Shan Hai Realm, Mechanical City.
As Mechanical City entered its internal assessment phase, the entire city was completely sealed off. Forget people—even a tiny fly could not get in.
Precisely because of this, although dozens of settlements of varying sizes had gathered outside Mechanical City, nothing much happened. Everything appeared calm and peaceful.
All factions exercised the utmost restraint toward this city that had suddenly appeared.
The change came on the third day after the city was sealed.
—The [Tide] that had shrouded the Shan Hai Realm for tens of thousands of years and turned it into the hellish state it was in today was gradually receding.
When news of this was first discovered, all factions were utterly shocked. But as it was continuously confirmed, that shock turned into a frenzy of celebration.
Within the Shan Hai Realm, distorted rules existed everywhere.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Shan Hai Realm had still been a secluded paradise filled with birdsong and blooming flowers, with countless rare treasures and strange creatures. But no one knew when it had begun, or where it had come from, when an aura of distortion started appearing across this land.
At first, no one paid attention to the disaster. The distorted aura was quite weak in the beginning; even without high-level combatants taking action, Foundation Establishment cultivators could easily disperse it.
But as time passed, more and more of that aura emerged, its concentration growing ever higher... until the prototype of the [Tide] took shape.
By the time people finally realized something was wrong, the situation had already deteriorated into an exceptionally dire state. After that long period of development, the Shan Hai Realm eventually became what it was today.
"Wait... they just let things get worse back then?"
Listening to Piao Yao recount the