Ten years.
For mortals, it was enough for infants to grow into youths and cities to rise and fall. For cultivators, it was merely the flick of a finger.
Yet for the Seventh Heaven, those ten years were an endless hell; for the Purple Cloud Palace, they were a period of frenzied growth under crushing pressure.
Lin Feng secluded himself in the Chaos Space, developing formations and divine abilities to counter the Nightmare Beast.
Using the Great Dao Panel's analytical capabilities and the Chaos Law's capacity to encompass both "reality" and "illusory truth," he gradually constructed an entirely new Chaos Illusion-Breaking Formation and Chaos Illusion-Breaking Sword Art, specifically targeting spiritual entities like the Nightmare Beast.
Dong Xuan remained at the Purple Cloud Palace, overseeing the entire situation.
With her mid-Emperor Lord cultivation and the many contingencies Lin Feng had left behind, she held the defensive lines of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Heavens, and took in over a million refugees fleeing the Seventh Heaven.
Among those refugees were many promising young cultivators. After screening and training, some joined the ranks under the Purple Cloud Palace.
After recovering from their injuries, Lin Man, Ding Yun, the Azure Water Golden Toad, Fire Dragon, and Xuan Ming entered the Chaos Space again, cultivating furiously with its accelerated time and Lin Feng's guidance.
They knew all too well how far they stood below a true mid-Emperor Lord, and refused to remain forever dependent on others' protection.
After ten years of arduous cultivation, none of the five had formally broken through to mid-Emperor Lord, but all had reached peak early Emperor Lord, with only a paper-thin barrier separating them from the middle stage.
More importantly, their combat experience and command of laws had grown far more polished. Their seamless coordination, in particular, allowed them to