Decades later, the Divine Palace wreaked havoc in the world, taking dominance.
Afterwards, the Daybreak Sect and the Demon Sect began to decline, whereas the Flowing Cloud Sect began to gradually rise up.
Finally, after a few more decades, the Daybreak Sect and Demon Sect were destroyed in order.
However, the reasons for their destruction were different.
The Daybreak Sect was destroyed by the Divine Palace.
The Daybreak Sect had obtained a secret treasure, but the Divine Palace had found out about it and directly went to attack them.
Seeing this, the Demon Sect also joined in and dealt a final blow to the Daybreak Sect.
After the Daybreak Sect fell, the Demon Sect followed next.
During the next ten years, the Flowing Cloud Sect attacked the Demon Sect and finally defeated and destroyed the Demon Sect.
At the Demon Sect's territory, a Demon Sovereign personally fought with the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master. He had complete confidence in victory, but he had been mercilessly suppressed and defeated by the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master, unable to retaliate at all.
Just like that, two overlord-level factions in this region perished.
Apart from that, there were other matters, but they were far less important.
After the Daybreak Sect and the Demon Sect were destroyed, the Flowing Cloud Sect became one of the most powerful sects, inferior only to the Divine Palace.
However, the great tribulation had not yet concluded.
Decades later, the Flowing Cloud Sect and the Divine Palace engaged in a large battle above the Divine Mountain.
This battle tore apart the heavens and destroyed the ancient Divine Mountain, turning it into fragments.
This battle lasted a whole half a month.
This shocked everyone in the world, causing them to turn their attention to this unprecedented battle.
In the end, it was the Flowing Cloud Sect who emerged victorious.
Half a month later, the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master walked out from the ruins, his aura incredibly shocking and seeming like it could tear apart the heavens and the earth.
Everything had concluded.
After this battle, the Flowing Cloud Sect was the ruler of this area, and the great tribulation gradually dissipated.
During that battle, the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master had secured the title of number one in the world, and even the lowliest mortals knew about him.
However, after that battle, the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master no longer ventured out and stayed within the Flowing Cloud Sect's territory.
Time gradually passed.
Hundreds of years passed in the blink of an eye.
After many centuries, much had changed in the world.
Because of the assets left behind by the Divine Palace and the other factions, the Flowing Cloud Sect developed incredibly quickly, reaching new milestones almost every year.
Their progress caused many people to feel quite shocked.
By now, compared to hundreds of years ago, the Flowing Cloud Sect's territory was enormous and had an incredible number of Profound Understanding cultivators.
With this strength, the Flowing Cloud Sect had long since become a massive creature.
The Flowing Cloud Sect's territory became even more prosperous, and many people would go there every day to observe or to hand in missions.
After defeating the Divine Palace, everything had been very calm, and no one dared to offend the Flowing Cloud Sect.
By now, everyone here was used to it.
On this day, a person suddenly came to the Flowing Cloud Sect's territory.
She was quite a beautiful woman and she was dressed in long robes. She was currently walking about the Flowing Cloud Sect as she looked around.
"What great changes…" the woman thought to herself as she walked.
To her, this place was somewhat familiar, and there were shadows of the past in various places. However, now, most places seemed quite foreign.
This was to be expected—after all, even for people, they would look completely different after hundreds of years.
It made sense that a place would change much after many centuries, even if it was a place of cultivation.
Many of the spirit grasses and spirit trees had been replaced: Many had died or had been changed, while the ones remaining had become very, very big.
The woman walked by herself and felt that she had come to a new place.
All of this felt quite unfamiliar to her, and it was very different to her memories.
Sensing this, she could not help but lightly sigh.
On the way, she continuously looked at the scenery. There were not many people around, and this only changed once she reached the end of the spirit garden.
At the end, there was a person standing there, as if they were waiting for someone.
It was a handsome-looking young man who was dressed in white robes.
The young man's appearance was exquisite and refined, and hearing the sounds from behind him, he turned and looked over.
Following this, their gazes met.
"You're back?" Chen Heng's expression was calm and he only lightly nodded.
"Mental energy…"
Facing Chen Heng's gaze, the woman looked a bit apologetic, "Senior Apprentice Brother… I'm sorry…"
"What is there to be sorry about?" Chen Heng's expression did not change as he asked softly.
"I…" the woman paused, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.
She did not know how to express her guilt.
That year, she had left the Flowing Cloud Sect to find her background, but she had disappeared for hundreds of years.
By the time she had come back, the Flowing Cloud Sect was at the peak.
From how others saw it, she was perhaps a deserter—while other people in the Flowing Cloud Sect were fighting bitterly, she had directly disappeared.
Now, she had returned after the Flowing Cloud Sect had reached the peak.
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Chen Heng smiled as he said softly, "It's good that you're back."
The person in front of him was, of course, Hou Juan.
After leaving the Flowing Cloud Sect, Hou Juan had gone to search for her opportunities.
At first, she would occasionally send back messages, but as time went on, she gradually disappeared.
Those from the same generation as Chen Heng thought that she had most likely fallen somewhere else.
None of them had expected her to return now.
However, Chen Heng was not too surprised.
After all, Hou Juan was someone with Fortune, and she would not die so easily.
"Tell me about your experiences," Chen Heng said warmly as he looked at Hou Juan, and he had some people bring over a table and chairs.
Looking at Chen Heng, Hou Juan nodded and began to tell Chen Heng of her experiences over the past few centuries.
Back then, she had left the Flowing Cloud Sect not because of a sudden impulse but because she had her own reasons.
"When the Flowing Cloud Sect imprisoned me, I consumed a One Qi Pill," Hou Juan said, "That One Qi Pill almost caused me to die, but it also activated a secret power within me, causing me to obtain some things."
"After consuming the One Qi Pill, it seemed to have awakened some kind of bloodline," Hou Juan explained, "During this process, I found out about some things, including my background."
According to Hou Juan, she was not an ordinary person and instead came from the Divine Bloodline clan. It was just that her Divine Bloodline was quite weak and not very obvious.
After consuming the One Qi Pill, when she was on the brink of death, her Divine Bloodline seemed to have awakened.
As such, after finding out about many things, she chose to leave the Flowing Cloud Sect.
She had left the Flowing Cloud Sect and headed to the Extreme North.
"At the Extreme North was a legacy land left behind by my ancestors, which can only be opened by people with the Divine Bloodline," Hou Juan said as she sighed, "After entering, I was trapped by a formation, and I was only able to escape after I obtained my current cultivation. However, I never would have thought that many centuries would have passed in the meantime."
