I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress-Chapter 181: Going Up

Yi Chen had expected them to go towards the exit, but instead they started walking upstairs.

"Mhm? Do we still have to do something upstairs before leaving?" Yi Chen asked curiously the next moment.

Hearing his innocent question, a smile formed on Gao Zhen’s face as she said in a teasing tone, "That’s a surprise. So, keep following."

’Surprise?’ Yi Chen thought with a frown as several thoughts began racing in his mind. Of course, not one of them was correct.

Glancing towards Yi Chen’s confused expression, both Zhou Lan and Xie Rou locked eyes with each other. Amusement was apparent on both their faces.

Step.

Step.

Step.

They kept climbing all the way to the sixth floor, and just when Yi Chen was thinking that Gao Zhen would turn towards her office, she didn’t and instead turned around to climb the next flight of stairs.

’This...Is there a floor even above the sixth one?’ he thought in confusion.

However, he didn’t state it and continued following Gao Zhen and the rest. Soon, Gao Zhen slid open a door, and the next instant, a wide stone tiled terrace appeared in front of his eyes.

’A terrace?!’

Yi Chen exclaimed in his mind as he saw this scene.

Due to the sloping architecture of the pagoda’s roof, Yi Chen had not expected the structure to have a terrace.

However, seeing how the terrace was built, he couldn’t help but feel that his understanding of architecture had widened.

Underneath one side of the sloping roof, this terrace was embedded and even projected a little outward at its edges, which faced the city.

’This...isn’t this is as large as two volleyball courts placed side by side?’ Yi Chen thought while glancing at the flat stone tiles underneath his feet, which extended all the way to the railings at the end.

A lot of pots with different types of plants and flowers were present at the side, with a few climbers even entwined around the railings at the end.

Despite the number of flowers and plantations, the terrace still felt quite vast.

"Let me show you the city’s view from here," Gao Zhen said to Yi Chen and gestured for him to follow.

A couple of seconds later, resting her hands on the metallic railings, Gao Zhen said with a thoughtful smile, "Whenever my mind is preoccupied with tasks, I come here to enjoy this scene and relax. It helps a lot."

As Yi Chen registered her words, his eyes took in the view of the Jade City from up above.

Starting from the vast market, the capital was famous for several large and small buildings that extended all the way up to the towering walls.

These walls stretched far and wide, and even though he was on the Sixth floor, he was unable to see the place where they were curving, which showed just how vast the Jade City was.

Behind these towering walls, a small portion of dense mist-covered forest was barely visible since it was still early morning. However, just this glimpse was enough to make one wildly curious about what lay in those forests.

"Amazing..." Yi Chen muttered as he captured the vast, breathtaking scene in his mind.

Thanks to the gentle early morning rays from the sun, everything looked even more vibrant during this period of the day.

Gao Zhen, Zhou Lan and Xie Rou nodded in agreement when they heard those words.

"Right? Now let me show Young Master Chen something even more interesting," Gao Zhen said with an expectant smile and waved her hand towards the ground.

Her storage ring beamed subtly, and the next second, a sky-blue carpet large enough to accommodate five people appeared on the floor.

Over the blue carpet, white embroidery of various beasts, flowers and symbols was visible and clearly implied the detailed work which had been done on it.

"A carpet...?" Yi Chen muttered in confusion, but soon connected the dots in his mind.

’No wait...first showing me the terrace...then a carpet...is this a flying artefact?!’

Seeing his widened eyes, which seemed to have figured things out, Gao Zhen grinned the next second and said with a nod, "Young Master Chen had guessed right. This is indeed a flying artefact.

It is named the Sky Traversing Tapestry and is currently the only first-grade flying artefact in the entire White Jade Kingdom."

’So even the imperial family doesn’t own such an item...’

Yi Chen was immediately able to catch on to what she meant by those words as he glanced at the carpet, which looked ordinary at a glance with great interest.

From what he had heard so far, it was only after entering the Heaven Ascension Stage that a cultivator finally attains the ability to freely fly in the air.

It was for this reason that a flying artefact was extremely valuable, and even the lowest-grade ones were expensive enough to bankrupt cities!

"This artefact will play an important role in shortening our travelling time. So, everyone, please take your seat." Gao Zhen gestured towards the carpet with a smile as she took the initiative to sit inside it with her legs to her side.

Xie Rou and Zhou Lan soon followed behind her.

Unlike Yi Chen, they didn’t have an expression of surprise on their faces when Gao Zhen revealed the flying artefact to Yi Chen.

However, they were still able to completely relate to his feelings as they too were going through the same emotions a few hours ago.

The two of them had been brought here from the Heavenly Azure Dragon Sect on this very artefact by Gao Zhen an hour ago.

So, with an understanding smile on their faces, they waved their hands to attract Yi Chen’s attention as he still seemed lost in thought, staring at the artefact.

’Ah, yes,’ seeing this, he finally recollected himself and comfortably sat on the carpet just like the rest.

"I’ll be starting the artefact now." Gao Zhen informed them the next second and, turning towards Yi Chen, said in a serious tone, "Don’t panic, Young Master Chen, and brace yourself, otherwise you might fall."

"...Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind," Yi Chen answered with a forced smile.

Seeing this exchange, both Zhou Lan and Xie Rou couldn’t help but glance at each other with an amused expression.

Both of them were thinking the exact same thing, but decided to keep their thoughts to themselves.

Meanwhile, since the artefact was bound to Gao Zhen, it just required her to will it in her mind, and the very next second, the carpet started ascending into the air at a very comfortable speed.

Yi Chen, who had already prepared himself for sudden jerks, couldn’t help but harbour an expression of confusion on his face while tightly clutching onto the carpet.

"Pfttt"

It was Zhou Lan who lost control first, and it was soon followed by Xie Rou and Gao Zhen, who too had started laughing uncontrollably.

’...’

Seeing this, Yi Chen soon realised that he had been played by Gao Zhen, who had the most amused expression out of the three.

He soon exhaled deeply to control his annoyance and shifted his gaze to the side.

As the carpet kept rising higher and higher without any signs of stopping, the Jade City’s view expanded significantly, and it was the same case with the dense forest beyond the towering walls.

’This forest stretches all the way to the horizon...’ Yi Chen thought while looking at the whole scenery.

Thanks to this, he now had an idea of just how vast and expansive the Great Beast Forest was. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

He had only heard that it stretched thousands of kilometres, but hearing was completely different from seeing and thanks to that, a sense of awe took root in him.

However, this scene didn’t last long as their figures soon got engulfed by misty white clouds, as a gentle feeling of dampness hugged their skin and turned their entire vision white.

A few moments later, when their vision finally returned, they were already above the clouds, and the bright morning rays of the sun fell across their faces.

The temperature around them had also started to increase, and so had the shortness of their breath.

The next instant, the inscriptions drawn on the carpet’s edges glowed, and a semi-transparent blue layer of Qi rose from them and completely covered the carpet the next instant.

With that, the earlier heat from the sun no longer felt as piercing as before, and their breathing rate had also returned to normal as the carpet continued on with its ascent.

It was only after ten more minutes that the carpet finally stopped.

Glancing downwards, Yi Chen saw the layer of clouds which they had pierced through a few moments back tens of kilometres below.

When this was done, Gao Zhen turned towards the three of them and said, "Since we’ll be traversing over the Great Beast Forest for the next few days, we’ll be flying at a much greater height compared to in cities to avoid flying beasts."

Her explanation was directed more towards Xie Rou and Zhou Lan this time, as she found it normal for such questions to arise in their minds.

Meanwhile, when Yi Chen heard these words, a question rose in his mind, and he asked the next second, "Then there’s no way the flying beasts can attack us along the way, right?"