Chapter 514: The Future of Old Sin City (Two-in-One)

"Old Sin City is about to return." Yan Jing looked at the letter, his gaze calm.

Aside from his recent busyness, Yan Jing had always kept in touch with Chen Nian.

When Chen Nian mentioned a surprise in his last letter, Yan Jing guessed it had to do with Old Sin City's return.

But clearly, things weren't going as smoothly as Chen Nian had imagined.

"Xiao Xin, go find Old Chen again."

Yan Jing looked at Xiao Xin.

"Yiya, yiya~~"

Since there was a problem, he had to find a way to solve it.

When you have too many lice, you stop fearing the itch.

"Screech—"

The blade of the Small Cutting Machine hit the black metal, erupting into an ear-piercing shriek as sparks flew.

Through his heavy goggles, Chen Nian carefully verified the cut's precision.

As the severed piece crashed to the floor, he turned off the machine, pushed his goggles up to his forehead, and wiped the sweat practically blinding him. "That should do it..."

He stood, his grease-stained hand grabbing a half-empty bottle of mineral water. He lifted his face mask and gulped it down.

"Clatter."

He casually tossed the empty bottle onto the floor.

Chen Nian walked out of the room, which reeked of metal and gasoline.

After a quick wash, he lay back in his bedroom chair, clasping his hands behind his head.

Calculating the time.

It was almost time.

It had been so long since he escaped that place. He wondered how it was doing now.

His days in Old Sin City remained simple, relaxed, and monotonous.

To him, of course, those three words roughly equated to happiness.

He just missed those two guys; otherwise, things would have been a bit more interesting.

"I hope that guy isn't too busy lately,"

Chen Nian muttered.

"A public vote isn't that easy to pass."

Just as he was about to close his eyes and meditate, Xiao Xin's voice suddenly rang out.

"Yiya, yiya~~"

Chen Nian opened his eyes and smiled at the suddenly appearing Xiao Xin.

"When it involves Mantou Girl, that guy sure replies fast."

He reached out, but instead of pulling a letter from her pocket as usual, Xiao Xin spoke up.

"Zhu Leng didn't have me bwing a letter!"

"No letter..." A trace of confusion flashed through Chen Nian's eyes.

"Then what did you bring?"

"I didn't bwing anything!" Xiao Xin pointed a finger at Chen Nian.

"Zhu Leng told me to bwing you away!"

Chen Nian was a little dumbfounded.

"What do you mean, bring me away?"

"Just bwing you away!"

Xiao Xin opened the small green satchel slung across her back.

"Come in, Zhu Leng is waiting for you!"

Chen Nian looked at the opening, which was no bigger than two palms wide, and began to suspect he was hallucinating.

"You can transport people?"

"Befowe, no. But now, yup!"

Xiao Xin proudly lifted her little head.

Beneath his mask, Chen Nian's mouth fell open, his expression dazed.

Delivering messages across Domains was already beyond imagination.

But what was this?

Transporting a person across Domains...?

"What on earth has that guy been doing out there..."

Chen Nian couldn't begin to imagine what Yan Jing had gone through to undergo such a terrifying transformation.

"Did that guy get exposed to gamma rays or something..."

"Does Minhu even have things like that?"

He looked at the open pocket before him and hesitantly reached out.

The moment his fingertips touched the edge of the bag, he vanished from the spot.

"All done!"

Xiao Xin happily snapped the bag shut.

The process had been much easier than she expected.

She even had time left over to wander around.

Should she go find Big Sister Mantou...?

After some thought, she ultimately decided against it.

Mantou was a Lord of the Domain; she couldn't take her along.

If she let Mantou know that Chen Nian got to see her master while she couldn't, she would be heartbroken.

Xiao Xin reached out, traced a swirling vortex in the air, and ducked inside.

Chen Nian silently counted the seconds.

He was enclosed in a small, black cube.

It felt like some sort of sleep pod. There was a tiny sliver of light, but the space around him was empty. It was so cramped that fitting another person inside would be impossible.

The restricted visibility made the flow of time feel sluggish.

He raised his hand and checked his built-in timer, discovering he was counting faster than the clock.

Just like that, after three hours in the dark, a sudden light flashed before his eyes.

The abrupt, blinding sunlight prompted his built-in system to automatically dampen the brightness. Before him was an elegantly decorated, classical room. An Eight Immortals table, openwork carvings, a folding screen... The wooden furniture emanated a faint fragrance that mingled with the white smoke drifting from an incense burner on the right. Chen Nian noticed his neural excitement levels had ticked up by two or three points.

His built-in system activated its fresh air function.

In just half a second, the system synthesized the visuals, audio, air quality, and concentration of Weird Energy. It produced an answer: the probability he was in Minhu was 99.436 percent, while the probability of a hallucination was a mere 0.0008 percent.

"Welcome."

Across from him, on one side of the Eight Immortals table, Yan Jing sat with a black Video Camera perched on his head, smiling at Chen Nian.

"Long time no see, Old Chen."

Chen Nian stepped forward and naturally took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"I thought guests in Minhu were always served tea."

"I know you don't drink that." Yan Jing smiled.

"I prepared something better for you."

He rapped his knuckles on the table, and Mo Lian walked in carrying a tray.

Seeing Chen Nian, Mo Lian blinked.

She remembered this person; she had seen him in Old Sin City.

He was good friends with Yi Ji.

How did he end up coming all the way to Minhu?

"Your liquor."

Mo Lian placed the square glass from the tray near Chen Nian's hand.

"A special blend of rum."

"Thanks."

Chen Nian nodded.

Mo Lian bowed slightly and exited the room.

Chen Nian picked up the glass and took a small sip.

As the clear, amber-like liquid entered his mouth, his system prompted that his neural excitement had spiked by another two points.

"Why didn't you bring Mantou Girl over?"

His very first question cut right to the core.

"Couldn't bring her."

Yan Jing smiled bitterly.

"Right now, Xiao Xin can't transport anyone with a higher Tier than me, nor can she bring a Lord of the Domain, descendants of Deities, and the like."

Chen Nian nodded.

That made sense.

"What Tier are you at now?"

"Seventh Rank."

Now that made zero sense.

Chen Nian was expressionless.

This world had gone mad.

Unless his internal clock was broken, the two of them had only been apart for half a year.

Last time they met, Yan Jing wasn't even at the Third Tier.

"Did the governor of Minhu adopt you as his godson or something?"

Chen Nian picked up his glass and took a sip of liquor.

"No, that's just how this era is. Everything develops quickly. The Old Man is also at the Seventh Rank."

Yan Jing's tone was so natural that no one would suspect he was showing off on purpose.

Chen Nian raised his glass and took two more swallows.

"Old Chen, are you not at the Seventh Rank yet?"

He was going for the kill.

Chen Nian set down his glass.

He couldn't stomach another drop of this liquor.

He sighed helplessly.

"I'm at the Fifth Tier."

"Slothful," Yan Jing said, tone full of disappointed reproach.

"You've gotten lazy, Old Chen."

Chen Nian pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Say something nice for a change."

"Fine, let's talk about something else then." Yan Jing looked at Chen Nian. "What do you think the odds of success are for Old Sin City's return this time?"

"Do you understand what a return entails?" Chen Nian stared at Yan Jing.

Seeing that Yan Jing remained silent, the corners of his mouth curled up beneath his mask.

"The tables have turned."

"Childish. Too childish, Old Chen." Yan Jing stood up, shaking his head and sighing. "Did you really think I'm the kind of brother who can't stand seeing you succeed?!"

Right at that moment, Mo Lian poked her head through the doorway.

"You told me to fill out the Tier on the letter. What Tier is your friend at, exactly?"

"Fifth Tier."

Yan Jing announced it loudly.

"Got it."

Mo Lian waved the letter in her hand and penned in 'Fifth Tier'.

"What letter?" A bad premonition arose in Chen Nian's heart.

"Oh, just a letter to Old Master Liu." Yan Jing waved his hand dismissively. "I drafted it ages ago. The only blank left was your Tier."

Chen Nian laughed out of sheer exasperation.

The very first thing this guy did upon seeing him was send a message back just to mock his Tier.

He figured only these two in the entire world could do something so petty.

"The Domains in this world are strictly classified."

Chen Nian spoke evenly.

Yan Jing spun around, immediately picked up the glass with both hands, and brought it to Chen Nian's hand with an attitude of absolute sincerity and earnestness.

"Master, please, drink your liquor."

Chen Nian nodded, taking the glass.

"To avoid trouble, the common folk generally just use crude divisions: major Domains and minor Domains."

"But in reality, there's an incredibly strict standard for classifying Domains."

"First-level complete domains, second-level complete domains, third-level complete domains, incomplete domains, and fragmented regions."

Chen Nian raised his fingers one by one.

"Among these, complete domains exist in a parallel relationship to one another, ranked according to the strength of their inhabitants. However, complete domains hold a subordinate relationship over incomplete domains and fragmented regions."

"For example, Old Sin City is an incomplete domain. Rotten Vegetable Village and Sun-Swallowing Tower are fragmented regions. As for the major Domain that Old Sin City used to belong to, that was a complete domain."

"I see..." Yan Jing nodded, trying to extrapolate from the examples.

"So, for instance, Heavenly Kingdom would be a complete domain, Peace Heavenly Kingdom would be an incomplete domain, and the small areas within Peace Heavenly Kingdom would be minor Domains."

"Pretty much."

Chen Nian nodded. "It's just that the system of Heavenly Kingdom is somewhat unique, so Peace Heavenly Kingdom can be considered a third-level complete domain." "Then what level of complete domain does Minhu belong to?"

"Third-level."

Chen Nian explained, "A Domain like Minhu, where those who have reached the Summit are extremely few, is a classic third-level domain."

"What about the Great Prison?"

Yan Jing asked.

"You've been exposed to a lot more information since coming outside." Hearing Yan Jing mention the Great Prison, Chen Nian raised an eyebrow.

"Second-level."

Chen Nian continued mildly, "Second-level domains encompass a very broad range. Generally, we consider a Domain to be second-level if it has a single Ninth Tier powerhouse. And if a Domain only has one Divine Envoy, which is the Tenth Tier, it still qualifies as a second-level domain."

"The standard for a first-level domain starts at a minimum of two Divine Envoys, scaling up to the Eleventh Tier—meaning the Demigod Realm."

"What about higher than that?" Yan Jing pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from who-knew-where and began cracking them through his Video Camera's lens opening.

Chen Nian shot him a flat look.

"Anything higher is a Deity."

"Even if Deities exist, they don't show up in daily life."

"They have already reached the apex of a given Path; their every action could influence everyone walking that Pathway."

"They transcend the confines of the Domains."

"Understood. Go on." Yan Jing was listening intently.

Chen Nian said, "Actually, this is the part where you should ask who set these standards, so I can naturally transition to the next point."

"Fair enough. Who set them?" Yan Jing smoothly played along.

"The Gods' Association," Chen Nian said slowly.

"An organization composed of six first-level complete domains. Though, of course, only five are left now."

"Which five are they?" Yan Jing pulled out another handful of seeds.

This was far too interesting, even more thrilling than watching a movie.

"Eerie Capital, Immortal Anomaly, Heavenly Kingdom, Train, and Chaos."

Chen Nian listed them unhurriedly.

"Each of these five Domains boasts at least two Divine Envoys."

"They set the rules. Their dispatched representatives form the Gods' Association, its full name being the God's Walker Council."

"Immortal Anomaly..."

Yan Jing muttered.

He had heard of this Domain before.

Back when he and Ning Wei first entered God Storage Land, Ning Wei mentioned that the warden of the Great Prison—who was also his father—had said that even he wouldn't dare provoke that place.

Chen Nian glanced at Yan Jing and continued.

"The goal for Old Sin City this time is to return as a third-level complete domain. Or, at the very least, become an affiliated Domain to another third-level complete domain."

"According to the rules of the Gods' Association, the return of a third-level complete domain requires a public vote initiated by second-level complete domains."

"Out of nearly fifty second-level domains, they need a majority vote in favor."

"That's..."

Yan Jing furrowed his brows.

That was going to be difficult.

Nearly fifty second-level domains.

The only one he had any contact with was the Great Prison.

Even counting the ones he had merely heard of, there was only the Wizard Continent, Five Elements Heaven, and the Longevity Realm...

No matter how he sliced it, he couldn't reach twenty-odd domains.

"Old Chen, what's your take on this?"

Yan Jing looked at Chen Nian.

Chen Nian said simply, "Getting the support of over twenty Domains is completely unrealistic."

"Logically speaking, an incomplete domain transforming into a third-level domain requires immense preparation. Not only does it need someone at the Summit, but it also has to build strong relationships with other third-level domains. Otherwise, it might even trigger a Domain War."

"But..."

"Old Sin City's foundation is far too shallow."

"Right now, there are three barely feasible paths we can take."

Chen Nian spoke evenly.

"The first is to find a higher-level Domain and attach ourselves to it. If we're lucky, we could form an alliance system like Heavenly Kingdom and retain full sovereignty."

"But that's difficult too. First, we'd need to find the Heavenly Kingdom Alliance to negotiate."

"For that... we'd need your friend's help."

"Secondly, even if it actually worked, it's an incredibly long journey from Old Sin City's current position to Heavenly Kingdom."

"That travel time might be so long that Advent Day arrives before we make it."

"Finally, even if we endure the journey, surviving in Heavenly Kingdom is no easy feat. The people there are excessively extreme, completely absurd. We might face the risk of being wiped out."

"Of course, that's the best-case scenario. If our luck is bad, we'll just be absorbed into a third-level complete domain as an incomplete domain." "What about the second path?" Yan Jing frowned slightly.

"The second path is to gain the acknowledgment of a few prominent second-level domains."

"These specific second-level domains act like the big brothers of their tier. Once we get their approval, the rest of the votes will gradually swing our way. For instance, the Great Prison you mentioned earlier is a solid choice, but having them alone probably won't be enough."

"And the last path."

Chen Nian paused before saying, "That is to gain the approval of a first-level domain."

"According to the rules of the Gods' Association, the establishment of a third-level complete domain requires nothing more than the endorsement of any single first-level domain."

Hearing this, Yan Jing's eyes flickered.