Chương 409: A Glimpse (IX)

Blink and you'll miss it, I guess. We got kind of flash-banged by light on the other side, though I suppose that's one of the reasons why we should have kept our eyes shut. Regardless, commotion broke out as quite a few folk seemed to have passed out, with alchemists shuttling over to them. I was... oddly fine, to be honest. Though never having traveled through a spatial tunnel, in terms of an experience, it was close to mildly life-threatening turbulence, just with a slightly existential view.

"Why couldn't I open my eyes?"

"Eh? Senior Brother, you too?"

"Me too, me too!"

"That was really weird!" As the kids prattled on, I still kept thinking back to what I saw, being a bit driven mad--not by that, but by Long Tao's expectant stare. He's like a hound who picked up the scent.

"If you are fine, please come this way," somebody announced from the edge, and we followed the voice. I couldn't even quite focus on the fact that the entire chamber was practically identical to the other; if I had my eyes closed and nobody said anything, I would have just assumed we were being pranked and we never 'teleported' anywhere. We were ushered out and onto a massive plaza--and I mean, massive.

This thing spanned at least two miles in each direction, shorn of buildings, with the only 'object' being the massive, sixty-foot-tall statue at the center. It was of a woman wearing a simple dress and a piece of cloth over her eyes. She appeared to be mid-step, with her right arm stretched out toward the sky. Amidst the ashen gray of the stone of the plaza, her bronze cast rather stood out, shimmering somewhat brightly underneath the still-rising sun.... sun. Right.

The thing that I'm pretty sure doesn't physically exist. Holy shit. I'll spend decades trying to wrap my head around this shit, I swear.

"I know of a good inn," Lao Shun announced.

"It's kind of steeply priced, though."

"Just go," I said, my mind still spinning. It kept flashing back to the tunnel, to the distorted, warped view of everything, and to that final glimpse of it all. Haah. Emptying it the best I could, we followed Lao Shun as he led us westward over the plaza. Buildings of brick and stone arose all around us, and glancing back at the structure we arrived at... it was significantly more magnificent than the one we left at. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Its surface appeared as though made of glass, not unlike modern skyscrapers--except it was smoothly beveled. There were no ridges where it was evident glass was stacked on top of glass--even the edges smoothly sloped. The most bizarre thing, however, was that the glass didn't... reflect. It held a murky, dirty blue hue and didn't reflect light that could melt the wheels of the cars through the windshield at the right angle.

At its peak were six spires twining and coalescing toward a point in arcs, then further twirling like fingers around a glowing sphere of light that hummed and gently bobbed up and down at a consistent rhythm. Not unlike Spirit Vein City, it appeared to be the tallest building, though quite a few high-rises jutted out into the sky. The sheer scale was far greater, with the first inkling being the populace, actually.

Though the plaza itself was decently 'populated', it was mostly just people coming and going into the teleportation chamber. Once we stepped foot onto the actual streets, it boomed. Not quite NYC at rush hour, but it was by far the most congested place I've visited. Every which way I looked, I could sense cultivation realms rivaling mine and higher--it truly spoke volumes to just what kind of a backwater village I first spawned into.

Our dear guide didn't meander, expertly navigating the cobblestone-paved streets and alleyways until we broke off from the crowd. The buildings here, too, looked slightly different: a bit older, with traces of chipped stone, patched walls, and moss in mortar lines. A bit more 'lived-in.' The streets were narrower, with quite a few overhead bridges connecting the parallel buildings hanging just a few feet above our heads.

Though architecture still remained dominantly oriental, even with brick and stone instead of wood, I noticed a few... odd ones. Like an almost brutalist-style pagoda that, instead of a terraced style with large overhangs, had... nothing. Slightly sloped rooftop without any decorations and with simple windows. Luckily, we went past that one and reached the inn in about ten minutes or so of casual walking. All the while, kids chattered both about the trip and the city, but my focus...

well, I could barely keep track of it all, try as I may. The inn maintained the strictly oriental style--it seemed to have six or seven stories, with wide, decorative overhangs from which lanterns hung and gently swayed in the wind, while the surrounding area opened up widely to accommodate it, as though buildings were afraid to be in its shadow as it stood taller than all the surrounding ones.

The facade seemed to be some type of rough stone, though which one exactly I couldn't say, with wooden beams rounding out the fairly wide building, shaped into vine-like twirls. Though, the first thing to really give me a start was the gates to the compound itself--they seemed to be made of some strange, vibrant stone with ashen white as the main color.

They glowed a faint cyan, with vein-like etchings spreading out and pulsating every few seconds, flanked by wing-like statues overhead that seemed eerily lifelike, as though made of feathers. Each time they'd pulse, Qi would drift out in a gentle wave, sweeping past the entrance--and scanning those who walked through it. I panicked for a moment, thinking it might see through Wan Lan or Light, but since nothing happened as soon as we walked in... yeah.

Maybe, despite looking fancy, it wasn't that good at doing what it's supposed to do. The world beyond the gates shifted a bit since it was cloaked by the tall walls from the outside; to our sides were gazebos centered at the small ponds of water with lotus flowers blooming from them, while the central building itself exuded a rather ethereal air about itself. It wasn't just for the 'visual' of it, as I quickly realized I couldn't use my Divine Sense to take a 'peek' inside.

Perhaps the oddest thing, though, was the sheer lack of people; from our entering to now, I've seen three. Then again, Lao Shun did mention that it was pricey, and the ilk that could likely afford it wasn't the sort to show itself willy-nilly. It was as good a place as any for me to have my mental crashout before Long Tao breaks into my room to waterboard what I thought out of me. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I hope.