After Liang Chen stepped into the door of light, he suddenly found himself standing at the side of the blue mass of energy that served as the entrance to the Mystic's Hidden Realm. Liang Chen swept the surroundings with a quick glance, but other than the thin path that led away from the entrance and out of the forest, there was nothing but trees as far as the eye could see.
There was only a slight amount of light visible through the openings in the trees, so it seemed like the time of day was around dusk, with night fast approaching. Liang Chen took a deep breath and stretched his body, a faint smile on his face.
"Man, it really feels like its been quite a while. The outside world certainly feels more comfortable."
So many things had happened since he entered the hidden realm that it felt like he had spent several years in there. Now that he was no longer within the hidden realm, there was also no longer an ever-present pressure bearing down on him, slowing down the speed of his Qi and his movements. He gave the surroundings one more quick sweep before he started to make his way deeper into the forest.
"Let's find a spot that's a bit more hidden."
He didn't intend to immediately head to the Storm Wolf sect, there were a few things he wished to do first. One of those things was to fully go through all the information that his birth parents had sealed inside his mind, as well as memorizing the map that Yan Ying had given him, as it would make traveling easier.
He quickly found a spot that was a good distance away from the entrance of the hidden realm, climbing up one of the many trees and hiding amongst the leaves. He sat down on one of the thick branches, crossing his legs and taking out the deep crimson interspatial ring that he had received as a reward in the second trial.
Now that he was no longer in the hidden realm, he felt that it was safe to wear it, as no one would recognize it. He moved all his items into the ring and put it on the ring finger of his right hand, making sure that it wouldn't accidentally slide off.
After doing so, he spent around two hours going through all the information that had been sealed in his mind, before finally taking out a thumb-sized slip made out of blue jade, the map that Yan Ying had given him. He sank his mind into the slip of jade, doing his best to quickly memorize all the information that was stored in it. After spending another two hours going through the jade slip, he couldn't help but let out a sigh and shake his head.
"The world really is quite large, far larger than I first thought."
The map he had gotten from Yan Ying only showed the eastern part of the planet, but it still vastly broadened Liang Chen's mind. The eastern part of the planet contained two continents, the Fallen Cloud continent that he was on now, and the Soaring Cloud continent where the great sects resided.
Liang Chen felt that the Fallen Cloud continent alone was incredibly vast, but the Soaring Cloud continent was a little over twice the size of the Fallen Cloud continent, it was far larger. The map also contained some information about the five sects and the five nations beneath them, such as their allegiances.
The Qing clan controlled the Blazing Clouds nation, the Eternal Ocean nation, the Five-Peaks nation, the Horizon Plain nation, and the Myriad Valleys nation.
The Zhao clan controlled the Grey Crystal nation, the High Fort nation, the Hollow Mountain nation, the North Coast nation, and the Violet Grass nation.
The Bai clan controlled the Fallen Beast nation, the Snow Mirror nation, the Crimson Desert nation, the Floating Rose nation, and the Cliff Cave nation.
The Tian clan controlled the Merrow Reef nation, the Yellow Mountain nation, the Fire Heart nation, Glacial Dance nation, and the Sword Cliff nation.
The Huang clan controlled the Whitefall nation, the Coldburn nation, the Dragon Cloud nation, the Wildeash nation, and the Soul Mount nation.
Even after Liang Chen finished memorizing all the names, the headache that was memorizing all the information about them didn't stop for him. Each nation had their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own allegiances and beliefs, to such a degree that Liang Chen found it strange that some of these nations were controlled by the same clan.
Blazing Clouds was at war with Eternal Ocean, so they allied themselves with Five-Peaks in an attempt to drain all of Eternal Ocean's resources. In response to this, Eternal Ocean brought in outside help in the form of warriors from the Sword Cliff nation, a country controlled by an entirely different clan! Dragon Cloud had hostile relations with Fire Heart, but friendly relations with Fallen Beast, who had friendly relations Fire Heart, starting a strange and tense situation between them.
Wildeash was situated in a vast forest, so it specialized in exporting lumber and some game, while Violet Grass exported a special type of herb that was only found in their area. Sword Cliff exported a lot of fish and other seafood, while Soul Mount was the only nation where one could buy Soul Gems, crystals formed after the souls of dead people and animals grew dense enough to crystallize.
And all this was just on the Fallen Cloud continent, the Soaring Cloud continent was even larger, so it contained even more kingdoms and even more complicated relations! And then one had to remember that the planet still had a western side that was likely just as complicated. And then one had to remember that this was all just one planet, and who knew just how many planets there existed in this universe or one of the 81 major universes!
Only now did Liang Chen truly realize how small he was compared to the rest of the planet, not to mention this universe or the even vaster multiverse. As he was right now, he couldn't even be described as a frog at the bottom of the well or an ant, he was a speck of dust in the vast river of creation. But knowing this only caused Liang Chen's blood to boil and seethe. One day he would transcend everything, he would stand at the peak and serve as the wrath of the heavens.
Liang Chen put away the jade slip, his head aching slightly from the sheer amount of information he just had to memorize. After giving his head a bit of rest, he stood up, stretching his body and muttering to himself.
"Oh well, seems like I have some backtracking to do."
Liang Chen could head to the Storm Wolf sect by heading to the Floating Rose nation and having them check with the sect if he was actually a member. Once his identity was acknowledged, he could use a spatial array, a formation that would teleport one through space to a pre-determined location, to head directly to the entrance of the sect.
But before he was going to do that, there were two stops he wanted to make first. One of the stops was the Myriad Flowers Valley where he had promised to deliver the mementos of Zhan Huan and the others. The second place he wanted to go was Eternal Stream city, as he had promised Lei Qiang that he would meet up with him for some drinks.
Myriad Flowers Valley was located in Whitefall nation, while Eternal Stream city was located in the Blazing Clouds nation, so he decided to first head to Eternal Stream city. But to get there, he had to return to Wind's Whisper city and then head south, rather than the east he had gone to reach the Mystic's Hidden Realm, so he had to backtrack a little bit. After that, he would have to head north, through the Horizon Plain nation and the Crimson Desert nation, only then would he reach Whitefall nation.
Once he had done both of those things, the only thing left for him on this continent would be his Big Sister Chun, but he had no idea where he could even begin to look for her. She said she had gone to Willow's Rest, but after memorizing the map, Liang Chen realized that it didn't mention a city of that name. That meant that Qing Chun had either lied about the name, or that it was so small that it wasn't on a map.
Liang Chen jumped down from the tree branch where he had been sitting, returning to the entrance of the Mystic's Hidden Realm and then following the small path out of the forest. Once he left the forest, he simply had to follow the road and it would take him back to Wind's Whisper city.
As he moved, he would experiment around with his time and lightning elements, seeing which would help increase his speed the most. The answer was that for short-term speed, time was the best choice, but for long-distance movement, lightning was the better choice, as it cost less Qi to use.
Liang Chen didn't run all the way back to Wind's Whisper city, he chose to take a small break in the city where the caravan he previously hitched a ride with stopped, Rolling Hills city. But the moment he entered the city, he noticed that something was wrong.
The last time he was here with Yi Huang and the others, the people of the city wore large smiles and were quite merry. But now, people kept their heads low, the streets were almost empty, and a dreary atmosphere hung over the entire city.
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Liang Chen found it strange that a city that was so cheerful not long ago was now so dreary, so he stopped one of the few people that were walking down the streets, an old man with a hunched back and a slight limp that was carrying a long cane, asking him about the situation.
"Excuse me, but why is the atmosphere in the city so bleak? Last time I was here, the atmosphere was more cheery and carefree."
The old man raised his head slightly, the wrinkles on his bald head vibrating slightly from the movement. The old man's eyes were nearly completely white, so he seemed to be close to blind. The old man responded after a short delay, giving a weak shake of his head.
"Must have been a little while since you were last here. About two months ago, a small group of bandits took up residence in the ruins of the old Rolling Hills City, using it as their base. Ever since then, they come by once a week to collect sky-high taxes and occasionally kidnap two or three people. They killed a few people in the beginning to establish their dominance, but since then they luckily haven't killed many more, only those that tried to resist."
This city was called Rolling Hills because of the many hills that surrounded the city, but these hills were a result of the frequent earthquakes that struck the area. Sometimes these earthquakes were so strong that the city was ruined, forcing the inhabitants to rebuild the city. This Rolling Hills city that Liang Chen stood in now was already the 15th Rolling Hills city. After hearing the explanation of the old man, Liang Chen couldn't help but cock his head slightly to the right.
"Have you warned the Qing clan or the kingdom about this?"
The kingdom would take care of the cities beneath it, but if the problem became too big, they could request aid from the clan that ruled the entire area. The bandits had already been here for two months, so the kingdom or the Qing clan should have already dealt with them. The old man simply gave a weak, even somewhat despising, laughter in response to the question.
"We have, but the Qing clan does not care much about a small city like this, and the leader of the bandits is only someone at the middle stage of the Xiantian Tower realm, so there is no telling when any of the Qing clan people will arrive. As for the kingdom, all the guards are currently gathered in the capital, defending it from any attacks while everyone else is celebrating the wedding between 3rd prince Zhenya and Crown Princess Nuan from Eternal Ocean."
Liang Chen cocked his head even further after hearing the response. Why would a prince of Blazing Clouds marry a princess from Eternal Ocean, the nation they were at war with? He didn't bother thinking too much about it, shrugging his shoulders lightly and turning around to leave the city.
"I see. Well, I'm already taking two detours, so I might as well take one more."
It was not his style to just ignore people like this, so he decided to quickly go and deal with the bandits before continuing with his journey. Besides, the captain was only at the middle stage of the Xiantian Tower realm, so he wasn't a real threat.
Liang Chen quickly made his way over the many hills, reaching the ruins of a city filled with small square buildings made out of stone after a little over two hours. When he got close to the ruins, he found a spot behind one of the larger hills, sitting down and closing his eyes. Poison the size of a grain of dust seeped out from his skin and was quickly carried away with the wind, flying into the ruins and allowing Liang Chen to observe the situation in the area. And what he saw only caused him to shake his head in disgust.
"Really, why are there so many vile people in the world?"
Compared to the things he had seen Liu Daning's men do inside the hidden realm, the actions of these bandits were a bit better, but they were still disgusting. He saw men who were forced to work on rebuilding the city for some strange reason, whipped whenever they stopped or accidentally tripped due to being tired, women forced to serve as maids or tools for sexual relief, there were even some men forced to serve as tools for sexual relief.
Liang Chen also got to check out the strength of everyone in the ruins, so he knew that none of the around 50 bandits were even close to being a threat to him. He could just kill them all using his poison, but an idea struck him as he stood up, clapping his hands.
"Alright, now is a good time to test out that technique."
He quickly made his way to the ruins, casually entering them and heading towards the center of the ruins, where the leader was living. Several of the weaker bandits saw him as he walked, but none of them dared to stop him, quickly converging at the center of the ruins.
By the time he reached the center of the ruins, which used to be a circular plaza with a large fountain carved in the shape of a tiger at the center, all the bandits had already gathered there. The leader of the bandits was a tall and rather slim man, his back ramrod straight. He had a clean-shaven face and rather short brown hair, strong features and determined black eyes. Once Liang Chen arrived, the bandit captain wasted no time before he spoke up, his mood clearly rather sour.
"Who are you and why have you come here?"
Liang Chen wasn't too interested in wasting any time either, so he also gave a quick nod of his head, not mincing his words.
"You can say that I have come to punish you for your misdeeds."
They kidnapped, they killed, and they raped the innocent. For these misdeeds, he had judged them worthy of death. The bandit captain seemed genuinely surprised at Liang Chen's statement, curiously questioning.
"Our misdeeds? And what would those be?"
Liang Chen raised his right arm, causing the surrounding bandits to tense up. But he simply raised three fingers, calmly stating the crimes of the surrounding bandits.
"Kidnapping, killing, and violating innocent villagers."
The expression of the surrounding bandits distorted into grimaces after hearing Liang Chen's calm words. The bandit captain turned his head to the side, spitting out in disdain as he responded.
"Innocent villagers? Kid, you are far too naive, there is no such thing as innocent people. They are citizens of Blazing Clouds, meaning that they funded the war against our Five-Peaks. Their hands are stained with the blood of my countrymen."
Now it was Liang Chen's turn to be the surprised one. Blazing Clouds was at war with Five-Peaks? But according to the map he had gotten from Yan Ying, these two nations were allies. His head tilted slightly in confusion as he looked at the bandit captain.
"You're from the Five-Peaks Nation?"
Was the map he got wrong? Or was it perhaps already quite old? The bandit captain straightened his back even further, the surrounding bandits following his lead, a tinge of pride appearing in their eyes as the captain responded.
"I was. I held the rank of captain in the army, until your Blazing Clouds nation allied with Eternal Ocean to wage war on and destroy us."
As he reached the end of his sentence, the bandit captain once again spat out in disgust, the surrounding bandits following his lead. Thanks to the captain's words, it was now clear to Liang Chen that all these surrounding bandits were members of Five-Peaks nation's army, or at least used to be. Liang Chen rubbed his chin lightly, letting out a low mutter.
"Huh, seems like the map I got is a bit outdated. I hope too much hasn't changed."
The map he had been given mentioned nothing about Five-Peaks nation being destroyed, so it was clearly a bit outdated. The captain couldn't hear Liang Chen's quiet mutter, so he narrowed his eyes slightly and called out, sending a stealthy glance at his surrounding men.
"What are you muttering about?"
Liang Chen noticed the stealthy glance of the bandit captain, but he didn't bother with it, he gave a light shrug of his shoulder, his eyes quickly turning sharp as he sent a narrowed glare at the bandit captain.
"Nothing, nothing. So you think that these people deserve to be treated like this, just because they are citizens of a nation that was at war with yours, even though they had nothing to do with the war?"
Where was the justice in something like that, hurting the innocent citizens who had nothing to do with the war? Liang Chen couldn't see it, but this bandit captain clearly could, as he puffed out his chest and spoke in a self-righteous voice.
"Of course they do. It was their money that was used to arm the soldiers that burned my country, they are just as guilty as the soldiers! Every one of them I kill will help appease my fallen comrades."
The man seemed fully convinced in his reasoning, the surrounding bandits joining him and puffing out their chests. But Liang Chen couldn't help but shake his head, his expression distorting slightly from disgust as he spat out his words.
"Really, not only are your actions vile, even your reasoning is. You target the weak and innocent just because you don't have the strength to go after the king and those who actually started the war."
They were simply seeking an excuse, something to vent on. They knew that they couldn't take on the king and his soldiers, so they targeted the weak who couldn't fight back. The bandit captain only let out a snort, waving his hand.
"Whatever you say, kid, we've stalled for long enough. Take him down."
Right after he spoke, the surrounding bandits all moved at once. Runes of light gathered beneath their feet and connected them together, forming a large array that was common in the army. Liang Chen merely glanced at this array with a calm expression, his voice low.
"Yeah, I've just about heard enough as well."
Liang Chen took a step forward, arcs of golden lightning dancing around his body as waves of Qi billowed out from his body. He sent out a punch, but nothing happened, catching the surrounding bandits off guard. But then Liang Chen took another step forward and sent out another punch, a low voice sounding out.
"Dragon Lord's Three Steps, First Step Shatters The Body."
Right after his voice sounded out, a thundering explosion rocked the ruins. A bolt of golden lightning as thick as a grown man's thigh shot out from Liang Chen's fist, the air around him pushed away by a strong shockwave. The bolt of lightning pierced through the bandit captain and the five people closest to him, piercing through several more houses before it stopped. As for the other bandits that had surrounded Liang Chen, the shockwave had completely crushed them, dying the plaza a bright crimson.
Silence descended on the city after Liang Chen launched that one attack, 50 bandits killed by a single punch of his. Liang Chen's eyes were still calm, his eyebrows a bit furrowed as he looked at his own hand and saw that a bloody crack had appeared on the back of his right hand.
"As you'd expect from the supreme technique of the Heaven Devouring Dragon, its might is terrifying. But still... is this really all it has to offer?"
Dragon Lord's Three Steps, the strongest technique that the Heaven Devouring Dragon had come up with and left for his descendants before death. Each step doubled the power of the last attack, stacking it onto the next one. If one didn't have a strong enough body when they used it, the resulting force of doubling and stacking up the power of your attacks would tear you apart before you got to launch them.
The technique was incredibly strong, but after learning about it and trying it out for himself, he couldn't help but wonder why it stopped at three steps. Had the Heaven Devouring Dragon died before he could come up with more, or was it really only possible to stack up and empower three attacks?
Liang Chen threw these thoughts to the back of his mind, for now, he first had to finish his business in these ruins. He quickly round up all the people that had been kidnapped and brought here, gathering them together outside the ruins.
"You should return to the city, these bandits can never bother you again."
The people almost couldn't believe that they were freed, crying tears of happiness as Liang Chen led them back to Rolling Hills city.