Twenty Years Later, His Cultivation Soars

Spring gave way to autumn, and before anyone realized it, twenty years had passed.

For mortals, that was most of a lifetime—enough for a newborn infant to grow into a mature adult capable of supporting a household, enough for that adult's parents to grow white-haired and aged. But for cultivators, twenty years were no more than the flick of a finger: a few openings and closings of the eyes in a quiet chamber, a few rises and falls of the tides deep within the Spirit Sea.

Over the past twenty years, the Redstone Archipelago had changed almost by the day. The temporary buildings made of gray-white prefabricated panels had long since been demolished, replaced by a long street stretching along the Port District. Shops lined both sides, their lights blazing after nightfall from one end of the street to the other, only gradually thinning out in the latter half of the night.

The roads in the main urban area were all paved with rune-reinforced slabs, their surfaces smooth as mirrors. The roadside trees were silver parasol trees introduced from the Eastern Sea, rustling softly in the night wind.

After years of development, the Redstone Region had formed eight administrative districts, with Redstone City naturally serving as the core of all eight. Centered on the central island, it was the economic, cultural, and political heart of the entire region.

The surrounding subsidiary islands were connected by cross-sea trestle bridges and regular ferries. Every island had its own designated function. The northern islands, for example, formed the industrial district, while the southern islands focused on fishing and nearshore aquaculture. Together with Gale County and Iron Spine County hundreds of li away, which centered on foreign trade, they made up the present-day Redstone Region.

The entire Redstone Region had exploded from a pioneer