In the Black-Corner Region, the Sacred City.
A majestic city that had not existed twenty-odd years ago was now the sole center of this chaotic land.
Deep inside the city lord's manor's secret chamber, the space was extremely unstable, twisting and folding.
Han Feng sat cross-legged with no Dou Qi leaking from his body, yet the entire secret chamber vibrated violently due to the Dao charm he unconsciously radiated.
More than twenty years had passed since he first stepped into the Black-Corner Region.
This amount of time was enough for oceans to turn into mulberry fields, and enough for a fledgling Dou Venerable to grow into an existence overlooking the entire continent.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Boom—!
An indomitable will akin to a world-creating deity awakened within his body!
Late Heaven Realm!
Achieved!
Simultaneously, the golden sun revolving within his body—the Dou Qi core of the Nine Yang Divine Art—finally reached perfection, endlessly cycling. A torrent of Dou Qi, purer and more than ten times vast compared to ordinary Dou Saints, scoured his limbs and skeletal bones.
Three-Star Dou Saint!
Pushed by the late Heaven Realm soul and the perfected Nine Yang Divine Art, Han Feng's cultivation progressed naturally, stepping into a realm that made heaven and earth change color!
Yet this heaven-shaking and earth-shattering pressure lasted for only a flash before receding like a tidal wave, perfectly reined in by his body without leaking a single shred.
He slowly stood up, his body slightly slender from bitter cultivation rapidly becoming tall and well-proportioned under the nourishment of the Nine Yang Divine Art.
His appearance remained handsome, yet he had shed the raw greenness of his twenties, gaining a bit of composure precipitated by the passage of time. Now forty-eight years old, he looked no different from a youth in his early twenties.
A head of pitch-black long hair draped casually, his gaze as calm as an abyss, as if nothing in the world could stir ripples in his heart ever again.
He was very satisfied with this scorecard.
In the initial years, he used thunderous methods, single-handedly flattening the Blood Sect and annihilating the Eight Gates with just one sword. He hung the heads of Fan Lao, Yuan Yi, and others on the city walls of Black Mark City, and fought the top seven Dou Zong powerhouses of the Black Ranking alone at Black Wind Pass. After that single battle, the Black Ranking was struck off.
All unconvinced individuals were erased from this land by him in the most direct manner.
Following that, he established the Sacred City, laid down ironclad laws, cultivated fiercely loyal enforcers, and forged this chaotic land into an orderly, iron-blooded empire. He even opened a spatial wormhole connecting the Sacred City to the Falling Star Pavilion in the Central Plains, making the two locations support each other like the legs of a tripod, allowing him to advance or retreat with ease.
Over these years, the seeds he casually scattered back then had also grown into towering trees.
Chief Enforcer Mo Shan was a rogue cultivator he had single-handedly promoted from the Dou Huang realm back then, and was now a One-Star Dou Venerable holding down the Sacred City. The three Dou Zongs and seventeen Dou Huangs and Dou Wangs he had subjugated in the past had also become the core backbone of the Sacred City.
During the final decade, he went into total seclusion, practicing the Nine Yang Divine Art to perfection and shattering the shackles of the Saint Realm.
Thirty years... Han Feng muttered to himself, his thoughts shifting as he began calculating the time.
I am forty-eight years old now, so that convenient junior brother of mine in Wu Tan City of the Jia Ma Empire should also be eleven years old by now, right? Reckoning the time, it is about time he reached Dou Zhe.
Teacher's soul should also be waking up soon; it is time to bring them back together.
Thinking of this, a ripple stirred within Han Feng's heart.
Stillness breeds movement.
After thirty years of dormant lying-low, both his strength and influence had reached a peak. Sitting here any longer would serve no purpose.
Furthermore, he always felt that his preparations were not sufficient; the strength of the Soul Hall far exceeded mortal imagination.
In Han Feng's mind, those two similarly ill-fated and pitiful girls from the original text involuntarily surfaced.
One was Xiao Yi Xian, burdened with the Calamity Poison Body; she was kind yet had low self-esteem, living her entire life in the fear and loneliness of poisoning friends and family.
The other was Qing Lin, a timid maid possessed of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. Treated as a monster, she was bullied and beaten in Desert City, living a life not even as good as a dog.
They were originally so innocent, yet had to endure the deepest sufferings in the world. In the past, separated by a book, he could only worry anxiously. But today, he was a Three-Star Dou Saint, an existence truly standing at the apex of this continent.
With this kind of capability, how can I sit by and do nothing?
Han Feng's gaze grew gentle.
If we cross paths, I will just bring them back to the Sacred City. This vast city surely has a place for them, at least letting them live without fear or trembling, and without suffering endless bullying.
Once this notion arose, it could no longer be suppressed.
This was also the one change he most wanted to make for this world as a transmigrator, aside from guarding his sect.
Besides, he truly ought to go out and walk around.
It had been so long since he last stepped out of the Black-Corner Region; what kind of scenery was the Central Plains nowadays?
It was time to go and take a look around everywhere.
Having made up his mind, Han Feng no longer hesitated in the slightest.
He pushed open the Shimen that had been sealed for ten years, and the blinding sunlight spilled in, making him instinctively narrow his eyes.
Outside the door, clad in dark-iron heavy armor with an aura as steady and unmoving as a mountain, Mo Shan was already kneeling on one knee. Behind him, the higher-ups of the Sacred City bowed their heads in respectful waiting.
They had all felt that fleeting Saint Realm pressure, and right now, aside from awe, the faces of everyone brimmed with fanatical devotion born from the bottom of their hearts.
"Welcome, City Lord, upon leaving seclusion!"
The neat and uniform shout resounded through the clouds.
Han Feng waved his hand, signaling everyone to rise.
"I am going out on a leisure trip for a period of time. Affairs within the city are entirely handed over to you, Mo Shan, to manage."
"Understood, City Lord!" Mo Shan replied in a deep voice, without the slightest hesitation.
Han Feng nodded, his figure flickering and vanishing on the spot, leaving only an echo reverberating by everyone's ears.
"If anything happens, transmit a message to me."
Before you continue