Mutually Assured Destruction.

Liang Chen stood amidst the snow-covered trees, his head slowly moving from side to side. He was pondering which direction he should head in first, the forest looked the same no matter where he turned his head so he couldn't see anything that may point him towards what may be considered the correct path.

Stretching out his senses also yielded poor results, there wasn't even a single living being within the surrounding kilometres. There were plenty of bloody splotches and other signs of battle, but not a single living being. No matter what sort of place this once was, once it entered Purgatory's Cradle it just became another slaughterhouse, every living being in it becoming cattle to someone else.

"Well, since no way seems to be the correct one, all paths can be considered the correct one."

Liang Chen turned his head a few more times as he muttered, eventually settling on the direction that showed the most numerous signs of battle. He still held his spear at the ready, the maw-shaped spearhead leaving a line in the snow as he moved. He had no idea what they might encounter here so he didn't rush about at full speed, Yumao also remaining vigilant.

But even so, it didn't take him too long to reach the first area that contained traces of a battle. But rather than calling it signs of a battle, it would perhaps be better to describe it as signs of a decimation. The thing covering the ground a bit to his side was a splotch of blood, spreading out to cover several metres of earth.

"...That's not something you see every day, was the opponent really that weak?"

There were no marks on the surroundings, no cuts in the snow or in the surrounding trees, just that single bloodstain. And looking at the shape that the blood had spread out into, it was clear that it hadn't been formed from any continuous bleeding. Whatever had formed this stain had been exploded in a single instant, its entire body practically liquefying as it spread about.

And just as Liang Chen's mutter suggested, this wasn't something that would appear between opponents who had even somewhat similar strengths. Whatever had died here was so much weaker than its opponent that it was like an ant facing a human, completely beneath its notice.

"Now the question is, did someone stronger come here, or was the being here just too weak?"

Liang Chen had experienced what level of strength the people in the area outside this hidden realm had, the early-stage of the Soaring Immortal realm was the highest he had encountered here in the outskirts. So, was the splattered being here just so weak that even a Soaring Immortal realm cultivator could utterly crush it, or had a stronger cultivator come through in the past?

The stain had already dried, the blood turning dark brown and making it hard to tell exactly how old it was, so the second option wasn't exactly one that could be disregarded. After all, everyone who entered Purgatory's Cradle ended up in the same place, it wasn't out of the question that other people like Liang Chen had arrived after this travelling hidden realm had appeared here.

Liang Chen had no way of getting an answer to the question at the moment so he didn't bother lingering on it, moving past the bloodstain and continuing his travels. His senses were constantly spread out to make sure that he wasn't ambushed, but he had yet to spot a single sign of life even after moving about for an entire day.

The same continued to be true for the second, third, and fourth day, it was as if life simply didn't exist within this hidden realm. But of course, the scattered bloodstains proved that life most certainly did exist here at one point, it had just been eradicated due to the unfortunate fact that the hidden realm ended up appearing here.

But as the dawn of the fifth day rolled around, the monotony of the forest was finally broken up. The distance between each tree grew larger and larger at a rapid pace, allowing Liang Chen's gaze to spot the eventual end of the forest, as well as the city that rose up past the wide-open plain covered in tall grass that spread out beyond the forest.

The city was constructed somewhat strangely, it was situated in a valley that cut straight through a large plateau. The edges of said valley were adorned with a large palace-like structure, one towering above each side of the city. Walls made from a silver coloured metal stretched out from these palaces, surrounding the city and connecting to form the large gate that served as the entrance.

He was just barely able to spot some moving figures by peering through the open gate so it seemed like this city at the very least had managed to avoid sharing the same fate as the beings that used to live in this forest. Of course, there was a good chance that they avoided this fate simply because they were the ones who orchestrated said fate.

"Alright, Yumao, we're about to encounter living beings again, now's not the time to sleep."

He tapped Yumao on the head with his finger as he spoke, the little winged serpent flapping his feathery wings and puffing out his chest in protest against Liang Chen's statement. Liang Chen didn't take his fluttery protest to heart, a soft smile crossing his lips, having a good companion at his side made it much easier to maintain a normal state in a place as bloody as this.

He didn't increase his speed just because something akin to a goal was within sight, it was generally during moments like this that people were prone to lower their guards. And it was precisely because of this that it was the opportune moment to ambush someone, and he had no intention of letting himself get ambushed.

But despite his worries, not a single living being roamed the plain in front of the city. He reached the entrance without even a hint of disturbance, the streets of the city spreading out in front of him as he peered through the open gate.

The city could be considered to be quite beautiful, the buildings made out of white stone that looked strangely soft, as if someone had simply carved a cloud into a house. It was quite a familiar look, but Liang Chen couldn't quite place where he had seen it before. And as if the architect wanted to follow up on this theme, there were hardly and sharp corners to be seen on the buildings, just about all of them circular and soft in shape.

But Liang Chen only gave the buildings themselves a passing glance, most of his attention focused on the people moving through the streets, most of which gave him a wide berth while eyeing him worriedly. As for the reason his focus was on them, it was due to the sheer variety in their strength.

The strongest people he detected were at the middle-stage of the Soaring Immortal realm, but there were so few of them within the surrounding few kilometres that they could be counted on one hand. But unlike the first city he had visited in Purgatory's Cradle, the weakest person he saw here was just a normal mortal.

These people didn't have an ounce of cultivation, they were as normal as you could be. And perhaps as was to be expected, it was exactly these people that looked the wariest at their surroundings, fearful of every single cultivator around them. It was like an infant facing an adult, if the adult wanted to do something then there was no way for the infant to resist, it would be forced to go along with their every whim.

"It's strangely... peaceful, isn't it? I was expecting all these mongrels to constantly be tearing into each other, there should have been at least a handful of garbage cans constantly picking a fight with each other."

Yumao couldn't help but comment as he poked his head out from Liang Chen's hair, and he wasn't wrong. There wasn't a single fight taking place in the streets, there were barely even any signs of battle that they could see or sense. There were shops scattered about and people were interacting without an excessive amount of hostility, even those who had non-negligible differences in cultivation were interacting somewhat normally.

Battles had not been uncommon in the previous city Liang Chen had visited, death was after all the main driving factor in Purgatory's Cradle. So even though this city was inside a hidden realm that had just popped up recently, it really was strange for it to be this peaceful. But as Liang Chen spread out his senses a bit further, he understood why things were like this.

"Have you ever heard about the concept of MAD?"

Liang Chen stepped into the city as he spoke, the people who happened to be closest hurriedly stepping away. They knew how things worked here, but there was no telling if this newcomer knew, and they did not want to be the ones who had to suffer for him to learn about the state of things. Liang Chen ignored them, continuing his explanation as Yumao tilted his head curiously.

"Mutually Assured Destruction, it's the idea that two forces won't dare to fight each other because both sides know that the winner will not be able to survive after winning. They'll either collapse due to the damage suffered in retaliation, or become so weakened that someone else will just swoop in and swallow them up. That's what's going on here, everyone is afraid to make a move because they know that making a move will result in their own destruction, it just isn't worth it."

This was a concept present even in normal society, albeit in a minor form, namely in the form of laws and punishment. You broke the laws and were thus punished accordingly, and most of the time, the punishment simply made it so that whatever you acquired from breaking the law wasn't worth it. But seeing how wary the people in this city were, it seemed like the punishment you would receive wasn't something as light as some prison time, it was likely just death no matter what.

Liang Chen's steps were unwavering as he moved through the city, his spear still held in his grasp. He had spread out his senses to come to his conclusion, and the reason he reached that conclusion was the fact that his senses had encompassed the two palaces standing at opposite sides of the city. Thanks to this, he had seen its inhabitants, seen who it was that upheld the laws in this city.

And it was precisely two cultivators at the Primordial Immortal realm, both of them at the early-stage just like Liang Chen. They didn't seem to be on friendly terms, both palaces had a person that was constantly on guard, keeping a close eye on the other side. But just like the city was held together by the concept of mutually assured destruction, so were the two palaces.

Neither of the rulers was confident in their ability to destroy the other and still remain strong enough to survive, so a fragile peace was born. But what a shame for these two rulers, a true scourge had just descended upon their city. And wherever this scourge went, peace would be nothing but a dream.