Chapter 2420: Pure Land Combined Realm

As Yuan Xi's voice faded, ripples suddenly spread out, slowly engulfing the two figures like water waves. Lu Ye instantly felt everything around him become ethereal and blurry, almost identical to how he felt when he first entered the Inner Realm. The only difference was that this time, he felt a bit dizzy, as if he were drunk. He turned to look at Yuan Xi, who was smiling at him, completely unaffected. Lu Ye simply relaxed himself.

Slowly, Lu Ye felt as if many figures had appeared around him. These figures gradually solidified, and when all the blurriness and etherealness coalesced, he realized he was no longer in the central hall of Harmony City. This was also a grand hall, but it was immense, stretching as far as the eye could see. Figures appeared and disappeared out of thin air everywhere, making one dizzy.

"This is the entry and exit point for the Harmony Realm," Yuan Xi's voice resonated beside him. "You can consider it a portal. We entered here from Harmony City, and we'll need to leave through here as well." She then explained how to depart. Lu Ye understood.

"Let's go," Yuan Xi called out, leading him outwards. Yuan Xi seemed very familiar with the Harmony Realm, clearly not her first time here. Lu Ye didn't know Yuan Xi's true identity, nor was he interested in prying. However, a previous Harmony cultivator had addressed her as "Madam" with great respect, indicating her background was likely extraordinary.

Exiting the vast hall, a wide and bustling world immediately enveloped them! Numerous figures crisscrossed the sky, seemingly chaotic yet moving in an orderly fashion. On the ground, crowds jostled shoulder to shoulder, a constant stream of people coming and going. It was only then that Lu Ye belatedly realized that the individuals he was seeing were at least Fused Dao cultivators, and likely not ordinary ones! Harmony cultivators were countless. No one had ever calculated how many Harmony Cities existed in the entire Inner Realm, because it was impossible to do so. Almost every day, Harmony Cities were destroyed and new ones were born. However, all Harmony Cities had an entrance to the Harmony Realm. This peculiar world could be considered the Inner Realm's most lively and prosperous place. Though just a small realm, it connected every corner of the Inner Realm. Lu Ye wasn't sure about the situation inside the so-called Ten Great Harmony Cities, but what he saw now truly confirmed the saying: Fused Dao cultivators were everywhere, and Harmony cultivators were as common as dogs. Looking up, the sky was a dull gray, as if covered by a layer of old, unwashed cotton wadding, making one's mood involuntarily heavy.

Lu Ye suddenly noticed something unusual: "Madam, why is there no wandering Dao Power in the Harmony Realm?" As a Son of the Star Abyss, he was extremely sensitive to the wandering Dao Power around him, yet Lu Ye found no trace of it here. Yuan Xi shook her head and said, "I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard it might be related to the shattering of the supreme treasure, the Harmony Pearl. Though the Harmony Realm survived its destruction, there were bound to be some lingering effects." Not only was there no wandering Dao Power here, but even the Star Abyss aura was absent. Lu Ye suddenly realized something: since there was no Star Abyss aura, didn't that mean the Star Abyss Will couldn't extend here either?

"It seems you've noticed," Yuan Xi said, giving Lu Ye a knowing smile before whispering, "In the Harmony Realm, you can make any oath in the name of the Star Abyss Will without consequence. The Star Abyss Will cannot reach here. This place is one of the few pure lands in the entire Star Abyss." Lu Ye's expression shifted slightly. Yuan Xi had said "one of the few"... In other words, there should be other places in the Star Abyss similar to the Harmony Realm, where the Star Abyss aura couldn't reach and the Star Abyss Will couldn't encompass.

"However, fighting is not permitted here," Yuan Xi reminded him. "The Harmony Realm has its own rules. If you carelessly start a conflict, the consequences will be severe." Even without her reminder, Lu Ye could have figured that out. In the Harmony Realm, numerous Fused Dao and Harmony cultivators mingled. If it were a place where one could freely engage in combat, it would have long since devolved into chaos, making it impossible to maintain its current peaceful state. Even the cultivators flying through the air, no matter how hurried, would yield to each other to minimize friction.

"I need to go meet an old friend," Yuan Xi said. "Feel free to wander around on your own. If you want to leave, just go back through the grand hall we came from." Lu Ye nodded, "Please go ahead, Madam." Yuan Xi waved her hand dismissively behind her back, but after only a few steps, she suddenly turned back and stood before Lu Ye. "Is there something else, Madam?" Lu Ye asked, looking at her quizzically. Yuan Xi smiled, took his hand, and placed an object in it. "I don't have many Dao Fish on me, but feel free to sample some tea or wine. There are a few teahouses and taverns in this city with unique offerings that are quite good and even beneficial for cultivation." Yuan Xi turned and left again, undoubtedly to meet her old friend.

Lu Ye took the storage ring, and with a mental scan, he retrieved an object: a thumb-sized, fish-shaped item. He had never seen such a thing and couldn't help but be curious. Yuan Xi called this a "Dao Fish." Lu Ye had encountered Dao Fish before, and superficially, they looked similar. However, the Dao Fish he knew was clearly not the same as the one before him. With a thought, he slightly activated the power of his Talent Tree, and Lu Ye's eyebrows rose. As expected, just as he thought, this so-called Dao Fish was condensed Dao Power. Its interior contained pure Dao Power that could be easily refined and absorbed. Moments later, the thumb-sized Dao Fish disappeared from his hand, leaving only a small amount of dust. Lu Ye had specifically observed just now that one Dao Fish provided an increase of approximately ten points of Dao Power. Yuan Xi's storage ring contained about a hundred Dao Fish, meaning if he refined all of them, he could gain roughly a thousand points of Dao Power. To him, that wasn't a large amount; he could achieve the same result through three days of diligent cultivation. However, the Dao Power obtained through diligent cultivation was entirely different from these Dao Fish, as the latter could be traded.

In fact, Lu Ye had always had a question: since there was no common currency in the Star Abyss, what did cultivators use to measure the value of their goods when trading? It couldn't be bartering, as that would be too cumbersome. Dao bones could be used for trade, but their major drawback was their inability to be preserved long-term, which meant they couldn't serve as currency. It was only at this moment that he realized there wasn't a lack of trading currency in the Star Abyss; he simply hadn't encountered it before. He felt his horizons had been greatly broadened. He was curious about how Dao Fish came into being. Was it related to Dao Pools? Unfortunately, Yuan Xi had left quickly; otherwise, he could have inquired about it. But there was no rush; he and Yuan Xi would eventually return to Yuan Xi City, and he could ask her then.

After looking around, Lu Ye casually chose a direction and flew off. Flying was permitted in the Harmony Realm; after all, the realm was quite vast, and cultivators would waste an immense amount of time just traveling if they couldn't fly. There were unwritten rules for flying altitudes: cultivators with lower cultivation flew lower, and those with higher cultivation flew higher. Lu Ye's cultivation was neither high nor low, so he maintained a medium altitude.

The Harmony Realm was very lively, truly like a massive city, with all kinds of shops dazzling the eye. As Lu Ye walked and observed, he encountered many novelties. He took Yuan Xi's advice and entered a seemingly nice teahouse, ordering a pot of tea, intending to sample it. But after one cup, he couldn't help but be disgusted. A pot of tea worth thirty Dao Fish was bland and tasteless, offering only negligible help to cultivation. A thought suddenly popped into Lu Ye's head: if his Enlightenment Tea Tree were here, he could perhaps open a good teahouse with Enlightenment Tea, and business would surely boom. However, upon closer thought, there was only one Enlightenment Tea Tree, and the number of its leaves was limited; it probably couldn't sustain a teahouse's operation. Although the tea wasn't great, it was still worth thirty Dao Fish, so he couldn't just waste it.

Moments later, as Lu Ye finished his last cup of tea and was about to leave, he suddenly heard a fierce quarrel outside. He was sitting by the window, and when he turned his head, he saw two cultivators standing a short distance apart, arguing fiercely. One was eloquent, spewing insults endlessly. The other was clearly no match; he seemed to be a quiet type. For every word he uttered, the other person had already reeled off three or five. His face turned ashen from the scolding, and his anger surged. Lu Ye wasn't one to gawk at spectacles. He didn't know why these two were in conflict, but given the rules against fighting within the Harmony Realm, they could only exchange insults and bluster; a real fight wouldn't break out.

However, just as he was thinking this, the quiet cultivator gritted his teeth and said, "If you have the guts, follow me to the Combat Arena to decide life and death." With that, he turned and flew in a certain direction. The other cultivator's eyebrows shot up. "Why not?" he said, then followed. These two had been arguing fiercely earlier, and many cultivators nearby had stopped to watch. Now, hearing that they were going to duel, they all became interested and followed suit. Lu Ye pondered for a moment, then directly leaped out the window and followed behind the group.

Yuan Xi had told him earlier that fighting was not permitted in the Harmony Realm, but clearly, her explanation wasn't comprehensive. From what he had just observed, fighting wasn't entirely forbidden in the Harmony Realm; it simply had to take place in a combat arena. This was quite reasonable. There were always disputes among cultivators, and such a bustling small world naturally needed a place where conflicts could be resolved. The Combat Arena was not far from the teahouse. Lu Ye had initially thought the arena wouldn't be very large, as there wouldn't be too many disputes that absolutely required a life-and-death struggle. But once he arrived, he realized he had been mistaken.