The colossal warship slowly descended, dropping toward the distant shadow.
As the immortal-dao battleship came down, the dusty wind and gloom between heaven and earth cleared away with it, and a giant spirit-vein city, standing between heaven and earth, emerged in one corner of the land.
Towering spires, majestic high-rises, and a vast, interlacing array of steel structures even more spectacular than mountain ranges together made up this grand Immortal City that transcended the mundane world.
The warship was descending.
Within the city, countless flying-shuttle lights lit up like a swarm of bees, as if in welcome.
An Jing stared blankly for a long while, watching the warship vanish into the distant horizon and sink into the city's shadow.
Only after the dark clouds in the sky closed back together, plunging the entire wilderness into gloom once more, did he come back to himself, drawing a sharp breath. "What the...?! This place even has warships!"
Amid the desolate mountains and wild plains, the Martial Artist from the Huaixu Realm, struck by a worldview beyond his comprehension, was utterly shaken and could not move a muscle.
Only after the broken clouds closed back up, the hazy dust-mist covered the whole world again, and the immortal-dao battleship had fully landed behind the city, did An Jing wipe the cold sweat from his head and sit down on a nearby rock.
He sank into deep thought.
"What kind of world is this, really?"
Still gazing toward the distant city, An Jing tried his best to calm himself. "Even when I first saw the firelocks and spirit-light guns, I already knew this world's technology wasn't low."
"But clearly this is no longer 'not low'—it's on an 'extremely high' level!"
"Mm, a rather exquisite combat dharma treasure—only great sects can forge them," the Sword Spirit agreed from within his mind. "But what I just told you to watch out for is the cultivators inside it."
"Aboard that Void Heaven Shuttle there's a Golden Core True Lord who has probably already attained Immortal Karma. His divine sense covers this land, and he could observe us."
"Observe what about us?" At this, An Jing shot nervously to his feet. "Can he discover that we came from another world? Can he sense the otherworldly aura on us?"
"How could he? That was the Taixu Passage I opened. As long as my sword light isn't extinguished, you are a native of this world, and no one can detect anything unusual."
The Sword Spirit denied An Jing's guess, but its tone remained very grave. "But the fact that he might discover us is already dangerous enough!"
"So we can't be found out, then."
An Jing's tension eased a little, and he sat back down, but he was rather puzzled. "If that's the case, then what's there to be afraid of?"
This alarming, start-and-stop exchange finally pulled him fully out of the shock of seeing the immortal-dao battleship.
Once calm, An Jing turned his attention to the wild plains and towns beyond the mountain ridges. "This wilderness looks desolate, but there are quite a few human villages and towns within it."
"Even if that Golden Core cultivator notices us, at most he'll take us for cultivators who ventured deep into the mountains to explore."
"Better safe than sorry." The Sword Spirit was quite cautious in this regard. "An Jing, you must never think too little of yourself, especially since you hold a 'Destiny Pattern' and are already prone to getting dragged into all sorts of trouble."
"Still, this world actually maintains the lineage of Qi Refining cultivation—quite unlike the Huaixu Realm's Heaven's Mandate Martial Path."
At these words, An Jing couldn't help but pause. "Does possessing a Heaven's Mandate Destiny Pattern make one prone to getting caught up in trouble?"
"Others, perhaps not," the Sword Spirit said. "But of the two signs revealed by your Destiny Pattern, one is 'Yinghuo Encamped in Heart,' stemming from your flight from the famine disaster and your experience with the Demon Sect; the other is 'Taibai Eclipsing the Pleiades,' arising because of me. Both are the most baleful of all."
"However, the two great baleful omens counter each other, so your luck won't be too bad—it might even be quite good."
"But even so, it also means you're destined to be the center of many events and conflicts, often beset by bloody calamities—just like how you inexplicably got caught up in the affairs among me, the Extramundane Demon, and the Mortal Dynasty and sects. Your luck is decent, and you're still alive and kicking now, but one careless step, and you'll end up dead without even a whole corpse."
"Is that so." An Jing fell silent for a moment, but he didn't seem to mind the Sword Spirit's warning and laughed. "Then it looks like my future life will be quite exciting."
With that, he gazed a while longer at the shadowed part of the city where the immortal-dao battleship had landed, then came to the cliff's edge and surveyed the surrounding terrain.
Looking out from halfway up the slope, patches of gray-green mountain forest stretched toward the bank of a distant great river.
Because the immortal-dao battleship had stirred the clouds, the hazy rainclouds began to collapse toward both sides, bringing down a wall of murky rain along with the sound of thunder.
The collapsing rainclouds pressed toward the direction where he stood—that is, toward the depths of the mountains.
Soon, the rain came.
"An Jing, the Demon Tribulation's Killing Aura is extremely heavy here, and the rain is full of filth—we need to avoid it."
Before the wall of rain pressed in, the Sword Spirit had already sensed something wrong and issued a warning. "Though you bear a Destiny Pattern and have extremely strong resistance to this sort of thing, it's best not to soak in it for too long."
"Understood."
An Jing had always been one to take advice, so he immediately retreated back into the cave.
The scattered raindrops quickly became a dense curtain of rain, but the temperature wasn't low—it felt more like a muggy, rainy day in the south.
Inside the cave, An Jing raised a hand and caught a drop of rainwater, only to find it was actually purplish-blue, while the other stray raindrops falling on him made his Tianyi Sect clothing begin to hiss and smoke.
"Acid rain?"
This anomaly made An Jing pause. His clothing was a premium item specially made by Suspended Fate Manor for its 'top-ranked champion.' Though it couldn't withstand blades, it was wear-resistant and durable, made of excellent materials.
Yet it could be so easily corroded into smoking by this otherworldly acid rain?
And what was even more terrifying was that he himself felt nothing at all from rain so filthy and corrosive—he only felt that the rain was slightly warm!
"After my Destiny Pattern awakened, my body truly did become different from ordinary people's."
Retreating deeper into the cave, An Jing found a raised, flat stone platform and sat down to meditate. Looking at the purplish-blue curtain of rain outside the cave entrance—which shrouded heaven and earth and was almost gorgeous—he couldn't help but murmur to himself. "No wonder—without a Destiny Pattern, one can't break through the Inner Breath and achieve 'Inner Strengthening.'"
This ability to resist corrosive demonic qi is the key.
Even now, though, An Jing still wasn't quite clear on exactly what kind of 'Destiny Pattern' he had.
The two great baleful signs of Huohuo and Taibai let him control blood-killing weapons. There was no doubt his Destiny Pattern was strong—at least on the level of an 'Extraordinary Destiny,' perhaps even stronger than Bai Qinghan's, possibly a 'Divine Destiny.'
Its power could even let him, without actively channeling his Destiny Pattern, passively fear nothing of this world's corrosive rain.
This kind of Destiny Pattern was An Jing's greatest capital for surviving in Huaixu and in this other world.
But relying on fate alone for everything was absolutely not viable.
So, sheltering in the cave because of the heavy rain with nothing else to do, An Jing conversed with the Sword Spirit and carefully analyzed the intelligence on this 'other world.'
—First, this other world had also once suffered a 'Demon Tribulation' similar to Huaixu's.
The desolate land and the corrosive rain were proof of it. Though the murky calamity qi in the rain had already been blunted by heaven and earth many times over, it was still highly dangerous.
—Second, for some reason, this world still maintained the 'Qi Refining cultivation' system.
This was good news for An Jing, because the Sword Spirit was a powerhouse of exactly this system. Though it didn't understand the Martial Path, when it came to Qi Refining it was a true master—whether appraising secret treasures, guiding spell cultivation, or even optimizing cultivation methods, it could do it all.
With the Sword Spirit present, An Jing wasn't a completely clueless 'outsider' in this world.
—Finally, this world had civilization, had towns, and had a great metropolis in the distance.
Simply put, there were people here and resources, and the technical level was extremely high—in Artifact Cultivation especially, the skill was superb.
The 'Refined-Forged Five Metals' required by the 'Grand White Radiant Spirit Divine Restriction' that An Jing cultivated probably wouldn't be hard to find in this world.
That immortal-dao battleship was most likely forged entirely of spirit steel, ample proof of this world's Five Metals output.
As long as he could blend into this world's towns, An Jing would have a chance to obtain more resources, rapidly raise his own strength, and be ready for the dangers he might encounter in the Huaixu Realm.
And a high-level cultivation method like the 'Divine Restriction'—advancing it even a single small stage would greatly increase his combat power.
Commanding the resources of two worlds, An Jing could grow stronger at an unimaginable speed, beyond what the enemies of both worlds could ever anticipate.
Chapter 60