Among the various domains, the Canglang Ocean and the Demon Sea were closest to Guixu. They had been the first to discover fierce beasts roaming the storm belt, and the frequency of beast sightings there was higher than in any other domain, having once sparked a wave of panic.
The cultivators of the Canglang Ocean had discovered that the Demon Sea was not far from them, which was also related to the fierce beasts.
Back then, human cultivators had captured a scion of the Golden Toad Clan in the Demon Sea. That scion held a fairly high status within the Golden Toad Clan, and interrogating it yielded many closely guarded secrets.
Among them was a piece of information that had initially attracted little notice: experts of the Golden Toad Clan had encountered a fierce beast outside the Demon Sea and were nearly wiped out.
Unexpectedly, not long after, word arrived from within the Canglang Ocean that the very same fierce beast had appeared nearby.
Back then, everyone had essentially confirmed that fierce beasts would not actively approach the cultivation realm; yet before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, they realized with a shock that the threat of the demon race was right on their doorstep.
Several centuries had passed, and the figures of fierce beasts in the storm belt had gradually dwindled, but the threat remained ever-present, fatal to Nascent Soul cultivators.
Even cultivators as accomplished as Bao Zhengnan and Zhuo Ming dared only explore outward with extreme caution. That Qin Sang had flown across the boundless storms alone, traversing several domains in succession, was something they could hardly imagine—his courage was simply audacious.
Qin Sang was still pondering the matter of the celestial palaces.
He had long harbored a question: what connection existed between the celestial palaces and the various cultivation domains?
Had this realm already been like this before the celestial palaces descended, meaning the sanctuaries had nothing to do with the palaces?
Or had the celestial palaces, sensing that this realm was about to be obliterated by storms, stimulated invisible barriers to form sanctuaries, sheltering all living beings in this realm?
Or worse still, what if the storms were brought about when the celestial palaces crashed into this realm in the first place!
Hearing now that the Hall of Seven Kills had all along shielded the Demon Sea and the Canglang Ocean was the first piece of evidence Qin Sang had found—and also the outcome he least wished to see.
If the power sheltering the cultivation realm originated from the celestial palaces, then now that the palaces had ascended, how much longer could the barriers resisting the storms hold out?
A mere few centuries was nothing in the cultivation world. Aside from the disappearance of the invisible barrier between the Canglang Ocean and the Demon Sea, no noticeable changes could yet be felt for the moment.
But what about after a thousand years, or ten thousand years...?
Was being obliterated by the storms truly the ultimate destiny of this minor world?
As his thoughts swirled, Qin Sang seemed to be shaken awake by Zhuo Ming's inquiry. Looking up, he saw the Bao siblings gazing at him with curious expressions as well. Smiling faintly, he retrieved a jade box from his Qianjun Ring; inside lay a demon core.
The eyes of all three were drawn to the demon core resting in Qin Sang's palm.
The Canglang Ocean was least lacking in demon cores.
Countless were the demon beasts that had died by their hands, not lacking Transformation stage great demons.
Yet in their perception, no demon core they had ever seen before could compare with this one. It was a disparity in spiritual essence and divine presence, even though this core's luster appeared somewhat murky and not entirely clear.
"This is..."
Before Bao Xi could realize what it meant, the expressions of Zhuo Ming and Bao Zhengnan suddenly shifted dramatically.
Snap!
Qin Sang placed the jade box on the table and pushed it openly toward them. "It was also a stroke of luck. When I encountered it in the storm belt, it had fought a fierce battle against another beast and was nursing old injuries..."
Whoosh!
The three abruptly rose to their feet.
The demon core before them, coupled with the overwhelming pressure suddenly radiating from Qin Sang, struck their minds like a sledgehammer, leaving shock written all over their faces.
...
The three were seated before Qin Sang once more.
Bao Xi's eyes still held a daze of disbelief.
She clearly remembered that back at Yitian Peak, Qin Sang's cultivation had been on par with theirs at most.
For her and her brother to achieve what they had today—especially her elder brother, whom anyone in the cultivation world would praise as a towering talent endowed with grand strategy and great vision...
Yet upon meeting again, while they still languished in the Nascent Soul realm, their old acquaintance had already bridged that most insurmountable chasm, leaving them far behind!
Zhuo Ming sat the most upright, imperceptibly taking on an air of restraint.
Bao Zhengnan had long occupied a high position and seen much of the world, and he shared old ties with Qin Sang, yet for a moment he too did not know how to treat him. Shaking his head repeatedly, he sighed, "Daoist Qin has truly kept us in the dark!"
With that, he cupped his hands toward Qin Sang. "Congratulations, Daoist, on attaining transcendent freedom—the immortal path is within reach!"
Bao Xi and Zhuo Ming followed suit with their congratulations.
To the cultivators of this world, Deity Transformation was well worthy of being called transcendent freedom.
"Transcendent freedom?"
Qin Sang gave a bitter inward smile. Straightening his expression, he said, "I have not come here to flaunt. I have matters of great importance to discuss."
The three quietly exchanged glances.
With their keen wits, they swiftly recovered from the shock Qin Sang had brought and instinctively began weighing the pros and cons.
If Qin Sang were merely at the late Nascent Soul stage, they would gladly celebrate an old acquaintance's growing strength.
However, Qin Sang was too strong—unrivaled and uncontainable. Whether this boded ill or well for the Canglang Ocean remained unknown.
Fortunately, Qin Sang was of the human race. If he were willing to shelter humankind and make an appearance on the battlefield, all perils would be solved effortlessly. Yet they did not know his temperament; moreover, coming from an outside domain, he might not care whether the humans of the Canglang Ocean lived or died.
Bao Zhengnan hesitated before saying, "Whatever matters you have, please feel free to speak. I cannot speak for others, but the Four Sages Palace will certainly do our utmost to cooperate."
Qin Sang said, "I have come on account of the heavenly upheaval..."
Having come this time to unite the cultivators of this realm, he concealed nothing. He recounted the various events that had transpired in Zhongzhou, beginning with the celestial palaces' ascension and leading up to the demonic voice of the heavenly dao.
The three gradually became captivated by Zhongzhou's flourishing cultivation world, teeming with masters and prodigies. They lamented Daoist Zilei's tragic demise, only to snap back to reality afterward, utterly stunned.
Regardless of what they thought, Qin Sang laid out everything he knew one detail after another.
Silence lingered in the hall for a long time.
What Qin Sang recounted was truly inconceivable.
Yet everything he described formed a coherent and logical narrative, by no means fabricated.
"I wonder if you three know of the karma oath. I am willing to erect an altar and swear an oath that not a single word of what I have spoken is false," Qin Sang added, then continued in a deep voice, "I have come with two objectives. First, to unite the cultivators of this world—be they human, demon, or Witch Clan—to cease all internal strife and work together to find the Ascension Platform! Second, to request the aid of cultivators from every domain in seeking out the source of the heavenly dao's demonic voice, especially any treasures related to the celestial palaces..."
...
Three days later.
In the core forbidden grounds of the Four Sages Palace.
Qin Sang had proactively requested the construction of a ritual altar and sworn a karma oath before Bao Zhengnan and the others, dispelling their doubts.
During these three days, Qin Sang had not disturbed Bao Zhengnan, giving them time to digest the news.
He believed Bao Zhengnan would make the right choice.
Having stepped onto the path of cultivation, who among them did not yearn for the immortal way? Having braved untold hardships to cultivate to their current realm, could it possibly be merely for the sake of petty squabbles and fighting?
Once the oath was concluded, the group returned to the meditation chamber.
Bao Zhengnan was a decisive man who had thought things through thoroughly and arrived at a verdict. "Tomorrow, I shall personally draft invitations and send envoys to deliver them to every sect and clan, bidding them gather at Tianxing Island to deliberate on major affairs. The unending conflicts between the two domains and three races have inflicted severe losses upon humanity. Even our palace's elders have suffered heavy casualties; Elders Wu and Xiao were forced to return to the palace to nurse their wounds after being severely injured by Demon Kings. Every sect is physically and mentally exhausted, and they have surely longed for someone capable of mediating for some time. I wonder, regarding the Witch Clan and the demon race, how does the True Monarch intend to proceed?"
The feud between demons and humans was deep as the ocean, nearly impossible to resolve.
Even if humans wanted a ceasefire, the demons would never agree—it would all depend on Qin Sang's methods.
Humans and the Witch Clan were nominal allies, but frequent friction existed between them; unless it were to discuss joining forces against the demons, it was very difficult for them to sit down together.
Qin Sang already knew that the current Grand Shaman of the Witch Clan was Old Demon Fang. That man possessed formidable methods, but in the face of the overarching trends of the world, he too could barely hold things together.
A look of gratification appeared on Qin Sang's face as he said, "We are old acquaintances after all; let us still address each other as fellow Daoists. I shall personally pay a visit to the Demon Sea and Witch God Mountain. I presume both the demon race and the Witch Clan will grant me some thin face."
Bao Zhengnan sighed. "The animosity between the two domains has grown ever deeper until no one can remain unscathed. If you can halt this great war, Daoist Qin, it will be a deed of tremendous merit. These are the ancient texts and records accumulated by our palace over many years. Please take a look."
As he spoke, Bao Zhengnan produced two mustard seed pouches.
One was filled with various jade slips and silk scrolls.
The other contained several treasures.
"Over the years, quite a few treasures were taken from the Hall of Seven Kills, but most were either refined into pills and magic treasures or destroyed in battle, leaving little behind. I do not know if there are any clues regarding the demonic voice of the heavenly dao among them."
His willingness to be so forthright was because Qin Sang had first offered the recipe for superior Soul Calming Incense.
Qin Sang regarded them as precious treasures. After sweeping his divine sense across the treasures, he focused on examining the contents of the jade slips.
Bao Zhengnan sat to the side, waiting patiently.
Qin Sang reviewed them one by one, only to shake his head repeatedly, disappointment showing on his face.
Setting down the final bamboo scroll, Qin Sang sighed softly. "Forgive my presumption, but did the Four Sages leave anything behind in your palace back then?"
The Four Sages were the first to discover the Hall of Seven Kills and obtain heaven-defying opportunities, their strength soaring until they led humanity, once enslaved by the Witch Clan, to become the overlords of the Canglang Ocean. No one understood the Hall of Seven Kills better than they.
The celestial palace of the Western Lands had never emerged, while that of the Ziwei Palace had concealed its brilliance.
Like the celestial palace of Zhongzhou, the Hall of Seven Kills was one that had genuinely emerged and been deeply explored; yet the Zhongzhou celestial palace had changed hands multiple times, and as Deity Transformation cultivators ascended, treasures from the celestial palace were continuously carried away.
The Hall of Seven Kills, on the other hand, had always been secretly controlled by the Four Sages Palace, producing only a single ascender. Anything left behind by the Four Sages was bound to be extraordinary!
This question of Qin Sang's struck straight at the core secrets of the Four Sages Palace; in ordinary times, it would indeed have been exceedingly presumptuous.
He gazed intently at Bao Zhengnan. His recipe for superior Soul Calming Incense was not something to be taken so easily.
With the path of ascension at stake, he did not want the Four Sages Palace to conceal anything from him.
Bao Zhengnan's eyes flickered, as though he had already anticipated Qin Sang asking this.
Did the ancestors of the Four Sages Palace leave behind relics?
Of course they did!
Back then, the Four Sages had inadvertently released a soul avatar of the demon lord, paying the price of three being gravely wounded and perishing to seal the demon lord away. Baogu was the sole survivor, and also the only one to achieve ascension.
Before ascending, Baogu had left an ancestral instruction stating that within her immortal cave, there were things bequeathed to future generations—known in the Four Sages Palace as the Ancestral Heritage.
However, before her departure, Baogu had laid down a grand formation around that immortal cave, sealing it shut.
The ancestral instruction stipulated that future generations could not open it unless they were at the Deity Transformation stage.
The Four Sages were broad-minded; Baogu's ancestral teaching did not refer exclusively to descendants of the Four Sages Palace, but to the entire human race. So long as a Deity Transformation cultivator appeared and was of decent character, they could be invited to open the heritage.
As for whether later generations would follow the ancestral instruction and willingly offer up their ancestors' legacy to others, that was another matter.
After Baogu departed, each generation of the Four Sages Palace proved inferior to the last; not a single person attained the Deity Transformation stage, so no one had ever been able to open the Ancestral Heritage.
During these three days, Bao Zhengnan and Zhuo Ming had weighed the matter for a long time.
To say nothing of the fact that the ancestor's instruction had stated it clearly.
Even if they clung possessively to the Ancestral Heritage, they lacked the ability to open it, rendering it as useless as chicken ribs.
Bao Zhengnan held a high opinion of himself and harbored ambitions of reaching Deity Transformation, but the news brought by Qin Sang had struck him like a dull blow to the head: if the immortal path was about to be severed, what meaning was there in guarding an ancestral heritage?
The Four Sages Palace entertained various speculations regarding the Ancestral Heritage.
The one accepted by most was that the Ancestral Heritage was related to ascension, and that ascension itself might still encounter setbacks; otherwise, their ancestor would not have needed to set a seal that required Deity Transformation to unlock.
After deliberating, they finally decided to lay bare the truth to Qin Sang.
It was time for the secret of the Ancestral Heritage to be unveiled.
Naturally, Bao Zhengnan was not without conditions: if there were treasures related to breakthrough, Qin Sang was not to take them away; if there were treasures related to ascension, they should be shared with the Four Sages Palace. Yet they could only rely on an oath to bind Qin Sang.
Bao Zhengnan spoke slowly, explaining the reasons.
Upon hearing this, a look of astonishment flashed across Qin Sang's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he agreed to Bao Zhengnan's conditions and swore an oath, then asked eagerly, "Where is Senior Baogu's immortal cave located now?"
"This way, Daoist Qin."
Bao Zhengnan led Qin Sang out of the meditation chamber, where Zhuo Ming and Bao Xi were already waiting outside.
The four flew out of the palace complex and arrived at a verdant hillside.
Even before stepping into the hills, a fresh herbal aroma wafted over—it was actually a medicinal herb garden.
The disciples guarding the herb garden had already been dismissed.
Landing at the crest of the hillside, Bao Zhengnan pointed at a stone stele atop the peak and said, "Daoist Qin, this is the place."
Seeing divine light shine in Qin Sang's eyes as he stared intently at the stone stele, Bao Zhengnan promptly fell silent and stepped aside.
The stone stele stood only half a person's height, bearing no inscriptions, only complex, inscrutable patterns. Planted solitarily in the earth, it had been eroded by time and weathered by wind and frost.
Without sufficient cultivation, one could sense nothing standing here, as was the case for Bao Zhengnan and Zhuo Ming.
Yet in Qin Sang's eyes, the patterns on the stone stele concealed profound wonders.
"What an exquisite formation!"
Qin Sang suddenly exclaimed in admiration.
Baogu had left behind the treasures for future generations to open, so breaking the seal here was not difficult; moreover, with the assistance of the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, Qin Sang quickly pinpointed the crucial mechanism.
What he marveled at was Baogu's profound attainment in the Dao of Formations.
Under the watchful eyes of the three, Qin Sang reached out his right hand and pressed it against the very center of the stone stele. True essence surged from his palm, flowing along the patterns of the stele in accordance with a specific rhythm.
In an instant, the patterns shimmered with a faint glow, and the stone stele became transparent, even illusory.
Before Bao Zhengnan and the others could clearly make out the runes emerging within the stele, they suddenly felt a bout of dizziness. Coming to their senses, they found they had already departed from the hillside, teleported into a hall.
The hall was not large; in the center stood a landscape folding screen.
To the right were a prayer mat and an incense burner, the burner now devoid of spirit incense.
Since this was Baogu's immortal cave, it was presumably where she cultivated and meditated.
To the left were arranged chairs, tables, and teacups, likely a place for receiving guests.
The furnishings were simple yet by no means crude, elegant and understated.
Time in this immortal cave had stood still for thousands of years; standing here, one could almost still sense the lingering aura of its master.
Sweeping their gaze across the cave dwelling, Bao Zhengnan and the others were drawn to a letter left in a jade slip on the table.
Bao Zhengnan's expression stirred slightly. He hesitated and made no move, glancing sideways toward Qin Sang, only to find him staring unblinkingly at the screen. Following his gaze, Bao Zhengnan discovered that Qin Sang was looking at a bright moon depicted in the landscape painting on the screen.
Only then did Bao Zhengnan notice something abnormal: this bright moon was not an integral part of the painting, but rather like a cluster of light embedded within it. The moonlight swirled ceaselessly, and within the moon lay a separate realm!
"Daoist Qin?"
Bao Zhengnan could not help asking.
Qin Sang walked over to the table and activated the jade slip. What met his eyes was:
"Arduous is the path of ascension, its profound mysteries unknown. Whosoever among later generations unlocks this immortal cave and receives my gift shall inherit my will, forging a path ahead for humankind!"
Chapter 1732