Twenty years had passed since Xiao Fei's transformation.
The affairs concerning him in the outside world had gradually faded.
Except for those with actual vested interests, who would continuously remember an insignificant person if they were not related?
When Xiao Fei reappeared in public, unless one had met him personally back then, few people would have recognized him.
Over the past two decades, Xiao Fei had finally succeeded in developing the deification portion of the "Hun Yuan Gong."
With the aid of the Enlightenment Spring, the laws of gathering and scattering he had comprehended had successfully opened up a domain.
This was sufficient for him to contend with any deified expert.
North of Sanshan Island, there was a large island named Qianhe Island.
Qianhe Island was the center of human forces in the entire Western Sea. Its area was not much smaller than a continent.
On the island stood a super sect named Qianhe Sect.
The vast region of the Western Sea bordering the Central Continent, meaning all human forces within the Western Sea, fell under its sphere of influence.
Even Sanshan Sect, where Xiao Fei had resided for a period, was required to pay tribute to Qianhe Sect annually.
Xiao Fei's primary purpose for traveling to the Tianyuan Realm via the teleportation array was twofold.
Firstly, to earn spirit stones and successfully break through to the deified realm.
This objective had now been achieved. He had accumulated sufficient spirit stones, successfully reached the deified realm, and his space had expanded.
From his personal perspective, the gains during this period were immense, making it well worth the effort.
His second objective for coming to the Tianyuan Realm was to find a way out for the humans of the Eastern Continent.
The humans of the Eastern Continent were currently facing two major dangers. The first was the increasingly thin spiritual energy on the Eastern Continent, making it unsuitable for cultivation.
The second was the threat from the Demon Race, who could dispatch powerful experts to invade the Eastern Continent at any time.
Neither of these problems facing the Eastern Continent was easily solvable. Xiao Fei's abilities were almost insufficient to resolve them.
Therefore, he could only seek external help at this point.
He already had some plans in mind, but executing them based on these plans was proving to be very difficult.
Xiao Fei had even prepared for the worst-case scenario. If there was truly no other way, he might resort to extreme measures.
Since the humans of the Eastern Continent had endured so much hardship, he might as well let everyone experience it together.
Thirty years had passed since he arrived in the Tianyuan Realm via the teleportation array. Half of his allotted time had gone by. For the remaining thirty years, he needed to do something for the Eastern Continent.
Unlike other sects, Qianhe Sect had not established itself on mountaintops.
Instead, they had built a massive city in the center of the island, named Qianhe City.
The city was vast, with a population of millions, predominantly cultivators. There were only a handful of mortals, all descendants of cultivators.
As Xiao Fei entered Qianhe City, even though he had seen hundred-story buildings in his previous life, he was still awestruck by its grand and magnificent city walls.
The city walls were dozens of feet high, bearing traces of attacks from weapons or sharp claws.
All of this served as a testament to the fact that Qianhe City had experienced the ravages of war.
Xiao Fei entered Qianhe City and rented a cave dwelling, costing three hundred high-grade spirit stones annually.
He intended to reside here for a period.
After settling in, his first action was to inquire about himself.
It was only then that he learned about the significant stir caused by the battle with Sanshan Sect back then.
Unexpectedly, he had become famous overnight, with considerable recognition.
This development would make his second objective much easier to achieve.
Otherwise, as an unknown individual, he would have no chance of meeting the leaders of these major powers.
However, Xiao Fei was not in a hurry to act. He still had thirty years, allowing him to plan at his leisure.
First, he needed to thoroughly understand the origin of the grand formation that had sealed the Eastern Continent.
He also needed to ascertain the views of the Tianyuan Realm cultivators towards the humans of the Eastern Continent, at least to understand whether they were allies or enemies.
Qianhe City also housed a large market, even larger than the market on Sanshan Island.
The spirit stones Xiao Fei had accumulated last time were almost entirely depleted during his breakthrough. He was left with only tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones.
One day, Xiao Fei visited the market in Qianhe City. The rent here was only one high-grade spirit stone per day.
Upon entering the market, he once again took out a large pile of thousand-year-old spirit herbs and spiritual wines and displayed them at his stall.
During the twenty years he spent in seclusion, many new thousand-year-old spirit herbs had grown in his space.
Moreover, with the expansion of his space, he now had an abundance of spirit herbs.
As the quality of his thousand-year-old spirit herbs was significantly higher than those at other stalls, it quickly attracted a large crowd of cultivators.
Business boomed. Seeing others purchasing, those who hadn't yet bought felt they were missing out.
Soon, all the spirit herbs and spiritual wines at his stall were sold out.
This time, he had sold a considerable amount of spirit herbs, earning over fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Xiao Fei packed up his stall and left, feeling content.
A little over a month later, Xiao Fei reappeared in the market, selling his distinctive thousand-year-old spirit herbs.
Once again, they sold out, and he earned tens of thousands more high-grade spirit stones.
He now possessed over a hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, equivalent to over a billion high-grade spirit stones.
Both for Xiao Fei and for the entire continent, spirit stones were valuable commodities with significant utility.
With more spirit stones, Xiao Fei could invest them in his space to increase its time flow rate.
Taking advantage of his earnings, he invested another one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones into his space.
After absorbing these one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, the time flow rate in his space indeed increased from fifty times to sixty times.
Xiao Fei's repeated sales of thousand-year-old spirit herbs in the market had already attracted the attention of passing cultivators.
The superior quality of his spirit herbs was something difficult for others to replicate.
Many cultivators easily connected him to the prominent family scion who had appeared twenty years prior.
Now, with the re-emergence of this ancient family scion, many major and minor powers extended olive branches to Xiao Fei, showing him favor.
Several influential powers invited Xiao Fei to be their guest.
Some smaller and medium-sized forces were more direct and crude, simply delivering gifts and leaving.
Still others sought marriage alliances, proposing to marry their daughters or sisters to him.
Xiao Fei held a thick stack of invitation cards, slowly examining each one.
His trip to the market to sell spirit herbs was just the first step, intended to attract attention and have his identity recognized, prompting those powers to seek him out again.
While reviewing the invitation cards, Xiao Fei was suddenly drawn to the content of one.
The handwriting on this invitation card was crooked, like earthworms crawling on it. Such writing was rare among cultivators.
This invitation card surprisingly proposed marrying his mother to himself...