Under the urging of many hidden powerhouses, things went forward at a rapid pace. All these developments were limited to a small circle of people in the upper echelons. Even some of the more experienced officials never found out or got the opportunity to take part.

However, news regarding the new world and age began spreading slowly, and it soon swept through the upper echelons of the Empire at an incredible speed.

The new world was just like a fairytale.

The significance lay not in terms of land and living space. The Empire currently controlled just four continents out of the twenty-seven, and there was still endless land to be claimed on the Evernight continent. The new world’s appearance would mostly result in a clash between true experts.

The human race had been in confrontation with Evernight since they rose to power over a thousand years ago. The millennium of warfare stood to prove one point—both humans and the dark races were trapped in this world. The fall of the Void Valley Star served to cut off all passages to the outside. Even the apex experts who had set foot on long journeys through the void had never sent back any information.

A good number of those top experts going out to explore the void would still return in ages past, the three supremes atop the Sacred Mountain for instance. Now, however, the great dark monarchs stepping into the void would vanish without a trace, the most shocking among them was the Black-Winged Monarch, Andruil.

This vampire was actually the second expert with hopes of ascending the Sacred Mountain. His Spatial Flash was a powerful skill for crossing the void, even more so than Zhang Boqian’s Void Traversal. Since his failure to return, the Evernight experts had been extremely careful in exploring the void and no longer dared to take risks.

This gave rise to an adverse environment for growth. Without the experience from void explorations, the experts were deprived of a pathway to train their power. Although few people actually noticed this, new experts from the recent millennium never managed to surpass the peak power of their ancient predecessors.

Just like how the River of Blood gradually turned silent, similar changes had taken place in other races as well. Even though Habsburg had managed to light up the emblem of the Flaming Crown, causing waves of excitement through the vampire race, he only managed to reach the level of the second generation progenitor, Samael.

As time went by, the entire Evernight faction no longer held any hopes of Andruil returning. Most of the council members believed that the shining star of Evernight, the Black-Winged Monarch, had fallen.

At first, people had a lot of hope for the Great Maelstrom as well, thinking it was a pathway to a new world. However, the environment inside was highly adverse, and passage was never convenient. Moreover, the natives and creatures inside were so powerful that it made people feel hopeless. Even if a great dark monarch were to enter personally, they would immediately become a common target of the entire realm, and dangers beyond their ken would appear.

An arachne great dark monarch tried to explore the core region but had to return in three days because of grievous injuries. If he hadn’t run back to Evernight as quickly as he did, he would’ve lost his life there. His strength fell sharply after his return, falling back down to the duke-rank. As for what he had encountered in the core region of the Great Maelstrom, he couldn’t remember anything except boundless pressure and terror.

Neither the Empire nor Evernight made any progress in the Great Maelstrom after several hundred years of exploration. In truth, both factions had already expected as much. What could a group of sub-divine-champion experts do in such a dangerous place?

The high-gravity region Qianye had set foot on was a place no one had been to in several hundred years.

Exploring such a dangerous region naturally yielded great profits. Qianye obtained great amounts of white wine and white fruits, and these new life-extension treasures wouldn’t affect one’s talents, either. The Longevity Monarch believed that the fruit could extend one's life by at least five years, and this was akin to invisibly raising the Empire’s fighting power by a certain margin.

His other resource gains were also quite abundant. One could see this from how generous the military’s offers were.

These gains, however, were not necessary for a peak expert. What they were truly concerned about was their future path.

Was there a different realm above the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs? That was a question in the hearts of every expert at the top.

But as trapped beasts fighting within this caged world, they would never have the opportunity to come into contact with higher powers. This had become a commonly accepted fact. The three supremes and their status on the Sacred Mountain was naturally related to their experiences exploring the void. However, this pathway was forever closed after the fall of the Void Valley Star.

Without a passage to the outside world and the Great Maelstrom proving to be a dead-end, the experts of the Empire and Evernight had been trapped inside a cage just like that.

The significance of this new world wasn’t that evident to the ordinary people of either faction, since their lives would hardly be affected. It wasn’t that important to experts, either, since this talk of the new world was just hearsay at the moment. All tangible information was still in the hands of a few people from Evernight. Besides, everyone had experienced how dangerous the Great Maelstrom was, and the historical Void Valley Star was not a fun place, either.

No one knew what this “new world” would turn out to be, not even those who held the secret to the gateway. What they had in their grasp was just an opportunity, which, in other words, was mere contact with the doorway. They hadn’t even produced the key.

What would come beyond the door was still unknown. If it was a realm similar to the Great Maelstrom, it would hold little significance for those peak experts at the end of their lives. But a realm like that wasn’t too bad—there was life, a vast world, rare resources, and boundless potential for exploration. All they needed to do was kill those unknown existences hiding in the depths.

If the new world was a lifeless realm covered in molten lava, everything would be for naught.

To those existences in Evernight who had lived for close to a thousand years, this thread of hope was enough to drive them crazy.

Those old fogeys who had been in retirement began making plans once this news started to spread.

A new world, a new era.

The opening of a new era signaled the end of the old. Whether it was good or bad, everything had to be built upon the rubble of the old era.

This year, Duchess An of the Song Clan reached the end of her life. The late white fruit ultimately failed to retain the embers of her vitality.

The entire nation was shocked at the news. The leaders of the Song clan rushed back one after another to attend the duchess’ funeral. Song Zining was managing the affairs of the Ningyuan Heavy Industries when he heard the news. He locked himself in his room and would not meet anyone for the greater part of the day. He became fairly withered in half a day’s time, almost as though he had aged ten years.

There were no tears in his eyes, nor were there any signs of having cried. Only his appearance stood to show that true pain couldn’t be wept away.

“Send news to the Eastern Sea and prepare my airship, I’m heading back home,” Song Zining ordered.

“Seventh Young Master, what about things on that side?”

“Just let go of everything.”

“But… I understand.” The subordinate didn’t dare say too much. In truth, most of Ningyuan’s factories had been moved to the neutral lands. Those that remained were those that couldn’t be moved. The departments left behind were actually even more important.

They were in charge of communicating with the various powers and the military to secure necessary components. Others included departments for managing core resources, receiving orders, research and development, etc. In short, most of them were not just in charge of manufacturing.

Before this, Song Zining was in the process of reforming Ningyuan Heavy Industries. Many things required his decision to proceed. Now that he was letting go, the losses they would suffer were significant.

But no one dared dissuade him after seeing his expression.

Song Zining left in a hurry soon afterward.

The director and a handful of attendants watched until the vehicle was over the horizon. Only then did one of the attendants have the courage to ask, “Will the young master become clan lord?”

These words echoed everyone’s sentiments. As someone who had followed Song Zining for a good while, the director said while stroking his beard, “Is this a matter you can wag your tongues about? The young master is still a bit too young to lead the clan. It won’t be a problem once he’s thirty.”

The attendants agreed with passionate expressions. Once Song Zining was in control of the clan, these people would be able to ride his coattails to success.

Duchess An’s death might be sadness for some people, but it was an opportunity for certain others.

There was a giant airship parked above the void continent, and on its roof, Zhang Boqian had just finished respiring the void origin power around him. He carelessly draped a robe around him and entered the study, where several documents were waiting for him.

Zhang Boqian picked one of them up in surprise. Even a supreme heavenly monarch like him couldn’t help but feel moved as he went through the contents. He summoned his aide with a gentle call.

“Duchess An has passed?”

“The information is reliable.”

Zhang Boqian said after some thought, “Is Song Zining on his way back?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll ignore them for now and think about things once the outcome is settled.”

The aide was startled. “That might not be good. You’ve announced that you would delay settling the scores with the Song clan while the duchess was around. Now that she has passed away, people will start talking if you don’t do anything, and that will affect your name."

Zhang Boqian said indifferently, “My name is based on my fist, not the mouths of those outsiders. Those who dare speak nonsense about me will have their tongues cut off, we'll see then how they can keep going.”

The aide was shocked out of his wits. “This isn’t appropriate. Do you want me to keep an eye on the Song clan?”

“Song Zining, that fellow, isn’t bad. He’s quite similar to the young Lin Xitang and has a bright future ahead of him. Lin Xitang has always been just and upright, but Song Zining can torment the enemy quite well and he’s also bold enough. Haha! We can give that boy a bit more time and see what he can do. It’s not too late to discuss things once the situation has been settled.”

“What if he really becomes the clan lord?”

“Then we’ll let the Song clan be.”

The aide was surprised again. “T-This… isn’t this…”

“There are others who will take action. Do you think the Song clan has few enemies?”

Since Zhang Boqian had spoken so decisively, the aide no longer said anything else.

The heavenly monarch looked through the documents before tossing them into the trash bin. “Any movements from the neutral lands?”

“None yet.”

“Send more people to investigate.”

The aide asked, “Is something important about to happen there?”

Zhang Boqian glanced at the man who had been following him for over a decade. “Where do you think the door to the new world will open?”