Fengyu City

Feeling the killing intent Zhou Heng suddenly released, even Feng Tengyuan couldn't help feeling a chill rise from the depths of his heart.

This young master was destined for greatness!

Feng Tengyuan shook his head and said, "Those struck by the Crimson Flame Heart-Burning Palm feel as if their insides are being roasted by flames. They have to keep using their own True Essence Power to counteract it. But this is an attack on the level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, drawing on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Its power is so great that even a martial artist at the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining would struggle to withstand it. It will drain every last bit of their True Essence Power, and then..."

"This old man is powerless to help!"

Zhou Heng's heart twisted like a knife. His father had been enduring such agony every moment, yet when they'd spoken yesterday, his father hadn't shown the slightest sign of it. How much willpower had it taken to hide his pain?

That was why his father had collapsed the moment Zhou Heng walked away!

"Is there really nothing you can do, senior?" Zhou Heng clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced his skin and blood welled up.

"This old man can do nothing, but there are surely people in the sect who can treat him!" Feng Tengyuan changed his tone.

That was right. The Nine Spirits Sect had Spirit Gathering Realm powerhouses in its ranks. They would definitely be able to help!

Zhou Heng hurriedly asked, "Senior, when can we leave?"

"I came to Raw Stone Town to find talent for the sect. In another month, our sect will open its doors to accept new disciples!" Feng Tengyuan hesitated, then smiled. "Speaking of talent, there's one right in front of me!"

The old man was delighted. Even without Zhou Heng's status as his young master, the fact that he could kill a Blood Refining Realm martial artist while still in the Bone Refining Realm was more than enough to earn the sect's attention and make him a top cultivation prospect!

Finding such a talent was a great achievement for him, too!

"The minimum requirement is to have reached the Bone Refining Realm and be under twenty. After observing the town for the past few days, I've found only two people who meet that requirement. One is you, and the other..." He gave a rueful smile. The other had already been beheaded by Zhou Heng with a single sword strike!

"At the earliest, we can leave today!"

Zhou Heng nodded. "The sooner, the better!"

His father's injuries couldn't wait!

Feng Tengyuan naturally had no objections. He might have been the top expert in Raw Stone Town, but in the Nine Spirits Sect, he was insignificant. There were countless people in the sect with his level of cultivation! So he had to curry favor with his young master. Perhaps he might even have a chance to break into the Spirit Gathering Realm!

After discussing things with Feng Tengyuan, Zhou Heng learned that the Nine Spirits Sect was far away in Fengyu City. Although it, too, lay at the foot of the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, they would have to take a detour of over a thousand li to reach it.

He asked the Lineage for a carriage. Now that he'd killed Zhou Xianming, no one dared stop him when they heard he was taking Zhou Dinghai far away for treatment. They were all glad to see this freak of a talent stay out of the struggle for power.

In less than an hour, a luxurious carriage was ready, drawn by four fine horses. Its cabin was like an exquisite bedroom, furnished with every convenience.

Zhou Heng was quite satisfied. He carried his father into the carriage, and Feng Tengyuan climbed in after him. The driver snapped his whip through the air, making it crack again and again, and the carriage rolled slowly toward the distance.

Although the road was rough in places, the carriage was exceptionally well-made, with great care taken to absorb the bumps. They could barely feel a thing, which put Zhou Heng's mind at ease. But Zhou Dinghai remained unconscious and showed no sign of waking, leaving Zhou Heng deeply anxious.

He was the sort of person who could take things in stride and let them go. Knowing there was no point worrying now, he asked Feng Tengyuan about the world beyond the town.

Feng Tengyuan was eager to build a good relationship with him, so he answered every question in full.

The world beyond was truly far beyond anything Zhou Heng could imagine!

There were more than a hundred towns like Raw Stone Town near the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range alone, and Raw Stone Town was one of the smaller ones. The larger towns even had populations of over ten thousand!

All these towns were governed by Fengyu City!

The Nine Spirits Sect, White Jade Valley, and Azure Cloud Sect were the three great powers of Fengyu City, sharing control over it. But just as the members of a Lineage fought for power among themselves, the Three Great Sects fought even more fiercely and bloodily. Each wanted to suppress the other two—or even wipe them out completely!

Yet the three powers had always been evenly matched. None could do anything to the others, so they had no choice but to divide up the territory and share power.

More than a hundred towns were divided among the Three Great Sects. As it happened, Raw Stone Town fell under the Nine Spirits Sect's rule. Otherwise, Zhou Heng might not have been able to kill Zhou Xianming!

But Fengyu City, vast as it seemed, was only one of the smaller cities under Tianhang City, which in turn was only one of the eight great cities of the Hancang Kingdom. It took countless towns like Raw Stone Town and smaller cities like Fengyu City to form the vast system that governed the Hancang Kingdom.

Beyond the Hancang Kingdom lay countless other kingdoms. As for how many there were and how powerful they might be, that was beyond Feng Tengyuan's knowledge. In fact, even he couldn't clearly describe the situation in Tianhang City.

This world was truly vast—vast beyond measure!

If he traveled alone, a Bone Refining Realm martial artist could probably reach Fengyu City in two or three days, thanks to his speed and stamina. But they were traveling by carriage and had to take Zhou Dinghai's injuries into account, so they went much more slowly. It took a full nineteen days to arrive.

During the journey, Zhou Dinghai woke several times, but each time he was delirious. One moment he called out "Kexin," the next "Heng'er." His face was gaunt and lifeless, and Zhou Heng nearly wept at the sight.

The "Kexin" Zhou Dinghai called for was Zhou Heng's mother. Her surname was Zhao, and she had died of illness not long after Zhou Heng was born. So Zhou Heng knew only the idea of having a mother; he had not the faintest memory of what Zhao Kexin looked like.

"So this is Fengyu City!" Zhou Heng gazed at the towering ancient city in the distance, unable to hide his amazement.

It was huge!

Its walls stretched for hundreds of li and stood dozens of meters high. From afar, they looked like a giant dragon lying prone, as if it could come to life at any moment—an awe-inspiring sight!

Compared to this, Raw Stone Town was hardly worth mentioning!

Yet a city this vast counted as no more than a small city in the Hancang Kingdom? How magnificent must Tianhang City be? And how spectacular was Shengyuan City, the capital of the Hancang Kingdom?

A surge of ambition rose within Zhou Heng. He wanted to travel the whole world and see it all with his own eyes.

The carriage soon reached the city gates. Feng Tengyuan showed a token, which sixteen guards inspected. They immediately bowed respectfully and let them pass. Zhou Heng had sharp eyes: on one side of the token were the words "Nine Spirits," while the other side was blank. It was black all over.

The token's design was the same as the one Zhou Heng had seen in Absolute Valley, except that the token from Absolute Valley had the character "Su" carved on its other side and was a different color—purple.

It seemed the different colors of the tokens represented different levels of status.

The carriage entered the city, and under Feng Tengyuan's arrangements, Zhou Heng checked into an inn. It was run by the Nine Spirits Sect and was being used to lodge the youths taking part in the entrance examination. Thus, all the comings and goings were made by sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds, and the youngest hadn't even turned fifteen!

To take the entrance examination, the first requirement was to have reached the Bone Refining Realm!

That meant everyone here had at least reached the Seventh Layer of Body Refining. Zhou Heng couldn't help clicking his tongue in astonishment. In Raw Stone Town, his progress would have made him a genius, but here, it seemed downright ordinary.

With geniuses everywhere, the word "genius" seemed to have lost much of its weight. At most, he could be called talented.

That was only natural. The martial path was arduous, and out of a million—or even ten million—people, only one or two might reach the peak! How many people were there in Raw Stone Town? At best, its so-called geniuses were just the tallest among the short.

Only those who could stand out at the level of Fengyu City deserved to be called geniuses.

True geniuses!

After Zhou Heng had settled in, Feng Tengyuan took Zhou Dinghai away to find an expert from the sect to treat him. At the very least, they needed to stabilize his injuries and keep them from worsening. Zhou Heng stayed behind to take the entrance examination in ten days. If he placed among the top three, he would receive a handsome reward.

In Feng Tengyuan's eyes, Zhou Heng was the future young master of the Nine Spirits Sect, so he should simply be brought straight into the sect. But Feng Tengyuan didn't know the full story. Finding an Earth Rock Cloud Stone Mine had indeed been a great achievement, but Zhou Heng had already traded that achievement for a chance to get Zhou Dinghai treated.

So Zhou Heng felt there was no reason he should be treated differently from anyone else. Besides, he could earn a reward by placing in the top three. Why not take the examination?

After Feng Tengyuan left, Zhou Heng sat down to meditate and regulate his breathing. Although he hadn't spent much time cultivating during those dozen or so days, his cultivation had still advanced to the late stage of the Seventh Layer of Body Refining. In another half month, he would reach its peak and could break through to the Eighth Layer of Body Refining.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time.

After resting for a while, night fell and the city's lanterns began to glow. Zhou Heng felt his stomach rumbling, so he left his room and headed to the inn's main hall.

The inn had four large courtyards and enough rooms to accommodate two or three hundred people. It was one of the three largest inns in the city—the other two naturally belonged to White Jade Valley and Azure Cloud Sect.

Quite a few people were already eating in the main hall. Since they were all youths, even those who didn't know one another had plenty to talk about, and the atmosphere was lively.

They were all geniuses from towns across the region, and none of them would back down. Whenever the examination ten days later came up, every one of them grew red in the face, each declaring himself the greatest genius of all.

Bang!

"Stop arguing! First place can only belong to our Brother Qing Feng!" A youth slapped the table hard and planted one foot on the table beside him, looking unbearably arrogant.

"Who the hell are you?" His words immediately roused everyone's anger.

"Black Soil Town, the Shi Family!" the youth said proudly. "You've never heard of our Brother Qing Feng? He's only nineteen this year, but he's already at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining!"

At those words, the whole hall fell silent. Perhaps this wasn't the greatest talent anyone had ever seen, but among the youths here, his cultivation was unquestionably the strongest.

In this world, strength reigned supreme. Everything else was meaningless!