“The humans seemed to bring out every sect they possibly had. Don’t they know that having more people isn’t necessarily the best thing. Definitely considering they are from the Mortal Realms?” Someone from the Sect group brought by Emperor Long spoke out.

Yun leaned over and whispered, “Han Yahui, successor of the Heavenly Sword Sect.”

I shrugged, not caring one bit. I didn’t think he was weak at all but he came with five men and was in alliance with the four major sects with a total of twenty men all together. However, the strongest one came from the Li dynasty.

I noticed that someone from the Crown Princess’ group couldn’t hold back his temper. He stepped forward with a hand on his sword.

“How about you show me what middle realm disciples are like?” the sharp little man said.

Han Yahui smirked and took a step, raising his finger and sword qi piercing through the air. The short tempered little man got his sword out, but ended up flying back into his teammates arm. Blood leaking from a wound on his shoulder.

“Do you see the differences?” Han Yahui mocked. “Any more trash wants to learn from them better? I have free time.”

I sighed and waved my hand. A rocking chair appearing, I lowered myself into it.

“The portal will open in two more hours. How about friendly competition to pass the time?” Emperor Li suggested to the human peer.

Emperor Long shook his head as if he was disappointed in his old friend.

“Challenging these guys is useless. At most they will become fodder. If you want to see how useless your people are then I can suggest some people for you to gain some enlightenment.”

Emperor Li rolled his eyes, giving off a look as if betrayed.

“Who side are you on?” He huffed, turning away from the human elites. “I was just informing them such a large number of people is actually useless. If they can’t even withstand the attacks of this little average fellow. How do they deem they will withstand the attacks of true geniuses who already comprehend multiple principles and are working on understanding laws to form a domain? It’s better for them to just cut down such a large group to those with the best potential to grasp the abstract and have them rely on those like my son-in-law.”

Emperor Long laughed, “So what if they rely on your son in law? He already has a party of fifteen. Even if he takes a mansion, there isn’t any hint that he would be able to keep it. Half the people with him now are going to end up eliminated or sleeping outside.”

A human Emperor stepped forward, “Do you two mind giving us some hints about what awaits inside? We won’t be ungrateful for a few helpful hints.” He slangs a ring over and Emperor Li catches it.

“Well, since you asked so kindly. The Ancient World, this world you are about to send your little darlings into, is actually a world created by a faction with multiple Gods for the sole purpose of quickly training their youths. Inside are all kinds of relics meant to help one quickly comprehend and form their laws. However, just comprehending won’t give you a good fighting force. So to force them to be studious and strong, spirit soldiers constantly attack and roam around. Killing them grants a kind of fate. The strongest is peak Martial Emperor, the weakest is peak Void Transformation realm. There will be billions of them at any one time.”

Emperor Li stopped talking and you couldn’t miss the smile on his face. He was leaving off information on purpose. Purpose was to extort more valuables. Another Human Elite tossed a ring and Emperor Li chuckled.

“The reason we said having large numbers is irrelevant is that there are cities you can take over and within those cities are residents. Each resident has specific benefits like owning a certain size shop and access to certain resources. Like farmable land, mines that contain ore, spirit crystals of varying grades, and other things needed for cultivation, formations, and weapons. Sadly, the most important thing isn’t numbers but the strength of the fighter, themselves. My son-in-law is strong enough to obtain a mansion but not strong enough to obtain a City Lord position but if he goes to a town, he could be town mayor.”

Emperor Li stopped once again and another ring came flying.

“The most important aspect is that there are millions of worlds in the eastern Middle realms along. Each of these worlds are owned by some top force who are using this Ancient World as a training ground and way to distribute resources in future. Some of these forces come from Upper Realm, or the better name for it, God Realm. They are forces that lost the fight for one reason or another and managed to relocate to Celestial Realm with ease. They possess inheritances of God Realm while you guys don’t even have the qualification to make me take you seriously. How do you imagine your disciples to end up? I can honestly say, villages are your only hope and a lot of force will be aiming for them.”

The Crown Prince of the Tian Dynasty spoke out, “Are these villages important? Do we have to stay within them?”

Han Yahui laughed, “They are safe zones. Only places that won’t be attacked during certain intervals. On top of that, gaining access to a city, town, or village will allow you to access training sites within them. Like Challenge tower which will help you blend concepts into techniques. Without them, you will fall behind and not just of peers but also behind the spirit soldiers whose powers will keep growing.”

The Crown Prince of the Tian Dynasty nodded and tossed over a ring, transaction completed.

“I have a question but what kind of place are you going to seek with your power?”

Han Yahui looked at Li Wei who stared back at him.

“If I wasn’t following someone else, I would at most settle for a resident in a town.”

The Crown Prince looked at Li Wei and turned around. Emperor Li clapped his hands and turned to the portal that came to life.

“Enjoy your vacation.”

The information they gave was barely anything to go on. I can’t believe they suckered resources out of these guys like that? Tsk, greed is so enviable.

I stood up and motioned for my men to follow. We were the first to step through the portal and the first to see that there’s an army of over hundred thousand blue armored knights standing no more than forty meters away. Each and every one of them have a brilliant aura that says ‘unstoppable’ force.

I glance behind me to see Li Wei lead his men and lackeyes over and his eyes widen even larger than my own.

“Shall we wait for the others or blitz ahead?”

I smirked and took a step. My people automatically got into position, forming an arrowhead with the weaker crafters in the middle.

“Blitz? They have tons of fate and provide it for free. Just kill as you please.”

Every step I took, the wind distorted and the ground shook. Each step slowly became faster and faster until we were like a comet that smashed through the shield vanguard, exploding into their midst like a train derailed.

I had a plan on stopping but as we cut through, I found the force exerted against us was stronger than I had imagined. Leaving me no choice but to exert my incomplete domain while pushing our speed to max.

Even though we broke out, not even fifteen breaths later did our formation stumble into a soft run. Everybody popped pills to recover their energies and put some distance between us and that devastating army.

I took out a map folded within my clothes and studied it for a moment. No matter which continent we appeared on, each placement would be at the outer edge. Plus we landed on earthly land with sparse spurts of yellow grass and dirt. There were no trees in the distance but there were signs of vast green mountain-like areas and further back, you could see whites mountain peaks.

Taking this in, I surmise which continent we were on and the direction we should take. There were all kinds of villages we passed by but we didn’t stop. Cities had different landscapes and there had to be an Emperor city somewhere. If I had to build one myself, then I would pick the area with a vast beautiful setting. Mountains, valleys, river like fingers all surrounding high grade resources like top grade spirit crystals or holy lands for planting rare and greedy plants.

Thus I sort of angle north-west. There was a city mark on the map that didn’t quite meet the requirements but it had the best location. One thing I noticed though, was that each city is separated by great distances. You can say it would take months to years in order to cross the distances without something like a transmission array.

Well, I should rephrase that. Each city that felt like it met qualifications for Emperor Capital city were separated by great distances. There were two cities underneath that seemed to be built near major rivers that connected most towns and cities together. The one in the back is this Emperor city.

So did this mean that if someone took control of this Emperor city, he could subjugate the other cities and towns. Taking from them or accepting tribute? Interesting if it is like I thought. If it's not, it's a plan now.

I chuckled and picked up the steps.

***

“I wished that the damn soldiers would leave behind their weapons. It’s so fucking annoying not being able to use are full power.” one of the star palace disciples grumbled.

Others agreed with different variations of the same complaint. Their complaints did hold measure though. We had to avoid their weapons while attacking with bare hands. It’s not the best method, definitely for those who practice weapon techniques. They couldn’t exert the full force of the technique with their hands.

Yun yawned and stretched as she shifted her big head on my lap.

“How long do we have until we make it to the city?”

I glanced at the night sky and shrugged, “three or less days. We are close but the map isn’t all that detailed. Just giving general position.”

Jingyi complained as she laid down on her outer garb. “It’s too long already. It has been nine days and everybody is already tired of it. Plus we are running out of food. Ugh, I hate the outdoors.”

Yun nodded her head, “I am too, tired of all this damn walking. Plus those freaking soldiers are getting stronger. I couldn’t even breach their defense. It’s freaking unfair, if I had a sword, it would so be different.”

I chuckled and scratched her head with my nails. Gently, stroking her scalp.

“It’s not all that bad. For example, I’m here and you can’t say you dislike sleeping under the sky with me, right?”

Yun and Jingyi both looked at me like I was stupid.

“The first couple days, it was nice and romantic. Now, it is annoying and close to feeling like a neverending nightmare.”

Jingyi added on but I tuned both of them out as Butler Su appeared. He bowed low and began describing what he scouted out.

“There are indeed a number of people heading towards this city. Only two groups made it to the city and we will reach it by tomorrow evening if we don’t encounter any more Martial Emperors.”

“Thank god.” both girls said at once.

I sigh and look at my two maids who were peacefully staring into the night sky.

Come morning, we got up early and marched out. The weather was cool unlike the previous day but I noticed Jingyi seemed to sweat anyway. Sometimes she would touch her side as if she was in pain but if I had not been paying attention, I wouldn't have noticed how she tended to lean to one side more. Taking the weight of her other leg, could be because her ankle.

Ah, being a man is sometimes so challenging.

I walked over to her and crouched down.

“Climb on.”

Jingyi looked at Yun who wasn’t paying us any special attention. She was mostly enjoying scouting ahead with my two maids. Taking care of the soldiers' threat. Jingyi wrapped her chubby arms around my neck and rested her legs on my arms.

Cough, while she was a bit round around the belly, she wasn’t all that heavy.

We made it to the city within estimated time and I led us directly to the City Lord Palace resting on an elevated hill, overlooking the rest of the city. There was a large square leading up to the steps.

When we arrived there were already two groups standing a short distance apart. They look kind of gruff but from the smell of them they were entirely human and the auras depicted someone at the peak of the Void Transformation realm for some of them.

I ignored them and checked out the middle aged man standing on the stairs.

“Please wait here patiently, when all challengers arrive. We will begin the contest for the City Lord.” he spoke gently but it sounded firm within my mind.

I nodded and walked to the fountain and set Jingyi down. I turned to my crew and pointed at the mansion resting over normal buildings to the west.

“Ten of you go check that mansion out. Obtain it if you can, five of you scout the city out and draw out a map. The other five of you go check out the land outside the city. I felt a weird energy, go confirm it sources.” I issued out orders and my men wasted no time in doing what I asked.

They clapped their fist and bowed, “Yes, Palace Lord.”

It didn’t take much longer for six groups to walk up. It seems I had competition but there was only one person capable of making me worry if I would acquire the position or not. He looked at me with his golden hair and iris.

His four men walked over towards me with a solemn face.

“Qin Shui of the Qin Sacred Dynasty.” He cupped his fist towards me, bowing his head slightly.

I copied, “Long Qiu of the Long Dynasty.”

His eyes glittered like a golden coin caught in the sunbeams. He attacked straight away, a golden sword cutting straight for my heart. I counter by freezing his sword in place and sending a beam of qi that transforms into a towering comet.

He thrust his fist forward and the golden dragon fist blocked the comet. Blowing his robe backwards, he really did look like a mighty figure at that second.

However, I crossed the void and launched a fist that enveloped the might of a falling star impact. The shockwaves rolled through his greeting fist, staggering him backwards as he tried to eliminate the visiting forces.

Sadly, blood began trickling down the corner of his lips and I wasn’t planning on giving him time to recover. Fist after fist rained down on him but he soon took a new form of defense. His body became covered in golden armor. Even though he blocked the force behind the fist, he couldn’t stop his backward momentum.

I transitioned from fighting with my fist to conjuring a sword, using the momentum already built up to add to the strenght of the last sword movement of star fall sword, Star Impact.

Qin Shui eyes widened and he immediately exerted his best defensive art that exploded out with a bubble-like shockwave, which sent me flying backwards. I landed roughly on the stones steps, sinking part of the step into the bottom one

Qin Shui spat out blood that accumulated in his mouth and cupped his fist again before leaving with his men. Even though the fight wasn’t a high level one with explosive force that disrupted the terrain. Each one of our attacks or defensive movements contain power to instantly kill someone else.

The middle aged man nodded his head, “City Lord is Long Qiu of the Long Dynasty. Any objections, feel free to spar with him.”

Only two stepped forward but with a wave of my hand, the titan palm slammed down and imprinted the white paved stones. When it lifted, both dumbasses were just smudges someone had to clean off the ground.

Nobody else bothered to fight after that and many turned to leave. These were still first groups within the city so they could lay claim to best resources first.

“Come with me, City Lord.” the middle age man said as he turned and marched up the stairs.

I turned to my men and motioned for them to follow as we began the journey up to the palace.

“Your duty is to establish rules of the cities. If you do not, then the city can be considered a lawless city. You also have the obligation to sort out the resources of the city, like the spirit crystal, ore, farm land, cattle, and positions of ownership of the shops. You have five days to sort them or people can claim resources as they wish. You can also set a tax rate on goods sold within your city and you have the obligation to defend the city during spirit soldiers and bandits attacks.

“Access to training sites such as the Challenge tower, Nine Fire Pagoda, Sword Haven Pavillion and others are under your control. There are a total of twelve such training sites. Any questions so far?”

I shook my head, “no.”

The middle aged man continued, “The City lord palace has its own training facility and it has a gathering array. The essences will be stronger here than anywhere else, but that also means you cannot turn down a challenge. Only move the date around to within five days. You also cannot be gone from the city for more than nine days. Any questions so far?”

I raised an eyebrow, what the fucking point of being city lord if I have all these restrictions. How am I supposed to train at relics that might be further away?

“What if nobody challenges me? Does that mean I am always restricted to the city surroundings?”

The Middle aged man shrugs, “Yes, but the palace training facilities make up for this issue. Also there is a transmission array within the palace. You can use the City Lord badge to return to the city at any time.”

Before I could ask about the badge, he held up a golden badge with the character City lord inscribed on it. I took it and he led us around the palace. There was a grand hall for receiving guests and hosting banquets. As he mentioned earlier, training areas that were indeed impressive upon stepping in.

The master room left me astounded and approve immensely of the privilege. Haha, king size bed, waterfall in the bathroom. Cough plenty of room to entertain female guests, what could I complain about.