Taihuang Palace

Inside the great hall, Qi Yuan looked at the information within the jade slip. At that moment, hidden information surfaced. Flaws regarding this cultivation art, areas for improvement, and more. If it were the past Qi Yuan whose strength was insufficient, he would not have been able to see this hidden information. Even if he had seen it, resolving it would have been difficult. Now, having visualized the Three Pure Ones and fused 4,752 Divine Infants, Qi Yuan's realm and comprehension had reached a terrifying level. He gazed at the jade slip, his eyes swirling with thought. Shen Wushen stood to the side, looking utterly bewildered. Among the missions he had brought, the one concerning Great Venerable Huadu was in the top two in terms of difficulty. Even if it were the mountain master of Mount Futu, it would be impossible to resolve it so quickly. The Qi Yuan before him... mysterious though he was, couldn't possibly... He simply could not comprehend it. *Is this serious look of his just an act? Even if he wanted to trick me, there was no need to add a half-hour time limit,* Shen Wushen thought to himself. Half an hour would pass in the blink of an eye; there was no point in deceiving someone like this. *Could it be... true?* If so... Shen Wushen swallowed hard. Wouldn't that mean that even if Qi Yuan were placed in the Upper Realm, he would be a peerless genius rarely seen across the ages? Half an hour passed in the snap of a finger. Qi Yuan pinched the jade slip and tossed it over casually. "Fortunately, I didn't disappoint and finished the task." Standing to the side, Shen Wushen hurried to catch the jade slip. Growing anxious, he quickly probed his divine sense into it. "The problem has been solved, and I casually patched it to strengthen the cultivation art. Otherwise, even if the problem were fixed, this person would only be in the weakest tier of Mythological beings upon breaking through," Qi Yuan said in a relaxed tone. Looking at the information in the jade slip, Shen Wushen was shaken to his core. This shock was ten or a hundred times stronger than when Qi Yuan had easily defeated him. He could say without exaggeration that Qi Yuan's talent... even in the Upper Realm, was one of a kind throughout eternity! The issue with the cultivation art had actually been resolved! Although he could not fully comprehend it, at least upon reading through it once, he found no issues. This was already utterly absurd. "Fellow Daoist... do you want to take on a disciple?" At this point, Shen Wushen had completely lost the pride that came with hailing from an Upper Realm sacred land. One could even say that with Qi Yuan's current attainment, he was stronger than the mountain master of Mount Futu. Guiding him... would be a breeze. He might even help him reach the level of the peerless geniuses of the Middle Three Heavens. "Not taking disciples," Qi Yuan shook his head, refusing flatly. Taking disciples was far too troublesome. Hearing this, Shen Wushen was somewhat disappointed, but he pressed on, "Fellow Daoist... surely you don't want to leave no successor to inherit your mantle?" "What do you mean?" Qi Yuan didn't quite understand. To put it nicely, Shen Wushen was blunt; to put it bluntly, this guy was utterly tactless and had a heart smaller than an asshole. "Fellow Daoist, being born in the Canglan Realm, you are doomed to obscurity. "Your Dao will also be severed. "Why not impart your Dao to me? I, Wushen, will surely carry it forward and make it glorious!" Shen Wushen's eyes blazed as he stared at Qi Yuan. This was his chance! The Canglan Realm was a "sealed" world, rumored to be related to that Yang God of the Middle Three Heavens. For a supreme prodigy like Qi Yuan to be born here was his misfortune; he had zero chance of reaching the Upper Realm. So, rather than dying, wouldn't it be better to teach everything he had learned to him before his death? The Canglan Realm was a cage. Only by teaching it to him could Qi Yuan's path continue unbroken. "Fellow Daoist, surely you wouldn't want your Dao to go extinct, right?" Shen Wushen blurted out everything in his mind in one breath. Rambling on about how he was the only choice, and how if the Upper Realm lost Qi Yuan's Dao, it would be a loss to the Nine Heavens. These words left Qi Yuan utterly speechless. Was he actively wishing for his death? He looked at Shen Wushen. "Has anyone ever told you to do more and talk less from now on?" It was only because Qi Yuan was good-tempered and law-abiding; had it been anyone else, Shen Wushen probably would have been slapped to death. Qi Yuan could not help sighing in his heart. There were too many low-EQ people in this world, and too few high-EQ individuals like him who spoke so pleasantly. After all, with just a few smooth words, he could make his junior sister Jiang Lingsu beam with joy, showering him with heaps of spirit stones and cultivation arts. Such was the gap between high emotional intelligence and low emotional intelligence. "Fellow Daoist, everything I said is true!" Shen Wushen was still unwilling to give up. "There have been so many geniuses in the Canglan Realm. If I remember correctly, three hundred thousand years ago, a true genius emerged here. "That genius created their own cultivation art, defied and fought against the Great Tribulation, and even provoked the existence in the Sixth Heaven to personally step in and slay them!" Mentioning that person, Shen Wushen was filled with immense admiration. Originally, the Canglan Realm's Great Tribulation occurred only once every million years. However, that mighty figure had burst onto the scene, taking merely a few hundred thousand years to become a Mythological being, and even underwent the ultimate sublimation to break through into the Yang God realm. With their own power, they nearly shattered the Great Tribulation, becoming invincible under the heavens, which provoked enemies from the heavens above—and that Yang God from the Sixth Heaven personally intervened to slay them. That person's natural talent was rare even in the Upper Realm. After all, the people behind the Great Tribulation never imagined such a grand talent could appear in the Lower Realm, achieving the Yang God realm in under a million years. Because of this, the Canglan Realm's Great Tribulation had been changed from once every million years to once every three hundred thousand years, precisely out of fear that history would repeat itself. "Even such a peerless mighty figure fell at the hands of the Great Tribulation. Fellow Daoist... only a few hundred years remain until the Great Tribulation. You can never survive it. Master, I am willing to live on in your stead!" Shen Wushen declared with impassioned fervor. "Scram!" Qi Yuan kicked Shen Wushen directly, sending him flying straight out of the hall. Communicating with clumsy talkers was truly suffering. People with low emotional intelligence shouldn't have mouths in the first place. Qi Yuan felt that if he could truly achieve speech that commanded reality, he would definitely establish a Grand Dao rule: anyone with low emotional intelligence must be a mute. *** Inside the Dao Seeking Palace, Old Man Qishang was lounging lazily, resembling a tortoise. Long Can's phantom figure stood at his side, eyes complex. "The Blood-Robed Sword God really isn't leaving?" Last time, Long Can had chosen to surrender his cultivation arts and leave along with the other Yin Gods, but unlike them, he had not returned his jade slip to the Origin God Sharing Society, nor had he made a righteous break from the society. "This old man is well advanced in years. Whether the Sword God leaves or stays, what has that to do with me?" Old Man Qishang said nonchalantly. His lifespan was almost spent, and seeing no further hope, he had cast matters of life and death aside. "Hmm, just now the Blood-Robed Sword God uploaded some arts into the jade slip. Let me see if there's anything useful," Long Can noticed something. His true body sent his divine sense into the jade slip. He was a Yin God Venerable who cultivated a Heaven grade middle-rank art. Within the Origin God Sharing Society, he had spotted several Heaven grade high-rank arts. Although he could not change his core cultivation art, exchanging for a few similar arts to use as references would still count as an improvement for him. Old Man Qishang chuckled and said, "If this old man were a few thousand years younger, I might be like you." Now, however, he had chosen to lie flat. Some of the cultivation arts inside were very good, but to him, they were just so-so. At that moment, the smile on Long Can's face suddenly froze. He looked at Old Man Qishang. "You really have to look at the arts in the jade slip!" "Oh? What interesting arts have been added?" Old Man Qishang asked with a chuckle. "You'll know once you take a look." A clear excitement shone in Long Can's eyes, and he took a deep breath. "Perhaps after you see it... you will feel immense agony." "I'm not even afraid of death, so why would I fear agony?" Old Man Qishang chuckled and swept his divine sense into the jade slip. "Let this old man see what interesting..." Speaking up to this point, the expression on his face froze, and a look of disbelief appeared in his eyes. "A di... divine art!" Old Man Qishang's beard quivered. "How is that possible? How could there be a divine art in this world?!" A divine art was a method created by a Yang God. The Canglan Realm possessed no divine arts whatsoever. The gap between a divine art and a Heavenly art was astronomically vast. Just glancing at the opening portion of the divine art, Old Man Qishang felt as though he had seen his adolescent dream lover, seized by an instant of pounding heartbeat, euphoria, and craving. "It's really a divine art!" Old Man Qishang was thoroughly shaken, and his heart was thoroughly moved. This kind of thrilling, mouth-watering sensation had not visited him in countless years. Just the portion revealed at the beginning was enough to make him lose all composure. "You're quite right. Suddenly, I really want to leave the Dao Seeking Palace... and flee to some remote corner..." Old Man Qishang muttered. This was a divine art, after all. If he could successfully exchange for it and study it diligently, the benefits to him would be immense. In this moment, he truly felt like a withered tree greeting spring anew. Beside him, Long Can's expression turned solemn. "Before the Four Generals of the Lei Family arrive, there is still time to leave. Let's pool our efforts and exchange for this divine art!" "This..." Old Man Qishang hesitated. Doing so would mean betraying the Blood-Robed Sword God. Yet this divine art... truly stirred his heart, making his withered roots feel reborn. Something occurred to him, and his gaze turned resolute. "Is there any possibility... that the Blood-Robed Sword God can handle the Four Generals of the Lei Family?" "How could that be possible? Even Great Venerable Chiyan died at the hands of the Four Generals of the Lei Family. What ability could the Blood-Robed Sword God possess to resist them?" Long Can dismissed the thought immediately. "Yet Great Venerable Chiyan couldn't produce a divine art either... Have you ever seen anyone take out a divine art?" Old Man Qishang said. "Could it be..." Suddenly, a terrifying thought flashed through Long Can's mind. He recalled a taboo figure—the one who had almost swept through the Great Tribulation. Could it be... that the Blood-Robed Sword God was related to that person? "Which is to say... the Blood-Robed Sword God might just be an exception. "Three hundred thousand years ago, an exception emerged in the Canglan Realm, only to fail in the end. "Now... is another exception about to appear in the Canglan Realm?" Old Man Qishang mused. Long Can was also stunned, his thoughts racing. "Last time, the Canglan Realm was severely wounded. This time... if we cannot face the Great Tribulation, there will truly be no hope left for the Canglan Realm!" Old Man Qishang sighed emotionally. He decided not to leave this time, but to stay in the Origin God Sharing Society. Just then, Old Man Qishang's expression suddenly shifted. The sky above the entirety of Qinghong City abruptly underwent a dramatic transformation. Purple lightning blanketed the firmament in an instant. Across the ground throughout the city, purple reflections could be seen. A voice as majestic as thunder boomed out at that moment: "Blood-Robed Sword God, come out and meet your death!" The voice resonated across all of Qinghong City. Ordinary cultivators trembled in terror upon hearing it. "Is a divine war... about to begin?" "A Yin God Venerable has actually come to challenge the Blood-Robed Sword God!" "Who in the world are they?" Those ordinary cultivators looked up, concealing their auras as best they could, not daring to utter a word. Yin Gods and ordinary cultivators were simply not beings on the same plane. If a Yin God wished, a single casual strike could reduce Qinghong City to an abyss, and not a single cultivator would be able to escape. Meanwhile, thousands of li away, a complex expression appeared in Great Venerable Moli's eyes. "What a pity. The Four Generals of the Lei Family have arrived." Within the ancient mirror, the back of the figure spoke, "Suddenly, I find myself looking forward to the Blood-Robed Sword God's victory." "Oh?" Great Venerable Moli was slightly taken aback. "That is a divine art... unlike the methods of this realm. "He might originate from the Upper Realm, and the art he cultivates might not come from this world either. "If I take possession of his body, perhaps... I could take you back to the Upper Realm." In the mirror, the man's voice finally held a tremor. A sharp glint also surfaced in Great Venerable Moli's eyes. Meanwhile, inside Qinghong City, Qi Yuan set down his jade slip. He looked toward the sky, his voice indolent. "Four Generals of the Lei Family, you took far too long to get here." Qi Yuan flew up into the firmament. Several thousand meters away from him stood four terrifying figures. Their long hair hung loose and disheveled, and their pitch-black, pool-like pupils lacked any focal point. Their bare chests were covered with blade and sword scars, riddled with holes, looking as though they had undergone ferocious battles in the past. Every one of them radiated the aura of the peak of the Six Steps of Sky Treading, only a single step away from the Mythological realm. Such peerless, ferocious beings would be first-rate experts even in the Upper Realm. After all, Yin Gods were definitely considered powerful beings in the Upper Realm as well. A Great Venerable at the peak of the Six Steps of Sky Treading would be part of the upper-middle echelon in a sacred land. [The corpse of Lei Shengyu, a former Mythological powerhouse. After having his foundation stripped, he was refined into a puppet and became a lackey of the Dark Sun.] Seeing this information before his eyes, Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes, feeling an inexplicable emotion in his heart. Rather than calling them the Four Generals of the Lei Family, it was more accurate to say that they had long since fallen, and their corpses had been taken by the Dark Sun to be refined into weapons of war. Powerhouses of the Mythological realm were treated as resources while alive, and after death, their flesh was refined into puppets to serve as lackeys of the Great Tribulation. How tragic. "By order of the Dark Sun, the Blood-Robed Sword God brings ruin to common life and shall be executed!" The leader of the Four Generals of the Lei Family bellowed, his voice rolling like thunder. The surroundings around Qi Yuan also began to shift at this moment. In an instant, they were drawn into the Void Realm. The Heavenly Dao of the Canglan Realm was immensely powerful; even when a Mythological expert unleashed power surpassing the Yin God level, they would be pulled into the Void Realm. Looking at the four generals before him, Qi Yuan's gaze was profound. "Do you four puppets possess consciousness of your own? "If you do, please tell me where the Dark Sun's headquarters is. "I have a white moonlight at the Dark Sun; I must go see him." Facing the formidable Four Generals of the Lei Family, Qi Yuan remained completely relaxed. The eyes of the four generals held no focus, and the entire area transformed into a sea of lightning. Right at this moment, a mocking voice called out: "They have no consciousness." A mechanical bird appeared. This mechanical bird was the very one that had appeared when Qi Yuan previously fought Great Venerable Wujun. Qi Yuan's gaze immediately fell upon the mechanical bird. [A miraculous creation, controlled by Li Qiuchen, a true disciple of the Upper Realm's Taihuang Palace.] Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes. The one behind the Great Tribulation was Taihuang Palace? The Upper Realm's Taihuang Palace? At this moment, the mechanical bird landed on the shoulder of the leader of the Four Generals of the Lei Family, a wistful look in its eyes. "If I encountered a powerful being like you in the Upper Realm, I wouldn't even dare breathe too loudly. Unfortunately... this place is a pig farm." Li Qiuchen's voice was full of mockery. As true disciples of Taihuang Palace, the Canglan Realm had always been their pig farm. All living beings would be fed to the Great Tribulation. And these true disciples would occasionally descend to the Lower Realm to slay a few Great Venerables by controlling miraculous creations. In the Upper Realm, they might be mere Purple Mansion cultivators, or perhaps had just entered the Yin God realm. Yet upon arriving in the Lower Realm, by controlling the Dark Sun through miraculous creations, they could decide the life and death of Great Venerables they once had to look up to with a simple wave of their hands. This sensation was utterly intoxicating.