The hidden city of the Black Lotus Guild unfolded before Max's eyes like a vision from another world. It was one of the largest cities he had ever witnessed—so vast it stretched endlessly in every direction, its farthest edges swallowed by the horizon itself.
Unlike the radiant brilliance of Heaven City or the majestic splendor of the Great Ruler Empire, this city carried a different kind of magnificence. Its theme was stark and striking: everything here was woven in shades of black and white. Towers, streets, and bridges glimmered faintly under an artificial glow, their surfaces reflecting light like polished obsidian and marble. It felt like a city of night, eternal and silent, a place carved not for show but for shadow.
Yet despite its solemn aesthetic, the city pulsed with life. Armored cultivators walked its wide avenues, robed assassins vanished into alleyways, and groups of masked figures moved with perfect discipline, every step as precise as clockwork.
