Stone Village, at the entrance.
The setting sun washed over the stone slabs, stretching long shadows across them.
A young man who looked like a scholar in white walked slowly out of the depths of the Great Wilderness, his hands behind his back and his steps leisurely.
No divine radiance swirled around him, and he gave off no astonishing fluctuations of the laws. Not even a trace of spiritual energy leaked from him. He looked like an ordinary man who had just returned from his travels, radiating an air of returning to simplicity.
Yet the instant he stepped into the village...
"Vmm—"
The enormous Thunderstruck Wood at the village entrance suddenly trembled violently. Tens of thousands of green willow twigs swayed without any wind, giving off a crisp ringing.
At the same time, the True Dragon, Female Kunpeng, and True Phoenix, who had been resting with their eyes closed in the village, all opened their eyes almost simultaneously.
"This aura..."
The middle-aged man who had transformed from the True Dragon sprang to his feet. His golden dragon eyes were filled with uncertainty.
He could sense it. The young man slowly approaching seemed utterly ordinary, yet concealed a terrifying fluctuation that made even him, the foremost of the Ten Fiends, tremble instinctively.
It felt like an ant gazing up at the heavens, or a mortal standing before a living god.
"Is it him? Has he returned?"
Female Kunpeng's expression was grave, and the Heavenly Desolation Halberd in her hand trembled faintly, as if afraid—or perhaps submitting.
"How is this possible... He's only been gone for a few days. How could his Life Level have leaped so dramatically?" True Phoenix's beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.
Beneath the Willow Tree, a flash of light appeared.
Willow Deity's peerless figure materialized. She paid no