Over the course of the next day, Hexia traversed the major streets and alleys on the surface of Jielou City, encountering many things that felt familiar yet strange. In the Interster Era, these things were considered outdated, but now they oddly felt novel.
At night, following the travel guide, she arrived at the western underground entrance of Jielou City.
Jielou City was divided into upper and lower sections—it could even be said that the surface part only ounted for one-quarter of the entire city, as the underground housed more buildings and poption.
In narrow alleys where only four people could walk abreast, with the ground lit by bright yellow LED lights, the walls rusted on both sides, interspersed with small shops, local residents dined and shopped here after work. Exiting the alley, it was like being suspended in mid-air because below were intertwining roads bustling with traffic.
Unlike the quaint architectural style above ground, the underground structures had an industrial yet ssical feel to them.
Neon lights were visible everywhere, along with slowly moving trapezoidal esctors, projected figures and signs, and the glittering night market towers outlined by the lights. These mingled with the night and the underground, and the flying eaves and corners of the buildings crisscrossed, seemingly chaotic but striking a well-bnced harmony, without interfering with each other.
In the evening, Hexia took a seat in a hot pot restaurant by the window. There were about a dozen patrons, and the owners were a middle-aged couple.
Aside from Hexia, the other diners were mostly locals, shouting for the owner to serve the food and then discussing recent current events.
"I wonder if there will be a Sword fight at this year''s celebration; otherwise, it just feels like something''s missing, not quite satisfying enough."
"There probably won''t be. The current climate within the Federation isn''t too fond of such slightly gory spectacles anymore; idents are all toomon in Sword fights."
"Ah, that''s a pity. I guess it''ll be the same as in previous years with the Sword dance performances. I''m so tired of them."
"That''s true. The Sword dances feel light and powerless,cking tension and impact. Only a small portion of the tourists find it novel."
"Actually, I''ve heard it wasn''t like this in the past; it used to be a marvel, but sadly, it waster lost."
"Lost?"
"That''s what the elders say. Anyway, Jielou City has lost too many things, so what''s one or two more."
As they talked about other matters, bursts of horn sounds and various noises came from the street outside.
"The ''Godly Generals'' are parading around the city." The locals immediately recognized the sounds and stopped eating, one after another running out to watch, even the hot pot restaurant owners turned off the stove and left.
What are the Godly Generals? The girl peered out of the window curiously, but there was an exceptionallyrge crowd outside.
She had to sit down again, taking a few more bites of the freshly cooked meat slices, and fed some to therge spider beside her. Since there were no other customers in the restaurant, nobody paid any attention.
After petting therge spider, Hexia nced at the crowded street outside and decided to pick up the spider and ce it on her head before stepping out.
The streets outside the hot pot restaurant were packed with both tourists and locals. Amidst the sounds of music, figures d in bright yellow led the way, carrying tiger emblems to clear the path, followed by resplendent ''Godly Generals'' with colorful faces and weapons in hand. They had four gs affixed to their back, stepping in sync, with their g tassels clinking as they moved.
Standing on her toes, the girl eyed the parade on the street. The ''foot soldiers'' leading the way all possessed Sequence 3 strength, while the brightly dressed ''Godly Generals'' had at least Sequence 4, and a few leading ones even Sequence 5.
Their stepping and formation appeared simple, but their auras intertwined to form a unity, exuding an imposing presence without anger. Every hundred meters they advanced, they would stop to brandish their Swords and strike their halberds, causing armor and chains to collide and reverberate.
With this came a faint surge of energy, spiritually invigorating onlookers. Although the intensity was kept low, it was still thrilling.
Only with some unique secret technique or heritage could they maintain such a poption in this age-old city.
As the procession passed by Hexia, one of the ''Godly Generals'' suddenly turned and red into the crowd at Hexia. His eyes widened, and the color of his painted face seemed to bleed out, shooting directly towards Hexia above her head.
Hiss hiss...
Hexia heard the spider atop her head cry out in pain. She quickly picked it up and held it in front of her chest to avoid the ''Godly General''s'' gaze.
Seeing Hexia protect therge spider, the ''Godly General'' huffed but said nothing further, continuing forward. Only a few noticed this interlude, while most were oblivious, simply watching the procession move on down the street.
The crowd slowly dispersed, and Hexia, holding the spider back in its original form, stroked its head and checked carefully. It hadn''t suffered any serious injury but seemed to be somewhat disoriented from the impact.
A person in yellow approached from the crowd and, seeing Hexiaforting therge spider, asked,
"Excuse me, is that spider your pet?"
"Yes, it is." Hexia replied with slight concern, holding the spider closely to show it was well-behaved, and presented the registration documents Botis had given her to the staff member.