John spent the next two days in the city, exploring it as thoroughly as he could. There was much to learn about this world, and this city was a perfect opportunity to expand his knowledge about the world.
He had explored buildings dealing with general information, cultivation methods, pills, battle arts, and more. From what he had learned, Greatcrest City was considered a middling city. It bordered the Immortal Forest, and so it was in quite a dangerous location. As such, expansion was difficult, and only by utilizing the natural defensive formations of the mountain it was on, as well as the formation barriers, was it able to maintain itself without being destroyed by the creatures of the forest.
Despite it being a middling city, John had been impressed by what he had seen thus far. The pills, cultivation methods, and battle arts were all impressive, and many would be considered top tier arts back home. He had even discovered some battle arts for sale that would have caused a stir back on the Divine Martial Continent, but sadly none of the arts suited him very well.
The arts for sale that were of high-quality mostly dealt with the common Dao's, and not the more complicated and profound Dao's.
He had hoped to find some spatial battle arts or movement arts in the city, but even here on this world, arts dealing with the spatial Dao seemed to be quite rare, and those that were provided were low in value.
'The high-tier arts regarding the spatial Dao are probably sect secrets, limited to those who join those top tier sects. The quality of arts I find here are going to be lacking,' John thought as he perused through the contents of a store that sold battle arts.
He inspected the jade piece in his hand, a piece that contained a fire-based battle art, and then put it back. He inspected the large showroom for some time, which contained hundreds of jade pieces, each containing a battle art or movement technique.
While inspecting the arts, an attendant came up to him, inquiring about his needs.
"Do you have any high-level movement arts that deal with the Spatial Dao?" John asked.
"I'm afraid not," the middle-aged attendant shook his head. "The Spatial Dao is an incredibly profound Dao, and we only have low quality arts that deal with the Spatial Dao."
John frowned, expecting the answer, but was disappointed nonetheless.
"Do you know where I could obtain high-level spatial Dao arts?" John asked.
"Most likely only in the Tier One Sects, and perhaps some of the stronger Tier Two Sects," the man replied.
John nodded and thanked the man, and then left the building. He inquired about spatial Dao arts at several other places, but received the same answer. John left another battle art building and walked into the busy street, deep in thought.
'I've obtained quite a bit of high-quality pills of various purposes, as well as some decent battle arts pertaining to the Dao's I just recently learned, but I still haven't found anything that can raise my combat prowess.'
When it came to his primary Dao's, John already had very high-level battle arts, and in some cases, heaven-defying battle arts. Finding upgrades for those was going to be quite difficult.
John walked down the busy street in the direction of his hotel, deep in thought. The sun was going down and night would fall soon, and so it was time to retire to his room for a long night of cultivation.
Halfway to his hotel, a frown appeared on John's face as he narrowed his eyes.
'I'm being watched again.'
He had felt eyes watching him from the shadows over the last two days, but had not done anything about it. Those watching him had been very careful to keep themselves hidden, and had displayed no killing intent or bloodlust towards him, making it difficult to identify them in such a populated area.
Those who had been watching him had not taken any action, and so John had ignored the issue. Now however, the feeling of those eyes watching him had returned, and was much stronger than before.
This time there was the faintest feeling of killing intent, the first time that had happened.
'There's killing intent this time, but more importantly, I can tell the one watching me right now is definitely stronger than those watching me before. I almost didn't notice their gaze, and most likely wouldn't have if not for the killing intent.'
The killing intent was so faint as to almost be non-existent, and was almost fainter than the artifact he had found which had displayed killing intent. If it was anyone else in his position, they would not have noticed it.
John continued on his way, as if he had not noticed the killing intent. Fighting was prohibited in the city, and he didn't want to cause a commotion by fighting in the streets.
'They definitely don't know I've noticed them, so I'll use that to my advantage. People have been following me for days, no doubt related to that strange artifact, so I think it's time I get some answers as well.'
Half a mile away from his hotel, John took a right down a relatively narrow street, and walked down it for some time. He took several more turns, making his way to less and less populated streets. The road he was currently on was almost deserted, and was no wider than a dozen yards.
The sun had fallen by now, blanketing the city in darkness, illuminated only by the formation lights scattered throughout the city. There were hardly any formation lights here, making the street quite dark.
He spotted an alleyway to his right, one completely devoid of any people and almost completely dark. John walked down the alleyway, his pace steady and face calm, as if he had not noticed there was a perpetual gaze filled with killing intent on him.
Halfway through the alley, John's gaze flickered. The killing intent had intensified for the briefest of moments, and his instincts flared with warning. A flash of light appeared behind him as a dagger pierced out of the darkness, directly towards his back.
