With the trio settling down in the village together with the group led by the Sovereign, they had little to worry about their safety.

The two giant forces kept clashing; all of their resources were spent on keeping the other in check.

In Phoenix City, Ember had too many things distracting her. Soon, she forgot about keeping information on the trio and finding Ozul.

The leaders of the Coalition were the same. The bloodthirsty Elders from both sides had seen Ozul disappearing in front of their eyes and then never seen again on the battlefield.

To them, he was just as good as dead.

Hakuja, however, wasn’t entirely indifferent to the village that housed the trio and the Beastkin.

The nine-tailed fox Beastkin that had been brought from the Broken World by the Immortal Sect and later joined their Wilderness was a genius never seen once in a lifetime.

She rose through the cultivation ranks so quickly, that for a while, he even instructed the Elders not to push her into the war.

He had even taken her in as a disciple and was raising her in expectations that she too would one day reach the Empyrean Realm.

However, the rebellious nature of Vesta did not allow anyone to control her. The day she was strong enough to leave, she gathered her followers and left without a second thought.

She really had no attachment to the Wilderness.

Those who followed her were devoted entirely to the legends of a Nine-Tailed Fox Queen and how She would liberate and lead all the Beastkin.

Vesta, the Sovereign, had nothing to lose. So, she allowed them to follow her.

Hakuja allowed them to leave, believing that they would sooner come to their senses and return to the Wilderness. He was of the opinion that the indifference of the outside world would force Vesta back ’home.’

Little did he know, in her Broken World, Vesta was known as the most indifferent and overbearing being.

She might not have lived for as long as him, but her experiences as the Sovereign could not be ignored.

Time passed slowly.

Having learned all of her life, Raven was quick to establish a little following of her own.

Starting with the village they were staying in, she picked individuals and trained them.

Blaze focused entirely on strength and searching for any hints related to the Heavenly Virtues and Ozul in particular.

Zier closed himself off from the outside world. The only times he would be seen were the times he ran out of materials and ingredients for his poisonous experiments.

It happened gradually, but Vesta and her group began to get along with them.

The occasional sparring sessions of Vesta and Blaze ignited a sense of competition from both sides.

They grew closer and before long, the village had become their home.

Unlike in the rest of the continent, no one was drowned in greed there. Every individual was more focused on their cultivation than anything else.

All except Raven.

She knew building an information network was necessary if they wanted to find Ozul.

Without the backing of Phoenix City, she didn’t have any other choice. Although the process was long and grueling, she wasn’t going to back down from the challenge.

Days floated away, turning into months.

Without anything grand happening, months began to melt into years.

If not for the aging mortals of the village, no one would have realized that years were passing by in the blink of an eye.

Within this stretching span of time, there were occasionally a few battles that reached even their hidden village.

But such incidents were far and few.

Their group did not show any mercy at such times.

After an initial warning, Blaze made sure none of the soldiers returned alive if they had trespassed.

Having killed a few Transcendents like this, the number of these battles reduced significantly.

From their sources, both Phoenix City and the Coalition realized that sending any forces near that remote area was a waste of resources and personnel. As such, they collectively focused their efforts on other fronts of war.

The village people were more than happy with this arrangement.

The few old people who were only begrudgingly accommodating these ’outsider’ cultivators were also convinced. It mattered not if they had to house these people if it meant no harm would befall their homes in the wake of the ongoing continental war.

As their village enjoyed the newfound peace in the midst of the chaos, things were different outside.

The Realm of Abezan was changing, transforming, and adapting to the new circumstances.

Even children were taught survival skills and sent off to dangerous missions. Becoming a cultivator had suddenly become a necessity.

Rivers were changing their directions, mountains were flattening, and weather stormed the continent every other month.

Only a few people, however, noticed the subtle changes in the air.

The Realm Ego was conscious. It had long sensed the turmoil on its lands and began to adapt.

The first to notice these changes were the Celestial Beast and the three Empyreans leading this war followed by the Sages.

The more sensitive they were to the Spiritual Essence, the earlier they realized that things were not the same after decades of war.

Suddenly, everyone was becoming a cultivator.

Those mortals who had never dreamed of such things were able to not only feel the Spiritual Essence but also exercise it.

With the never-ending battles, there was also always a need for mortals who could sense the Spiritual Essence. They were given quick resources in the expectation that they would become useful.

Thus, the conflicts allowed more people to cultivate.

Yet, few realized the actual reason there were suddenly more cultivators seen everywhere.

The Realm of Abezan was experiencing a qualitative change.

The Spiritual Essence had become more abundant. It had become more dense.

It naturally allowed more mortals to be able to take the first step on the fate-defying path of cultivation.

Naturally, this phenomenon also boosted the progress of other cultivators. It became much easier to advance through the stages of each realm. Resources were scarce, but their cultivation speed couldn’t be faster!

A few years passed and the increase of cultivators became apparent to everyone.

Eventually, everyone was realizing the new opportunities that awaited them.

Concerned with the changes of their Realm, the three Empyreans had long consulted with the Heavenly Virtues.

As it turned out, it wasn’t just the Realm of Abezan that was experiencing these changes.

Due to the war that spanned all 8 Realms surrounding the Land Above All, the Realm Egos nurtured the death of cultivators to quicken their own cultivation of vitality, resulting in a better quality and abundance of Spiritual Essence.

The Empyreans were informed that this phenomenon would only last until the end of this seemingly endless war.

...

In the village unbothered by worldly affairs, the trio also felt a boost in their progress.

Alden and Rameel had long stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm and having partially achieved Soul Materialization, they were only steps away from the Origin Realm.

In strict competition, Raven, Blaze, and Zier were all trying to break through the final gates of the Transcendent Realm to ascend and become true Sages.

Meanwhile, Vesta was close behind, having reached the last stage of Transcendent only a little late.

There were also two other peak Transcendents Beastkin following her.

With these powerhouses protecting the village, many mortals and cultivators who had lost their ways or were running for their lives began to take refuge around it.

The village had slowly grown to the point of being called a town or maybe even a small city.

Raven allowed this to happen and even guided this transformation. They had gained enough strength to protect this place even from the likes of a Sage now.

Expanding the territory eased her operations of the intelligence network that she had so painstakingly built from the ground up.

With an increase in cultivators, it became easier to recruit and spread her influence. Quietly, the place they had taken refuge in had become a force of its own.

Vesta had already noticed that even though she and her group had settled in this area first, Raven had long surpassed them in influence and authority.

However, the former Sovereign could care less about such politics as long as she wasn’t forced to do anything against her wishes.

If the two major forces had taken a step back from their battles, they would have surely noticed and taken some action against this budding threat in their backyard.

At one point, the native villagers had all come to Raven to name their city.

"City of Refuge," she had named it after giving it a deep thought. The name would attract even more wanderers and refugees of war.

The more people they had, the better it was for the next stage of the plan; building a mercenary organization.

Blaze, Vesta, and other Beastkin had already taken multiple independent commissions from outside forces for tasks that required the involvement of Transcendents. This had become an occasional source of income for the city.

Raven was going to expand this and build an entire organization out of this business.

’I hope you are safe... wherever you are,’ she thought silently, the burden of everything weighed heavily on her shoulders.

But she couldn’t show weakness. Not until she had found Ozul.

. . .

Meanwhile, inside the Abyssos Prison.

"Hmm..."

There was no essence of light nor matter inside the prison.

The concept of time too was a faded luxury.

Yet, the consciousness trapped inside flickered more defiantly than ever.

Seeping into the veins of emptiness, something was pulsating, something raw was gnawing at the root of everything.

Like a heartbeat, its rhythm slowly grew.

Unlike the phantom it previously was, the figure trapped inside had gained a form now.

Things were soon going to change.