Not long after Qing Chen's blood-colored escape light vanished over the horizon, the clamor in the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range had yet to subside.
The Prefectural Army's stern ranks, Prefect Chen Yan's seemingly genial yet unquestionable face, and Qian Dafu's mournful expression, as though his own father had died;
all told the more than twenty thousand cultivators present in no uncertain terms:
this newly ascended True Lord's rules were not something they could simply listen to and forget.
While this one-of-a-kind assembly for collecting congratulatory gifts proceeded under duress;
elsewhere, in war-torn Qiongzhou, True Lord Tie Ming was communicating with his eldest uncle.
[Lingnan Circuit, Qiongzhou, Miaochong Prefecture, Coiled Snake County seat, deep within a heavily guarded bunker]
Inside a secret chamber covered in intricate formation patterns and suffused with spiritual light;
Tie Ming stood motionless before a continuously rotating communication array.
The screen of light at the array's center rippled, revealing a face that commanded respect without anger, its bristling beard like a halberd;
-it was his eldest uncle, Tie Zhan, the Spirit-Guarding Commander in charge of Lingnan Circuit's military affairs, a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator.
"We've more or less confirmed what happened over in Minjiang Province."
[Tie Zhan]'s voice came through the array with a metallic ring, though his tone was rather complicated,
"Spiritual energy formed a city, and laws manifested. In all likelihood, the one undergoing the tribulation was that brat Qing Chen.
He certainly knew how to pick a spot. To think he dared form his Nascent Soul right next door to my Lingnan Circuit, under Wu Gui's very nose. He's grown some nerve!"
Tie Ming showed little surprise.
In fact, Qing Chen had secretly told 'Tie Ming' that he was going to form his Nascent Soul, though he had not said where.
Naturally, Tie Ming