Heavenly South, Star-Magnetic Peak, Way-Seeking Palace.
A full sixty-year cycle had passed since Han Li entered the Deity Transformation Middle Stage.
These sixty years had seen the Star Palace's power firmly consolidated and its fame spread far and wide. They had also been sixty years in which Han Li rarely ventured out, quietly deepening his foundations and making his final preparations for the storm destined to come.
For mortals, sixty years were enough for blue seas to become mulberry fields; for a Deity Transformation cultivator, they were merely a relatively lengthy period of secluded cultivation. Outside, the winds and clouds shifted. Under the Star Palace's iron rule, Heavenly South and the Chaotic Star Sea had long since become one, with decrees flowing freely and resources circulating without cease. The Star Palace's eight divisions each performed their duties, governing this vast territory in orderly fashion. Talented cultivators of the younger generation emerged one after another, and the organization flourished by the day. Under the deterrence of overwhelming force and efficient administration, no dissenting voices remained within, while no outside power dared lightly provoke this fully grown behemoth.
Deep within the Way-Seeking Palace, inside the "Pseudo-Microcosm" Quiet Chamber.
Han Li sat cross-legged, his aura as deep as a still pool and as imposing as a mountain, unfathomable. He had long since fully stabilized his Deity Transformation Middle Stage cultivation. He had also repeatedly refined, familiarized himself with, and brought under control the pitch-black "Demon Source" hidden deep within his Dantian, unexpectedly born from the fusion of the "Defilement Spirit Pill" and "Deity Transformation Demon Essence," along with the subtle mutation it had caused in his "Primordial Magnetic Divine Light." Now, he could begin to command this newborn power, integrating it with his original dark-gold source energy, the Great Evolutionary Sword Art, his