Chapter 39: An Unexpected Encounter with Li Hong

  Since encountering Du Peng's patrol team, Zhang Heng had a new understanding of the strength of Dutiange Fort.

  These monks all possess spiritual instruments, and their own strength is not weak. They all carry a lot of murderous aura on their bodies, which is slightly higher than the strength of Fang Yunshan's fellow monks.

  Especially Tu Peng, who is in the great perfection realm of refining gas. His body actually has both high-grade spiritual equipment and defensive spiritual equipment at the same time. With such a foundation, it's estimated that there aren't many people in the same rank who can be his opponent.

  On Mount Fangyun, Zhang Heng had yet to see any Qi Refining stage cultivators with top-grade spiritual artifacts in their possession. As for defensive spiritual artifacts, he had only seen them on the mysterious Wu Ling.

  And this young man actually has two rare spiritual instruments in his hands, which is really enviable. This also shows that the Du Tian Fortress is more wealthy and powerful than the Fang Yun Mountain Three Sects.

  This solitary heavenly fortress, although it has only a thousand years of inheritance and the Yuan Ying period's founding master is no longer present, its hidden strength is still not to be underestimated. Otherwise, how could they have established the largest market in several thousand miles?

  As the two flew further and further, passing by one after another steep and towering mountain peaks, the vague silhouette of the Lonely Sky Castle gradually emerged in the distance.

  Dutianbao is located on a precipitous cliff that rises into the clouds, half a head higher than the surrounding peaks, standing tall and proud among the mountains. The middle of the mountain is surrounded by white clouds, and from a distance, it gives people a hazy and mysterious feeling.

  "Tang Shixiong, hurry up and speed up! I'm getting impatient, I want to take a closer look." Zhao Rui's eyes were fixed eagerly on the distant, blurry outline of Dugu Fortress, which looked like a small dot.

  "Alright, but we need to fly a bit higher, that Cliff Mountain is really high." Zhang Heng nodded in agreement.

  The two of them suddenly accelerated by several degrees, flying towards the higher and farther cliff mountain peak.

  As the speed soared, the two people's height from the ground also gradually increased. In their field of vision, the scenery on the ground gradually changed and soon became as small as ants.

  Moreover, as the altitude increases, a faintly discernible icy gale sweeps in, and the temperature plummets sharply.

  Under this icy gale's assault, it's not just ordinary people who can't withstand it, even low-ranking cultivators would find it hard to endure.

  But this temperature and cold wind were not a big problem for Zhang Heng, and Zhao Rui beside him also seemed to be unaffected.

  As they drew closer, the outline of Dook's fortress gradually emerged before their eyes.

  It was a huge castle that seemed to be floating in the air, but in fact it was standing firmly on the top of a precipitous mountain.

  The entire Daxiayeshan Mountain is cut like a knife, with steep and smooth cliffs, presenting a wide base and narrow top. The widest mountain base covers an area of tens of square kilometers, while the narrowest mountain top has only a width of tens of meters.

  In the distance, it looks like a golden pyramid.

  It is said that the body of this cliff mountain was not formed naturally, but was split into such a shape by some great divine being.

  Because the mountain top is very sharp and surrounded by floating clouds, so from a distance, the entire giant solitary sky castle seems to be suspended in mid-air.

  Looking at the majestic and vast Dou Tian Fortress, then glancing at the mountain top that was only a dozen or so meters wide, Zhang Heng couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt - how did this precipitous mountain's peak not collapse?

  Because Duketown is no smaller than most secular cities, it houses tens of thousands of people, including monks and ordinary mortals.

  Tens of thousands of people live on a mountain top that is only a dozen or so meters wide, just thinking about it makes one's heart palpitate, what if the mountain top can't hold up?

  But then Zhang Heng couldn't help but laugh at his own thoughts. This was a world where cultivating immortality was the mainstream, how could he still use some common sense from Earth to look at problems? It seemed that he had not fully integrated into this world yet.

  In addition, a faint transparent purple glow envelops the surroundings of Dugu Sky City, which seems to be some kind of powerful defensive array.

  Zhang Heng couldn't help but admire from a distance, enveloping the entire castle. It can be imagined that this was the ingenious part of the person who set up the formation at the beginning.

  It can be said that this is a super defensive array, such a huge defensive array, in the entire Three Star Domain, probably only those large-scale cultivation sects can have it.

  As the two gradually approached the Lonely Sky Castle, and there were often monks flying by on the road, their speed gradually slowed down, gazing at the not-so-distant Lonely Sky Castle with a reverent gaze.

  At this time, Zhang Heng heard a monk laughing in the distance: "Li Shixiong, you won't sell all your spiritual instruments, will you? Why are you flying with a broken law instrument?"

  Zhang Heng couldn't help but glance sideways, and saw a fat-faced monk who was riding a low-grade spiritual artifact mocking a young monk not far away.

  The young monk had a gloomy expression, his hair disheveled, and flew silently, as if wanting to get rid of the fat-faced monk beside him.

  However, what he was driving under his feet was an ordinary law enforcement vehicle, which was extremely slow, with only two or three tenths of the speed of a general spirit device.

  Zhang Heng only felt that this young monk looked somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, his heart skipped a beat - wasn't that Li Hong from the Feng Xing Gate?

  That night, Li Hong attempted to force Ning Xue Rong into becoming his concubine, but under her desperate resistance, both of them were seriously injured.

  Ning Xue Rong has also become a snow lotus and is lying in Zhang Heng's storage bag.

  As for Li Hong, Zhang Heng remembered that he had suffered severe internal and external injuries, his body was pressed under a huge boulder, and he was also knocked unconscious by himself.

  Under such circumstances, Zhang Heng couldn't help but wonder if this child still had a chance of survival.

  At this moment, he actually saw the fallen Li Hong, and his heart was also quite moved, but there was not a hint of sympathy.

  At that time, Zhang Heng was already quite good at sparing his life. If it were the current Zhang Heng with a changed mindset, he probably wouldn't have let him go at all.

  Perhaps noticing Zhang Heng's movement, Zhao Rui's gaze also fell on those two people.

  "Li Shixiong, Wang Shixiong, you two just came out of Dutiange Fortress?" Zhao Rui surprisingly recognized the duo.

  Li Hong glanced at him indifferently, also ignoring Zhao Rui beside Zhang Heng, and silently drove the footwork under his feet to fly far away at a tortoise speed.

  That fat-faced monk smiled and said to Zhao Rui: "This brother, do we know each other? However, I do recognize the Tang Shixiong next to you."

  Zhang Heng took a closer look at him and also felt that he was somewhat familiar, but couldn't remember who he was.

  After all, there were too many cultivators in the entire Fangyun Mountain. There were four or five thousand outer sect disciples and several hundred inner sect disciples. It was impossible for everyone to remember each other clearly. Moreover, most of the time, the cultivators were cultivating, and they didn't have much time to wander around outside.

  Tang Feng was quite famous in Fangyun Mountain when he was still young, so it's no surprise that this fatty knows him.

  Zhao Rui said indifferently, "Wang Shixiong, I have seen you on the mountain before. A friend from the inner sect also mentioned some of your deeds to me. My name is Zhao Rui, and I only arrived at Fangyun Mountain two years ago."

  "Haha, I remember now, you're the new inner disciple of Huoyun Gate, said to be brought in by Huoyu Zhenren." The gaze of Wang, the stout cultivator, quietly swept over the mid-grade spiritual artifact under Zhao Rui's feet.

  Zhao Rui nodded repeatedly and chatted idly with the plump-faced monk again.

  Zhang Heng was shocked on the side, Zhao Rui actually came to Fangyun Mountain two years ago, but his cultivation had reached the late stage of Qi Refining.

  If he didn't have any foundation in cultivation before entering the sect, then his progress is a bit too terrifying.

  In just two years, he reached the late stage of Qi Refining, a speed that Zhang Heng had never even heard of.

  "Tang Shixiong and Zhao Shidi have actually come together to Du Tianbao, you must also be thinking of going to the market to trade some things? I won't delay you then." The Wang surname fat monk finally drove his spirit tool away.

  Zhao Rui smiled and introduced Wang, the chubby cultivator, to Zhang Heng: "This Brother Wang's name is Wang Yuan. He's said to be a descendant of a certain extinct cultivation family. When he first arrived at Fangyun Mountain, he wasn't that fat, but later on, after taking some wrong elixirs, his body became plumper. So, he devoted himself to secluded cultivation and rarely went out. He's the most low-key among all the inner disciples of Xianyun Sect."

  Zhang Heng curled his lips and thought to himself, "This fat guy is called Wang Yuan, a rather unusual name. His cultivation is in the middle of the Qi Refining stage. And yet, Tang Feng spent over a decade on Fangyun Mountain and doesn't seem to have any impression of him, which shows just how low-key he is."

  "How did you know all this?" Zhang Heng was taken aback. Zhao Rui had only been to Fangyun Mountain for a few years, but he seemed to know more than himself.

  Zhao Rui said nonchalantly: "I'm most interested in these strange and unusual things, I often ask my senior fellow disciples from the school to tell me about them."

  "Even Tang Shixiong's affairs I'm quite familiar with." Zhao Rui looked at Zhang Heng with a complacent expression, as if he was about to expose all his secrets.

  Zhang Heng almost had a dizzy feeling, Zhao Rui actually liked gossip! Generally speaking, gossip is the favorite of women, and Zhao Rui also has this hobby.

  Is this guy a girl?

  Zhang Heng was startled and hastily took a closer look at Zhao Rui, discovering that he looked slightly delicate, and his overall figure didn't resemble that of a woman.

  He used his divine sense to scan Zhang Heng's body once again, and after reconfirming his identity, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

  It seems that a woman disguising herself as a man is completely a legendary story, and it's also unlikely to happen in reality.

  Zhao Rui felt uneasy under Zhang Heng's gaze and asked nervously: "W-what are you looking at?"

  "Heh heh, let's get reacquainted, little brother." Zhang Heng said with a shrug.

  "Really?" Zhao Rui felt a bit uneasy in his heart, feeling that Zhang Heng's gaze when he looked at himself just now was somewhat strange, but still forced himself to believe Zhang Heng's explanation.

  "Let's all go into the castle quickly."

  Zhang Heng controlled the Lingqi to fly into this magnificent and majestic castle, his eyes couldn't help but size up the layout of the castle, secretly admiring it in his heart.