Three bells rang in unison, heard throughout the Present World.
From a lofty peak overlooking Heavenly Punishment Cliff, the "Dragon-Tiger-Hound" who had left their homeland stood atop its summit.
Their journey through the various states was not organized around geography or dictated by proximity. They focused instead on the systems of government they investigated, exploring how the common people lived under different regimes.
Whatever they were thinking about, that was what they went to observe.
Liang Kingdom, destroyed and then revived, situated near Calamity Water, was highly worthy of study—and extremely "young."
After spending more than half a year in Li State, they came all the way to Liang Kingdom with several Storage Boxes crammed full of notes, and had practically been living here ever since.
When word from Three Punishments Palace spread, they had actually been the closest, yet constrained by their cultivation, they arrived the latest.
"I'll stay here." Du Yehu was the first to lower his cloud. In a muffled voice, he said, "Going over wouldn't be any help. But I want to know at the first possible moment how Third is doing."
The wind and rain along the road had weathered him into something rougher. Like a heavy stone squatting there, he endured in silence and gazed into the distance with stubborn resilience.
Song Qingyue stood upon the high cliff, deeply shrouded in cloud and mist, without a word—ever since the Dragon Lord's passing, he had become very quiet. These forty-nine days of Sun-Moon Decline Severance were indeed a period of mourning for every member of the Aquatic Race.
The increasingly mature Li Jianqiu stood with Peach Branch slung across his back, looking into the distance. In just over a year, frost had already touched his temples. White hair appearing in youth gave some glimpse of