Visitors from Azure Cloud Academy

A green lotus bloomed with dazzling, brilliant light, countless profound Dao Rhythms adorning it, making it impossible to look away.

"You awakened this talent too?!"

Fang Zhongwu's face was stunned, his eyes filled with shock and a trace of disbelief.

"I was wondering why you broke through without any auspicious signs descending—turns out you also awakened the Nine Tribulation Azure Lotus."

Fang Zhongwu muttered to himself, a look of sudden realization dawning, clearly still not recovered from the shock just now.

"Is the Nine Tribulation Azure Lotus also a talent passed down through the family?" Fang Yuan asked, somewhat confused.

Fang Zhongwu took a deep breath, calming his mind. As if recalling past events, his expression grew rather complicated.

"Our Fang Family's inheritance is mainly tied to the Thunder Dao."

"Just like the Martial Dao Imprint you awakened—it's a Thunder Dao Imprint. As for what exactly it contains, you'll have to develop it yourself in the future."

With that, Fang Zhongwu extended his hand, and Tri-Colored Lightning suddenly appeared in his palm, intertwining and radiating an aura of annihilation.

"This is my Thunder Dao Imprint!"

As the Tri-Colored Lightning wove together, an imprint gradually formed, strikingly similar to the one in Fang Yuan's dantian, and it even resonated with it.

"Did any of the Ten Elders awaken a Martial Dao Imprint?"

Fang Yuan recalled the tremor in his dantian's imprint when the Long-Bearded Elder made his move.

Fang Zhongwu shook his head. "Even the strongest among the Elders only possesses a relatively powerful Thunderblood."

Throughout the generations, Fang Family prodigies awakened different talents upon reaching Foundation Building.

These included, but were not limited to, bloodlines, spiritual roots, physiques, Dharma manifestations, and so on.

These talents varied in strength, making it hard to rank them, but the strongest talent was undoubtedly the Martial Dao Imprint.

Because the Martial Dao Imprint was the sublimation of all these talents, encompassing everything, and to some extent, it could even give rise to other talents.

"Among Fang Family members, stronger talents resonate with each other—it's a bond of bloodline."

Fang Yuan nodded slightly, glanced at Fang Zhongwu's Martial Dao Imprint, and said with a smile, "Dad, you've been hiding your strength well."

"Naturally. In my youth, I swept through my peers, unmatched and unrivaled!"

Fang Zhongwu clasped his hands behind his back, as if reminiscing about the past, and spoke with pride.

"So that means this lotus I awakened is a talent from my mother's side?" Fang Yuan steered the conversation back.

Fang Zhongwu nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the dreamlike lotus, momentarily lost in thought.

"I never expected your talent to be so astonishing—awakening two supreme talents at once."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Fang Yuan noticed that his cheap father's emotions lacked the expected joy, so he asked.

"Either of these two talents alone could lead you straight to the Great Dao, unimpeded."

"But awakening both at the same time will actually affect your future cultivation direction."

Fang Yuan asked, "Do the two talents conflict?"

Fang Zhongwu shook his head. "Not only do they not conflict, they actually complement each other."

This only deepened Fang Yuan's confusion.

"Now that you've officially stepped onto the path of immortal cultivation, you should know that cultivators have different training directions."

"The same goes for talents. In the future, will you choose to focus on developing your Martial Dao Imprint, or temper your Divine Sense and traverse the Nine Tribulation Azure Lotus?"

Seeing that Fang Yuan was about to speak, Fang Zhongwu continued, "Don't tell me you want to do both—you don't have that much time."

"You also need to improve your cultivation base. That's the foundation of your strength. Mastering one of these two talents is already enough to crush your peers."

"If you try to grasp both, you'll accomplish nothing and end up neglecting one for the other."

Fang Yuan didn't argue.

Ordinary people indeed couldn't manage both at once, since improving cultivation was the top priority.

But he was different.

He had the heaven-defying boost of the Heavenly Origin Earth Realm, so he didn't need to waste time on bitter cultivation.

One day was a year!

"Once you formally step into the Foundation Building Realm, you can decide your focus then," Fang Zhongwu said.

Fang Yuan was baffled. "I haven't broken through to Foundation Building yet?"

"You have, but not completely," Fang Zhongwu said gravely. "I didn't expect you to awaken the Nine Tribulation Azure Lotus."

"The accumulated Baptism of the Ancestral Hall over a thousand years was all poured into you, but it only fully awakened the Martial Dao Imprint. The Nine Tribulation Azure Lotus still falls short."

Fang Yuan looked down at the illusory lotus in his hand—it was indeed far less radiant than the Martial Dao Imprint shining in his dantian.

"While the residual energy of the Baptism still lingers in your body, we'll return to the family immediately for a second Foundation Building!"

Fang Yuan asked in confusion, "Can't I stay here to break through?"

Fang Zhongwu said, "To ensure absolute safety, I still need to make some preparations. Some materials are only available at the clan."

"Moreover, when you break through again, the commotion and uproar it causes will far surpass this time."

"Once a strong cultivator risks death to try and snuff you out, the Ancestral Land will struggle to withstand such an impact. After all, too many ordinary people live here. Activating the Ancestral Land's sealed great formation ahead of time would waste a massive amount of resources, and there are all sorts of rules and restrictions—far less convenient than being at the clan."

Of course, the most important point was this.

Fang Zhongwu feared trouble from within. After all, retired experts of the Wangdu Fang Family resided here, and even one or two of the Ten Elders were present.

Before Fang Yuan entered the Ancestral Shrine for the Baptism, most of the clan's Council Elders had already returned.

To avoid drawing attention.

Fang Yuan and Fang Zhongwu returned to the clan first, while the rest of the ordinary elders and disciples made their own arrangements.

"So this is what it feels like to leave the ground and soar through the air—truly incomparably wonderful."

Fang Yuan raced through the sky, completely unbound by gravity, like a white streak of light cutting across the night.

In less than half a day.

Fang Yuan and Fang Zhongwu had returned to the clan.

At almost the same moment, a streak of cyan light swept across the sky above Clear Sea City.

An old man in a long green robe descended at the gates of the Fang Family.

If anyone had been paying close attention, they would have noticed three flowing clouds embroidered two finger-widths below the right shoulder of the old man's robe.

This was unmistakably the insignia of a Vice Palace Master of the Azure Cloud Academy!

"Azure Cloud Academy, He Someone, has come to call upon the Fang Family!"

He Yunsong made no effort to conceal himself. His voice at the gate was not particularly loud.

But the Inner City was a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, with countless experts. And since he was right at the Fang Family's entrance, those in the know quickly spread the news.

Azure Cloud Academy.

The martial sacred ground of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the cultivation academy of every young cultivator's dreams.

Every student who successfully graduated from the Azure Cloud Academy went on to become a renowned expert in their own right.

Among them were no shortage of Regional Governors, Prefecture Governors wielding great power, and even those who rose to become Marquis and General, reaching the highest official ranks.

"An expert from the Azure Cloud Academy has come to call on the Fang Family—what business could they have?"

The Azure Cloud Academy's reputation was far too illustrious. It stirred countless people, from high-ranking officials and nobles down to ordinary commoners, all buzzing with discussion.

"So the rumors are all true."

The high-ranking figures of Clear Sea City, upon learning that someone from the Azure Cloud Academy had visited the Fang Family, darkened their expressions. Their suspicions had been confirmed.

Although the two Clan Heads had deliberately tried to conceal the matter of Fang Yuan defeating Fang Lian in the Ancestral Land, it was ultimately difficult to hide.

There were simply too many people present at the time. At best, it only slowed the spread of the news.

"To strike down a Foundation Establishment True Person from the Xiantian Realm—Fang Yuan intends to suppress the entire younger generation of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

A Clan Head lifted his gaze toward the Fang Family's location and let out a long sigh.