All the Chosen Saints had chosen a city to belong to.

The Heavenly Emperor had already returned to his Heavenly Palace, so Gu Qing Shan quickly returned to Star Gazer city as well.

Everything was now ready.

A gust of wind suddenly manifested on the ground.

Shan Hai Qi Xia and the Chosen Saints of the Tomb of Myriad Beasts approached Gu Qing Shan.

“It’s starting” Shan Hai Qi Xia commented.

“Indeed, I can already sense the seal around the great tomb undoing itself” Gu Qing Shan replied.

All the Chosen Saints residing within the two cities of Heavenly Palace and Star Gazer were looking outside.

Dooo—– fooo—- fooo— foooo—-

A gradual low growl could be heard from the gloomy river within the great tomb.

The flow of the river became even more intense, accompanied by fog that rose to cover the surface of the river.

The fog gradually ascended and slowly condensed in the air to form a shape——-

It was a skull with elongated cheeks.

Unlike humans, the skull’s cheeks were truly so elongated that it seemed eerie.

As soon as the skull manifested itself in its entirety, the river seemed to have come back to life.

With the skull as the epicenter, numerous strange and unusual entities began appearing, all of which were hurriedly fleeing, trying to escape as far as possible from the elongated skull.

“It’s that thing again!” Gu Qing Shan exclaimed.

『 You’ve seen it before? 』Li An asked in a hushed voice.

All the other Chosen Saints in Star Gazer city also turned toward Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t try to hide the information and explained: “I ran into it once in the past. That is an Unfathomable Apocalypse, anything that enters within its vision will be permanently detached from the Laws of Time and Space, thus falling into eternal emptiness, where death is only the slightest hope for release”

Hearing his explanation, everyone silently shivered.

As the elongated skull slowly floated above the river, everything that crossed its vision was turned into nothingness.

Not a single thing could stop its gaze.

How would someone deal with such an Apocalypse?

Gu Qing Shan commented: “I’ve thought about it, and the only hope of staying alive is to not be seen by it—— that’s why the entities within the river all ran away earlier”

While he was speaking, the elongated skull turned towards the two cities.

Following its gaze, nothingness began to appear along the river bank and the ground, rapidly approaching the two cities!

In an instant, the paper sheet in front of Gu Qing Shan suddenly gave off a bright colorful light.

A line of text appeared on top of the paper:

[The operation shall now begin]

The paper sheet suddenly flew into the air and released its radiant light to envelope the entire Star Gazer city.

On the other side, another paper sheet took flight and enveloped the Heavenly Palace in bright, colorful light.

——–the two cities with distinctly different styles stood firmly in the middle of the wilderness.

One of them appeared divine with numerous clouds and a heavenly aria surrounding it.

While the other was constructed from metal, jet-black in color emanating an indifferent coldness from its design.

The two cities were now a few hundred meters apart from one another, both of which were under the protection of the paper sheets.

As the elongated skull turned its vision towards the two cities, everything in its path was completely consumed.

But its gaze seemed to have been blocked out by the paper sheets, unable to harm the Chosen Saints residing within the two cities.

Gradually, the elongated skull seemed to have lost interest and turned its gaze away.

Everyone sighed in relief.

Under their watchful stares, the elongated skull finally floated past the two cities and continued along the flow of the river.

Someone suddenly called out: “My Merit is decreasing!”

「 Mine as well! 」

『 Why is mine decreasing as well!? 』

Everyone exclaimed in shock and confusion.

Gu Qing Shan realized something.

Could it be——-

He turned to the paper sheet, and sure enough saw the explanation written on it.

——–the two cities can prevent the invasion of the Apocalypses, but it will drain the Merits of its inhabitants.

Increasingly more people realized this and turned their attention to the paper sheet.

Soon, everyone understood what was going on.

The two cities could indeed stop the attacks of Apocalypses, but it would drain an average number of Merits from everyone in return.

Then, what would happen if someone’s Merit was fully expended?

Quite a few people silently had the same thought.

“AEEK!!!”

A fearful scream could be heard.

A Chosen Saint was flung outside of Star Gazer city as if they were struck by something, quickly landing on the barren wasteland.

“Damn it, so what if I don’t have enough Merits, I’ll go earn some more!”

The person angrily shouted, then began to head deeper into the great tomb following the river.

Everyone remained silent.

Within that silence, the person slowly disappeared into the great tomb.

At this point, some more fluctuations could be felt from the paper sheet floating above the city.

It was sending information to everyone——-

At this point, both City Lords have the right to select a function of their choice to be unlocked for the city.

The paper sheet continued to radiate its fluctuations, sending information directly to every Chosen Saint’s mind.

——-the paper sheet was the manifestation of the city’s Laws, not only did it clearly display all of the city’s Laws, but it could also display the Laws of the opposing Heavenly Palace city.

In other words, the functions and Laws of both cities were transparent to all Chosen Saints.

And Heavenly Palace city had just unlocked its first city function——-

[Limited Elementary Long-distance Bombardment]

[Description: By focusing the power of all Chosen Saints in the city, unleash a single attack that will transform all destroyed objects into pure Origin Power that will directly support Heavenly Palace’s evolution level]

[——This is an Immortal City’s most basic form of attack, capable of being unleashed towards any targets]

[Usable once per day]

Seeing Heavenly Palace city activating such a powerful city function, the Chosen Saints of Star Gazer city all felt a bit panicked.

「 What function does our city have? 」

『 ——-I don’t see anything 』

『 So no function has been unlocked yet? 』

「 I’m not sure 」

“The City Lord is probably still making his choice”

“That’s the only way to explain it…”

The Chosen Saints of Star Gazer city were openly discussing this matter.

It was clear that the two cities had a loose competitive relationship.

So now that one city had earned a weapon, the people of the other city would naturally feel uneasy.

——everyone was in a hurry to find out what ability the City Lord of Star Gazer city had chosen.

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but explain: “There are more of us, so there are more functions that we can manifest compared to Heavenly Palace, I’m still waiting for the Samsara to provide me a list, but it’s still not fully completed”

Hearing that, everyone felt a bit helpless, but this really couldn’t be helped, and they had no choice except to simply wait.

Someone suddenly called out:

「 My heavens! 」

“They’re taking an offensive posture!”

『 Look! 』

“Have the people of the Heavenly Palace gone crazy?”

The Chosen Saints standing in Star Gazer city all turned to look at Heavenly Palace city.

Only to see a large offensive formation gradually manifesting in the void of space outside Heavenly Palace city.

The runes that made up the offensive formation gradually glowed brighter while emanating a terrifying ferocious presence.

A giant hologram slowly manifested at the center of the formation.

——-it was a battering ram in the shape of a five-clawed golden dragon, which was only a little bit smaller than the two cities.

“Aaaaaaa, it’s coming!”

Someone exclaimed.

As soon as the battering ram appeared, it started accelerating and struck Star Gazer city in almost an instant.

A huge tremor could be felt.

The attack caused Star Gazer city to give off a thunderous metallic impact.

Several components were broken off from Star Gazer city and transformed into pure Samsara Origin Power before they were absorbed by Heavenly Palace city.

The heavenly light surrounding Heavenly Palace city grew a bit more radiant.

『 Has the Samsara not completed the list? If they attack Star Gazer city like this every day, Star Gazer city will eventually collapse! 』Li An loudly called out.

“It’s done!” Gu Qing Shan answered her.

——-he could sense the Samsara’s will.

Several options appeared in his mind, and as soon as he made the decision, one of the functions listed here would be unlocked for Star Gazer city.

Nobody said anything else.

They were unanimously quiet so that they wouldn’t disturb him.

Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes and silently checked the options.

There weren’t that many of them that he could select, only a handful.

His options also included the one that Heavenly Palace city has chosen—– [[Limited Elementary Long-distance Bombardment].

But this was only an ‘elementary’ function.

Because Star Gazer city’s population was larger than Heavenly Palace city’s, its total Merit reserve was also greater, so aside from the various elementary functions, there was also an ‘intermediate’ function.

After examining them for a short moment, Gu Qing Shan chose it without hesitation.

The paper sheet on top of Star Gazer city also started to fluctuate.

It informed the Chosen Saints on both sides of the newly unlocked function of Star Gazer city———

[Intermediate Law: City Concealment]

[Description: By focusing the population’s Merits, Star Gazer city will be completely concealed within the void of space, no entity or entities would be able to detect or attack Star Gazer city]

[——This is an intermediate-level defensive function of Star Gazer city]

[Usable once per day]

While the Chosen Saints were still reading, loud laughter could already be heard from Heavenly Palace city.

The Heavenly Emperor’s voice echoed from the distance:

「 Gu Qing Shan, are you really stupid or are you just pretending to be? 」

「 What’s the point of having such a concealment technique? 」

「 ——–How would you know when I would attack tomorrow? And how would you use such a defensive function in a timely manner? 」

「 Are you planning on camping in the city and be on a constant watch for my attacks? Ahahahaha! 」

「 Keep waiting, you and all the traitors of the Heavenly Palace will head towards death in your despair! 」

The Heavenly Emperor’s voice slowly faded.

Everyone in Star Gazer city had their gazes locked on Gu Qing Shan.

——in truth, the fact that this ‘Gu Qing Shan’ individual managed to establish an Immortal City the same way that the Heavenly Emperor managed to do so has proven that he wasn’t a simple character.

The Chosen Saints who had managed to make it this far naturally understood this as well.

So no one said anything and simply observed Gu Qing Shan.

He was the City Lord.

He had the responsibility to prove to everyone that his choice was correct.

—–This was the only way for the morale of Star Gazer city to not drop.

Gu Qing Shan naturally understood the implications of their gazes.

He turned to Li An and asked: “Do you have anything that you don’t need anymore?—– the heavier the better”

Li An thought about it briefly before making a strange expression.

『 Your second brother… gave me a mega-sized jade tag. It contains nothing but the various secret techniques that modern female cultivators use for self-maintenance… it’s very heavy 』

“Oh? Give it to me” Gu Qing Shan said.

Li An then took out a jade tag.

——-calling it a jade tag was a bit of a stretch, as it was clearly a pure-white brick.

Receiving the brick, Gu Qing Shan estimated its weight and confirmed that it was especially heavy.

He couldn’t help but praise: “Second brother’s jade tag construction skills have improved. In the past, a jade tag needed to be the size of a small mountain in order to record so many techniques”

Li An was still worried: 『 What do you… intend to do now? After all, you chose a concealment technique, it won’t be able to defend from the Heavenly Palace’s attacks… 』

“Who said that I wanted to defend?” Gu Qing Shan asked her in return.

Li An was surprised.

Everyone else was similarly surprised.

Li An couldn’t help but reply: 『 Then what are you——- 』

Gu Qing Shan said: “I’m a sword cultivator, as you know, but I’ve also trained in archery, so my aiming skills are quite decent. Just wait a moment——”

He held the brick tightly and took a deep breath.

He began with a running start before accelerating into a sprint, which he continued until he nearly reached the edge of the warship’s deck before swinging his arm.

——–and threw it forward with all of his strength!

In an instant, the brick was thrown away.

Everyone watched as the brick drew a beautiful arc in the air as it made its way towards the downstream of the river.

Bam!

A loud impact was heard from the distance.

The brick had just heavily struck the back of the elongated skull——–

Enough to leave a tiny dent on it!!!

The elongated skull was stunned.

It had already ignored the two cities to head downstream.

And yet—

Somehow——

Somebody——–

Actually dared to attack it from behind?

In all its time living in the great tomb’s river, this was the first time something like this had occurred.

——-it knew this entire area like the back of its hand, so it recognized the only difference was the appearance of those two new structures!

I let you go because I couldn’t be bothered, and you dare ambush ME?

「 Gakakakakakaka! 」

The elongated skull uttered a resounding roar of fury, then abruptly turned around towards the two cities.

At almost the same time——-

Gu Qing Shan curtly ordered: “City Concealment”

Fshu!

In an instant, Star Gazer city vanished without a trace.

Only one city remained alone on the bank of the great tomb river.

Heavenly Palace city!

The elongated skull was charging toward Heavenly Palace city with the determination to kill!!!

This time, it was very evidently using its full strength, radiating the boundless emptiness from its body to consume everything around itself.

The night was silent.

Heavenly Palace city——-

Had already used up its [Limited Elementary Long-distance Bombardment], so other than taking the attack head-on, it had no other method of retaliation.

At least, not today.

So the only outcome was…

Suddenly, the Heavenly Emperor’s angered shout boomed across the whole region:

「 Gu Qing Shan, you malicious scoundrel, get out here! 」

「 You think you’re so impressive pulling the rug under me like this!? 」

「 Get out here and face this Apocalypse together if you’re so good! 」

His voice drifted through the night sky, echoing into the distance.

But the void of space remained silent.

There was no answer.

——–

sorry for the lack of updates, I was sick for a few days