"Taiping! From here on, it is up to you!"
At the Sword Platform of Xuān Pǔ Palace, Feng Tianxing stood at the edge, gazing toward Xu Taiping at its center.
With a solemn expression, Xu Taiping cupped his hands toward Feng Tianxing.
"Thank you for serving as my protector this time, Eldest Brother Tianxing!"
As he spoke, he also cupped his hands and bowed in thanks to Heavenly Lord Cangzhu, the Fengdu Great Emperor, the others, the Dragon-Slaying Ranking, and Kang Cangzi, who had yet to leave.
Blade Ghost, standing beside Xu Taiping, glanced at the Ancestral Qi from Beyond the Domain overhead, which was about to surge down, then patted Xu Taiping's shoulder.
"Relax. This breakthrough into the Dao Integration Realm is merely the beginning of your true cultivation."
Xu Taiping nodded firmly.
He understood what Senior Blade Ghost meant.
Old Daoist Huang and Ping'an merely smiled at Xu Taiping before retreating to the edge of the Sword Platform with Xiaohei.
After watching them leave, Xu Taiping turned and looked up at the black Ancestral Qi pouring from the hole in the Sky Canopy. He drew a deep breath and said:
"Senior Blade Ghost is right. Breaking through into the Dao Integration Realm is only the beginning of true cultivation."
Ever since coming to the Upper Realm, he had vaguely sensed it.
All the bitter struggles of cultivators, all their willingness to resort to any means, were merely for the right to enter that Heaven-Treading Contest.
The road hidden behind that Heaven-Treading Contest.
Barring anything unexpected, it was the legendary Path to Heaven, the road of ascension.
"Though this differs from what I knew when I first began cultivating-that one only needed to complete Dao Integration, then break through Half-Immortal and reach the Ascension Realm to ascend to the