heaven and earth spiritual energy, the richness of their resource output, or the average caliber of their martial artists.
If cultivation stars were ranked into tiers, then the Profound Mystic Continent would undoubtedly be at the very bottom, the Dark Star might occupy the middle ranks, but neither could hold a candle to these three great cultivation stars.
Zixing City—its area was impossible to estimate, stretching vast and boundless. Grand buildings stood in rows, wide streets crisscrossed in every direction, and along both sides of those streets, shops of every variety lined up in dazzling profusion. Martial artists streamed through like fish crossing a river, more than one could count.
This was the headquarters of Zixing.
For any Zixing martial artist, this was a city that symbolized honor and belonging.
Zixing City sat atop an exceptional ley line, so the spiritual energy within the city was no less impressive than that of the great sacred mountains and rivers. The inner city, in particular, brimmed with spiritual energy—it was Zixing's most vital core, and no unauthorized personnel were permitted entry.
On this day, a streak of light shot in from an impossibly great distance. When it was still about a hundred zhang from Zixing City, it suddenly halted. The radiance dissipated, revealing the figure of a young man.
It was none other than Yang Kai, who had arrived after a long and wearying journey.
Having departed from Lingxiao Pavilion, he had used two grand teleportation arrays to save a great deal of time, yet Yang Kai had still spent half a year flying through the Star Domain alone to reach Zixiao Star.
His purpose for coming here was simple: the Star Emperor Token stored within the Zixing Treasury.
Of course, it would be even better if there were other gains to be had. After all, the place that housed the Star Emperor Token was the Zixing Treasury—it couldn't possibly contain only a single token.
He released his divine sense and scanned the area briefly. Even Yang Kai was secretly astonished by the sheer scale and grandeur of Zixing City. A city of this magnitude could only have been built—and sustained—by a major power.
The walls stood roughly thirty zhang tall, suffused throughout with a purple glow. Yang Kai couldn't tell what material they had been forged from, but he could clearly sense faint traces of powerful prohibitions woven into them.
It was easy to imagine that if any enemy dared to provoke them, Zixing City could activate its grand defensive formation to repel the assault.
Still, Yang Kai reckoned there wasn't any fool reckless enough to come looking for trouble here.
"So this is Zixing City?" Yang Kai murmured as if to himself, narrowing his eyes toward the structure ahead.
The next instant, a fawning voice reached his ear: "Reporting to Young Master Yang—yes, this is indeed our Zixing headquarters, Zixing City. Young Master Yang, you've arrived with incredible speed! It feels like barely any time has passed, yet here you are already."
The voice was extremely faint and transmitted via divine sense, so no one other than Yang Kai could hear it.
It was none other than Zi Donglai, hiding inside the Soul-Stabilizing Bowl.
The reason Yang Kai dared to charge single-handedly into Zixing's headquarters was certainly not because of some reckless bravado. His greatest reliance was the information Zi Donglai could provide. With this young master of Zixing serving as his guide, as long as they were careful, infiltrating the Zixing Treasury should not be too difficult.
Of course, the prerequisite was that this kid didn't pull any tricks.
Having spent some time with him, Yang Kai had come to realize that although Zi Donglai possessed considerable natural talent—enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Xue Yue and Gu Jianxin—his temperament was far lacking by comparison. The Zi Donglai of now was nothing like the proud and spirited young master of before. He was reduced to a cowering, sniveling stray dog, scraping by on borrowed time. He treated Yang Kai with the utmost respect, not daring to show even the slightest defiance.
"It truly is prosperous. Those warships in the sky—do they all belong to your Zixing?" Yang Kai lifted his gaze toward the heavens. In the distance, more than one warship hung suspended in the air—twenty or thirty of them, at least. Though they were too far away for him to gauge their exact grade, any warship that dared anchor in the skies above Zixing City surely couldn't be mediocre.
"Most of them, yes," Zi Donglai answered with a note of pride. "What Young Master Yang sees is merely the tip of the iceberg. Our Zixing conducts trade with powers great and small across the entire Star Domain, so it's possible that some of those warships belong to other factions."
"Mm." Yang Kai nodded lightly. "Suppress your aura. I'm going in."
"Yes!" Zi Donglai replied obediently and promptly ducked back into the Soul-Stabilizing Bowl.
Yang Kai stepped forward, walking toward the towering city gate. The gate yawned open like the maw of some great beast, as tall as the walls themselves—an imposing sight that struck fear into the hearts of onlookers. Any martial artist visiting Zixing City for the first time would surely be awed by the gate's overwhelming presence and feel a sense of insignificance, not daring to cause any trouble within the city.
A long queue stretched outside the gate, with many martial artists waiting to enter.
Yang Kai didn't want to draw too much attention, so he obediently took his place at the very end of the line.
As time passed, person after person paid a set number of Sacred Crystals, collected a specially issued transit token, and walked into the city.
Suddenly, a disgruntled cry rang out from ahead: "Sir, how is it that the person before me was only charged a hundred high-grade Sacred Crystals, but now I'm being charged a thousand? Surely that can't be proper procedure!"
"Proper procedure?" A cold laugh came in response. "I'm the city gate guard, and what I say is the procedure. Pay up or get lost!"