In the blink of an eye, years had passed.
For the majority of the cultivators and common folk in Eternal Sun Prefecture and Azure Cloud Region, they knew nothing of the battle on Qilin Mountain, nor did they know that they had been on the verge of being sacrificed by Tian Xing.
Perhaps the greatest impact that day had on them was the beginning of many months of continuous, heavy rain, accompanied by incessant rumbles of thunder.
Now, in the various cities and towns of Eternal Sun Prefecture, the government offices, which had never done a lick of real work, were suddenly getting things done.
Groups of guards clad in black armor patrolled the streets. And for some unknown reason, those great factions, who had always been so full of false benevolence and righteousness, were now keeping an extraordinarily low profile.
The brothels of Eternal Sun Prefecture had once been genteel places, where poetry was recited over wine, and the clientele were powdered young nobles from wealthy clans. But now, crude curses echoed through the halls—men shouting insults that would make a sailor blush.
These days, the patrons were brawny, calloused types, and when they ran into someone they knew, their greetings were anything but polite:
"You old bastard! What the hell are you doing in a place like this again?"
Best to steer clear of these sorts. Most of them were cultivators, and not weak ones either.
Across Eternal Sun Prefecture, clashes over resources were growing increasingly common. Fierce battles often broke out in remote, dangerous places where ordinary mortals dared not tread.
In the past, when disciples of the great sects encountered a rare Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure, they would at least go through the motions—declaring their sect's name, reciting a few lofty lines about righteousness and moral virtue—before making a move to seize it.
These days, that kind of performance was rare. The new rule was simple: fight first, talk later.
If you lost and begged for mercy... more often than not, your head would be separated from your shoulders.
If you were strong enough to survive the fight, then perhaps—perhaps—you might be treated to a few idle courtesies afterward, like discussing which clans you belonged to.
.....
Eternal Sun Prefecture, Solaria City.
In a teahouse, one could see cultivators gathered together, all listening with great relish as a storyteller with a goat-like beard recounted his tale.
This storyteller was a peculiar character himself.
He sat in there with the swagger of a street tough, arms sprawled wide, as if the whole teahouse belonged to him. Every few sentences, he'd throw in a curse that would make even a brothel madam blush—half of them involving someone's mother.
"Speaking of which, ten years ago, a truly momentous event happened in this shithole place of Eternal Sun Prefecture," he began. "It's the very thing that made our Prefecture the way it is today."
"Just look! The Prefecture Lord has changed!
The war against the Wu Clan on the border of the Azure Cloud Region has ceased!
How many cultivators have now come to Eternal Sun Prefecture to work as government guards just to make a living?
And those great clans and grand sects, every last one of them is acting no different than a tortoise hiding in its shell, and all because of a single family."
"The Li family!"
The moment these words were spoken, a cultivator slapped his thigh and said.
"Right, right, right! Our current Prefecture Lord, I hear, his surname is Li.
A true master, he is; he suppresses the many families and sects so much that they don't even dare to breathe loudly.
I heard that ten years ago, these great factions all moved out of Solaria City overnight, completely going into seclusion and ceasing their struggles. What you say is really possible."
Another cultivator took a long swig of wine, wiped his mouth, and leaned in as if sharing a secret.
"But here's the real kicker—Azure Cloud Region, the Li family's old stronghold, it's locked down tight now. Heavily fortified. Regular folk can't even get close. Word is, our new Prefecture Lord comes from that very Li clan.
That family… they didn't just survive. They clawed their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Damn near got wiped out. But somehow, they lived—and dragged what was left of their people here, to Eternal Sun Prefecture..."
As he spoke, the cultivator lowered his voice to a low whisper.
"I'll let you in on a little secret," he said. "They're the ones who killed the last Prefecture Lord. Later, even eighteen Mahayana realm masters from our Azure Dynasty came, and they still couldn't suppress the Li family!
That battle, tsk tsk... You know Li Changyao? The Arrow Immortal!
She killed eighteen Mahayana masters with sixteen arrows, and the final arrow killed three at once!"
"Hiss~ Are they really that incredible?"
Everyone in the teahouse sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
But this made the storyteller's face turn black with rage. He slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone.
"You stupid dogs, stop spouting dog farts! Are you the storyteller here, or is this old man?!"
The teahouse patrons couldn't help but have their expressions change. From that one slap, it was clear this storyteller's cultivation base was far from simple.
The storyteller said, "Wrong, all wrong! In that great battle, the one who acted was named Li Yundou, and his title was the Divine Battle Immortal Master! And he wasn't fighting some mere Mahayana masters, but a legendary Immortal, ah..."
"What? The Divine Battle Immortal Master fought an Immortal?!!"
The teahouse patrons were horrified. Seeing the storyteller let out a sigh, they couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what are you sighing for?"
"It's all because the other Li family members in that battle couldn't pull their weight!" he lamented.
"The Divine Battle Immortal Master's grandfather, only a mere Divinity Transformation expert, was wounded by the aftershocks from the Immortal's power.
His great-uncle? All the swords in his sword box were shattered.
And his useless old man... sigh... he had his legs broken.
It was only because of all this that the Divine Battle Immortal Master had no choice but to awaken in the face of crisis and, with a single axe strike, shatter a million Immortals!"
"What?!!"
The teahouse patrons looked at the storyteller's serious demeanor, utterly horrified.
However, just as they were about to ask another question, they saw the storyteller suddenly begin to tremble, sweat pouring down his face like rain.
His voice even began to quiver. "G...Great-Uncle?"
Crack!
The sound of a bone breaking rang out. The storyteller suddenly seemed half a head shorter.
The goat-like beard on his chin drooped down—it was clearly just glued on, and his disguise technique was truly not very good.
Behind him, a young, handsome prodigy carrying a sword box, who didn't even reach the storyteller's chest in height, wore a cold expression.
He unceremoniously twisted the storyteller's arm until it broke and dragged him out of the teahouse.
Any ordinary person watching would have felt a full-body ache just from the sight of it.
"Ah!!! Great-Uncle, I was wrong! This nephew will never dare to do it again!"
"You still dare to say you were wrong? How many times have I caught you now?
You stubborn thing, refusing to repent! You've spread rumors about the clan's prestige until it's worth less than dog farts!
Speak! Who let you out of confinement?"
"Don't... my teeth! Stop twisting my head! I'll talk, Great-Uncle, isn't it enough that I'll talk? It was Tianyi! Tianyi, let me out!"
"That one's a scoundrel, too. The Nangong family's ancestral tombs are a complete mess, and they've already come to our house to complain."
"Right, right, right! Tianyi is the real scoundrel!
He's taken Tianqi and Tianming to the Wu Clan's territory now.
Don't worry about me, I can get home on my own. It's more important to catch them now."
"You... If there weren't important matters in the clan, I'd have the Old Tree torture you for two or three years!"
This brutal scene made all the patrons from the teahouse and the passersby on the street shudder.
Just what kind of family was this, that they would beat their own junior like that?
His body was all twisted.
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