When Huang Tian entered seclusion, it was the depths of winter. Snowflakes filled the sky, falling layer upon layer over the mountain forests until everything in sight was a vast expanse of white.
Beneath the heavy snow, scarcely a bird or beast could be heard. The mountains seemed all the more boundless, empty, and still. Now and then, the only sound was snow sliding softly from a branch.
Huang Tian sat at ease amid the forest's scattered white jade. He swallowed and refined one bottle after another of Violet Palace spirit pills, and his aura grew stronger by the day. The Tribulationless Garment concealed every gain in his cultivation, however, leaving outsiders unable to discern it.
While he cultivated, his deeds in the Dashing Sky Secret Realm caused an uproar beyond the mountains.
Word swiftly spread through Chu and Jin of how he had entered the Dashing Sky Secret Realm and slain dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators from two sects, along with Han Zhengyang of the Junyan Grotto-Heaven, with a single sword. Cultivators in both kingdoms were astonished.
"The two sects wanted the Dashing Sky Secret Realm all to themselves. Look what happened when they crossed Huang Tian. Nearly forty Foundation Establishment cultivators died between them. That'll cut them to the bone."
"No matter how deep the Gilded Metal Sect's foundations run, it lost more than half its Foundation Establishment cultivators this time. Add True Person Suihua's earlier death, and it's badly wounded. Who knows when it'll regain its former strength?"
"Unless True Person Baiyang reaches Violet Palace Great Perfection and attains the Golden Core Dao Rank. Then the Gilded Metal Sect will flourish again as a Golden Core lineage. But if he fails and dies, the sect is finished. How could True Person Han Qi alone, at Violet Palace