Fiona Fang's lair was nothing like what Jack Young had imagined. He thought it would be a mountain stronghold similar to Black Dragon Village—maybe a deluxe, upgraded version, but nothing interesting. Yet when everything unfolded before his eyes, Jack was deeply shaken.
Endless wind and sand stretched as far as the eye could see. Before him lay a vast, mysterious ruin—grand in scale and strange in style, clearly once a mighty city that drew visitors from all directions, but now reduced to broken walls and shattered stones. Since the glowing cuisine still needed time to prepare, Jack dismissed everyone else and wandered through the ruins. With the divine rings embedded in his eyes, he quietly deduced, as if he could fish out the original glory of this great city from the desert of history.
This place was once a dazzling, magnificent metropolis, its buildings towering and grand, mostly built from solid stone—bold, rugged, and heroic in style, totally unlike anything in the Central Lands. Giant statues stood throughout the city, scattered here and there. These statues were immense: the smallest over twenty meters tall, no less than a seven-story building; the largest, a terrifying four or five hundred meters high.
The tallest statue was about seven hundred meters—nearly ten times the height of the Leshan Giant Buddha—reaching skyward like a miracle, even bigger than a mountain giant. Forget ancient people—even with modern machinery, building such an unbelievable colossus would be nearly impossible. Who knows how many experts, how much manpower and resources the South Wasteland dynasty must've had to pull off this feat.
The Blind Historian said this was once the imperial capital of the South Wasteland Ancient Empire, called Divine Capital. According to his research, Divine Capital used to be a range of stone mountains, but the South Wasteland folks literally carved and flattened the mountains, sculpting countless giant deity and Buddha statues. The biggest one was the Ancestor Deity Statue, worshipped by all South Wasteland clans, said to be the source of the royal bloodline—an honest-to-goodness celestial god. The Ancestor Deity Statue was carved entirely from adamantine rock, impervious to wind, rain, and erosion—practically indestructible.
Not just the Ancestor Deity Statue—the whole imperial city carved from the mountains, every building was seamlessly integrated and made from the same rock, tough as nails. The entire Divine Capital was basically indestructible. That's why the buildings here were way taller than anywhere else: six or seven stories was normal, even taller ones were everywhere. Every floor had massive doors and wide corridors; walking inside felt like stepping into a giant's kingdom.
But now, all of it was buried in the dust of history. The mighty city had turned to scorched earth, the statues toppled and collapsed. The taller the buildings, the higher the piles of rubble—like little mountains, as if they were the bones of giants, radiating a sorrowful air. Even that sky-piercing Ancestor Deity Statue had totally fallen, crashing down into the dust. Below the shoulders was still intact, but above—including the whole head—had completely broken off.
The break wasn't just from the fall—about two-thirds of the fracture was smooth as a mirror. Jack Young gently brushed his hand across the break, and in his mind's eye, he saw the scene from that day.
A flash of unparalleled, dazzling sword light sliced through, cutting two-thirds of the Ancestor Deity Statue’s adamantine neck clean off. The statue collapsed, and the remaining third couldn't withstand the impact—crack! It broke and tumbled away, flattening every building in its path for nearly a kilometer before finally stopping. The ground it crossed ran with rivers of blood and was littered with mangled flesh—horrific beyond words. In the end, the statue’s face was buried in the rubble, no different from the corpses of ordinary folk.
"What an incredible sword strike," Jack couldn't help but marvel.
Even now, the break still held traces of astonishing sword energy, condensed and undispersed after a hundred years. A strike like that was pure legend in this world. Jack could tell this sword wasn't meant for chopping stone—it just happened to hit while chasing an enemy. If it had aimed for the statue, the whole neck would've been sliced clean off.
Wandering around, Jack saw plenty of sword scars all over the city—some nearly a hundred meters long, others tiny pinholes so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. Every mark radiated sword intent, invisible to normal folks, but if a top master came here, they’d be chilled to the bone. Just one trace of that sword energy would be impossible to resist.
There were other signs of massive destruction too—statues smashed to bits, towering spires split by a single kick—each mark like a stroke in a history book, recording that earth-shattering battle of long ago.
Just look at the Ancestor Deity Statue—the cut alone was bigger than half a soccer field, made of solid stone, and adamantine at that. With that kind of destructive power, even Jill Young would need to activate Heaven-Shifting and stack on Cataclysm or the Immortal-Slaying Blade to pull it off. Not to mention, the true energy in this world isn’t great at breaking stuff. To slice through like that in one sword strike—the swordsman and the sword itself had no equal. Both were absolute monsters.
Whoever did it, even if not the top of the top, was pretty darn close.
Jack knew he was nowhere near that level yet. There’s always someone better, always a higher sky. Never underestimate a world brimming with life, and never get cocky just because you’ve made some progress.
Yeah, gotta stay humble, keep my head straight, and treat everyone with caution.
"Hyah!" Jack slapped the old cart, which creaked forward, pushing, pulling, and wedging itself along without missing a beat.
Huh? Why not treat these three with caution?
Anyone pulling my cart is either a dragon or a phoenix. Dragons and phoenixes aren’t people, so no need to be careful.
The old cart wobbled along through the ruins of the ancient imperial city. A hundred years ago, this place was destroyed along with the South Wasteland Ancient Empire. The great battle, the massacre that followed, the abandonment, and then the looting—disasters upon disasters turned this once-mighty city into a ghost den. No matter how rich or bustling it was, now it’s nothing but emptiness.
Countless scavengers have picked this place clean over the past century. The ruins are riddled with tunnels like a mine, and there’s nothing valuable left. If you don’t know the layout, you’ll get lost in those winding tunnels and might not find your way out for a month.
Now, these ruins belong to the second-generation Sand Pirate King—the Jade Demoness.
"Hey~~~ Master~~~!" In the distance, a graceful figure stood atop the ruins, waving her arms and shouting with inner strength, "It’s ready! Come eat!"
"Sounds good." Jack patted the cart’s shaft, and the old cart turned toward Fiona Fang: "Let’s go check out this legendary glowing cuisine."
With Fiona Fang aboard, the old cart sped off like a racecar, quickly arriving at the dining site. Supposedly, this used to be the grand hall of the South Wasteland imperial palace, but after a massive collapse, only one corner was left to keep out the wind and rain.
Of course, that "corner" was massive. Hundreds of folks from the whole criminal gang could pack in, and it still didn’t feel crowded at all.