Graveyard

"Clan Leader, what secret art are you going to teach me this time?" The moment Yao Ling stepped out of her home, she could no longer hide her curiosity and asked, "Ever since I advanced to the Half-Saint realm that day, you haven't taught me anything else. This time, I hope you can give me a surprise."

"After entering the Saint Stage, if one wishes to improve further, one must either rely on day-after-day cultivation to comprehend the Dao of Heaven and Earth, or seek out all manner of rare fortuitous encounters. Every person's path to sainthood is different, and the Dao of Heaven and Earth they need to comprehend differs even more. Ever since you advanced to the Half-Saint realm that day, the Clan Leader could no longer teach you anything." Yao Dan spoke calmly. "Of course, the Clan Leader can still give you a few fortuitous encounters. No need to ask further. Just follow me."

The two quickened their pace. In little more than ten minutes, they arrived near a clear, sparkling mountain spring. Yao Dan stopped and took three incense sticks with a rich fragrance from his Storage Ring. He then used his Dou Qi to light all three sticks. Pressing his palms together, he bowed slightly and stared blankly as the incense slowly burned away. Seeing this, Yao Ling imitated Yao Dan's movements and performed the ritual properly.

"Ling'er, this is the entrance to the graves of the Yao Clan's ancestors." Once the three incense sticks had burned out completely, Yao Dan spoke slowly. His hand seals flew, forming an extremely complicated seal. The instant it was completed, the spring dried up completely. In its place, a stone archway several zhang wide appeared before them.

"Clan Leader, do I need to perform the incense-burning and bathing rites?" Yao Ling hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively.

"Etiquette is either used to restrain oneself or put on for others to see. The dead are gone. If you keep them in your heart, then whether you perform the rites or not does not matter. You are dressed quite plainly today as well. Even if all the ancestors came back to life, they would not take issue with you. Besides..." Yao Dan paused, then said teasingly, "I'm already this old. If you were to burn incense and bathe before me, that would be rather inappropriate."

"Clan Leader, could you please stop saying such pointless nonsense?" Yao Ling's face reddened as she shot Yao Dan a fierce glare.

"Hehe, no more jokes. Come in." Yao Dan flashed forward and entered the stone archway. Yao Ling followed closely behind him without hesitation.

Before entering the archway, Yao Ling had thought the small world within would be bleak and desolate. Yet after stepping through it, she found a scene brimming with life, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. Several towering cypress trees, each nearly a thousand zhang tall, stood upon a vast, boundless expanse of green grass. A warm breeze carrying the scent of flowers blew toward her, leaving her refreshed and at ease.

"Let's go. Our target this time is that cypress tree I'm pointing at." A few minutes later, the two figures appeared beneath the canopy of a towering cypress tree. Yao Dan waved his hand, indicating that Yao Ling should wait beneath the tree for a moment. Then he flashed into the canopy.

Yao Ling did not wait long. About three to five minutes later, Yao Dan returned to her side, carrying a soul light sphere roughly three chi in size.

"This soul origin is actually this pure and flawless?" Yao Ling took the soul light sphere from Yao Dan's arms and slowly stroked it with both hands. As she sensed the vast yet pure soul power within, even with the strength of her own soul power, she could not detect the slightest impurity in it.

What surprised her even more was that the soul light sphere actually responded amicably to her examination, sending a vast surge of soul power into her body. That soul power coursed through her meridians before finally merging with her own, making her soul power stronger than before. The results of this fusion were no less than what she could gain from a week of arduous cultivation.

"This sort of soul light sphere was gradually nurtured and condensed from the life imprint Old Clan Leader Yao Guang left behind when he passed away. Now that this sphere has come into your hands, it is also a kind of fate between you and him. I hope you make good use of this gift from the old clan leader. The rising waves of the Yangtze River drive the waves before them onward." Yao Dan smiled approvingly.

"Isn't this comparable to devouring the old clan leader's corpse?" Yao Ling asked uneasily. She had originally been delighted to receive such a sphere, but Yao Dan's explanation was like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over her head.

"It does carry a bit of that meaning, but before Old Clan Leader Yao Guang died, he specifically told me that he was more than willing to continue contributing in this way." Yao Dan explained with an awkward laugh. "This is also the custom whenever a Clan Leader passes away—his final life imprint is buried here. Every thousand years or so, each imprint condenses a soul light sphere. In this manner, they continue to exist in this world."

"If you still feel uneasy, then leave this sphere behind. I'll find someone else to absorb it." Yao Dan smiled. "I think that Ren Yaozi would be quite suitable. Though he is a little younger than you, his strength is not weak either. He has great potential to enter the Saint Stage."

"No, no, there's no need to trouble yourself, Clan Leader. I'll respectfully accept it and absorb this sphere." Upon hearing this, Yao Ling hurriedly hugged the soul light sphere close. Though she was not familiar with the so-called Ren Yaozi, from their few encounters alone, she could tell that he was arrogant and overbearing, with ill intentions. Such a fortuitous opportunity absolutely could not fall into his hands.

She closed her eyes and focused, beginning to slowly absorb the soul energy within the sphere. Perhaps because this soul energy had been condensed from someone of the same clan, absorbing it was remarkably effortless. The incomparably vast soul energy continuously surged into her body of its own accord, nourishing her soul. In less than half a month, she had absorbed nearly all of the enormous energy within the soul light sphere.

The final wisp of energy in the sphere entered her body. Along with it, an aged yet kindly, thin figure suddenly appeared in her mind. The figure grinned and looked at her with a warm, benevolent expression.

"Little girl, what is your name? What year is it now in the Yao Clan era?"

Yao Ling recognized the figure as Old Clan Leader Yao Guang, who had been dead for a long time, and was overwhelmed with excitement. She barely restrained herself and gave the old clan leader a concise account of what had happened in the Yao Clan after his death.

"This development is not bad. It seems I worried for nothing before my death." The old clan leader smiled. "Thank you for telling me so much. I have no regrets left."

As he spoke, the old clan leader's figure transformed into countless motes of light. At that very moment, the winds and clouds changed color. The clear sky stretching for ten thousand li vanished in an instant, replaced by a torrential downpour. An extremely powerful soul fluctuation spread throughout the entire small world!

"Heaven Realm Great Perfection..." Sensing that soul fluctuation and seeing this Heaven and Earth Phenomenon, Yao Dan's mouth hung open in astonishment. "Even to me, such progress and achievement are somewhat unbelievable."

He had originally thought that Yao Ling could use this soul light sphere to stabilize her Late Heavenly Realm soul state. Even he had never imagined that, with the help of this soul light sphere, Yao Ling would directly break through her soul realm into the so-called Heaven Realm Great Perfection!