Han Li stepped out of the alley. Soon afterward, on another street, he discovered the true purpose of the group from Tian Dong Trading House—a bookstore specializing in various classic texts. He entered quietly. The bookstore was spacious, with a rich variety of books covering astronomy, geography, and diverse scholarly fields, offering a well-rounded collection. As it was merely an ordinary human-run bookstore, it naturally lacked any jade scrolls or cultivation-related works. Han Li showed no interest in such irrelevant materials; his gaze remained fixed on texts describing the environment, customs, and societal structures of the spiritual realm. Only through these could he begin to gain a foundational understanding of the spiritual world, no longer remaining entirely unfamiliar. Without hesitation, he selected several thick volumes and ultimately purchased a map detailing the surrounding region. Han Li carried nothing of yellow or white, yet spiritual stones were equally rare among ordinary mortals. Upon paying for one low-rank spiritual stone, the bookstore owner was so delighted that he also returned some silver coins as change. Holding the books in one hand, Han Li went to a teahouse and sat down in a quiet corner, ordering a few simple dishes. He then quietly began to read. Though Han Li's spiritual awareness could not detach from his body, his ability to absorb and retain information instantly remained intact. Despite the unusually thick volumes, the books were read with remarkable speed, and every character was firmly etched into his mind. Han Li's face remained calm and composed, yet his thoughts surged with excitement as his understanding of the content deepened. Simply the detailed descriptions of the spiritual realm's environment and geography left him astounded. It turned out that the Tianyuan Realm, frequently mentioned by the people from Tian Dong Trading House, was actually the territory governed by the Tianyuan Sacred Emperor, one of the Three Emperors of the Human Race. In addition, other human-controlled regions included the Xuanwu Mirror under the rule of the Xuanwu Sovereign Emperor and the Tianling Realm under the Tianmiao Sacred Emperor. These two emperors were commonly referred to simply as the "Sovereign Emperor" and the "Sacred Emperor," respectively. The Tianyuan Sacred Emperor, originally a human body-builder who later transitioned to studying the Confucian school of cultivation, proudly claimed the title of the "Ruler of Confucianism." His realm, the Tianyuan Realm, shared the customs and traditions most closely aligned with those of the human world where Feng Li resided. This indeed seemed to be a fortunate circumstance for him. All three human realms were vast, each hosting numerous cities—ranging from hundreds to over a thousand—of various sizes. According to the book's classification of cities, a city like Anyuan, capable of housing nearly ten million people, was indeed considered modest within the spiritual realm. Other mid-sized and larger cities far surpassed The Tianyuan City, where the Heavenly Sovereign resides, is so vast that it can rival even a small nation within the Human Realm. Yet, compared to the main cities of the other two realms, Tianyuan City remains the most ordinary. The City of Xuanwu, where the Sovereign of the Dominant Dynasty lives, is actually built upon the back of an ancient giant turtle named "Canling," making it a massive, slowly moving city floating on the sea. Even more astonishing is the Tianling City of the Spirit Sovereign, which is directly constructed atop a celestial spirit tree with a diameter of a hundred li—reportedly reaching all the way to the Immortal Realm. Seeing this, Han Li could hardly contain his astonishment. Even more surprising lay ahead. According to these ancient texts, besides the three human-dominated realms ruled by the Three Sovereigns, there are seven lands governed by the Seven Demon Kings located nearby. The relationship between the human and demon peoples is thus half-rivalry, half-alliance. This is because, even when combined, the territories of the three realms and the seven demon lands together constitute only a single grain of sand in the vast ocean of the Spirit Realm. Beyond the territories ruled by the two clans, other non-human beings dominate. These beings are mostly native inhabitants of the spiritual realm—such as countless ancient, wild beasts and ancient giants—while others are communal non-human groups that have forcibly crossed over into this realm, much like the human clans. Though they have had limited interactions, the few known such groups are all as powerful, if not more so, than either the human or the immortal (yao) clans, each possessing unique and formidable abilities that rival or even surpass those of the human and yao peoples. Furthermore, within the spiritual realm, there exist many individuals whose strength approaches that of true immortals of the celestial realm—such as Luo Hua, Kuan Peng, and True Dragons—who can, to a significant extent, disregard the forces of the boundary itself. Amidst such formidable challenges, despite the frequent emergence of powerful practitioners among the human and yao clans, they are able to maintain only a precarious foothold in the spiritual realm. While they often harbor mutual hostility and engage in minor conflicts, they are compelled to unite and face common threats when confronted with truly powerful adversaries. This situation only began to improve after the official establishment of the Three Sovereign Realms and the Seven Demon Lands. At that time, the First Three Sovereigns, the Seven Demon Kings, and numerous great cultivators among the human and demon clans jointly erected an extraordinary array that encompassed all three realms and seven lands. This array is said to be profoundly profound and divine, originating from a ancient immortal array passed down from the True Immortal Realm, specifically designed to contain exceptionally powerful extraterrestrial beings. The stronger the individual, the more effectively this restriction hinders their entry into the protected zones of the array. Conversely, beings of comparable strength to mid-to-low tier demon beasts are unaffected by this limitation. The extraordinary array features ten array focal points, distributed across the three human realms and the seven demon lands. While the records do not mention the focal points within the Demon Lands, the focal points in the Three Sovereign Realms are specifically located at the Tianyuan Sacred Mountain—where Tianyuan City is situated, the Cangling ancient turtle in the Xuanwu Realm, and the Qingtian Immortal Tree where Tianling City resides. Unless the Sacred Mountain, the Ancient Tortoise, and the Spirit Tree are all destroyed, the incantations controlled by the humans will remain unshaken. The array foci within the human realm are thus astonishing, and it is certain that the other array foci in the seven lands of the demonic race are far from simple. Should any powerful beings truly wish to penetrate the territories inhabited by both human and demonic clans, they would have to simultaneously counter the forces of the ten array foci—otherwise, their endeavor would be mere fantasy. Thanks to this supreme celestial array, the human and demonic clans have flourished and secured their place within the vast spiritual realm. As for the true extent of the spiritual realm, since the humans first appeared there, no one has ever fully explored or determined its size—only that it is boundless and endless can be said. At this point, however, Han Li finds himself with a subtle doubt: given that the human-controlled territories occupy such a relatively small portion of the spiritual realm, how can the cultivators ascending from the lower realms reliably land within these two clans' controlled zones? Should they end up outside the vast celestial array, wouldn't that pose an extreme risk? This point of uncertainty in Han Li's mind was not mentioned in the books, and thus had to be set aside for now. Through the descriptions in the texts, Han Li discovered that, overall, the elven race held a slight advantage over the human race in the spiritual realm. Yet, the high-level cultivators among the humans seemed to be just a touch stronger than those of the elven race. As a result, a curious balance emerged between the two races, leading to the establishment of a series of agreements—initiated by the First Three Emperors and the Seven Dragon Kings—to jointly safeguard the interests of both. These included provisions such as human high-level cultivators being prohibited from arbitrarily eliminating low- and mid-level beasts residing in remote areas, or from participating in the regular beast surges that erupted in various cities; similarly, the elven race was required not to arbitrarily plunder or harm human settlements, but to establish dedicated, protected residential zones specifically for humans. This arrangement naturally arose because, when the two races initially divided the three realms and seven elven territories, their respective settlement areas had been profoundly disordered. Although the regions have been carefully selected to be the most densely populated by humans and beasts, there still remain large populations of the other race within each territory. For high-level human cultivators and beast cultivators, this is no issue at all—they can easily relocate. However, for ordinary beast herds whose minds have not yet awakened, and for common human civilians, it is simply impossible to move such long distances and thus must remain in their original locations, enduring the rule of the other race. In the early days, bloody incidents involving the indiscriminate slaughter of the other race occurred, and the two races even fought several major battles before eventually reaching the current agreement through numerous trials and tribulations. Of course, the documents held by Han Li only mention the most important agreements and are not particularly detailed. Yet regarding the matter of the beast surges, he has specially chosen a relevant volume of texts and has gained a clear understanding of it. The so-called "Beast Tide" is merely ordinary beasts, with strong reproductive capabilities, protected by the agreement between the Three Emperors and the Demon Kings, allowing human high-level cultivators to neither fully eradicate nor freely pursue them. As a result, these beasts periodically clash and fight among themselves over territorial disputes, striving to secure their survival. However, when human cities are located nearby, the lower-tier beast creatures born within these beast populations spontaneously lead their less-developed kin in semi-sacrificial assaults on the human settlements. Consequently, except for the largest cities, most human cities regularly suffer from the Beast Tide. The more remote and smaller the city, the more frequently it experiences such attacks. While few human cities have actually fallen entirely to the combined forces of the beasts over the years, each outbreak of the Beast Tide invariably inflicts heavy casualties among the human lower-tier cultivators. Yet precisely because of this, low-ranking body-tempering cultivators and immortals frequently experience sudden breakthroughs at the brink of life and death. Compared to ordinary casualties, these breakthroughs hold greater value and significantly strengthen the entire human race's strength in the spiritual realm. Under this situation of mutual benefit and adversity, the high-level human beings at the Three Emperors' level have tacitly allowed the continuation of the beast surges, without intending to revise or alter the agreement with the eldritch clans. While the timing of beast surges varies from city to city, only two types are most frequent and common: the wolf surges typically found in grassland settlements, and the snake surges capable of thriving across various regions. Both types are renowned for their strong reproductive capabilities and invariably trigger a surge every few centuries. Should a city happen to encounter two or more of these beast groups simultaneously experiencing surges, it naturally becomes a major surge, posing an unprecedented level of danger. Previously, several human cities had been breached by herds of beasts, and in nearly every case, it was due to massive beast surges. Therefore, once a city discovered that a major beast surge was imminent in its vicinity, its high-ranking officials would naturally grow anxious, urgently summoning nearby body-builders and junior cultivators, swiftly tightening defenses, and preparing for a fight to the death. When Han Li observed this scene, he sighed gently and finally closed the last book in his hands. There was no doubt that the city now facing him was about to experience a beast surge—given its proximity to the grasslands, it was likely the famed wolf-beast surge. Yet, considering how tense the city appeared, he hoped it wouldn't actually materialize into a major surge. He quietly sipped the water wine before him and narrowed his eyes, thinking intently. (First update!