Chapter 125

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Chapter 125: Something to Retrieve

Cloud Sea City seemed to have a strong vitality. Even though Cloud Island was shattered and displaced, the atmosphere of the entire realm remained vibrant and uplifting.

Just a sip of wine could make their worries disappear, especially now that the newly built White Cloud City was hosting a grand banquet where visitors could enjoy free wine for a whole month upon entering the city.

The former Cloud Sea City had transformed into the present-day White Cloud City with a name chosen quite randomly. It was simply because the two Island Masters’ Cloud Brands were named "White" and "Cloud," so the name was eventually settled upon.

In order to attract customers and perhaps to dispel the previous gloomy atmosphere, various merchants who had moved into the city jointly organized a month-long grand banquet. Not only were there wandering cultivators from various realms, but also people from the neighboring realms of Cloud Sea World who came to celebrate, creating an unprecedented scene of festivity.

After all, Cloud Sea World is the only gathering place for wandering cultivators, and has unknowingly formed a strong influence, so no realm dares to underestimate it.

Currently, White Cloud City is slightly smaller, but the whole city is still expanding constantly, so no one is complaining.

Talking about expansion, Zhu Erchong has become the strongest sword cultivator in construction skills. He now has hundreds of workers under him, as well as a group of strong men recruited from the Giant Spirit Clan. Almost every day, a new street can be added. Of course, the specific planning will be implemented by him and Yu Qinghong, the two foremen.

Finally, another street was completed. Yu Qinghong took the detailed design drawings to inspect each building one by one, while Zhu Erchong was exhausted, slumping on the red brick road. He felt a surge of energy as he touched the dark iron sword by his side.

At that moment, the light on Zhu Erchong’s right side was suddenly blocked, and an endless black shadow enveloped him.

Zhu Erchong, who was used to such things, couldn’t be bothered to get up, only tilting his head to take a look.

As expected, a new piece of land appeared at the edge of Cloud Island not far away. The shadow was from a small mountain peak newly delivered to Cloud Island.

Zhu Erchong called out, "This land is to be planned for residential houses, it’s tricky with a mountain in the way."

Hearing this, Ye Shubai, standing at the foot of the mountain, didn’t even turn back, but lifted his hand and made a swift slash forward. With the sword light flashing, the small mountain peak disappeared.

Zhu Erchong raised his thumb, "Truly a master of moving mountains!"

Wen Yun, wearing a light pink dress, held a dragon bone wand and floated above the new Cloud Island. She was concentrating on controlling two overlapping Cloud Islands, but this time the Cloud Island shapes were so strange that they couldn’t fit together properly.

Wen Yun looked up and shouted skillfully, "Little Hong!"

A strong gust of wind with a hot aura suddenly appeared, and soon, a majestic red dragon flew slowly towards them. Its golden-red vertical pupils slightly narrowed, but a young voice came out.

The dragon grumbled in a muffled voice, "Alright, alright, I’ve been burning bricks for nearly half a year now. My belly fat is all gone."

However, obediently, the dragon spit out a large pile of red bricks with golden patterns on a red base that looked especially luxurious. Many people who came to White Cloud City mistook them for some kind of unseen gemstone. In fact, these were all the results of the little fire dragon spewing dragon flames day and night for the past half year.

After spewing fire for so long, the little fire dragon had burned off its fat into muscle, and its dragon flames had grown by more than half.

With the red bricks produced, Wen Yun rolled up her sleeves and prepared to start repairing the bridge.

Over these few months, Wen Yun had been working hard to move the Cloud Island every day. At first, she could only control the smallest Cloud Islands, but as she gradually mastered the laws of space, she could now slowly move medium-sized Cloud Islands. If the Cloud Islands didn’t fit well together, she would build stone bridges to connect them.

Hundreds of stone bridges have become a special feature of White Cloud City. Rumor has it that tying a red string on the railing of the same bridge with your loved one will make your relationship last. Now, there are people selling red strings next to every stone bridge, selling one string for an Origin Crystal.

Watching Wen Yun clumsily handle the bricks, Zhu Erchong couldn’t resist climbing up.

"Martial Sister Wen, your skills are not good, let me do it!"

So, Wen Yun saw Zhu Erchong skillfully manipulate the red bricks with source power and quickly built a very exquisite bridge. Then he skillfully placed a basket full of red strings on the bridge, with a sign saying "one string for one Origin Crystal"!

The source of the rumor seems to have been found!

Wen Yun’s attention was not on the red string, mature and stable people would not play such tricks that girls like.

She still remembered Zhu Erchong’s fluid operation just now, unable to help but speak, "Martial Brother Zhu’s control of source power has improved a lot!"

Ye Shubai nodded slightly, "Yes, they have only recently come into contact with source power, and they still have a big gap compared to the upper realm cultivators. Only through repeated practice can they see results."

This is also why he sent all the sword cultivators to repair the city, even including Jiang Si and Qian Lishen, who were dispatched to work hard in various parts of the city. Meanwhile, Xu Wanfeng still stands on the city wall day after day singing melancholic poems, unaware of the master’s intentions.

Wen Yun suddenly realized, "So you didn’t let them fix it themselves just to save money?"

Ye Shubai looked helpless, "But there’s no need to exploit disciples in such matters."

As he spoke, he casually used his elemental power, causing a red rope to float out of Zhu Erchong’s basket and land in Ye Shubai’s palm.

Ye Shubai looked down at Wen Yun, stayed silent, and simply handed over the red rope quietly.

Feeling watched, Wen Yun reluctantly grabbed the other end of the red rope and together they tied it to the newly built bridge.

Naive, too naive!

This was a newly completed street, still deserted. Zhu Erchong casually placed the basket by the bridge and was puzzled to see the red rope, asking, "Where did this come from?!"

Upon another glance, he found an Origin Crystal in his basket, which calmed his urge to draw his sword.

Wen Yun coughed discreetly, holding back a laugh as she said, "Forget about this, we have many guests arriving now. Martial Brother Zhu, go change into fresh clothes to greet them."

After the White Cloud City replaced the Cloud Sea City, the people from the Qingliu Sword Sect were very friendly and respectful to the sword cultivators. Currently, Zhu Erchong and others are guiding visitors from all walks of life in the city.

At this moment, both the elegant Yu Qinghong and the sloppy Immortal Su Yuan changed into new clothes tailored by Wen Yun at Cui Yu’s place, and warmly welcomed the guests.

Xu Wanfeng finally came down from the wall, greeted everyone kindly, and quickly made friends with many female and male cultivators.

He skillfully led the group to the three-story carved wooden building at the center of White Cloud City, now known as the Wanbao Pavilion.

Near the entrance of Wanbao Pavilion stood a tall and handsome young man, skillfully wielding a large black knife. When his aura peaked, his shirt suddenly burst open, revealing perfectly sculpted muscles.

To ensure the shirt bursting effect, Jiang Si was actually using Qian Lishen’s newly researched "shirt-bursting formation."

The planning worked out successfully.

Captivated by the beautiful scene, the female and some male cultivators stood in front of the Wanbao Pavilion, ignoring other shops’ invitations.

Seeing Ye Shubai frown, Wen Yun quietly explained, "I waived the rent, and Wan Baocai gave us half of The Tenth Peak’s profits."

So they keep using tricks just to earn money for us!

However, Ye Shubai just casually glanced at Wen Yun and inexplicably asked, "Is Jiang Si handsome?"

Wen Yun looked at Ye Shubai with surprise and asked uncertainly, "Are you jealous?"

Ye Shubai said nothing.

Wen Yun began to seriously recall that since Jiang Si appeared, every time he showed off, Ye Shubai would stop her from watching. She still hasn’t been able to see the complete scene of the knife cultivator bursting clothes, feeling regretful.

At first, she thought it was because Ye Shubai was conservative and couldn’t stand such thrilling scenes.

But now thinking back, in terms of closeness, he seemed to have never stopped other disciples from watching; in terms of gender, he never stopped Martial Sister Mengran from watching, not even in terms of age… even Shen Xinghai’s two young disciples have watched, and Ye Shubai didn’t stop them.

Wen Yun hit the nail on the head —

"So you’re just stopping me from watching because you’re jealous!"

She looked at him with a hidden meaning, "So you’ve had ulterior motives towards me all along, but you’ve been pretending to be a gentleman, tsk!"

Ye Shubai, "…"

He is not, he did not, don’t talk nonsense.

Jealousy and such, it’s definitely not something the calm and composed Ye Shubai would do!

Wen Yun’s strange gaze made Ye Shubai feel uncomfortable, and when he noticed Jiang Si changing into a new outfit to start the next round of dancing not far away, he decisively took her hand and quickly left before another wardrobe malfunction could happen.

Along the way, the people of White Cloud City often greeted the two of them.

"Island Master Yun, hello."

"Island Master Bai, hello."

Originally, they wanted to be called City Master, but Wen Yun said that White Cloud City should be built together by everyone and belong to everyone, so they shouldn’t be called City Master. Hence, they continued using the previous title of Island Master.

When they heard this title, all the unfamiliar faces in the new city turned to look with curiosity and meaning.

To the residents of Cloud Sea World, Wen Yun and Ye Shubai are like family, the saviors of the disaster caused by the Cloud Beast. They are also the pillars of support in the future of Cloud Sea World.

But for the cultivators from other worlds, the appearance of these two seemed to signal a change: the once loose Cloud Sea World now had two strong leaders emerging.

Among the many worlds of the upper realm, only sects and families with long heritage like the Dongxuan Sect can have powerful figures in the immortal realm. The Ascension Realm and the immortal realm are separated like a sky chasm, much more difficult to reach than others think.

The rumors of Ye Shubai, who could "kill Shang Wuyang with one sword", and Wen Yun, who could "defeat six ascendant experts with one move", were enough to make everyone fearful of their strength.

The outsiders who had come to take advantage of the chaos in Cloud Sea World had to consider the power of these two. Meanwhile, the families and sects who already had connections with Cloud Sea World took this opportunity to get closer to them.

Wen Yun understood all these tricks very well.

So, when faced with friendly encounters, she responded with a smile and kindness. When confronted with sneaky or aggressive attacks testing her strength, she would unhesitatingly use spatial rules to redirect those sneak attacks back to the attackers.

This tactic proved very effective. More and more people poured in from outside the city, but no one dared to make a move.

Because the whole city was celebrating, there were a lot of people coming and going, and the task of the silver-armored guards also became much heavier.

Haqi, who had been guarding by the city gate all night, was feeling a bit tired and let out a yawn.

The silver-armored guard standing opposite him lowered his voice and said, "Haqi, you should take a break first, I will keep watch here."

Haqi was hesitant but when he saw the crowded people outside the city, he gathered his strength and said, "I will guard for another hour, then have the third watch take over."

With so many people coming, he needed to use his special ability, the Power of Rules, to identify the scents on these people. If he detected the smell of enemies, he had to quickly inform Island Master Yun.

Another group of people approached, and Haqi’s nose twitched as he checked each one.

As an elderly man in a dark gray robe walked towards them, Haqi furrowed his brow, sensing something amiss.

"Wait, old man!"

Haqi looked closely again and realized that the old man had no cultivation at all, which left him stunned.

Because the energy from the upper realm is strong, unless someone’s energy channels are completely blocked, even ordinary people living in the upper realm for several decades will naturally advance to the Qi Refining Stage without intentionally training.

The old man’s cultivation level was very strange; he looked just like an ordinary person. But if he really was ordinary, how did he arrive at White Cloud City? Crossing the turbulent sea of clouds is troublesome; without magical treasures, even someone at the Nascent Soul Stage can only last for half a quarter of an hour!

Haqi stopped him for another reason – he sensed a very familiar scent coming from the old man, a scent that belonged to Shang Wuyang!

Haqi, responsible for solving cases among the silver-armored guards, subconsciously felt something was suspicious and hesitated whether to report this matter to the two Island Masters.

But at this moment, the crowd waiting in line to enter the city started causing a commotion.

Those coming to White Cloud City were not just there to congratulate, there were also many thieves lurking in various realms like Dao Jie, trying to freeload, scavenge, and scout, which was their true intention.

Naturally, they were also causing trouble.

"What’s the meaning of White Cloud City? Wasn’t it said that everyone can enter? Why are you stopping others now?"

"Exactly, why did the wealthy Wing clan people just now get welcomed in with smiles, but now an elderly poor man is being kept out?"

Haqi was angry and glared at others. The Wing clan people were helping repair the guards’ armor for free, so why couldn’t everyone be happy when they saw them?

Cloud Sea World was welcoming, but couldn’t tolerate those who were causing trouble on purpose. Haqi coldly drove away the noisy group, but found it hard to take action against the old man.

He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly realized that the old man no longer had Shang Wuyang’s aura!

"Am I imagining things?"

Haqi muttered to himself, sniffed again, confirmed that there was no abnormal smell, and then stepped aside to let the old man enter the city.

"My apologies, please come in, sir…"

"Wait."

Suddenly, a clear voice came from inside the city. The crowd parted to make way, and at the end of the path, a couple approached hand in hand.

After stopping Haqi, Wen Yun’s gaze fell on the old man outside the city. She frowned and instinctively gripped her dragon bone wand tightly.

By her side, Ye Shubai looked solemn as he placed his hand on the Phoenix Tree Sword.

Ye Shubai’s gaze fell on the old man outside the city.

The old man with white hair and wrinkled skin seemed weak like a candle flickering in the wind, his expression emotionless. Whether he was stopped or allowed to pass, he remained silent, devoid of any emotion, like a lifeless shell.

The Phoenix Tree Sword suddenly lifted up.

Ye Shubai’s voice was cold and unwavering, "You cannot enter the city."

The crowd was shocked by this action.

Holding a sword against an unarmed mortal, especially an elderly man, seemed somewhat dishonorable.

Despite Haqi having already dealt with troublemakers, representatives from other sects and families couldn’t help but voice their disapproval.

"Is that Island Master Bai? He seems noble, why is he acting like this…"

The second half of the sentence was hidden, but everyone understood its meaning.

The people in Cloud Sea World didn’t suspect Ye Shubai at all, they instinctively thought of someone else.

"Could it be that another enemy from another realm is trying to sneak in? The other day, a group of thieves tried to enter the city to rob while the crowd was there, they broke through the formation of Wanhua Building, luckily Cloud City Master sent them to Cloud Island."

Haqi quickly explained, "I smelled the scent of a person from Dongxuan Sect on him just now!"

As soon as the words Dongxuan Sect were mentioned, the practitioners in Cloud Sea World were startled, some even discreetly took out weapons, coldly watching the old man ahead.

Currently, the practitioners in Cloud Sea World hate Dongxuan Sect the most. They either lost loved ones in a series of disasters, or their homes and resources were taken away. This deep hatred Dongxuan Sect refuses to resolve, pretending to be dead and unwilling to compensate until now.

They couldn’t confront Dongxuan Sect directly now, but if Dongxuan sword cultivators dare to send people again, Cloud Sea World will fight back!

"But this old man doesn’t seem to have high cultivation… Could he really be from Dongxuan Sect?"

When this was said, the practitioners were once again uncertain, not knowing what to do.

So, everyone looked towards Wen Yun and Ye Shubai in the front, waiting for their answers.

Ye Shubai looked at the old man, who gazed back calmly.

Like an invisible thread, connecting the two of them together unknowingly.

The feeling of being watched had been with Ye Shubai since his first day in the upper realm. It was particularly strong when Shang Wuyang appeared. He thought it was Shang Wuyang, but even after Shang Wuyang’s death, the feeling persisted.

Only now, Ye Shubai realized who had been watching him all along.

His sword remained in hand, his voice coldly revealing the identity of the other.

"Supreme Immortal Shangxuan, you cannot enter this city."

As soon as the words "Supreme Immortal Shangxuan" were spoken, the bustling city gates fell into silence inside and out. The crowded people inside and outside all started to retreat involuntarily.

That was the Supreme Immortal.

He was the most powerful person in all the realms, capable of wiping out everyone with just a flick of his finger!

The old man slowly raised his head and spoke calmly, "You do not need to worry about my identity threatening you. I am here only to do a small task, I will not harm them."

He was not Shang Wuyang, he no longer needed to resort to killing to cultivate his skills.

Love and hate were long forgotten things to him, the lives of these people were of no concern to him. Since it was not relevant to him, he naturally did not bother wasting energy.

Supreme Immortal Shangxuan gazed unwaveringly at Ye Shubai, as calm as the long gone by.

He took a step towards Ye Shubai.

In an instant, the elderly man, who had no cultivation at all, suddenly condensed the cultivation of the Qi Refining Stage! His white hair even turned slightly gray, and his wrinkles decreased.

Another step forward, Foundation Establishment Stage!

The next step, Golden Core!

…

Step by step, the cultivation on Supreme Immortal Shangxuan’s body began to increase, and the pressure it brought also surged like a flying, becoming unbearable for some with lower cultivation levels, causing them to vomit blood.

Finally, he took the final step.

With this step, it seemed that the heavens and earth trembled, the clouds surged, the sky darkened, and the originally peaceful source of power was suddenly drained.

This is…

A fairyland!

Standing in front of everyone was no longer the hunched old man, but a man as cold and icy, standing there like an insurmountable peak, making everyone breathless.

Supreme Immortal Shangxuan gazed at Ye Shubai.

He coldly spoke, "I’ve come to ask you for something back."