"How can you use three different kinds of Strength?!"

"Through practice, of course."

"...But a normal person can’t sustain two Different Types of Energy in their body at the same time..."

"Who said I was a normal person?"

"..."

Five days slipped by while Xu Yunfan contemplated the Ten Extremes Martial Arts.

When he lifted the carriage curtain again, the towering walls of Jade Capital City stretched across the horizon like a colossal dragon.

The morning sun edged the ninety-foot-high Profound Iron City Gate in gold. On the lintel, the gilded characters for "Heavenly Mandate" flickered in and out of view amidst the morning mist, a strange luster faintly swirling around them.

The official road widened threefold here, yet it was still packed so tightly with carriages and horses that not even a drop of water could pass.

Ornate carriages with canopies, flying the banners of various Daozhous, formed a long line like a dragon. Silk caravans from Jiangnan Dao weaved between the camel-belled Horse Gangs from Yanbei Dao.

Government Officials in black robes held Water and Fire Staffs to maintain order, but more Mortal Wanderers, with sabers on their belts and swords on their backs, simply leaped onto the branches of the ancient locust trees by the roadside. The gnarled branches of those century-old trees had been worn to a glossy sheen by their feet.

Xu Yunfan narrowed his eyes, his pupils reflecting a profound and mysterious scene invisible to ordinary people.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged from all directions like a million silver threads, weaving an invisible Luo Net above Jade Capital City that blotted out the sky.

This Spiritual Qi was not chaotic. It followed a certain ancient rhythm. The biting, cold mist from Yanbei Dao, the warm, moist vapor rising from Jiangnan Dao, and the essence of green wood drifting from Jian Nan Dao all surged like a Hundred Rivers Returning to the Sea toward a vortex deep within the Imperial City.

What was more astonishing was that where this Spiritual Qi flowed, it left faint golden trails in the void, as if an invisible, colossal brush was sketching out a celestial Talisman.

This Jade Capital City had clearly been arranged by a great master, but now, that arrangement had a massive flaw.

In the Cyan Dragon Position to the east of Jade Capital City, the Spiritual Qi network that should have been a seamless whole now had a shocking rift.

At the eye of the array where the Six Paths of the Dragon Vein converged, the pivotal area that should have been suppressed by the Profound Yellow Pool was now like a chasm cleaved open by a Celestial Sword. The faint golden Spiritual Qi twisted bizarrely and dissipated upon reaching this point, forming a hundred-zhang-wide Spiritual Energy Vacuum Zone in the void.

What was even more alarming was that this flaw was by no means natural.

The edges of the rift bore jagged, torn marks, and one could faintly see dark-red Evil Qi spreading like a spiderweb. It was clear that someone had used immense power to forcibly shatter the foundation of the Grand Array.

’Interesting...’

A glint flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. If not for his many unique traits and his ability of Seeking the Dragon and Distinguishing the Veins, he would not have been able to perceive such a change.

He followed the flow of Spiritual Qi and gazed into the distance, where he saw six majestic mountain ranges coiled outside Jade Capital City like slumbering dragons.

To the northeast, Canglong Ridge raised its head to the sky, its craggy spine like a dragon’s horn. To the southwest, Tiger-Crouch Mountain lay in a prostrate position, perfectly resembling a dragon extending its claw.

And to the direct south, the Vermilion Bird Platform was crimson all over. From cracks in the mountain, it periodically spewed sulfurous fumes, searingly hot like a dragon’s breath.

The six mountain ranges converged into a ring a hundred li away. The Earth Vein Qi connected to the Profound Yellow Pool beneath the Imperial City via an underground Dark River, forming a natural Six Harmonies Lock Spirit Array.

’No wonder every dynasty throughout history has, without question, chosen to vie for Jade Capital...’

Hearing Xu Yunfan’s sigh of admiration, Li Haomiao, who was beside him, couldn’t help but respond, "This city is majestic and imposing. Every dynasty has reinforced it, and it has never been breached by an army..."

Fang Mushan, who had come along, heard this and grew curious. "Then why have dynasties still changed?"

Li Haomiao glanced around, then smiled and said slowly, "Peerless masters are the ones who decide whether a dynasty should change."

Xu Yunfan’s fingertips tapped lightly on the window frame, his pupils constricting slightly.

Within his perception, which had been enhanced by the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill, there were at least thirty auras of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm or higher hidden within a hundred-zhang radius.

In the tea shed on the northeast corner, three men in straw raincoats were breaking apart flatbreads, their knuckles as thick as cast iron.

Beneath the flagpole of the Escort Agency to the west, an old man with a sword on his back exhaled a frosty mist with each breath. He had to be a Sword Cultivator from the Sword Pavilion’s "Fishing Alone in the Cold River" lineage.

Most astonishing of all was a seemingly stooped beggar in the shadows of the city gate tunnel. In a three-cun radius around his body, dust motes hovered without falling, and his breathing actually created a negative pressure zone in his vicinity.

A Grandmaster of the Refining the Internal Organs realm!

Li Haomiao’s Hidden Dragon Pendant suddenly grew hot. He said in a low voice, "Under the third willow tree on Vermilion Bird Avenue, that old man selling candy figurines..."

Xu Yunfan followed his gaze and saw that the little finger on the old man’s left hand, the one shaping the candy, was missing its top half.

Li Haomiao said, "That’s the mark of ’Broken Finger Yama’ from the Imperial City’s Hidden Guard."

Xu Yunfan said, "...Your Royal Family is truly strange. Do you have to have a broken finger to join the Hidden Guard?"

Li Haomiao looked a bit awkward. "How could that be? The Hidden Guard are trained from childhood. It’s just that some features make them more recognizable..."

Seeing Xu Yunfan’s noncommittal expression, Li Haomiao continued to explain, "Of course, it’s not something that’s approved of. Heaven knows what those people were thinking..."

As Li Haomiao chattered on, the carriage procession moved slowly forward with the crowd. Suddenly, the sound of a golden gong echoed from the top of the city gatehouse.

Twelve Red Armored Warriors pushed open a side gate, but what emerged in a single file was a group of men and women in white, each carrying a zither.

The leading woman tapped her toes over the crowd’s heads. A Jade Token at her waist reflected the sunlight, revealing the name "Celestial Pivot."

"People from the Celestial Pivot Start Sect?"

Xu Yunfan rubbed the string of his Sky-Sundering Bow, still remembering how he and his companions were chased like three stray dogs across the eight-hundred-li glacial wasteland by the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Pivot Start Sect.

Fang Mushan snorted coldly, his fists cracking. "Just a bunch of lackeys for that Female Witch. Back then, to curry favor with that old demoness, they even dared to offer up their own Ancestral Master’s Profound Celestial Treasure Talisman."

Speaking of which, a sneer flashed across his face. "The Celestial Pivot Start Sect can take a large part of the credit for the Empress’s success back then."

Li Haomiao’s expression was cold as his knuckles unconsciously rubbed the Hidden Dragon Pendant at his waist. "Helping a tyrant do evil, willingly debasing themselves... These people are nothing but opportunists. They originally deserved to live like rats in a gutter, yet now they can walk the streets openly... and so brazenly at that."

Xu Yunfan didn’t respond, merely slinging the Sky-Sundering Bow slowly back onto his back.

However, a residual wisp of Pure Yang True Qi on the bowstring inadvertently burned through the Bluestone Slab at his feet.

Xu Yunfan made no comment, just quietly watched the disciples of the Celestial Pivot Start Sect quickly depart.

He had, after all, killed two of the Celestial Pivot Start Sect’s Holy Maidens. Although he hadn’t killed the first one with his own hands, she had still died indirectly because of him.

Once the conflict between their two sides was discovered and ignited, there would be no room for reconciliation. It was best to be as low-key as possible.

Xu Yunfan withdrew his gaze and followed the carriage procession as it slowly drove through the Jade Capital City Gate.

The moment they entered the city, a wave of clamor washed over them. The main street was packed with a woven tapestry of people, the bluestone road worn to a glossy shine. On both sides, pavilions with upturned eaves and interlocking brackets stood in dense rows, their gold-lacquered signs dazzling in the sunlight.

In a teahouse by the street, several Mortal Wanderers in straw raincoats were conversing in hushed tones, the "Xuan" Iron Tokens hanging from their waists faintly visible. In the second-floor window of a silk manor, a young woman in a goose-yellow dress leaned against the railing and gazed into the distance. The Silver Bell on her wrist trembled with her every breath—it was a Soul-Attracting Bell from the South Sea Sound Killing Sect.