Leaving the city.

Hours swiftly turned to days, a tense and oppressive silence descending over everyone in Moonset City. Those who weren't involved with the two families fled as quickly as they could, not willing to get caught up in a battle that had nothing to do with them. But not everyone could flee, some people had nowhere else to go, everything they owned was right here, they wouldn't be able to survive for more than a week or so even if they fled from the city.

The Enlai family and the Tien family brought out every ounce of strength they had and started fortifying the city, making sure that every array scattered throughout it was maintained and in peak condition. As for the Nine Claws Dojo, only the Head Instructor and his four direct subordinates stayed behind, everyone else was only there to learn some martial arts and had thus left the moment they got the chance.

No one knew when the Stone-Soul King would bring his entire herd and return so no one could rest peacefully, few people even daring to leave their houses. And beneath this heart-sinking atmosphere, 15 days passed by, each day feeling like it dragged on for an entire month. Tien Huang knocked on the door of his grandfather's dwelling on the afternoon of the 15th day, giving him a quick update on the areas he had checked out.

"Markets 1 through 12 have all finished the maintenance and strengthening of their arrays, 13 to 25 have finished their maintenance but miss the strengthening, and 26 to 31 have yet to finish either. The Heaven's Secrets Company have stated that they are going to remain open as always so we at least have a shelter for some of the non-combatants, but we can only fit about 21% of the non-combatants. Finally, the eastern and northern parts of the great wall have been reinforced fully while the two other parts are half-done."

No one of the two great families had the time to sit around idly, everyone beneath the middle-stage of the Primordial Immortal realm had to run around and prepare as best they could. As for everyone at or above the middle-stage of the Primordial Immortal realm, they received the simple order to maintain their peak state, they had to be able to burst forth at a moments notice. Tien Bao nodded his head, his gaze drifting through the window and turning towards the direction of the Moon's Nest.

"They're still there? No movements yet?"

Tien Bao didn't mention any names, but it was probably only the non-combatants that wouldn't know exactly who he was talking about. Tien Huang turned his head and followed Tien Bao's gaze, an admiring light flashing through his eyes as he nodded his head.

"Yes, they're still keeping guard. Only Brother Chen has moved, reaching the 55th step."

He had disguised himself, but practically everyone else in the city was already accounted for. And with that large winged serpent keeping guard by the Moon's Nest, even Shen Fei moving over there, who other than Liang Chen could it be that was currently approaching the Moon's Nest?

And more than just approach it, he had already reached the 55th step after 15 days, leaving only 45 more steps before he reached the house. It sounded like quite a lot, but the closest anyone had ever gotten to the house was only the 70th step, and that person had been at the very peak of the Primordial Immortal realm.

A change happened outside the window just as Tien Huang finished his sentence, a horrid pressure appearing in the sky above the city. The previously bright day suddenly darkened as dense clouds gathered above the city, a bit of rain falling from the clouds.

But the clouds weren't pitch black as they should be, they were a brilliant blue, the rain falling from them actually freezing everything it came into contact with. This wasn't a storm or the like, it was a Heavenly Tribulation, and just looking at the sheer scope of it, Tien Bao was certain that it was an exceedingly violent tribulation.

"What exactly did you bring back to our city?"

--

As he felt that first drop of liquid ice land on him, Liang Chen opened his eyes, arcs of brown lightning dancing within his golden pupils. His gaze swept past the distant Shen Fei and Yumao, the latter was currently shielding the scared Zun twins using his wings. The range of the rain was quite large, but the main focus of it was Liang Chen so the power of the rain that wasn't directly around him was rather weak. Having finished taking stock of his surroundings, he raised his head and looked at the deep blue clouds covering the sky.

"Once again, you show yourself."

Liang Chen's expression held not a single ounce of the calmness or warmth it usually did, right now it overflowed with a boundless amount of disdain. He didn't pull out his spear or readied himself, he just looked at the clouds as they gathered up energy, the rain of liquid ice growing heavier and heavier.

For everyone else, it had only been 15 days, but Liang Chen had spent every second of those 15 days inside a flow of time sped up by 24 times. An entire year had already passed for him, and he had already succeeded in reforming both his veins and meridians on the 275th day, all of them growing back stronger than before. The remaining time had been spent drawing in the surrounding energy, getting used to the rampant speed at which his energy now flowed through his meridians, as well as working on the fusion of his laws.

A thick pillar of bloody crimson flames shot down from the sky and enveloped Liang Chen, the earth around him melting due to the sheer heat. But Liang Chen simply stretched out his arm and swept it out, tearing apart the pillar of fire with a violent burst of Fiendgod Essence.

The Heavenly Tribulation had already sent out its next attacks, wind, ice, and violet lightning raining down upon the area. Liang Chen ignored the other attacks, his gaze focusing on the thick bolts of violet lightning that descended from the sky. His Fiendgod Essence burst forth once more, crushing the ice and scattering the wind while the lightning landed on his raised right arm.

But a thick bolt of brown lightning appeared around his entire body just as the lightning struck him, thunderous rumbling rocking the area as the two types of lightning collided. The brown lightning rose up and surrounded the violet lightning, Liang Chen pulling out the violet lightning that was stored within his Dragon Lotus ever since he last absorbed some.

The violet lightning he drew out joined up with the other violet lightning, which was struggling fiercely to break out of the prison created by the brown lightning. Liang Chen's own lightning faltered somewhat under the stronger violet lightning, but Liang Chen hadn't planned on relying on just his own strength to fuse these two types of lightning.

He quickly took five more steps closer to the Moon's Nest, the pressure drastically increasing to the point that even the violet lightning turned sluggish. And as Liang Chen drew out some of his law of the void, the violet lightning faltered even further, practically turning into a tame kitty.

Liang Chen had already fused different types of lightning in the past, and with the aid of his law of the void and the pressure, there was no suspense in this fusion. The brown lightning sank into the bright violet lightning, the thick bolt of lightning that was born flickering for a short second before it turned a deep and dull violet, a dreadful pressure emanating from it.

A satisfied smile crept up on Liang Chen's face as he looked at the dull violet lightning. It had been a long time since he fused his green lightning with crimson lightning to form his brown lightning, and now he had finally taken a step further. Only now, he had no idea what the next step was, he had yet to see any lightning beyond the violet rank.

Of course, the lightning in the Thunder Saint's Final Breath was different, even the azure lightning there had been stronger than the crimson lightning he was used to. He was still working on making his own lightning as strong as that lightning, but he encountered some problems when it came to exactly how he should go about it.

One idea he had was the density of the lightning itself, the other idea he had was to increase how much Qi he forced into the lightning. Both had a chance of working, but he wasn't quite sure how to test them out, as the lightning itself would always change whenever he increased the density or Qi too much.

But he was already satisfied with his current progress, his meridians and veins had been reformed, he had fused his lightning once more, and he had perfectly fused his laws so his Qi cultivation would step forward once this tribulation ended. With that thought in mind, Liang Chen brought out his spear and grasped it tightly, looking disdainfully at the clouds above.

"You're already unable to harm me, so you should just disappear. Vanish and wait for me to make good on my promise, my wrath will swallow even you."

All his energy burst out as he slashed his spear upwards, unleashing Fourth Step Pierces the Sparrow. A dull violet line was drawn through the air, cutting directly through the large metal meteor that had started to descend from the clouds. The line erupted after cutting through the meteor, thousands of dull violet arcs spreading through the sky and tearing apart both the clouds and the meteor.

The tribulation was dispersed, Liang Chen's disdainful words not wrong. A Void Born bloodline and the exalted law of the void, Heavenly Tribulations posed practically no threat to him any longer, not as long as they were just automated responses triggered by an increase in cultivation.

Liang Chen put away his spear and spat out a breath, an overwhelming sensation of power rushing through his body. His Qi cultivation had officially reached the early-stage of the Primordial Immortal realm, and his body cultivation had also reached the same stage.

His soul cultivation was at the late-stage of the soaring Immortal realm, but thanks to the innate ability of the Sebettu, it was the strongest of his energies. It was almost on par with a soul cultivator at the late-stage of the Primordial Immortal realm. Liang Chen walked away from the Moon's Nest after he finished his cultivation, Shen Fei's gaze sweeping over him.

"You know, I'm starting to see why you scared the Sparrow enough to throw away so many lives in an attempt to end you."

Shen Fei had seen many people take on a Heavenly Tribulation before, but he had never seen anyone dispel it so easily. That final attack unleashed by Liang Chen caused even him to feel an overpowering sense of dread, and he could even sense a strange law he had never felt before hidden within the attack.

He didn't know why he hadn't been acknowledged, but he was confident that Liang Chen was not someone who should hold just a Lord rank. Liang Chen's gaze naturally landed on Shen Fei, whose fingers were tapping the handle of his sword in an almost impatient manner, causing Liang Chen to give him a quick reminder.

"It's not over yet."

He had already sworn an oath, but seeing Shen Fei's impatient manner he felt it best that he gave him a reminder. Only when the Stone-Soul King was dealt with would they engage in their own duel, no sooner. Shen Fei, of course, knew this, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly while continuing his impatient tapping.

"I know, I'm just excited is all. Eager and itching if you will. But don't worry, you've already sworn an oath, so I'll wait patiently."

Since Shen Fei understood the situation, Liang Chen turned his gaze onto the Zun twins, whose somewhat scared expressions had been replaced by awestruck ones. The didn't know much about cultivation or division of strength, all they knew was that Liang Chen had used a single swipe of his spear to clear up the sky, a practically transcendental skill in their eyes.

He ruffled the hair of the two, Yumao shrinking down to his preferred size and curling up on top of Liang Chen's head, nestling into his silvery-grey hair. Yumao had brought the Zun twins here since he knew that Liang Chen wanted him to protect them, but he also wanted to stay close to Liang Chen in case anything happened, so the logical conclusion to him was to drag the twins over here.

But with him being the target of the Stone-Soul King, by his side was hardly the safest place for these twins so Liang Chen brought them back to the Tien family estate. Shen Fei followed along with them, splitting off from the group when they reached the Tien family estate.

As for Liang Chen, he took this chance to inspect the changes in the city. He silently gazed upon the barred up houses and the terrified people that hid within them, none of them able to hide from him if he wanted to see them.

He returned to the Tien family estate and handed the Zun twins over to Tien Huang, who looked at him with a complex expression but chose to remain silent. He wanted to ask for Liang Chen's help, but the crisis that was going to descend on them was one they couldn't confidently say they would pass through, asking Liang Chen to remain here was like asking him to risk his life for practically nothing.

So he didn't say anything, Liang Chen turning around and walking away after nodding at Tien Huang. He left the Tien family estate and made his way through the streets of the city, the sun already vanishing beyond the horizon by the time he reached the gates of the city, two guards with faces covered in grim resolve opening a small side door for him to leave.

He left the city and stepped onto the sand surrounding it, the warm air having already turned chilly as the night deepened around him. But contrary to his expectations, he had only managed to move a few hundred metres away from the city before he encountered a lone youth sitting on a stray stone.

"I'm amazed that you're actually planning on going out on your own, most people would join up with the rest and hope that their help would make the battle easier. Or just pray for good fortune, there's a lot of people in there doing just that, might not be a terrible idea to join them for a spell."

Shen Fei sat on the stone with a relaxed expression, his sword no longer hanging at his waist but rather leaning against his shoulder. He had clearly been sitting here for a while, he had probably rushed out of the city the moment they split up just in case Liang Chen also rushed to leave.

And looking at where he was sitting, in the middle of the direction that the Stone-Soul King had left earlier, it was clear that he knew what Liang Chen planned. Liang Chen hadn't told anyone about his plans, but he hadn't really been trying to hide them either, so he just shrugged his shoulders and stepped past Shen Fei.

"I'm already done hoping and praying, no one answered the previous two times I did so. Anything I desire, I will grasp with my own two hands, with my own effort."

The Stone-Soul King was after him, that was a fact he was completely confident in. And while it would indeed be smarter to fight it inside the city while relying on the two large families, there was no telling just how many people would die in such a chaotic battle. Those were lives that Liang Chen was not willing to carve into his soul, so he settled on the harder option of doing it on his own.

Now that he had increased his cultivation and even fused his lightning, he was extremely confident in his chances. And even if he couldn't kill the Stone-Soul King, there were very few people who could stop him if he truly wanted to flee. Shen Fei stood up from his seated position, following Liang Chen with a casual gait while chuckling and fastening his sword to his waist again.

"Hehehe, I'm starting to like you more and more, you're a bit too kindhearted, but you've got some of the demeanour of a true warrior. I'll give you a hand this time around, you're my prey so I ain't gonna let you get hurt so badly that you won't be able to fight me."

Liang Chen didn't stop Shen Fei from following him, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the word Shen Fei used to describe him.

"Kindhearted? If you know about the Sparrow hunting me, then you should know that I'm far from kindhearted."

That was probably one of the last words Liang Chen would use to describe himself, he was vengeful and monstrous, and the number of people he had massacred had long since left the range of mere hundreds. Liang Chen questioned him as he walked, but Shen Fei simply chuckled once more, using his thumb to point at the city behind them.

"You say that, yet you're going out now to deal with the Stone-Soul King on your own, aren't you? Worried that he'll raze the city and kill people while you fight him?"

This was the only explanation that Shen Fei could come up with, especially since he had seen Liang Chen interfere in the duels earlier when a life was on the line. And since Shen Fei had realized this aspect of Liang Chen's personality, he gave him a warning to help him in the future, but all that he received in response was a simple remark from Liang Chen.

"But let me tell you, while that is kindhearted, it also makes you easy to exploit, like right now. So you'd best learn quickly when to act for your own interest and when to act for other people's interest, otherwise, you'll be seen as nothing more than a beast of burden."

"That's where you're wrong, Shen Fei. Everything I do is out of my own interest, it is by my choice, for better or for worse."