The Hidden Valley was no longer silent.
Under Feng Kail's direction, the clearing had been transformed. Rows of simple stone dwellings circled the glowing pond. The air here was so thick with spiritual energy that it felt like a physical weight against the skin.
Feng Kail stood on a high ridge overlooking the valley, his back straight, his eyes cold and focused on the horizon. He said nothing. He didn't need to.
Below, the villagers were undergoing a brutal transformation.
Feng Kail had not been idle. He had taken the techniques he scavenged from the Ancient Mansion—the ones too rudimentary for himself—and adapted them into a systematic training regimen.
"Focus," Xu Guifei commanded, her voice sharp. She had become the enforcer of the valley. With her new bow and her own breakthrough, she moved with lethal efficiency.
The villagers were no longer the ragged survivors from the forest. They were coated in sweat and dirt, their muscles tight. They sat in perfect rows around the pond, the blue energy spiraling around them like thin silk threads.
A young villager, previously a non-cultivator, began to tremble. His skin turned a deep, bruised purple as the energy forced his meridians open. He gasped, his face contorting in agony.
"Don't stop," Feng Kail said, his voice low, appearing suddenly behind the boy. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, a trickle of the Flame of Rejuvenation flowing into him to prevent his body from tearing apart.
The boy roared, a shockwave of raw, unfiltered Qi erupting from his core. His clothes shredded, and a faint golden aura flickered on his skin. He had reached the first star of Qi Profunding.
One by one, the others followed.
The valley hummed with the sound of snapping bottlenecks. Dozens of breakthroughs occurred simultaneously. The weak, once-crushed villagers were rising. They weren't becoming gods, but they were becoming soldiers.
Feng Kail stepped back into the shadows of the cliffside, watching.
Egneel, perched on a rock nearby, chirped quietly, "They are progressing faster than you expected."
Feng Kail remained silent. He watched Xu Guifei lead a group of scouts through a series of tactical movements. They were learning to work as a unit, their bows vibrating with the ambient energy of the valley.
He looked at his own hands. The *Blue Dragon Flame pulsed beneath his skin, a constant, churning heat.
The Yin Clan, the Ming Clan—they were still out there. They were still growing, still consuming the world's resources.
Feng Kail turned away from the valley, walking into the deeper, darker part of the Hidden Valley. He had his own work to do. His body needed to be tempered further, and the scroll he had yet to open—the one from the deepest chamber of the Ancient Mansion—called to him.
He sat in the dark, isolated cave at the valley's end. He withdrew the final scroll.
His expression was void of emotion. He broke the seal.
A heavy, suffocating killing intent flooded the cave. The walls trembled.
Feng Kail's eyes glowed with a faint, dangerous light. He finally spoke, his voice a mere whisper in the dark.
"It is time."
He began to read.