Chonghua could now travel ten thousand li in a single day, but the Eastern Domain was vast. Even at that speed, they spent more than ten days flying across it. Whenever the eagle grew tired, Yun Lie used his Universe Within a Sleeve technique to carry Xu Ziqing and Chonghua onward.
After a total of half a month, they finally reached the Western Domain’s border.
There was a city here called Borderguard City. It had been named by an earlier emperor of Great Yan to demonstrate the dynasty’s regard for the frontier and its esteem for successive State-Defending Generals.
The city was enclosed by walls hundreds of chi high, with ranks of guards and checkpoints one after another. Seen from afar, it resembled an enormous beast crouching in the wilderness, giving off an untamed and formidable air.
Countless powerful auras emanated from within. Some were upright and expansive, others strange and sinister. There were also many traces of hostility, difficult to describe.
As an important frontier fortress, this city was permanently guarded by heavy imperial forces and had strict regulations. Every arriving cultivator, regardless of attainment, had to descend to the ground and could not simply fly inside.
Even Yun Lie and Xu Ziqing, disciples of the Eastern Domain’s mighty Wuling Immortal Sect, could not violate this rule. As at Ruyi Immortal Estate, they landed while still some distance from the city.
Chonghua scratched the ground with his talons, transformed into a beam of golden light, and entered a token held in Xu Ziqing’s hand.
Many cultivators kept beast companions for protection, but such beasts were often too large to house conveniently. Someone had therefore devised tokens in which spirit beasts could reside ordinarily, allowing cultivators to travel more easily.
Such an item was called a Beast-Controlling Token. It came in upper, middle, and lower grades according to the rank of the beast it was meant to contain.
During their earlier visit to Ruyi Immortal Estate, Xu Ziqing had nearly lost Chonghua. As soon as he learned of these tokens afterward, he promptly exchanged for one. Its interior was carefully constructed and caused no distress to the beast within.
Chonghua, however, had only just broken through and become a first-rank demon beast, so he needed no more than a lower-grade token.
Having put away the token, Xu Ziqing felt a little more at ease.
Yun Lie had been waiting beside him. Seeing that everything was in order, he said, “Let’s go.”
Xu Ziqing turned and smiled, then followed him.
Before long, they reached the city gate.
Soldiers stood guard on either side, all dressed in military attire. Some were ordinary mortals and others cultivators.
Although Yun Lie had restrained his aura, these soldiers were experienced men who had guarded the gates against countless arrivals, including many powerful experts. Naturally they did not overlook the sense of danger he gave off, and their expressions changed slightly.
A tall soldier approached. He was at roughly the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refinement, and his uniform marked him as higher ranking than the others, perhaps a junior officer. Smiling, he said, “Do the two seniors wish to enter the city?”
Knowing that his senior brother was not given to conversation, Xu Ziqing spared him the trouble and smiled in return. “We do.”
The junior officer said, “By Great Yan’s regulations, cultivators entering Borderguard City must each pay one lower-grade spirit stone. If the two of you would…”
Xu Ziqing was not surprised. He reached into his sleeve and, in truth, withdrew two lower-grade spirit stones from his storage ring, then handed them over. “Since we’ve come here, we naturally ought to follow the local rules. Here you are.”
Relieved at how accommodating Xu Ziqing was, the officer cupped his hands. “The entry fee has been paid. Please, seniors, enter the city.”
Xu Ziqing smiled and lightly took hold of Yun Lie’s sleeve, accompanying him inside.
No one stopped them after that, and they went directly toward the inner city.
At a glance, numerous armored soldiers and officers could be seen coming and going, alongside cultivators and ordinary mortals. The crowd was a complicated mixture of people from every walk of life.
Xu Ziqing swept his spiritual sense across them and was faintly astonished.
From outside, he had wondered whether he had sensed things incorrectly. Only upon entering did he realize his impression had been accurate.
There were not only immortal-path cultivators here, but also considerable numbers of demonic-path cultivators and demon cultivators. Although their expressions were reserved, they showed no signs of deep enmity. They seemed perfectly capable of living peacefully together, which was rather unexpected.
After the incident at Ruyi Immortal Estate, Xu Ziqing had developed a much clearer understanding of the mindset of cultivators on the evil demonic path. He had assumed that the different factions could never coexist. Seeing them mingle in Borderguard City stirred complicated feelings.
Yun Lie, however, appeared entirely accustomed to the sight. “The Great Yan imperial dynasty does not discriminate between orthodox and demonic cultivation. Though conflicts between the two paths still occur in the Western Domain, demonic cultivators are subject to stricter restraint here than in the other three domains.”
Imperial authority stood above both sides, binding each to its laws. With the dynasty recognized as supreme, conflicts between the different cultivation traditions were comparatively less important.
Xu Ziqing nodded to himself, beginning to understand.
Many mortals interacted freely with cultivators. Although cultivators held higher status, they displayed less arrogance than Xu Ziqing had seen elsewhere. Instead, most bore a certain fierce look in their eyes, perhaps because bloodshed was commonplace to them. Among mortals, martial artists predominated. Most were sturdy and powerfully built, their muscles holding explosive strength beneath their clothing.
Almost everyone who was not a cultivator practiced martial arts. This place valued strength more highly than most.
Looking around the city, he saw broad streets stretching in all directions. There were shops, restaurants, inns, and even gambling houses and brothels. The place was extremely prosperous, but also had more of a worldly atmosphere than he was accustomed to.
They had not come to Borderguard City to sightsee, however, and did not linger on its streets. Yun Lie appeared thoroughly familiar with the city and quickly led Xu Ziqing along a broad road toward a particular destination.
Borderguard City housed an army of one million, garrisoned in the frontier area between its outer and inner walls.
Security at the inner gate was a hundred times stricter than at the outer gate. There were two tall entrances: mortals entered through the left, while cultivators used the right. The regulations were extremely rigid.
Yun Lie took Xu Ziqing directly to the right.
In front of the cultivators’ gate stood a square wooden table. Behind it sat a pleasant-looking young immortal-path cultivator at Foundation Establishment. He held a slender brush, with stacks of registration books before him and jade slips beside them, and was registering the arrivals.
The queue was fairly long. Yun Lie made no attempt to cut ahead but simply stood quietly and waited.
Xu Ziqing had never experienced this kind of military administration and found it rather novel. Seeing his senior brother wait so calmly only increased his interest.
The young official worked quickly, recording names without wasting anyone’s time.
Before long, the people ahead of them had finished, and the brothers’ turn arrived.
The official looked up at them and asked, “Are the two seniors here to enlist, or to serve on temporary attachment?”
Xu Ziqing understood enlistment but did not know what “temporary attachment” meant. He immediately turned to his senior brother.
Yun Lie replied, “Attachment.”
The young official nodded and asked, “Does Senior already have an old registration?”
“I do,” Yun Lie said, implying that his companion did not.
The official had received many cultivators before and did not find Yun Lie’s terse manner offensive. He opened a register and began writing swiftly. “Then may the senior in green give me his name, so I can establish a new registration first?”
This time Xu Ziqing understood. Smiling, he said, “My name is Xu Ziqing. I cultivate at Wuling Immortal Sect. This is my senior brother, Yun Lie.”
The official recorded the information quickly, then passed a magical implement before the two men. His expression showed little surprise. Only after checking Yun Lie’s old registration in a jade slip did it change. “So Senior Yun has already formed his Golden Core and become a Perfected One! What extraordinary talent! Truly worthy of a great sect’s disciple!”
After this compliment, he produced two tokens and handed one to each of them. “Since Perfected Yun knows the procedures, this junior won’t waste your time with more explanations. Please make yourselves at home, seniors.”
Xu Ziqing accepted his token and entered the inner city alongside his senior brother, making way for those waiting behind them.
Only when they were inside did he examine it carefully.
The front of the token bore the words “Temporary Attachment,” beneath which were Xu Ziqing’s name and cultivation realm. It was a simple inscription. On the back was a design of a strange beast with a ferocious head.
As they walked, Yun Lie said, “That is the likeness of a savage beast.”
Knowing that Xu Ziqing had many questions, he explained the relevant matters one by one.
The so-called savage beasts were neither demon beasts nor spirit beasts, but a peculiar race of their own. They devoured all living creatures, were exceptionally ferocious, and possessed no reason, only an instinct to feed.
When savage beasts first appeared, cultivators had initially classified them among demon beasts. Later, however, they discovered that the way savage beasts grew and the system of ranks governing them differed completely, and that the two could not be placed in the same category.
Savage beasts were divided into five classes: one-horned, two-horned, three-horned, four-horned, and five-horned.
The more horns a savage beast grew, the greater its strength and abilities became.
One-horned beasts were the most numerous. Though savage, they could be slain by martial artists of the mortal world. Two-horned beasts were comparable to Qi Refinement cultivators; three-horned beasts fell between Foundation Establishment and Essence Transformation; four-horned beasts matched Golden Core; and five-horned beasts rivaled Nascent Soul.
Ordinarily, beasts whose greatest strength merely equaled Nascent Soul would not justify the emperor specially appointing a State-Defending General to protect the frontier. Unfortunately, the savage beasts reproduced at an alarming rate. A beast tide arose every three years, forcing the empire to take them very seriously.
Even more frightening was how quickly they matured. A female could give birth to seven to twelve young in a single litter, and the more they ate, the faster they grew.
Each newborn had one horn. It reached maturity in three years, grew a second horn after ten, and depending on its potential developed a third after twenty to fifty years. Within a hundred years, it could already possess four!
Five-horned beasts alone were rare, for they could not be produced simply by accumulating years. Even so, the chance of a savage beast becoming five-horned was far greater than that of an equal number of cultivators producing a Nascent Soul Ancestor.
How could anyone fail to be wary of such a species?
If the frontier defenses collapsed and the beasts of the Savage Beast Plains entered the imperial heartland, they would descend upon the empire like locusts upon a rice field and devour its vast population!
Thus, in this great cultivation empire, mortals honored martial prowess. Although there was no rival nation to fight, they still defended the frontier to protect their homeland, wives, and children, while paying respect to their “immortals.”
Cultivators lived among the mortals, forming family clans that pledged allegiance through successive levels of authority. They entered the imperial government as officials, received honors, and shared in the dynasty’s accumulated fortune. Clan disciples were expected to serve in the military at the appropriate time. This benefited their cultivation, and a higher military rank could also enhance their family’s position at court and bring them more resources.
Yet those who enlisted were by no means limited to members of these families.