Chapter 48: The Supreme Era of the Palace of Void

Following the guidance of the jade slip, Lu Wu found the location of the academy’s warehouse. He had just flown near when a palm sent him flying ten meters away. “Where did this little bug come from? This isn’t a place for you; go elsewhere.”

The man even released a refined spiritual force, aiming it directly at Lu Wu.

What was this?

The Book of Knowledge provided the answer: Spiritual Awakening Technique.

It could grant intelligence to ordinary animals and plants that lacked sentience.

This move was ineffective against demon beasts or spirit beasts, useful only for common creatures and vegetation.

When the awakening technique landed on Lu Wu, it had no effect whatsoever and simply dissipated.

The old man guarding the warehouse was puzzled. “Hm?”

Lu Wu greeted him, “Greetings, elder. I’m a new student.”

The old man was surprised. “No source body, nor… a soul cultivator?”

Lu Wu, however, was inwardly sighing at the old man’s strength.

With a casual slap, he had sent Lu Wu flying ten meters, leaving him no room to resist. Yet the force was so measured it wouldn’t have harmed even a real mosquito.

Surely, this was the power of Laws.

He hadn’t used any martial arts technique, merely wielded the Laws themselves, marking him as a true master.

After all, martial techniques were just ways for peak experts to help ordinary cultivators harness the Laws.

But this man could directly employ the Laws, proof that his power far surpassed a mere Airborne Realm cultivator.

And he was merely the warehouse manager?

There had to be incredible treasures stored in the Windborne Academy’s warehouse!

After pondering, Lu Wu spoke up: “I cultivate the soul, my name is Lu Wu. You may verify my information; I’m here to register today.”

The old man glanced at his device, which resembled a computer connected to the network. “Lu Wu, insect-type variant beast, hm? Killed an Airborne Realm demon beast while still in the Qi Gathering Realm?”

“Interesting.”

Lu Wu flew forward. “Elder, I’m here to process my identity jade slip.”

The old man said, “Wait a moment.”

He raised his hand, and a piece of jade floated into his palm.

Soul force as a blade, with his source essence as a chisel, the jade was swiftly shaped in his hands, taking on a form very similar to a jade cong from the museums of Lu Wu’s previous life.

The old man imprinted his soul mark upon it. “Here you go.”

Lu Wu accepted the slip and then looked at the elder. “May I ask, what realm have you reached in your cultivation?”

The old man appeared utterly ordinary—beard mottled with white, sparse hair with a wildly receding hairline, dressed in tattered trousers and a faded vest.

He looked just like one of those elderly men from the neighborhoods of Lu Wu’s previous world.

So even at this level of cultivation, one couldn’t avoid hair loss?

When Lu Wu asked his question, the old man seemed dazed, absentmindedly clasping his hands. “Bu Liufang, Ninth Layer King Realm cultivator.”

Ninth Layer King?

Lu Wu recalled what the Palace Master Li Daoyun of the Grand Illusory Palace had said about his clash with the Roc King of the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains.

Back then, Li Daoyun had called the Roc King a ‘King’.

Which meant the top powers of the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains and the Grand Illusory Palace were both around King level.

This Bu Liufang, being Ninth Layer King, was certainly stronger than both the Roc King and Li Daoyun.

Yet he was merely the custodian of the Windborne Academy’s warehouse?

This was not a matter of the city of Tianning being dozens of times larger than the Grand Illusory Palace. After all, Windborne Academy was just one academy in Tianning City, which itself could only lay claim to a fraction of the city’s most powerful experts.

It was entirely possible that Bu Liufang was the academy’s strongest.

Lu Wu was astounded. “Elder, what treasures are stored here that require a master of your caliber to guard them?”

The old man, Bu Liufang, seemed to come back to himself and pointed to his bald forehead. “You’re mistaken. There’s a problem here—an empty realm, no fighting power left. Being a warehouse watcher at the academy is already quite decent.”

“I’m not unemployed only because I was once a student here myself.”

Lu Wu was surprised. Did he mean his soul had an issue?

Was it an old injury from battle, or a mishap during cultivation?

Lu Wu didn’t inquire further. Smiling, he said, “Thank you, elder. I’ll take my leave.”

He left the warehouse and flew towards the academy’s virtual wristband shop.

Among cultivators, these were the equivalent of cellphones for ordinary people—high-consumption items that were frequently replaced.

Still, they weren’t expensive.

With his identity jade slip discount, Lu Wu bought a virtual wristband for just eighty Sacred Capital coins.

“This thing doesn’t need a SIM card or data fees? So the operators aren’t making any money?”

Such a model couldn’t be sustainable, which meant the organization behind it must have other lucrative methods.

Carrying the wristband, Lu Wu browsed for information as he flew towards the dorm administration office.

In flight, he activated the virtual wristband.

Unlike a cellphone, the wristband had two modes: projection and immersive.

The immersive mode was similar to VR, only with a much richer experience—it was a true virtual space.

Lu Wu searched the Northern Region Forum and found several threads about himself.

“There are over three hundred thousand discussions?”

Tianning City had a population of just eight hundred thousand; for there to be so many posts, at least ten thousand must have participated in the debate.

No wonder so many students recognized him as he walked by.

Lu Wu checked the profile of the author, the bard Bing Bing.

Her details—address, comments, contact information—were all blank.

It seemed he wouldn’t be able to meet her in the future.

After logging out, Lu Wu searched for “Sacred Capital.”

There were over seventy thousand posts about the Sacred Capital on the Northern Region Forum.

He spent quite some time before finding an introductory post.

“So that’s it. The Sacred Capital is composed of the four quadrants—East, South, West, North—and two colossal cities.”

Tianning City and the Grand Illusory Palace were both part of the Northern Quadrant of the Sacred Capital, hence the forum’s name.

Lu Wu exited the forum and tried searching for the Sacred Capital Forum.

‘Network access is limited to the Northern Quadrant. Unable to connect to the Sacred Capital Forum.’

A 404 error, how fitting.

Lu Wu returned to the Northern Region Forum and continued reading the previous post.

The Sacred Capital wasn’t the entirety of the human domain but a major force bordering directly on demon territory.

At its core was an organization called the Sacred Capital Alliance, to which all factions in the four quadrants were subordinate, making the region nearly monolithic.

There were exceptions, such as the other great city within its bounds—Heavenly Lion City.

Heavenly Lion City didn’t belong to the Sacred Capital Alliance but was more of an ally.

It was adjacent to Sacred Capital City, completely surrounded by Sacred Capital forces.

Lu Wu read on. The strongest cultivator in the Sacred Capital, at least on paper, was known as the Sacred Sovereign.

Between the lines, the post hinted that sovereigns with formal titles far surpassed the average.

Thus, the Sacred Sovereign, whose title was taken directly from the name of the region, was undoubtedly its foremost expert.

The region’s leading higher academy was the Sky Martial Academy, while the most powerful non-governmental organization was the Sacred Capital Network Corporation.

The greatest ruling authority was the Sacred Capital War Office.

As in his previous life, the term ‘office’ had smoothly transitioned into civilian usage, eventually giving rise to the word ‘company.’

After browsing, Lu Wu looked up the Grand Illusory Palace.

He quickly found an information thread.

The author quoted numerous sources, including a line from a king’s journal written seventy thousand years ago: “At its zenith, the Grand Illusory Palace ruled a territory at least ten times that of the Sacred Capital. When I traveled eighty-six million li to the Heavenly Marsh Domain, I saw an inspector’s stele left by Tao Lin, disciple of the palace’s sixth-generation patriarch.”

A territory at least ten times greater than the Sacred Capital?

Lu Wu couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth.

How had such a mighty power fallen, step by step, to fighting a centuries-long stalemate with the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains?

He left the post and searched for soul artifacts and spirit herbs.

“At last, I can surf the internet!”

“It wasn’t easy. I thought this life would be hopeless in that regard.”

Having been reborn in the Grand Illusory Palace, Lu Wu had initially thought it was a world of fools.

In his previous life, with less than seven billion people, they’d managed to create the internet. Here, a single Sacred Capital had a population far exceeding that, yet their cultivation culture hadn’t developed such a thing—it was laughable.

But now, it seemed their network was far more advanced—a true virtual space.

That was as it should be!

After reading the posts, Lu Wu did some calculations. “A single spiritual herb for the Airborne Realm costs about seven hundred Sacred Capital coins. I’m nowhere near having enough to simulate the next realm.”

“Refining a soul artifact is also expensive—four thousand coins for a growth artifact without main materials, eighteen hundred processing fee if you provide the main materials.”

Lu Wu pondered. “Looks like I’ll have to wait until I enter the Sky Martial Academy in the Sacred Capital and secure more resources before attempting to simulate higher realms en masse.”

“For now, I should try to reach the eighth layer of the Airborne Realm and forge a few soul artifacts for use.”

“The golden spear from the golden spear fish can be made into an offensive weapon. I’ll use materials provided by the academy to forge a defensive soul artifact—just one suit of armor.”

With his cultivation goals clear, it was much easier to act.

Lu Wu drifted along, checking information as he flew, soon reaching the dormitory administration office.