Rainbow Peak.
This was the tallest mountain in the entire Giant Spirit Secret Realm. At its summit, it connected to a vast, impossibly thick mass of seven-colored auspicious clouds.
When Spiritual Sense reached this place, it was blocked by a mysterious and powerful force, making it completely impossible to glimpse what lay within or above the clouds.
But when the Giant Spirit Secret Realm was about to close last time, the seven-colored clouds had grown much thinner, revealing the enormous complex of buildings above them.
At the same time, a languid voice had echoed throughout the entire secret realm.
"When the secret realm opens next time, those who ascend Rainbow Peak may enter the Immortal Palace."
And that was the true origin of the Immortal Palace!
At that moment, Xiao Yao and Dai Tianwei had both flown to the outskirts of Rainbow Peak.
Their eyes darted around Rainbow Peak, taking in everything, their faces alight with the joy of seeing something new.
Compared to Dai Tianwei, Xiao Yao soon lost that sense of novelty.
Instead, he remembered that he hadn't checked in today.
So he silently thought, "Check in!"
[Beep! Check-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received the reward of advancing one minor cultivation stage.]
The aura around Xiao Yao rapidly surged. In the blink of an eye, his cultivation had advanced to the peak of the sixth level of the Sea Opening Realm.
Dai Tianwei, beside him, looked a little bewildered, but didn't suspect anything in particular.
In her view, Brother Xiao Yao must have gained profound insight after seeing Rainbow Peak, and directly broken through by one minor stage as a result.
Since Dai Tianwei didn't ask, Xiao Yao didn't explain. Instead, he said, "Shall we head to Rainbow Peak now?"
"Okay!" Dai Tianwei had no objections at all.
Xiao Yao's brows knitted slightly. He couldn't shake the feeling that Dai Tianwei was being a little too compliant!
But there wasn't much he could say. After all, it was Dai Tianwei's own business.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Two sharp streaks of light swept down, and Xiao Yao and Dai Tianwei appeared at the foot of Rainbow Peak.
At a glance, the place was packed with cultivators, a veritable sea of people.
Just then, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox, held in Xiao Yao's arms, suddenly opened its eyes. It no longer looked as though it were fast asleep.
"Ying, ying, ying!" the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox cried repeatedly.
Xiao Yao glanced at it and stroked its head, puzzled. "Why did you suddenly wake up?"
Seeing that Xiao Yao couldn't understand what it was saying, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox flew up. It gestured with its front paws, then pointed to its own belly.
"Are you hungry?"
At Xiao Yao's words, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox immediately nodded and chirped, "Ying, ying, ying!"
Xiao Yao took out the dry rations he'd prepared for himself, but the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox only sniffed them before shaking its head dejectedly.
It didn't eat human food? This was a bit of a problem!
Just then, a Low-grade spirit stone happened to fall out of the cloth bag holding the rations.
The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox's eyes lit up. It darted toward the Low-grade spirit stone like a startled hare, then flicked out its tongue, swept it into its mouth, and chewed with a delighted grin.
"Can Low-grade spirit stones be food, too?"
Xiao Yao was astonished. All he could do was marvel that divine beasts were divine beasts; they ate nothing like ordinary spirit beasts.
Then he summoned ten thousand Low-grade spirit stones. The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox's eyes went wide at the sight!
"Go ahead, eat!"
At Xiao Yao's words, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox went into full vacuum mode. It opened its mouth wide and sucked all ten thousand Low-grade spirit stones into its belly.
He'd thought that much would fill the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox up!
But the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox pointed at its own fluffy little belly again, chirping plaintively, "Ying, ying, ying!"
It was obvious that the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox wasn't full.
Xiao Yao didn't mind. After all, he had more than ten million Low-grade spirit stones!
In no time at all, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox had swallowed a million Low-grade spirit stones.
Xiao Yao's expression darkened. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that such a tiny thing could eat a million Low-grade spirit stones.
Most importantly, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox still didn't look full.
At that moment, he wondered if the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox had taken a liking to him because it sensed he had a huge stash of Low-grade spirit stones.
But that was only a guess. He had no proof that this was the case.
The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox seemed to sense that something was off with Xiao Yao. Though it still needed to eat more Low-grade spirit stones, it held back, patted its belly with its front paws, and pretended to burp.
The little creature's antics made Xiao Yao laugh!
"Little fox, you should be glad you're with me. If you were with anyone else, you'd have bankrupted them by now!"
Then he took out another million Low-grade spirit stones in one go.
In an instant, Xiao Yao became the most dazzling person there.
"Holy crap! He just took out a million Low-grade spirit stones all at once!"
"That's a massive fortune! A massive fortune!"
"He's definitely a rich young master out there!"
"Rich young master, I don't want to work hard anymore. Please take me on as your slave!"
Xiao Yao naturally ignored them and stared intently at the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox. He refused to believe it could swallow all of them in one go.
But then came the slap in the face: like a whale sucking in water, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox swallowed the entire million Low-grade spirit stones in one gulp.
At that, quite a few cultivators who had been eyeing the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox froze in place.
Given their current finances, they simply couldn't afford to raise this divine beast!
After absorbing the stones, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox looked at Xiao Yao again with a plaintive gaze.
This time, Xiao Yao didn't give in. Instead, he grinned darkly and said, "Little fox, you're still not full?"
"Ying, ying, ying!" The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox felt bad, too, but it really did need to keep absorbing Low-grade spirit stones.
It wasn't that Xiao Yao begrudged the Low-grade spirit stones. It was that the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox before him seemed like a bottomless pit.
However many Low-grade spirit stones he brought out, it could swallow them all. Even he found that a little terrifying.
At the same time, he realized that the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox might not be hungry at all; it might need to replenish its energy.
As for what it wanted to do after replenishing its energy, he didn't know. But deep down, he felt it had something to do with Rainbow Peak.
Just then, Dai Tianwei's clear, sweet voice rang out. "Brother Xiao Yao, Rainbow Peak, which we're meant to climb, hasn't opened yet."
"Hasn't opened?"
Xiao Yao was taken aback. He remembered the book saying that once the Giant Spirit Secret Realm opened, all its opportunities would open as well. It had never mentioned anything like this happening.
After thinking about it for a while, he gave up. This wasn't something a cultivator in the Sea Opening Realm could figure out.
He turned to the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox, which had lowered its head, and gently stroked it. "I'd like to see just how many Low-grade spirit stones you're going to swallow."
In the next instant, he released another million Low-grade spirit stones.
The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox's eyes filled with delight, and it immediately gulped them down.
This went on repeatedly. After the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox had devoured ten million Low-grade spirit stones, it finally let out a satisfied burp.
"You can only swallow ten million Low-grade spirit stones? I can afford to feed you, then."
The cultivators around them gaped, exclaiming in amazement and awe.
"That's too much wealth!"
"If only I were as rich as him!"
"Now that's swagger! So damn swaggering!"
Dai Tianwei, however, wasn't impressed. To the Shocking Heaven Tower, ten million Low-grade spirit stones were mere pocket change!
Just then, Rainbow Peak, which had been silent until now, suddenly blazed with seven dazzling colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet.
Immediately afterward, an oppressive force even stronger than the one inside the Giant Spirit Secret Realm swept across the entire peak.
Aside from a handful of powerful cultivators in the Transcendent Realm, everyone else was forced to the ground.
Cultivators in the Law Condensation Realm struggled to move, their veins bulging as they struggled just to stay on their feet.
Most cultivators in the Sea Opening Realm were no different from usual, but they could still feel that the pressure had grown far, far stronger than before!
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Amid a series of earth-shaking booms, the ground began to tremble violently.
Soon, a massive stone stele appeared at the foot of the steps leading up Rainbow Peak.
A closer look revealed countless names and other information inscribed on it.
"1. Yan Yuanyan [Eastern Victory Domain], 871st step, Star Moon Holy Land!"
"2. Chi Dixiang [Purple Origin Domain], 845th step, Ultimate Mountain Gathering!"
"3. Rong Can Pavilion [Eastern Victory Domain], 812th step, Mysterious Sun Branch!"
"4. Miao Huanjun [Northern Strength Domain], 811th step, Heavenly Wolf Retreat!"
"5. Deng Meinian [North Jiangsu Domain], 799th step, Ascending Dragon Alliance!"
"10,000. Liang Tai [Taixing Domain], 314th step, Cheng Xue Dynasty!"
At a glance, cultivators from the Eastern Victory Domain had left the most names on the stele.
That was the truth of the matter. In this world, cultivators from the Eastern Victory Domain were, on the whole, the strongest.
Besides, the Eastern Victory Domain had nine cultivators in the Emperor Tier, more than any other domain.
Xiao Yao had also learned that there were ten thousand names on the entire stele.
One thing worth noting was that not a single person from the Southern Wilderness Domain had made the list.
This was perfectly normal, since the stele had appeared only during this opening of the Giant Spirit Secret Realm. It hadn't appeared during the previous two.
So none of that was the main point.
The main point was that, so far, no cultivator had reached the summit—that was, stepped onto the thousandth step of Rainbow Peak.
This was enough to show that reaching the summit was an incredibly difficult feat.
Whoosh!
A beam of light cut across the sky, and a handsome young man dressed in black-and-white Daoist robes drifted down gracefully.
"This Divine Son has been waiting ages for this to open. At last! Today, I'll show you what I can do."
Xiao Yao glanced at him and used his Heavenly Spirit Eyes to determine his exact cultivation: the peak of the ninth level of the Sea Opening Realm.
"Who's that boy?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a cultivator who knew the answer explained, "He's one of the eighteen Divine Sons of the Tai Chi Pavilion. His name is Miao Feihong, and he's a favorite to do well climbing Rainbow Peak this time."
Dai Tianwei stood frozen in place. She had always thought Xiao Yao was the Tai Chi Pavilion's Divine Son.
So, just what was Brother Xiao Yao's identity?
Why did he have the Tai Chi Pavilion's Saint-tier treasure, the Tai Chi Bagua Mirror?
Before you continue