Great Li's Imperial Capital, Ye Manor.
The Perfect Spirit Gathering Array operated without pause every day, continuously drawing spiritual energy from the Heavenly Ruins. After a month of accumulation, the array was now brimming with spiritual energy.
The entire rear courtyard seemed shrouded in layer upon layer of Spirit Mist, like a celestial paradise.
The Spirit Mist grew so dense that it condensed into Spirit Rain, falling into the courtyard and forming a Spirit Lake. Such abundant spiritual energy was rarely seen, even at the height of the Heaven and Earth Cataclysm.
Even an ordinary person with no aptitude for cultivation could prolong their life by bathing in spiritual energy this rich year after year.
Fortunately, the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array concealed everything. Even beings at the Peak of Humanity could not discern the slightest clue from outside.
Aside from the spiritual energy reaching its utmost density, the scenery in Ye Manor's rear courtyard was also completely different from the outside world.
It was now early winter. The Imperial Capital was blanketed in snow, with everything withered and yellow, but Ye Manor's rear courtyard teemed with life and lush greenery.
The withered tree in the courtyard had not only sprouted tender shoots, but had also defied the odds and continued to grow vigorously. It had now become a Sky-scraping Tree.
The few Peonies that had long since withered were now in full bloom, their blossoms bright and vivid. Their stems were as thick as a forearm, swaying in the breeze as if they held a certain rhythm.
The Peach Tree in the courtyard, which had long since withered, was not only covered in blossoms, but also laden with peaches. Each peach was plump and enormous, like an Immortal Peach.
Anyone who accidentally wandered in from outside would surely think they had stumbled into a Peach Blossom Spring.
Inside a room in the rear courtyard, Ye Jing was concentrating on his cultivation. His breath was long and steady, each inhale and exhale imbued with the rhythm of heaven.
Inside Ye Jing, his heartbeat boomed like morning bells and great drums, his pulse thundered like galloping lightning, and his blood vitality was astonishingly powerful.
An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator's blood vitality was no more than a clear spring. A Grandmaster Realm cultivator had far more potent blood vitality than someone in the Qi Refining Realm, but it was still no more than a stream.
Only those who practiced Body Refining might possess blood vitality like a great river. But the blood vitality within Ye Jing was now like an ocean, unfathomably deep.
That ocean-like blood vitality coursed through Ye Jing's body in an extraordinarily mysterious rhythm, eventually gathering into a Purgatory Dao Palace.
BOOM!!!!
The instant the Purgatory Dao Palace took shape, a terrifying aura burst from Ye Jing's body. Everything in the room was instantly reduced to dust.
Fortunately, Ye Jing had prepared in advance and set up a Great Array in the room. Otherwise, such a disturbance would surely have alerted others.
Ye Jing slowly opened his eyes. As he sensed the immense, surging power within him, a hint of delight appeared in his gaze.
The Divine Elephant Purgatory Scripture truly lived up to its name. His month of painstaking cultivation had not been in vain. Though it had only reached minor mastery, the power stored within him could already Move Mountains.
If anyone dared to fight him at close quarters, a single punch would blow them into a cloud of blood mist.
The mightiest offensive power of Sword Dao, the strongest defensive ability of the Indestructible Golden Body, and the greatest physical strength of the Body Refining path—once he mastered them deeply enough, he would reign supreme throughout Great Li.
Ye Jing possessed the Three Ultimate Arts. Not only was he Cultivating Three Paths, but he had also cultivated all three to a profound level.
Though he was only at Grandmaster Perfection, his combat strength rivaled that of a Great Grandmaster. Even renowned figures on the Great Grandmaster Ranking might not be much stronger than him.
In other words, unless someone at the Peak of Humanity made a move, few people throughout Great Li could threaten his life with his current strength.
Only now did Ye Jing finally feel a measure of security and gain some ability to protect himself.
But Ye Jing was not complacent. The stronger he grew, the more he felt how unfathomable those two Peerless Powerhouses from a month ago had been.
Even though his strength now rivaled that of a Great Grandmaster, compared with those two Peerless Powerhouses, he was still nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
In a thousand-year-old Great Li, who knew how many powerhouses like them had been nurtured? Ye Jing knew he was still nowhere near invincible in Great Li.
It was a pity he still lacked the right opportunity to break through to the Great Grandmaster Realm. Otherwise, with his current combat strength, once his cultivation advanced, he might even be able to fight someone at the Peak of Humanity.
Only after reaching the Great Grandmaster Realm might his situation finally be truly secure.
Those at the Peak of Humanity were the most powerful figures in Great Li's martial world. Across the entire Canglan Domain, they were considered top-tier experts.
Ye Jing's concern was not unfounded. Over the past month, Great Li had undergone earth-shaking changes, and he increasingly felt that they were the prelude to a storm.
For that reason, Ye Jing could only prepare for a rainy day. If his strength proved insufficient when the great calamity arrived, he might not be able to escape it.
Over the past month, strange phenomena had appeared throughout Great Li. To the east, an Ancient Medicine Garden had emerged. In the Extreme West, a Primordial Mine Vein had surfaced from a ten-thousand-zhang abyss. In the Extreme North, Unprecedented Spirit Rain had fallen for seven days and seven nights, turning what had once been a bitterly cold wasteland into an ideal place for cultivation.
By sheer coincidence, those three regions were the fiefdoms of Great Li's other three Kings of Different Surname. Like King Zhennan, the three had seized the opportunities brought by the Heaven and Earth Cataclysm and claimed the treasures for themselves. This was no different from rebellion.
What was more, Great Li's violent rule had fueled popular resentment everywhere, sparking uprisings across the land. The Jiangnan Rebel Army led by Hu Jie was by far the largest and most powerful.
When Ye Jing first heard the name, he had thought it was simply someone with the same name. Only after looking into it carefully did he discover that Hu Jie was his old friend.
Hu Jie's Jiangnan Rebel Army grew more powerful by the day, and more than half of the Martial Arts Clans throughout Jiangnan had already joined him.
The Lord of Great Li, seated high upon his throne, flew into a rage when he heard the news. Once he learned Hu Jie was behind it, he vented his fury by throwing anyone with even the slightest connection to Hu Jie into prison, evidence or no evidence.
Ye Jing had only barely cleared himself of suspicion because he had remained in the Hanlin Academy, under the watchful eyes of its many officials, leaving no possibility that he had any connection to Hu Jie.
Even so, he was questioned every three days and interrogated every five. It was fortunate that Ye Jing felt no fear whatsoever; otherwise, one slip of the tongue would have given those bailiffs an opening.
At best, he would have had to pay to make the trouble go away. At worst, they would have thrown him straight into prison. Unless he revealed his strength, he would certainly have come out badly battered.
Though he had cleared himself of suspicion for now, Ye Jing remained on his guard.
The Rebel Army led by Hu Jie grew more powerful by the day, and its strength continued to increase. Martial arts experts kept joining its ranks, hoping to overthrow the rotten Great Li.
In Ye Jing's view, Hu Jie's forces had grown so vast that if he joined hands with those Kings of Different Surname, they might truly be able to take Great Li.
The current Lord of Great Li was cruel by nature, muddleheaded, and incompetent. If things came to that, he might be driven into a corner like a mad dog and order the beheading of people like Ye Jing, who had once had some connection to Hu Jie, simply to vent his fury.
A Grandmaster was an important figure in Great Li, but only by reaching the Great Grandmaster Realm would Ye Jing be confident he had nothing to fear from Great Li.
If he could reach the Peak of Humanity, he would have no worries at all. Almost no one throughout Great Li would be able to threaten him.
Fortunately, he could already feel the bottleneck of the Grandmaster Realm. Perhaps he would become a Great Grandmaster in just a few days.
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