With Chu Mojin chattering as noisily as ever, Heavenly Cloud Mountain finally settled down, and the Nine Provinces Continent of the Azure Realm grew quiet as well.
With the Forbidden Zone no longer barring the way, quite a few cultivators had gathered beneath the Heaven-Connecting Tower.
They came from various sects and schools, as well as other rogue cultivator factions, spanning every cultivation level and every walk of life.
A dense crowd gathered beneath the Heaven-Connecting Tower. Gazing up at Su Jiu, who shone above it like a second warm sun, they all found the sight utterly inconceivable.
"Is that... Su Jiu!?" Lin Jiaojiao rubbed her eyes in astonishment, as though something had completely overturned everything she knew.
Many cultivators from other sects wore the same expression, including some elders with high cultivation levels.
The difference between Su Jiu now and her former self was as vast as heaven and earth. From her appearance to her bearing, everything seemed to have been elevated beyond measure. Though her face was still the same, she somehow seemed impossibly far beyond their reach. Or rather... they belonged to two entirely different worlds.
A halo surrounded her, yet it was not something she had deliberately created with spiritual qi.
A junior disciple beside Lan Fang Ziyi whispered, "Is this what everyone looks like after transcending their tribulation and becoming an immortal?"
Lan Fang Ziyi frowned. Though he had never witnessed anyone ascend, he had read about it in ancient texts. Ascension could indeed transform a person from the bones outward, but it certainly could not change their personality. Yet Su Jiu seemed to have become someone else entirely.
He could not answer that question, for at that moment, even he was uncertain whether everything recorded in those ancient texts was true.
After all, the