The demonic cultivators' invasion of the Yue Kingdom was not a long-term one.
The reason that they attacked the Yue Kingdom was not because they wanted to take over the Yue Kingdom but because they wanted to do some pillaging.
As such, after a deadlock, the number of demonic cultivators in the Yue Kingdom began to be quickly reduced.
Apart from being suppressed at the start, as time went on, the five sects began to retaliate and slowly drive out the remaining demonic cultivators.
By now, the Demon Sect had already accomplished its goal.
They had plundered many resources and slaughtered countless people, gaining much blood food.
During this process, the number of people who had been injured or killed numbered in the millions.
This would be enough to sustain the Demon Sect for a while.
Of course, the Demon Sect had also chosen to leave because of external pressures.
The Demon Sect was not without rivals, and there were other factions that could threaten it.
The Daybreak Sect was one of them, and the two sects had been fighting for many years.
It was because they kept each other in check that they were unable to expand too much.
There was some internal disorder in the Daybreak Sect that allowed the Demon Sect to have this opportunity to quickly pillage the surroundings and strengthen itself.
Despite this, the Daybreak Sect had quickly reacted and stopped the Demon Sect from going further.
This was why the demonic cultivators had all left.
Otherwise, they would not have minded to take over the entire Yue Kingdom.
The remaining demonic cultivators were quickly dealt with by the five sects' remaining forces.
Even though the chaos from the demonic cultivators had been suppressed, there were some things that could not be changed.
After this upheaval, the Yue Kingdom's five sects' forces had been greatly decreased, and some clans had perished.
There were many empty cities, and some were left with very few residents.
It seemed that after this catastrophe, the entire Yue Kingdom had been dealt a heavy blow, whether it was in terms of cultivators or mortals.
It would take them at least a few decades to recover.
This was an unprecedented disaster.
However, among the chaos, there were new opportunities.
During that demonic cultivator disaster, many cultivator families had fallen, and even a few of the five major sects had been destroyed.
Even though they had fallen, their operations were still there.
Even though the demonic cultivators could pillage magic items and spirit stones, the operations that were fixed here could not be taken away.
Those things were quite important to cultivators.
To the remaining factions and cultivators, the operations that were left behind were all quite precious.
This was the case for the Zhang clan in Nine Peaks City as well.
After the demonic cultivators left, the Zhang clan began to devour the other clans' operations.
Afterwards, they expanded out and devoured many spirit gardens and spirit mines.
With those things, this small clan became an overlord.
In the past, the Zhang clan doing this would have resulted in much anger and retaliation.
However, no one minded too much.
After all, everyone was doing such things.
The only difference between the others and the Zhang clan was how much they devoured.
All factions devoured and grew for a while, and only after a few months did the situation in the Yue Kingdom stabilize and calm down.
The Yue Kingdom's five sects regrouped their strength and gathered new disciples, and the other factions did the same.
After this catastrophe, only three of those five sects remained.
To Chen Heng, there was no difference.
The Flowing Cloud Sect still existed, but it had taken a heavy blow.
Chen Heng received news that the spirit garden managers who had returned to the sect had all died, and the cultivator who had sent the Demon Seed into him had disappeared. Perhaps he had died during the chaos or left.
Because of how many people the Flowing Cloud Sect had lost, the remaining disciples were all given better treatment now.
Chen Heng went back to visit, and because of his exceptional refining skills, he was directly promoted to an Inner Court Disciple.
To Chen Heng's previous identity, this would have been an incredibly difficult goal to accomplish, but for Chen Heng, it had come incredibly easily.
Chen Heng did not feel too surprised about this and just accepted it.
However, despite becoming an Inner Court Disciple, Chen Heng still spent most of his time at Nine Peaks City and rarely left.
Time gradually passed, and soon, it had been 30 years.
30 years later, the world had once again changed.
Early in the morning, Chen Heng sat cross-legged by himself in a courtyard as he calmly looked out.
The first rays of sunlight were descending, looking beautiful and resplendent.
Outside the courtyard was a garden.
Within the garden, there were all kinds of spirit grasses, giving off faint fragrances.
The surroundings were covered by a spirit qi fog, creating a unique scene.
After 30 years, his appearance had not changed much, and he still looked quite young.
Time seemed to have frozen for him; only the scenery had changed.
"I heard that there have been changes in the Flowing Cloud Sect."
Behind him, Zhang Ya walked over and spoke with a respectful expression, "After Junior Apprentice Sister Hou returned, not only did she take first place in the Major Competition and enter the Inner Court, but she was even taken in by an Elder, who wants to make her his True Legacy Disciple."
She knelt behind Chen Heng as she spoke.
"Is that so?" Chen Heng nodded, not feeling too surprised, "She has been with me for 30 years; it is about time."
"It was all because of clan brother's teachings," Zhang Ya said seriously, "If it wasn't for your nurturing, Junior Apprentice Sister Hou's cultivation would never have made it to its current level."
Over the past 30 years, Chen Heng had treated Hou Juan very well.
Not only did he give her cultivation advice, but he would also give her many good resources.
With this kind of treatment, putting aside anyone else, even Zhang Ya felt somewhat jealous.
Comparatively speaking, she, an actual member of the Zhang clan, was more like an outsider.
The Zhang clan's people all felt that their new clan leader felt a special way about Manager Hou; otherwise, why would he treat her like that?
After all, that Manager Hou was famous for her poor talent.
"No, you don't understand."
Hearing Zhang Ya's words, Chen Heng did not say much else and shook his head.
From his perspective, he could see many more things and knew that things were not that simple.
After 30 years passed, many things had changed.
Hou Juan's performance was one of such things.
The dormant Fortune above her head had begun to become active.
That was why she had performed like that at the Major Competition—this was how powerful Fortune was.
When Fortune broke out, even someone useless would obtain many opportunities and stand above ordinary people.
Even if Hou Juan did not have Chen Heng's teachings, she still would have risen up now that it was time.
Perhaps Chen Heng's help was important to her, but it was not completely necessary.
Even without Chen Heng, opportunities would run to her and help her rise up.
Chen Heng understood this, but it was evident that other people did not.
Chen Heng did not bother explaining this though.
After drinking his tea, Chen Heng got up and slowly walked outside.
After 30 years, Nine Peaks City had changed much.
The surroundings were very lively, and cultivators could be seen everywhere.
Even though there had originally been cultivators in Nine Peaks City, there had not been many of them, and they had been somewhat rare.
Although it could not be said that they were everywhere, they were not as rare anymore.
This was mostly due to Chen Heng.
30 years ago, after becoming the Nine Peaks City and the Zhang clan's clan leader, he had obtained many operations.
These operations had originally belonged to other clans, as well as factions outside of Nine Peaks City. After Chen Heng had taken his new positions, the Zhang clan had devoured them all.
After obtaining these operations, Chen Heng chose to sell some of these resources, as well as use them for other purposes.
At the same time, he had established a small workshop that would sell magic items and other materials at set periods.
As time passed, this soon became a small marketplace.
Cultivators from all over the land came to trade things or do other things.
Much had changed here in the past 30 years.
Of course, that was not all.
During that catastrophe, Chen Heng had done much more.
With Nine Peaks City as the center, many places had been taken over by the Zhang clan and had become the Zhang clan's territory.
After developing for 30 years, within the Yue Kingdom, apart from the remaining three major sects, the most powerful faction was the Zhang clan.
Of course, despite having this kind of strength, Chen Heng rarely went out and spent most of his time in Nine Peaks City.
He even retained his status as an Inner Court Disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect.
In actuality, under Chen Heng's leadership, the Zhang clan and Flowing Cloud Sect had a decent relationship.
Part of the reason why Hou Juan was able to do so well in the Flowing Cloud Sect and even be taken in by an Elder was due to the relationship between the two factions.
No matter if Hou Juan was willing or not, given that she had been by Chen Heng's side from the start, this left a heavy mark on her that she could not get rid of.
Whether she wanted this or not, from how others saw it, she was Chen Heng's and represented him to a degree.
Chen Heng did not walk about in Nine Peaks City for too long.
After walking to a certain place, he sensed something and looked towards the sky.
Sunlight streamed down, and everything seemed quite normal.
However, Chen Heng frowned as he sensed something.
"The weather… is about to change," he said softly as he thought to himself.
A slight breeze blew past, and Chen Heng's expression was calm as he silently turned and walked away.
Time gradually passed.
Within the Flowing Cloud Sect, Hou Juan walked to a mountain in the back and came to a secret region.
In front of her, there were a few black-clothed people standing there, looking at Hou Juan with cold expressions.
"Have you thought about it?" the three of them gave cold smiles, "Hand over the thing and we'll spare your life. Or else…"
"Or else what?" Hou Juan's expression was very calm and was also somewhat cold. She stood there and stared down the people in front of her, not seeming to mind.
"Then don't blame us for not being courteous," the person in the lead coldly laughed, "If you had stayed in the Flowing Cloud Sect, we would not have been able to do anything to you, but now that you came out yourself, don't blame us."
He spoke coldly before raising a saber and shooting forwards.
The three of them simultaneously rushed at Hou Juan, giving off large sounds.
Facing these three people, Hou Juan did not even bother looking at them, as if she did not care about them at all.
As she watched on, the three of them continued charging and moved past her.
The three of them did not seem to notice anything was off, and they began to fight among themselves.
Only then did Hou Juan turn around.
Under the faint sunlight, her appearance was revealed, and blood-red light flashed in her eyes.
