Time passed day by day, and six months went by in the blink of an eye. It was already the first day of the twelfth lunar month at the end of the year, and the cold winter began to cover the earth.
The Imperial City still lay on the bank of the Gilded River like a giant black beast. The guards inside and outside the city were all wearing uniform black armor and standing guard in various places.
That evening, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came quickly from afar, accompanied by flying dust, and the sound of horse hoofs soon reached the city wall.
The guards at the edge of the city were shocked when they saw a gray-blue lightning approaching, and their eyes became alert.
"Sigh, worry, worry..."
A loud horse neigh was heard, and the gray-blue lightning suddenly stopped outside the city gate.
After the dust settled, the guards could see clearly that what had stopped in front of the city gate was a huge Thunder Scale Horse.
On the back of the Leilin horse, a young man in his twenties, wearing a grey tight suit, sat upright. At the moment, he was looking up at the majestic Imperial City with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
The person on the horse was Ye Li. Six months had passed. After some training and preparation, he returned to the Imperial City again, ready to take part in the second trial to enter the city starting on the second day of the twelfth lunar month.
After gazing up at the majestic Imperial City for a while, Ye Li flipped over and jumped off the Lei Lin horse and walked to the guard post at the city gate.
After taking out a token from his bosom and handing it to the guard, Ye Li said, "I am Ye Li from the Weapon Foundry Hall, and I am here to participate in the second trial to enter the city."
After the guard took the token and checked it over and over again, he nodded when he heard Ye Li report his name and background, and said to Ye Li: "Sir, please wait a moment. I will call someone to come out to receive you."
After the guard finished speaking, he turned and walked into the city. After a while, he came out leading a middle-aged man.
After seeing Ye Li, the middle-aged man hurriedly bowed to him and said, "Mr. Ye, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Please follow me into the city. I will take you to see Elder Qi."
Hearing the other party's words, Ye Li hurriedly responded politely, then led his Thunder Horse and walked towards the city.
As soon as he entered the city gate, guards came up to him and wanted to help Ye Li settle the Lei Lin horse.
The middle-aged man who led the way turned around and explained to Ye Li, "Master Ye, we don't allow outsiders' horses to enter our Imperial City, so the guards will place your horse in a special shed at the edge of the city.
Please rest assured that we will have someone to take care of it for you and will not neglect your BMW."
After hearing the other party's explanation, Ye Li nodded quickly and handed the reins in his hand to the guard next to him.
After the guards took away the Leilin horse, Ye Li continued to follow the middle-aged man towards the city.
After passing through the long city gate, Ye Li finally entered the Imperial City. However, it was not as prosperous as he had imagined.
The buildings in the whole city seem to be relatively scattered, not as densely packed as those in Paradise City, which is filled with bustling voices everywhere.
There didn't seem to be many pedestrians in the Imperial City, the streets seemed very empty, and in the distance there was a huge city wall surrounding the center of the city, which surprised Ye Li a little.
The middle-aged man led the way for Ye Li and said, "This is your first time entering the Imperial City, Mr. Ye. You must be a little surprised, right?"
Hearing the middle-aged man's question, Ye Li nodded and said, "To be honest, I am a little surprised. This place is much quieter than I imagined.
And I didn't expect there was a city wall in front, is that the inner city?"
The middle-aged man heard Ye Li's question without any surprise on his face, nodded, and said: "Almost everyone who enters the Imperial City for the first time will have similar doubts.
Although our Imperial City is huge, it does not have many residents. Residents do not need to buy daily necessities as there are special places to pick them up, so there are no shops.
Except for some guards, all the people in the city are talisman masters. Even the servants have the cultivation level of at least the Spiritual Mist Stage, otherwise they are not qualified to enter the city.
The Imperial City is divided into two cities, the inner and outer cities. Only heavenly disciples, deacons, elders and the city lord live in the inner city, which is the real core area and outsiders are not allowed to enter.
The outer city is where disciples below the ground level live. Of course, there are also some buildings used for daily activities, so at first glance, it looks rather deserted and empty."
After hearing the other party's explanation, Ye Li roughly understood the personnel composition here, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt a shock in his heart.
Although there seem to be few pedestrians here, it is not too few. You can still meet quite a few pedestrians along the way, which is not much different from some smaller towns.
But according to what the middle-aged man just said, all the people seen here are talisman masters, which is quite shocking.
According to Ye Li's estimation, for such a large city, based on the population density he had seen, the population would be no less than 10,000 people, which means that there are at least 10,000 talisman masters here.
Moreover, according to Ye Li's observation, except for the servants, guards, some odd jobs and the Earth-level native disciples who have not yet reached adulthood, most of the others have a cultivation level above the Divine Descent Stage, which made Ye Li swallow his saliva.
The existence of such a huge number of masters above the Divine Descent Stage was something he had never dared to imagine in the past.
The middle-aged man walked forward with Ye Li and continued, "Young Master Ye, there are two courtyards in my Imperial City, the east and west courtyards, both of which are used to train young disciples.
The four of you participants have now been temporarily assigned to the East Court to rest. After you officially become disciples of the Imperial City, we will assign you to the main courtyard."
While listening to the middle-aged man's introduction, Ye Li couldn't help but look around curiously.
The young people around would turn their heads to look at Ye Li from time to time. They could more or less guess that Ye Li was the one who came to participate in the trial to enter the city this time, and they were somewhat curious about him.
Under the gazes of the crowd, Ye Li followed the middle-aged man and soon arrived in front of a big house.
"Master Ye, Elder Qi is waiting in this room."
As the middle-aged man spoke, he pointed to the door next to him and gestured to Ye Li.
Ye Li looked at the other party and quickly clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for leading the way."
The middle-aged man looked at Ye Li, waved his hand, smiled and signaled him not to be polite, then turned and left.
After the middle-aged man left, Ye Li came to the front of the house and knocked on the door gently. Qi Wei's voice immediately responded from inside: "Come in!"