A banquet came to an end amid laughter.
The disciples gradually departed, and the elders began discussing matters in the main hall.
Above the redwood table, an immortal ancestor pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Heavenly Dao Sacred Land's foundation, built over countless ages, cannot be abandoned."
"My idea is to leave everything in Heavenly Dao Sacred Land unchanged while adding an ascension path. Any elder who reaches the Ascension Realm may choose to enter Holy Heaven Palace. Of course, they may also choose to remain in Heavenly Dao Sacred Land. Furthermore, every ten years, they may cultivate in Holy Heaven Palace for one year."
"Any disciple whose cultivation reaches the Nascent Soul Realm and who is under a hundred years old may enter Holy Heaven Palace as an outer disciple."
"What do you all think of this idea?"
The immortal ancestor looked at the many elders of Heavenly Dao Sacred Land below and asked.
None of the elders spoke. Instead, they turned their gazes toward True Man Qingwei.
True Man Qingwei was, after all, the Sacred Lord and also the guardian envoy.
Whether in strength or status, True Man Qingwei should be the one to make the decision.
True Man Qingwei did not think for long and merely smiled. "Agreed."
"Good."
The immortal ancestor nodded slightly and continued, "Qingwei, you should understand as well. After so many years of development, Holy Heaven Palace cannot possibly be ruled by Heavenly Dao Sacred Land alone.
"So, it may not be able to give Heavenly Dao Sacred Land's disciples much preferential treatment. However, we can still guarantee certain advantages. I hope you understand."
"You worry too much, Ancestor. We all understand." True Man Qingwei shook his head with a smile.
"Good. Then, Qingwei, select some Ascension Realm elders and have them return to Holy Heaven Palace with us. They have wasted too many years. Let Holy Heaven Palace help them break through to the Void Return Realm."
"Alright."
Lingtian Peak.
After the banquet ended, Jun Wangyou hurried back without stopping.
Thinking of everything that had happened recently, Jun Wangyou's mind was a complete mess.
First, the Demon-Monster Allied Army had unleashed a great catastrophe, plunging the Mystic Realm into all-out war.
Before the fighting had lasted long, a shocking upheaval occurred.
The Mystic Realm had actually merged with the Immortal Realm.
The immortals who had ascended in the past returned one after another, setting off another wave of bloody slaughter. Those with grudges sought vengeance, and those with wrongs to avenge did the same.
Then came the return of Heavenly Dao Sacred Land's ancestors.
Moreover, those ancestors had established a Holy Heaven Palace.
As a result, Heavenly Dao Sacred Land had practically become a subordinate force of Holy Heaven Palace.
Its prestige had plummeted all at once.
The more he thought about it, the more Jun Wangyou could not help shaking his head.
"This world is truly too chaotic!"
"I should just keep my head down and lie low."
With that thought, Jun Wangyou summoned his status panel for the first time.
[Host: Jun Wangyou] [Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Peak] [Cultivation Method: Heavenly Dao Divine Codex, First Layer] [Dao Arts: Sword Extinguishes the Sky, Vast Sun Divine Palm, Sky Splitting Divine Fist] [Divine Ability: Sword Slash Azure Sky (Low Grade)] [Innate Divine Abilities: Time Stop, Chaos Power] [Storage: 1,700,000 Low-grade Spirit Stones, 1,900 Foundation Establishment Pills, Azure Sky Pure Spirit Bottle...] [View Relationships] [Title Achievements: Ruthless Flower Destroyer (Increases attack power against female enemies by 20%), Child of Destiny Killer (Beginner) (Increases attack power against Children of Destiny by 10%)] [Detect Child of Destiny]
"Only Foundation Establishment Peak. That's nowhere near enough."
Looking at his cultivation, Jun Wangyou deeply felt how weak he was.
With the Mystic Realm's situation growing increasingly dire, Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation gave him no sense of security at all!
"I can't fool around anymore. I need to cultivate properly."
Jun Wangyou muttered to himself and began cultivating in seclusion.
He still had more than 1.7 million Spirit Stones, along with the Azure Sky Pure Spirit Bottle. He did not need to worry about lacking resources at all.
Not long after Jun Wangyou entered seclusion.
The situation in the Mystic Realm changed once again.
First, the Mystic Realm was renamed the Profound Region and became a subordinate minor domain under the Barren Heaven Immortal Domain.
Second, the Demon-Monster Allied Army completely occupied Sea Continent and Heaven Continent. The two continents merged and were renamed Demon Continent, while all Demon-Monster Allied Army forces from the other eleven continents relocated there.
Third, because of the merger with the Immortal Realm, cultivation in the Profound Region became much easier. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew denser, and all kinds of geniuses began appearing in endless numbers.
Fourth, outside immortal sects began attempting to recruit disciples in the Profound Region.
Fifth, geniuses from the immortal domains began challenging every renowned genius in the Profound Region, declaring that the Profound Region was a backwater and that everyone there was trash. This enraged countless geniuses of the Profound Region.
In the blink of an eye, three years passed.
Over those three years, the people of the Profound Region had grown accustomed to the changed Profound Region.
Countless geniuses emerged like bamboo shoots after spring rain.
At the same time, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion in Central Continent released several rankings.
They were the Strongest Factions Ranking, the Heavenly Pride Ranking, and the Dragon and Phoenix Ranking.
Ranked first on the Strongest Factions Ranking was Qi Tian Palace of Central Continent.
Heavenly Emperor Qi, who occupied three rankings on the Extreme Dao Heavenly Stele, was the founder of Qi Tian Palace.
After ascending to immortality, he had also established Qi Tian Palace in the Immortal Domain. Its strength was peerless, several times greater than that of Holy Heaven Palace.
After Qi Tian Palace of the Profound Region connected with Qi Tian Palace of the Immortal Domain.
It too rose with the tide, its strength soaring rapidly.
Heavenly Dao Sacred Land ranked seventh.
The Heavenly Pride Ranking.
This was also the ranking that attracted the most controversy and attention.
First on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Qi Chengxian of Qi Tian Palace, Central Continent.
Second on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Lu Xingyun of Star River Hall, Central Continent.
Third on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Feng Wushuang of the Ancient Clans, Central Continent.
Fourth on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Xuanyuan Bantian of Xuantian Sacred Land, Mo Prefecture.
"..."
Tenth on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Li Jianxing of Hundred Stars Sect, Eastern Continent.
Eleventh on the Heavenly Pride Ranking: Jun Wangyou of Heavenly Dao Sacred Land, Eastern Continent.
The controversial point was that Jun Wangyou, who had broken through the Eternal Extreme Realm, was actually ranked only eleventh!
Some believed that this ranking was too low, and that Jun Wangyou should at least rank among the top five.
Others believed that Jun Wangyou had merely broken the Eternal Extreme Realm of the Qi Refining Realm, which was nothing remarkable.
Moreover, there had been no news of any achievements from him in three years. Perhaps he had already faded into obscurity.
Ranked eleventh might even have been too high.
For a time, people everywhere voiced differing opinions.
Yet Heavenly Dao Sacred Land made no response whatsoever.
The reason was simple: over the past three years, Jun Wangyou had never once stepped out of Lingtian Peak.
If not for the various phenomena that occasionally appeared on Lingtian Peak, even the people of Heavenly Dao Sacred Land might have thought Jun Wangyou had vanished from the world!
Then, on that very day, a piece of news instantly shook all of Eastern Continent.
Li Jianxing, ranked tenth on the Heavenly Pride Ranking, had decided to challenge Jun Wangyou!
The loser would cripple his own cultivation, kowtow three times to the other party, and shout three times, "I am trash."
The moment this news spread, all of Eastern Continent was thrown into an uproar.
After all, Li Jianxing was now nominally the number one genius of Eastern Continent.
Now, Eastern Continent's number one genius was about to challenge the former number one genius of Eastern Continent—and even the Profound Region. How could this not shock the world?
Not only Eastern Continent, but countless people from other continents were also preparing to cross continents to watch this battle.
However, what left people dumbfounded was this.
After Li Jianxing's challenge letter reached Heavenly Dao Sacred Land.
Heavenly Dao Sacred Land gave no response for a long time.
This made many believe that Heavenly Dao Sacred Land was afraid.
Or perhaps Jun Wangyou himself was afraid and thus did not dare accept the challenge.
In the end, True Man Qingwei, who had already broken through to the Void Return Realm, personally stepped forward and accepted the challenge letter.
He also declared that once the challenge was accepted, no one could go back on their word or interfere.
If anyone dared interfere, he would unleash the Crimson Firmament Immortal Sword and cleave apart their faction, no matter who they were!
The moment he said this, countless people throughout the Profound Region were shaken once more.
The day after True Man Qingwei accepted the challenge letter.
A heaven-shaking surge suddenly erupted from Lingtian Peak of Heavenly Dao Sacred Land.
The spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred thousand li all rushed toward Lingtian Peak.
As a result, the entire area within a hundred thousand li became a land devoid of spiritual energy, where no one could cultivate.
At the same time, every expert above the Tribulation Crossing Realm in Heavenly Dao Sacred Land inexplicably felt their hearts leap, and they stared toward Lingtian Peak in horror!
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