Time slipped by, the years flying like a weaver's shuttle.
The snow in the mountains north of Black Iron City piled high, then slowly melted. The dense mountain forests yellowed and greened again, and the grass on the ground withered and sprang up anew...
After several cycles, five years had passed.
At that time, atop Black Iron City's western gate tower.
Deputy City Lord Liu Youfang adjusted his belt under the awed gazes of rank after rank of well-equipped City Guards, clad in sturdy armor and bearing sharp weapons.
With his head held high and his chest out, he climbed to the lookout platform high on the gate tower.
He gazed at the thriving scene within the city, where crowds wove through the streets and tall buildings stood in rows.
Then he looked outside the gates, where streaks of escape light shuttled back and forth, and large numbers of cultivators lined up to enter after inspection by the City Guards.
Liu Youfang could not help recalling Black Iron City's decline nearly ten years earlier, when scarcely a visitor had come to its gates.
As he reflected on this, a sense of pride welled up within him.
In less than ten short years, Black Iron City had undergone a change that turned heaven and earth upside down.
Not only had Black Iron City expanded several times over, far exceeding the dimensions of an ordinary main city.
Commerce within the city and the private holdings of the City Lord's Manor had also undergone "explosive" growth.
It was no exaggeration to say that Black Iron City had now become the "foremost city of the Southwestern Borderlands."
Even Biting Wind City, once the most prosperous city in the region, had been left far behind.
Liu Youfang reckoned that, aside from its reputation and lack