Linghu Patriarch, Azure Origin Sword Sect!

In the quiet chamber, the glow of the luminous pearl fell across Qian Renxue's face.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her brows faintly furrowed.

The soul power within her was like a wild horse that had slipped its reins, charging recklessly through her meridians.

According to the route recorded in the jade slip, she had to force all that soul power into her dantian, then grind it apart bit by bit and convert it into the spiritual energy of the cultivation world.

The process was excruciating.

Sweat ran down her smooth forehead, soaking her golden hair.

Her clothes clung tightly to her body, outlining her graceful curves.

Yet Qian Renxue did not so much as groan.

She bit her lip until a trace of blood seeped out.

Break!

She shouted inwardly.

The phantom of the Six-Winged Angel behind her suddenly shook violently.

The seven soul rings beneath her feet simultaneously let out a crisp cracking sound.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

The soul rings that represented Douluo Continent's high-level combat strength dissolved into countless motes of light.

Then, drawn by the cultivation technique within the jade slip, those motes transformed into streams of pure energy and poured back into her dantian like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.

Time passed bit by bit.

No one knew how long it had been.

Qian Renxue abruptly opened her eyes.

A brilliant golden gleam flashed through her gaze, and the temperature in the entire quiet chamber rose by several degrees.

She opened her mouth and exhaled a breath of gray-black foul air.

The moment it landed, it corroded a small pit into the bluestone floor.

"So this is spiritual energy?"

Qian Renxue clenched her fist.

She could feel that, although the total amount of power in her body could not compare to her previous rank-seventy soul power—

In terms of quality, it had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.

If her previous soul power had been a huge mass of loose cotton, then her current spiritual energy was a block of hard pig iron.

Outside the light screen.

Within Spirit Hall's Elders Hall.

Qian Daoliu watched the scene and let out a long breath.

A gratified smile appeared on his aged, wrinkled face.

"Xue'er succeeded."

Bibi Dong stood nearby, her expression complicated.

She could tell that Qian Renxue had abandoned the cultivation system of martial souls in exchange for a far broader path.

"Grand Worshipper, what level would the Young Mistress's current strength be considered in this cultivation world?"

Demon-Conquering Douluo beside him asked quietly.

Qian Daoliu shook his head.

"I don't know."

"However, judging by the fluctuations emanating from her, she should be much stronger than that Xiang Zhili."

At Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky screen as he began analyzing again.

"Qian Renxue had rank-seventy soul power as her foundation."

"Even if it was all converted and the losses were substantial, she should still reach the upper levels of the Qi Refinement stage."

"The seven great sects have strict entry requirements, but with this starting point, she will definitely receive considerable attention."

On the screen.

The stone door of the quiet chamber rumbled.

Slowly, it opened to both sides.

Hongfu, dressed in a magnificent crimson palace gown, walked in at an unhurried pace.

She glanced at Qian Renxue, who had risen from the meditation cushion, a trace of satisfaction flashing through her eyes.

"The eighth layer of Qi Refining."

"Not bad. Even better than I expected."

Hongfu walked over to Qian Renxue and patted her shoulder.

"The purity of the light power within your body is very high. After being converted into spiritual power, it contains very few impurities."

"With a little more refinement, you'll soon break through to the great perfection of the Qi Refining stage."

"Thank you, Master, for granting me this method."

Qian Renxue bowed respectfully in salute.

Hongfu waved her hand.

"Come. Go out and get some fresh air with me."

"You can't cultivate the Great Dao by keeping yourself shut away. It's time you learned about the world we live in."

The two left the cave abode, one after the other.

They arrived at a viewing platform at the edge of the mountain peak.

The terrain here was extremely high.

From where they stood, they could overlook most of Yellow Maple Valley.

In the distance, mountain ranges rose and fell beneath swirling clouds and mist.

From time to time, cultivators riding flying swords or magical artifacts streaked through the sea of clouds.

Now and then, they could hear the clear cries of immortal cranes.

A gentle breeze swept past, lifting Qian Renxue's golden hair.

As she looked at the immortal spectacle before her, she could not help but feel moved.

"Do you think this place is vast?"

Hongfu leaned against the railing with both hands, gazing at the distant sea of clouds as she suddenly asked.

Qian Renxue paused, then nodded honestly.

"Yellow Maple Valley has deep foundations. This disciple is deeply awed."

Yet Hongfu gave a soft laugh at those words.

There was a hint of self-mockery in that laugh.

"What you see is merely the patch of sky seen by a frog at the bottom of a well."

Hongfu turned and looked into Qian Renxue's eyes.

"The seven great sects of Yue Kingdom may indeed be considered overlords within a radius of ten thousand li."

"But across the entire Southern Heaven Region, Yellow Maple Valley can only be considered an above-average force."

Qian Renxue listened quietly.

She had heard the term Southern Heaven before in the marketplace.

She knew there were dozens of countries there.

Hongfu sighed, her gaze becoming distant.

"Southern Heaven may be vast, but in the entire human realm, it is merely one small corner."

"In Great Jin, and on those even more distant continents, there are sects ten times, even a hundred times stronger than Yellow Maple Valley."

At this point, Hongfu's voice paused.

A deep sense of yearning and reverence appeared in her eyes.

"Xue'er, do you know that in our human realm, there is a colossal force that stands above all sects and all nations?"

Qian Renxue shook her head.

"This disciple does not know. Please enlighten me, Master."

The viewers of Douluo Continent all pricked up their ears as well.

Even their breathing slowed.

They knew that as this Core Formation elder spoke, the true face of this cultivation world was finally about to reveal a small corner of itself.

Hongfu raised her head and looked up at the lofty heavens.

"That force is called the Azure Origin Sword Sect."

"They do not involve themselves in the conflicts between nations, nor do they often reveal themselves in the secular world."

"But so long as a single decree from them descends, whether it is the seven great sects of Yue Kingdom or the top demonic sects of Great Jin, all must obediently comply. No one dares utter a word of objection."

Qian Renxue sucked in a sharp breath.

"They're that domineering?"

"Weren't they afraid of provoking the united assault of the entire world?"

Hongfu gave a bitter laugh.

"A united assault? Who would dare?"

"In our human realm, late-stage Nascent Soul grand cultivators were already supreme beings who could do as they pleased."

"As for Deity Transformation seniors, they were as elusive as divine dragons. One might not appear even once in several hundred years."

"But in the Azure Origin Sword Sect, the Deity Transformation elders openly stationed there alone numbered more than ten!"

More than ten!

The moment those words were spoken—

Inside Spirit Hall, Qian Daoliu crushed the teacup in his hand.

Tea spilled across the floor, yet he did not notice it at all.

A single Deity Transformation cultivator could live for thousands of years and overturn rivers and seas.

What did ten Deity Transformation cultivators represent?

And that was only what they revealed openly?

Hongfu's next words on the screen left everyone too stunned to speak.

"That is only part of the reason."

"The reason the Azure Origin Sword Sect holds such an exalted status is because it is not a native force of our human realm at all."

Qian Renxue's eyes widened.

"Not a force from the human realm?"

Hongfu nodded, her gaze carrying a fervent light.

"That's right."

"Our human realm is merely one tiny branch established by the Azure Origin Sword Sect among countless lower-realm planes."

"It is said that the Azure Origin Sword Sect's main sect lies in the lofty Spirit Realm."

"And their founding patriarch—that legendary great figure..."

Hongfu lowered her voice, as though afraid of disturbing the gods in the heavens.

"That patriarch had long since passed the lightning tribulation and ascended to the immortal realm, where one remained unscathed through ten thousand tribulations!"

"He became an immortal with a lifespan equal to heaven and earth!"

Immortal!

Immortal realm!

These two terms echoed across the skies of Douluo Continent along with the light screen.

They had always believed that Deity Transformation was the end of the path of cultivation.

Who could have imagined that beyond Deity Transformation lay the Spirit Realm?

And above the Spirit Realm, there was even the legendary immortal realm!

This colossal entity capable of crushing every sect in the entire human realm was merely a subordinate branch casually left behind by some great figure from the immortal realm!

Upon hearing this, Qian Renxue stood on the viewing platform, unable to regain her senses for a long while.

The shock she had suffered today was simply too great.

"The immortal realm..."

she murmured, a complicated light flickering in her eyes.

Only after a long time did Qian Renxue draw her gaze back from the horizon and turn to Hongfu beside her.

"Master, just what kind of astonishing talent did that founding patriarch possess?"

"Could he have had a legendary heavenly spiritual root? Or perhaps some ancient divine body?"

In her eyes, a supreme being capable of founding such a force that dominated an entire realm and even ascending to the immortal realm must surely have possessed peerless aptitude from childhood—something ordinary people could never hope to reach.

Yet Hongfu froze when she heard that.

Then, as if she had heard some amusing joke, she shook her head and laughed.

Her laughter was filled with reflections on fate, as well as a trace of profound admiration.

"A heavenly spiritual root? An ancient divine body?"

Hongfu raised a finger and pointed at the low-level servant disciples laboring in the herb gardens and along the mountain paths below.

"Xue'er, that patriarch possessed none of those enviable talents back then."

"On the contrary, his aptitude was abysmal."

"He had a four-element pseudo-spiritual root. If he were placed in our Yellow Maple Valley, he would not even qualify to become an outer sect disciple. He could only serve as a menial, pouring tea, fetching water, and tending the fields."

Qian Renxue was stunned, her face full of disbelief.

"How could this be possible..."

"How could someone with such abysmal talent reach that point, even ascend to the Immortal Realm?"

Hongfu's smile vanished, and her gaze turned incomparably solemn.

"Why not?"

"In the cultivation world, spiritual roots are indeed the stepping stone."

"But what truly determines how far a person can go is their character, their perseverance, and the caution and ruthlessness forged from struggling at the edge of life and death."

"That Patriarch was born into poverty, nothing more than a child from a rural farming family."

"Yet with the body of a mortal, he calculated every twist of fate step by step, walked over the corpses of countless prodigies and old monsters, and reached the pinnacle of the human world."

"With the legend of his life, he taught every cultivator in the human world a single truth."

"Mortals can cultivate too!"

Mortals could cultivate too.

Those six words crashed heavily into the hearts of every person on Douluo Continent through the light screen.

Inside Papal Hall.

The staff in Bibi Dong's hand struck the ground sharply, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.

On Douluo Continent, martial souls were innate.

One's innate soul power determined the achievements of an entire lifetime. Without a good martial soul, no amount of effort would be anything but wasted.

Even someone as intelligent as Yu Xiaogang, who had proposed all manner of theories, had become a useless man mocked by everyone because of his innate half-level soul power.

Yet in that cultivation world...

The strongest person, who stood above all others, founded the First Divine Sect, and even ascended to immortality...

Was actually a rural farm child who did not even meet the threshold?

On the training grounds of Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang stood there blankly, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

He felt as though his very soul were trembling.

"He did it... That Patriarch did it..."

"Even without talent, one can still become the strongest!"

Yu Xiaogang cried and laughed at the same time, as if he had seen in that Immortal Realm mighty figure he had never met the reflection of what he had pursued his entire life but could never attain.

Tang San watched his teacher break down in tears, but an indescribably complicated emotion rose within him.

In his previous life, he had been an outer sect genius of the Tang Sect. In this life, he possessed innate full soul power and twin martial souls.

He had always believed himself to be one of heaven's favored, destined to stand high above and look down upon the masses.

But compared to that Patriarch, who had fought his way from the very bottom to the Immortal Realm step by step, he suddenly felt that the advantages and bloodline he had always taken pride in seemed somewhat laughable.

Just as everyone on Douluo Continent was still numb with shock over that Patriarch's legendary origins...

A sudden change occurred within the scene.

"Dong!"

A resonant bell suddenly rang out from the deepest part of Yellow Maple Valley.

The bell seemed to contain some strange magic, piercing through the clouds and spreading to every corner within tens of thousands of miles.

"Dong—"

"Dong—"

The bell continued to ring one strike after another.

With every toll, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around it shook violently.

It rang nine times in total.

Nine Cauldrons Golden Bell Ring!

Upon hearing those nine bell tolls, all color instantly drained from Hongfu's usually stern and indifferent face.

She abruptly turned toward the main peak, profound horror flashing through her eyes.

"Nine bell tolls... the highest-level sect summons!"

"Unless the sect is facing the calamity of destruction, or..."

Hongfu seemed to think of something terrifying and grabbed Qian Renxue by the shoulder.

"Come! Follow me to the council hall!"

A dazzling mass of red light shot into the sky, directly enveloping the two of them.

The red light tore across the heavens and sped toward the main peak hall of Yellow Maple Valley at an almost frenzied speed.

Along the way, Qian Renxue saw countless streaks of multicolored light converging on the main peak from every direction.

Thousands upon thousands of cultivators densely filled the sky.

Every face was etched with gravity and unease.

A moment later, the red light descended onto the main peak's vast white jade plaza.

The plaza was already packed with people.

At the very front stood dozens of Core Formation elders who were usually nowhere to be seen.

And at the head of all the elders—

stood a shriveled old man in plain gray cloth, utterly unremarkable in appearance.

He was none other than Yellow Maple Valley's sole Nascent Soul Patriarch, Linghu Patriarch.

Even this old monster, whose lifespan was nearly exhausted and who had remained in secluded cultivation for years, had been alarmed.