True Solution of the Sword Dao

The golden seed slowly flew into Cheng Guang’s back.

Everything was as if it had never happened.

Lin Fei instantly turned into a shadow and disappeared.

Accompanying this, a red indicator light on the control panel that had been flashing unceasingly also automatically went out.

Woo...!!

A series of urgent alarms began to sound from the base.

"Warning!! Warning!! The energy system has been cut off, prepare to start the standby power supply system, standby energy supply startup failure, the system will shut down in five seconds. The system will shut down in...."

Dazzling red alarm lights popped up from different places, continuously flashing red.

All instruments went dark at once, with only the red lights and the piercing alarm sounding.

Only then did Cheng Guang snap back to reality and hurriedly carried his father’s body, running back the way he had come.

***********

Inner World, Main City of the Pantheon

The white goddess statue, hundreds of meters tall, held up a shield with life-like feathers of a little bird on its shoulders, reflecting a jade-like texture in the sunlight.

Dense throngs of people constantly moved in and out of the main city gates, like murky water and ants. On the white jade stone floor, intricate and purpose-unknown patterns could be seen every few steps.

Lin Fei and Jingjing moved along with the crowd. Around them, a countless number of powerful auras almost completely enveloped the entire main city in a blanket of potential energy.

Just a casual glance across the crowd revealed that six or seven out of ten individuals were strength above level D. Many of them were, like Lin Fei and Jingjing, newcomers wearing black armor, obviously having just dispersed and flooded into the city.

"Excuse me, sir, do you need a guide?" A thin middle-aged man approached with a smile.

Lin Fei looked around; there were many such people, mostly initiating conversation with newcomers in black armor.

"If you can convince me," he replied indifferently.

The man immediately straightened up, his spirits lifted.

"Sir, this is the Main City of the Pantheon. It’s so vast that you simply cannot imagine. To see it all in just a few days is completely impossible. Therefore, to visit the places you really want to see in the limited time you have, that’s where we guides come in. Let me begin by introducing the structure here," he said, taking out a roll of something resembling a map and gently unrolled it.

Suddenly, a blurry phantom rose before him, forming a miniature city phantom.

He pointed to a white dot in the phantom.

"This is the Goddess Statue District, right by the city gate."

Lin Fei and Jingjing looked closely. The white dot on the phantom was completely insignificant in comparison to the entire city, akin to comparing a sesame seed to a watermelon. If he hadn’t pointed it out, they would have never imagined it was the towering goddess statue hundreds of meters high.

The man laughed and pointed to another white dot. "This is also the Goddess Statue District. Like this statue, there are dozens around the Main City of the Pantheon, each surrounded by a large residential area, a commercial area, an industrial area, and a garden area. If you’re looking for a suitable job, then you might choose the commercial or industrial areas. If you want to see beautiful scenery, then the garden area has everything. If you’re looking to buy a residence to settle down, the residential area is your best choice. In addition, there’s also the Temple area centered around the church, which is forbidden territory, but you can enjoy the view from outside. There’s also the administrative area, where the government departments managing the various districts are located."

The man roughly described one of the main city’s district structures.

Lin Fei and Jingjing also roughly formed an overall impression of the Pantheon.

"And this is the city gate area, walk about two hundred meters forward, and there’s an open-air square where a Sacred Exchange Event is taking place. It’s a comprehensive event for fair trade, auctioning, hiring, etc., under the name of the gods. While it can’t be said to be absolutely fair, it’s definitely much better than the other big areas," the man said with a hint of pride, "This is also one of the unique features of our Goddess Statue District."

"You lead the way," Lin Fei nodded, "to the Sacred Exchange Event." He was indeed interested in what they meant by fairness in the name of gods.

The man’s face lit up with pleasure. "Please follow me. And my fee is 100 energy stones for every five hours. Of course, you can also pay with colored energy stones."

Lin Fei was about to pick out one of the red energy stones to pay when Jingjing behind him took out a pale red energy stone.

"This is a standard red energy stone, equivalent to a thousand energy stones. Alright, lead the way," Jingjing tossed the energy stone lightly.

The man caught it precisely. He inspected it closely, as if verifying its authenticity, and then carefully put it away.

"Okay. The two of you follow me. I know all the activities happening nearby and upcoming ones like the back of my hand. How may I address you two? My name is Li Wenmin."

"You can call me Lin, and her, Jing. Are you a first-generation resident of the Inner Domain or...?" Lin Fei inquired.

"My father was a first-generation resident of the Inner Domain, but he died in a legion exercise," the man replied, walking ahead and turning into a street to the left of the space in front of the city gate.

As soon as Lin Fei and Jingjing turned onto the street, they were somewhat stunned.

The entire street continued the main white jade color theme, but the people on the street were not walking slowly; they stood erect, motionless, yet their bodies were moving rapidly forward or backward.

Everyone’s feet were suspended in the air, as if there was some sort of invisible mat underneath, automatically carrying them forward or backward.

All one had to do was stand to the side of the street, and they would be automatically transported at a uniform speed without any risk of collisions, as there were no vehicles like cars here.

"This is one of the unique features of my Goddess Statue District—automatic teleportation," Li Wenmin said proudly, "All the streets here have the ability to move automatically. Please step on."

On both sides of the street, there was a layer of pathways with a white silvery pattern.

He walked on first and was immediately lifted by a force, swiftly moving forward.

Lin Fei and his companion in gold also stepped on. It felt similar to an escalator in a shopping mall; they just needed to stand still to move forward automatically.

On both sides of the street were buildings reminiscent of medieval Europe, with the entrances of some marked in English as various companies and offices.

Occasionally, there were people stepping off the conveyor belt to enter and exit these buildings.

Outside the conveyor belt, silver armored guards equipped with guns at their waists patrolled in an orderly fashion on foot rather than using the conveyor belt. Lin Fei sensed an aura from these guards at the peak of D-level.

"They are members of the Temple Guard, a large-scale force specifically tasked with the security of the entire Goddess Statue District. All of them are strong individuals chosen locally," Li Wenmin explained.

Lin Fei nodded, "I have a question. I’m from the first generation of the Inner World, having just come from Earth, and there are many Hua Nation surnames here."

Li Wenmin looked slightly taken aback, "Hua Nation? My lord, you are actually from the first generation of the Inner World? From Earth? I have heard my father mention that place. Peaceful and tranquil, many lords from the Inner World who come here say the same, but strangely, they don’t want to go back and choose to stay. The prevalence of Hua Nation surnames here is due to the fact that many of the top-ranking lords in the Goddess Statue District are powerful figures from Hua Nation."

"Is that so?" Lin Fei nodded, "No wonder then. Life here is directly fascinating, and with strength respected, naturally no one would want to go back there. Compared to Earth, that place is just a small pond, while this is the real vast world."

The three of them chatted casually about some information regarding the Main City of the Pantheon.

Lin Fei and his companions also learned that the so-called Main City of the Pantheon actually includes many large districts, such as the Goddess Statue District, which is one of them and is made up of dozens of subdivisions centered around the Empress Temple.

The other large districts are the same, with a total of five major districts: the Goddess Statue District, the Chaos Domain, the Dark Domain, the Outer Domain, and the Nature Refuge. Each district contains dozens of subdivisions, each subdivision is a large area, roughly the size of a county-level unit on Earth.

Li Wenmin led the two along the street, moving forward. Soon, the silver magic-patterned conveyor belt ended.

After leaving the conveyor belt area, they walked a few dozen meters on foot and arrived at a large white marble plaza. At the moment, an auction was taking place on the plaza, with a white-haired old man in a priest’s robe standing on an outdoor podium. Below him were row after row of seats, sparsely occupied by some individuals, including a few in black armor. They each held up a display board, scribbling down prices and raising them high from time to time, while the host continuously called out the bid numbers.

After passing through the auction area, they reached a place akin to an outdoor social event. Music, emanating from an unknown source, mixed with the gathering of elegantly dressed people, chatting in groups of twos and threes.

Lin Fei and his party were still a distance away when two guards stopped them.

"Sorry, please show your invitations," one of the guards said.

The three of them had no choice but to head in another direction.

Li Wenmin shrugged.

"What we just passed was an invite-only auction, part of the Saint Easy event, not yet started. You must have an invitation to get in. Those eligible to enter, not only have not just wealth, but also strong potential power or personal strength," he said.

Next, surrounded by silver armored guards, was a vast garden with a dense crowd chatting and exchanging items in the central plaza.

The low murmur of conversations made the place somewhat noisy.

Their arrival went completely unnoticed, as this area also had large crowds of people coming in and going out every moment.

An odd, fragrant scent lingered in the air here.

"Let’s stop here," Lin Fei surveyed his surroundings. Some of the strong individuals had auras so hidden; he even spotted B-level powerful figures exchanging items here.

***************

Outer World

Golden Underground Base

Griffin sat back with his eyes half-closed in his chair, surrounded by Snake Woman and Lin Fei, who sat quietly. The Night King and Luo Jia were not present; it was just the three of them.

"The Night King has gone to take care of affairs involving the Artifact Family, and Luo Jia still needs to suppress the Dream Eater rebellious forces in India. Thus, the formal council meeting will be decided by the three of us," Griffin said softly.

"First Councillor, by now, you are well aware of our identities, so isn’t it time you revealed some of yours to us?" His gaze settled on Lin Fei.

"As the founder of the gold, we know almost nothing about you."

"True, this operation against the Nicholas Family in the United States called upon some of Griffin’s and my strength; as a trade-off, isn’t it time to reveal your true identity?" Snake Woman agreed.

"Of course," Lin Feipeng replied calmly, "My identity really isn’t that important to hide." The gold around him slowly dissipated, revealing a nearly perfect handsome face, with long black hair down to his waist and a lean figure, a black cloak materializing around him.

"Compared to you, I’m not very famous. You can call me Lin," Lin Fei said with a smile, revealing his true face, which had only a slight resemblance to his previous appearance, making it impossible for Griffin and the others to determine his real identity.

"That’s enough, what we need is your sincerity," Griffin nodded slightly. "Seeing you reminds us how old we’ve become. We’ve lived for far too long... If it weren’t for the gold, we might all have turned into dust."

"So, are we ready for the preparation work?" Lin Fei asked. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qi Dian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)