Chapter 555: Entering Lingxu
Eighth Arc: The Monsters’ Ideal State II
“Once you climb to the top of Wolong Dam, you’ll see Lingxu City.” Returning to this place years later, Fushan Yue raised his riding crop and pointed ahead, unable to keep a trace of emotion out of his voice.
He had to circulate true energy just to make himself heard. Otherwise, his words would have been swallowed outright by the thunderous roar of the water.
Their party of more than a hundred was traveling along the embankment beside the Wolong River.
The great river surged on in vast torrents, but once it entered the Z-shaped terrain, its width abruptly narrowed to a little over 360 meters. The waters immediately turned violent, hurling themselves over the drop and crashing down in a waterfall with a height difference of more than 60 meters.
From afar, the falls looked like a gigantic hanging curtain.
Wolong Dam ran tight alongside the riverbank, and at all times it was cloaked in drifting mist and spray. Even seated atop his cliff ram, He Lingchuan could feel the tremor of awe brought by the furious current pounding against the dam.
Today the sun shone brilliantly overhead, painting not one but two rainbows in succession across the water.
This was Lingxu City’s welcoming waterfall.
Anyone who came this way first had to endure a show of force and be made to feel their own smallness.
Beijia’s roads were always wide and level.
Without much effort, the whole party climbed with the steady tide of travelers to the top of Wolong Dam.
Even though he had heard Fushan Yue and Shao Jian describe it many times, the first sight of Lingxu City still left He Lingchuan shaken to the core.
So this is the number one spirit city under heaven?
For a moment, he almost thought he had wandered into Guilin’s landscape[1]. If one called it a plain, then it was a plain strewn everywhere with strange peaks and fantastic rocks, as though some invisible, overwhelming force had sliced mountaintops clean off and transplanted them here onto flat land. Jagged little hills rose everywhere—some elegant, some bizarre, some shaped like living things. One did not need to stand atop some lofty summit to look down upon lesser peaks here. Stunning mountain scenery was simply laid out in every direction.
And yet if one called it a hilly landscape, that did not fit either. The open spaces between the mountains were plainly level, filled with countless buildings rising from the ground and countless streams and rivers winding through them in curling bends.
Since arriving in this world, this was the first city He Lingchuan had ever seen that simply did not seem to end.
Other cities were usually ringed by farmland. But here, as far as the eye could reach, it was either green woodland or rooftops and towers.
It was also the first city he had ever seen with no gates and no walls.
To quote Bai Ziqi: “Lingxu City has no need of defensive walls.”
And if everything he had seen so far could still be counted as a normal city, merely one of much grander scale, then what He Lingchuan saw when he lifted his head went far beyond anything an ordinary person could comprehend.
There were seven mountain peaks suspended in the sky.
They were scattered at different heights and in different sizes. The lowest hung only about two hundred meters above the ground, while the highest had already risen into the clouds.
Each peak stood there in midair, touching neither heaven above nor earth below, yet remaining utterly fixed and immovable. Their slopes were lush and emerald green, streaked through with flying waterfalls and winding streams.
Today, white clouds spilled from the valleys and drifted among the floating peaks.
And beside those green mountains and white waters, one could just make out celestial palaces and jade pavilions. The tolling of bells and chimes, and music as if from the heavens, often drifted down upon the wind into the mortal world below.
Magnificent, majestic, and mysterious. The bearing of the immortal realms of the Ancient Era could hardly have been more than this.
He Lingchuan had survived brushes with death again and again, and his experience far exceeded that of ordinary people, yet this was still his first time beholding such a holy and dreamlike spectacle. Even he was deeply shaken.
The other travelers needed no mention. Gasps and exclamations of wonder rose without ceasing.
Fushan Yue explained to He Lingchuan, “Those seven floating islands together are called Upper Lingxu City. The city you see on the ground is Lower Lingxu City. The imperial palace—that is, the Lord Emperor’s residence—is on the highest floating island, Tianxin Island. It’s called the Heaven-Reaching Palace.”
As the most powerful ruler in the mortal realm, he naturally had to dwell on high, gazing down upon all living beings.
He Lingchuan sighed in admiration. “If one island counts as one layer of heaven, then the Lord Emperor resides in the seventh heaven, looking down over all under heaven.”
Bai Ziqi smiled beside him. “That sentiment would please the emperor greatly.”
“A spirit city this wondrous and divine truly deserves to be called the greatest under heaven.” Flattery cost nothing, and He Lingchuan served it up without hesitation.
He had done his background research. Lingxu City had originally stood on the old site of the Grand Return Sect. In other words, this blessed land of spirit mountains had once belonged to the immortals before it was seized by Beijia. After multiple expansions, it had become the Upper and Lower Lingxu City of today.
Lower Lingxu City included not just the central main city but also the four surrounding satellite cities, with a permanent population of more than seven million.
As for Upper Lingxu City’s seven floating islands, there were fewer than nine thousand actual residents. But if one counted their servants and attendants, that number rose to two hundred thousand.
Even though he had already heard the answer from Shao Jian, He Lingchuan still deliberately asked the obvious. “Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai, if the floating islands aren’t physically connected, how do the residents travel between them?”
Before Bai Ziqi could answer, Fushan Yue burst out laughing. “Naturally, everything inside a magical artifact can connect freely to everything else.”
He had deliberately withheld this bit of mystery beforehand, precisely because he wanted to shock He Xiao. The fellow always wore such an unruffled face that it irritated him.
“A magical artifact?” Sure enough, He Lingchuan let genuine bafflement bloom across his face.
Bai Ziqi explained patiently, “Upper Lingxu City is itself a magical artifact!”
Jiao Yu, who was at the side, was staring dumbstruck[2]. He Lingchuan blurted out, “Those seven floating islands...”
“Yes. Those seven floating islands, together with Chiqian Peak at the very center of Lower Lingxu City, form a complete magical artifact set. There may well be no equal to it in the world today.” Without seeing it with one’s own eyes, anyone would have found it impossible to believe that so enormous a magical artifact could exist.
Showing these country bumpkins the wonders of the world, Bai Ziqi could hardly keep the pride out of his voice. “A magical artifact has its own internal system. Between the ground city and the floating islands, and between the islands themselves, one can ignore distance completely and teleport freely. That is called the Startled Swan Crossing.”
Even though He Lingchuan had prepared himself mentally, at this moment, he still found himself at a loss for words.
For most ordinary people, this was probably the point where reverence would begin to well up inside them.
In fact, the moment he turned his head, he could see that many travelers who had just come over the dam had already dropped to their knees at the roadside, murmuring prayers toward the floating islands overhead and performing full prostrations.
At least he could not do that.
His knees were too stiff to bend that far.
It took him a while before he finally asked softly, “For a magical artifact on such an immense scale, how many profound crystals does it consume every day?”
That was the real question.
Managing even a single golden-armored guard already felt like an unbearable burden to him. A magical artifact the size of Upper Lingxu City must consume enough energy each day to make even a gold-swallowing beast die of shame.
Bai Ziqi smiled and said, “The foundation of Upper Lingxu City is made of suspended dipper stone, which does not belong to this world. It naturally floats already, and the method by which it recharges is another matter. You’ll hear of it later. The thing that truly consumes energy is the Startled Swan Crossing. Its expenditure depends on the volume of people and goods moving through it. At a minimum, it burns through more than three hundred kilograms of low-grade profound crystals a day, with no upper limit.”
Extravagant, absolutely extravagant!
Wasteful, so damned wasteful!
He Lingchuan thought of the three profound crystals on his own person, which he had only obtained from Fushan Yue by risking his life to investigate a case.
What a bumpkin he was. Back then, he should have demanded more! Given the filthy waters he was wading through now, he would not have felt bad asking for three hundred.
Then he thought of Sun Fuping. Even when the man died in the Panlong Desert, the few belongings left on him included only a handful of mid-grade profound crystals.
And that had been the state preceptor of an entire state.
Who could have imagined that Upper Lingxu City burned through more than three hundred kilograms of low-grade profound crystals every single day, without fail, just to pay transportation costs?
Fushan Yue was highly satisfied when he saw the amazement on He Lingchuan’s face.
“Come on. Let’s head into the city.”
Bai Ziqi, too, merely smiled and said nothing.
This youth might be bright and sharp, but he was still from a small state. How could his horizons and experience compare to those of a true son of Lingxu City?
* * *
Lingxu City already seemed immense from afar, but only after entering it did people realize they were like droplets sinking into the sea, swallowed by an endless vastness.
The four satellite cities were like four enormous districts. Once Bai Ziqi led his group in through the South Li District, he waved farewell to Fushan Yue.
He had to escort the prisoners to the heavenly prison first, then hurry north to Mount Xu before dark to report in. His schedule was extremely tight. Fortunately, cloud envoys had escorts arranged all along the route. Even now, a carriage drawn by a bo beast had already pulled up beside them.
The prisoners were loaded into the carriage, while the cloud envoy and his men mounted up. In the blink of an eye, they had raced off in a cloud of dust.
He Lingchuan also noticed that Bai Ziqi’s spirit deer mount wore a pale gold token around its neck, and all the surrounding carts and riders moved aside to make way for it. Fushan Yue explained that it was a rapid travel token issued for official vehicles. Only those bearing such a token were allowed to ride at full speed on the main roads of Lower Lingxu City. Otherwise, speed limits applied everywhere, and violators were fined.
Even in the satellite city, the main thoroughfares were wide enough for eight carriages abreast. But the traffic flow in Lingxu City was simply too great. The main roads were crammed with carts and horses, with barely any open space between them. Without a rapid travel token, everyone could only move in order.
He Lingchuan looked at Fushan Yue. “Don’t tell me you don’t have one.”
In the short time since entering the city, he had already seen two or three groups carrying rapid travel token. They had been tearing down the main roads at breakneck speed while everyone else scrambled to get out of the way.
Those were all well-dressed young noblemen on glossy mounts, surrounded by servants in bustling clusters, riding about laughing and shouting. They looked nothing like people on official business.
Fushan Yue chuckled, fished out a token from his storage ring, and hung it beneath his mount’s neck. “Of course I do. Hyah!”
He Lingchuan shook his head. His bighorn cliff ram did not need urging at all. It spread its four legs and immediately followed Fushan Yue, weaving through the flow of traffic.
There was another kind of pack beast frequently seen dashing to and fro on the roads: the white-tailed han.
In truth, it was just a giant moose. It had broad, plate-like antlers, stood over two and a half meters at the shoulder, and had especially powerful back muscles.
He Lingchuan often saw two white-tailed han yoked side by side pulling a carriage, and the carriage itself was specially built, long and segmented, with hooks at the rear that clearly allowed more sections to be attached.
Every several hundred meters, there stood a green wooden signboard by the roadside with place names painted on it in white characters.
And beside those signs, there were often commoners standing with blank expressions and dull eyes.
If anyone was waiting there, the han carriage would stop and let them board. One carriage section could hold twenty-three people when full.
Uh...
He Lingchuan stared, dumbfounded.
Isn’t this just public transportation?
Pointing at the han carriage, he asked, “Anyone can ride those?”
“As long as you pay. But you’ll have to squeeze into a carriage with strangers. One passes every fifteen minutes or so.” Fushan Yue glanced at it and was not at all surprised. “It’s meant to make life easier for mud-legged workers going out to labor. They all leave early and come back late.”
The white-tailed han-drawn carriages only followed fixed routes and required no separate driver. But the han carriages only operated within a single city district. If one wanted to go to the main city of Lingxu or another satellite city, one had to transfer.
It was almost evening now. As He Lingchuan casually observed, he found that the carriages on the road were basically all full. Those who could not find seats had to squeeze in and stand.
Fortunately, moose were immensely strong and had excellent endurance. Being overloaded by another ten or so passengers meant almost nothing to them.
For a giant city, one crucial element of planning and design was public transit. Without these han carriages, how could working people move conveniently across districts for their jobs?
Seven million permanent residents, plus countless outsiders coming and going, constantly tested a city’s capacity and capabilities.
1. This is a reference to the real world’s Guilin, located in Guangxi, China. It’s world-renowned for its dramatic karst limestone mountains, winding rivers, and stunning natural scenery, often described as having the most beautiful landscapes in the world. ☜
2. I’m kinda surprised that it hasn’t been to Lingxu. -TipToe ☜
