Yinxuanzi took a deep breath, calming himself before carefully sensing the seals he had placed in each of the secret realms.
Due to the spatial barriers of these realms, his connection to the seals was extremely weak. Normally, unless he focused on them specifically, he couldn't sense them at all.
Now, as he concentrated, he suddenly realized that all the seals had been broken!
This meant that Liao Pantu's soul fragments had most likely left those secret realms!
Upon making this discovery, Yinxuanzi's earlier calm was replaced with renewed anxiety.
If Liao Pantu's soul fragments were no longer in the secret realms, and now his physical body had suddenly disintegrated, didn't that mean Liao Pantu had been destroyed outside the realms as well?
To the point where even his physical body had turned to dust...
The thought caused Yinxuanzi to furrow his brow in deep worry.
Had his junior brother really… died?
A surge of inexplicable anger welled up within Yinxuanzi.
"Feng Xin!" he shouted.
Two breaths later, a voice responded from outside the cave, "Disciple here."
"Send people immediately to the secret realms where your martial uncle was confined. Investigate what happened and track down where his soul fragments went after leaving the realms!" Yinxuanzi ordered sternly.
He was determined to find out who dared to kill the Liao Pantu he had sealed.
"Yes, Master!" came the prompt reply.
——
[Ding—The city synthesis is complete. Please choose a placement location, Host.]
Six hours after Lin Xiao had activated the synthesis function, the system's notification rang in his mind as the countdown finished.
It was done!
Lin Xiao stood up, and seeing his movement, Mo Yuanjiao, who had arrived an hour earlier in anticipation, immediately asked, "Sect Leader, is it finished?"
"It's done. Let's go. Call Liu Yunan and the others. We need to head down to the village and notify everyone," Lin Xiao said with a smile.
They needed to inform the villagers first, as once the city was placed, the current area they occupied would be encompassed within it. They had to give the people some advance warning to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
Mo Yuanjiao used his communication ring to notify Liu Yunan and the others, telling them that the city was ready and would be set up soon.
Upon hearing the news, everyone quickly dropped what they were doing and rushed down to the village to gather.
Previously, Liu Yunan had spoken with the village head, Du Liushui, about the city construction plans. Du Liushui had discreetly shared the news with the villagers and the families that had settled in the area over the past few years.
Though no one knew the exact details of how the city would be built or when it would start, their faith in the Lingxian Sect remained unshaken. The people were thrilled with the prospect.
At first, they were excited about becoming townspeople, but now the chance to become city dwellers had them overjoyed.
So, when Village Head Du received Liu Yunan's notice, he immediately grabbed the large iron pot that Lin Xiao had repaired for him years ago and began clanging it through the village.
"City's being built! City's being built! Everyone, come out! Our village is building a city!" he shouted as he walked through the narrow village paths, alerting the villagers but avoiding the main roads where tourists gathered.
Despite this, many visitors overheard his shouts as he passed through the village.
Seeing the excitement on the faces of the villagers, some curious tourists asked, "Weren't you just building a town? Why is it a city now?"
One of the villagers explained, "We were going to build a town, but look around. See those sturdy walls going up? That's what the immortals of Lingxian Sect said not too long ago!"
"Yeah, yeah! They said they're making some kind of trading center. The immortals told us that soon there will be even more people coming to our village. A town won't be big enough; we need a city!" another villager chimed in.
"I heard there might be a lot of immortals from other places coming here too!" one villager added enthusiastically.
"Wow, really? Then our village will become an immortal village!" someone joked.
"What are you talking about? Once the city's built, it'll be an immortal city!" another laughed.
The tourists, listening to this, were baffled.
Can you really just decide to build a city like that?
Looking around, they saw that aside from the outer walls, a few new buildings, and some widened roads, it hardly looked like a city was about to spring up. The scale was far from what one would expect of a city.
Some of the tourists were skeptical, while others simply dismissed the villagers' claims as exaggerated stories.
After all, rural people loved to boast, didn't they?
But whether the tourists believed it or not, the construction of Xiushui Village's city was imminent.
The villagers didn't care about the tourists' doubtful looks. Over the years, they had grown accustomed to dealing with outsiders, and their experiences had broadened their horizons. Many of them were no longer as timid as they once were, when even going to a market made them nervous.
Of course, there were still some whose temperament remained unchanged.
When Village Head Du, along with a group of villagers who had either been idle or set aside their work, arrived at the small estate they had gifted to the Lingxian Sect, Lin Xiao and the others were already there, surveying the surrounding terrain.
Though they had previously identified a general area for the city, now that the city's structure was fully synthesized, Lin Xiao could use its projection to more accurately determine where to place it.
Upon seeing the village head and the others, the members of the Lingxian Sect who had come from Xiushui Village warmly greeted them.
Even Lin Dayou and the other elders, who usually kept to themselves, came out for the occasion. Normally, they spent their days farming in the sect, but the prospect of building a city had them buzzing with excitement.
After all, Xiushui Village was the place they had lived most of their lives. Even though they had now embarked on the path of cultivation, their love for their home remained unchanged. For them, cultivation had merely altered their lifestyle, but their attachment to the village was constant.
While the elders exchanged pleasantries, the younger ones like Liu Yunan stayed respectfully by their side.
After politely greeting the elders, Lin Xiao soared into the sky, retrieving the synthesized city from his private vault. He began adjusting the placement, aligning the projection with the physical terrain.
As the city's projection materialized before him, growing until it matched its actual size, the details became clear.
Tall, sturdy walls enclosed the city. Inside, the streets were lined with interconnected drainage systems, main administrative buildings, wide and smooth roads, green spaces, and parks. Most importantly, the trading center stood prominently at the heart of the city.
Shrouding the entire city was a massive, invisible shield—the form of the Lingti Turtle Shell, which had cost 100,000 spirit stones.
With this shield in place, any items registered at the trading center would require a transaction certificate to leave the city. The shield was also integrated with various defensive formations, preventing cultivators from causing chaos within the city and making it difficult for outsiders to invade.