The Stunned Northern Darkness Saintly Master!

"I... reached Foundation Establishment!"

Wang Mu was stunned as well. He lowered his head and looked at his hands, feeling the vast mana within him, ten times greater than before.

It felt as though he had shed his mortal shell and exchanged his bones.

The Ascension Convention lasted seven days.

In total, he had invested in more than five hundred thousand people.

More than twenty thousand Cultivators had emerged.

The fruits of these people's cultivation would all be returned to Wang Mu in equal proportion.

Even if each person provided Wang Mu with very little cultivation.

Taken together, it was still an extraordinarily considerable amount.

The most important thing was that Wang Mu himself had not been far from Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, his foundation was incomparably solid.

Breaking through had been as natural as water flowing into a channel.

It had taken no more than a shiver.

Nearby, Zixia and Li Yuanhua were dumbfounded.

Wasn't the Young Master incapable of cultivation?

Where had this profound and unfathomable powerful aura come from?

Wang Mu said, "I'm going back to my room. Don't disturb me unless it's necessary!"

"Y-Yes, Young Master!"

The two answered in unison.

Li Yuanhua kept his head deeply lowered, not daring to raise it. He only felt a terrifying chill enveloping him.

His mind buzzed.

Could the rumors have been false?

Could the Young Master actually cultivate?

Had the Wang Family spread such claims to the outside world so the Young Master could hide his brilliance and bide his time?

Then, recalling the Young Master's actions these past days, which had not matched the rumors in the slightest.

Li Yuanhua's heart suddenly clenched. He felt as though he had stumbled upon some earth-shattering secret.

Cold sweat continuously trickled down his forehead.

Wang Mu returned to his room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and examined the changes within himself.

There was an obvious difference between the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Qi Refinement Realm.

Qi Refinement Cultivators needed magical treasures or artifacts to fly, such as riding swords, riding gourds, riding sisters...

Foundation Establishment Cultivators did not.

They could walk through the air, their own mana sufficient to sustain flight.

Wang Mu gripped a blood-red jade pendant around his neck.

This item was called [Suspended Void Restriction]. It could detect any form of spying or perception below the Earth Immortal realm. It activated automatically without the need for mana, and infusing it with mana only made it stronger.

It also concealed several powerful spells.

It was a protective treasure his mother, Luo Xuanshuang, had given him.

As mana flowed into it, a transparent red barrier spread outward and enveloped the courtyard.

Wang Mu came to the courtyard and practiced the secret techniques and divine abilities in his mind.

Heaven-Peng Dragon-Smite Technique!

Golden Light Afterimage Escape!

Eight Extremes Crushing Heaven Fist!

As he unleashed them again and again, spiritual light blazed brightly throughout the courtyard. At times, he turned into a great peng soaring into the heavens, his aura shaking the sky!

At times, he was like the setting sun over rivers and seas, melting into the lingering glow of dusk and vanishing from sight.

At times, he was tyrannical and fierce, like an ancient giant shaking heaven and earth, making the firmament sway.

Exhilarating!

Utterly exhilarating!

Wang Mu repeatedly performed the incomplete Eight Extremes Crushing Heaven Fist. Inspiration flashed through his mind, and his thoughts raced.

The formidable comprehension of the Enlightenment Immortal Heart revealed itself once more.

It continuously supplemented and expanded the technique.

From 50%, to 70%, then to 95%!

Until it was completely restored.

Wang Mu threw a punch, and even the void seemed to tremble.

Every fallen flower in the courtyard rose into the air, transforming into a whirlwind that gathered upon Wang Mu's fist before exploding with a thunderous crash!

Broken leaves filled the sky, drifting down in a flutter.

Wang Mu stood beneath the old poplar tree in the courtyard and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

He raised his head, and the golden morning sun entered his eyes.

A whole night had passed before he knew it.

"Mu'er..."

A familiar, gentle female voice suddenly sounded behind Wang Mu.

Wang Mu froze briefly, then turned around.

A dignified and gentle figure stood at the boundary between sunlight and darkness, looking at him with a complicated expression.

"Mother? Why are you here?"

Wang Mu was greatly surprised. The person who had come was none other than the Northern Darkness Saintly Master, Luo Xuanshuang.

"I heard from Zixia about what you did on Heavenly Severing Island. You caused quite a stir. I happened to have nothing to do these past few days, so I came to see you!"

Luo Xuanshuang slowly walked before Wang Mu. Her eyes still held disbelief, shock, and complexity. "But I never expected you to give Mother such a huge surprise!"

Calling it a surprise.

Was more like calling it a fright.

These years, the Wang Family, the Northern Darkness Sacred Ground, and the Langya Merchant Association—three colossal powers—had exhausted every method imaginable beneath the heavens in order to resolve the curse on Wang Mu.

Yet it had still been to no avail.

But who would have thought that Wang Mu had somehow become capable of cultivation?

And had even silently succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment!

Wang Mu scratched his head, feeling somewhat guilty. "Mother, I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just hadn't figured out how to tell you!"

Luo Xuanshuang raised her hand and gently brushed the fallen leaves from Wang Mu's shoulder. She said softly, "Not telling us was the right choice. The Cultivation World is full of treacherous hearts; not everyone can bear to see you doing well! Mu'er has grown up. You have secrets now..."

Listening to the faint resentment in her voice.

Wang Mu's scalp tingled, and he could not help but cough twice. "Mother, that's not what I meant!"

Luo Xuanshuang smiled lightly. "All right, Mother is teasing you! You can cultivate now. Mother is happy, truly happy..."

As she smiled, Luo Xuanshuang—the foremost Sword Immortal of Northern Darkness, who had suppressed the Sacred Ground's prodigies with a single sword for a full thousand years—actually had crystalline tears in her eye sockets, and her voice carried a few choked sobs.

Having fused with the memories of his Previous Body, Wang Mu understood how difficult things had been for his mother because of him.

After a long silence, he said, "Actually, one day I dreamed that an old immortal told me the curse on my body could only be broken by accumulating virtue and doing good deeds! So I came to give it a try!"

Luo Xuanshuang opened her mouth and said, "Mu'er, if you haven't thought of a reason yet, you don't need to force yourself to make one up!"

Wang Mu: "..."

"Give me your hand!"

"Oh!"

Luo Xuanshuang took Wang Mu's hand and carefully examined him.

It was naturally a good thing that Wang Mu could cultivate now.

But this had happened too suddenly. Luo Xuanshuang still needed to inspect him thoroughly, just in case it was something like a final flash before death...

In short, she could not rest easy.

Yet the moment she checked him, Luo Xuanshuang's eyes were immediately filled with intense shock.

"What incredibly pure mana!"

As an Earth Immortal and the Holy Lord of the Northern Darkness Sacred Ground, she naturally cultivated one of the most supreme cultivation methods beneath the heavens.

Yet.

Even she was inferior to her own son in the purity of mana.

One had to know.

Wang Mu was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm!

This was utterly unbelievable!

Could Mu'er truly have found blessings within misfortune and awakened some special constitution that had never been recorded?

Suddenly, she recalled something and asked, "Right, Mu'er, among the divine abilities I saw you perform earlier, two of them... seemed not to be Human Race cultivation methods. And that final fist technique seemed incomplete?"

Wang Mu could not help admiring his mother's keen eye. He nodded and said, "Mother has sharp eyes!

The first two were techniques I derived myself after observing Prosperity fight sea beasts!

As for the last one, I obtained it by chance and am trying to complete it!"

The matter of the system was truly inconvenient to tell his mother about.

Wang Mu could only patch together an explanation himself.

Hearing this.

The shock in Luo Xuanshuang's heart grew even greater!

With her discernment, she could naturally see that both the Heaven-Peng Dragon-Smite Technique and the Heavenly Light Afterimage Escape had grasped the essence of the Peng clan's divine abilities and possessed considerable spiritual resemblance.

In theory, given the Human Race's bodily structure and meridian structure, no matter how one imitated them, it would be difficult to reproduce that spiritual resemblance.

Yet Wang Mu had done it.

As for that final fist technique, although Luo Xuanshuang had never seen it before, she could still determine that it was an ancient supreme divine ability.

Wang Mu had used only a fragment to restore it almost perfectly!

What kind of terrifying comprehension was that?

Even if the ancient sages were alive, they likely could not accomplish it.