To cultivate further, Li Tian needed spirit stones. Resources. Information.
He descended the mountain for the first time in ten years and entered Yunhe City — a bustling trade hub filled with cultivators, merchants, and hidden dangers.
A commotion erupted near the central square.
A young woman in white robes stood surrounded by three rogue cultivators.
"You owe the Black Serpent Gang," one of them sneered. "Hand over the spirit herb."
Li Tian paused.
He could walk away.
His master had once told him:
"Strength without righteousness is demonic. Righteousness without strength is suicide."
Li Tian sighed.
He stepped forward.
"You three," he said calmly. "Kneel."
The rogues burst into laughter.
Moments later, all three lay unconscious, their meridians sealed.
The woman stared at him, stunned.
"I am Su Yan," she said softly. "Disciple of the Ice Lotus Sect. Who are you?"
Li Tian hesitated.
For ten years, he had hidden.
But the world would soon know.
"I," he replied, "am a wandering cultivator."
Above them, dark clouds began to gather.
Far away, in the capital of the Demonic Alliance, an elder opened his eyes.
"The aura of the Heaven-Defying Art… has returned."