Chapter 161: Space Number Seven

"Take us to the Seventh Space Node."

The Holy Demon put away the purple-gold card in his hand and said to the creature.

The creature slightly lowered its head, acknowledged the order, and the vertical pupil at the center of its brow lit up. The concentric circles within it spun rapidly, shooting out a ray of light that sent ripples across the void. A spatial passageway was torn open, leading to another unknown realm.

"Space nodes one through ten were the ones established when the major supreme factions of the Astral Realm first made contact. They have now developed into exceptionally prosperous domains."

The Holy Demon explained to Zhou Tian, leading him step-by-step into the spatial passageway.

The passageway was dazzlingly colorful, with bizarre and wondrous scenes flashing by from time to time.

"What on earth is this Heaven-Reaching Corporation?"

Zhou Tian asked. At this moment, he finally recalled where the sense of familiarity from the purple-gold card in the Holy Demon's hand came from—it was blatantly a fantasy-world version of a business card. Coupled with the name Heaven-Reaching Corporation, it gave him a surreal sense of time and space distortion.

"The Heaven-Reaching Corporation is one of the supreme factions in the Astral Realm. At least half of the existing space nodes in the Astral Realm belong to this faction, and they even participated in the design of the spatial array bases for the top ten space nodes."

"Their primary business is spatial operations. I am a member of theirs; once I pay the price, they will guide and receive me no matter where I am, even in some of the forbidden zones of the Astral Realm."

This spatial passageway was extremely long, and the Holy Demon explained patiently, effectively teaching Zhou Tian some common knowledge.

"Then what level does our Jiuzhou belong to in the Astral Realm?"

Zhou Tian asked out of curiosity, as this was an unavoidable question.

"Every powerful faction has its own space node, and Jiuzhou occupies the eighteenth space node. You tell me what level that puts us at."

"The eighteenth? I thought we would at least be in the top ten."

Zhou Tian was somewhat surprised. In his view, Jiuzhou's strength was already formidable enough; he had never expected it wouldn't even make the top ten.

"Jiuzhou is rather special. Although it appears as a single entity, it is actually an amalgamation of nine separate factions. Moreover, a world forcibly integrated like Jiuzhou is vastly inferior to those naturally born worlds, which is why it can only rank eighteenth. In reality, however, it is much stronger than that; even the top ten factions dare not take it lightly."

The Holy Demon explained, his eyes narrowing slightly as he whispered,

"We have arrived."

Zhou Tian froze for a fraction of a second. Feeling a slight blur in his mind, he emerged from the spatial passageway, and instantly, a wave of chaotic noise flooded his ears.

This was a massive plaza featuring nine towering gateways standing a hundred zhang high. Forged from some precious material, they gleamed with the luster of obsidian, with energy pulsing along their silver runic patterns.

People were constantly streaming in and out—though calling them people wasn't entirely accurate, as they were a diverse assortment of creatures. Humans made up only a fraction of them: elephant-headed men with golden wings sprouting from their backs, bipedal creatures with tiger heads and dragon claws, and even floating flood dragons.

Aside from those nine most magnificent gateways, there were countless smaller, scattered portals, and it was from one of these that Zhou Tian and the Holy Demon had emerged.

The scenery in the distance gave him an even stranger sense of familiarity. It was a giant metropolis filled with closely packed skyscrapers and towering buildings, and in the distance, he could see chariots streaking across the sky.

It felt somewhat incongruous—vehicles of the divine and demonic civilization entering a modern metropolis.

High in the air, various flying craft appeared in striking contrast to one another: airships glided across the night sky, while beasts pulled chariots that descended onto the roofs of certain buildings.

Zhou Tian was dazed. In just this short moment, he had seen several small flying saucers land on the rooftop of a grand building, while nine-headed wind-birds and five-colored divine dragons pulling chariots descended right alongside them.

What kind of place was this? Technology and gods and demons coexisted in the very same space, leaving one somewhat speechless and feeling rather bizarre.

Just then, a purple-gold chariot roared past. Hovering around the war chariot were the illusory phantoms of a true dragon, a phoenix, and a qilin, all formed from flowing light to guard the four directions, elevating the war chariot with a rugged and sacred aura akin to an emperor inspecting his realm.

Zhou Tian looked up and saw that even the mounts pulling the chariot were extraordinary: eight pure-blooded dragon-horses covered in partial dragon scales, one of which had even partially transformed, resembling the most sacred of qilins.

The purple-gold chariot seemed to be picking someone up near the gateway. Hovering above Zhou Tian and his companion, a young maiden leaned out and called down,

"Look, there are people down there looking up at us like a bunch of fools."

The maiden chuckled. Dressed in white like snow, she looked down with a sweet face and brilliant beauty. Her voice made no attempt to hide, clearly carrying down into Zhou Tian's ears.

Are they talking about me? Zhou Tian was slightly stunned and shouted back,

"Are you talking about me?"

"Look, he's even asking us! He must be from some minor world recently discovered by the Heaven-Reaching Corporation. There have been way too many people like that lately."

Another maiden leaned out, her smile blooming like a flower.

"Just a frog at the bottom of a well, why bother paying him any mind?"

A cold male voice rang out. There was also a man inside the carriage, though he had yet to show his face.

"Yes, Young Master."

The two maidens responded, retreating back into the carriage.

"........."

Zhou Tian was rendered utterly speechless. He turned to the Holy Demon beside him and said,

"Hey, little brother, someone is looking down on your big brother, and you're just going to let it slide?"

The Holy Demon glanced at Zhou Tian, the warning in his eyes crystal clear. Even so, he raised a hand and flicked his sleeve. A nine-tailed phoenix materialized in mid-air, letting out a skyward cry that claimed a vast swathe of territory. Its feathers were brilliant, and runes flickered intermittently as it pulled a glazed golden chariot of supreme luxury.

The few dragon-horses lost their footing in the void and stumbled downward.

The Holy Demon fully unleashed his aura, the tyrannical might of a Heavenly King sweeping across the surroundings as he led Zhou Tian into the chariot. Meanwhile, Zhou Tian stuck his head out, stretched his neck, and bellowed at the top of his lungs,

"Little brother, look! Down there, people are acting like hicks, staring up at us like a bunch of idiots!"

"Shut up!"

Below them, a group of people stiffened, their expressions turning grim. An extraordinary figure had clearly arrived—someone powerful enough that even a Heavenly King-level character could only serve as his subordinate.

The expressions of the figures inside the purple-gold carriage turned even more ashen. Heavenly Venerables were already the absolute peak combat power of any faction and rarely appeared casually; Dao Lords and Heavenly Kings were already considered formidable combat power within the Astral Realm.

They never expected such a figure to show up right here in the transport plaza, as great figures usually possessed dedicated teleportation channels and rarely passed through public gateways.

Zhou Tian smugly pulled his head back into the carriage. Meeting the Holy Demon's gaze, he smiled and said,

"Senior, just a joke, don't take it so seriously."

The Holy Demon frowned and ignored him. The chariot rumbled forward, heading deep into the city.

The streets were lined with towering, closely packed buildings. Many of the skyscrapers shimmered with a metallic sheen, forged from special materials and soaring into the clouds with overwhelming scale.

The Holy Demon directed the chariot toward the tallest building ahead. Crafted from a bizarre material, it shimmered with a unique luster as if endless sheets of red-gold symbols were dancing in the air, weaving together in the void to form the characters for "Heaven-Reaching Hotel."