Library of Heaven’s Path

“Young Master Zhang, if you wish to enter Royal City, I can have my men take you up!” the guard said with a smile.

It was common for first-time visitors in the Sky of Spirit Origin to react in such a manner.

The sheer amount of energy required to continuously float an entire city was mind-boggling to most. Neither God Kings nor Conferred God Kings would be capable of pulling off something like that.

It would require the intervention of a God Monarch to do something like this.

Soon enough, the guards brought an aerial divine beast over.

The guard invited Zhang Xuan onto the back of the divine beast before getting on it himself, and the two of them began making their way toward the floating city.

Even while they were making their way over, Zhang Xuan could feel a heavy pressure coming from the massive city above him.

He activated the Eye of Insight to look before widening his eyes in surprise. He turned to look at the guard and said, “I can’t help but notice that there isn’t a formation beneath the city to keep it in the air. How does it remain afloat?”

Typically speaking, an incredibly powerful formation would have been needed to keep such a massive city in the air. Yet, even when using his Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan was unable to spot anything of the sort.

Hearing those words, the guard chuckled softly before replying with a hint of pride, “Spirit Origin Royal City doesn’t rely on formations to remain afloat!”

“Hm? What does it rely on then?” Zhang Xuan asked.

The laws governing the Firmament were exceptionally strong. The fact that only cultivators who had reached the God King realm were able to fly in the air was proof of that.

Surely it was impossible for such a huge city to be a God King, right?

If so, what could it be relying on other than formations to remain in the air?

“It’s a feather,” the guard replied with a smile. “Back when the city was first constructed, it simply wouldn’t fly no matter what we did. Just as everyone was at a loss as to what to do, the Fire Feather Conferred King found a mystical feather somewhere and placed it beneath the city. Amazingly, supported by the feather, the entire city started floating in the air!”

Zhang Xuan was slightly surprised by the story.

He turned to look at the bottom of the floating city, and there was indeed a humongous feather over several hundred li[l] long there. It seemed to be providing the force that kept the entire city floating stably in the air.

At this moment, the voice of the yellow chick suddenly sounded by his ear side. “I want to eat it…”

“Eat your head!” Zhang Xuan retorted speechlessly. Why is it that all that’s in your head is food?

It was one thing when you were a cute little chick, but you are a God King now! Could you pay more heed to your image?

You might not care about your reputation, but I still value mine a lot!

“No, I don’t want to eat my head. I want to eat that feather over there!” Little Chick replied earnestly.

“Stop talking nonsense. You can’t eat that feather,” Zhang Xuan replied strictly.

Putting aside how it was impossible for Little Chick to eat that massive feather, just the imposing aura it emanated was already far beyond what ordinary God Kings could deal with!

Furthermore, Spirit Origin Royal City was relying on that feather to prop it up. If Little Chick somehow managed to eat it, he was certain that everyone in the Sky of Spirit Origin would charge frenziedly at him to mince him!

“Fine…”

Seeing how its master was not allowing it to eat the feather, Little Chick shook its head in dejection. It leaped down from Zhang Xuan’s shoulder and returned to his dantian.

Since it was not allowed to eat that feather, it should just keep it out of sight so that it could ignore the feather. Otherwise, it would just get more and more hungry looking at it.

The divine beast was extremely fast. It was not long before they arrived at the floating city.

“Can you tell me some of the things I should take note of while I’m at Spirit Origin Royal City? Also, just out of curiosity, I would also like to know more about the Fire Feather Conferred King that you mentioned earlier,” Zhang Xuan said as he passed a middle-tier God Essence Pill over.

Given that the other party was an ordinary high-tier Celestial God, a middle-tier God Essence Pill was already a substantial sum to him.

As expected, the guard’s attitude immediately changed as soon as he saw the middle-tier God Essence Pill. Accepting the gift heartily, he began explaining with a smile, “As you know, Young Master Zhang, Spirit Origin Royal City is the capital of the Sky of Spirit Origin. It’s ruled by the Spirit Origin Monarch, otherwise known as the Deathless Monarch. The fact that you were able to gain the rights to use the Great Displacement Teleportation Formation means that you possess strength on par with God Kings. Since that’s the case, the only beings you really need to take note of are the three Conferred God Kings.

“The first one is the Fire Feather God King whom I mentioned before. He possesses the bloodline of the Inferno Phoenix. He’s exceptionally fearsome when he’s in a state of rage; there’s nothing in the world that he won’t burn down! He’s one of the stronger Conferred God Kings in the Firmament, and he governs the southern area of Royal City.

“The second one is the Glacier Feather Conferred God King. He descends from the lineage of the Glacier Phoenix. Everything that he touches will be covered in a layer of frost. He governs the northern area of Royal City.

“Last but not least is the Tempestuous Feather God King. He has inherited the bloodline of the Tempestuous Phoenix, and he is known for his swift movements that are almost like teleportation. While his fighting prowess is lacking compared to the other two, he’s the hardest to deal with of all. He governs the western area of Royal City.”

While hearing the guard’s explanation, Zhang Xuan looked at the floating city beneath him and noted that the southern area was covered with heatwaves whereas the northern area was snowing.

There was a massive difference in the climates of the two sides of the city, as if they were two different worlds that were forcefully fixed together.

While looking at the sight in wonderment, Zhang Xuan asked the guard beside him, “Since the three Conferred God Kings possess the bloodline of phoenixes, does that mean that the Spirit Origin Monarch…”

It felt too much of a coincidence for three Conferred God Kings in the same region to be of the same species. Thinking about it, most of the top experts of the Sky of Cloud Dragon were descendants of the Dragon Tribe.

Could it be the same for the Sky of Spirit Origin?

“You don’t know about it?” the guard asked in bewilderment.

“Know about what?” Zhang Xuan was equally bewildered.

Seeing how Zhang Xuan was really ignorant about this, the guard sighed deeply before replying, “The Sky of Spirit Origin is known as the Sky of Deathlessness, and our God Monarch is also known as the Deathless Monarch. Do you know why our God Monarch is addressed as such?”

Zhang Xuan shook his head in response.

The first response that came to his mind was that the Deathless Monarch might be an existence that was unaffected by death, but when he thought about the tomb that he had encountered in the Azure, he eventually chose to hold back his words.

Perhaps the concept of eternity was not truly existent in the Firmament either, even for the seemingly omnipotent God Monarchs.

While God Monarchs were known to be lofty existences that transcended the laws of the world, they might not necessarily be as infallible as they appeared.

The rise of Kong shi was one perfect example.

Furthermore, the fact that they were subordinates of the God Monarch of the Sky of Freedom also meant something.

“The reason our God Monarch is addressed by such is because he’s a transmogrified beast as well. His true form is the noblest bloodline of the Nine Skies Phoenix Tribe, the Deathless Celestial Phoenix,” the guard explained with a hushed voice.

If not for Zhang Xuan’s generosity, he would not have spoken about the affairs of a God Monarch so easily.

“Deathless Celestial Phoenix?” Zhang Xuan nodded in realization.

It appeared that many of the God Monarchs were not humans after all.

“Do you know which God Monarchs of the Nine Skies are transmogrified beasts?” Zhang Xuan asked.

Seeing how a person of such high standing was actually oblivious to such common knowledge, the guard shook his head and said, “Those who are guarding the north, south, east, and west of the Firmament are all transmogrified beasts. The true form of the Cloud Dragon Monarch from the Eastern Sky of Cloud Dragon is an Azure Dragon; God Monarch Fumeng of the Sky of Adamant Gold is a White Tiger; the Deathless God Monarch of our Southern Sky of Spirit Origin is the Deathless Celestial Phoenix, otherwise known as the Vermilion Phoenix; and the Acheron God Monarch of the Northern Sky of Acheron is the Black Tortoise!”

Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in realization.

Even though he had learned quite a bit during his conversation with Fu Jiangchen, his knowledge regarding the Nine God Monarchs was still sorely lacking. He did not know that there was such a thing.

Azure Dragon in the East, White Tiger in the West, Vermilion Phoenix in the South, and Black Tortoise in the North…

“Alright, I have already said what I can say. You should get along with whatever you need to do. However, you should take note that the rules in Spirit Origin Royal City are pretty strict, so it’d be best if you try to stay out of trouble. There are cases where God Kings have been killed after causing trouble here.” The guard offered his final word of warning before leaping back onto his aerial divine beast.

“Just give me a moment more. There’s one last question that I would like to ask you!” Zhang Xuan exclaimed to stop the guard from leaving. “May I know where the God Monarch of the Sky of Spirit Origin resides? Also, do those in the city address him as the Spirit God?”

“Indeed, our God Monarch is also known as the Spirit God. In fact, the place where he resides is known as Spirit God Palace. However, it’s said that Spirit God Palace has remained shut for decades now, and even the Fire Feather Conferred God King hasn’t been able to enter the premises,” the guard said. “I’m afraid that there’s nothing more I can tell you about our God Monarch. This is really the extent of my knowledge!”

Zhang Xuan understood that he would be putting the guard on the spot by asking any more than this. Furthermore, it was unlikely that he would know much about what was happening in the upper echelons of the city.

Thus, he asked, “Then, do you know anyone I could visit if I want to learn more?”

“That depends on what you want to learn about,” the guard said. “If it’s just typical news, you can try your luck at the market. There are people from all walks of life there, so there’s a great deal of information going around. Putting everything aside, I heard that those who are well-connected in the market are even able to access the Beauty Pill that has recently gained a lot of attention in the Sky of Drifting Specter!

“If what you are trying to investigate is sensitive in nature, similar to what you asked about earlier, the market would surely prove insufficient. You would have to look for those in the clans of the three Conferred God Kings. Given their higher standing, they will surely know more about the matter!”

“You have my gratitude!” Zhang Xuan clasped his fist before bidding farewell.

The guard was right.

It would indeed be unlikely for the ordinary citizens to know much about the affairs of the God Monarch. If he wanted to know if Luo Ruoxin had really inherited the position of the Deathless God Monarch and become the next Spirit God, his best bet would be the three Conferred God Kings.

After all, they were likely the closest to the God Monarch.

The only issue was that…

Conferred God Kings were incredibly powerful existences, wielding strength that even God Kings could not match. It would be hard for him to come into contact with them and make them listen to his words, unless…

He assumed an identity that even the Conferred God Kings feared!

One perfect example would be how Qi Meng had mistaken him for a God Monarch back in the Sky of Drifting Specter.

Due to that, not only had he been able to purchase high-tier God Essence Pills with ease, most of his requests had been swiftly fulfilled. It was due to their support that the event he held to introduce the Breakthrough Pill had gone so successfully.

With a solid identity, he would be able to easily uncover any information that he needed.

Rubbing his glabella, he muttered thoughtfully, “Should I try disguising myself as a God Monarch?”

[1] One li = 0.5km.