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In the courtyard, Ma Jianguo was startled by the sudden shout, sat up from the deck chair, and quickly walked over to open the courtyard door.
As expected, it was Old Wang from next door, gesturing wildly.
"What’s all this fuss about? Looks like your ancestral grave is smoking."
Disturbed from his peace, Ma Jianguo spoke with a hint of displeasure.
Old Wang, however, pointed towards the direction of the back mountain, teasing with winks and nods:
"I’m serious, just look, that smoke’s rising higher than the big feast fires in the village!"
"What nonsense are you spouting..."
Ma Jianguo grumbled irritably, but when he looked in the direction Old Wang pointed, his gaze suddenly froze.
At the near top of the back mountain, a column of gray-white smoke was rising straight up.
Like a pillar supporting the heavens, it shot skyward until it encountered the wind, slowly dispersing into a cloud cover.
This scene was truly peculiar.
He instinctively rubbed his eyes and looked more closely, confirming he hadn’t seen wrong.
The white smoke seemed to be coming from the top of the Water Prison, through that narrow crevice.
It appeared to be True Qi Emission, causing the deep pool’s water to evaporate.
A multitude of thoughts flashed through Ma Jianguo’s mind.
Could it be that Fang Cheng had successfully ’Established Intent,’ started operating the ’Thunder Fire Cauldron,’ and was attempting to shape the realm?
But the scale of this smoke, isn’t it too grandiose?
How could that kid’s True Qi be so terrifyingly abundant?
Or perhaps... something went wrong, and he went insane?
His brows furrowed tightly as he rapidly searched his memory.
Yet, he had never seen such a bizarre situation, even after scouring the clan records.
As he was thoroughly perplexed, the wind suddenly rose, carrying a hint of earth and fresh grass.
Raindrops followed, falling on his tightly furrowed brow.
The sky somehow had darkened.
Large masses of dark clouds gathered quickly like spilled ink, perfectly covering the village sky, blocking the sun completely.
The day became abruptly dim, as if evening had arrived early.
Neighbor Old Wang glanced at the sky, muttering:
"Hey, the weather’s really strange, changing so suddenly. It was sunny just now, and now it’s raining? I better hurry home to take in the clothes!"
Saying so, he no longer cared to watch the "ancestral grave smoking" spectacle and dashed off to his yard.
At the courtyard gate, only Ma Jianguo remained, standing still, staring blankly towards the back mountain.
Letting the cold rain, swept by the wind, slantingly hit his body, soaking his clothes.
The expression on his face constantly shifted, sometimes revealing uncontrollable joy, other times overshadowed by intense worry.
In another corner of the world.
Here, the wind seemed solid.
When it hit the jagged black rocks, it was instantly torn apart, transforming into countless screaming shards.
Ice crystals and rubble mixed in, sweeping through this forbidden life zone.
The air was incredibly thin, yet it was enough to scorch the lungs.
Any exposed flesh would lose all warmth in mere seconds, freezing into a gray-white statue.
This place was the most mysterious on earth, a land of eternal frost that even gods shied away from.
Blizzards roared year-round, ruling this desolate land.
At this moment, on the ice plain smooth as a mirror, a figure sat cross-legged.
He wore an old, dark mountaineering suit, the zipper worn to reveal the brass beneath.
A simple pair of goggles covered most of his face.
He appeared like an unfortunate mountaineer who got lost.
Yet within a three-foot radius around him, there was an eerie calm.
The storm, fierce enough to rend flesh, seemed to hit an invisible barrier, transforming into gentle breezes, not ruffling his hem.
In front of him was a thick layer of ice, with a bowl-sized hole chiseled in the center.
A primitive fishing rod made from an unknown beast’s bone was held in his hand.
A nearly invisible line dipped below, vanishing into the unfathomable beneath-the-ice dark lake.
Fishing in a polar ice lake atop thousands of meters altitude defied logic.
Yet this person was incredibly focused and serene, completely still.
As if he were not confronting the planet’s fiercest nature, but enjoying a leisurely afternoon by a pond in his backyard.
The person and the wild environment achieved a strange harmony.
It was unknown how much time passed.
The hand holding the rod trembled slightly.
It wasn’t a fish biting.
But a stirring from deeper, more distant realms.
As if someone on the other side of the earth was gently tapping with the entire planet as a drum.
This vibration transcended the physical, reaching the rules at the core of the world, rippling outward.
To most power users, this ripple was nothing more than a breeze.
But to him, it was akin to a tsunami on the mental plane.
He slowly lifted his head.
The gaze behind the goggles seemed to penetrate the raging storm, through the heavy clouds, into the endless void.
A light hum escaped his throat, not loud, yet like metal striking stone, even halting the howling wind.
Then, he closed his eyes.
Instantly, the external din and bitter cold faded away completely.
In his perception, the entire planet became a massive sphere composed of countless meridians and light spots.
The mountain ranges, the ocean currents, everything became clear.
On that familiar Eastern Continent, a dim node suddenly erupted with a blazing light akin to the sun!