Saint Emperor Abyss

Hadn't the Joyous Union Sect always been part of the demonic path?!

Xu Xing came to the bookshelf and reached out to take down a book titled A New Compendium of World History.

Saint Emperor Abyss had first emerged a thousand years ago, already possessing a cultivation realm no lower than that of the sect masters of the various Immortal Sects.

In just two hundred years, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching a level comparable to that of the Immortal Sects' Grand Elders.

After that, Saint Emperor Abyss joined forces with several righteous sects second only to the Immortal Sects, pushing forward the transformation of the age.

He awakened the people's minds and spread the immortal arts.

Countless ordinary people, who had once lingered outside the path of cultivation for lack of opportunity, now embarked on the road of cultivation.

The number of cultivators in the world also began to grow explosively.

Moreover, under the guidance of Saint Emperor Abyss and the righteous sects, the rapid growth in the number of cultivators did not lead to unrest.

The social structure of the entire world gradually changed in the process.

After five hundred years, the social structure of the Central Continent in the Great Profound Realm had finally evolved into the system in place today.

The Seven Great Immortal Sects and the Righteous Alliance ruled the world together.

But one thing was strange. For reasons unknown, the Immortal Sects and the demonic path had stood by and watched throughout the process, never interfering.

And Saint Emperor Abyss, who had played the most important role in all this, had mysteriously vanished fifty years ago, leaving no trace.

Some suspected that the culprit behind it was one of the Ancestors from the Seven Great Immortal Sects or the demonic path.

Neither the Immortal Sects nor the demonic path ever explained the rumors, and in the end, they simply faded away.

Xu Xing closed the book and returned it to the shelf.

The contents of A New Compendium of World History—and even all the books in this section of the library—were incomplete. They included a great deal of speculation and conjecture, so there wasn't much to use as a reference.

There was nothing about how Saint Emperor Abyss had persuaded those righteous sects, or why the Joyous Union Sect had become a righteous Immortal Sect. There was also very little about Saint Emperor Abyss's personal life.

The latter was understandable. Most cultivators tried to conceal their origins once they reached a certain level of cultivation.

"Saint Emperor Abyss..."

If nothing unexpected had happened, he was probably a fellow transmigrator. But Xu Xing still needed to confirm it.

"I can ask an old friend for help later. There's no rush for now."

Xu Xing walked out of the library, just as unnoticed as when he had arrived.

Many years ago, he had wanted to change things, too. He had done a great deal, but only made things more chaotic, and eventually realized he wasn't suited to that kind of work.

Now, after a single retreat, someone had actually accomplished what they had once wanted to do. He had to take a good look.

But first, he needed to put an end to this farce.

In a classroom, Zhang Yunlu sat in a corner with her chin propped on one hand.

She held her phone in the other, but the screen had been spinning endlessly without displaying anything.

She wasn't the only one. Everyone else in the classroom was in the same situation.

The city's protective formation must have been the reason. It had weakened the signal.

With nothing else to do for the moment, the students who knew each other gathered in groups and began talking about the "Cang Jiezi" incident from three years ago, when he had slaughtered a city to refine his magic arts.

"I heard from my uncle that even though 'Cang Jiezi' is dead, he has an older brother whose cultivation is even higher. For the past few years, he's been secretly hunting down young prodigies from major sects, trying to resurrect his younger brother."

The one speaking was a gray-eyed boy at the ninth level of Qi Refining. From time to time, spiritual light flickered in his pale gray pupils.

It was a sign that his spiritual power was abundant and he was about to establish his Dao Foundation.

The boys around him began sharing their own opinions as soon as they heard the news.

When the protective formation had first activated, they had been a little nervous. But they were still young, and none of them had ever personally witnessed the methods of a powerful demonic cultivator, so they had gradually relaxed.

Zhang Yunlu didn't think much of what they were discussing.

There was no shortage of stories about Cang Jiezi on the Spirit Net, but how many of them were true?

She pursed her lips and looked back at her phone.

The screen finally refreshed, but before she could see what was on it, someone suddenly sat down in the seat in front of her.

"Young lady, we meet again."

She looked up. Wasn't this the man from outside the school gates earlier?

"It's you? How did you just disappear as soon as you came in?"

"I'd never been here before, so I walked around and had a look."

"..." Zhang Yunlu was at a loss for words. With everything going on, "You've got some nerve. You were even standing out in the street looking around just now."

"It's fine. If a cultivator above the Void Return Realm really attacked, this formation wouldn't hold for long anyway. Hiding here would only mean dying sooner or later."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't say such ominous things!"

She was still young! What was all this talk about dying?!

"Heh. But it should be over soon."

"It's not that simple." She had looked deeply into the Cang Jiezi massacre from three years ago. "If the attacker is from a righteous sect, that sect will explain things on his behalf. But if he's a Rogue Cultivator, it'll take quite a while just to find him."

And demonic cultivators were even more elusive. They might slaughter a city to refine their magic arts at any moment, treating all living beings as materials.

"By the way, let me introduce myself. I'm Zhang Yunlu, a student here. You... probably aren't, are you?"

He looked young, but there was no way he was a minor Qi Refining cultivator like her.

"I'm not. My name is Xu Xing, and I'm a cultivator from the Sword Sect," Xu Xing said with a smile.

Zhang Yunlu didn't find his name strange. She was more surprised by his identity.

"The Sword Sect, one of the Seven Great Immortal Sects?!"

Though the world today was very different from the ancient cultivation world, one thing hadn't changed.

The Seven Great Immortal Sects remained the world's overlords and the dream destination of countless cultivators.

For an ordinary cultivator, joining one was an incredibly difficult task.

"You're amazing. I wish I could get into the Sword Sect after I graduate." A note of longing crept into her voice.

Unfortunately, far too many people wanted to join the Immortal Sects. If she compared herself only with the students at this school, her talent was decent enough.

But among competitors on that scale, she was merely average.

The top student in last year's entrance exams had been about her age, yet had already reached the peak of the Golden Core Realm. He could knock her big brother to his knees with a single punch.

They said he'd been born with extraordinary signs: able to walk and speak at birth, and already cultivating as an infant. Truly terrifying!

Her actual goal was to attend one of the academies founded by the Immortal Sects. She planned to get into one first, then slowly prepare for joining an Immortal Sect.

"You have good Root Bone. If you keep cultivating diligently, you still have a chance. I look forward to the day we become fellow disciples."

"I hope so."

When sects chose their disciples, prodigies could choose their sects, too.

With everyone able to cultivate, prodigies emerged in endless numbers.

To maintain the competitiveness of their younger generation, the Immortal Sects had lowered their admission thresholds, but made their examinations more rigorous.

Of course, no one objected. Before the Era of Great Transformation, many people wouldn't even have been qualified to take part in the selection.

Xu Xing said nothing more. He turned his gaze to the window.

"It looks like it's about to end."

Zhang Yunlu froze, then followed his gaze.

The crimson formation patterns in the sky above the city began to fade.

Xu Xing saw more than that. As the city's protective formation shut down, space rippled, and figures appeared out of thin air.

The leader was surrounded by terrifying waves of magical power. He wore dark red armor made of 129,600 tiny plates fitted together.

A powerful cultivator of the Void Return Realm!

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