Several large tribes had joined forces, boasting a full ten thousand Earth Immortals. Among them were exceptionally gifted figures like Xuanyuan Shi, Suiren Shi, Shen Nong, Youchao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi, who stood guard over the people.
Using the Xuanyuan Tribe as its foundation, they had built the largest Primordial Tribe of the Human Race, with a full hundred thousand people!
More than ten thousand of them were Earth Immortal experts!
The tribe had gathered nearly every strongest member born among the various Human Race tribes across the Primordial World!
At that moment, when Xuanyuan Shi and several other Human Race sages heard that Chang Ge had returned safely with the hunting party again, they immediately rose into the air!
From far away, they saw the vast, densely packed herd of giant beasts, each as hulking as a small mountain. The thick stench of blood was enough to make their skin crawl!
"Gasp! Mystic Immortals! Five of them, all at the Mystic Immortal Realm!" Xuandu, who had traveled with Chang Ge, spotted the cultivation levels of Xuanyuan Shi and the others from afar.
He was utterly stunned!
When he'd left the Human Race, they hadn't even had a single immortal!
"Children! Come out, all of you! It's time for your tempering!"
Suiren Shi and Shen Nong called out to the vast Human Race tribe.
Their voices boomed like thunder, carrying through every corner of the tribe.
Within the tribe,
thousands upon thousands of little children were casually hefting boulders weighing tens of thousands of jin, tossing them around with ease!
The moment they heard that they were going to be tempered again, their faces turned deathly pale with fright!
"What? Tempering again? I don't want to!"
Grandpa Shennong, please take the giant cauldron away! We don't want to be boiled alive!"
"Grandpa Suiren, your Exotic Fire is way too brutal! Can't you use something gentler to roast us?"
"Grandma Zi Yi... please talk to Uncle Xuanyuan! Our bones are about to be broken from all this training!"
Xuanyuan Shi heard them and immediately put on a stern face. "What do you mean, you don't want to? Our Human Race is weak and has become the food of others in the Primordial World! Thankfully, the Human Emperor bestowed upon us a path to transcendence! You lot never strive to improve! Increase the dosage today. We must temper a Brat who can surpass the limits of the extreme!"
"Heh heh, Brother Shennong, bring out those cauldrons you learned to make in the Exotic Fire Fighting World!"
Suiren Shi chuckled, looking just like a father who loved to torment his sons.
"And bring out your Exotic Fire, too! These children are almost done being tempered. Let's go all out this time! We've got plenty of blood essence from the Demon Clan Fierce Beasts we hunted today, anyway!" Shen Nong laughed.
As they talked, the group decided the fate of the tribe's ten thousand children.
All these children came from the several great tribes and had been brought together here.
The Human Race sages planned to first forge a group of exceptionally powerful warriors, unite them as one, and preserve a seed of their people!
"But if you ask me, that old brother Xuanyuan really does have unparalleled talent. He grasped such a powerful cultivation method from a book in an instant!"
Xuanyuan Shi heard the praise and blushed. Then he said reverently, "But all thanks go to the Human Emperor for creating such a remarkable new book! It gave our Human Race a path to transcendence!"
From the book, he had comprehended the Chaos Supreme Body!
It was a powerful physique that could rival the physical bodies of the Wu and Demon Clans!
Once it reached its peak, it would certainly be no weaker than either clan!
Besides that, he had also comprehended a new cultivation path: Seed of the Self!
And the Great Law of Self-Transformation and Freedom!
Xuanyuan Shi had now reached the Mystic Immortal Realm. But if he used the Great Law of Self-Transformation and Freedom, he could summon an endless number of powerful figures from the River of Time and the myriad ages!
All of this was thanks to the new book Jiang Chen had created!
"That's right! The Human Emperor has devoted so much effort to the Human Race!"
The others chimed in.
"Boom!"
One after another, loud crashes rang out as Chang Ge and the Human Race experts who had hunted the Demon Clan Fierce Beasts tossed their spoils onto the ground.
Then they called to the tribesmen who had come out to meet them. "Go! Drain the blood from these Demon Clan Fierce Beast corpses!"
"Give the children a nourishing feast today!"
Xuanyuan Shi and the other Human Race elders joined Chang Ge and the others.
When they saw Xuandu, they were astonished.
"Huh? You... are you Xuandu?"
Xuanyuan Shi recognized him at once.
"Xuanyuan Shi! It's been so many years since we last parted. You've actually reached the Mystic Immortal Realm!"
Xuandu clearly recognized Xuanyuan Shi, and was even more astonished by how much his cultivation had advanced.
"You were taken in as a disciple by the Grand Pure Sage. We couldn't hope to compare," Xuanyuan Shi replied. "But our Human Race has the Human Emperor, who created a new path to transcendence."
"Half a month ago, I had an epiphany about its mysteries and became a Mystic Immortal on the spot!"
"Without the Human Emperor's new book, I'd probably have remained dormant for ten thousand years, just like the rest of the Human Race, unable to reach this realm."
"The Human Emperor? I've heard you keep invoking that title, but the Human Emperor is ordained by the Heavenly Dao. When did the Human Race ever get one?" Xuandu was Grand Pure's First Disciple and knew something about the ordained destinies.
"Besides, have you stopped cultivating the Golden Elixir Path? Why switch to another path of transcendence? Is there really a better path to cultivation than one taught by a Sage?"
Xuandu asked question after question, but Suiren Shi and the other elders simply laughed.
"A Sage's teachings are ultimately not the teachings of our Human Race!"
"Among the peoples of the Primordial World, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Ancestors and the Wu and Demon Clans all have cultivation paths of their own."
"Our Human Race now has a path that suits us even better. What's wrong with that?"
"This..." Xuandu's heart trembled. He wondered to himself how he could return and explain this to his Master.
And a cultivation method better suited to the Human Race?
A heterodox path compared with a Sage's teachings? Were they sure?
Xuandu fixed his gaze on Xuanyuan Shi.
He couldn't understand why the Human Race's ancestors trusted the cultivation path created by the Human Emperor so much.
They were even willing to abandon a Sage's teachings!
"Never mind that for now. Xuandu, why don't you come back? I'll take you to the ancestral land at Shouyang Mountain and ask the Human Emperor to set up a Heavenly Dao Library for you, too. Then you can take another path and transcend above all!"
Zi Yi Shi earnestly tried to persuade Xuandu.
She could tell that Xuandu was close to the Great Luo Realm. If he returned to the Human Race, they might finally be able to contend with the Demon Clan's strongest fighters.
That way, the Human Race's younger generations could be protected until they grew strong.
"Heavenly Dao Library? What is that?"
Xuandu wondered if he'd somehow left the Human Race's group chat. Why did everyone talk as if they came from a completely different generation?
He couldn't understand a word!
"Don't worry about what it is. Do you want to help us support the rise of the Human Race and claim our share of the Primordial World alongside the Wu and Demon Clans? We have paths to transcendence no weaker than those used to attain Sagehood!"
"And we have more than one! Isn't that better than stubbornly sticking to a single path?"
"If one path doesn't work, we can always switch to another."
The group continued trying to persuade Xuandu to give up his status as Grand Pure's First Disciple and return to the Human Race.
But Xuandu only treated their words as if they were wind in his ears.
He gave an awkward smile and replied, "Everyone, the Sages of the Primordial World have endured countless Tribulations without perishing. A Sage's teachings can benefit you for a lifetime. They are the highest path in the Primordial World!"
"Everyone beneath a Sage is an ant. Without Sagehood, everything else is an illusion."
Xuandu's meaning was perfectly clear.
He didn't believe the paths to transcendence created by Jiang Chen could compare to the Grand Pure Lineage.
Otherwise, Jiang Chen, not Grand Pure, would have become a Sage in this Primordial World.
If you weren't a Sage, then no matter how astonishing everything else seemed, it would all come to nothing!
It was no more than an illusory dream!
"Believe what you want..."
Xuanyuan Shi and the others saw that Xuandu wouldn't listen to reason, so they let him be.
Then they began the tempering ceremony for the children of the tribe!
"Shen Nong! Where's your giant cauldron? Bring it out!"
Xuanyuan Shi called to Shen Nong.
Boom!
In the blink of an eye, enormous cauldrons were conjured across a wide, open space within the tribe.
Slay Demons and Refine Their Blood; Xuandu Reports to His Master (begging for flower rewards)
"Let's leave that for later. Xuandu, why don't you come back? I'll take you to the ancestral land at Shouyang Mountain and have the Human Emperor set up a Heavenly Dao Library for you, too, so you can take another path and transcend above all!"
Zi Yi Shi earnestly tried to persuade Xuandu.
She could tell that Xuandu was close to the Great Luo Realm. If he returned to the Human Race, they would at least be able to face the Demon Clan's strongest fighters.
That would let them protect the Human Race's younger generations as they grew.
"Heavenly Dao Library? What kind of thing is that?"
Xuandu wondered whether he'd somehow left the Human Race's group chat. Why did everyone speak as if there were a huge gap between them?
He couldn't understand them at all!
"Don't worry about what it is. Will you help us support the rise of the Human Race and claim our share of the Primordial World alongside the Wu and Demon Clans? We have paths to transcendence no weaker than those used to attain Sagehood!"
"And not just one! Isn't that better than stubbornly sticking to a single path?"
"If one path doesn't work, we can always switch to another."
The group continued trying to persuade Xuandu to abandon his status as Grand Pure's First Disciple and return to the Human Race.
But Xuandu only treated their words as if they were wind in his ears.
He gave an awkward smile and replied, "Everyone, the Sages of the Primordial World have endured countless Tribulations without perishing. A Sage's teachings can benefit you for a lifetime. They are the highest path in the Primordial World!"
"Everyone beneath a Sage is an ant. Without Sagehood, everything else is an illusion."
Xuandu had made his meaning perfectly clear.
He didn't believe the paths to transcendence created by Jiang Chen could compare to the Grand Pure Lineage.
Otherwise, Jiang Chen, not Grand Pure, would have become a Sage in this Primordial World.
Without Sagehood, everything else, no matter how astonishing, was ultimately meaningless!
It was no more than an illusory dream!
"Believe what you want..."
Xuanyuan Shi and the others saw that Xuandu wouldn't listen to reason, so they let him be.
Then they began the tempering ceremony for the children of the tribe!
"Shen Nong! Where's your giant cauldron? Bring it out!"
Xuanyuan Shi called to Shen Nong.
Boom!
In the blink of an eye, enormous cauldrons were conjured across a wide, open space within the tribe.
Before you continue