Hovering above all, Cain crushed the skull of the city lord, consuming his body and soul, transforming him into a mist ghost, making sure to erase all his memories. A sick fate.

"Make a good servant for me, will you."

Not wasting any time, he teleported away towards the Ancient City.

From the city gates, a man in a dark cloak raised his head and watched the carnage that unfolded. His eyes scrunched, his forehead creased and he watched the perpetrator disappear.

'Imperial Demon!'

The Inquisitor looked towards the sky and saw the massive rift. Although he was a mortal and couldn't feel the ripples, he knew the importance the Immortals had for this event, he could hear the murmuring from the gates.

Knowing where his target was going, he set off without taking another step into the city, leaving it to its chaos caused by the destruction of the City Lord's palace and the blood rain.

...

"My god! It's Kitting Languid Senior Florence! He killed his pure-blood masters and played with the cultivators that tracked him, killing them in a trap!"

"Look! It's Cultivator Shen Ning! The Tranquility Immortal!"

"Everyone stop and look over there! It's Meng Kang, the Frenzy Demon! I thought he was killed by the Unmoved Spirit Sect thirty years ago!"

"The Frenzy Demon's here?"

"When did so many experts come out of seclusion?!"

Many voices resounded, cultivators gathered on the ground and air outside the gates to the Ancient City of Old. Due to the ripples many old and hidden cultivators came out into the limelight for a shot at this massive opportunity. The young and old generation would meet and one would come out on top of the other.

Cain was in the group hovering in the air, not many people knew him, but seeing his Enlightenment Stage cultivation, they figured he was one of the hidden experts.

'So many people, there are more cultivators than I gave credit for. I've seen the generations of the sects. I forgot about the unaffiliated and hidden ones.'

Watching everyone with a hawk-like gaze, Cain wasn't going to be caught off guard by anyone. Compared to them, Cain wanted to see the city more than anyone else. He hungered for knowledge, he desired history and everything it had to give.

Cain was someone who wanted everything the world could give him.

The group of cultivators waited, it seemed the Marble Giants were waiting for the other locations to gather enough cultivators as well. With an inheritance as big and old as this, there were going to be multiple entrances, many of them already getting word from their sects.

It was said once that the Ancient City was the size of 3 Provinces, almost all the cultivators in the world lived there and the mortals were on their own for a time. It was a period where hundreds of countries rose and fell, a time of chaos without the righteous strength of cultivators.

Such an inheritance was massive, the Ancient City had opened multiple times in the past. It was every million years when this event would occur, but only the oldest sects knew such things, like the Immortal Sect.

'It wouldn't surprise me if the entrance opened right outside the Immortal Sect's Sect grounds.' Cain thought, thinking about the mystery hidden within that sect.

As a past member, he had access to the Library Pavilion, he knew a great amount of information was hidden, even on the fourth floor there wasn't much on history. Only when he reached the Dynasty and read from its libraries did he learn of more things. Cain gained a massive amount of information from one biography of an Emperor who traveled the world.

Time passed and the Marble Giants' voices boomed.

"All the percipients are accounted for. The gate will open in two incense sticks of time, prepare to enter."

'Perfect!'

As Cain thought everything was going well, someone from below screamed as loud as his lungs would allow him while jumping from the ground at Cain.

"Imperial Demon! I, the 3rd Inquisitor, will capture you here and now!"

The Inquisitor's arms bulged with unnatural might as he revealed a pair of milky white bone knuckles.

'Unparalleled treasure!' Cain noticed the quality of the weapon as soon as he saw it.

Vroom!

Bloodletter moved through the air just in time to block the strike holding the might of the Imperium behind it.

Ring!

Waves of energy spread out, connecting with the ripples of the Ancient City.

"Imperial Demon, did he say Imperial Demon!?"

"The Imperial Demon's here?!"

"My God, so many heroes and villains!"

The cultivators were in an uproar as Cain backed away, sweating.

'The inquisitor?! How did he find me? Was it a coincidence? What the hell!'

Cain's luck was shit, to have such a powerful enemy appear now was rotten luck. Now he had to defend himself long enough for the rift to fully open.

"Come!" He roared as Bloodletter glowed and projected a massive blade above it.

He swung downward as the red projection crushed the Inquisitor.

"A mere image!" The Inquisitor uppercut the air as his bone knuckles let out a white light and a bone arm materialized from it!

"That's the arm of a bone lord! My god, a bone lord was made to make those knuckles!"

Bone Lords were rare Mystical Creatures that were a mix between Demon and Mythical Creatures. They were extremely hard to kill, living in catacombs and being near immortal, regenerating faster than drinking water.

The bone arm dispelled Bloodletter's projection and gripped the blood-red sword. Cain scoffed as he moved his free arm and wrapped the bone in threads of web, he then lit it all aflame.

The bone cracked and fractured, and with a tug, the whole arm reduced to fragments.

"Not enough!"

The Inquisitor's shoes allowed him to fly, reaching Cain as the bone arm collapsed. His fists swung like flying knives, concise and powerful.

Cain's body was weak, he kept little of his original strength. His body needed to be restricted, making his defense weaker than his offense. His arms folded while his chest and stomach became concave and inhuman.

The Inquisitor didn't care for his face either, turning that into a mold of mush. When he was done, Cain looked like a corpse, he didn't fight back at all through the process.

"Hehe, the Inquisitor is strong, you damaged me to such a degree while being a mortal. Good! I will kill you first when I get my hands on the core!"

The Inquisitor tilted his head, "Core?"

Cultivators in the surroundings already made some guesses, the loudest catching everyone's attention.

"The Imperial Demon knows a secret of the Ancient City, it must have a core with all the Ancient's secrets!"

Eyes turned to Cain, the entire group became a hungry beast about to pounce, he was already weakened. It was the perfect time to strike and get information about the Ancient City of Marble, the legendary city of old!

"Tch."

Cain wiped his mouth, he didn't intend to get so angry he spilled his goal but it was no big deal, everyone thought he was talking about the opportunity in front of them.

To dispel their thoughts of attacking him, ten orbs of fire the size of carriages formed around Cain and floated about, ready to strike. Each orb held the full power of an Enlightened Cultivator, not even the other Enlightenment Stage experts wanted to take the brunt force of the ten orbs.

Seeing this, the Inquisitor frowned. "Cultivators are humans with tails between their legs!" He scoffed.

One of the Marble Giants moved aside, "The time required has passed, those destined, enter. Those not, die inside."

Everyone's eyes glowed as their thoughts of killing Cain paused. At the same time, they all rushed inside like a pack of hyenas.

"Imperial Demon!" The Inquisitor was still focused on Cain.

"Damn it!"

Cain rushed to the rift, the Inquisitor close behind. He passed the Marble Giant and his vision turned white.

...

Opening his eyes, Cain found himself in a Marble Hall.

"Am I in the Ancient City?"

Looking around, he studied his surroundings.

He was inside a small white room, with a circular roof. Cain woke up on an altar in the middle of it. The only exit was a large double door of blue marble to his right.

His feet touched the cold floor, his shoes taken from him when he entered that prison. The guards let him keep his robe, and of course Cain hid bloodletter from them. With his high cultivation level, it was all too easy.

Pushing open the doors, light crept in through the crack and drowned Cain's face. The light was soothing and gave a restorative effect to the skin, just by bathing in the light, Cain's skin began to repair and brighten.

Using all his strength, he was able to open the door around 30% of the way, just enough to walk through.

Lifting his head full of sweat, Cain's eyes dilated, this place was beyond his imagination.