Regardless, this wasn't a decision Zhou Liao felt qualified to make on his own.

"Let me ask some of the other leaders what they think about this information. However, I'm telling you this now—regardless of what they choose to do, I'm not going to leave! If I desert you just because of an impending disaster, I would be far too ashamed to ever show my face in front of you again."

Zhang Lie nodded, smiling in gratitude. He then sought out Yu Huantian, who lived in a tall watchtower overlooking all of Renhuang. By the western quarter of Renhuang, the humans and rock spirits had pooled together their resources to destroy the buildings that had once been there and replace them with tower after tall tower in order to give the crag eagles a place to live.

The rock spires that the rock spirits had created were a...