Times Had Changed

Who was Zi Yan?

She was the only dragon on the Dou Qi Continent who could rival Gu Xun'er.

Her father was Zhu Kun, the Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragons.

The third Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint expert on the Dou Qi Continent.

After consuming the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit, Zi Yan's bloodline would rise even further, granting her a Dragon-Phoenix Bloodline-the absolute top of the current meta.

Saving Zi Yan meant latching onto the mighty thigh of the Ancient Void Dragons.

As for Zhu Kun being trapped, so what?

If circumstances changed in the future, Fan Tian could take Zi Yan to reunite with the Dragon Emperor.

Preferably with a piece of Ancient Jade in hand.

That way, Fan Tian would actually gain the safest possible place to cultivate.

He could cultivate peacefully until he reached the nine-star Dou Saint late stage, and then...

Of course, if Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi followed them inside together and joined forces against the Old Dragon Emperor, that would be troublesome too.

The cave mansion Tou She Ancient God had left behind was actually no different from those Ancient Races: it was merely a Dou Di inheritance. The only difference was that the mansion contained origin qi.

Zhu Kun himself was not inside the mansion, but outside it, working as a guard at the entrance.

That left plenty of room to maneuver.

He might not be able to open the mansion, but with spirit devouring, Fan Tian was not entirely without a chance of destroying the barrier at its entrance.

After all, even an array established by a Dou Di was ultimately an application of the world's energy. Like the Eight Clans summoning the remnant souls of their Dou Di, it required vast amounts of energy to sustain itself.

If he isolated the mansion from the outside world, preventing the array from absorbing external energy on its own while the mansion's gates remained tightly shut, the great array would inevitably collapse over time.

Of course, that only worked in theory. How effective it would actually be depended on putting it into practice.

Fan Tian had some confidence.

In the original novel, the Spirit, Stone, and Medicine Clans had been wiped out, their vast boundary domains swallowed whole by the Nihility Devouring Flame without so much as a fart escaping. There had never been any mention of arrays, barriers, or cave mansions left by the Spirit Emperor, Stone Emperor, or Medicine Emperor that could make the Nihility Devouring Flame balk and retreat.

That clearly demonstrated one thing: a Dou Di inheritance would inevitably weaken with the passage of time.

Just as bloodlines declined, arrays established by Dou Di would gradually become incomplete until they collapsed altogether.

Tou She Ancient God was the last Dou Di on the Dou Qi Continent, and not enough time had passed for his legacy to reach that point. Thus, the mansion he had left behind still required eight pieces of Ancient Jade to open, and the array he had established could even trap an Ancient Void Dragon at the Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint level.

After all, not even the Hun Clan or Gu Clan possessed such terrifying mansions and arrays. Otherwise, they would not have needed to keep their Ancient Jade in ancestral halls; they could simply have placed it inside a Dou Di Cave Abode or a great Dou Di array.

They were all Dou Di. Surely Tou She Ancient God could not have been that much more badass than the Soul Emperor or the Ancient Emperor.

So the only explanation was time-the passage of ages! Over endless years, aside from lifeless things like cultivation methods and combat skills, all the Ancient Eight Clans had left were their steadily declining bloodlines.

The second reason was the complete tunling clan origin.

The Tunling Clan was the only extraordinary race that had devoured numerous ancient imperial clans back in ancient times, when everyone's Dou Di inheritances were still relatively new and far less fragile.

Thus, this foreign race that fed on Dou Di bloodlines very likely possessed a natural advantage against arrays, barriers, seals, and other things left behind by Dou Di. At the very least, they could disregard arrays established by Dou Di. Otherwise, there was simply no explaining how they could prey on Dou Di clans.

The Nihility Devouring Flame had obtained only part of the spirit devouring ability, whereas the system had gifted Fan Tian the complete spirit devouring origin.

So, theoretically, given enough time, Tou She Ancient God's Cave Mansion would collapse naturally without needing the eight pieces of Ancient Jade, and the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill inside would escape its confinement.

Therefore, Fan Tian could not wait indefinitely either. If the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill became a Dou Di one day, that would be a real problem.

That was a being even four nine-star Dou Saints working together could not overcome.

Through threats and inducements, Fan Tian obtained two seventh-grade intermediate healing pills from Cao Ying and Dan Chen. After feeding them to Zi Yan, he began standing guard over her.

Zi Yan's injuries were indeed severe. Had she been an ordinary Dou Emperor, she would undoubtedly have died by now.

Though she had the body of a magical beast, she was ultimately only a Dou Wang.

After she swallowed the two Seventh-Grade Pills, a rich purple radiance suddenly surged out of Zi Yan's body. It finally formed a purple cocoon dozens of zhang across, enveloping her entire body.

At the sight, Fan Tian froze for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. The energy contained in two Mid-Grade Seventh-Rank Pills was already enough for her to advance ahead of time.

Several months later.

Every day, Fan Tian received intelligence delivered by Yuan Yi.

There was news about the Misty Cloud Sect, the Tagor Desert, the Xiao Clan in Wutan City, Jia Nan Academy, and the newly established faction, the Black Alliance.

Several months earlier, Fan Tian had dispatched two additional Dou Wangs to the Jiama Empire, and they sent information back to the Black-Corner Region every day.

This included news that the Misty Cloud Sect would hold a martial tournament to choose a husband for Yun Yun, which left Fan Tian itching with desire.

Meanwhile, in the Black-Corner Region, Han Feng had established the Black Alliance the day after seizing the heavenly flame. Having obtained both the Sect Breaking Pill and the heavenly flame, and having thoroughly taught the region's overlord, Jia Nan Academy, a lesson, Medicine Emperor Han Feng's name resounded throughout the Black-Corner Region. As a result, the Black Alliance grew increasingly powerful, far surpassing its strength in the original novel.

After losing its heavenly flame, Jia Nan Academy spent half a month recovering. Then, under Great Elder Su Qian and Hu Gan's leadership, several Dou Emperors and forty or fifty Dou Wangs descended upon the Black Alliance.

Over the following months, they fought several rounds of major battles.

Although they held a slight advantage, they could never capture Maple City, the Black Alliance's headquarters.

Before long, Han Feng entered seclusion.

Then, at Su Qian's earnest request, Hu Gan obtained a Sect Breaking Pill from Fan Tian and entered seclusion as well.

Of course, the condition was that Zi Yan would no longer have any connection whatsoever with Jia Nan Academy. A written agreement was signed and stamped with fingerprints: she would belong to the Heavenly Mansion.

Zi Yan had already been on the verge of death, and Fan Tian had saved her life with two Mid-Grade Seventh-Rank Pills. Now, they had received a Sect Breaking Pill comparable to a Seventh-Grade Pill in exchange.

Jia Nan Academy felt it had made an absolute killing. Mansion Lord Fan Tian really was kindhearted.

Even Cao Ying and Dan Chen were brimming with resentment, scolding Fan Tian for having a faulty brain and being a spendthrift of a man. They even threatened to break up with him.

Yet Fan Tian...

Had absolutely not lost out.

War raged ceaselessly in the Black-Corner Region, and factions large and small were forced to choose sides or face suppression.

The Heavenly Mansion had not only recruited over a dozen Dou Wangs led by the Yao Brothers, but had also absorbed three formidable factions-the Mad Lion Gang, Heavenly Yin Sect, and Rakshasa Gate-which had been suffering relentless pressure from the Black Alliance and Jia Nan Academy.

Those three factions had banded together in hopes of surviving between Jia Nan Academy and the Black Alliance. Only after both sides had pushed them around did they realize how little weight they truly carried, leaving them no choice but to seek refuge with the Heavenly Mansion.

At first, their leaders had wanted to demand the sky and haggle from there, but Fan Tian refused to indulge them. He struck directly, beating them into a bloody, pitiful mess before the members of the Heavenly Mansion and all three factions, then announced outright that the three factions would be absorbed.

Thus, within half a year, the Heavenly Mansion had become a top-tier faction in the Black-Corner Region.