A full night of rambunctious under-the-sheet rumbling left the young and pragmatic elf exhausted, drifting off to dream. She laid there, clutching at the sheets with a sweet smile as if the activities were continuing even in her dreams. Her aura was quite vibrant, even elevated from its previous state.

Wei Wuyin sat at the edge of the bed, glancing at the beautiful elf that had taken multiple shots of his yang essence in roaring ecstasy. His gaze roamed over her soft body, noticing a distinctly radiant luster on her light bronze-colored skin. Her body and Astral Soul was quite lively, with every cell and meridian of her body being energized.

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Wei Wuyin's yang essence was miraculously extraordinary, being enhanced by his exceptional cultivation base supported by four Astral Souls, high-quality innate energies, and True Dragon bloodline. He could feel that her cultivation base was strengthening every moment. From his present estimation, she was roughly eighty percent stronger overall in all aspects, and her Astral Core had even enlarged from a little over a millimeter in size to 1.5 millimeters. It was still growing!

He gently smiled as he felt somewhat exhausted. Dual Cultivation was typically beneficial to both parties, but if one side was outrageously higher in all aspects, they would receive negligible benefits. This was why he hadn't refined her Primal Yin energies, recycling it and sending it back into her for fuel for her to use.

It was an extremely delicate process, and if he didn't have his Alchemic Astral Soul, this was an impossible task without an extraordinarily heaven-defying method. Furthermore, its a method that no one would ever create. It was utterly useless and disadvantageous to the cultivator of the method.

He didn't consider himself a saint, and if her Primal Yin energies were useful to him, he wouldn't have performed such a thankless task, directly refining what he could. But her cultivation base was too low, too unrefined, and she lacked any special qualities. In all manner of speaking, Ai Juling was an ordinary Soul Idol Phase cultivator who was propped up by long-term resource refinement from her high-level parents.

It made her overall foundation extremely ordinary and her comprehension of Intent non-existent.

"Whatever. I'm not so shallow that I only desire high-level cultivators or those with vast innate talent. Why be an alchemist if I can't make grand experts? Why strive to cultivate if I can't grasp my own fate and the fates of others in my hand?" Wei Wuyin's smile became warmer as he caressed Ai Juling's face. She reached out to touch his hand and let out a contentful sound.

Ai Juling's pragmatic view of events left him feeling admiration, appreciating her straightforward personality with a touch of realism. Wei Wuyin never had any intent to force her into anything, and if she was completely against him, he would've sent her back safely. He felt like she realized this, and from her taking the initiative, he liked her attitude.

With a slight breath, he removed his hand and rose from the bed. With a wave of his hand, his nude body was completely covered by his black martial artist outfit. He silently left the room. A ward formed around the door, with several miniature saber formations established to protect it.

Regardless of his current status as the City Lord, he didn't trust anyone in this tower. He had already restricted access to the upper and underground areas of the tower. He started to walk down the hall and touched a certain wall. The wall opened up discreetly without a hint of sound to reveal a dark gap.

It was a secret entrance. When he entered, he was welcomed by a set of spiraling stairs that went down. He traversed downwards until he reached the very bottom.

"The lowest floor of the tower, a few hundred meters beneath the floor entrance, and the location of the Desolate Ninth Mountain Astral Formation's Core, including the Grandquake Array." Wei Wuyin muttered to himself, recalling the information he obtained from the City Lord. In fact, the City Lord was incredibly tight-lipped and unwilling. Even with the threat of his life, he refused to spew any vital information about the city.

He then realized this was because of a Spirit Oath that all City Lords of Grandquake City have taken since the inception of the city. After that, he decided to simply pry his way into the City Lord's mind and take all the information he needed. He didn't particularly like doing this, but it was a necessity.

He obtained it all.

Including the secret pathway to the main controlling formation, the Desolate Ninth Mountain Astral Formation, and the overall array that handled the various other minor and greater formations, such as repairing locations, oversight of various locations, and control of Void Gate activities. It was called the Grandquake Array, and it encompassed the entire city.

The Desolate Ninth Mountain Astral Formation also doubled as the control key to the Grandquake Array. Therefore, whoever controls the Astral Formation's core similarly controls the entire city. It wasn't a matter of flawed design, and in fact eliminated one of the crucial issues of an array and a formation, and that was destroying their control key and destabilizing the controller's power over it.

If the core doubled as a formation, and the formation was embedded into the array, then it made it extremely difficult to deal with, and this was demonstrated by the successful capture of a Realmlord who ventured there.

The design was quite ingenious in fact, except if someone infiltrated the city without being noticed and refined the formation's core. If that happened, well...they were essentially trapped in a cage of their own making without recourse, essentially losing the key to their house.

Wei Wuyin learned that this wasn't the only array designed in this fashion, and nine out of the twelve cities had similar formations, with the Grandquake City being the newest city built over the centuries.

As Wei Wuyin entered the main room that housed the formation core, he was met with a gushing surge of desolate power. The desolate power immediately rushed him like a fierce tidal wave, threatening to engulf him whole and absorb his lively attributes. If this desolate power hit an ordinary cultivator, they would instantly be reduced to a desiccated corpse.

But not Wei Wuyin.

Wei Wuyin's silver eyes were engulfed by a white light that effused desolation, an absence of life and filled with decay and degradation. The desolate power was instantly parted, crushing against the walls. The walls were constructed from unique materials that resisted desolate power, so it was mostly unharmed.

Wei Wuyin lifted his right hand and clenched! A fist formed, and the wild desolate power twisted and turned like a twister until it condensed into the openings of his fist. It was as if he held a vacuum of immense power! In the blink of an eye, all the desolate power vanished.

He opened his hand and was left with a greyish crystal that contained the vast, devastating desolate power.

"...Desolate Intent. I see." A voice sounded from within the room, revealing the identity of the individual as female. The voice was somewhat dry and scratchy, even a little hoarse.

Wei Wuyin wasn't shocked as he snapped his fingers. The room became lit with warm light from strange rocks embedded in the wall. With the room fully lit, Wei Wuyin spotted a woman at the center of the room with two dried, extremely dusty hands that were almost skin and bones.

The woman was ordinary-looking, human, and dressed in a set of light-brown and black robes. Her eyes were the most attractive part of her body, not because of any feminine charm, but because of the innate ruthlessness and indifference that it radiated. It contained the essence of a cultivator that had crushed innumerable lives, fought their share of vicious wars, and lost a good number of allies.

She was engulfed by a cylindrical wall of grey light. The wall was thick yet transparent, but it seemed extremely sturdy. Above her was the small image of a mountain, and the mountain seemed to hover up and down at various intervals. Whenever it moved down, the woman's breathing would become rougher.

She was enshrouded in a strange barrier that kept the light of the grey light away, protecting her from it. It was her Worldly Domain!

"To gather the ambient desolate power forcefully, inject it into your body in its unrefined state and then propel it outwards in an attack that can escape the semi-permeable layer of the formation undetected. Impressive!" Wei Wuyin commented with earnest emotions.

If it wasn't for his Desolate Intent, he would've been met with a ferocious attack that could've claimed his life. While he had other defenses, the speed at which the desolate power erupted wasn't something a cultivator beneath the Light Reflection Phase could react to, their astral force circulation being far too slow.

Unfortunately…

The woman didn't say anything, merely looked at Wei Wuyin as she kept her Worldly Domain active. It was currently being restrained by the mountain, restricting its area-of-effect. Moreover, it was the only layer of protection she had to prevent a crushing death.

"Realmlords…" Wei Wuyin whispered to himself as he inspected the Worldly Domain of the female Realmlord. He deeply understood the inherent advantages of cultivation couldn't simply be ignored, and he was quite aware that his current cultivation base might be able to eclipse some Realmlords in terms of quantity of Astral Force, but in terms of quality and inherent cultivation powers, he wasn't their match.

He would be left with no choice but to run for his life. If the Realmlord hadn't entered the lion's den and came out to fight him directly, he would've left without hesitation. He was confident to have them suffer some losses, but if he entered their Worldly Domain, especially a genuine Worldly Domain, his fate might no longer be his to decide.

As for killing a Realmlord?

He wasn't that foolish to think so highly of himself. Well, unless they were foolish enough to enter a trap and face him regardless of what trump cards he decided to pull out. If that happened, he was roughly ninety percent certain of killing one. But if even the notion to flee entered their minds? It was an impossible endeavor.

The woman noticed Wei Wuyin's thoughtful gaze and her expression grew colder. "You won't be able to keep this city, even if you gained control of the Grandquake Array. Your time in this life is limited." Her tone was matter-of-fact, and Wei Wuyin merely smiled in response.

He thought for a moment, and then his silver eyes brightened with excitement. "You misunderstood my intent. I don't want this city. In fact, this city is rather useless to me."

The woman frowned, finding Wei Wuyin's words somewhat confusing. But she refused to get swept into his pace, remaining silent.

Wei Wuyin didn't mind. He typically wasn't one to monologue his plans, but he felt excited at the thought of the future. He stored the desolate crystal away and turned over his palm. "I just want the wealth accumulated by it thus far," Wei Wuyin smilingly said.

The woman was shocked by his declaration, and then she coldly smiled. "Sure, allow me out and I'll give it to you." Her words contained a trace of mockery as the spatial ring that contained the decades of wealth accumulated from Grandquake City was on her finger. While protected by her Worldly Domain, she wasn't in any real danger.

The only damage she suffered thus far was self-inflicted by her absorption of desolate power. If Wei Wuyin wanted the ring on her finger, he'd have to enter her Worldly Domain and take it, but he surely wasn't enough to kill her! She even wanted to coldly chuckle, about to spit out some mocking words before Wei Wuyin interrupted her.

Wei Wuyin chuckled, "Thanks." He turned his palm over, then clasped his hands and gave her a bow of thanks. With that, he turned around and left while waving his right hand, and between his index and middle finger was a spatial ring inscribed with a unique insignia.

The woman was stupefied, looking at the ring and back to her own hand. She realized the ring on her finger was gone!!

How?!

Her head snapped to the entrance, looking at Wei Wuyin's departing figure with the utmost confusion, extreme fear, and abject horror reflected in her eyes.

How?!

HOW?!?!