Chapter 51: The Journey to the West
Han Feng stood upon a rocky ridge, looking toward the horizon.
The morning wind was cold.
It carried the scent of distant mountains and dry earth, brushing against his long white hair as the first light of dawn spread across the sky.
Behind him lay the Southern Region.
It had been the place where he awakened in this world, where he had first learned to survive, where he had entered the path of cultivation, joined the Black Moon Sect, and uncovered secrets far older than he had imagined.
The memories were still fresh.
The waterfall cave.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu.
The Forbidden Hall.
The Celestial Diagram Scroll.
The ancient Resonance-Anchor Gu.
The Heart beneath the Ruins of Eternal Night.
And the ancient guardian that had recognized the resonance within him.
None of those mysteries had truly been solved.
If anything, every answer had only revealed another question.
Han Feng narrowed his purple eyes.
The Celestial Diagram remained silent within his consciousness.
The ancient resonance surrounding the Anchor had also calmed, but he knew better than to believe that meant the danger had disappeared.
Something had awakened.
Something had noticed.
And somewhere beyond his understanding, the ancient system connected to the six nodes was beginning to move again.
Han Feng could not afford to remain in one place.
He needed resources.
Information.
And, most importantly, strength.
The catastrophe he had sensed on the horizon was still distant, but distance did not mean safety.
If he wanted to survive what was coming, he needed to prepare before the world itself was forced to change.
His destination was the Western Region.
It was said that the Western Region contained ancient ruins, isolated tribes, dangerous spiritual beasts, and cultivation inheritances buried beneath mountains that had existed long before the current era.
For someone like Han Feng, it was dangerous.
But danger and opportunity had always walked together.
He turned away from the Southern Region.
Then he began walking.
The Crossing Through the Wild Lands
The road westward was not a proper road at all.
After several days, civilization gradually disappeared.
The stone paths became narrow trails.
The villages became scattered settlements.
Eventually, even those disappeared.
The Wild Lands stretched before him like an endless scar across the earth.
This region was not governed by any major sect.
It belonged to whoever could survive it.
Fierce beasts roamed freely across the plains. Wandering tribes moved between temporary settlements. Some tribes hunted spiritual beasts, while others survived by trading with passing cultivators.
There were also rumors of ancient ruins buried beneath the Wild Lands.
Most people considered those rumors nothing more than stories.
Han Feng did not.
He had learned long ago that rumors often began with a fragment of truth.
He moved mostly at night.
During the day, he concealed himself beneath rocky outcroppings, abandoned caves, or dense vegetation.
The Art of the Celestial Veil kept his presence suppressed.
To an ordinary spiritual beast, he was little more than another creature passing through the wilderness.
But the technique was not perfect.
Han Feng knew that.
A sufficiently powerful cultivator could see through it.
Certain Gu could detect irregularities.
And some spiritual beasts possessed senses that did not rely on spiritual fluctuations at all.
Therefore, he remained cautious.
He never traveled in a straight line for too long.
He avoided large concentrations of spiritual energy.
Whenever he encountered tracks, he studied them before proceeding.
It was slower.
But survival was more important than speed.
His current cultivation was not enough to allow arrogance.
Qi Cultivation Rank 3.
Gu Master Rank 2.
Compared to the true experts of the Gu World, he was still weak.
That fact had saved his life more than once.
On the third night, however, caution was no longer enough.
A deafening roar exploded through the darkness.
Han Feng stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
The sound had not come from far away.
It was close.
Very close.
The ground trembled beneath his feet.
Then came another roar.
Something enormous moved between the trees.
Han Feng immediately released his spiritual perception.
A massive silhouette emerged from the darkness.
Three horns protruded from its skull.
Its body was covered in layers of rough stone armor, each plate resembling a naturally formed rock.
Its crimson eyes stared directly at Han Feng.
The Three-Horned Rock Beast.
A spiritual beast.
And judging from its aura, considerably stronger than ordinary Rank 2 spiritual beasts.
Han Feng did not move.
The beast lowered its head.
A low growl escaped its throat.
Then it charged.
The Battle in the Shadows
The Three-Horned Rock Beast moved far faster than its enormous body suggested.
Han Feng's expression remained calm.
He stepped sideways.
The beast's horn passed less than an inch from his shoulder.
BOOM!
The ground behind him exploded.
Stone fragments flew through the air.
Han Feng landed several meters away and immediately inspected the beast.
Its stone armor was extremely dense.
Ordinary attacks would accomplish very little.
His eyes flickered.
He could retreat.
That would be the safest choice.
But Han Feng noticed something else.
The beast's spiritual energy was strangely dense.
Not pure.
There was a faint mixture of earthy spiritual power and chaotic energy running through its body.
His Dual Chaos Larva reacted.
A faint pulse came from within his body.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
Compatible.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
That changed things.
"Then I'll take the risk."
His fingers moved.
Dark flames appeared around his body.
The Celestial Dark Flame burned silently, forming a thin black aura around him.
Han Feng did not unleash all his power.
He couldn't.
Doing so would create a spiritual disturbance that could potentially attract unwanted attention.
Instead, he compressed the flames around his fist.
The Three-Horned Rock Beast charged again.
This time, Han Feng did not dodge immediately.
He waited.
Ten meters.
Five.
Three.
At the final moment, his body shifted.
The beast's massive body swept past him.
Han Feng twisted his waist and struck.
BOOM!
His fist slammed into the creature's flank.
Dark flames spread across the stone armor.
A crack appeared.
The beast roared.
Han Feng's expression changed slightly.
Its defense is stronger than I expected.
The beast turned violently.
Its tail struck like a giant stone hammer.
Han Feng raised both arms.
BOOM!
He was thrown backward.
His feet carved two deep lines into the ground before he managed to stop.
Pain traveled through his arms.
Han Feng exhaled slowly.
Too much physical strength.
The beast opened its mouth.
A surge of spiritual energy gathered inside it.
Han Feng immediately recognized the danger.
He vanished sideways.
A moment later—
BOOM!
A wave of destructive earth energy tore across the ground.
Trees were shattered.
Rocks were reduced to dust.
Han Feng landed behind a boulder.
His eyes became colder.
The creature was powerful.
But it was also predictable.
Every time it prepared the attack, its spiritual energy gathered toward its chest.
There was a rhythm.
A pattern.
Han Feng watched carefully.
One breath.
Two.
Three.
The beast roared again.
This time, Han Feng moved before the attack was released.
He rushed forward.
The Celestial Dark Flame compressed around his right arm.
At the same time, the Dual Chaos Larva stirred within his body.
A trace of the beast's chaotic spiritual energy was drawn toward the resonance between them.
Only a small amount.
Enough to create instability.
The beast hesitated.
Its spiritual circulation became disordered for a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
Han Feng struck the cracked section of its armor.
BOOM!
The stone plate shattered.
The beast screamed.
Han Feng did not stop.
He stepped beneath its body and struck again.
Then again.
Three consecutive blows.
The final strike sent the creature stumbling backward.
Blood flowed from the cracks in its armor.
The beast became enraged.
It raised its front legs and attempted to crush him.
Han Feng leapt backward.
His breathing had become heavier.
He could not prolong this battle.
The longer it lasted, the greater the chance that another spiritual beast—or worse, a cultivator—would notice the disturbance.
Han Feng looked at the wounded beast.
Then at the darkness surrounding them.
He made his decision.
The Celestial Dark Flame gathered around his body.
Instead of expanding outward, the flames compressed tighter and tighter.
His spiritual energy circulated through his meridians.
The Dual Chaos Larva stabilized the conflicting energies.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu assisted in maintaining the balance.
For a brief moment, all three powers moved together.
Han Feng's eyes flashed.
He disappeared.
The Three-Horned Rock Beast roared and swung its head.
Too late.
Han Feng appeared above it.
His right fist descended.
BOOM!
The impact struck the damaged section of the skull.
The stone armor cracked.
Then shattered.
The enormous body collapsed into the earth.
Silence returned to the Wild Lands.
Han Feng landed beside the corpse.
He remained still for several breaths.
Then he carefully checked his surroundings.
Nothing.
No human presence.
No approaching spiritual beasts.
Only the wind.
"Good."
He crouched beside the corpse.
The Dual Chaos Larva began absorbing a small portion of the beast's residual essence.
It did not devour everything.
Han Feng deliberately controlled the process.
The energy entered his body slowly, filtered through the Gu's chaotic yet balancing nature.
A faint warmth spread through his meridians.
His foundation trembled slightly.
But Han Feng immediately stopped the absorption.
Enough.
Trying to consume too much would be dangerous.
The Dual Chaos Larva was not an infinite vessel.
Neither was his body.
The remaining corpse could still be harvested for materials, but carrying everything would slow him down.
Han Feng removed several useful pieces of the beast's stone armor and a small spiritual core.
Then he stood.
He looked once more at the corpse.
"This world really does have resources everywhere."
But he knew better than to become careless.
One victory meant nothing.
There were always stronger beings beyond the horizon.
Han Feng turned and disappeared into the darkness.
The Border of the Western Region
The journey continued.
Days passed.
The landscape gradually changed.
The dry wilderness gave way to towering mountains.
Mist appeared between the peaks.
Ancient trees grew along steep cliffs, their roots twisting around enormous stones covered with unfamiliar markings.
Occasionally, Han Feng encountered ruins.
Some were nothing more than broken walls.
Others were entire structures buried beneath centuries of earth.
He did not investigate them.
Not yet.
His instincts warned him that some ruins were better left untouched until he understood the region.
Eventually, the horizon changed completely.
A massive mountain range appeared before him.
It seemed to stretch endlessly from north to south.
Pale mist covered the valleys between the mountains.
Even from a distance, Han Feng could feel faint spiritual fluctuations coming from within.
Some were weak.
Others were ancient.
Far too ancient.
Han Feng stopped at the border.
A stone monument stood nearby, half buried beneath the earth.
Most of its inscription had been destroyed.
Only a few words remained.
WESTERN REGION.
Below those words was another line.
Almost completely erased.
Han Feng brushed the dust away with his sleeve.
A fragment became visible.
...those who enter...
The rest was gone.
Han Feng stared at it for several seconds.
Then he smiled faintly.
"Even the warning is incomplete."
He stood.
The Western Region stretched before him.
It was nothing like the Southern Region.
The mountains were more ancient.
The spiritual environment was stranger.
And somewhere beyond those mist-covered valleys were treasures, inheritances, ancient sects, and dangers he had yet to encounter.
But Han Feng was not searching for supreme authority.
Not yet.
He was searching for something more important.
A foundation strong enough to survive the future.
He touched the jade token of the Black Moon Sect hidden beneath his robe.
His eyes became cold.
The sect had not stopped searching.
The ancient formation had not stopped reacting.
The Celestial Diagram remained a mystery.
And the six nodes were still waiting.
Whatever catastrophe was approaching, Han Feng intended to meet it on his own terms.
He took one final look back toward the Southern Region.
Then he turned around.
Without hesitation, he stepped across the boundary.
The moment his foot touched the Western Region—
The Celestial Diagram inside his consciousness pulsed once.
Han Feng froze.
A faint resonance traveled through his spiritual sea.
Not from behind him.
From somewhere deep within the Western Region.
His expression slowly changed.
Something here... recognizes the resonance.
The pulse disappeared almost immediately.
The Art of the Celestial Veil remained intact.
No enemy appeared.
No ancient voice spoke.
Nothing else happened.
And yet Han Feng knew one thing.
His arrival had not gone completely unnoticed.
He looked toward the distant mountains.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Then let's see what you're hiding."
Han Feng stepped forward.
The mist swallowed his figure.
And the journey into the Western Region began.