In the air above a massive city enshrouded under a yellow light barrier, there were over 100 silver battle arks of different sizes.

These battles arks ranged from just over 10,000 feet up to over 100,000 feet in size, and the largest of them were like small cities that hovered above the massive city.

Within the largest of the battle arks, there were a dozen or so Spatial Tempering Stage Jiao Chi beings, and they were standing inside the tallest pavilion on the ark while looking out at the city down below. On a chair behind them sat a pale-skinned young woman with a pair of purplish-golden eyes. This group of beings was currently conversing in hushed tones with one another while pointing down at the massive city. The young woman wore a contemplative expression, seemingly in deep thought about something.

All of a sudden, spiritual light flashed from the entrance of the pavilion, following which a streak of red light shot forth toward the young woman. The woman raised an eyebrow as she waved a hand toward the streak of light, and it transformed into a ball of red flames that fell onto her palm. She carried the ball of flames in her hand before seeping her spiritual sense into it. After a short while, her expression darkened, and she said in a cold voice, "What a bunch of useless idiots!"Everyone else's hearts stirred upon hearing this, and their conversation ceased as they turned their attention to her. "What's happened, Lady Yin?" a hunch-backed man asked in a careful manner.

"A group of seventh-tier and eighth-tier upper race beings were deployed to capture that Jia Tianmu, only to all be slain at the scene, and the other teleportation formation couldn't even be activated in the first place," the young woman harrumphed coldly in response.

"How is that possible? That Jia Tianmu is indeed proficient in puppet refinement, but he's just a mid-tier upper race being; how could he have killed all of the troops we sent after him?" another long-faced woman asked in an incredulous manner."According to the survivors, someone else was responsible for all this," the young woman replied with a shake of her head. "Someone else? Are there other holy race beings in the area aside from in this Flowing Water City?" the hunch-backed man exclaimed.

"No, not a Body Integration Stage being, but a seventh-tier upper race being instead. That's why I called them a bunch of useless idiots! How did so many of them lose to an opponent of the same cultivation base?" The young woman's voice cooled even further as a hint of rage flashed through her eyes. None of the other beings dared to say anything after witnessing the young woman's fury.

"Send a message to Envoy Tu right away, and inform them of the site of the incident. They'll be responsible for capturing Jia Tianmu from now on; we'll focus all our efforts and attention on conquering Flowing Water City!" The young woman's words were like cold scathing blades."Envoy Tu has other missions to attend to; surely he wouldn't be willing to come here..." someone said in a careful manner. "Just tell him that the one who saved Jia Tianmu is the being that he wants to capture, and he'll have no choice but to take over this mission," the woman replied as she cast an indifferent glance toward the one who had just spoken."The one who saved Jia Tianmu is the same being that Envoy Tu wants to capture?" Everyone was quite startled to hear this.

"Alright, that's enough of this matter. What we have to do now is conquer this city within the next three days! After that, Golden Armor City will be completely on its own, and it'll be as good as ours when that time comes. All of you, just act according to the plan," the woman instructed."Yes," all of other high-grade Jiao Chi beings replied with respectful bows. After that, they departed from the pavilion and flew back to the battle arks that they were operating.

Two hours later, all of the battle arks began to shimmer with spiritual light and emit bursts of earsplitting rumbling following an order from the young woman.

Countless armored warriors, twin-headed giant falcons, and hundreds of winged wyrms surge out of the battle arks, forming an orderly formation in the air, surrounding the entire giant city in a watertight manner. Following the emergence of this Jiao Chi Race army, a series of puppets of different colors also flew out of the battle arks. Most of these puppets were humanoid with the smallest comparable in size to a normal person, while the largest were over 100 feet tall each. There were only three beastly puppets among them, and each of them were over 1,000 feet in size. One of them had the appearance of a giant turtle, but had three heads, and a shell that was filled with thick and sharp spikes. Another one had the body of an ape and the head of a tiger with a pair of massive golden deer antlers. The third one was a flying-ant-like puppet, and not only was it the largest of the three, its body was entirely pristine white, as if it had been refined from crystal.

Seeing as the Jiao Chi beings were preparing to launch a large-scale attack, the entire city was cast into a frenzy.

Through the massive light barrier, one could see that a series of formations had lit up across many locations within the city. Immediately thereafter, thick pillars of light rose up from the formations, injecting themselves into the light barrier in the air above.

The light barrier instantly began to shimmer as a series of runes emerged from it, each of which was around 10 feet in size.

At the same time, countless humanoid figures flew out of some of the buildings in the city, many of which immediately hurtled toward the formations that had just lit up. "Attack!" the young woman on the largest battle commanded, and the three largest beastly puppets led the charge. Spiritual light swirled around the giant turtle's shell, following which countless thick pillars of light instantly shot forth.

Meanwhile, the tiger-headed ape beast opened its mouth to blast forth a golden pillar of light, within which the sounds of howling winds and explosive thunder could be heard. As for the giant crystalline ant, it also opened its mouth, but it expelled a vast expanse of dense green mist that swept through the air instead.

Immediately thereafter, brilliant spiritual light radiated from the undersides of the battle arks as pillars of light came raining down in a torrential downpour.

All of a sudden, rumbling booms rang out incessantly like a relentless string of thunderclaps.

...

Deep within the belly of a massive mountain, there was a dim hall in which everything was only barely visible. The entire area was deathly silent, and it seemed that no one had frequented this place for many years.

However, a short while later, white light suddenly flashed within the hall, following which a formation that was several tens of feet in size appeared at the center of the hall. Spiritual light flashed amid a low buzzing sound, and two blurry humanoid figures emerged within the formation.

One of them was a remarkably young man in a set of azure robes, while the other was a being with long disheveled hair that obscured half of his face. These two were none other than Han Li and Jia Tianmu.

"This place is extremely discreet and obscure, and this teleportation formation that was constructed here by our Myriad Ancient Race cannot be used unless it's during a crisis. As the years have passed, fewer and fewer people know about it. Where we are now is already outside of the area taken over by the Jiao Chi Race, and it's only several days of flight away from the third-largest city of our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races, Cloud City," Jia Tianmu said with a smile.

He then swept a hand through the air, casting an incantation seal onto a gem that was embedded onto a nearby wall.

Spiritual light instantly flashed within the entire hall as a dozen or so locations on the walls lit up in unison, illuminating the entire room.

Han Li inspected his surroundings to find that this hall was only just over 1,000 feet in size, and it had been entirely paved with massive stones that were azure and white in color. It appeared to be quite ordinary and mundane, but the entire place was spotlessly clean. Thus, he nodded, and said in an indifferent manner, "It does indeed appear that it's been a very long time since someone's been here. By the way, this Cloud City seems to be quite an important one to your 13 Heavenly Cloud Races; I've heard that even the grand elder of your Myriad Ancient Race has arrived there."

"Oh? You're aware of this as well, Fellow Daoist Han? Hehe, not only is Cloud City the third-largest city in the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races, it's also been constructed in a very unique manner, so it's quite a renowned city. It's also the closest major city to the army deployed by the Jiao Chi Race, and when the true battle finally commences, Cloud City will be the place where all of the powerful beings of our 13 races will gather," Jia Tianmu explained with a smile.

"That's good to hear. The city must be quite a big one for it to be so renowned. I just so happen to be looking for a large city so I can do some things," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.

"I have a temporary cave abode in Cloud City, so I'm technically half a landlord there. If you have something you need to do, just come and find me. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to help you with any overly important tasks, but I should be able to lend you a hand if you're just running a few errands here and there," Jia Tianmu offered.

After witnessing Han Li slay several beings of the same cultivation base as himself so easily, Jia Tianmu had naturally already deduced that Han Li was no ordinary upper race being. As such, even though he had already escaped from the area under the control of the Jiao Chi Race, he still wanted to try and befriend Han Li. "Thank you for your kind offer, Fellow Daoist Jia. Perhaps I really will require your assistance with some matters." Han Li made no effort to turn down Jia Tianmu's proposal.

"Cloud City is currently in quite a sensitive state at the moment, so it won't be easy for beings outside of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races to enter the city. In particular, it'll be difficult to request entry for new faces like you. However, I've seen you slay several upper race Jiao Chi beings, so I can certainly vouch for you. Hehe, but then again, things will obviously be made a lot easier if you join our Myriad Ancient Race. How about you become a guest member of our race? I have some speaking rights in our Myriad Ancient Race, and I can directly recommend you to our elders. With your powers, you'll definitely be held in high regard by our race. On top of that, the benefits you'll receive from becoming a guest member of our race are quite exorbitant. If you want to get something done in Cloud City, it'll be a lot easier for you as a guest member of the Myriad Ancient Race," Jia Tianmu chuckled. "Thank you for the offer, Brother Jia, but I can't guarantee that I'll be staying in Cloud City for long, so I'll consider this matter another time," Han Li replied after a brief pause.

"That's true, we should focus on getting to Cloud City first and consider these matters later. I have a few close friends in the city that I can introduce you to when we get there," Jia Tianmu said in a warm and inviting manner. Han Li nodded in response, but didn't say anything in reply. Thus, the two of them strode out of the teleportation formation and rushed toward the gates of the hall. After pushing open the gates, a bluestone passageway was revealed to them, and the passageway led upward in a winding manner. Han Li and Jia Tianmu instantly transformed into two streaks of light that disappeared into the passageway in a flash.

Moments later, a ball of white light and a streak of azure light flew out of a large mountain, then hurtled into the distance.