Transmigrating Into a Fantasy World: Signing in During Pregnancy, Reaching the Summit with My Childhood Sweetheart

136: Chapter 136: The Ancient Road to the East and the City of TianyuanHaving left the Hundred Flowers Valley, which had fallen into spiritual backlash and Chaos, Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue sped eastward.

Both of them were heavily depleted, especially Nangong Xuan. Having forcibly invoked the Earth’s Sealing Power to confront the dark side’s evil spirits, his Dantian and Golden Core still ached faintly, and his Spiritual Qi was recovering slowly. Su Muxue’s condition was slightly better, but her Taiyin Star Power was also nearly exhausted, with an unconcealable weariness between her brows.

The chaos star core lay quietly in Su Muxue’s palm, its luster much dimmer than usual. Lin Mo’s consciousness had also fallen into silence. Clearly, the previous acts of devouring the evil Formation and assisting in suppressing the mars key had consumed him greatly as well.

”Senior Brother, your injury...” Su Muxue looked at Nangong Xuan’s pale face, deeply worried.

”It’s nothing. The nirvana golden core has its own restorative abilities; it just needs some time,” Nangong Xuan waved his hand, his gaze firmly fixed eastward. ”Time waits for no one. The ’beacon’ left by the dark side is like a sword hanging over our heads. We must gather the star keys as soon as possible.”

He looked inward at his Dantian. The wisp of Chaos Qi gifted by the twin glazed lamp from Loulan was slowly swirling, nourishing his Golden Core and Divine Soul, mitigating the backlash caused by the excessive consumption of Nirvana Dao Rhyme. However, its effect was not immediate.

Su Muxue nodded gently, carefully separating a fine strand of her slowly recovering Taiyin Star Power and channeling it into Nangong Xuan’s body to help him harmonize his Qi. She said no more, simply accompanying him by his side, sharing the pressure and uncertainty of the road ahead.

As they journeyed eastward, the landscape changed once more. Gone was the lush restlessness of the southwestern lands, gradually replaced by an ancient sense of order and vicissitude.

They flew for several days. The land beneath their feet gradually shifted from rolling hills to an open plain. Surprisingly, this plain was not naturally formed. It was covered in a crisscrossing network of massive, long-abandoned canals and roadbed traces, as if an extremely advanced civilization had once constructed grand engineering works covering the earth here. Though mostly eroded and buried by the sands of time, their immense scale was still awe-inspiring.

The Spiritual Qi in the air became upright and balanced, yet carried an indescribable heaviness and sense of restraint. It was as if an invisible Law enveloped this stretch of heaven and earth, compelling one to feel reverence and refrain from reckless action.

”A very strange feeling,” Su Muxue frowned slightly. ”The Spiritual Qi here seems to have been ’regulated’ by some power, operating with great discipline, yet... lacking in variation and vitality.”

Nangong Xuan felt the same. His Nirvana Spiritual Senses were suppressed by some invisible force here, not as sharp and penetrating as before. ”As if bound by invisible shackles. It seems this eastern land has its own unique Laws.”

According to the faint sensation transmitted by the star Core, the next star key was deep within this plain permeated with an aura of ancient order.

After flying for another day, the outline of a massive city appeared on the distant horizon.

It was a city whose grandeur and peculiarity defied description. Its walls soared into the clouds, not built of brick and stone, but seemingly carved from a single, massive piece of black rock that emitted a metallic sheen, smooth as a mirror and seamless. On the walls, no battlements or watchtowers could be seen, only countless intricate, circuit-board-like silver patterns flowing with faint light, exuding powerful energy fluctuations and a cold sense of order.

The city had no gates. Only at a height of a thousand zhang above ground was there a massive, hexagonal passageway resembling a beehive entrance. Various escaping lights and strangely shaped flying vessels flew in and out in an orderly fashion, everything operating under a silent yet efficient set of rules.

Above the city, a pale golden, translucent light shield enveloped it. On the shield, massive streams of light, resembling both runes and data, flashed intermittently, monitoring everything inside and outside the city.

”Tian Yuan City.” Nangong Xuan looked at the black giant city and slowly uttered a name. This was the name they had seen on an ancient broken stele along the way.

”Such powerful rule-based force... The entire city is like a massive Magic Treasure or... Formation.” Su Muxue felt amazed, yet also a strange sense of oppression. The order of this city carried an indisputable coldness, incompatible with the vibrancy of life.

The chaos star core vibrated slightly here, its sensation clearly pointing deep within that cold, giant city.

The star key was inside Tian Yuan City.

The two suppressed their auras, descended from their escaping light, and landed far outside the city. Upon closer inspection, they found the area outside the city was not desolate. There were villages and markets, but whether pedestrians or Cultivators, their behavior seemed exceptionally... standardized.

People walked as if their stride lengths were measured. Transactions were conducted with concise and precise language. Even facial expressions were controlled within a limited range, with little laughter or fury seen. The entire atmosphere was silent and efficient, yet devoid of human warmth.

The appearance of Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue, two ”outsiders” whose auras clashed with the surroundings, immediately drew countless gazes. These gazes held scrutiny, curiosity, but more so a cold appraisal, as if evaluating whether they conformed to the local ”rules.”

Soon, a team of Cultivators in standardized silver-gray armor and expressionless faces walked over. Their steps were uniform, their auras interconnected—all were at the Early Golden Core stage, with the squad leader at the Middle Stage.

”Outsiders.” The squad leader’s voice was like metal grinding, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. ”State your identities, purpose for entry, and estimated duration of stay. You must undergo ’edict mirror’ scanning. Only after confirming no threat and no Chaos tendencies can you apply for temporary passage permissions.”

He raised a silver round mirror in his hand, its surface aimed at the two, emitting a soft yet irresistible white light.

Nangong Xuan frowned slightly. His Nirvana Dao Rhyme instinctively sought to reduce the probing white light to ”nothingness.” Su Muxue gently tugged him and shook her head slightly. In their current unrecovered state, it was unwise to directly clash with the rules of this bizarre giant city.

She stepped forward, her tone calm. ”We are Loose Cultivators from overseas, traveling here. Hearing that Tian Yuan City is an eastern Holy Land, we came to see it for ourselves, with no other intentions.” She quietly circulated her Taiyin Star Power, simulating a peaceful, orderly aura.

The white light of the ”edict mirror” swept over the two. It paused slightly on Nangong Xuan, seemingly detecting the nirvana Origin within him that was incompatible with order. However, it ultimately did not trigger an alarm, perhaps due to the masking effect of the twin glazed lamp’s Chaos Qi.

”Temporary passage permissions granted. Valid for three days.” The squad leader retrieved the edict mirror and handed over two silvery-white metal talismans. ”Remember the Laws of Tian Yuan: Do not recklessly activate techniques. Do not run or make noise. Do not trade prohibited items. Do not spy on Forbidden Grounds. Do not cause disturbances... Violators will be punished according to severity with labor service, expulsion, or purification.”

He recited several dozen prohibitions in one breath, his tone icy and emotionless.

Taking the talismans, the two walked into the city’s outskirts, permeated with a cold sense of order. The talismans felt cool to the touch, engraved with fine patterns faintly connected to the aura of the entire giant city—clearly another monitoring method.

”Purification punishment?” Su Muxue caught the term.

An old Cultivator manning a nearby stall raised his numb face and whispered, ”That means having the ’Impurities’ in your Divine Soul washed away by the ’Light of Edict,’ becoming like them.” He subtly pointed at the patrolling silver-armored Cultivators.

Both Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue felt a chill. This so-called purification was probably erasing individuality and emotion, turning one into a Puppet that only knew how to follow rules!

This Tian Yuan City was far more terrifying than it appeared. Beneath its dense order and rules lay an absolute suppression of individual will.

What form would the star key take in such a city? And who controlled it?

They tried to use the star Core’s sensation to pinpoint a more precise location, but found the rule-based force inside the city created extreme interference. The sensation became blurry and indistinct, only confirming a general direction toward the city’s central area.

There, the energy fluctuations were strongest and the rules most severe—the very Core of the city.

The two exchanged a glance, seeing gravity in each other’s eyes.

Finding and obtaining the star key within this cold, orderly steel giant city would be extremely difficult. A forceful assault would be suicidal. They could only rely on wits, and had to quickly understand the local rules and weaknesses.

They found a seemingly rather quiet teahouse to sit in, attempting to gather information from the conversations around them.

The people in the teahouse spoke in hushed tones, their conversations mostly about work, transactions, and cultivation progress—dry and dull.

After listening for a while, they only caught a few scattered keywords: ”Central Hub Tower,” ”great edict,” ”Energy Cycle,” ”contribution points,” ”Purification Day”... It seemed the ruling Core of Tian Yuan City was the so-called ”Central Hub Tower” and ”great edict.” The city operated on a strict ”contribution points” system, and ”Purification Day” was something that made people pale at the mention.

Just as Nangong Xuan was pondering how to inquire further, a faint buzzing sound suddenly rang out on the street.

All pedestrians, including the silver-armored patrols, immediately stopped their actions, turned to face the city center, bowed their heads slightly, their expressions becoming incredibly pious (or perhaps numb).

The silver patterns on the walls lining the street brightened. A cold, grand, utterly emotionless voice echoed throughout the city via some Formation:

”Announcement: The new round of ’Energy Cycle’ detection is about to begin. All units maintain silence and cooperate with edict scanning. Those with contribution points below the standard line, prepare to undergo ’purification.’”

As the voice faded, the pale golden light shield enveloping the city rippled slightly, showering down a denser, mercury-like Light of Edict that swept over every corner of the city.

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue felt a powerful probing force attempting to invade their Seas of Consciousness, spying on their Divine Soul thoughts! Shocked, they immediately circulated their Cultivation Techniques with all their might to resist!

Nirvana Dao Rhyme reduced everything to ”nothingness.” Taiyin Star Power froze the Sea of Consciousness. The twin glazed lamp’s Chaos Qi confounded fate!

The Light of Edict lingered over them for several breaths, seemingly encountering great resistance, ultimately failing to break through before slowly moving away.

Cold sweat broke out on their backs. Tian Yuan City’s surveillance was truly terrifying! Had they failed to resist just now, they would have likely been exposed immediately!

However, after this sudden scan, Nangong Xuan keenly sensed that the chaos star core in his embrace, which had been dormant, gave an extremely faint throb when the Light of Edict was at its strongest.

It wasn’t pointing toward the city center, but toward a certain direction along the city wall! Though fleeting, he was certain!

It seemed something there, stimulated by the intense order-based rules, had produced an extremely secret resonance with the star Core!

Could it be that the star key wasn’t in the Core area? Or... was there something else?

Nangong Xuan looked at Su Muxue, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

”Mu Xue, we may have been looking in the wrong direction. The real clue might be over there.”

He subtly pointed toward a certain direction along the city wall.