Fengyu City

Sensing the murderous aura suddenly released by Zhou Heng, even Feng Tengyuan, with his cultivation, couldn't help but feel a chill rise from the depths of his heart.

This young master-in-law has boundless prospects!

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 fire. They must constantly use their own true essence to counteract it. But this is an attack at the Spirit Gathering Realm, drawing on heaven and earth's spiritual energy. Its power is such that even a Body Refining twelfth-layer martial artist can hardly withstand it. They'll have their life's true essence drained dry, and then..."

"This old man is powerless!"

Zhou Heng's heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife—his father had been enduring such agony all along. Yet when he spoke with his father yesterday, the man hadn't shown a trace of abnormality. How much willpower did it take to suppress that?

That's why his father had fainted the moment he walked out!

"Even you have no way, senior?" Zhou Heng clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced his skin, drawing blood.

"This old man has no way, but there must be someone within the sect who can heal him!" Feng Tengyuan shifted his tone.

That's right, the Nine Spirits Sect has Spirit Gathering Realm experts sitting there—they can definitely do it!

Zhou Heng quickly said, "Senior, when can we set out?"

"This old man came to Raw Stone Town this time to find talent for the sect. In another month, the sect will open its gates to accept disciples!" After a moment's hesitation, Feng Tengyuan laughed. "Speaking of talent, there's one right before me!"

The old man was quite pleased. Even if Zhou Heng didn't have the status of "young master-in-law," his ability to kill a Blood Refining Realm martial artist while only at the Bone Refining Realm was enough to make the sect take notice and focus on training him!

Finding such talent was also a great merit for him!

"The minimum requirement for selection is youths under twenty who have reached the Bone Refining Realm. After observing these past few days, I've only found two who meet this standard. One is you, and the other..." He gave a bitter laugh. The other had already been beheaded by Zhou Heng's sword!

"If we hurry, we can set out today!"

Zhou Heng nodded and said, "The sooner, the better!"

His father's injury couldn't afford delays!

Feng Tengyuan naturally wouldn't object. Though he was a top expert in Raw Stone Town, he was insignificant in the Nine Spirits Sect—there were plenty of people with his cultivation level within the sect! So, of course, he had to flatter the young master-in-law; maybe it would even give him a chance to break into the Spirit Gathering Realm!

After discussing with Feng Tengyuan, Zhou Heng learned that the Nine Spirits Sect was far away in Fengyu City. Though it was also at the foot of the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, the route required a detour of over a thousand li.

He requested a carriage from the family. Now that he had the prestige of killing Zhou Xianming, and they heard he was taking Zhou Dinghai far away for treatment, none of them dared to stop him. They were all eager for this freak not to get involved in the power struggles.

In less than an hour, a luxurious carriage was ready. Four fine horses pulled it, and the cabin was as exquisite as a bedroom, fully equipped.

Zhou Heng was quite satisfied. He carried his father into the carriage, and Feng Tengyuan followed. The driver cracked an empty whip, and with a series of snaps, the carriage slowly moved off toward the distance.

Though the road had some bumpy patches, the carriage was well-made, with great effort put into shock absorption. It was almost impossible to feel any jolts, which put Zhou Heng completely at ease. But Zhou Dinghai hadn't woken up since fainting, which made him very anxious.

He was the type to take things in stride, knowing that worrying now was useless, so he began to ask Feng Tengyuan for guidance, inquiring about the world outside.

Feng Tengyuan wanted to build a good relationship with him, so naturally, he told him everything he knew without holding back.

The world outside was far beyond what Zhou Heng could imagine!

Just around the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, there were over a hundred towns like Raw Stone Town, and Raw Stone Town was one of the smaller ones—some larger towns even had tens of thousands of people!

All these towns were under the rule of Fengyu City!

The Nine Spirits Sect, White Jade Valley, and Azure Cloud Sect were the three overlords of Fengyu City, sharing the rule. But just as families fought for power, the struggles between the three sects were even fiercer and bloodier. Each wanted to suppress the other two, even wipe them out completely!

But the three powers were always evenly matched, unable to do anything to each other, so they had to divide and rule, sharing authority.

The hundred-plus towns were divided among the three sects. Coincidentally, Raw Stone Town was under the Nine Spirits Sect's jurisdiction—otherwise, Zhou Heng might not have been able to kill Zhou Xianming!

But as vast as Fengyu City seemed, it was just one of the small cities under Tianhang City's jurisdiction, and Tianhang City was only one of the eight major cities in the Hancang Kingdom. Countless towns like Raw Stone Town and cities like Fengyu City formed the vast ruling system of the Hancang Kingdom.

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

This world was truly, truly vast!

If traveling alone, with the speed and endurance of a Bone Refining Realm martial artist, it would take about two or three days to reach Fengyu City. But since they were using a carriage and had to consider Zhou Dinghai's injuries, the pace was even slower. It took a full nineteen days to finally arrive.

During that time, Zhou Dinghai woke up a few times, but each time he was delirious, calling out "Kexin" one moment and "Heng'er" the next, his face as withered as dead wood. Zhou Heng almost shed tears.

The "Kexin" Zhou Dinghai called out was Zhou Heng's mother, surnamed Zhao. She had died of illness shortly after Zhou Heng was born, so Zhou Heng only had the concept of a mother, with no memory of what Zhao Kexin looked like at all.

"This is Fengyu City!" Zhou Heng gazed into the distance at this ancient, majestic city and couldn't help but show a trace of shock.

It was enormous!

The city walls stretched for over a hundred li, standing dozens of meters high. From afar, they looked like a crouching dragon, as if it might come to life at any moment—full of imposing presence!

Compared to this, Raw Stone Town was utterly insignificant!

But such a massive city was only considered a small city in the Hancang Kingdom? Then how grand must Tianhang City be? And how spectacular would the royal capital, Shengyuan City, be?

Zhou Heng felt a surge of ambition rise within him—he wanted to travel the entire world and see it all clearly.

The carriage soon reached the city gate. Feng Tengyuan produced a token, which the sixteen guards inspected before respectfully saluting and letting them pass. Zhou Heng's sharp eyes caught that one side of the token read "Nine Spirits," while the other was blank, and the whole thing was black.

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

It seemed that the color of the token also indicated one's status.

The carriage entered the city, and under Feng Tengyuan's arrangements, Zhou Heng stayed at an inn. This was run by the Nine Spirits Sect, and since these days were used to house youths participating in the entrance assessment, everyone coming and going was sixteen or seventeen, with the youngest even under fifteen!

The first requirement to participate in the entrance assessment was to have reached the Bone Refining Realm!

So everyone here was at least at the Body Refining seventh layer. Zhou Heng couldn't help but be secretly astonished. His current progress would have been called genius in Raw Stone Town, but here, it became quite ordinary.

With geniuses everywhere, the weight of the word "genius" seemed to shrink considerably—at best, it could be called "talent."

This is perfectly normal. The martial path is arduous—only one or two out of ten thousand, even a million, can reach the peak! How many people are there in Raw Stone Town? At best, it's just picking the tallest among the short.

Only when you reach the level of Fengyu City and still manage to stand out can you be called a genius.

A true genius!

After Zhou Heng was settled, Feng Tengyuan left with Zhou Dinghai to find a senior expert in the sect to treat him, or at least stabilize his injuries and prevent them from worsening. Zhou Heng stayed behind to participate in the entrance assessment ten days later. If he could rank in the top three, he would receive a considerable reward.

In Feng Tengyuan's view, Zhou Heng was the future son-in-law of the Nine Spirits Sect, so he should naturally be brought directly into the sect. But he didn't know the real situation. Discovering an Earth Rock Cloud Stone mine was indeed a great merit, but Zhou Heng had already used it to exchange for the chance to treat Zhou Dinghai.

Thus, he felt no different from anyone else. Besides, there were rewards for placing in the top three—why not participate?

After Feng Tengyuan left, Zhou Heng sat in meditation to regulate his breathing. Although he hadn't spent much time cultivating over the past ten-plus days, his cultivation had still advanced to the late stage of Body Refining Layer Seven. In another half month, he would reach the peak of Body Refining Layer Seven and directly break through to Body Refining Layer Eight.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time.

After resting for a while, night fell. Lamps lit up one by one, and Zhou Heng felt a pang of hunger. He left his room and walked toward the inn's main hall.

This inn had four large courtyards, enough to accommodate two to 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.

Many people were already dining in the main hall. Since they were all young, even strangers could find common topics, and the atmosphere was lively.

Everyone was a genius from their own town, so naturally, no one was willing to concede to anyone else. When the topic of the assessment ten days later came up, everyone grew red-faced, each declaring themselves the greatest genius among geniuses.

Bang!

"Stop arguing! First place can only be our Brother Qing Feng's!" A young man slammed the table heavily, stepping one foot onto another table, his demeanor extremely arrogant.

"And who the hell are you?" This immediately sparked public outrage.

"Black Soil Town, the Shi Family!" The young man was full of pride. "You haven't heard of our Brother Qing Feng's name? He's only nineteen this year, but he's already at Body Refining Layer Nine!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent. Perhaps this wasn't the most outstanding talent, but it was definitely the highest cultivation realm among the young people present.

In this world where strength reigns supreme, everything else is false!