Zhi Xuan fell silent for a moment, allowing the astral wind—which now felt welcoming—to brush against his long black hair. He closed his eyes, sensing the presence of the Divine Soul dwelling firmly within his Sea of Consciousness. The figure, a perfect likeness of himself, sat cross-legged atop the Heavenly Samsara Wheel, radiating an authority that transcended the age of his mortal frame.

  "True," Zhi Xuan replied softly. "The world will continue to birth those with sharp minds—clean canvases upon which to carve new legends."

  He then gestured toward the void. Instantly, the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, which had swallowed the Xuan-Huang essence and the Slaughter Karma Crystal, floated toward him. The cauldron no longer emitted a crushing, heavy aura; instead, it held a profound silence, as if it had become an inseparable part of Zhi Xuan’s existence.

  "Ao Sheng, Xiao Die, return to the cauldron," Zhi Xuan commanded. "The Xuan-Huang burden within has now become a stable foundation. You can cultivate there with greater peace, while I activate this altar formation to return to Yao Gu."

  "Understood, Senior!" Xiao Die exclaimed cheerfully, giving a small bow before darting into the cauldron along with her rainbow pollen.

  Ao Sheng nodded firmly, his eyes still shimmering with lingering awe. "I will guard this cauldron as if it were my own dragon nest, Senior. When you call upon us again, I ensure my spear will be worthy of your current majesty."

  Once the two beings vanished into the cauldron, Zhi Xuan turned toward Ruo Xianxue. The Sacred Devil figure was gazing far toward the silver vortex that served as the exit from this dimension.

  "Great Saint, do you think the Imperial Elder is still waiting for me behind that gate?" Zhi Xuan asked. "Or has Xing Luo already birthed new legends?"

  Ruo Xianxue curled her lips into a thin, enigmatic smile. "Time in the Great Constellation dimension moves to a different rhythm than the mortal world, but two hundred years is still a short time for those who live for millennia. Do you think he would wait for you like a mere sentry? Since you decided not to return immediately back then, you must return now with hands capable of moving mountains."

  With that, Ruo Xianxue’s spiritual form faded and vanished from Zhi Xuan’s sight, returning to the branches of the Devil Tree of Life that served as her roost. She closed all channels of communication thereafter, intending to enjoy her meditation after centuries of overseeing Zhi Xuan’s grueling Soul Transformation.

  Zhi Xuan stood like a statue at the center of the now-silent altar, accompanied only by the dim glow of the receding stars. Ruo Xianxue’s departure left a cold void, but within Zhi Xuan’s spirit, there burned a life-fire that refused to dwindle.

  "Two hundred years..." he whispered, his voice like an echo at the bottom of a primordial well. "If fate is indeed a circle, then my return this time is to forge a higher Dao."

  He stepped toward the center of the altar formation left by the Xing Luo Imperial Elder centuries ago according to his dimension's timeline. The jade characters embedded in the floor appeared dull, covered in thick astral dust. However, for Zhi Xuan—who now possessed the Heavenly Eye—he could see the remnants of spiritual intent left by the Elder: a formation command waiting to be awakened by the correct essence.

  Zhi Xuan stomped his foot. Instantly, a pillar of twilight-gray light exploded from his body, flowing into the crevices of the ancient characters. His mid-stage Soul Transformation energy was no longer just a flow of power, but a command to the laws of space and time in that place.

  RUMBLE—!

  The altar shook violently. The silver light vortex on the horizon of the Second Great Constellation expanded, pulling Zhi Xuan’s frame into the turbulent dimensional tunnel. The cold that once tortured him now felt like the wash of a river in spring. He allowed his body to hurtle across insurmountable distances, piercing the veil between the Great Constellation dimension and the Yao Gu Plains.

  Beyond the twisting dimensional tunnel that coiled like a silver dragon, Zhi Xuan saw a glimmer of seven lights growing larger. With a single surge of will from his Divine Soul, Zhi Xuan shot out from the mouth of the energy vortex, landing with a grace that didn't even disturb the dust in the air on the other side of the Yao Gu Plains.

  Above the horizon, the Seven Suns of Yao Gu shone brightly. The Heavenly Laws remained dense, as every cultivation built here possessed a foundation sturdier than those of the other Nine Plains. Zhi Xuan spread his divine sense, but he did not find the Court of Holy Light or the Yao Gu Main Hall as before.

  "I am in another land of Yao Gu," Zhi Xuan muttered, looking around at the vast green forests and sacred mountains towering behind the clouds. "Yao Gu... still possessing such dense Heavenly Laws."

  Zhi Xuan stood still, taking a deep breath to feel the spiritual essence filling his lungs. The air in the Yao Gu Plains felt far heavier and richer than when he was in the Five Element realm, but for his body—which had now achieved early godhood—the pressure was merely like a soothing breeze.

  He closed his sapphire eye, letting his Divine Sense spread like a giant spiderweb, covering thousands of miles in an instant. Under his inner watch, he sensed the pulse of life from thousands of high-level beasts inhabiting these mountains, as well as the energy ripples of cultivators meditating in hidden caves.

  Yet, not a single one of them noticed his presence; Zhi Xuan’s existence had merged with the harmony of nature, as if he were part of the trees and the mountains themselves.

  "Two hundred years have passed in mortal time, yet who knows how many faces and forests have changed," he murmured softly.

  Zhi Xuan moved his fingers, and the Heavenly Eye in his right socket pulsed faintly behind his closed eyelid. Instantly, his vision pierced through layers of matter. He saw the threads of Heavenly Law forming this land—intricate golden patterns that maintained the stability of Yao Gu.

  He began to walk, but he no longer touched the ground. Each step in the air created a transparent ripple that propelled his body like gray lightning across the peaks of giant trees. His movement was so swift it left only a faint shadow that even the eye of a Five Element realm cultivator could not catch.

  As he passed a valley filled with toxic mist, he saw a group of young cultivators surrounded by a pack of Azure King-level Jade-Eyed Wolves. The youths wore robes embroidered with suns—disciples of a sect under the banner of Yao Gu.

  Their faces were filled with terror, and the leader of the group, a youth with a cracked sword, seemed prepared to perform a soul-sacrifice to save his companions.

  Zhi Xuan paused for a moment above the clouds, gazing at the scene below with a flat expression. In the past, he might have felt pity or been driven by anger. But now, with his soul tempered by the silence of the stars and the density of the Devil Seed, he saw the struggle of life and death as an inevitable part of the cycle of the Dao.

  "The world remains a cruel place for the weak," he thought. However, just as one of the wolves was about to leap toward a little girl among the group—who, for some reason, reminded him of the shadows of Mei Hua in the past—the finger of Zhi Xuan’s left hand moved slightly.

  Instantly, an immense pressure fell from the sky. With a booming sound that rippled through the air, the wolf pack was immediately slammed into the ground, their bones crushed by a weight equivalent to a small mountain.

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  Zhi Xuan moved his finger subtly, and the wolves were instantly sliced into piles of meat, leaving Azure King cores floating into the hands of each young cultivator.

  The young cultivators gasped, their breath hitching in their throats as they witnessed the death that had been staring them in the face suddenly vanish in a blink.

  They saw no sword, heard no mantra, and did not even sense the presence of any figure. All they felt was a majestic will falling from the sky, like a divine decree that even the law of the jungle could not dispute.

  "W-who... which Senior has saved our lowly lives?" the group leader cried out with a trembling voice. He knelt on the ground, muddy with wolf blood, looking up at the calmly drifting clouds, but there was no answer but the hiss of the valley wind.

  Zhi Xuan had already sped far away before the voice finished. He needed no gratitude, nor did he desire worship. To him, saving the little girl was merely a spontaneous act to appease the remnants of humanity within his Divine Soul before he fully stepped into the arena of the sovereigns.

  He continued to fly south, where the concentration of spiritual essence felt densest—usually signifying a large city or a center of cultivation civilization. During his journey, he passed giant rivers that radiated jade light and primordial forests that seemed to hold secrets since the creation of the world.

  After traveling thousands of li across mountains shrouded in eternal mist, Zhi Xuan’s gaze finally caught the silhouette of a magnificent city that seemed carved from a single block of giant marble. The city floated above a vast mirror lake, connected by beautifully arched bridges of light.

  "Dragon Lotus City," Zhi Xuan whispered as he read the characters at the gate from afar. His sharp eyes recognized the ancient architecture that served as the largest information and trade hub in the southern region of Yao Gu.

  Zhi Xuan landed at the edge of the light bridge crossing the mirror lake; his steps now felt incredibly light, yet every touch of his feet on the bridge seemed to carry the profound weight of natural law.

  Dragon Lotus City appeared far noisier and more vibrant than it had been two hundred years ago in his vague memories. Thousands of cultivators of various levels moved about, their colorful robes creating a dynamic painting of motion under the light of the Seven Suns.

  He suppressed his divine aura until it was faint, letting himself appear as a wandering scholar with long black hair tied neatly. Even so, the handsomeness of his face, which had now reached the perfection of a divine body, still drew several pairs of eyes along the street.

  "Two hundred years," Zhi Xuan murmured again as he passed a tea house whose fragrance evoked memories of mortal comfort. "This world never seems to stop turning, even if one life is considered lost in the vortex of time."

  He stepped into an information pavilion known as the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. The building towered high with observation towers surrounded by high-level protective formations. Here, news concerning the Nine Plains was traded for no small amount of jade.

  Zhi Xuan approached a counter guarded by a squint-eyed old man with Five Element realm cultivation. The man looked up, his eyes widening slightly as he gazed at Zhi Xuan's face. There was something incredibly foreign and oppressive about the youth before him, something that made his skin crawl even though the youth emitted no threatening energy.

  "Young Master... how may the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets assist you?" the old man asked with a tone far more polite than usual.

  "I wish to know the news of Yao Gu over the last two hundred years," Zhi Xuan’s voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority. "Price is of no concern to me."

  The old man was stunned for a moment, his fingers—previously busy counting jade abacus beads—suddenly froze. Asking for two hundred years of news was not a common request; usually, cultivators only sought the upheavals of the last decade. However, he quickly lowered his head, realizing that the figure before him was not someone he could underestimate with mortal vision.

  "Two hundred years is a long span of time for those without longevity, Young Master," the old man replied, reaching into a secret drawer beneath the desk. He pulled out a pitch-black bamboo scroll encircled by a silver seal. "This is the Star Summary of Yao Gu. Within it are recorded the ebbs and flows of great sects, the change of sovereigns in the Sacred Plains, and the emergence of new talents that have shaken the Nine Plains."

  Zhi Xuan placed a bag containing a stack of high-grade spiritual jade stones on the marble table. The stones radiated a pure glow that instantly made the temperature inside the counter warm and rich with essence. The old man swallowed hard; the value of the stones far exceeded the price of the information he provided.

  Zhi Xuan accepted the black bamboo scroll, his slender fingers touching the cool surface of the bamboo. With one touch of his divine sense, the silver seal shattered like dew exposed to the sun, allowing the flow of spiritual information to flood his mind in an instant.

  The old man behind the counter remained transfixed by the pile of jade Zhi Xuan had given him, his hands trembling as he began to sweep the pure jades into his storage bag. He dared not look into Zhi Xuan’s eyes; to him, this youth was like a calm ocean on the surface that hid a predatory dragon in its depths.

  Zhi Xuan closed his eyes, letting the characters of light from the scroll dance within his Sea of Consciousness. Information after information was absorbed, re-mapping the power structure of Yao Gu that had shifted during the two centuries of his disappearance.

  "Yao Gu," Zhi Xuan muttered, opening his eyes and staring into the distance, yet he found no information regarding the Xing Luo Plains. "It truly is unimaginably far."

  Zhi Xuan did not dwell on it; he was in no rush to find a way back home to the Xing Luo Plains. To him, the Yao Gu Plains—filled with the potential of Heavenly Laws and a cultivation density even thicker than Xing Luo’s—made him content to stay here for now. Besides, he would never be able to traverse the unimaginable distance between the Plains on his own.

  Zhi Xuan turned his gaze back to the old man, this time wearing a slightly calm and friendly expression. "Is there any interesting news around Dragon Lotus City?"

  The old man breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the oppressive aura from Zhi Xuan soften slightly, though the remnants of that divine authority still made him feel small. He stroked his thin beard, trying to dig up the freshest memories stored in the southern archives of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets.

  "If the Young Master asks about Dragon Lotus City," the old man began in a whisper, as if fearing the pavilion walls had ears. "Then currently the whole city is talking about the Dragon Tide Banquet to be held tonight at the Dragon Lotus Courtyard. This is not merely a tea banquet and a standard auction exchange, Young Master."

  The old man leaned forward, his eyes glinting with secrets but also with a cult-like adoration of charm. "Master Taixuan has stated that he is gathering fellow cultivators for his journey to the Ancient Demon Lands, and this banquet will also feature dancers from the famous brothel in the Moon Fox Pavilion."

  Zhi Xuan knit his brow slightly. Hearing the name "Ancient Demon Lands" certainly piqued his intuition, but the way the old man spoke of the dancers from the Moon Fox Pavilion with a slightly reddened face was irritating enough that Zhi Xuan resumed his cold expression.

  "Forget about the foxes," Zhi Xuan hissed coldly, demanding more information. "Tell me, what is this Master Taixuan seeking in the Ancient Demon Lands?"

  The old man jumped, immediately straightening his posture and wiping the trace of lewd admiration that had crossed his face. He cleared his throat, realizing that the youth before him was not a cultivator to be lured by mortal worldly pleasures or restricted by desires for harmful relationships to the Dao.

  "Forgive this old man’s insolence, Young Master," he said seriously. "Master Taixuan is a mid-stage Soul Transformation realm cultivator who has long resided in the southern region. Rumors circulating in limited circles suggest that he has found the intersection of the Rusted Sword Tomb located on the outskirts of the Ancient Demon Lands."

  The old man paused for a moment, ensuring no one else was listening. "It is said that the Rusted Sword Tomb houses one of the thirteen missing Calamity Banners from the great war thousands of years ago. Master Taixuan claims he needs companions with high cultivation—at least the Soul Transformation realm—to pierce the demonic mist protecting that place."

  Zhi Xuan fell silent. The name "Ancient Demon Lands" triggered a faint throb in the Devil Seed now fully merged with his Divine Soul. That place was known as a forbidden territory in Yao Gu, a land contaminated by the blood of ancient demons where natural laws worked chaotically. For him, having achieved Soul Transformation, such a place was the perfect field to test the limits of his new strength.

  "Calamity Banner?" Zhi Xuan repeated in an inquisitive tone. He took out a piece of high-grade spiritual stone and placed it on the table. "Tell. Me. Everything."

  The old man stared at the high-grade spiritual stone as if looking at the heart of a jade mountain. He swallowed hard, his wrinkled fingers trembling as he covered the stone with a piece of black silk so its glow wouldn't draw the jealousy of information thieves around the pavilion.

  "The Calamity Banners," the old man whispered, his voice now as low as a snake’s hiss. "Many think they are merely myths to scare mortal children, Young Master. But for those who have touched the path of immortality, they are artifacts capable of shaking the southern region."

  "This southern region is very far from the center of Yao Gu itself," the old man continued. "Sometimes, many outcast cultivators come here to seek their fortunes by becoming minions for high-level cultivators. The word from Master Taixuan’s subordinates is that the banner located in the Ancient Demon Lands is the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner."