The decision to skip the following two cities helped them out in the end.

Later, when they stopped at a city to restock their supplies, Yi Chen was on his guard the whole night.

However, nothing at all happened.

It seemed that either the attackers had given up or they were travelling faster than the information could reach the other parties stationed in those cities.

Whatever the case may be, they were able to complete the rest of their journey without any further hurdles.

This way of travelling also reduced their travelling time a little, and they were able to reach the Jade City within just fourteen days.

"So huge…" Yi Chen muttered as he glanced at the towering city walls.

'They are as high as fifteen-story buildings!' Yi Chen thought in his mind as he glanced at their sides, only to see no end to it.

They stretched far and gave Yi Chen somewhat of an idea about how huge the capital city within these walls was.

Zhou Mei chuckled when she saw Yi Chen's reaction and said, "We've not even entered Brother Chen, and you're already awestruck."

"Well, I can't help it. It's my first time seeing such huge walls," Yi Chen replied honestly.

Although there were several huge buildings on earth, he had never seen a continuous wall of such great height.

At the same time, a question popped up in his mind, and he asked, "Are these walls made so big just to showcase the Kingdom's might?"

"That's just part of the reason," Guard Bai answered Yi Chen's question, "The Jade City is situated at the edge of the Kingdom's boundary and borders the Great Beast Forest on its western periphery, which spreads thousands of square kilometres.

While the nearby sects take care of the demonic beasts and keep their numbers in check, there are demon beast tides that happen once in several decades.

During those times, it's these walls that act as an impregnable defence against those demonic beasts."

'Demonic Beasts…' Yi Chen thought in excitement when he heard the name.

All the animals he had seen so far were all normal ones, which he had seen on earth as well, so he had started to lose hope in finding such creatures here.

However, hearing Guard Bai's words rekindled his hope of finding these beasts.

'Just like how I get EXP when I kill cultivators, won't I receive them when I slay those demonic beasts?'

With a much better way to farm EXP, how could Yi Chen not be excited?

"So these walls have such a purpose…" Yi Chen said with glistening eyes.

"Indeed," Guard Bai nodded and continued, "such walls are also present around four of the five major cities which are located in the border regions."

'Then the fifth…' Yi Chen was about to ask, but remembered that the fifth major city was the one they had been in a few weeks ago.

"Why is Tang City the only exception then?" Yi Chen asked.

"Hehe…Brother Chen is so strong yet doesn't know these basics" Zhou Mei giggled at his question and said, "It's because Tang City doesn't have many cultivators skilled in combat.

It's known for its skilled blacksmiths and array masters. That's why I got my sister's sword made there,"

Zhou Mei pointed towards the sword, which was still wrapped in white cloth.

"Thanks for helping me, Little Mei, you're really smart," Yi Chen said with a smile while patting her back.

"Am I? My sister always says that I'm not, so I thought it's just Brother Chen who's dumb…" she said with a confused expression.

'This brat…' The smile on Yi Chen's face broke when he heard her words.

"Haha, of course, she must have seen wrongly. Little Mei is very smart," Yi Chen praised, so as not to be considered dumb.

"Then that must be so, hehe," Zhou Mei accepted Yi Chen's words with an embarrassed expression.

Yi Chen nodded when he heard her, not noticing the playful gaze which was hidden underneath this expression.

'Brother Chen is so fun to tease…' A subtle smirk formed on her face the next moment.

Soon their carriage neared the city gates.

Unlike other carriages and wagons that were all lined up in a single lane, they took the empty lane beside them under the envious glances of others.

When the guards showed the gatekeeper the Zhou clan's crest, they were easily allowed in without any issue.

The small pathway widened the moment they entered the gates, becoming wide enough for four carriages as big as theirs to move side by side.

'Wow…' Yi Chen felt that his whole world had suddenly expanded when he glanced at the vastness of this city from inside.

The four-five-storeyed buildings and towers were a sight to behold.

Even more attractive was the massive inflow of people roaming around in the city.

Almost everywhere Yi Chen glanced, he would find a cultivator amidst the crowd.

The ratio was so skewed that eight in ten people were cultivators in general.

And the remaining two were generally merchants who were transporting goods from other cities to the capital and vice versa.

In short, this was the city of cultivators.

'This place is truly incomparable to Murut Town…no wonder Father-in-law was so adamant on sending me here,' Yi Chen thought to himself.

"Is that a demonic beast?!"

Yi Chen couldn't help but ask when he saw a beast which looked like a wolf, but its size was similar to that of a regular horse!

"That?" Zhou Mei focused her eyes in the direction Yi Chen was looking towards and nodded her head the next moment while saying, "Yes, that's a Grade one Demonic Beast called Nether Wolf. They are quite ferocious, but once tamed, they become good beast companions."

"I see…" Yi Chen nodded his head as his eye fell upon the metallic collar around the Nether Wolf's neck.

It was attached to a chain, which was held by a middle-aged cultivator who was in the Third Qi Absorption Stage.

'No wonder,' Yi Chen thought to himself.

Soon, the carriage arrived outside a huge gate on top of which two words were written in a domineering fashion.

Zhou Clan.

When the guards at the gate were about to stop the carriage, Zhou Mei opened her carriage's window and said, "It's me."

"Young Miss!" The guards saluted the very next moment and allowed entry to the carriage.

"Quick! Inform the master that Young Miss Mei has returned," the guard shouted towards his subordinate the moment the carriage left.

"Yes, sir!" The junior guard rushed to the guard post and, using a sound transmission stone, relayed the message.

While this was happening, Yi Chen was busy observing the Zhou estate.

"All this area belongs solely to the Zhou Clan??" Yi Chen muttered while looking at all the buildings that were constructed in this region.

It would not be wrong to call it a separate town inside a city.

"Well, we are one of the ten noble clans, so this much is only normal," Zhou Mei answered casually while trying hard to control her hands from trembling uncontrollably.

The closer they were approaching her residence, the more anxious she was becoming that something unfortunate would happen right before she could meet her parents.

'So, all the noble clans possess this much area or maybe even more within the city??' Yi Chen thought to himself, greatly impressed by the vastness of the city. As a result, he did not notice Zhou Mei's tensed state.

Before long, the carriage stopped in front of a huge residential building. It was the main residence of the Clan Head.

Outside the residence, a middle-aged-looking man, along with a few servants, was standing in wait and seeing the carriage stop, they rushed towards it.

However, before they could even reach near it, the carriage's door was swung open, and Zhou Mei's figure rushed out.

"Father!" Zhou Mei cried out and tightly hugged her father.

"I was so scared…." The tears which she had been suppressing all this while came out without any restraint and soiled her father's robes.

Zhou Tian initially was going to scold her for leaving the home like this, but when he saw her devastated state, he couldn't help but hold her tightly in his arms and ask while trying to placate her.

"What happened, my dear? Who troubled you? Tell father, and he'll deal with that person right away…"

It was that moment that Zhou Tian's gaze fell upon Yi Chen, who was helping Guard Bai get out of the carriage.

Seeing Guard Bai's injured state, a terrifying expression immediately formed on his face as he waited for his daughter's next words.

"T-they…the bandits…and a big guy…they tried to kill the guards…I was so scared…."

Zhou Mei wanted to explain everything clearly, but even after trying her best to control her sniffles, broken sentences came out of her mouth.

However, this much was enough to make him understand the gist of the situation.

With a furious glint, he asked Guard Bai, who was currently using two sticks to stand firmly on the ground.

"Explain the whole situation."

"Yes, Master," Guard Bai said deferentially with his head bowed and continued, "When we were returning from Tang City, our carriage was ambushed by a group of forty bandits whose leader was a Fifth Meridian Refinement expert.

I tried my best to delay things as much as possible, but in the end, I failed and was about to get killed… It was at that time that Young Master Chen saved us.

Not only did he kill that Fifth Meridian Refinement expert in the blink of an eye, but also dealt with the other bandits all by himself…"

Guard Bai recalled everything that had happened in their journey, starting from how they met Yi Chen to how he helped them by escorting Zhou Mei to the capital and the other attack they faced along the way.

When Guard Bai finished retelling all the incidents, Zhou Tian's gaze turned towards Yi Chen's figure the next instant.

At that moment, Yi Chen couldn't help but feel an overwhelming pressure upon his body, which stopped just as abruptly as it had arrived.

"Since it's something my guard has told me, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and not outright treat you with hostility.

However, my patience is limited, so I'll ask you this only once." A fierce gaze appeared on Zhou Tian's face, and he asked.

"How did a Ninth Elementary Transformation Stage cultivator manage to kill two Fifth Meridian Refinement Stage experts?"

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