Long Time No See

The three of them—no, four including Yu Yan—cultivated in the World of Mountains and Rivers for two days. Shangguan Ye broke through all the way to the Heavenly Star Fourth Realm, while the other three were all at the Destiny Fourth Realm.

"Great! We're way ahead of everyone else. Those great families have so many resources, yet they might not even advance as fast as we do!" Lu Piao laughed, hands on his hips.

"Enough gloating. There are always greater people beyond you and greater heavens beyond the sky. Keep a low profile," Nie Li said.

"Hehe." The three walked out of the room just as Xiao Yu descended from above.

"Interested in coming somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

"One of the Heavenly Spirit Institute's three major Training Grounds—the Sacred Spirit Immortal Realm."

"What kind of place is that?"

"It's the safest Training Ground. Only those with sufficiently pure souls can enter. You'll understand once you get there."

"Sure."

Xiao Yu led them toward the Sacred Spirit Immortal Realm.

"We're here. See that stone monument? That's the Sacred Spirit Heavenly Ranking. The top two hundred people training in the Sacred Spirit Immortal Realm will have their names recorded there." Xiao Yu pointed at the monument nearby.

"Oh? There's a ranking? I see a few familiar names too." Nie Li spotted Long Yuyin's name.

"Long Yuyin is tenth, Jin Yan is twenty-third, Yan Hao is one hundred and twenty-seventh, and Huang Ying is one hundred and thirtieth."

"Why isn't Gu Bei on there?" Lu Piao asked.

"Perhaps he's simply hiding his brilliance and doesn't want to reveal himself too soon."

"And it doesn't seem to rank people by age either. Look, Hua Ling is there too, at sixty-seventh. He's older and stronger, yet his ranking is lower." Nie Li pointed at Hua Ling's name.

"That's right. It isn't based on age, but on one's ability to communicate with heaven and earth through the soul. To cultivate Heavenly Dao Power, one must communicate with heaven and earth and draw strength from it. Generally speaking, the stronger one is, the greater that ability will be, but there are exceptions. For instance, Long Yuyin is a newcomer who only rose through the ranks this year. But when it comes to communicating with heaven and earth..." Xiao Yu looked at Shangguan Ye.

"Shangguan, any thoughts?" Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow.

"Since someone has already prepared the stage, how could I refuse to dance?" Shangguan Ye smiled. Ever since he had been cleansed by Heavenly Dao Power last time, he had clearly felt a close connection with the Heavenly Dao of this world.

"Each institute can only cultivate here for one hour per month. Those on the ranking get three hours. In short, the higher your ranking, the longer you can cultivate. And at the end of every year, the higher-ranked students also receive rewards."

"What rewards?"

"First place receives one Fifth Grade Treasure Artifact, five pieces of Spirit Stone Essence—one piece is worth five hundred spirit stones—a Dragon Blood Demon Spirit with excellent growth potential, and a bottle of Demon Soul Essence pills. Demon Soul Essence can temper demon spirits."

"The next four places receive slightly worse rewards, but each person can only claim one reward before withdrawing from the competition."

"Let's give it a try too. I'm a Fifth Grade Heavenly Spiritual Root genius, after all!" Lu Piao said excitedly.

"Let's go!"

The group arrived before a flight of stairs.

"This altar is a spiritual eye, where Heavenly Dao Power is especially dense. The stronger your ability to communicate with heaven and earth, the higher you can climb. Otherwise, you'll be repelled."

"So the higher you climb, the higher your ranking?"

"That's right. Every step represents the vastness of the Heavenly Dao. Each step is difficult."

Xiao Yu stepped onto the first stair, drawing many gazes.

"Isn't that Xiao Yu, the Seventh Grade Heavenly Spiritual Root?"

"I heard he can't even make it past the fifth step. Is that true?"

"Just watch and see."

Xiao Yu paid no attention to the looks around him.

"I'll go up and cultivate first." Xiao Yu began climbing. When he reached the fifth step, everyone's eyes were fixed on him.

Xiao Yu lifted his foot again and stepped onto the sixth stair.

"Since when could Xiao Yu reach the sixth step?"

"No idea."

"Hm? He used to be stuck on the fifth step, unable to go any farther. Why does it seem so easy now? If he keeps climbing..." Xiao Yu continued upward, only feeling a trace of pressure after climbing more than a hundred steps.

As Xiao Yu continued climbing, his name appeared on the ranking.

"Xiao Yu made it up. Let's go too," Shangguan Ye said.

"Alright."

The three stepped onto the stairs and began ascending. Nie Li and Lu Piao immediately felt a powerful surge of Heavenly Dao Power enter their Seas of Soul.

"It really is an immortal realm."

The three continued climbing.

"It doesn't matter how high we climb this time. The main thing is communicating with heaven and earth..." Nie Li suddenly stopped, staring ahead in disbelief as painful memories surfaced in his mind.

Shangguan Ye looked ahead. A woman in plain robes sat on the stairs with her eyes closed, cultivating. Shangguan Ye smiled.

"What a beautiful woman. She makes one feel ashamed of oneself just looking at her. What's wrong, Shangguan? Nie Li?" Lu Piao asked.

"It's nothing. I was only thinking that living free of worldly strife is far too difficult. I'll never reach the state of being as virtuous as water in this lifetime." Nie Li shook his head. Remembering what his master had said in his previous life, Nie Li wiped away his tears.

The breathtakingly beautiful woman opened her eyes as well. She slowly descended the stairs, passed Xiao Yu, and arrived before the three of them.

"Long time no see," Shangguan Ye and the woman said at the same time.

???

Question marks appeared above Nie Li and Lu Piao's heads. They knew each other?

"You still came, Shangguan Ye," the woman said softly.

"I said I would repay you."

"Let's get acquainted again. My name is Ying Ru Yue." Shangguan Ye gave a slight nod.

"This young man looks familiar somehow. Have we met before?" Ying Ru Yue looked at Nie Li.

"We probably don't know each other," Nie Li denied.

"Alright, perhaps I remembered wrong. If fate allows it, we'll meet again next time." Ying Ru Yue slowly walked down, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.

"Shangguan, how do you know her?" Lu Piao asked curiously.

"Remember when I said that after I had just grasped Space Law, Spatial Turbulence transported me somewhere else? I came to the Feather God Sect then. She helped conceal my aura and saved me from disaster."

"So that's what happened?"

"Forget it. Let's cultivate first," Nie Li said.

The three continued onward. Above them, Xiao Yu reached the one hundred and twentieth step and could go no farther.

"I'm still a little worse than that woman just now." Xiao Yu sat cross-legged and began cultivating.

"Whoa, Xiao Yu's ranking has shot up to eleventh place!" the people below cried out.

"Wasn't he a useless good-for-nothing before? How did he suddenly become so powerful?"

"Maybe he was just playing the fool to catch a tiger. So ignorant."

"Look! Three more newcomers have charged in—Shangguan Ye, Nie Li, and Lu Piao. They seem to all be from the Little Exquisite World!"

"Lu Piao stopped at thirty-sixth place, Nie Li is at sixteenth! Look, that Shangguan Ye is still climbing! Tenth place! Ninth place... He's already second! Only the final stair remains!!!"

Shangguan Ye stopped at the one hundred and ninety-eighth step.

"No pressure at all..." Shangguan Ye pounded his back and took the final step.

"First place!!!"

"My heavens, he reached first place the very first time he made the ranking. Is he even human?"

News of Shangguan Ye reaching first place quickly spread outside.

"Shangguan Ye is one thing, but how can Nie Li possibly rank above me?!" Jin Yan flew into a rage upon hearing the news from his servant and hurried toward the Sacred Spirit Immortal Realm.

"Shangguan Ye, I still underestimated you. And that Nie Li as well." Long Yuyin immediately rose and headed for the Sacred Spirit Immortal Realm.

"Look, Long Yuyin is here. Jin Yan is here too."

"Looks like these newcomers have put them under a lot of pressure. This is going to be entertaining."