Cultivation Online

1418 A Familiar Place

Now that no banished souls dared to approach him, Yuan found traveling the Shadow Realm much more relaxed. However, it didn't mean it was a leisure journey, as he had to focus on controlling the amount of soul strength he exuded.

If he exuded too much, it might hurt the banished souls, causing them to rampage, but if it's too weak, it would not keep them away. Moreover, he had to be careful with such an act entirely, as it could easily backfire and damage his soul.

Fortunately for him, his soul cultivation technique Heaven's Indomitable Soul constantly recovered his soul strength, or else he wouldn't have been able to use such a method.

Several days later, Yuan still wandered the Shadow Realm without any clue as to his location.

However, he noticed the banished souls growing stronger and stronger, requiring him to use more soul strength to keep them away.

'At the rate their strength is growing, I won't be able to keep up in another week or so…' Yuan thought to himself.

Three days later, Yuan noticed another city in the distance. He immediately approached it.

Upon entering the city, none of the banished souls dared to follow him past the city walls, almost as though they were forbidden from doing so.

Yet, Yuan was unable to sense anything odd around the city—

nothing that could explain why the banished souls refused to enter the city.

He thought there was a formation around the city that kept the banished souls away, but he couldn't sense anything like that. Even if it was a powerful level 9 formation, he should still be able to sense it to a certain extent.

Since he didn't have to worry about the banished souls appearing in the city, Yuan took this time to recover his soul strength and take a break.

Once he fully recovered, Yuan did not immediately continue his journey and flew into the air to examine the city.

"This city isn't the same as the previous city, but it bears some resemblance, almost as though it's from the same city, just separated…" Yuan muttered.

He decided to look around the city to see if there were any more clues.

As he strolled throughout the city, he felt a sense of nostalgia, almost as if he'd been to this place before—before it turned to such a sorry state.

'But where have I seen this place?'

He looked at the stores and such, hoping it'd trigger something within him.

"Golden Dumplings."

"House of Starlight."

"Lao's Perfect Noodle."

Unfortunately, the place was too small, and seeing the store names only further strengthened the feeling that he had been to this place before.

'If this is only a part of the whole city, there should be other similar places in the Shadow Realm. Perhaps I will find my answer once I visit enough of them.'

With this thought in mind, Yuan immediately left the city to find the next one.

Even though he didn't know where he was going, Yuan moved with a sense of purpose without feeling hopeless or lost, as though he instinctively knew the layout of the Shadow Realm.

He encountered another city five days later.

"I am certain now. This is just a portion of a city, and I have been to this city before." Yuan confirmed his suspicions after visiting the third city.

However, he couldn't recall where and when he visited the place before no matter how hard he racked his brains.

He left the city to find the next one.

However, the strength of the banished souls had reached the level where even Yuan could not keep them away with his soul strength without injuring them, so he had to return to avoiding them.

This time, it took nearly two weeks to reach the next city.

Unlike the first three cities, there was something distinctly different about this one. At its heart stood a towering and majestic pagoda, its height seemingly reaching the heavens themselves. So striking was its presence that Yuan spotted it from miles away.

When Yuan saw this pagoda, a name immediately appeared inside his head, but he didn't dare to jump to conclusions.

When he reached the city walls, he noticed a worn-down sign lying on the ground right before the entrance to the city.

His expression froze when he read the words on the sign.

"Ahhh… As I thought, this place is…"

"City of Xian."

Indeed, this place was the home of Tian Xian, also known as the Evil God who slew the first Celestial Emperor—an evil abomination that killed millions of cultivators, enough to create an ocean of blood and mountains with corpses.

Yuan descended beside the sign and stared at it with a profound expression on his face.

Sometime later, he lifted it with spiritual energy and placed it above the city entrance, where it once sat with dignity.

Afterward, he directed his gaze towards the pagoda at the heart of the city. Despite countless years of abandonment, it remained tall and majestic, seemingly untouched by the passage of time.

He approached it with a heavy heart, feeling incredibly sorrowful for some reason. Even if he didn't have all of Tian Xian's memories, it was a feeling he received from his soul.

As Yuan approached the pagoda and stood at its entrance, he stared at the grand sign that hung above the doors.

"Invincible Heaven."

"Ah…"

As Yuan stood before the Invincible Heaven, memories that had been blocked started flowing into his mind once again.

"City Lord, what do you think of the name Invincible Heaven? I think it's quite the suitable name for someone like you—

someone who has yet to experience defeat," A young man asked him.

"Why are you asking me that when you've already made a sign and hung it up at the entrance?" Tian Xian shook his head with a gentle smile.

The young man rubbed his nose in a bashful manner and said, "We couldn't think of anything more fitting, so we went ahead of ourselves a little…"

He quickly continued, "But we can tear it down and make another one if you really don't like it."

"No, this is fine. Good job."

"Thank you, City Lord!" The young man bowed, showing a relieved expression on his face.