The Tiger Butcher King’s eyelids twitched the moment he set foot into the city lord residence of the City of Immortals.

  The city lord’s residence was a world unto its own and many times bigger than the city around it. The Hongmeng qi here was tens of thousands of times denser than outside!

  Indeed, tens of thousands of times!

  Even the most fertile city of the region—the Multitude City—was far inferior to this residence. Not just inferior, it didn’t even have the right to be mentioned in the same breath!

  The Tiger Butcher King opened his arms wide and greedily soaked in Hongmeng qi through all four hundred and eighty million of his wide-open pores.

  “What’s that?!” suddenly shrieked the Silver Leopard King when he spotted a hazy purple mountain in the center of the residence.

  “Is that… a mountain of purple crystal??” Tiger Butcher’s eyes widened incredulously at the sight of the mountain. It was several million kilometers tall and tens of millions wide. Jutting into the clouds, it was a crystalline purple throughout.

  Premium purple crystal!

  The entire mountain was carved out of premium purple crystals!!

  The world projected within the city lord residence and the boundless Hongmeng qi all came from the mountain!

  Tiger Butcher shuddered convulsively, having the distinct feeling that if someone could lift the mountain, they’d be able to smash him flat with it.

  “My lords and lady, my master can see you now.” A respectful, melodious voice sounded as a young maid popped out of nowhere. She walked up to a stunned Tiger Butcher King, also drawing a reaction from the previously expressionless Purecloud King.

  They could clearly feel the energy ripples from the maid—half step king!

  Half step kings were cultivators on the cusp of becoming titled kings!

  Those such as the venerated enforcer of the Enforcer Alliance, Dusksnow Morningstar, and the Purpleclad Duke were all half step kings. Geniuses such as them were greeted with a courteous reception no matter where they went and received great attention from the kings. But here, they were maids?

  Maids that were half step kings??

  The mountain of purple crystal in the far distance weighed down on the Tiger Butcher King’s heart, injecting lead into his limbs. Just who was this Immortal King? Was he a secluded ninth step king, or the descendent of one?

  The Purecloud King’s first thought upon seeing the mountain was of the Redbud King, but now that she’d seen the half step king maid… she didn’t know what to think.

  “Come! Let’s go see who this Immortal King is!” Tiger Butcher took a deep breath and strode forward, following the maid into the depths of the residence.

  Along the way, the three of them felt like they were country bumpkins on their first visit to a city. They didn’t know where to look or extend their consciousness.

  All sorts of treasures so priceless that they wouldn’t even put the items on display were treated as decoration, casually scattered around every corner. A variety of exotic flowers and grasses flourished in the gardens, a selection so precious that kings would view them dearer than life.

  Multiple superior realm cultivators on the cusp of kinghood wore the outfits of servants and maids, keeping everything in order.

  Tiger Butcher’s soaring confidence had completely vanished, replaced by bottomless fear and apprehension. What kind of background did this city lord possess?!

  Even residences of sixth level kings wouldn’t be so lavish, not to mention using half step kings as servants!

  Elegant flute music floated in on the breeze. The three focused their gazes to see a young woman dressed in purple clothes sitting comfortably in a garden, playing a tune to the tranquil lake in front of her.

  “A third step king?” Tiger Butcher paused. “Is this third step king your Immortal King?”
“The Tiger Butcher King jests,” smiled their guide. “This third step king is a good friend of the master. When she heard that he newly obtained the City of Immortals in the Multitude Region, she traveled here to offer her felicitations.”
Gulp!

  Tiger Butcher swallowed hard. A third step king was on the same level as him, and he could tell from the flute players’ bearing and gestures that she was actually stronger than him. Though they were both third level kings, there were naturally differences that still existed within the same level.

  Tiger Butcher, Silver Leopard, and Purecloud looked at each other. All three wanted to withdraw, but they didn’t reveal their current state of mind.

  Walking behind the maid, they saw a second third step king—one wearing green robes and playing a zither at the foot of a mountain.

  Tiger Butcher’s heart spasmed painfully and he spoke to the maid in front of him, “Miss, please convey my sentiments to the Immortal King. I’ve suddenly recalled urgent matters at home and shan’t be disturbing him today.

  “Let’s go!” He turned to leave, quickly followed by Silver Leopard and Purecloud.

  “Since you’ve come, visitors, why not leave after you see my master?” Having vanished earlier, the Meteorite King reappeared out of thin air and wielded a strangely shaped shortsword that glinted with a cold light.

  The Purecloud King regarded it with shock; that was the sword that’d claimed the life of her last dao partner!

  “Urgent matters at home, urgent matters! We’ll visit again another day!” Tiger Butcher’s ambitions were no longer. Two third step kings, hundreds of half step kings, all sorts of exotic treasures, and that mountain of purple crystal was too much psychological pressure.

  By now, he wouldn’t do anything to the city lord even if the latter was a pig.

  “Tiger Butcher King!” roared Meteorite. “You’ve exerted constant pressure on the City of Immortals over the past two months and almost turned it into an empty city. You come in person today to do battle, now you say there’s urgent matters at home. Do you think my master is so easily bullied and that this city is your backyard, here to come and go as you wish?!”
Color drained from Tiger Butcher’s face and he took several steps back. But when he realized that the one in front of him was just a first step king, he shouted back, “And what do you want? A fight to the death or something?”
“A fight to the death? What right does a mangy rat like you have to fight to the death with me?” Meteorite sneered. Though he was an Infernum, his name was written on the Tome of Life and Death!

  The Tome of Life and Death was a treasure of the fourth realm. held authority over the five hells, and kept the wheel of reincarnation within limits. It was a premier existence even within the fourth realm, so what did a little third step king amount to in front of it?

  “A mangy rat?!” Tiger Butcher’s temper flared at the insult. “I’ll show you just what I am!”
He roared to the heavens and leapt upward, pouncing on the Meteorite King. The image of a golden tiger appeared behind him, bearing down on Meteorite with overwhelming influence.

  If his target had just been an ordinary first step king, he would’ve been ripped apart before Tiger Butcher physically closed the distance, as the gap between a first and third step king was too big. However, this was the city lord residence in the City of Immortals—Lu Yun’s backyard!

  There were two supplemental grandmasters here who’d almost reached kinghood. They lacked not for resources or purple crystal veins, and could fully deploy their strength to maximum capability.

  Boom!

  A purple shadow shot into the sky at almost the same time, forming a snarling purple dragon that charged Tiger Butcher.

  Boom!

  A second explosion sent a second shadow, then a third, and more streaming out from beneath the ground.

  Tiger Butcher halted briefly when the first dragon hit him, upon which the second, third, and fourth quickly slammed into him and brought him down from the air. Silver Leopard blurred into action and darted to Tiger Butcher’s side, joining hands with him in combat.

  He was a second step king that was almost on par with the other. Silver Leopard immediately released his influence and looked warily at the increasing numbers of dragon shadows in the sky.

  Both of them regarded the scene grimly.

  “Bring me my mountain.” Meteorite suddenly beckoned.

  Rumble.

  The unwelcome visitors looked on in horror as the residence shook violently, the towering mountain of purple crystal rising from the ground and shooting into the air. The Meteorite King’s hand somehow seemed to be a spatial dimension as he easily held the massively tall and wide mountain in his hand.

  It then furiously expanded to fifty million kilometers tall.

  “Premium crystal veins!” Tiger Butcher shrieked, his voice breaking from terror. “This mountain is refined from premium crystal veins!”