The King of Immortal Cities

The King of Immortal Cities is a classical xianxia novel by the web author Baili Xi. It began serialization on Chuangshi Chinese Network in September 2013, runs to about 3.98 million characters and 1,190 chapters, and is complete. The protagonist, Ye Mo, is the son of an ordinary commoner family in the royal city of Wu Kingdom; his father died in battle in the army, his mother died of overwork, and at eighteen he is just an unknown ordinary martial artist. The art he practices, Wave-Cleaving Art, is merely a low-tier technique, and he cannot afford high-tier techniques or body-tempering elixirs. Hearing that maritime merchants from the Eastern Lai Kingdom are recruiting martial artists to sail out and search for the immortal village on a spirit island in the Eastern Sea, he sells the old family house for a ticket and boards the ship. During the voyage a storm suddenly rises, the great ship is torn apart by the waves, and Ye Mo drifts on a broken plank to a deserted island, with nothing left but a green-bladed sword, a few packets of healing herbs, and an ancient scroll left by his father. The scroll contains a world of an immortal village, where immortal herbs can be planted and immortal beasts raised, growing a hundred times faster than in the outside world. With this ancient-painting immortal village, Ye Mo accumulates resources and practices martial arts, starting from the lonely island to build an immortal village, then raising it to an immortal town and building an immortal city, gathering immortal folk and cultivators, dealing with Rakshasa pirates, sea-demon tribes and the forces of various immortal towns, exploring ancient ruins such as the Purple Sword Immortal Palace, and ultimately establishing himself among the many realms. The book combines cultivation leveling with city management and is regarded as one of the pioneering works of the 'immortal city' genre of web fiction, belonging to the author's 'immortal mansion' series.