Five Years

The morning mist over the Sunset Glow Mountain Range carries a hint of refreshing sweetness.

Five years passed quietly in the few breaths the cultivator took to absorb spiritual energy.

The ruins of the Spirit Spring Hall, where the Blood Fiend Old Monster was reduced to dust, have long since been restored into a more spacious Cliffside Bamboo Garden.

After the Azure Cloud Sword Sect annexed the Mysterious Sword Sect, it quickly became the dominant force in the surrounding area.

From the Grand Elder Mo Wendao to the lowest-ranking servants, everyone in the sect has been walking with utmost care for the past five years. Even the cries of the mountain-guarding spirit birds have to be lowered, for fear of disturbing the nominal "Limitless Sword Master" in the back mountain.

However, while mortal rules can govern countless sword cultivators, they cannot govern a father.

"Fan'er, drink it while it's hot. The marrow of a spirit deer from the back mountain has been simmered overnight with a century-old Poria cocos. It's the best for replenishing Qi and Blood."

Chen Changqing, carrying a slightly rough celadon bowl, hurriedly stepped across the threshold.

The Azure Cloud Daoist Robe he wore, a symbol of the sect leader's majesty, had its sleeves rolled up, and there were still two specks of soot on the front. This dignified Golden Core Perfection Grand Cultivator was now smiling like a country bumpkin.

Eleven-year-old Chen Fan sat on Purple Bamboo Chair, his figure tall and slender, his eyes clear as a stream.

To outsiders, he was an unfathomable reincarnation of a powerful being, a near- Immortal Dao being born with innate knowledge.

Only in front of Chen Changqing could the vicissitudes of life that had swept across the Star Sea and the destruction of the world be completely concealed in his eyes.

"Father, Old Mo sent over three more Earth-Rank Marrow-Washing Pills yesterday. You don't need to get up early every day to make soup."

Chen Fan took the soup bowl, his fingertips touching the warm porcelain, and slowly took a sip.

The taste was still not good; the impurities from the medicinal herbs were clumsily trapped in the soup, making it bitter and astringent.

But the instant the soup flowed down his throat and into his stomach, a pure and intense Parental Love Karma silently transformed into a clear wisp of mortal dust, quietly infusing the "Myriad Realms Red Dust Scripture" deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

Within his Dantian, the vast and magnificent Miniature Divine Kingdom was slowly rotating.

Over the past five years, thanks to the peaceful and prosperous lives of millions of beings in this world and my father's unwavering protection day after day, the "Life Formation Core" in the Divine Kingdom has long been perfect and flawless.

This eleven-year-old body appears unremarkable and lacking in spiritual energy, but its bones and muscles have long been Bone Refinement to the extreme.

Now, without needing to activate the Origin Source of the starry sky itself, he can easily withstand the power of Sixth Stage being with just this Dao body—in this Cangwu Realm, that is the Void Refinement level, which surpasses the Deity Transformation.

"What do you know Mo Wendao!" Chen Changqing glared, pulled over a bamboo stool, and sat down casually. "Pills are inanimate objects; too many will cause poisoning. Your body is still growing; it needs the gentle nourishment of the mortal world to become strong. That old guy is always talking nonsense; if he dares to try to force me to give you any more of these random pills, I'll revoke his patronage!"

Chen Fan lowered his head and drank his soup, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Only this cheapskate father could possibly do something like this: for a Golden Core cultivator to point at his own Nascent Soul cultivator and curse him Grand Elder.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

A bird's cry, capable of splitting rocks and piercing the clouds, suddenly tore through the sky.

The vast sea of clouds was instantly cleaved in two by a violent, blazing gale!

The entire Sunset Glow Mountain Range trembled violently. The azure Light Screen of the sect's protective formation was not even qualified to resist. It cracked inch by inch in the sound waves generated by the cry, emitting a piercing wail.

The clouds in the sky were dyed a dazzling crimson-gold color.

A Crimson-Blood Sky Roc with a wingspan of three hundred feet and its body flowing with seven-colored light soared through the sky, its enormous shadow obscuring half of the Firmament the main peak of Sunset Glow Main Peak.

On the back of the roc stood a cold and handsome young man clad in heavy golden feather armor, his eyes like lightning, and the overwhelming pressure of the early Deity Transformation emanating from his body was like a mountain of ten thousand jun, crashing down on the entire Azure Cloud Sword Sect!

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

On the main peak square, hundreds of inner disciples who were having their morning lessons didn't even have a chance to react before they were all forced to the ground by the overwhelming power of the Nascent Deity Transformation stage, their mouths and noses bleeding.

"Who are you, fellow Daoist, who has descended upon Qingyun?!"

Inside the forbidden area of the back mountain, Mo Wendao transformed into a bolt of lightning and fled. His face was deathly pale as he hovered in mid-air, his perfected Golden Core True Essence desperately resisting the oppressive force, his eyes filled with horror.

Deity Transformation!

The Southern Region is a remote and isolated place. Nascent Soul have reached the Nascent Soul stage are already patriarchs who have founded their own sects. When have they ever seen a true Deity Transformation cultivator?!

The golden-armored envoy on the back of the Crimson-Blood Sky Roc didn't even glance at Mo Wendao. He simply raised his hand indifferently and pulled out a three-foot square piece of crimson gold and jade from his sleeve.

As the jade scroll was unfurled, four ancient golden characters, condensed from the rules of heaven and earth, suddenly floated into the sky.

Southern Nation Immortal Alliance!

The authoritative, prison-like handwriting seemed to spew thunder in the Void, while the golden-armored messenger looked down from above, his icy voice echoing across the mountains for miles around:

"Imperial Edict of the Southern Nation Immortal Alliance: The Supreme Cangming Ruler of the Southern Nation Kingdom, Cangming, has lived for nine thousand years. The Heavenly Five Declines are approaching. Therefore, the Ascension Convention will be held in the Immortal Alliance Divine City three months from now to select a new Alliance Leader revered by Four Domains!"

"The Azure Cloud Sword Sect of the Southern Region ranks among the top-tier sects of the Four Domains. The sect leader is hereby ordered to lead the sect's most outstanding Prodigies under the age of thirty to the Immortal Alliance Divine City for a pilgrimage and review before the fifteenth of next month. No delays are permitted!"

Amidst the resounding imperial edict, all the birds and beasts of the entire Sunset Glow Mountain Range trembled and prostrated themselves.

Mo Wendao felt a metallic taste in his throat.

The Southern Region of the Cangwu Realm is vast and boundless, yet in the true map of the world, it is merely one of the four wildernesses under the rule of the Southern Region Southern Nation.

The behemoth that rules over billions of cultivation sects Four Domains is none other than the Southern Nation Immortal Alliance! The old Alliance Leader Supreme Cangming, who sits serenely in the Divine City, is Heaven-Supporting Colossus has long since crossed the threshold of the Deity Transformation stage and whose power has dominated the world for thousands of years!

This kind of generational shift is tantamount to a cataclysmic change for the entire Cangwu Realm!

The golden-armored envoy vanished into the void, leaving behind a trail of crimson-gold imperial edicts that tore a ten-thousand-foot -Void rift in the sky.

All the birds and beasts in the entire Sunset Glow Mountain Range trembled and crawled on the ground, and the azure Light Screen of the sect's protective formation wailed incessantly, clearly unable to withstand the residual power of such a Deity Transformation cultivator.

Mo Wendao, holding the burning scroll of the Immortal Alliance Edict, turned as pale as paper and hurriedly dashed into the Cliffside Bamboo Garden in a blur.

"Changqing! Sword Master!"

The old man trod on the Bluestone Slabs, his breathing agitated and disordered, even his voice distorted. "The Immortal Alliance Edict cannot be disobeyed! The Southern Nation's Supreme Cangming, is experiencing the Heavenly Five Declines, and all the Prodigies of the Four Domains are attending the gathering... Will we, Qingyun... go or not?"

Beside the stone table, Chen Fan calmly finished the last drop of soup in the large celadon bowl.

The medicine was bitter, but the warmth remaining at the bottom of the bowl, along with the karma between father and son, silently transformed into white vapor and flowed into their Miniature Divine Kingdom.

"Close the mountain?"

Chen Fan put down the porcelain bowl and tapped his fingertips lightly twice on the rough wooden table.

"The Divine City is a must-visit. The Southern Nation gathers the Fortunes of all directions; how can one witness the grandeur of this world by hiding in these desolate mountains and wilderness?"

More importantly, the top-tier Fortune and the mortal world of countless cultivators in this Small Thousand World are the indispensable nourishment for the expansion of the Divine Kingdom.