Chapter 557 - 327: New Things

The wide white jade gates of the grand main hall swung open, and the crowd of returning players poured out onto the open avenues of the great floating metropolis.

Above their heads, the firmament was not bounded by dirty grey smog or the suffocating ceiling of an apartment block.

It was a vast, open expanse of clean azure sky, broken only by wandering ribbons of white mist and the slow, heavy drift of floating islands linked together by chains of ancient dark iron.

ThickThighsSaveLives stepped out onto the polished flagstones, his boots clicking against stone that held not a single speck of dust.

He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes darting from left to right, his mouth hanging slightly open as he took in the sheer grandeur of the Boundless Sky City.

"Man... look at this place," an archer player named IronSparrow muttered, stumbling right behind him and staring straight up at the towering white towers that pierced the lower clouds. "This isn’t just a walled camp like our old mountain base. This is an entire civilization floating in the clouds."

Around them, hundreds of players were running, laughing, and touching the carved pillars lining the streets.

The city was breathtaking.

The avenues were eighty paces wide, paved with seamless dragon-bone stone that gave off a faint, pleasant warmth beneath their feet.

On either side stood grand pavilions four stories tall, built from polished cedar and white jade, their tiled roofs curving upward with bronze bells that chimed softly in the mountain breeze.

Clear streams of clean spiritual water ran along stone channels beside the walkways, filled with fat, golden koi fish swimming lazily through water lilies that glowed with faint red light.

High above, carriages pulled by two-winged white horses glided smoothly through the open air, ferrying disciples and attendants from one floating district to another.

Guards dressed in gleaming silver chainmail and dark red surcoats stamped with the crest of the Shen Clan stood at every crossroads, their tall halberds held upright, their eyes watching the noisy crowd with quiet discipline.

"I still can’t believe the developers managed to pull this off," a shield warrior named StonePillar said, rapping his knuckles against a bronze lamp post. "The Rising Dragon Company had their servers smashed by the feds back on Blue Star. Their stocks tanked, their offices were raided, and everyone thought the project was dead in the water. But they somehow rebuilt everything from scratch, upgraded the physics engine to this level, and gave us this insane expansion pack!"

"The haptics are unbelievable," a girl named MoonCake said, kneeling down by the curb to scoop up a handful of water from the ditch.

She let the water trickle through her fingers, laughing as the droplets felt cool and wet against her skin, leaving behind the sweet scent of wild mint.

"You can feel the water temperature, the wind drying on your cheeks, even the rough grain of the stone. If they can make a game feel this real after a total crackdown, those developers must be geniuses."

Further down the avenue, several players had already run up to the local residents and shopkeepers to test the interactions.

ThickThighsSaveLives walked over to a busy market square where an old vendor with a thin grey beard was laying out dried roots and dried fish on a woven bamboo mat.

"Hey, uncle!" ThickThighsSaveLives called out, leaning over the stall and tapping the wood with his finger. "You got any quests for beginner tanks? Like clearing out some wild hogs or gathering some fire mushrooms in the woods?"

The old merchant looked up from his work, his wrinkled brow creasing with mild annoyance as he wiped his hands on a blue cloth apron.

"Which mountain did you wild boys crawl out from?" the vendor grumbled in a raspy, living voice, his eyes squinting at the player’s crude leather vest. "This is the inner residential ward of the young master’s city, not a pig farm! If you want to dig for roots, go down to the lower farming terraces outside the southern wall and ask Old Man Chen for a spade. Don’t go knocking over my dried sea cucumbers with your clunky shield, or I will call the squad leader over to give your backside three lashes!"

ThickThighsSaveLives blinked in surprise, then burst into a wide grin. "The conversational logic on these NPC guys is wild! He didn’t even use a canned dialogue tree; he actually reacted to where my shield was bumping his table!"

Let it be known, that the only NPC’s that they have interacted was Yun Ming, Ling Luochen, and those native experts that they have saved.

Those native experts tend to avoid them and when questioned simply ignored them or gave a short curt reply, while Ling Luochen and Yun Ming only interacted with them during quests and such.

Nearby, a group of female players was chatting with a young woman carrying a basket of steamed meat buns.

When one of the girls offered her a handful of low-grade silver coins, the vendor woman gave a sweet, polite bow, handed over five warm buns wrapped in lotus leaves, and warned them to stay clear of the northern practice courts because the young lords of the Ten Crowns were sparring with live steel today.

As more players scattered across the plaza, word began to spread about the larger map, and soon dozens of gamers gathered around a large public bulletin board near the central fountain to discuss their findings.

"Guys, listen to what the guard captain just told me," a player named WindStrider said, pointing his finger toward the vast sea of clouds visible between two floating towers. "This city we’re standing in, or rather, this entire world we’re standing in, is actually just a dimension created by an expert!"

The crowd leaned in, murmuring with curiosity.

"Really? How big is this place?" StonePillar asked, crossing his heavy arms over his chest.

"Huge. Beyond comprehension," WindStrider explained, his eyes shining with pure excitement. "They call it as big as an entire planet, but there is no specific size given about how huge that planet is. But there are ancient mountain ranges that take months to cross on foot, deep underground caverns where wild beasts nest, and pocket realms used exclusively for survival exams. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg! The scope of this new map is at least fifty times larger than the entire old continent of the Rising Dragon Sect!"

"And get this," another player chimed in, holding up a cheap paper map he had bought from a bookstore for two copper pieces. "Our faction leader is that young master in white, Shen Haoran. According to the lore in these books, he isn’t just some common quest-giver. His family is an ancient imperial clan that rules thousands of worlds out in the high skies! The whole academy has to treat him with respect! If we follow his storyline and raise our faction reputation, we’re basically riding the biggest coattails in the entire game!"

"A real faction war on a map this huge..." ThickThighsSaveLives murmured, looking out over the endless floating islands drifting through the clouds. "This second chance is going to be ten times better than the old server."

*

*

*

Meanwhile, far away from the noisy streets of the public wards, the noise of the crowd faded into absolute peace.

In the secluded southern gardens of the Boundless Sky City stood the Falling Blossom Villa.

The air here was cool, fragrant, and gentle.

High walls of white stone kept out the drafts of the upper sky, enclosing a wide courtyard covered in soft, velvety green moss.

A clear stream wound lazily around smooth limestone rocks, its waters carrying fallen pink petals that drifted like tiny paper boats toward a wide stone pond.

At the center of the yard stood a massive, ancient peach blossom tree.

Its gnarled, dark trunk split into a dozen thick branches, covered in thousands of fresh, delicate pink blossoms that swayed lightly in the breeze, shedding a slow, fragrant rain of petals over the grass.

Underneath the shade of the flowering branches, Haoran was lying on Ye Hongyan’s lap.

His tall, slender frame rested comfortably on the soft grass, his head pillowed gently against the smooth silk covering her thighs.

His pristine robes were spread out loosely around him, speckled with fallen pink petals that clung to his chest and sleeves.

Ye Hongyan sat with her back straight against the rough bark of the tree, her slender fingers gently carding through his golden hair, smoothing out the stray strands with a touch that was soft and practiced.

Her long, white and pink dress was draped gracefully over the grass, its deep color contrasting sharply with the pale white of his robes.

The haughty, fearsome demeanor she showed to the old sages in the Clock Tower was completely absent here.

Her fair face was soft, her lips painted a warm rose, her pink eyes looking down upon the youth resting on her lap with a quiet, affectionate warmth that she showed to no one else in the world.

"You look far too comfortable for someone who just returned from upending an entire world," she murmured, a gentle smile playing at the corners of her mouth as her fingertips brushed against his brow.

Haoran did not open his eyes, merely letting out a soft, relaxed breath that stirred the petals resting on his collar.

"The wind down there was full of dust and blood," Haoran replied, his voice low, smooth, and quiet in the garden’s stillness. "It grows tiresome after ten years. Your lap is much softer than the saddle of a war ark."

Ye Hongyan gave a light, breathy chuckle, leaning down slightly so that the scent of wild berries and mountain mist clinging to her collar drifted over his face.

"Flattering words from a young master who usually speaks only in commands," she whispered, her fingers trailing down from his hair to lightly trace the sharp, clean line of his jaw. "If the master teachers saw you lying here on my lap like an idle prince in an autumn garden, half of them would cough blood from shock."

Haoran’s lips curved into a faint, easy smirk.

Ye Hongyan hummed gently, but after a moment of quiet, her fingers slowed their movement through his hair.

A small, thoughtful frown touched the space between her delicate eyebrows, and her eyes grew a fraction more serious as she looked at his calm face.

She paused, watching a single pink petal drift down and land upon his chest.

"Haoran," she began softly, her voice carrying a quiet hesitation that was rare for her. "A message came from my family just earlier."

Haoran did not move, but his pupils shifted slightly to meet her downward gaze.

"It was from my father," she sighed, shaking her head with mild disdain. "The news of our relationship reached his ears, and he sent a formal letter, requesting that I return home to introduce you to the elders."

She paused, her fingers gently stroking his cheek to reassure him. "I know how tedious those family banquets are. I would never ask you to sit through an afternoon of greedy old men bowing and fishing for favors. I was ready to burn the parchment and ignore him entirely."

"...Then why mention it?" Haoran asked, his tone steady and relaxed, sensing the underlying thought in her mind.

Ye Hongyan looked away for a brief second, gazing out over the clear pond where the pink petals clustered against the water’s edge.

"It is my mother," she explained, her voice softening with genuine warmth and quiet longing. "Her eleventh cycle is arriving in a few days. Unlike my father, she has always treated me with kindness, even when my father treated me as nothing more than an asset to be married off for power."

She looked back down at him, her pink eyes open, earnest, and asking.

"I plan to go back, greet her, hand over her gifts, and leave before the banquet even finishes. I do not care about my father’s games, but... I would like for you to come with me. Would you be willing to accompany me on this trip?"

Haoran looked up into her eyes. He saw the rare vulnerability in her gaze, the quiet desire to share the few things she held dear in a family she otherwise despised.

He did not hesitate, nor did he make her wait for an answer.

He raised a pale hand from the grass, his fingers closing gently around her wrist, his thumb resting lightly against her pulse.

"A mother who raised someone like you deserves proper respect," Haoran said, his voice calm, clear, and reassuring beneath the shade of the blossoms. "I will go with you. We will greet your mother, celebrate her cycle, and if your father speaks out of turn, we can remind him of his place before we depart."

A wide, relieved smile broke across Ye Hongyan’s face.

The tension melted from her shoulders, and she leaned down, pressing her forehead softly against his brow, her warm breath washing over his cheek.

"Thank you, Haoran," she whispered softly, her hand resting over his on her lap as the pink petals continued to rain down around them in the quiet garden.