Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 939 - 939 0565 Dont You Find It Strange_2

Chapter 939: Chapter 0565: Don’t You Find It Strange?_2 Chapter 939: Chapter 0565: Don’t You Find It Strange?_2 Qi Tian nodded and said, “Your feelings are right. The situation in Eastern Capital City is indeed several degrees more severe than our original worst-case scenario. Here, we must not act recklessly and need to approach everything with reverence and caution.”

Gao Jinmei pressed on, “Should we then try to make contact with Zhao Haiying and the others? If we can gather them here, we will have several Gold Core Realm experts, and by combining our strength, we will undoubtedly be much stronger than just the three of us.”

Qi Tian shook his head and replied, “We can’t rush to make contact yet. Eastern Capital City is more complicated than we imagined. Whether there are means to intercept communications here is unclear to us. If there truly are, attempting to contact Zhao Haiying and the others will not only bring us no benefit but also might very well expose both parties.”

Gao Jinmei asked, “Then what should our next step be? Just give us the order, Master, and we will follow it.”

Qi Tian said, “You entered Eastern Capital City before I did. Besides renting this courtyard, what else have you done? Have you managed to obtain a map of Eastern Capital City or even the entire Imperial Family Secret Territory?”

Gao Jinmei answered, “We paid special attention to this matter. For some reason, we couldn’t find any officially published maps of Eastern Capital City or the Imperial Family Secret Territory on the streets. There are no official maps, but in some shops, there are many unofficially published maps of all sorts. These maps are strange and varied, with different scales and covering different areas. What’s more frustrating is that we bought some of them and compared them with each other, only to find that each one seemed to contradict the others in many places. We’re now at a loss about which one is correct and which is wrong.”

“Oh, there’s such a thing? Take out the maps you two have collected and let me have a look,” Qi Tian hastily said.

Gao Jinmei took out a thick stack of maps from her Storage Bag. Indeed, as she had just described, the maps varied in size and scale, making it extremely difficult to study and draw any conclusions from them.

Without saying anything, Qi Tian first categorized more than a hundred maps: one category for those related to Eastern Capital City, another for the Imperial Family Secret Territory, and a third for the rest.

After sorting the maps into three categories, Qi Tian took all the ones related to the Imperial Family Secret Territory into his hands. This category had the most maps collected by Gao Jinmei, numbering over forty, each with different material and sizes, none repeated.

Qi Tian didn’t delve into these differences. He reviewed each of the forty-odd maps one by one, memorizing them all in his mind. Afterward, he rested with closed eyes, comparing the maps in his mind, hoping to uncover something through this comparison, preferably a secret related to the Imperial Family Secret Territory.

After a long while, Qi Tian suddenly opened his eyes, and a sharp glint shot out from his gaze.

Gao Jinmei and Xia Xiaoming were paying close attention to Qi Tian’s actions. Seeing his demeanor, they both perked up. Gao Jinmei asked eagerly, “Master, have you discovered something?”

Qi Tian didn’t respond right away. He spread out the forty-odd maps before saying, “When you were looking at the maps, did you notice something about the location of the Three Grand Cities in the Imperial Family Secret Territory?”

Gao Jinmei nodded and said, “We noticed that early on; there’s nothing special. The Imperial Family Secret Territory consists of the Three Grand Cities, which are Eastern Capital City, Xidu, and Zhongdu. They are located in the east, west, and north, respectively.”

Qi Tian said, “The problem lies here. We have all traveled from the outermost perimeter of the Imperial Family Secret Territory to this point, step by step. We all know that the distribution of Spirit Qi in the Imperial Family Secret Territory presents a circular pattern. Within the same circle, the concentration of Spirit Qi is basically the same. However, as we move inward, the concentration of Spirit Qi becomes higher, and as we move outward, it becomes lower.”

Gao Jinmei and Xia Xiaoming nodded together, though they still didn’t understand why Qi Tian was bringing this up. Wasn’t this obvious?

Qi Tian continued, “The Three Grand Cities, as the most core urban centers in the Imperial Family Secret Territory, each contain several emperors from Great Zhao Nation. They all need to cultivate, and they have all been emperors of Great Zhao Nation. Although they may be fathers, sons, or grandsons to each other, when it comes to cultivation, no one would willingly fall behind. Therefore, I boldly infer that the locations of the Three Grand Cities must have a similar concentration of Spirit Qi. The difference between them should not be significant. In general, they should maintain consistency. Based on this, one can deduce that, although the Three Grand Cities appear to be distributed in a triangular pattern, in reality, they are on the same circle or, to be precise, on the same circular ring.”

Gao Jinmei and Xia Xiaoming nodded continuously upon hearing this. Although they had not thought of these points themselves, their life experiences and knowledge allowed them to acknowledge that Qi Tian’s deduction was likely very close to the truth.

With his hand continuing to gesture on the map, Qi Tian quickly pulled out a pen and drew a circle on one of the maps, perfectly threading the Eastern Capital City, Zhongdu, and Xidu—the Three Grand Cities—onto this circle.

After drawing the circle, Qi Tian pointed at the map and asked, “Now, do you see anything?”

This time Xia Xiaoming seized the opportunity to speak first, “Master, the circle you drew freehand is really round, even rounder than one drawn with a compass.”

Qi Tian kicked him irritably, “Don’t butter me up right now. Tell me what you have discovered. If you have nothing else, get lost.”

Xia Xiaoming hurriedly replied, “Master, don’t be angry. I’ll tell you what I’ve found. According to the scale on the map, the distances between the Three Grand Cities are about the same, roughly one hundred and fifty li each.”

Qi Tian nodded and pressed him, “What else have you found besides that?”

Xia Xiaoming shook his head in confusion, and Qi Tian, unamused, kicked him again before turning to look at Gao Jinmei.

Gao Jinmei, with her chin resting on her hand, stared at the map for a while before saying, “Master, could it be that you want us to focus on this circle? Why were the Three Grand Cities not built elsewhere but precisely on this circle?”

Qi Tian shook his head and replied, “The question you raise might indeed be a problem, but my focus isn’t actually on the issue you mentioned. What I really want to understand now is why the Three Grand Cities are built in their current locations, rather than closer to the center of the circle. Look here, if each of the cities is about one hundred and fifty li apart from the others, it means there’s a large area within this circle where they could have built, but they chose not to. Don’t you find that strange?”

This time neither Gao Jinmei nor Xia Xiaoming were quick to speak; instead, they began staring at the map. As Qi Tian had said, within the circle he had drawn, there was a vast expanse of unoccupied land. In this area, everything was desolate, with no mountains, rivers, cities, or villages—almost like a deliberately forgotten desert, which was rather unusual.

Qi Tian slapped the circle in the middle of the map as he spoke, “We can reflect on what we have encountered along the way. The closer we got to the center of the circle, the richer the Spirit Qi became. In other words, the center must have the richest concentration of Spirit Qi, and the emperors of Great Zhao, being the most noble in the Imperial Family Secret Territory, why would they not choose to cultivate in the place with the richest Spirit Qi and instead confine themselves within the Three Grand Cities?”