At the Azure Cloud Sect's Headquarters, within the Warrior Administration's compound.
For months, heavy snow had fallen, turning the entire Headquarters and the land for a thousand miles around into an ice-and-snow world wrapped in silver.
Wang Ran, Pan Dong, and the others waited outside the courtyard, their warm breath forming trails of white mist that curled about them.
Winter had not arrived early at Headquarters. Given the local climate, even winter could never produce such a snowy realm, with a thousand miles sealed in ice and snow drifting over ten thousand miles. This ice and snow had formed some time earlier, when Fang Qianyuan's successful insights into his Dao Path triggered a resonance with heaven and earth.
Not only had it failed to disperse after more than a month, it was growing increasingly intense.
"This weather really is getting colder and colder."
"Indeed. His lordship's divine abilities are vast. With a single thought, he changed the climate of the entire Headquarters. I thought it was merely a temporary effect of a divine ability or spell, but I never imagined it would last this long!"
"There's something you don't know. The so-called Heaven Tier means replacing heaven's will with one's own, carrying out heaven's mandate through a single thought. What they wield is the true power of nature. This changed the surrounding region's climate at its very roots, so of course it's different from ordinary divine abilities and spells!"
"Really?"
"Why else would every sect establish special cave abodes for Heaven-Tier Powerhouses and enshrine them on high? Dragons do not dwell with serpents, and immortals do not pair with mortals!"
"Speaking of which, I heard that the sect's Heavenly Craft Institute has already begun surveying possible sites, preparing to open up a lesser grotto-heaven and build his lordship's cave abode?"