Erald Valley.
Beyond the Outer City of Black Cloud, past the fringe towns and wildlands, lay a small valley known for producing rough jadeite, situated just beyond the Mist wall.
When Lin Hui arrived, Ouyang Yining was already waiting with her personal guard. She held a Relic array disk and bowed.
"Excellency, this is the Mist-parting array disk gifted by the Great City Lord," she said. "It is typically used to establish new cities. A single disk can isolate a Mist-Free Zone of roughly one hundred li in radius, and once deployed, it consus approximately one hundred thousand units of Feather Blood per year."
"No wonder so few build cities out here," Lin Hui sighed. "That kind of consumption is practically burning money."
"Indeed. Only major clans backed by a Blood Ancestor have the financial power to open private territories," Ouyang Yining agreed. "The expense is staggering—and the larger the Mist-Free Zone, the steeper the cost."
"That will do." Lin Hui said.
She passed him the disk. He leaped into the air above the valley.
The governance core of the Sacred Form of Heaven was the atmosphere over the region, so he first needed to understand its state.
He passed through the Mist and rose swiftly, climbing over ten thousand ters, piercing the cloud layer and breaking through into the open sky above.
Golden sunlight fell on him, bathing his robes, while the Mist churned far below in a dense, rolling mass.
Lin Hui gently tossed the array disk downward.
It burst with golden light, driving through the Mist and taking up position high above Erald Valley.
In an instant, the disk captured the sun's rays, converting them into countless golden threads that radiated toward the ground. Wherever those densely packed threads struck, the Mist thinned by a fraction.
Within minutes, a circular Mist-Free Zone a hundred li in diater opened up below him.
He extended his right hand, palm facing down, and circulated the Star Breath Sword Canon.
A golden-blue halo illuminated his palm, then surged downward as a pillar of light, piercing the Mist and driving deep into the earth.
He retracted his hand. An atmospheric map of Erald Valley had already ford in his mind.
This was the most crucial step of the Star Breath Sword Canon: splitting off a sliver of one's mind-spirit and rging it with the atmosphere above the region—an ability achievable only after completing the first two stages of life and destruction.
At that mont, Lin Hui could sense countless auras of life and destruction mixing and flowing through the air around him.
So were strong, others weak; so swift, others sluggish. They tangled and clashed. He traced one of the life-auras and was surprised to find a black-armored lizard that had just burrowed up from underground.
It seed recently born. Its life-aura blazed with density, while the death-aura occupied only a tiny sliver. But Lin Hui also noticed sothing else: alongside life and death, a faint wisp of gray energy coiled around the palm-sized creature.
The gray energy seed alive, constantly siphoning sothing from the lizard's body, pulsing rhythmically as it wound tight around the scales. The aura of Corruption.
He probed it carefully, and the identification ca quickly.
The unmistakable stench of rot—identical to what he had sensed from the Corruption-mutated Blood-Eyed afflicted and Blood-Body afflicted long ago.
Studying that aura of Corruption, Lin Hui began to see how to parse and comprehend the third layer of the Star Breath Sword Canon.
…
The opening of a new Mist-Free Zone in Erald Valley drew a massive influx of refugees. Arriving from afar with nothing to their nas, they poured into this new haven where they could settle without fighting entrenched local factions.
Within the month, a sparse little town had taken shape in the valley.
Buildings rose steadily, and public facilities were completed in rapid succession under the resource allocation of Black Cloud City. Among them, plots of land were set aside for the Lin Manor and the Clear Wind Dao Academy to build new courtyards.
Alongside the valley, new fields were broken open, and herds of Mist Zone monsters were penned and raised for food. In Black Cloud, the combined Evil Energy of the three City Lords had ford an exceptionally rare ability that rendered Mist Zone monsters fit for consumption.
No matter how chaotic the outside world beca, Black Cloud held steady.
Another three months passed in the blink of an eye. After exhausting every last dicine and precious herb at his disposal, Lin Hui finally completed the evolution of the Blood Seal's sealing thod.
At last, the Wind Disaster rift could be fully sealed.
…
Inside the Clear Wind Dao courtyard.
He stood alone in the room, studying the pale blue cracks floating in midair. The Relic suppressing the rift was failing again—by his estimate, another disaster would occur within half a year. Fortunately, the sealing secret art was complete, whatever the cost had been.
This secret art was crafted specifically to target the Wind Disaster. It would resolve the threat permanently.
Lin Hui raised his hand toward the rift.
"Do you truly wish to do this? My good disciple I have never t…" The voice of Perfected Lord Seven Extinctions rang in his ear once more.
"This world is corrupt—tainted by the power of countless inferior breeds. Living beings endure only incomparable suffering. If the wind were fully released, perhaps it could transform this rotting reality and sweep the sky clean!"
The voice went on. This rhetoric bore no resemblance to the Seven Extinctions of Lin Hui's mory. It felt instead as though sothing else was using Seven Extinctions' guise to tempt him into tearing the rift open and unleashing the Wind Disaster.
"I don't recall ever taking you as my master," Lin Hui said flatly, pressing his hand against the rift.
Brilliant blue light blazed wildly as countless silver array patterns and symbols erged, spinning around him.
The ancient, resonant roar of so vast, unfamiliar creature echoed through the air.
"It's useless… You have inherited my Nine Skies legacy and are destined to restart everything. A seal like this won't hold for long…"
Seven Extinctions' voice grew faint, drifting further and further away, until it dissolved entirely.
The rift before Lin Hui's eyes faded rapidly, vanishing along with the spinning silver array patterns.
He waited until it was completely gone before lowering his hand. A product of the Blood Seal—the effect was exactly as promised.
This sudden Wind Disaster rift had always been his deepest source of dread. Now that it was gone, it was as though a boulder had been lifted from his chest.
Next: the continued cultivation of the third layer, the Sacred Form of Heaven. The two remaining layers of the Star Breath Sword Canon were a perfect match for his need to build a safe territory, and now that the Blood Seal was freed, the mont to lay the groundwork for his sanctuary had arrived.
That foundation was sothing Lin Hui had considered for a long ti—an isolated spirit land.
The ideal form for such a place was the three suspended mountain peaks occupied by the three City Lords. Mobile, capable of housing array formations, they were essentially enclosed flying war fortresses.
Lin Hui intended to develop in exactly that direction. He left the courtyard imdiately and returned to the sky above Erald Valley.
The valley below was already ho to several thousand refugees, with food and supplies flowing in continuously. Artisans had begun producing goods, and processing workshops were up and running. Despite its heavy dependence on the outside world, the settlent already functioned as a proper town.
It stretched in a long strip from one end of the valley to the other. From high above, Lin Hui looked down: the barren gray mountains on either side looked like two slabs of gray bread pressing around a wedge of white cheese—the town itself.
Without delay, he targeted the whole of Erald Valley and the soil to a depth of fifty ters, called upon the Blood Seal, and selected evolution.
[Erald Land: A wilderness in the Mist Zone south of Black Cloud City, capable of producing so low-quality jadeite. Evolvable Branches: 5.]
He opened the Evolvable Branches without hesitation, curious to see what kind of spirit land could be forged with his current Reserve Energy and mind-spirit.
[1 — Polar Domain Territory.]
[2 — Desolate Frozen Earth.]
[3 — Hell Valley.]
[4 — Fairy Garden.]
[5 — Evil Shadow Divine Kingdom.]
Not a single normal option. Lin Hui stared at the five choices, at a loss for words. Despite walking a righteous path, every evolution on offer seed bent toward sothing crooked.
He closed the nu and reopened it. The result was the sa. There were no alternatives this ti—only these five. He had no choice but to read through them.
[1 — Polar Domain Territory: Designate a single ability of any entrant for extre suppression. The chosen ability’s effectiveness can be reduced by up to 50%. This suppression has no effect if the entrant’s own energy exceeds the total energy contained within the territory.]
[2 — Desolate Frozen Earth: A prison of eternal permafrost built to hold the most heinous criminals. Entrants are entombed in ice and subjected to an unending nightmare of tornt. This effect fails if the prisoner’s energy exceeds the territory’s total energy sum.]
[3 — Hell Valley: All living beings residing here will gradually undergo hellification. The valley owner automatically gains the authority of a Hell Lord and may command all hellified creatures.]
[4 — Fairy Garden: A garden of destiny created jointly by fifteen types of great fairies. Entrants may receive blessings or curses. Effects are independent of energy level.]
[5 — Evil Shadow Divine Kingdom: Once completed, it will, once per year, randomly connect to an unknown and powerful entity. This was the exclusive domain painstakingly constructed by the great traveling rchant Haoding, who used it to forge the glory of his race—until a single, misfortunate connection brought about the complete annihilation of his space-ti.]
Lin Hui looked over all five. The last option in particular, hinging entirely on luck, was dismissed at once.
His attention narrowed to two: Hell Valley and Polar Domain Territory. Because Hell Valley would forcibly transform inhabitants into hell creatures, it fell short of the Polar Domain Territory. He selected the first option and initiated the evolution.
So long as the rank and number of experts residing within the spirit land continued to grow, its suppressive power would remain dominant against outside threats—a dynamic that suited the Clear Wind Dao perfectly.
After the spirit land would co protection array formations, production workshops, and all other supporting facilities. With the conditions now in place, it was ti to realize the vision in full. He had long carried the dream of building a true Clear Wind Dao martial sect. Once a self-sufficient spirit land was in place, he would have an absolute sanctuary—a stronghold capable of sheltering, defending, retreating into, and fighting from. In an increasingly dangerous world, safety was the most precious asset of all.
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