After bidding farewell to the capital of the Yulan Empire, Shiheng and Kelin Xiaoman did not immediately set out for the Principality of Klan. Together, they concealed their cultivation, reined in every trace of a powerful cultivator's edge, and hid their astonishing strength, traveling at a leisurely pace across the vast eastern lands of the Yulan Continent.
Time flowed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, half a year quietly slipped away.
Over those six months, they completely shed the tension brought on by ten years of arduous secluded cultivation, temporarily setting aside the bottlenecks constraining their attainment in the Edicts and forgetting the many perils along the long road to godhood. They became an ordinary couple in the mortal world, strolling leisurely through nations and territories large and small across the eastern lands.
They entered towering, imposing cities and walked long bluestone streets worn smooth by time, watching the bustling traffic and endless streams of pedestrians in the streets and alleys; they passed through mountain hamlets and rural villages, watching cooking smoke curl up from every household as the sounds of chickens, dogs, and cheerful laughter lingered in their ears; they stopped in coastal city-states to experience the distinctive atmosphere of sweeping sea breezes and surging waves; they entered the tribes of the Gobi to experience the local people's frank, heroic temperaments and carefree bearing.
Along the way, they took in the customs of every region and witnessed the folk traditions of countless nations, observing one by one the myriad facets of human life throughout the eastern continent.
For ten full years, cultivation had filled their lives. Each day held nothing but tedious deductions of the Laws, contemplation of the obscure Great Dao, relentless meditation day and night, and the honing of combat prowess on the edge of