Jinghong!

As promised, Meng Xuan released the yellow wind and left, and the blue butterfly disappeared.

Shen Xiuyai looked at the blood-red pill in his hand, then at Meng Xuan in front of him, "Who exactly are you...?"

Before Shen Xiuyai could finish speaking, Meng Xuan suddenly put her hand to her lips.

"Shhh."

"That's not something you should be concerned about right now. Don't you want power? This pill was given to you by my master."

"Of course, the master I'm referring to is my master, and your master is me."

Inside the Jinghong Sword Sect.

On the seventh peak, which stands independently from the six peaks, in the Moon Gazing Peak where the sect's supreme elder resides, Li Chengyi sat cross-legged under the moon, cultivating.

A hunchbacked old man with a white beard was standing behind him, looking into the distance.

"These are truly turbulent times. The more I try to find peace and quiet, the less I can. Corpse King, Demon King, Outer Realm Sky Demons, natural disasters, man-made calamities—all sorts of things keep happening one after another."

Unfortunately, all of this is happening in our time.

"Multiply by one, what did you learn from this?"

Li Chengyi opened his eyes and said, "I... don't really understand. I only know that one day the world started to change into a completely unfamiliar place."

The old man stroked his beard and sighed, "Everything is unpredictable. Even if you cultivate to the extreme, attain the Great Dao of Immortality, and achieve the body of an immortal, you still cannot escape the calamity of fate."

"Why our generation? Actually, there aren't that many whys. This is our destiny."

"You can ascend to the upper realm once you reach the Nascent Soul stage, so why do cultivators always cultivate to the point of becoming immortals before they are willing to ascend? Have you ever thought about that?"

Li Chengyi shook his head.

The old man continued, "Actually, there is no celestial realm beyond the heavens; the world we live in is a giant sphere."

"Or rather, each star in the sky is actually a sphere, and each star represents a world."

"In the endless Sea of Chaos, these stars are like isolated islands on the sea, with no bridges connecting them. Cultivators can only cross the Sea of Chaos with their own physical bodies."

"However, the Sea of Chaos is fraught with danger and powerful enemies. There are countless Nascent Soul cultivators in the Sea of Chaos, and the cultivators and demons who can swim freely in the Sea of Chaos are at least at the Nascent Soul stage."

"How many cultivators ascended to the Immortal Realm with the body of a Nascent Soul cultivator, only to perish on their way there?"

Li Chengyi asked in confusion, "Master, you just said that there is actually no immortal realm, so why do we still need to ascend?"

"Isn't it better to stay here?"

The old man shook his head. "People strive to rise higher, just as water flows downhill. Climbing upwards is human instinct."

"No matter how much a cultivator cultivates their mind and character, they can never overcome the desire to survive. The desire to survive drives us to move towards strength."

"Only the strong can live forever, but when we realize that no matter how hard we try, we will still die, we will unite together."

"Sects, dynasties, alliances—all of these are formed because of the inadequacy of one's own strength. When external dangers outweigh one's own strength, the desire for survival will force us to instinctively unite together."

"The Immortal Realm is precisely such a unified entity."

"The immortals came together to form a more powerful alliance and created a safer and more prosperous homeland."

"Just like mortals who go up the mountain to become disciples and join sects to seek protection, we ascend to the immortal realm also to seek protection."

"Becoming an immortal is an act that increases the survival rate. If one were to force their way into the Sea of Chaos with only the cultivation of a Nascent Soul cultivator, the probability of arriving in the Immortal Realm alive would be extremely small."

Li Chengyi said, "Then why not break through to a higher level? Wouldn't that be safer?"

The old man shook his head. "It's not that we don't want to, but that we can't."

"All the spiritual energy of the Nine Heavens Immortal Domain converges on the Immortal World, which means that the total amount of spiritual energy in our world is limited within a certain period of time."

"This portion of spiritual energy is barely enough for a few people to ascend to immortality, and if they want to go further, it is far from enough."

"Therefore, only by reaching the Immortal Realm, where spiritual energy converges, is there any possibility of advancing further."

"Cheng Yi, why don't you guess why I took you as my disciple at this particular time?" the old man said, looking at Li Chengyi.

Li Chengyi, "Because Master is about to ascend to become an immortal?"

The old man laughed. "Quite the opposite."

"I am nearing the end of my life, yet I have still not broken through the shackles of the Tribulation Crossing stage. I fear that I will never be able to ascend in this lifetime."

"I have cultivated for tens of thousands of years. My ancestor ascended to heaven, but my two junior brothers could not ascend and died prematurely. I outlived my disciples, and now my disciples' disciples are in charge."

"And I am still alive."

"Some say I'm an old tortoise, others say I'm Earth God, hahaha..."

Li Chengyi's master was one of the oldest figures in the Jinghong Sword Sect.

He was the founder of the Jinghong Sword Sect, one of Shangguan Jinghong's three direct disciples, and is now known as the Old Ancestor Yuanyang.

Boom, boom.

Suddenly, a series of booming sounds came from outside the sect, and a powerful aura swept over, covering the entire Jinghong Sword Sect!

Old Ancestor Yuanyang straightened up, then smashed the stone statue beside him with a punch, and took out a long sword from it.

"This sword is named Jinghong, and it was the sword wielded by the founder of the sect."

"After the Ancestor Shangguan ascended to heaven, fearing that someone might take advantage of the situation, he left this sword behind and sealed a sword intent within it."

"I have been studying this sword intent for tens of thousands of years, but I have only just begun to understand it. Ancestor Shangguan is a genius, while I am truly dull-witted."

"Cheng Yi, what I taught you before was the original scroll of the sword manual and internal energy cultivation method left by Ancestor Shangguan."

"You are exceptionally talented. If you can comprehend the sword intent of your ancestor, you may be able to reach the level of your Ancestor Shangguan."

"I have no chance to ascend to the celestial realm in this life, nor do I intend to risk crossing the Sea of Chaos. Therefore, you shall take a look at the splendor of the celestial realm on my behalf."

Having said that, Old Ancestor Yuanyang drew his Jinghong Sword and stepped out to the sky above the six peaks of White Rainbow Mountain.

At this moment, another figure is standing in the sky above White Rainbow Mountain.

That person was none other than Shen Xiuyai.

But at this moment, he had already reached the Fifth Tier Spirit Transformation realm. After consuming the pills sent by Meng Xuan, Shen Xiuyai underwent an evolution.

At the same time, without any hesitation, after his strength reached the fifth level, he directly attacked White Rainbow Mountain.

Upon seeing Old Ancestor Yuanyang, Shen Xiuyai recognized him at a glance.

An ancient relic of the sect, known as the Supreme Elder of the Earth God, the Old Ancestor Yuanyang.

"I will only kill Hongyun."

Upon hearing Shen Xiuyai's words, Old Ancestor Yuanyang laughed, "Then you should wait until I die before making a move. After all, as long as I live, I will not allow anyone to take a single step against my Jinghong Sword Sect."

"Even if Hongyun were my grand-disciple, I would still stop you if you tried to kill an Outer Sect Disciple in the Qi Refining stage today."

Holding the Jinghong Sword, Old Ancestor Yuanyang kept talking to himself in his heart.

Multiply by one, and look carefully.

This is your only chance to directly observe and comprehend the Jinghong Sword Intent.