Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

A few days later, Elder He personally led a team, bringing a large amount of supplies and two hundred cultivators, to Blood Blade Stronghold.

Yan Chiheng was stunned when he saw him.

"Mr. He? What brings you here?"

Old He stroked his beard and chuckled, "When people get old, their hearts soften."

He brought supplies, handed them over to He An, and gave He An instructions on how to handle these mundane affairs for a few days.

He left, for he was, after all, the head steward of the market and could not leave the market easily.

In the days that followed, He An led people to build houses, distribute food, and prepare medicine to treat the sick.

Those mortals went from initial fear and anxiety to gradually smiling.

Yan Chiheng stood at a distance, watching, a slight smile playing on his lips.

This kid is quite interesting.

---

Two months later.

Using the same methods, Yan Chiheng subdued another powerful group of thieves.

The Forbidden God Disc has already controlled seven Foundation Establishment cultivators.

His Qi Refining Tribulation Cultivators have expanded to seven hundred, and the territory he secretly controls covers nearly one-tenth of Dingfeng Plain.

However, his actions were too drastic and eventually attracted the attention of other robbery gangs.

News has spread that the remaining five major tribulation cultivator groups plan to convene a meeting of all Foundation Establishment tribulation cultivators to discuss how to deal with this "newcomer".

They thought some outside force wanted to interfere in Dingfengyuan and sent people to seize territory.

I never expected that Lin Zhao and Yan Chiheng had such big ambitions, wanting to swallow everyone whole.

Yan Chiheng smiled upon hearing this news.

"A meeting? Sure."

He stood up and looked at He An.

"Get the cultivator team ready and set off. I'm going to find Lin Zhao and take care of them all at once."

At this moment, Old He himself came here and stopped him.

"Young Yan, now that you're gone, what are we going to do here?"

Yan Chiheng was taken aback.

Old He pointed to the shantytown in the distance: "There are still tens of thousands of ordinary people over there."

"You've taken the cultivators away. What if some Foundation Establishment cultivator takes advantage of the situation and leaves? What will happen to these people?"

Yan Chiheng fell silent.

He really didn't think that much about it.

Old He sighed.

"I'll stay, old man."

"you?"

"What, you look down on me?"

Old He chuckled, "Although I'm old, I still have the cultivation of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Protecting these mortals shouldn't be a problem."

Yan Chiheng looked at him and suddenly felt a little moved.

"Old He..."

"Alright, alright, stop dawdling."

Old He waved his hand, "You know I don't have time to stay here all the time. You and the garrison commander should go and come back quickly."

"The sooner we take Dingfeng Plain, the sooner these people can go home."

Yan Chiheng nodded and turned to leave.

After taking a few steps, he turned back.

"Take care, Mr. He."

Old He smiled and waved.

Yan Chiheng took a deep breath and, along with He An and several Foundation Establishment cultivators who were under his control, disappeared into the night.

In the distance, the lights of the shantytown dotted the sky.

Those mortals were unaware that the day they would return home was drawing ever closer.

---

Deep within Dingfeng Plain, on a hillside, everything has completely changed.

The once barren hillside was now densely covered with tents, stretching outwards from the center for more than ten miles.

The outermost perimeter consisted of shacks and makeshift tents, crammed with mortals—the elderly, women, and children—who had been abducted by the bandits, dressed in rags and emaciated.

Further in is the camp of Qi Refining Tribulation cultivators. The tents are somewhat more presentable, and occasionally you can see a few people roasting food around a fire.

In the most central area, a temporary stone palace complex was built with huge stones; that was where cultivators awaited their Foundation Establishment Tribulation.

Over the past month, the five strongest bandit gangs in the vicinity, along with more than thirty smaller gangs, have gradually gathered here.

On the surface, they were supposedly meeting to discuss how to deal with the new, mysterious force, but in reality, they all had their own ulterior motives.

Fights break out in the camp every day.

Two cultivators at the Qi Refining Tribulation staged a fight over a young woman, resulting in blood flowing everywhere.

People gathered around to watch the spectacle; some started a commotion, while others placed bets.

The woman huddled in a corner, trembling all over, and no one paid any attention to her.

Not far away, a drunken cultivator passed by and casually lashed a middle-aged man with his whip.

The man couldn't dodge in time, and a bloody gash immediately appeared on his back.

"Get away from me! You're in my way!"

The middle-aged man groaned and staggered back a few steps. A boy of about ten years old rushed over to support him.

"Uncle! Uncle, are you alright?"

"It's nothing." The middle-aged man gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. "I'm fine. I'm a cultivator; this injury is nothing."

The boy didn't say anything, but helped him to a relatively quiet corner to sit down.

He knew the older man was trying to comfort him.

The uncle used to be a cultivator, at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and was said to come from a very large immortal city.

Five years ago, he was captured by a thief and his cultivation was sealed. Now, apart from being physically stronger than an ordinary person, he can't do anything.

Let alone resisting those Foundation Establishment Tribulation cultivators, even an ordinary Qi Refining Tribulation cultivator could easily bully him.

The boy squatted down beside him, gazing at the arrogant cultivators in the distance, a fire burning in his eyes.

The boy's surname was Luo, and his given name was Luo Yu.

Seven years ago, he was arrested in the same way.

He was only a few years old at the time. His parents protected him, but in the end, his father died and his mother died too.

Luo Yu almost starved to death, but the uncle discovered that he had spiritual roots, secretly took care of him, gave him food, taught him to read, and allowed him to live until now.

He hated these cultivators who had been afflicted by the tribulations.

But he was even more afraid.

He had witnessed it firsthand: dozens of Qi Refining cultivators besieged a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the cultivator only needed to make one move. A flash of spiritual light, and all the cultivators were down, some without even a complete corpse.

Foundation Establishment cultivators are the heavens of the camp.

The old man always said that someone would come to save them, that the immortal city was very powerful, and there must be experts there who could defeat these tribulation cultivators.

But Luo Yu didn't believe it.

With so many Foundation Establishment cultivators, how powerful must that expert be?

He looked up at the stone palace in the center of the basin, where there were more than eighty Foundation Establishment cultivators, each as large as a mountain.

Who can move so many mountains?

---

Inside the largest stone hall in the group of stone halls, the atmosphere was lively.

More than eighty Foundation Establishment cultivators sat scattered on the huge stone thrones according to their respective groups.

At the very center, in the highest position, sat a dark gold stone chair, upon which sat a middle-aged man with a sinister face—a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator with a profound aura. He was the convener of this conference and also the strongest Tribulation Cultivator leader in Dingfeng Plain.

"Have you investigated that new faction thoroughly?" someone asked.

"Investigate my ass!" A burly late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator slammed his hand on the armrest. "Damn it, Blood Blade Stronghold and Black Wolf Gang have both been wiped out, and we don't even know where they came from!"

"I heard there were only a few people?" someone scoffed. "A few people can wipe out more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators? I don't believe it."

"It was just a sneak attack. If we really fought head-on, we have over eighty Foundation Establishment cultivators here. We could drown them with just one spit from each of us."

"Easy for you to say, then why don't you go?"

"you--"

"Alright!"

The middle-aged man on the stone chair spoke, his voice not loud, but it silenced the entire hall.

"No matter who they are, since they've come to Dingfeng Plain, they have to follow the rules of Dingfeng Plain."

He slowly scanned the area. "Whether we devour them or incorporate them when they arrive, we'll decide then. What's the point of arguing now?"

Someone muttered, "Well, they'd have to be willing to come..."