Chapter 159: Welcome to the City That Never Sleeps — Rules Were Everything

When Ascension No. 1 passed through the final layer of spatial ripples and arrived at its destination, even the well-informed Feng Zhiruo could not help letting out a soft gasp of amazement.

What appeared before their eyes was not a traditional immortal city, but a gigantic metropolis suspended in the endless void, so magnificent that it defied description.

The entire city had been constructed upon a hollowed-out fragment of a continent, with countless jade pavilions and lofty towers packed closely together, soaring into the clouds.

Yet unlike traditional architecture, the surfaces of these buildings were all covered by layers of shimmering formation light screens.

Vast light curtains unfolded between the towers, upon which all kinds of dazzling dynamic advertisements were being broadcast.

“Yaochi Holy Land’s latest ‘Youth-Preserving Pill’! Elder Zhao personally tested it—restore a thousand years of youth in one month! You deserve it!”

“Myriad Sword Sect ‘Flying Sword Loan’! Not enough spirit stones? No problem! Thirty percent down payment, take your spirit sword home! Monthly installments as low as nine-nine-eight!”

“Heavenly Secrets Sect exclusive sponsorship, Mortal Realm Prodigies List strength predictions—betting now open! One to a hundred odds, buy Murong Tian! Villas by the sea await!”

Countless flying vessels and flying swords of various shapes moved in orderly fashion through the city’s three-dimensional “air lanes” formed by bands of light, maintaining precise distances from one another, like a strictly disciplined swarm of bees.

This was no ancient cultivation city—this was clearly a cyberpunk-style futuristic metropolis!

“My heavens……”

Zhang Daniu’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he stared,

“T-this… how many good things must there be in this city?”

Zhao Wuji’s eyes shone brightly as he pulled out a small notebook and began jotting things down like a madman:

“Advanced! Too advanced! This kind of ‘brand exposure’ and ‘traffic monetization’ model is absolutely worth deep study by our group!”

“President, I suggest we immediately buy the biggest billboard and run our corporate culture promo video on a twenty-four-hour loop!”

Chu Feng merely smiled without speaking, signaling for the flying vessel to follow the guidance and descend toward a massive docking port.

The moment the group stepped off the flying vessel, two mechanism puppets made entirely of black iron, with red spiritual light flickering in their eye sockets, strode over in perfectly synchronized steps.

“Welcome to the City That Never Sleeps. According to the ‘City That Never Sleeps Entry Management Regulations’, please pay the ‘City Entry Construction Fee’. One hundred top-grade spirit stones per person.”

The puppets’ voices were completely emotionless, yet one of them held out a jade tray, upon which was clearly inscribed a formation capable of deducting spirit stones.

Everyone obediently paid the fee and prepared to enter the city.

Zhang Daniu, overly excited, walked with heavier steps than usual, causing the floor to go “thud” beneath his foot.

“Di!”

A nearby puppet’s eyes flashed red as it instantly drew a jade slip from its waist and pressed it against Zhang Daniu’s chest.

“According to Article Seventeen of the ‘City That Never Sleeps Environmental Noise Management Act’, you have constituted ‘noise pollution’. Fine: ten top-grade spirit stones.”

Zhang Daniu：“？？？”

He, the dignified Chief Security Officer of the Ascension Group, a Golden Core–level body cultivator, had actually been fined just because his footsteps were a bit loud?

Seeing this scene, Zhao Wuji’s occupational instincts kicked in. He immediately sidled up to a newly arrived rogue cultivator and enthusiastically patted the other party on the shoulder:

“Fellow Daoist, I can tell at a glance that your bones are extraordinary and your brow shines with light—you are clearly fated with our Ascension Group! Interested in learning about our great cause of ‘everyone cultivates with merit, everyone can become an immortal’?”

“Di! Di! Di!”

Another puppet instantly turned toward Zhao Wuji, its eyes flashing red wildly.

“Warning! Warning! Detected ‘unfair commercial competition behavior’ and ‘false advertising’! According to the ‘City That Never Sleeps Commercial Conduct Code’, you are hereby issued a first verbal warning!”

“Any further offense will result in the revocation of all your commercial activity privileges within the city!”

Zhao Wuji：“……”

His set of pyramid-scheme rhetoric that had been invincible throughout the Eastern Wasteland had, here, actually been defined as “unfair competition”?

Looking at his two subordinates in such a sorry state, Chu Feng could not help but laugh.

Interesting. Truly interesting.

At that moment, a woman in a red dress, her figure alluring, walked over with a graceful sway, surrounded by a group of attendants.

“Heeheehee, my dear President Chu, how is it that the moment you enter the city, my little toys have already given you a lesson?”

The newcomer was none other than Yao Yue.

She was not wearing a veil today. That peerlessly beautiful face capable of overturning all beings drew countless sideways glances from the surrounding cultivators, yet upon seeing the Thousand Illusions Pavilion emblem on the attendants’ clothing behind her, they all lowered their heads in awe.

“Welcome to my territory.”

Yao Yue tossed Chu Feng a flirtatious wink, brimming with charm,

“Here, that big cannon of yours won’t be very useful.”

“What will work are only two things.”

She extended a slender jade finger, tapping Chu Feng’s head, then tapping his storage pouch.

“Spirit stones, and brains.”

At the top floor of the most luxurious “Thousand Illusions Immortal Residence” in the city, Yao Yue personally hosted a welcoming banquet for Chu Feng’s group.

“Go on, tell me—what have you set your sights on this time?”

Yao Yue took a sip of spirit wine and asked lazily.

“I’m not a picky eater.”

Chu Feng replied with a smile.

“You certainly have a big appetite.”

Yao Yue rolled her eyes at him, then her expression turned serious,

“But this time, there really is one thing you absolutely must seize.”

She waved her jade hand, and a light screen unfolded before everyone’s eyes. At its center was a shattered humanoid skeleton made of some unknown metal.

“This is……”

Chu Feng’s pupils contracted.

“Three months ago, someone discovered this at the edge of the ‘Burial Immortal Demon Sea’.”

Yao Yue’s voice carried a trace of gravity,

“According to our Thousand Illusions Pavilion’s appraisal, this skeleton came from a ‘transmigrator’.”

“Within it is preserved a complete inheritance of ‘mechanism puppet arts’ that is entirely different from our world’s cultivation civilization!”

“A set of… industrial revolution theories capable of overturning the entire Mortal Realm’s artifact-refining system!”

As her words fell, Yao Yue handed a thick jade slip containing the auction catalog to Chu Feng.

“Take your time browsing, my big client. I wish you a pleasant stay in my city.”

Chu Feng accepted the catalog and swept it with his divine sense. Information about countless rare treasures flooded into his mind.

At that moment, Leng Yanran, who had remained silent all along, suddenly trembled. She pointed at an unremarkable herb in the catalog, one that emitted a faintly illusory glow, her breathing turning rapid.

“It’s it!”

“‘Great Void Illusory Dream Flower’!”

An unprecedented brilliance erupted in her eyes, her voice trembling slightly.

“President! With it, my ‘Dao-Inquiry Pill · Supreme Edition’ can finally be truly perfected!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep