As Feng Qi and the Mist Lord arrived at the end of the plains, a grand yet ethereal city emerged before them.
The floating lantern jellyfish swayed in the wind, illuminating the city with a soft glow.
Ahead lay a bustling architectural complex.
A jade-paved street stretched forward, emanating a gentle luster. The surrounding buildings bore a resemblance to ancient Chinese architecture, featuring red bricks, green tiles, and intricate eaves. The entire city oscillated between illusion and reality, adding a sense of mystery and poetic beauty.
What surprised Feng Qi the most was the utter lack of any visible living beings in the city.
Beneath the illusion of prosperity, it was a city of the dead.
"I think we shouldn't go in. This place is too eerie," the Mist Lord warned solemnly.
"If anything happens, we'll retreat immediately. Let's at least take a look first," Feng Qi responded.
For him, intelligence gathering was always a priority. This phantom city might hold something of value.
Without hesitation, he stepped onto the ethereal staircase leading into the city.
The Mist Lord sighed in frustration, muttering curses under his breath, but still followed Feng Qi onto the jade steps.
The moment they stepped in, the world before them rippled.
It was as if a thin transparent film had been torn away. The once phantom-like city became solid, and countless figures emerged. Stalls lined both sides of the jade-paved street, and a sudden burst of noise filled the air.
Compared to the empty city they had seen moments ago, it had now become lively and full of energy.
"What the hell is going on?"
[If I'm not mistaken, what you saw before was merely a spatial projection coordinate—something like a teleportation array. When you stepped onto the jade stairs, you actually entered the teleportation formation and were sent to this real city.]
Feng Qi immediately understood after hearing the narrator's explanation.
At the same time, he noticed that the blood energy in his body was slowly seeping out. Though barely visible to the naked eye, a faint trace of his blood essence was being drawn into the jade-paved street beneath him.
"This place isn't right… My blood energy is being drained!" The Mist Lord spoke cautiously.
"Don't panic. Let's observe for a bit before deciding whether to leave," Feng Qi replied calmly.
He looked around and saw a vast variety of domain creatures roaming the streets.
Some were towering three-meter-tall humanoid beings with rhino-like heads, while others were small and elegant, dressed in luxurious robes. Many resembled extraterrestrial species.
Despite their differences, the various domain races coexisted peacefully in this city.
As Feng Qi observed in astonishment, rows of floating text appeared before his eyes.
At first, he couldn't understand the symbols.
But then, they began to twist and morph, eventually turning into familiar Chinese characters.
The Mist Lord experienced the same phenomenon, with the symbols transforming into legible script from the Mist Clan's language.
The text read:
[Shadow City, City Rules]
1. No fighting is allowed within the city. Violators will be executed!
2. A portion of blood energy will be drained every 76 seconds as a fee for staying in the city—until death.
3. All transactions in the city are unrestricted. Shadow City provides full automatic language and text translation services.
4. The use of destructive abilities is strictly forbidden. Any damage to city property will result in execution!
5. The city will expel all travelers in 49 hours and randomly generate a new spatial projection coordinate for the next cycle.
6. Robbery and theft are strictly prohibited. Violators will be executed!
…
From these rules, Feng Qi quickly deduced that this place was called Shadow City.
Its origins were unclear, but it was evidently a trading hub.
The strict prohibition against killing suggested that an immensely powerful force governed this city.
After all, no one obeys rules set by the weak.
This strange city fascinated Feng Qi. He felt it might offer a wealth of intelligence about the future world.
Initially hesitant about whether to stay, he now had no intention of leaving.
At that moment, the narrator's voice echoed in his mind:
[This is a goldmine for intel. You better start digging. This place is crawling with domain races from all over the world—they must know a ton about what's going on.]
"I still think we should leave. If we stay too long, we might get drained dry and die without even realizing it, like a frog being slowly boiled alive," the Mist Lord warned.
As he spoke, he pointed to a figure slumped in the corner of the street. The creature's hollow eyes were devoid of life, and its body was nothing but skin and bones, evidently drained of all its blood energy. Even if it wanted to escape, it no longer had the strength to do so.
"It's just a little blood loss. No big deal. Let's keep looking around."
Ignoring the overly cautious Mist Lord, Feng Qi stepped further into the bustling street, his boots clicking against the smooth jade pavement.
On both sides of the street, an array of exotic and rare resources and items were displayed.
There were purple spiritual materials resembling coral, body parts and organs of various domain creatures, premium-grade spiritual minerals, and spirit stones. The air was thick with the scent of medicinal herbs, mixed with a variety of other complex aromas. Under the gentle illumination of the floating lantern jellyfish, a faint, hazy glow coated the surfaces of the traded goods.
"Ah Bai, do you think they might have any Miracle-grade items for sale here?" Feng Qi asked casually.
[Are you out of your damn mind? What kind of fool would put a Miracle-grade item up for sale? Do you even understand how ridiculous that sounds? Compared to Miracle items, all of these so-called 'valuable' resources are garbage. Owning a Miracle-grade item is like holding a nuclear weapon—it's an ultimate deterrent against external threats and an invaluable boost to a race's internal development. Who in their right mind would trade a nuke for a pocket knife? Unless they got their head kicked in by Suction Cup.]
[And if, by some miracle, someone did put a Miracle item up for sale, I guarantee you the first one to step in and take it wouldn't be a buyer—it'd be the mastermind behind Shadow City. Because in front of a Miracle item, concepts like 'honest trading' are worthless. 'Integrity' is not even in the equation. Trading integrity for a Miracle item? Absolute profit.]
Hearing this, Feng Qi couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
Having personally witnessed the power of Miracle items, he knew just how absurdly powerful they were. Every Miracle-grade item he had encountered thus far had been beyond conventional understanding.
If one appeared in Shadow City, the place would immediately descend into chaos.
Powerful factions from all over the world would undoubtedly mobilize to seize it.
And they wouldn't care about any 'rules' set by Shadow City's ruler. When it came to obtaining a Miracle, rules were meaningless.
Rules were made by the strong, but they only restricted the weak.
[So, the only way a domain creature would put a Miracle item up for sale here is if they were deliberately trying to burn this place to the ground. Sacrificing a Miracle item just to destroy Shadow City—hurting the enemy by a thousand, but losing ten thousand themselves.]
Feng Qi continued walking deeper into the street, his curiosity piqued by the variety of items being traded.
Stopping at one of the stalls, he crouched down and began examining the goods.
The stall owner was a humanoid male wearing a ferocious-looking mask with blue fangs. When he saw Feng Qi squatting down to inspect the wares, he remained silent, making no attempt to attract customers. It was clear that he had no fear of someone stealing from him, his attitude indifferent.
Feng Qi picked up an object resembling a wine vessel. It was engraved with an image of a Xuan Turtle gazing at the sky with its mouth open. The surface bore signs of wear, corroded by time, and had a rough texture, making it look rather unimpressive.
However, Feng Qi could clearly sense that this object was slowly absorbing ambient spiritual energy.
After examining it for a moment, he was about to set it down and inspect the other items when he noticed something peculiar.
The vessel's surface began displaying distorted text, which gradually transformed into Chinese characters.
[Xuan Turtle Vessel]
Item Description: Crafted from the shell of a millennia-old Xuan Turtle, this vessel is inscribed with 36 micro-scale spirit-gathering formations and 3 spirit compression arrays.
Item Effect: Automatically absorbs ambient spiritual energy and condenses it into spiritual liquid. The longer it is stored, the higher the quality of the liquid produced.
Damage Level: 16.788% (Spirit-gathering efficiency reduced by 28.542%).
Seeing the detailed description appear on the vessel, Feng Qi's eyes widened in surprise.
Shocked, he quickly shifted his gaze toward the other objects on display.
The first thing that caught his attention was a black metal-like stone that emitted a faint glow. As he focused on it, more distorted text surfaced, before transforming into readable Chinese characters.
[Black Essence Stone]
Item Description: A rare, high-quality spiritual ore found only in the Eighth Layer of the Infernal Abyss. It possesses extremely high compatibility with all spiritual materials and is suitable for forging weapons, armor, and various engineering applications.
Overall Quality Rating: 89
Compatible Natural Attributes: Fire, Thunder, Wind, Blood Energy
Incompatible Natural Attributes: Water (Spiritual conductivity reduced by 56%), Wood (Spiritual conductivity reduced by 32%)
Material Properties: Hardness (Level 12), Toughness (Level 4), Spiritual Conductivity (Level 5)…
After reading the stone's details, Feng Qi's attention shifted to a half-shattered jade leg bone lying beside it.
Focusing his gaze, another set of information surfaced.
[Fallen Ghost Leg Bone (Fragmented)]
Item Description: A body part lost by a Fallen Ghost Clan Chief during battle in the Seventh Layer of the Infernal Abyss.
Item Properties: Demon-Bane
Uses: Alchemy, Artifact Forging, Engineering, Decorative Ornament…
…
After inspecting several more objects, Feng Qi realized something.
As long as he concentrated and focused his mind, the detailed attributes of any item would automatically appear before his eyes.
This discovery stunned him.
[If my guess is correct, then Shadow City's ruler must possess a Miracle-grade item with the ability to analyze the properties and origins of all things. It's likely that this item's influence is what enables universal language translation in the city, and why every traded item here can be identified in such detail.]
The narrator's deduction aligned perfectly with Feng Qi's thoughts.
This kind of reality-defying ability could only be the work of a Miracle item.
Perhaps the Miracle item possessed by the ruler of Shadow City was an evolved form of some near-omniscient Pillar God, granting it the ability to analyze all things.
With that thought, an idea sprouted in Feng Qi's mind—he wanted to seize this Miracle item.
If he could get his hands on it, he would be able to assess the abilities of any domain creature before engaging in battle.
Beyond that, handing this Miracle item over to the Crimson Research Institute would significantly enhance their research efficiency.
[Keep dreaming. Just don't get carried away. If the owner of this city dares to use a Miracle item so openly, it means they have the absolute power to defend it. Charging in now would be no different from suicide.]
Hearing the narrator's sarcasm, Feng Qi felt slightly embarrassed.
Of course, he desired it, but he was also well aware of his own limits.
It was just a passing thought—he wasn't actually planning on robbing anyone.
Lifting his head, Feng Qi turned to the masked stall owner and held up the Xuan Turtle Vessel, asking, "How much for this?"
"3,500 Bloodstones, or 20 Origin Bloodstones."
Feng Qi wasn't unfamiliar with Bloodstones.
They were concentrated blood cores, extracted from biological lifeforms. Mist Lord had once taught him how to refine Bloodstones, and they were widely recognized as a common currency in the domain world.
Back when the Mist Clan raised their blood slaves, aside from consuming them as food, they also used them to craft Bloodstones for cultivation purposes.
Compared to the credit-based currency of the human world, Bloodstones had practical value.
As for Origin Bloodstones, Feng Qi immediately thought of the Miracle Bloodstone.
The Miracle Bloodstone had the ability to continuously generate smaller Origin Bloodstones and had the secondary effect of slightly enhancing bloodline strength.
Mist Lord had once jokingly told him that obtaining even a damaged Miracle Bloodstone was like acquiring a money-printing machine.
How many pieces of damaged Miracle Bloodstones existed was still unknown to him.
But one thing was clear—Origin Bloodstones were another widely accepted currency among domain races.
Of course, buying the Xuan Turtle Vessel was out of the question—he was broke.
Now that he had confirmed what currency was used in Shadow City, he casually put the Xuan Turtle Vessel back down and stood up.
At this moment, Mist Lord leaned in and whispered, "This city is too strange. Everything here can be analyzed in detail."
"You noticed too?" Feng Qi asked.
"Yeah, but the ability only works on objects. I tried analyzing the stall owner, but I couldn't see any details on him."
Feng Qi narrowed his eyes and turned to examine the stall owner.
Just as Mist Lord had said, no information about the stall owner appeared.
As Feng Qi pondered this, the narrator's voice rang in his mind.
[That shouldn't be possible. If the items here can be analyzed, then why can't living beings? I suspect that the ruler of Shadow City deliberately restricted races from spying on each other's details. But rest assured, they themselves can definitely see every living being's complete analysis.]
"Makes sense!" Feng Qi muttered.
While he was still pondering, deep within Shadow City, at its very core—
Floating lantern jellyfish clustered around a tower of crimson yellow, standing nearly 100 meters tall at the city's center. At the top of the tower, a pink crystal was embedded, radiating pulses of rippling light.
Inside the highest level of the tower, countless treasures and spiritual materials lay in disarray, forming mountains of riches.
There was no need for additional illumination—various precious artifacts and rare minerals emitted their own radiant glow, filling the room with a dazzling brilliance.
At the far end of the chamber sat a magnificently decorated throne.
A humanoid figure, draped in dark green robes embroidered with cryptic patterns, lounged upon it. His gaze pierced through the layers of obstructions, locking onto the two figures still strolling through the streets of Shadow City—Feng Qi and Mist Lord.
He focused on Mist Lord first.
His right eye shimmered with a deep, eerie green glow, and in that instant, the entire world shifted.
The world before him was no longer the ordinary reality—instead, it became a network of countless vibrant threads, forming an intricate web of fate.
Every object, every living being in the city was connected to these threads.
These threads weren't mere decorations. They were like historical records, detailing every moment from a being's birth to its present state.
By following these threads, he could read through the entire history of anything he laid eyes on—all information, automatically compiled into a concise summary.
Soon, the full details of Mist Lord surfaced before him.
[Mi Yun (Mist Clan)]
Personal Details: The current clan leader of the Mist Clan, residing within the Second Layer of the Spiritual Realm. Universally acknowledged as the most talented leader in the history of the Mist Clan and the last surviving member of his race.
Tags: Loyal only to his kin, ruthless and cunning when it comes to personal gain, highly cautious, and a master strategist.
Bloodline Potential: ???
Abilities: Mist Body, Blood Energy Manipulation, Soul Parasite…
Carried Items: Will of Creation (Damaged) (??? Unable to fully analyze transcendent artifact details).
The ruler of Shadow City barely glanced at the other information, but when he reached the final entry, his eyes gleamed with unrestrained greed.
There was only one possibility for an item that his Eye of Truth could not analyze—
It was a Miracle Artifact.
His gaze then shifted to Feng Qi, eager with anticipation.