Hao Nhien stepped out of the council chamber after the sun had already passed its highest point. The harsh light of the Western Wastes fell across the tall earthen walls of the forward camp, reflecting back in a glaring shade of gold. Fine sand swept across the stone steps with the wind, lifting the hem of his gray robe.
Behind him, the camp continued moving to its familiar tense rhythm. The ringing of hammers from the forging area mixed with the cries of desert mounts near the stables and the grinding of wagon wheels over hardened ground, while patrol teams continuously entered and left through the gates.
Far beyond the walls, the Fire Qilin relief team had already begun traveling deeper into the desert. The communication post with Sand Thunder still needed to be surveyed, while the proposed location of Hoa Van Town had to wait for formation masters to inspect the terrain and water sources. There was still far too much unfinished work, but at least each matter now had someone responsible for it. Hao Nhien no longer needed to remain inside the council chamber simply because he wanted to hold everything in his own hands.
He lightly touched his storage ring.
Inside were the jade document verifying his achievements, the Military Merit Verification Token, and the Frontline Support Token.
They were not spirit stones, much less wagons filled with equipment and supplies, but at least they had opened a path for him to bring what was needed back to the Western Wastes.
Before continuing down that path, however, Hao Nhien wanted to return somewhere else first.
Tam Thành.
The Tieu Dao Sword left his back, silver light flashing across its blade beneath the sun before it stopped in front of him. Hao Nhien stepped onto it, and spiritual power flowed from his dantian through his meridians and into the sword. The sword light trembled softly before lifting him from the ground.
He looked back at the forward camp one last time.
“Let’s go.”
The Tieu Dao Sword immediately became a streak of silver light and shot toward the southeast.
The camp quickly receded behind him. Its earthen walls gradually shrank into a thin line, the watchtowers became distant black dots, and eventually everything disappeared into the endless yellow expanse of the Western Wastes.
Wind howled past his ears. Below him, one sand dune followed another, rising and falling all the way toward the horizon.
Hao Nhien did not push the Tieu Dao Sword to its maximum speed. After reaching the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, the spiritual power within his body had become far more abundant and stable than before, enough to maintain sword flight for a long time. There was no reason to hurry so much that he wasted energy unnecessarily.
The days of continuous practice had also made him increasingly familiar with controlling the Tieu Dao Sword beneath his feet. Accelerating, changing direction, or lowering his altitude no longer threw his body off balance as they once had, while his Wind affinity allowed him to sense changes in the surrounding airflow more clearly.
It was not some mystical sensation completely separate from nature.
He had simply begun noticing things he had overlooked before.
Hot currents rose from the sand below, while cooler layers of wind descended from higher in the sky. Other currents were forced to change direction by the terrain before meeting one another. When two flows collided, they could create small vortices or turbulent pockets almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
Hao Nhien allowed his Wind affinity to circulate naturally, using his awareness of the airflow to choose better angles for flight. Spirit Wings would occasionally appear behind him as a pair of translucent wings, not to sense the wind, but to help him adjust his body, center of balance, and direction whenever the Tieu Dao Sword changed angle too quickly.
The coordination between his spiritual power, the Tieu Dao Sword, his Wind affinity, and Spirit Wings was becoming increasingly natural.
His speed had not increased by much, but his spiritual power consumption had clearly decreased.
Hao Nhien did not deliberately turn the journey into another cultivation session. He simply allowed his body to follow what was gradually becoming instinct.
His mind was no longer occupied with Heavenly Eye, the Yin Soul Sect, or even the numbers connected to Hoa Van Town.
He was only thinking of a small courtyard in the northwestern part of Tam Thành.
Tieu Lan.
Quan Nha.
At the thought of them, the corner of Hao Nhien’s mouth curved slightly upward.
The feeling was strangely unfamiliar.
During battle, he could calmly face opponents stronger than himself. When standing before more than seven hundred people, he could still say what needed to be said. Yet merely thinking about seeing those two again brought a faint nervousness into his chest that he could not quite name.
It was not fear.
It was more like anticipation that had been suppressed for too long beneath days of pursuit, battle, and constant calculation.
Hao Nhien looked toward the horizon ahead.
“I’m almost back.”
His voice was very soft, disappearing into the wind almost the moment the words left his mouth.
The Tieu Dao Sword continued forward.
By the time the sun began leaning westward, the color of the land below gradually changed. Pale yellow dunes gave way to black stone and jagged cliffs. At the far end of the horizon, a familiar dark region slowly appeared.
Black Wind.
Dark currents twisted between the mountain gaps, carrying sand, dust, and chaotic spiritual qi. They struck the cliffs, rebounded, and intertwined into vortices of different sizes that constantly shifted and changed. Even the light entering that region seemed to be partially swallowed by the dark dust.
From a distance, Black Wind looked like a giant beast lying across the Western Wastes.
The last time Hao Nhien had passed through this place, he had been forced to proceed with extreme caution. The danger of Black Wind did not come only from the strength of the wind, but from its unpredictable disorder. A current that seemed to be sweeping left could suddenly change direction and drive someone directly toward a ravine. In some places, wind force was compressed between two cliff walls until it became sharp as a blade, enough to injure a Qi Condensation cultivator. Even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators would not casually venture too deep inside.
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Hao Nhien had originally intended to follow the old route around the outer region, but when he was still several miles away, his Wind affinity suddenly transmitted an unusual sensation.
He slowed down.
The Tieu Dao Sword hovered in midair.
Hao Nhien looked toward the dark winds ahead, then slowly extended his spiritual awareness. At the same time, his Wind affinity circulated gently, sharpening his perception of the surrounding airflow.
The moment his senses reached the edge of Black Wind, Hao Nhien immediately noticed the difference.
Black Wind was still as strong and chaotic as before, but to him it no longer seemed like a single mass of danger that could not be distinguished.
The currents gradually began to reveal themselves.
Some winds swept sand high into the air, while others pressed close to the ground and flowed along the base of the mountains. Certain currents struck the cliffs and split into two separate directions, while inside narrow gaps between the rocks, the wind force became so compressed that it formed dangerous cutting streams.
Everything overlapped.
At first glance, it was utterly chaotic.
Yet it was not completely without order.
Hao Nhien observed for a long while.
Then he tried moving forward.
The Tieu Dao Sword slowly entered the outer region of Black Wind.
A powerful current immediately pressed toward him from the left. Instead of forcing spiritual power against it, Hao Nhien leaned his body and adjusted the sword tip along the direction of the airflow. Spirit Wings appeared faintly behind him and gave only a slight beat, enough to help stabilize his center of balance.
The wind swept close past his body.
Another current surged upward from below. Hao Nhien sensed it half a beat earlier than before, immediately drawing the Tieu Dao Sword higher and sliding along the edge of the vortex rather than cutting directly through its center.
The sword light tilted.
The airflow lifted him several zhang higher.
Hao Nhien’s eyes brightened slightly.
He was beginning to understand.
In the past, whenever he crossed Black Wind, he had always treated these currents as obstacles that had to be avoided or resisted. But now that his perception through his Wind affinity had grown clearer, he realized that there were spaces even within chaos, and directions of force hidden within even the strongest winds that could be used rather than opposed.
That did not make Black Wind harmless.
One mistake in timing could still pull his sword off course or even drag him into one of the dangerous ravines.
Hao Nhien did not become careless because of his discovery. He maintained a moderate speed, observing and adjusting as he moved. Spirit Wings appeared only when necessary, helping him maintain balance whenever the Tieu Dao Sword suddenly changed its flight angle.
Gradually, he moved deeper into the outer region.
A Black Wind current pushed toward him from the right. Hao Nhien followed its force, allowing the Tieu Dao Sword to curve with the current instead of forcing an abrupt turn. His speed increased slightly as a result.
Ahead, two currents struck a cliff and crossed.
Hao Nhien immediately slowed down and waited for a moment.
One breath later, a vortex formed exactly as he had predicted. He slipped along its outer edge, avoiding the strongest section of wind force.
The black cliffs gradually fell behind him.
A place that had once forced him to remain cautious with every movement had become far easier to read than before.
At least within the outer region, Black Wind could no longer leave him completely passive.
Hao Nhien continued observing.
Then, for a brief moment, as a dark current passed close by, his Wind affinity suddenly transmitted a strange sensation.
He immediately slowed down.
That current was slightly colder than the surrounding wind, yet it carried no Yin energy. Nor did it resemble killing intent.
There seemed to be something else mixed within it, something extremely faint and ancient, like an aura that had been ground apart by the wind and scattered through Black Wind over countless years.
Hao Nhien focused on sensing it but did not attempt to absorb anything.
The current passed and vanished.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
The sensation had lasted only an instant, but it was enough to confirm one thing.
Black Wind might not be a purely natural phenomenon.
Hao Nhien looked deeper into the mountain gaps ahead.
Several areas were so dark that the moment his spiritual awareness entered, the wind force pushed it back. One crevice between two towering cliffs especially drew his attention. Waves of Black Wind continuously poured from it, one after another, as though something deep inside the mountain were slowly breathing.
His Wind affinity also reacted more clearly whenever he faced that direction.
Hao Nhien stopped in midair.
If he changed direction and traveled only a few more miles, he could approach that crevice. Perhaps there he would find some clue to the origin of Black Wind, or at least understand why the wind force here carried that strange aura.
His curiosity had only just begun to rise when Hao Nhien suddenly remembered the lotus pond in the courtyard.
The image of a small figure sitting beside the water appeared in his mind.
He looked toward the mountain crevice for a while longer before lightly shaking his head.
“Not today.”
The secret could wait.
Black Wind would still be here.
But someone had already been waiting for him to return.
Hao Nhien carefully memorized the location of the crevice before turning the Tieu Dao Sword back toward the southeast.
“I’ll come back next time.”
Spirit Wings appeared behind him and gently opened.
Hao Nhien waited until a current of Black Wind rose in the right direction, then followed its force. The Tieu Dao Sword accelerated, becoming a streak of silver light as it pierced through the outer region.
Before long, the dark mountains had been left behind.
The last sunlight of the day once again fell across his robe.
Hao Nhien looked back.
Black Wind still roared between the mountain gaps, dark and violent as before, dangerous enough that most cultivators would rather stay away. But in his eyes, it was no longer merely a dangerous region.
It was more like a door.
A door whose outline he had only just begun to see, while whatever lay behind it remained unknown.
Hao Nhien withdrew his gaze.
The Tieu Dao Sword continued toward Tam Thành, and this time he did not stop again.
As night gradually settled over the land, Tam Thành finally appeared beneath the moonlight.
From above, its walls stretched across the place where desert and plains met. Formations along the walls gave off a faint glow, while lamps throughout the streets were being lit one after another.
People continued moving through the great city gates. Merchant caravans returned from the Western Wastes, cultivators prepared to accept missions, and patrol soldiers changed shifts, all of it blending into a lively scene completely different from the emptiness that stretched hundreds of miles behind him.
Hao Nhien lowered his altitude.
As he entered the range of the anti-air formation, he took out the Frontline Support Token. The token lit faintly beneath his spiritual power, and the identifying aura within it was quickly recognized by the outer formation.
A beam of spiritual light swept across Hao Nhien from the city wall before fading away.
He followed the permitted flight route into the city.
Hao Nhien did not head toward the City Lord’s residence or the camp of the Phong Van Squad. Instead, he turned directly toward the northwestern district.
This part of Tam Thành was quieter than most of the city. Narrow roads ran between private courtyards, trees lined both sides, and the spiritual qi felt gentler due to several small-scale spirit-gathering formations.
Lieu Thien Van had already given him the exact location, so Hao Nhien did not spend long searching.
After passing two small streets, he saw a courtyard near the end of the row.
Its walls were not high, and blue roof tiles were partly hidden beneath the surrounding trees. From outside, only the upper portion of an old tree inside the courtyard could be seen.
Hao Nhien slowed down and descended in front of the gate.
Tieu Lan and Quan Nha had been living here for some time, but to him, the gate before him was still completely unfamiliar. The thought brought a feeling into Hao Nhien’s chest that was difficult to describe.
The two people he most wanted to see in Tam Thành were just beyond a place he had never entered before.
After so many days of continuous fighting, pursuit, and endless calculations, only now, when he was truly standing here, did he realize how many things he wanted to say and how little he knew where to begin.
The two guards outside noticed him. After Hao Nhien showed his token to verify his identity, one of them turned as if to go inside and report his arrival.
Hao Nhien gently raised a hand to stop him.
“No need to announce me.”
The two guards exchanged a glance before nodding and stepping aside.
Hao Nhien remained before the gate for another moment, then gently pushed it open.
The night breeze carried a faint lotus fragrance.
Only then did he see the entire courtyard for the first time.
An artificial pond lay still beneath the moonlight. Dark green lotus leaves spread across the water, occasionally trembling with the smallest ripples. In the middle of the pond, a pair of small celestial birds with white and silver feathers slept with their heads resting against each other.
Beneath an old tree by the water, its two great branches splitting apart like the character Ren, a slender figure sat quietly.
Hao Nhien stopped.
Moonlight passed through the leaves and fell across that person’s shoulders.
He had returned.