"Weaver Transformation," Zhi Xuan murmured. His voice was not loud, yet every word he uttered transformed into golden symbols that drifted through the air, reinforcing the Domain wall that shrouded Silent Hill.

  Outside the boundaries of the Domain, the gathering of practitioners from various factions continued to grow. They witnessed with their own eyes how the sky above the Forsaken Region seemed to split open. The gray clouds that had blanketed the region for millennia were swept clean, revealing a stretch of stars far brighter than before, as if the land had just been sanctified by celestial fire.

  Elder Han, still hovering in the air, felt his heart race. "Look! The wheel... it is beginning to shrink!"

  Indeed, the six-colored vortex that had once covered the sky began to contract, drawn into the crown of the head of the man sitting atop the hill. Every inch of the inhaled spiritual energy was compressed into a single core point within Zhi Xuan’s Divine Wheel.

  WHUMP! WHUMP! WHUMP!

  Suddenly, a surge of spiritual waves erupted. There was no deafening sound, but a shockwave of pure spiritual essence shot out in all directions, flattening the sulfur mists and turning the entire valley green within seconds. Flowers that had never grown in that barren soil suddenly bloomed, releasing a fragrance that soothed the souls of the practitioners previously consumed by greedy desires.

  Six lights beamed upward in a massive spiritual surge, cleaving heaven and earth. The ground trembled violently, and there appeared a sight the Forsaken Region would never forget: a six-colored disc, with carvings representing the paths of Human, God, Devil, Asura, Ghost, and Beast, forming a Samsara Wheel of the Six Paths.

  Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul slowly emerged from behind the Samsara Wheel. His dual wings of eclipse darkness flapped, and instantly, within a radius of several miles, the area was saturated with pure spiritual energy emanating from the remnants of the Weaver Transformation breakthrough. Wild animals found the ground beneath them suddenly fertile, and dead trees surged back to life under the touch of such pure energy.

  "His soul is eternal; his Law is absolute," whispered an elder with trembling lips. He knelt, gazing at the beauty of the sky glowing with six lights. "He... he has successfully reached the Weaver Transformation!"

  "Quickly, sit in meditation!" roared an elder to the north. He crossed his legs and formed a mudra. "The ascension of a Weaver always grants a blessing—there is no loss, only the purest essence!"

  "Absorb every drop of this celestial dew! Do not let a single speck go to waste!" Elder Han cried hoarsely. He immediately dropped onto his low-hovering flying sword, folding his legs into the lotus position. "This is a Great Opportunity! In a thousand years, the Forsaken Region has never tasted essence of this grade!"

  On the slopes of the hill, the disciples of the Black Crow Cliff Sect followed the instructions with panic and passion. "Quick! Form the Spirit-Attracting Formation!" Lu Chen shouted to his peers. He sat cross-legged, eyes shut tight, but tears of joy leaked through. "I feel it... my blocked meridians... they are opening!"

  "It’s not just essence!" shouted a female practitioner from the Black Cloud Sect. She sat gracefully despite her dusty robes. "The enlightenment... I can hear the whispers of the Laws within this energy flow! This is the Law of Life! The Senior above is sharing his comprehension with us all!"

  The atmosphere around Silent Hill transformed into a sea of kneeling and meditating humans. Thousands of practitioners, from the Body Refining realm to the Five Elements realm, sat frozen like stone statues. It was silent, save for the sound of steady breathing and the vibration of essence entering their pores.

  "Look at the wound! The sulfur-poison burns on my hand... they’re gone!" whispered a rogue cultivator in disbelief.

  "Be quiet and focus on your inner self!" a middle-aged man beside him scolded, his own body beginning to glow with a thin silver light. "If you miss even one second, you will regret it for seven reincarnations!"

  "Senior Sister, do you see it?" a young disciple from another faction whispered via voice transmission. "That disc above... the White light shines brightest of all. Why would a God like him care so much for the Human Path?"

  "Do not ask, just feel," his senior replied solemnly. "Perhaps that is the secret of how he surpassed the limits we thought impossible. He did not abandon his humanity while chasing the heavens."

  In the distance, the mortal residents of Old Root Village did not understand cultivation, but they felt their frail bodies suddenly grow light. Old Man Cang sat cross-legged in front of his hut, mimicking the position of the Immortals he saw in the sky.

  "My wife! Your coughing... you aren’t coughing anymore!" a man cried, hugging his wife.

  "That God... he truly granted a blessing," the wife replied clearly. "Let us prostrate, do not stand. This land is now sacred ground."

  "An Immortal! An Immortal!" the village children chirped joyfully, their eyes sparkling under a sky as bright as the one they had always dreamed of. "Look! The stars are shining so bright; the uncle up there has given us a beautiful night!"

  "Look at the fields!" an old farmer shouted, his hoarse voice now sounding powerful. He pointed toward the previously parched lands. "The wheat is blooming early... it’s green again! It’s a miracle! The God has brought down the water of life without a single drop of rain!"

  "Father! Look at my leg!" A lame youth tried to stand, casting aside his wooden crutch. He took one step after another, trembling, his eyes wide with disbelief. "The pain that has tortured me since I fell from the cliff... it’s gone! My leg is no longer stiff, Father! I can walk straight!"

  Old Man Cang, the village shaman, prostrated until his forehead touched the dust, which now smelled of heavenly flowers. "Do not be arrogant, boy! Bow! We are standing upon the robes of a ruler of the heavens! Every breath we take now is a long life lent to us by him!"

  In a corner of the village, an old mother who had been blind for over a decade looked toward Silent Hill. Her wrinkled eyelids slowly opened, and for the first time in years, light returned to her world. "Colors... I see colors..." she whispered faintly, tears wetting the creases of her cheeks. "That white light... it’s so warm, like a mother's embrace. White, gold, red... oh, God, this world is still so beautiful!"

  "Listen!" a young woman interrupted, cradling her baby who now slept with a smile on its tiny lips. "The night insects... they are no longer noisy with fear. They are singing! Even the wind passing my ear feels like it's whispering a soothing prayer."

  "Father, will the uncle on the hill be our king?" asked a small boy, pointing at the giant shadow of the Samsara Wheel in the sky.

  "No, son," his father answered, his voice thick with respect. "A king rules with swords and taxes, but the uncle there... he protects us with his soul. He is not a king; he is the guardian of our life and death. Remember this day, tell your children and grandchildren, that in this Forsaken Region, there was once a God who did not forget us, these humans of dust."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Look! Look at the old tree in the center of the village!" A young girl shouted merrily.

  The banyan tree that had died from a lightning strike decades ago was now sprouting new buds with visible speed. Lush green leaves bloomed, and tiny white flowers that emitted a soft glow began to fall like warm snow.

  "Miraculous... truly miraculous," murmured a grandmother carrying her grandchild. "The ache in my back is gone, my blurry vision is as sharp as when I was a maiden. Are we in heaven, Old Man Cang?"

  "Not heaven, Granny," Old Man Cang replied, staring at the energy vortex stabilizing at the peak. "But heaven descending to earth. Look at that white light... that is our light, the light of ordinary humans. That God... he does not hate us. He honors our mortal lives in the midst of his divine power."

  "Uncle God! Thank you!" the village children shouted in unison, their voices soaring high, carried by the flow of spiritual energy toward the hilltop, merging with the eternal silence of Zhi Xuan, who had just finished weaving his law.

  Zhi Xuan, atop his flat stone, heard every vibration of that emotion. To him, the sincere prayers of the mortals were the final thread that locked the Human Path into his wheel of law. He slowly rose; his black-and-white robes were now clean of moss, shimmering with an authority capable of shaking the foundations of Yao Gu.

  Soaring into the sky, he absorbed the Samsara Wheel of the Six Paths back into his body. He stood against the starry sky, looking down at the expanse of territory that was now lush and beautiful as a result of his breakthrough. Though not everything was affected, this mortal territory would become a Sacred Land revered by all.

  "Five hundred years of cultivation," Zhi Xuan murmured, gazing at the stars. He clenched his hand, and the Samsara Wheel manifested behind his back once more before being reabsorbed. "Finally, I have reached the Weaver Transformation."

  Zhi Xuan waved his hand, and immediately, pillars of thunder-sandalwood shaped like various beasts spread around the region affected by his breakthrough. The pillars looked like monuments of law maintaining purity, emitting a cool air as if the Heavens themselves were granting a blessing.

  The thunder-sandalwood pillars sank deep into the earth of the Forsaken Region, forming an invisible guardian formation that could be felt by every soul. The beast statues carved at the tops of the pillars seemed alive, their wooden eyes glowing with a soft light that served as a beacon for those lost in inner storms.

  Zhi Xuan hovered among the stars, his robes dancing in the celestial wind he created. He looked at the pillars with the gaze of a father leaving a legacy for his children.

  "These pillars will maintain the purity of this region for a thousand years," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice vibrating with the authority of a Weaver’s Law. "Anyone with ill intent, be they practitioners of the heterodox paths or bloodthirsty demons, will find themselves facing the weight of the karma of the Six Paths."

  Below, thousands of practitioners who had just finished absorbing the celestial essence looked up with absolute awe. They saw the figure in the sky no longer as a threat, but as a Great Ancestor giving new breath to a land that had long been dead.

  Zhi Xuan turned his gaze toward the distant horizon, toward the border of the Western Region which now seemed to glow with the same brilliance he had created in the Forsaken Region. He felt a vibration in his robe pocket. The black wood carving of the two fairies he brought from Cangyun Village trembled softly, responding to his achievement of a new realm.

  "Qinglan... Xishui... I have stepped further," he thought. Images of the two Sacred Fairies' faces flashed by, providing a warmth that contrasted with the coldness of the Weaver law he had just mastered.

  He looked back at the beings below, uttering his final words. "This region contains the law I leave behind. If one day someone seeks to break through the gates of Soul Transformation, those pillars will guide their soul. I am not your Ancestor; I am merely someone who was once like you."

  The disappearance of Zhi Xuan’s figure from the horizon left a sacred void in the sky of the Forsaken Region. Though his physical form was gone, the resonance of his final sentence echoed in the soul of every practitioner present, crumbling their arrogance like stone walls eroded by a river for thousands of years.

  "Senior!" Elder Han cried out, his voice choked with overflowing emotion. He bowed atop his flying sword, not daring to look up even as the black-and-white clothed figure began to fade. "Whoever you are, the Forsaken Region will engrave your name in our souls! Thank you for this blessing of life!"

  On the slopes of the hill, Lu Chen and the disciples of the Black Crow Cliff Sect were still paralyzed. They felt the lingering energy in the air as if it were nutrients for their long-parched spirits.

  "He... he just left?" Lu Chen whispered, his eyes still fixed on the point where Zhi Xuan had vanished. "Even after giving such a great blessing, he demanded no worship, asked for no treasure, and didn't even mention the name of his sect..."

  "That is the difference between a true dragon and a worm claiming to be one, Lu Chen," a rogue cultivator nearby replied. The man’s aura was now far more stable, his cultivation base feeling light. "The practitioners we know in the outer regions fight over a single medicinal herb, but this Senior... he transformed an entire region into a great medicinal herb for us all."

  Meanwhile, slightly higher in the air, the elders from various small sects began to gather with expressions mixed between being moved and being terrified.

  "Great Elder, look at those pillars," an elder from the Black Cloud Sect pointed out. "The cool air radiating from them... it suppresses every killing intent in my heart. If any heterodox practitioners try to cause trouble here, they will be instantly crushed by the weight of the law that Senior left behind."

  "True," Elder Han replied, his face looking much younger thanks to the baptism of celestial essence. "The Forsaken Region is no longer a dumping ground. With these pillars, our region has transformed into a sacred land. Announce it to all sects: starting today, no bloodshed is allowed within a hundred-mile radius of Silent Hill. Whoever violates this challenges the karma set by the Weaver!"

  "But Elder," another elder interrupted anxiously, "what if news of this reaches the ears of the great sects in the Western Region? What if they come to seize these pillars of law?"

  Elder Han looked at the thunder-sandalwood pillars embedded in the earth with absolute conviction. "Let them come. They might be able to collapse mountains, but can they fight the law of the Six Paths that has merged with the veins of the earth? The Senior said those pillars will guide the soul that wants to break through Soul Transformation. That means... he has given us the key to the heavens."

  Under the starlight that was no longer blocked by sulfur mist, the atmosphere in the Forsaken Region turned into a solemn silence. Practitioners, who usually lived in suspicion and petty competition for resources, now looked at each other with a newfound sense of brotherhood. They realized that under the shadow of the pillars of law left by Zhi Xuan, they were all just dust newly given the chance to shine.

  Elder Han descended from his flying sword, landing at the foot of Silent Hill, which was now filled with glowing Heavenly Bell flowers. He walked toward one of the thunder-sandalwood pillars emitting the scent of ancient wood and pure air. As he touched the surface of the pillar, a gentle vibration crept into his mind, showing a glimpse of the Samsara Wheel rotating peacefully.

  "The Human Law..." Elder Han whispered with a choked voice. "He truly placed the foundation of the soul upon humanity. No wonder the arrogant Western Region feels so cold—because they have forgotten these roots."

  Meanwhile, in Old Root Village, Old Man Cang led the residents to build a simple altar from river stones under the newly budding banyan tree. They did not worship a terrifying god statue; instead, they placed their farming tools and crafts there as symbols of gratitude.

  "From this day on," Old Man Cang told the gathered villagers, "this village will guard Silent Hill. Let no stranger defile the place where that uncle meditated. He has given us sight, strength, and new life. We will repay him by guarding the peace he left behind."

  Babies born that night in the Forsaken Region were said to have cries that resembled the chiming of bronze bells—a sign that the new generation in this land would possess talents far beyond their ancestors.

  Far from the crowds and worship, Zhi Xuan had crossed thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. He reappeared at the western border, precisely crossing the previous boundary between the Forsaken Region and the Western Region. He touched his forehead, concentrating his Divine sense, which spread without hindrance like a thread winding and embracing the surrounding world.

  "The Heavenly Star Gate," Zhi Xuan murmured. He focused his consciousness on the highest point until a distance of hundreds of miles felt possible for a Weaver Transformation. "I need that gate. The only bridge capable of piercing the boundaries between the seven regions of Yao Gu to reach the Xing Luo Plains without having to cross the void storms."

  Zhi Xuan closed his sapphire eyes, letting his Divine consciousness expand like an overflowing ocean. As a Weaver, his soul was now capable of weaving thin strands of spatial law. However, the further his inner sense crawled toward the peak of the Western Region's horizon, the more he encountered a suffocating wall of emptiness.