Chapter 75: Echoes of the Firmament
Han Feng remained in Baihua City for three days.
He did not rush.
He did not chase rumors.
And he did not immediately continue toward the Central Region capital.
Instead, he cultivated.
The room he had rented was small, but its isolation formation was sufficient for his needs.
For three days, Han Feng sat cross-legged in silence.
His Qi circulated through his meridians.
Slowly.
Carefully.
There was no breakthrough.
He had already reached Qi Cultivation Rank 4.
What he needed now was stability.
The foundation beneath his cultivation was becoming increasingly solid.
The chaotic energy left behind by the dimensional vortex had been troublesome at first, but after several cycles of refinement, Han Feng discovered that a small portion of it could be dispersed safely.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu helped separate the foreign fluctuations from his ordinary Qi.
The Dual Chaos Larva stabilized the conflicting energies.
And the Celestial Diagram silently maintained the balance between them.
But Han Feng didn't rely on the Tear of the Black Sun to strengthen himself directly.
The Tear remained inside its sealed jade container.
It was a dangerous relic.
Its greatest value wasn't raw power.
It was perception.
It allowed Han Feng to notice things that ordinary spiritual sense couldn't.
And lately...
There had been far too many things to notice.
On the third night, Han Feng opened his eyes.
Something was wrong.
The spiritual energy inside the room had changed.
It wasn't weaker.
It wasn't stronger.
Its nature had changed.
One current felt warm and gentle.
Another was cold.
A third carried a strange metallic sensation.
Almost like rust.
Han Feng slowly stood.
He extended his hand.
Spiritual energy gathered around his fingers.
For an instant, two completely different currents collided.
Then separated.
Han Feng frowned.
"It's happening again."
He had felt this before.
Since arriving in the Central Region, the phenomenon had appeared more frequently.
It was almost as if the world itself was becoming layered.
Two different flows occupying the same space.
Two rhythms trying to use the same reality.
Han Feng closed his eyes.
The Celestial Diagram rotated inside his consciousness.
Six points.
One faint seventh.
The seventh point remained dark.
But the six points had begun responding more frequently to disturbances.
Han Feng opened his eyes.
"This isn't a breakthrough."
It wasn't even a cultivation phenomenon.
Something external was changing.
And he didn't know what.
Then—
Thunder exploded above Baihua City.
Han Feng immediately turned toward the window.
The sky had become dark.
Not because of ordinary clouds.
The clouds were spiraling.
A massive vortex formed above the city.
Green lightning crawled through it.
Cultivators began shouting in the streets.
"What's happening?"
"Get inside!"
"Activate the city formation!"
"Something is tearing through the sky!"
Han Feng's expression became serious.
He grabbed his cloak and left the room.
Within minutes, the entire city was awake.
Thousands of cultivators stood in the streets.
Formation masters rushed toward the central district.
Gu insects flew through the sky.
Alarm bells echoed between the buildings.
Han Feng climbed onto the roof of a nearby structure.
From there, he could see the entire city.
And at its center—
A pillar of black light rose into the heavens.
It wasn't a beam.
It looked more like a wound.
A vertical tear surrounded by twisting darkness.
The city formation activated immediately.
Hundreds of formation lines lit up across the streets.
But the black pillar didn't disappear.
Instead—
It expanded.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
"Spatial distortion..."
The Tear of the Black Sun resonated inside his storage space.
Han Feng didn't release it.
He didn't need to.
The resonance alone was enough to sharpen his perception.
The black pillar wasn't simply opening a portal.
It was exposing something behind the structure of space.
Han Feng stared into the darkness.
For a moment, he saw a silhouette.
A humanoid figure.
Tall.
Motionless.
Two golden eyes stared through the darkness.
Han Feng's breathing stopped.
The figure didn't attack.
It didn't speak.
It simply looked toward the city.
Then its head slowly turned.
Toward Han Feng.
His pupils contracted.
It sees me.
The black pillar suddenly collapsed.
The figure disappeared.
The sky returned to normal.
Han Feng remained motionless.
Several seconds passed.
Then he quietly stepped down from the roof.
He didn't tell anyone what he had seen.
Not yet.
The next morning, Baihua City was filled with rumors.
The strangest rumor was not about the black pillar.
It was about dreams.
Thousands of people had reportedly experienced the same dream.
A vast field of stars.
A dark horizon.
And a voice speaking from somewhere beyond sight.
"The Great Balance is breaking."
Some people remembered nothing beyond that.
Others claimed they had seen strange creatures.
A few insisted that they had witnessed an enormous eye opening among the stars.
Han Feng listened quietly from a tea house.
A cultivator at the next table spoke excitedly.
"My entire family had the same dream!"
Another laughed.
"Dreams are meaningless."
"Then explain why the entire eastern district dreamed the same thing."
"Formation interference."
"Then why did people outside the city see it too?"
Silence.
Han Feng lowered his cup.
He didn't believe the dreams were proof of another world.
But they were evidence of something.
A shared phenomenon.
Something capable of reaching the minds of thousands of people simultaneously.
That was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
The rumors continued to spread.
Cultivators had disappeared along several major roads.
A small sect near the northern border had reportedly been destroyed overnight.
Not by an invading force.
Its buildings were still standing.
Its formations were intact.
But every living person inside had vanished.
Several spiritual beasts had developed strange mutations.
Some possessed additional eyes.
Others had distorted spiritual cores.
One beast had reportedly begun speaking in an ancient language.
The powerful clans of the Central Region had started mobilizing.
Even the normally secretive factions were becoming restless.
Han Feng heard another rumor that concerned him more.
The Celestial Corpse Sect had increased its presence throughout the region.
Their spies were searching for someone.
The description was vague.
A young cultivator.
Shadow techniques.
Unknown origin.
Possible connection to ancient ruins.
Han Feng's expression remained unchanged.
But his fingers tightened around his cup.
They're still looking.
The Central Region was much larger than the Western Region.
Yet his enemies had reached it before him.
That meant either their information network was frighteningly efficient...
Or someone had told them where he was going.
Neither possibility was comforting.
That afternoon, Han Feng changed his identity again.
This time, he didn't rely entirely on clothing.
He used a Soul Chameleon Gu obtained through a discreet transaction in the outer market.
It wasn't powerful.
It couldn't completely alter his appearance.
But it could distort minor details.
The shape of the face.
The spiritual signature.
Even certain habitual movements.
Combined with the Celestial Veil, it was enough to make him difficult to recognize.
He became a quiet middle-aged-looking cultivator with dark hair and an ordinary face.
Not memorable.
Perfect.
He left Baihua City through the southern gate.
His destination was an ancient library several dozen kilometers away.
According to local rumors, the library had once belonged to a powerful cultivation clan.
The clan had disappeared hundreds of years ago.
Its records remained.
Han Feng wanted to know one thing.
Had these phenomena happened before?
If they had...
There might be records.
And if there were records—
Someone had survived them.
The library stood inside a valley.
Its entrance was covered by vines.
The formation protecting it had mostly collapsed.
Han Feng spent nearly half an hour deciphering the remaining restrictions before entering.
Dust covered the shelves.
Thousands of scrolls remained untouched.
Most were useless.
Genealogies.
Cultivation techniques.
Formation manuals.
Merchant records.
Local histories.
Han Feng searched for references to spatial anomalies.
Then ancient disasters.
Then celestial phenomena.
Finally, he found something.
A section labeled:
Records of the Firmament Distortions.
Han Feng's expression changed slightly.
He opened the first scroll.
The earliest record was more than two thousand years old.
It described strange spiritual storms.
Mutated beasts.
Unusual dreams.
And stars appearing where they shouldn't.
Han Feng continued reading.
Another event had occurred seven hundred years later.
Then another.
The descriptions were different.
But the pattern was disturbingly similar.
He turned another page.
The final record was incomplete.
A portion of the parchment had been torn away.
Only one sentence remained.
When the three Eyes open, the veil will fall.
Han Feng stared at it.
Three Eyes.
The red star.
The golden-eyed figure.
The eye from the vision inside the Tear's resonance.
Three possibilities.
Or three manifestations of the same phenomenon.
He continued reading.
Another line had been written beneath the first.
The Firmament will tremble, but the worlds will not yet touch.
Han Feng froze.
His fingers tightened around the parchment.
Not yet.
The same concept again.
The white-robed stranger.
The vision.
The prophecy.
They all pointed toward the same conclusion.
Something was approaching.
But it hadn't happened.
Not yet.
Han Feng slowly read the final surviving fragment.
Only those who walk between shadow and light will recognize the path.
He closed his eyes.
The phrase immediately reminded him of himself.
The Celestial Veil.
The Celestial Diagram.
The Dual Chaos Larva.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu.
The balance between opposing forces.
Shadow and light.
Chaos and order.
Qi and Gu essence.
Perhaps the phrase wasn't referring to a person.
Perhaps it was describing a method.
A path.
Han Feng opened his eyes.
"I need more."
He searched the remaining shelves.
Hours passed.
Eventually, he found a damaged wooden box beneath several collapsed scrolls.
Inside was a torn parchment.
Different handwriting.
Black ink.
No title.
Only a crude diagram.
Six points.
And beneath them—
A seventh point.
But unlike the Celestial Diagram, this seventh point had been crossed out.
Han Feng's breathing became slower.
Beneath the diagram were three words.
DO NOT AWAKEN.
He stared at them.
Then noticed something else.
A faint mark beneath the seventh point.
An eye.
Not open.
Closed.
Han Feng immediately stored the parchment.
He didn't touch it again.
Whatever the original writer had feared, Han Feng had no intention of discovering it by trial and error.
He remained in the library until nightfall.
Outside, the wind moved through the valley.
Han Feng stood at the entrance.
The Central Region stretched before him.
He had come here believing he needed stronger cultivation.
That remained true.
But now he understood that strength alone wouldn't be enough.
He needed knowledge.
He needed allies.
And most importantly—
He needed to understand the rules of the phenomenon before those rules changed.
The world was not yet collapsing.
But something was approaching the boundary.
And every new sign suggested that the boundary was becoming thinner.
Han Feng looked toward the distant horizon.
"I won't be consumed by it."
His voice was quiet.
"But I won't pretend I can ignore it either."
He pulled his cloak tighter.
The Soul Chameleon Gu altered his appearance.
The Celestial Veil concealed his aura.
His cultivation remained at Qi Rank 4.
No breakthrough.
No sudden increase in power.
Just another step forward.
Han Feng turned away from the library.
Baihua City disappeared behind the mountains.
Ahead lay the road to the Central Region capital.
And somewhere beyond that road were the answers he needed.
Or perhaps—
More questions.
He didn't care which.
He had already learned something important.
The unknown was not always something to fear.
Sometimes...
It was the only direction worth walking toward.
Far above the Central Region, hidden beyond the ordinary sky, three faint lights appeared.
One red.
One gold.
One black.
They remained for only a few breaths.
Then the black light disappeared.
The gold followed.
The red remained.
Watching.
Waiting.
And somewhere beyond the boundary between worlds, an unseen presence whispered:
"Not yet."