Great Evolution Tome, Third Heaven of the Dao Realm

Fulong Mountain had three peaks.

One was Sun Gazing Peak, where the Imperial Observatory's Sun Gazing Division was located. Its Division Master was Song Duanyang, with Bai Su, Lin Ping, and Dongfang Ye as his disciples.

One was Night Gazing Peak, where there were only Li Chunfeng and Ren Xiaoyao.

The third peak was Fulong Mountain's main peak.

It was called Imperial Observatory Peak.

This was where the Director resided.

Ren Xiaoyao followed Li Chunfeng to Imperial Observatory Peak. Along the way, Li Chunfeng told Ren Xiaoyao quite a few secrets of the Imperial Observatory. After all, in Li Chunfeng's eyes now, Ren Xiaoyao was qualified to know them.

The Imperial Observatory's previous Director had been Yuan Tiangang, the very figure Li Chunfeng had mentioned before, the one who had helped Empress Tianyuan seize the Imperial Regalia.

The one who succeeded Yuan Tiangang was the current Director.

"In truth, the martial world only knows that I was once Number One Under Heaven. They do not know that even at my peak, I could not compare to the Director."

Li Chunfeng held the Director in very high regard.

"Back then, Yuan Tiangang helped the Empress seize her position and controlled Great Gan's core power for a long time. In truth, it was only later, when the Empress joined forces with the Director, that they defeated Yuan Tiangang and imprisoned him. That was how he inherited the position of Director."

Li Chunfeng spoke faintly.

"Then logically, this generation's Director should have deeply earned the Empress's trust. Why did the Empress still drive the Imperial Observatory out of the Capital City, causing it to lose its authority?" Ren Xiaoyao asked curiously. "Could it be that the Director later fell out with the Empress as well?"

"It was not because of that."

Li Chunfeng explained.

"The Director was not greedy for power, so the Empress was not as wary of him as she had been of Yuan Tiangang. Even later, when the Director's eldest disciple—my Senior Brother—defected and became the Demonic Cult Leader, the Empress did not lose her trust in the Director."

"The Director's greatest problem was that he went mad and became uncontrollable."

"With such a powerful yet unstable factor in the Capital City, if you were the Empress, could you rest easy? It was for this reason that the Imperial Observatory moved to Fulong Mountain, away from the core of power. Naturally, the Imperial Observatory lost its authority."

Hearing this, Ren Xiaoyao nodded, then asked, "Master, you and Yuan Tiangang must have quite a history between you, right?"

"Yes."

Li Chunfeng did not hide it.

"There are two lineages within the Imperial Observatory. One belongs to the Director and Song Duanyang. Their path consists of the Martial Dao and the Art of Physiognomy, allowing them to discern a Martial Artist's Martial Talent."

"The other lineage belongs to Yuan Tiangang and me. Beyond the Martial Dao, we also follow the Art of Deduction. The Great Evolution Tome that Liu Ruyan sought before was passed down through our lineage."

"When I entered the Imperial Observatory, Grandmaster was still alive, and Yuan Tiangang had not yet become Director. Grandmaster favored me, so he gave the complete Great Evolution Tome to me. Yuan Tiangang received only a fragment of it."

"Therefore, in those early years, Yuan Tiangang had always wanted to obtain the Great Evolution Tome from me. But at that time, I was already no weaker than Yuan Tiangang, so I paid him no heed. Still, I suspect Yuan Tiangang had never given up on the Great Evolution Tome."

Li Chunfeng recounted those old events.

Ren Xiaoyao had no interest in the Great Evolution Tome and did not ask further.

This greatly surprised Li Chunfeng.

Li Chunfeng had thought Ren Xiaoyao brought up Yuan Tiangang because he wanted to learn about the Great Evolution Tome.

Yet Ren Xiaoyao simply stopped there.

Before long, Li Chunfeng and Ren Xiaoyao arrived atop Imperial Observatory Peak.

Song Duanyang, Bai Su, Lin Ping, and Dongfang Ye had arrived long ago. Seeing Li Chunfeng and Ren Xiaoyao, they naturally greeted them warmly.

Bai Su had frequent contact with Ren Xiaoyao, but Ren Xiaoyao had not interacted much with Lin Ping or Dongfang Ye.

It was said that Lin Ping came from a martial arts family from outside. His parents were both first-rank experts, and they had pulled strings and donated money to get Lin Ping into the Imperial Observatory, hoping he could advance further and eventually reach the Grandmaster Realm.

Dongfang Ye's origins were more mysterious.

Li Chunfeng had not mentioned much about him either.

The Imperial Observatory's atmosphere was relaxed. Bai Su, Lin Ping, and Dongfang Ye did not look down on Ren Xiaoyao just because he was an ordinary person who did not practice martial arts.

After everyone chatted for a while, the Director emerged.

The Director was withered and thin, with grizzled hair and somewhat cloudy eyes. He wore a water-and-fire Daoist robe and looked fairly spirited.

Ren Xiaoyao immediately used his Spiritual Sense to probe the Director.

This True Person Realm existence possessed formidable True Essence. Comparing his own power to the Director's, Ren Xiaoyao found them evenly matched, making it difficult to determine who was stronger.

This is good news for me. At the very least, it means my power has already reached the level of the True Person Realm.

Once Ren Xiaoyao confirmed that he possessed power equivalent to the True Person Realm, he was naturally in a good mood.

After all, as far as Ren Xiaoyao knew, the True Person Realm was already the ceiling of Great Gan's combat strength.

When the Director saw Ren Xiaoyao, he was taken aback. He sighed. "You are that child from back then? What a pity, truly such a pity. You were born with a martial saint physique."

After Ren Xiaoyao had been born, the Director had examined his talent and determined that if Ren Xiaoyao cultivated the Martial Dao, he would at least achieve the True Person Realm and might even have a chance to challenge the Heavenly Human Realm.

Yet now, in the Director's eyes, Ren Xiaoyao was completely ordinary. His Martial Talent had been utterly wasted, and the Director naturally found it incomparably regrettable.

But Li Chunfeng was secretly laughing inside.

Even the Director could not see through Ren Xiaoyao's strength.

Li Chunfeng felt much more balanced now.

"Director, you have the nerve to say that? You let Liu Ruyan enter back then, and she nearly got Xiao Ren killed. Now can you tell us why you allowed Liu Ruyan into the Imperial Observatory?"

At this moment, Li Chunfeng demanded an explanation.

"I accepted Liu Ruyan back then because of your Senior Brother's request. You may not know this, but Liu Ruyan is your Senior Brother's daughter. I owe him far too much, so naturally, I could only agree."

Mentioning his eldest disciple, the Director could not help sighing.

"Liu Ruyan is Senior Brother's daughter?"

Song Duanyang was quite surprised upon hearing this. After all, their Senior Brother was now the Devil Master of the Demonic Sect.

But Li Chunfeng was not satisfied with this explanation. "Director, is that truly all there is to it?"

"What else could it be?"

The Director glared at Li Chunfeng. "I am not Yuan Tiangang. I have no interest in your Great Evolution Tome. Otherwise, I would have snatched it long ago. Do you think you could resist me?"

The Director could hear the hidden meaning in Li Chunfeng's words and directly exposed it.

Li Chunfeng coughed awkwardly twice, then let the matter drop.

That day, everyone at the Imperial Observatory drank and made merry, enjoying themselves in perfect harmony.

At dusk, however, the Director quietly sought out Ren Xiaoyao. "Ren Xiaoyao, do you still wish to practice martial arts? If you do, you can stay by my side. I can train you. No one else will be able to stop it."

Ren Xiaoyao was quite surprised. "Why are you doing this?"

"I will have a difficult time achieving the Heavenly Human Realm in this life. Chunfeng has little hope as well. But you have the potential to achieve the Heavenly Human Realm. Though you wasted more than ten years, your potential remains. I want to see whether I can train you into a Heavenly Human."

The Director spoke faintly.

The Heavenly Human Realm was the Director's obsession. It was precisely because of this that he had gone mad.

"I do not wish to practice martial arts."

Ren Xiaoyao refused the Director. He truly had no interest in practicing martial arts, because the path he walked was that of cultivation.

Upon hearing this, the Director sighed a few more times but did not try to persuade him further.

It was not until late at night that everyone left Imperial Observatory Peak.

Along the way, Li Chunfeng spoke with the help of wine. "Ren Xiaoyao, you know that I possess the Great Evolution Tome. I cannot comprehend it, but I think you may be able to gain insight into it. If you are interested, I can pass it on to you."

"I truly have no interest in the Great Evolution Tome."

Ren Xiaoyao shook his head. His voice was quiet, but firm.

Ren Xiaoyao did not want to waste time on this so-called Great Evolution Tome.

All Ren Xiaoyao wanted now was to cultivate as soon as possible and break through into the Third Heaven of the Dao Realm.

Ren Xiaoyao had now confirmed that he was equivalent to the True Person Realm.

If he entered the Third Heaven of the Dao Realm, Ren Xiaoyao feared he would be comparable to the Heavenly Human Realm.

Only then would Ren Xiaoyao be qualified to open his eyes and look upon all of Great Gan.

Seeing Ren Xiaoyao refuse, Li Chunfeng was first surprised, then regretful. "Very well. Since you are unwilling, I will not force you. Such things still depend on fate."

The two said nothing as they returned to the Night Observation Department.

Half a month later, Great Gan's New Year had just arrived.

On a night of heavy snowfall, Ren Xiaoyao finally broke through once more, attaining the Third Heaven of the Dao Realm.

At the same time, Ren Xiaoyao's strength underwent another tremendous increase.

Previously, Ren Xiaoyao's strength had merely been on par with the Director's. Now, Ren Xiaoyao's strength was already equivalent to ten Directors, and it continued to grow.

After the New Year, Ren Xiaoyao's strength was already equivalent to twenty Directors.

Now, when Ren Xiaoyao used his Spiritual Sense to probe Li Chunfeng, he could finally see through him clearly.

Li Chunfeng's strength was actually in an unstable state.

When his strength was low, he was roughly equivalent to an ordinary Grandmaster Realm expert.

But when his strength surged, Li Chunfeng was even stronger than the Director, roughly equivalent to two Directors.

In other words, he was equivalent to one-tenth of Ren Xiaoyao.

Ren Xiaoyao was thrilled.

He had come to this world more than half a year ago and had never dared slack off in his cultivation.

Now, he finally possessed the qualifications to gain a foothold in this world.

Yet Ren Xiaoyao remained low-key.

Though he knew that in the martial world, he was now enough to be called a legend, he had no desire to act recklessly.

A tree rising above the forest would be destroyed by the wind; Ren Xiaoyao understood this principle as well.

Moreover, this world was vast, and Ren Xiaoyao could not be certain that he was invincible under heaven.

But for the current Ren Xiaoyao, his goal was not to be invincible under heaven.

After all, he was a Cultivator. He should set his sights on a more distant goal.

As Li Chunfeng had said,

Humans were but a grain of dust in the cosmos. After no more than a hundred years, dust would return to dust and earth to earth.

But Ren Xiaoyao was confident that if he continued cultivating, he would sooner or later live as long as heaven itself—undying and indestructible.