Intercepting Sect's Total Annihilation? Who Told You That?!

This time, Lin Yuan did not choose his own remote little cave abode for his secluded cultivation.

He had only just returned to Golden Turtle Island.

When Golden Spirit Holy Mother received the news.

Learning that the Three Cloud Sisters' death tribulation had been resolved and that Lin Yuan had gained new insights, she directly had someone bring him to the cultivation grotto-heaven with the densest spiritual qi in the Jin Ling Lineage.

"The fluctuations in your mana are intense."

Jin Ling stood outside the cave abode.

"Break through first."

"We'll discuss everything else after you come out."

Lin Yuan did not stand on ceremony.

"Yes."

After entering the grotto-heaven.

The stone door closed.

Heaven-and-earth spiritual qi, so dense it was nearly mist, rushed toward him.

Lin Yuan sat down cross-legged.

He did not immediately swallow any pills.

His current problem was not a lack of spiritual qi.

It was that he had accumulated too much.

Three top-tier abilities had just arrived.

His formation Dao insights from the Ten Ultimate Formation were being reorganized by the Innate Formation Core.

Daluo Combat Insight and Primal Battle Intuition were also continuously merging.

Every ability within him seemed to be drawing closer toward the same direction.

That was also why his realm bottleneck had loosened so rapidly.

Cultivation had never been something built purely by piling up spiritual qi.

When one's Dao attainment was sufficient.

When one's mana was sufficient.

When one's foundation was stable.

One would naturally advance.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes.

He began with the formation Dao.

The Ten Ultimate Formations unfolded one after another within his sea of consciousness.

Heaven's Ultimate.

Earth's Fierce.

Wind Roar.

Cold Ice.

Golden Light...

Though these formations had previously been forcibly linked together, they were still, in essence, ten separate formations.

Now that he possessed the Innate Formation Core.

Lin Yuan understood for the first time what "a whole" truly meant.

He was still far from reaching the level of the Nine-Twist Yellow River Formation.

Yet within the Ten Ultimate Linked Formation, he could already see more natural methods for some of the formerly rigid points where power shifted.

Then came battle.

His past battle with Nezha.

His clash with Xiao Sheng.

The pressure he had faced from the Twelve Golden Immortals while controlling the formation within the Ten Ultimate Formation.

All of it replayed anew.

Primal Battle Intuition continuously gave the most direct judgments.

Daluo Combat Insight, meanwhile, broke those judgments apart.

Why?

How should it be done?

Where could he still use less effort?

Wind-Thunder Escape and Nine-Heavens Qi Mastery were also drawn into the process time and time again.

By the end.

Lin Yuan no longer deliberately distinguished which ability had come from whom.

They began to truly become his own.

Boom!

The barrier of the mid Golden Immortal realm broke first.

It did not stop.

Late Golden Immortal.

Golden Immortal peak.

His mana rose at a terrifying speed.

Had an ordinary Golden Immortal broken through continuously like this.

Their foundation would have long since developed problems.

But Lin Yuan was different.

The Blackstone Dao Body and Vajra Immortal Bone supported his physical foundation with utter stability.

The Supreme Clarity Immortal Scripture was also an orthodox method from a Saint's lineage.

Not to mention that every rise in his cultivation had been accompanied by genuine enlightenment of the Dao.

He was not simply force-feeding himself with pills.

After reaching the Golden Immortal peak.

A true major bottleneck appeared.

Primordial Unity Golden Immortal.

For the first time, Lin Yuan felt as though all the mana within his body had struck an incomparably solid, invisible barrier.

He charged once.

It did not budge.

He charged again.

Still, it did not move.

He did not hurry.

Instead, he stopped.

And began reorganizing his own Great Dao.

What exactly was he good at?

The sword?

Formations?

The physical body?

Escape techniques?

All of them counted.

But the true core running through his entire path had always been only one thing.

Live.

Live himself.

And let those who should live, live as well.

When danger was discovered.

Avoid it in advance.

If it could not be avoided.

Find a way to dismantle it.

If one person could not solve it.

Find others.

Lin Yuan suddenly found it a little amusing.

Others cultivated the Dao and comprehended the unity of heaven and man.

Yin and yang, the five elements.

The cycle of life and death.

Yet after all his comprehension.

His core principle was unexpectedly down-to-earth.

If you could avoid dying.

Then do not die.

Yet it was precisely this simple thought.

That had allowed Shiji to live.

The Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island to live.

The Ten Heavenly Lords to live.

Zhao Gongming to live.

And now, the Three Cloud Sisters had lived as well.

All the system rewards he had gained along the way.

Had in turn made Lin Yuan stronger and stronger.

"So..."

Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

"Why must I follow the predetermined path?"

Investiture of the Gods said the Intercepting Sect was meant to lose.

So it had to lose?

Fate said these people were meant to die.

So they had to die?

Why?

Since he had already changed so much.

What was the harm in changing a little more?

The instant this thought truly settled.

The barrier that had obstructed him for so long suddenly trembled.

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.

There was hope.

All his abilities activated at once.

The Innate Formation Core made the pathways of his mana incomparably clear.

Nine-Heavens Qi Mastery drew in the pure spiritual essence of heaven and earth.

The Blackstone Dao Body stabilized his flesh.

The Vajra Immortal Bone endured the impact of mana.

Daluo Combat Insight compressed every strand of power onto the most suitable point.

Primal Battle Intuition gave only one simple judgment.

Now.

Charge!

BOOM—!

The entire grotto-heaven of the Jin Ling Lineage suddenly shook.

A vast amount of heaven-and-earth spiritual qi was dragged by a massive vortex.

It surged madly inward from all directions.

On Golden Turtle Island.

Intercepting Sect disciples who had been cultivating all raised their heads.

"Who's breaking through?"

"That's quite a disturbance."

"Over at Senior Sister Jin Ling's place."

"Lin Yuan?"

Zhao Gongming had not yet returned to Mount Emei.

Hearing this, he immediately laughed.

"It's probably him."

Bixiao had likewise remained on Golden Turtle Island.

Her first reaction upon hearing it was:

"Breaking through again?"

"Wasn't he only a Golden Immortal not long ago?"

Qiongxiao thought for a moment.

"Indeed, it hadn't been long."

Bixiao fell silent.

"Big Sister."

"Do you think we've given out too many rewards?"

Yunxiao: "..."

When had you ever given out rewards?

Elsewhere.

Jin Ling had already appeared outside the cave dwelling.

Feeling the increasingly powerful aura within.

The corners of her lips gradually lifted.

Boom!

The second wave of spiritual energy erupted.

An immortal might clearly surpassing the level of an ordinary Golden Immortal spread from the depths of the cave dwelling.

The Dao resonance of Primordial Unity took shape!

The stone doors slowly opened.

Lin Yuan walked out from within.

His aura had completely stabilized.

Early-stage Primordial Unity Golden Immortal.

Jin Ling looked him over a few times.

"Not bad."

Lin Yuan smiled.

"Thank you, Master, for lending me the cave dwelling."

"You had accumulated enough on your own."

Jin Ling did not take credit for it.

"Teacher told you to go to Biyou Palace after your breakthrough."

"He summoned me again?"

Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised.

"Not just you."

Jin Ling looked toward Biyou Palace.

"Duobao."

"Wu Dang."

"Gui Ling."

"Gongming."

"The Three Cloud Sisters."

"The Ten Heavenly Lords, and the rest."

"All core disciples who could make it back have arrived."

Lin Yuan's gaze narrowed slightly.

It seemed Tongtian truly intended to reopen the discussion on how the Intercepting Sect should proceed from here.

This was far more important than simply granting him the status of Dao disciple.

Just as he was about to head over with Jin Ling.

His footsteps suddenly paused.

It was not the Primordial World that had encountered a problem.

It was Blue Star.

Almost at the same time.

The Dragon Kingdom Secret Realm Monitoring Center.

Jiangcheng No. 1 Transcendent High School.

And every special monitoring stone around the world capable of detecting the [Primordial Investiture of the Gods Secret Realm] simultaneously displayed an unprecedented anomaly.

Buzz—!

The enormous stone monument shook violently.

The personnel on duty sprang to their feet at once.

"What's happening?"

"A secret realm fluctuation?"

"No!"

"All the Primordial Secret Realm monitoring stones are moving!"

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.

Chen Qingshan looked toward the student rankings almost on reflex.

Lin Yuan was still first.

Chen Yue was second.

Nothing had changed.

Yet a line of blood-red text that had never appeared before emerged above the stone monument.

[Warning!]

[Detected large-scale deviation in the established history of the Primordial Investiture of the Gods Secret Realm!]

The entire hall instantly fell silent.

"A historical deviation?"

"Has there ever been a notification like this before?"

"No!"

"Not once in Dragon Kingdom's thirty years of records!"

An utterly absurd premonition suddenly rose in Chen Qingshan's heart.

The next second.

A second notification appeared.

[Current historical deviation: 17.3%!]

The instant the number appeared.

The monitoring hall erupted completely.

17.3%!

It sounded like less than twenty percent.

But what was this?

The Primordial Investiture of the Gods!

Over the past thirty years, countless students had entered.

Some had joined the Explanatory Sect.

Some had entered the Human Sect.

Others had stubbornly chosen the Intercepting Sect.

At most, they could obtain opportunities within a local area.

Change one or two minor events.

Never had anyone caused the entire secret realm to display a global notification such as "historical deviation."

Let alone a full seventeen percent!

"Who did this?"

Someone asked the first question that came to mind.

No one answered.

Because there was simply no way to confirm it directly.

But not long after.

A third notification appeared.

This time.

The moment Chen Qingshan saw its contents.

His entire body froze.

[Detected alteration in the Intercepting Sect faction's predetermined destruction trajectory.]

[Recalculating faction survival probability...]

No one in the hall spoke.

Everyone remembered one number.

The probability of the Intercepting Sect's destruction.

100%.

For the past thirty years.

It had never changed.

Even if someone survived in the Intercepting Sect faction for ten years.

Twenty years.

And cultivated to the Profound Immortal or Golden Immortal realm.

That number had remained one hundred percent.

Because in the later stages of the Investiture of the Gods.

The Intercepting Sect was destined to lose.

The faction's fortune would collapse.

Not a single trial-goer who chose the Intercepting Sect would return.

But now.

That bright-red [100%] on the stone monument suddenly flickered.

Once.

Twice.

The number changed.

[99%]

Chen Qingshan stopped breathing.

It jumped again.

[94%]

[88%]

[79%]

People in the monitoring hall had already begun to gasp sharply.

The number was still falling.

[71%]

At last.

It slowly stopped at—

[63%]

It had not fallen to zero.

It was still an extremely high risk.

Yet it was as if every sound had been sucked from the entire hall.

Thirty years.

For the first time.

The probability of the Intercepting Sect's destruction—

Had fallen from one hundred percent.

Chen Qingshan stared at that 63%.

His mind was blank.

He suddenly recalled what he had said on Lin Yuan's first day entering the secret realm.

"Don't choose the Intercepting Sect."

He had said it three whole times.

Because this was the answer proven with the lives of over four thousand students who had chosen the Intercepting Sect in the past.

The teacher beside him, who had teased him every day lately, likewise said nothing.

Only after a long while.

Did he slowly turn his head.

"Old Chen."

Chen Qingshan's face was wooden.

"Don't say it."

"I haven't even opened my mouth."

"Whatever you want to say, I already know."

That teacher held it in for a long time.

In the end, he still could not resist.

"You mean..."

"This historical deviation."

"Could it be possible..."

He pointed at the very top of the rankings.

That blood-red name.

[Rank 1: Lin Yuan.]

[Faction: Intercepting Sect.]

He did not finish what he was about to say.

But the meaning was already obvious enough.

Chen Qingshan stared at Lin Yuan's name.

This time, he could no longer say, "The Intercepting Sect was naturally strong in the early stages."

An early-stage advantage.

Could it drive the fate of an entire faction's one-hundred-percent annihilation down to 63%?

That was no longer called an advantage.

That was called someone entering the Primordial World with the plot sheet in hand and rewriting it on the spot.

At the same time.

Other schools.

The Dragon Kingdom's officials.

And even the forces in the Overseas Realm that controlled Primordial Secret Realms.

All of them were thrown into upheaval by this notification.

Meanwhile, within the Primordial World.

Lin Yuan still did not know that Blue Star was on the verge of exploding over this wave of historical deviation.

He followed Jin Ling to Biyou Palace.

The moment he entered the hall.

He discovered that there really were far more people here today than last time.

Duobao sat at the very front.

Wu Dang and Gui Ling were both present.

Zhao Gongming and the Three Cloud Sisters sat to one side.

Though the Ten Heavenly Lords and the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island held slightly lower status, they had also been permitted to enter the main hall.

These people shared one extremely obvious trait.

At least more than half of them—

Originally, they should not have survived until now.

Tongtian sat above them.

His gaze slowly swept across all his disciples.

Before finally settling on Lin Yuan, who had just broken through to the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm.

"You're here?"

"This disciple pays respects to Grandmaster."

"Sit."

Lin Yuan was stunned.

Whenever he had entered Biyou Palace before.

He had always remained standing.

But this time.

Tongtian had told him to sit.

And his seat—

Was right beside several core disciples.

The moment Lin Yuan sat down.

Tongtian spoke.

"I called you here today."

"To discuss only one matter."

"If the Investiture of the Gods continues."

"The Intercepting Sect's next step—"

His gaze rested on Lin Yuan.

"How should it proceed?"