Divine King of Honour

Xu Nian followed the burly man towards Chen Nei.

Xu Nian was quite surprised by the strength of this burly man.

The black city tower was a full twenty meters high, yet when the man jumped down from it, he was unharmed.

This was enough to indicate that his physical strength was exceptionally strong.

Xu Nian himself couldn't achieve this.

As for his cultivation, Xu Nian couldn't discern it.

But he was sure it was definitely not below the Gang Tribulation Realm.

The Gang Tribulation Realm corresponds to the Transcendance Tribulation Stage of Spirit Cultivators.

Anyone who manages to cultivate their body to this level possesses extraordinarily terrifying physical strength.

Under the guidance of the burly man, Xu Nian entered this huge black city.

However, the population inside the black city was much sparser than he had imagined.

On the streets, there were only a few dozen people, and only a dozen soldiers stood on the city walls.

By Xu Nian's estimation, the entire city wouldn't exceed a thousand people.

However, everyone here had exceptionally strong bodies, and without exception, they were all Body Cultivation practitioners.

This is because many Spirit Cultivators fell to their deaths upon entering.

Even if they didn't die from the fall, they must practice Body Cultivation to adapt to the terrifying gravity here.

Soon, Xu Nian was led to an iron mine.

Here, nearly a hundred cultivators were continuously hammering and forging weapons.

Their method of forging weapons was extremely rudimentary, even incomparable to traditional artifact refining.

Besides, Xu Nian noticed that the metal they forged was different from the outside world; it was an extremely hard type of iron.

In terms of hardness, it was as tough as Top-grade Spiritual Artifact materials from the outside world.

Possibly due to the terrifying gravity here, the metals were extraordinarily hard.

Yet, at this moment, these materials were being forged into ordinary weapons, not spiritual artifacts.

To Xu Nian, this was completely wasteful.

"What are they doing?" Xu Nian couldn't help but ask in curiosity.

"Can't you tell? They're forging weapons," the burly man replied, obviously thinking Xu Nian's question was somewhat naive.

"But these hard materials can be forged into Top-grade Spiritual Artifacts. Making them into ordinary weapons, isn't that wasteful?" Xu Nian asked, puzzled.

The burly man glanced at Xu Nian, and the look of disdain was even more obvious.

"We don't have any Top-grade Artifact Refiner to forge them into Top-grade Spiritual Artifacts," the burly man answered, albeit a bit displeased.

"But you can use other materials to create Mid-grade or Top-grade Spiritual Artifacts!" Xu Nian continued to ask.

This time the burly man did not answer but turned his head to look at Xu Nian. After a long gaze, he finally said: "Do you have a Top-grade Spiritual Artifact on you?"

"Yes!" Xu Nian nodded, although puzzled.

"Use your Top-grade Spiritual Artifact to attack me!" the burly man said to Xu Nian.

Xu Nian hesitated, obviously unsure.

"Young man, go ahead, don't worry, you can't hurt him," the weapon forgers around them stopped their work to look at Xu Nian with a smile.

All of them were looking as if they were watching a joke.

Reluctantly, Xu Nian took out the battle saber he acquired from Guihai Tianxing and struck towards the burly man.

"Boom!"

The burly man punched the blade, a powerful blow.

In an instant, the blade forged from a Top-grade Spiritual Artifact shattered.

It ultimately fell to the ground in pieces.

"This..."

Xu Nian's face was instantly filled with surprise.

"As you see, due to the intense gravity here, weapons made from Top-grade Spiritual Artifacts from the outside world are unworthy here. To fight here, you must use weapons forged from the Heavy Origin Iron here. However, these are extraordinarily hard, and no regular flame can melt them. Only the flames produced by our Heavenly Refining Furnace can melt them. Without a Top-grade Artifact Refiner, we can only forge them into ordinary weapons, but even ordinary weapons are far stronger than your Top-grade Spiritual Artifacts."

The burly man explained to Xu Nian.

Xu Nian suddenly understood.

So that was the reason.

"Then why forge so many weapons? Is there a conflict here?" Xu Nian asked the burly man.

The burly man looked at Xu Nian and said, "That's right, in our Black Corner Domain, there are two major cities. Our city is called Black Wind City, and ten thousand miles away, there's Black Dragon City. The City Lord of Black Dragon City is a ruthless individual. His city has five thousand people, all warriors. Although we have nearly a thousand people, we have less than six hundred warriors; the rest are women and children. Black Wind City constantly wants to annex us."

"Then why go to war?" Xu Nian continued to ask.

If Black Dragon City intended to annex Black Wind City, there must have been some interest driving them.

"For two reasons: the first is women. In Black Corner Domain, women are the most scarce resource. They want to take the women from our city to indulge themselves," said one of the forging men, his eyes filled with fiery anger.

Xu Nian nodded.

In such a closed place, women were undoubtedly the most scarce resource.

He had also seen a few women on his way here, and they lived quite happily.

If they were kidnapped by Black Dragon City, their fate would undoubtedly be tragic.

"And the second point?" Xu Nian asked again.

The burly man looked at Xu Nian and said, "The second point is the forbidden area in the deepest part of Black Wind City, where they want something."

"Forbidden area? Could it be the Tao Trace Fruit that Black Dragon City wants?" Xu Nian thought to himself.

"Now it's time for you to make a choice: either stay and become a part of Black Wind City, or leave and never set foot in Black Wind City again," the burly man's sharp gaze locked onto Xu Nian.

The other members also looked at Xu Nian, seemingly waiting for his decision.

"I am willing to join Black Wind City!" Xu Nian immediately decided.

Compared to Black Dragon City, as described by the burly man, he preferred Black Wind City.

"Alright, from today onwards, you are a member of Black Wind City. I am Wei Feng, the guard commander in charge of the city's safety. We have a rule in Black Wind City: every new member must refine weapons in this forge workshop for ten years. Do you agree?" the burly man said.

"Ten years?" Xu Nian was stunned.

He's treating me as a laborer!

But then again, these ten years were obviously a test for him.

After all, Black Wind City had to guard against spies from Black Dragon City.

"You are unwilling?" Wei Feng asked.

"Alright, ten years it is," Xu Nian reluctantly agreed.

Based on his intuition, the Tao Trace Fruit was likely in Black Wind City.

He would have to stay if he wanted the Tao Trace Fruit.

But before that, he needed to gain the trust of Wei Feng.

"Old Wang, he's handed over to you," Wei Feng said to the depths of the blacksmith's shop.

Then, he turned and left.

"Alright!"

At that moment, a response came from the corner.

Only then did Xu Nian notice an old man sleeping soundly next to the blazing Heavenly Refining Furnace.