‘So this is what the top of the Empire looks like?’

Zhang Dong looked up at the giant wall that even with his enhanced vision he couldn’t see the end off. It was truly immense, how long something like this took to build was probably astonishing.

The place that he would be entering supposedly survived the trials of time. The Long Clan that ruled this Azure Dragon Empire was apparently something that stuck with it through many millennia. They were the undisputed champions of the land now even more, after one of the large sects disappeared.

The Heavenly Crane Sect that was around the same prestige as the Soaring Dragon Sect was somewhat in a bind now. While previously the big three could not really act out against each other, now it was different.

Qing Long the Azure Emperor could now take over everything if he really wanted. With the Soaring Dragon Sect being gone the Long Clan could overpower the Heavenly Crane Sect. It would take some time but without a third party looming over their shoulders to strike when they were weakened, it was now possible to take the initiative.

But Zhang Dong’s elders informed him that this was not really how the Long clan operated. They gave their subjects a degree of freedom to fight it out with each other. They would probably sit back and watch from behind these walls till another Soaring Dragon Sect arose to fill in the gap.

There was far too much land to occupy by one faction. From Zhang Dong’s perspective, it was probably smarter to focus on a couple of high quality spots than to spread themselves out.

In this world, one nascent soul master could take out a full battalion of core formation cultivators. Only if they were in possession of some high quality battle formation that boosted their strength past this master would they stand a chance.

Even then, the master could easily flee and prolong the fight. Such battle formations took a lot of training and even one person falling behind could cease to be. Thus it was better to focus on quality over quantity.

The land he was on was still only the border town that divided the commoners and royal members of society. For the people living in this empire, it was an honor to go past those dragon gates. Some would even abandon their families if they could become a member of the Long clan, even being a retainer was enough for other kingdoms to fall.

“I’m not sure what you have heard about the Emperor but best you be on your best behavior, you will not speak unless spoken to, don’t meet the Emperor’s or his aid's eyes, I don’t think I need to explain to you what angering the Emperor could entail for your sect?”

While slowly floating towards the gate one of the elders from his escort started giving him ‘advice’ on how he should behave in front of his Emperor. It seemed like it was natural that Zhang Dong should be put in his place as he was just some random sect Patriarch from a rural area of the empire.

It didn’t seem like these people were seeing him as much of a threat for now. While the escort was composed of some strong nascent soul elders, they were clearly not the strongest fighters on their side. The most powerful man here was at the level of the nascent soul late stage elders that attacked his Sect.

The man called Tong would probably wipe the floor with all of them here and even Huo Qiang could take him with a slight boost from the faction system. This would be a good moment to let his aura spill to show them that they shouldn’t underestimate him but the smarter option was to do the opposite.

The more they underestimated him the more freedom he would be given, if they decided to spring a trap they would probably not prepare something lesser from which he could escape from.

“I will heed your advice fellow daoist but could you answer my question?”

The old man frowned a bit as he got interrupted by then nodded as they still had some time.

“Do you perchance know why the Azure Emperor has summoned me?”

The man just shook his head as he replied.

“No, The Azure Emperor has his reasons, those reasons are not for someone like me to know.”

Just as he expected the men here were just following orders and would be out of line if they actually asked for the reason. He could clearly tell that they were also perturbed by his appearance

Finally, they arrived at the giant gate that looked like it would require some titanic creatures to open it. But while he was stuck looking at the massive construction the people from the escort beckoned him to the side.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Why did you stop, come this way.”

“Ah, we aren’t going through the gates?”

The group of elders looked at each other and then back at Zhang Dong before giving out a chuckle. They seemed to be some kind of inside joke but they still were cordial enough to not laugh out loud.

“The Heavenly Azure Dragon Gates are not for such trifle exchanges.”

The man answered while they descended down to the ground, there he found something that he was familiar with, a teleportation formation. Quickly it started making more sense to him, he was but a single man and opening this huge gate only happened when something like the Argonaut needed to pass through it, not a single Patriarch from a country Sect like him.

The group of elders looked quite smug after Zhang Dong’s comment. It was clear to him that after it they saw him as someone uneducated and that didn’t know his own worth.

“Please step into the teleportation array.”

They were even quite condescending while asking for him to stand in this teleportation formation. It was as if they thought that he was unaware of such formations. This might have been true to other Sects as even they mostly only had access to teleportation gates that were easier to manufacture.

Even he had to agree as the ones back home were all teleportation gates and he used his system’s features to go around the building process. This didn’t mean that he was not aware of the ways of constructing one of those. Now when he was able to see a working model he would be able to copy it over if the need ever arose.

To get things to move along they didn’t comment and remained docile. He was going into the belly of the beast so it was better to not antagonize the natives yet. Soon the formation lit up and his whole body was surrounded by a bright white glow. In a matter of seconds, his body vanished from the area with the elders that escorted him remaining.

“Was this person really the one that fought back that demon Wang Long?”

“If the rumors say… but he didn’t seem that powerful.”

They all looked at each other but soon flew away to monitor the large ship that was floating somewhere above in the clouds. Even though they were just making fun of the country bumpkin that arrived they were still baffled by the capabilities of that ship. This was the first time in a while that someone managed to sneak up on them.

As he vanished the elders that escorted him looked at each other with puzzled expressions and one started speaking out.

"Didn't that man look familiar?"

"Yes... could it be!"

*Bzzzzp*

After a bright flash of light, Zhang Dong found himself in another location. While a normal person would be disoriented he had his system map to help him out. With it, he could see that he was tossed into a quite far away location from the initial border town. The jump to his ship would still be possible as he was in the area on the map that belonged to the Azure Emperor.

The first thing that he noticed was the nice breeze at his new location. What he expected to see was some dark hidden chamber with nothing but stone. Instead, he was in something similar to a gazebo formed of blue azure dragons.

On the ground he was standing in he could see an intricate array formation that was even more complex than the one he came through. It was quite miniaturized and hard to understand, so without enough time to go through it he ordered Bob to take a snapshot for later use.

Later he could examine the lines in all intricacies but for now, he realized that he was being watched. He felt a presence of a person before him but his attention was still elsewhere as he noticed the splashing of waves behind him.

From what he could see he was in a summoning array that was placed on some tropical island. The weather was quite perfect and sunny. He could hear birds singing and the wind was gently moving the tree leaves around.

Soon he took a step forward and descended through a laid-out path. This path was composed of pure gold and it was clear that he was supposed to follow it to his destination.

While continuing forward he kept looking around. It was very hard to ascertain anything here, there were many strange contradicting energies everywhere. Powerful beasts loomed somewhere in the distance along with many strange trees filled with fruits that he had never seen before.

One of such trees drew his attention when he passed next to it. The fruits that it possessed looked like golden peaches and they radiated an odd holy aura. As a person poised in such energies he strayed from his path due to this opportunity. While he knew that it would be rude he just had to check this tree out.

It only took a couple of steps to arrive at this tree. Its trunk was radiating a strange presence while the unsuspecting golden fruits remained devoid of any Qi.

“Interesting…”

While he stopped staring at the tree he finally heard a voice call out to him. It was quite alluring and reminded him of his own wife.

“I would advise the dear guest from eating or touching the nirvana fruit, you will suffer a most gruesome of faiths if you do.”

Zhang Dong turned his head to see quite the voluptuous young beauty that looked more like an exotic dancer than a cultivator.

“I can’t?”

“This one will not stop the guest but please reconsider.”

Zhang Dong looked at the woman again and could see only a smile. In reality, he knew what eating this fruit would entail for any normal cultivator. Luckily for him, he was not an ordinary cultivator.

The only thing keeping him from eating this treasure was that it belonged to the Azure Emperor. The woman here didn’t say that he couldn’t eat it, so this was enough for him to quickly grab one and begin munching.

“Wait! You mustn't, the Emperor will be…!”

The woman’s eyes went wide as she noticed that her visitor didn’t understand her words fully.

“The Emperor? Hey, you did say that I could eat it, don’t bring him into this!”

Zhang Dong on the other side just gave out a burp as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

“H-how...how can you still be alive after consuming the nirvana fruit!”

He just shrugged while looking at a second one that wasn’t far from it.

“Uh… is this a bad time to ask for a second one?”