The Saintess

Looking at the ancient well absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, Lu Chen had never imagined that his trip to the Jade Pool Ruins would yield such immense rewards.

With its ultimate profound power unlocked, the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda had successively imprinted the powerful Saint Arts—the Earth Seal and the Star-Scrambling Finger—as well as the complete Western Emperor Scripture and the invincible fist technique exclusive to the Sacred Body—the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist.

It all left him filled with emotion. Only after a long while did he find a rock to cover the ancient well, concealing this passage to the Jade Pool Ruins once more, before walking away across the desolate land.

Several days later, Lu Chen entered an oasis and arrived at an ancient city named Kun Yun.

The city was not particularly large, with a population of roughly four to five hundred thousand. An ancient local legend claimed that primordial gods protected it, lending the old city a certain distinction.

After wandering through the city for a while, he found it bustling and prosperous. Several Holy Lands operated Gambling on Stones workshops there, including major powers such as the Yaoguang Holy Land, the Jade Pool Holy Land, and the Ji Family.

Seeing this, Lu Chen began visiting the various Holy Lands' stone workshops, gambling on stones in earnest with the Source Heaven Wonders.

The Holy Lands' stone workshops had a rule: Source stones purchased from their innermost courtyards had to be cut open on the spot and could not be taken away.

This was because a Source Heavenly Master had once swept through the Various Holy Lands' stone workshops like a storm, buying up almost every stone containing rare treasures and inflicting devastating losses on numerous supreme powers.

After that incident, the Various Holy Lands learned their lesson and jointly established a rule: Source stones in the innermost courtyards of their workshops could not be quietly purchased and taken away. They had to be cut open on the spot, so the owners could observe and learn Source Arts and promptly discover what rare treasures lay within.

Although the Various Holy Lands' stone workshops in Kun Yun were inferior to their finest establishments in the Holy City, they still required gamblers to cut open stones from the central courtyards on the spot.

Over the course of a month, Lu Chen visited the major stone workshops and discreetly bought many stones, cutting them open in private and obtaining tens of thousands of jin of Source.

He also made several purchases in the central courtyards where the Various Holy Lands required stones to be opened on-site, uncovering large quantities of Source and a few rare treasures, causing quite a stir in Kun Yun Ancient City.

His reputation swiftly soared. He became a somewhat renowned expert in Source Arts, and many major powers extended olive branches, hoping to recruit him.

Naturally, he was not doing this for fame, but to gather abundant resources for cultivation and breakthroughs.

Combined with his accumulation over the preceding six months, the Source he had won through stone gambling in Kun Yun Ancient City brought his holdings to nearly two hundred thousand jin—a vast fortune in resources beyond an ordinary cultivator's imagination.

For Ye Fan's Desolate Ancient Sacred Body to advance from the Dao Palace Fourth Heaven to the Fifth Heaven, he needed a million jin of Source.

Yet he did not absorb all the life essence contained in that million jin of Source. Instead, he used most of it to break through the suppression of heaven and earth and shatter a certain shackle binding the Sacred Body.

Only a small portion of the essence within that million jin of Source was truly absorbed by Ye Fan and refined into divine power.

Although Lu Chen, Imperial Sons, and others with supreme physiques appeared to consume fewer resources than the Sacred Body, within the same realm, the sheer richness of their divine power was no less than Ye Fan's.

The human body was like a vessel. The stronger a person's physique, the larger that vessel naturally became, and the more energy it could contain. Their speed of absorbing and refining essence also increased. This was one of the differences between ordinary and powerful physiques.

Having undergone the baptism of the Immortal Pill, Lu Chen had now emerged from his cocoon as a butterfly, joining the ranks of those with the greatest natural talent in the world.

Though the resources he needed for a breakthrough were not as terrifying as those required by the Sacred Body, they far exceeded an ordinary cultivator's needs. Thus, he had prepared nearly two hundred thousand jin of Source.

Leaving Kun Yun Ancient City, he found a desolate, secluded place where few people ventured. He laid down Dao patterns to seal off the area, entered seclusion, and began his assault on the Dao Palace Fifth Heaven.

Within the mountain stood a divine pagoda several zhang tall. Lu Chen moved all his Source inside the pagoda and sat cross-legged at its center. Circulating the cultivation method from the Dao Palace Scroll of the Solar True Scripture, he began absorbing a vast ocean of essence.

An unending stream of life essence surged through his body, cleansing and tempering his bones until he was as flawless as a polished mirror, like an immortal spirit seated there.

The Solar True Scripture was a Mother Scripture of the Human Race, one that many Great Emperors of later ages had drawn upon. As one of the world's supreme ancient scriptures, it perfectly guided the enormous mass of essence, sending it all into his body like rainbows and surging tides to be refined into rich divine power.

Within his five Dao Palaces, five great deities were being nurtured. They resonated with heaven and earth, comprehending the Great Dao and the natural world.

They recited scriptures for his true self, their chants permeating the master of their life, existing alongside heaven and earth and advancing toward eternal immortality.

Waves of wondrous sounds of the Heavenly Dao emerged from his body and resounded within the divine pagoda, as though someone were chanting a supreme scripture and expounding the ultimate truths of the Great Dao.

Yet it was difficult to truly distinguish their sounds or understand their meaning. They resembled the sacrificial chants of ancient forebears, vast and ethereal.

Their myriad mysteries defied description. Only when Lu Chen broke through into the Dao Palace Fifth Heaven did peace return to the pagoda.

Each level was a heaven apart: below lay the "mortal," and above lay the "immortal." He felt several times stronger than before, with the illusion that he could overturn heaven and earth with a turn of his hand!

After spending many days in seclusion and breaking through to the Fifth Heaven, Lu Chen returned to Kun Yun Ancient City. He sensed an inexplicable, tremendous change in the city: many talented young cultivators had arrived.

After making discreet inquiries, he learned that the Yaochi Saintess was taking nine unusual Source stones excavated from the Primordial Ancient Mine on a tour of the Northern Region's major ancient cities, inviting numerous experts in Source Arts to examine them.

As the current saintess of the Jade Pool Holy Land, she was also one of the most beautiful women in the Eastern Wasteland. Whether in background, talent, looks, or strength, she stood among the very finest in the world.

Such a peerless beauty, lovely enough to topple cities and kingdoms, naturally had no shortage of admirers. The Yaochi Saintess's allure was truly beyond imagination.

Young disciples from supreme powers such as the Jiang Family and Ji Family, both Desolate Ancient Families, and the Yaoguang Holy Land had all come to follow her. There were even rumors that princes from the Central Plains were among them.

Now that the Yaochi Saintess had arrived in Kun Yun Ancient City, her followers had naturally come along. This explained the sudden influx of young cultivators into the city.

"The Yaochi Saintess, a peerless beauty—I have to take a look!" A faint smile appeared on Lu Chen's face as he headed toward the Yaochi Stone Workshop in Kun Yun Ancient City.

The Yaochi Stone Workshop was elegant and tranquil, with many unusual ancient trees planted within it. Leaves fell in the breeze, streams flowed beneath arching bridges, and stones were arranged in orderly, staggered displays, creating distinctive scenery.

Because of the Yaochi Saintess's arrival, visitors streamed endlessly into the workshop, most of them young cultivators. Though there were many people, no one shouted or made a racket; even their conversations were hushed.

"So that's the Yaochi Saintess. She truly is beautiful enough to topple cities and kingdoms!" Having once lived in a modern city, Lu Chen had long grown accustomed to the various so-called beauties on the internet.

But compared with the Yaochi Saintess, they were truly no more than the glow of fireflies beside the radiance of the bright moon.

Within the stone workshop, the Yaochi Saintess stood surrounded like the moon amid a host of stars, veiled in a faint, luminous mist. Her peerless features appeared and vanished within it, making people yearn to blow away that hazy veil and gaze closely upon her immortal beauty.

She had an immortal's skin and jade-like bones, her figure shaped according to the golden ratio. Though she could not be seen clearly, one could still sense that she was a peerless beauty.

Her voice was especially enchanting, as lovely as the music of heaven. Like a warm breeze flowing into the mind, it plucked at everyone's heartstrings, carrying a peculiar magic.

"These nine stones are on display for the Jade Pool Holy Land. You are all welcome to come forward and offer your assessments. Anyone with a discerning eye will be richly rewarded." The Yaochi Saintess's heavenly voice slowly spread to everyone's ears. Her words rippled outward, infused with Dao power, making people involuntarily feel goodwill toward her.

"Is that the so-called immortal charm?" Lu Chen murmured, sensing a peculiar resonance.

Beside a small lake lay nine Source stones. The largest weighed two or three thousand jin, while the smallest was only palm-sized. Judging solely by their ordinary exteriors, there was nothing remarkable about them.