Above Tianyu Peak, spiritual qi surged like a tide, sweeping aside the clouds and mist across the sky as it poured violently toward the main hall below. The beasts and spirits across the mountain held their breath, not daring to utter the slightest sound.
*Swoosh!*
Suddenly, a figure cut across the sky and halted high in the air, looking toward Tianyu Peak with a visibly shaken expression.
"How could Junior Brother Huang cultivate so fast?!"
The newcomer was none other than Chen Guangsu. Earlier, while cultivating in his cave abode, he had sensed a shift in qi and immediately recognized that someone was attempting a breakthrough into the Dao Foundation realm. At first, he hadn't thought much of it; after all, among the hundred-plus nominal disciples on Xuandong Mountain, several were at the culmination of Dharma Sensing, so it was hardly surprising for one of them to attempt a breakthrough.
He had casually cast his divine sense out to see which nominal disciple it was, only to be dumbfounded upon discovering that the source of the qi was actually Tianyu Peak.
Just a few days ago, he had told Huang Tian that he could take his cultivation slowly without rushing, fearing the boy might become frustrated by a lack of progress. Yet only a few days later, Huang Tian was already attempting to break through to the Dao Foundation realm?!
After a brief moment of shock, he had flown over immediately.
"Eldest Senior Brother!" Upon seeing Chen Guangsu, several Daoists hurried forward to bow respectfully.
Chen Guangsu gave a nod in return and said nothing. He simply fixed his gaze downward at Tianyu Peak, watching the developments below with undivided attention.
Since he did not speak, the others remained silent as well, patiently waiting for the outcome of Huang Tian's breakthrough.
*Whoosh—*
The surging tide of spiritual qi lasted for roughly a quarter of an hour before finally subsiding and vanishing without a trace. In its wake came a faint aura of pressure that rippled in all directions.
"He succeeded!" one Daoist cried in astonishment.
Chen Guangsu took a single step, appearing instantly before the main hall of Tianyu Peak.
"Eldest Senior Brother."
Sensing the commotion outside once the spiritual qi in his body had stabilized, Huang Tian emerged from the warm pavilion and greeted him with a bow.
His appearance immediately drew hushed exclamations from the onlookers.
"It really is Senior Brother Huang!"
"Three days! In just three days, he's become a Dao Foundation cultivator! Isn't that a bit too absurd?!"
Outside the hall, spiritual light flickered in Chen Guangsu's eyes as he looked Huang Tian up and down. "Junior Brother, you actually reached the Dao Foundation realm in just three days?!"
Inwardly, he was profoundly startled. *His foundation is so deep and solid—this doesn't look at all like a breakthrough forced by piling up spirit pills!*
Initially, he had worried that his newly admitted junior brother was too young, lacked self-control, and would rush ahead blindly, guzzling pills to cultivate immortality. But seeing him now, his dharmic power was exceptionally dense and solid, and his foundation was as firm as if he had spent decades polishing his cultivation in the Dharma Sensing realm!
Huang Tian nodded. "Indeed."
Chen Guangsu looked baffled and astonished. "Junior Brother, h-how did you cultivate this quickly?"
Huang Tian answered candidly, "I took the spirit pills and herbs gifted by our fellow disciples while absorbing the spiritual qi between heaven and earth. It naturally happened that fast."
*It naturally happened that fast?*
Fast was one thing, but how could his dharmic power be so remarkably dense and solid?
Chen Guangsu was thoroughly bewildered. He had seen fast cultivators before, but never anyone who progressed at this speed while maintaining such an unshakable foundation.
*Could it be that he has some special physique? But sweeping with my spiritual eyes reveals nothing out of the ordinary...* All sorts of conjectures flashed through his mind. *Or is it due to something else? For instance, does he possess some wondrous dharma treasure?*
After pondering for a moment, Chen Guangsu decided not to pry into the bottom of the matter, lest he create estrangement and friction between them. Instead, he shifted the topic: "You mentioned taking many spirit pills during your practice. Do you have any left?"
"I still have a few."
"A few means not enough!"
Chen Guangsu said decisively. He fetched more than twenty porcelain bottles from his qiankun bag, and with a wave of his hand, the bottles drifted gently toward Huang Tian, hovering quietly before him.
"These are all medicinal pills that boost the dharmic power of Dao Foundation and Golden Core cultivators. Keep them for now. If you need more, just let me know. By the way, these aren't personal gifts from me—they come from the sect treasury, so there's no need to decline. Once your strength grows in the future, you can repay the sect in due time."
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
Huang Tian voiced his gratitude. With a brush of his sleeve, the porcelain bottles all slipped into the qiankun bag at his waist.
Chen Guangsu waved his hand. He seemed to want to say something more, but held back in the end, flying away with a rather conflicted expression.
At this time, several Daoists in the air descended one after another, offering joyful congratulations: "Congratulations, Senior Brother, on achieving the Dao Foundation!"
"Thank you!"
Huang Tian replied with a smile. After everyone had departed, he did not return to the warm pavilion. Instead, stepping atop a colorful cloud, he flew southeast at an unhurried pace.
"This must be Cangjing Peak..."
After flying for a while, he arrived above a mountain peak. Looking down, he saw an expanse of continuous halls housing all manner of cultivation methods and secret arts.
Lowering his cloud, he landed before a magnificent hall. A row of spirit puppets stood at the entrance. The lead puppet swept its gaze over him, caught sight of the pale purple token hanging at his waist, gave a slight nod, and immediately fell still. Huang Tian strolled casually into the hall.
Inside, there were no other disciples. Rows of shelves stretched out as far as the eye could see, packed with ancient texts and jade slips, each jade slip engraved with a cultivation technique or secret art.
He was in no hurry to inspect the cultivation methods. Instead, he first took two spirit pills from his qiankun bag and swallowed them, rapidly refining their medicinal potency as he walked over to an ordinary bookshelf. Picking up a copy of *Maps and Miscellaneous Histories*, he flipped through it swiftly.
—This world was known as the Earth Immortal Realm, comprising four great continents: Dong Shengshenzhou, Nan Zhanbuzhou, Xi Niuhezhou, and Bei Juluzhou, in addition to countless overseas islands.
Dong Shengshenzhou revered heaven and honored the earth, where the influence of the Heavenly Court and the Daoist sects was relatively strong. Xi Niuhezhou held vast Buddhist power. Bei Juluzhou was exceptionally barren, plagued by evil demons and monsters of great ferocity.
Where he currently resided was Nan Zhanbuzhou, a continent plagued by frequent wars, rampant slaughter, and endless conflict—an utterly chaotic land where various factions all meddled: the Daoist sects, the Buddhist sects, the Heavenly Court, demons and monsters, and numerous heterodox paths...
Only now did he finally gain a basic grasp of this world's general landscape:
Three major forces contended for supremacy. The Heavenly Court held nominal rule over the Earth Immortal Realm as orthodoxy; the Buddhist and Daoist sects were slightly weaker in overall strength than the Heavenly Court, but were comparatively more united, enabling them to stand as equals without yielding ground, at times even eclipsing the Heavenly Court's momentum.
As for demons, heterodox paths, and rogue cultivators wandering the wilderness, none had formed major factions; though powerful figures existed among them, the majority were kept thoroughly suppressed beneath the three great powers.
Having finished *Maps and Miscellaneous Histories*, Huang Tian proceeded to browse the next miscellaneous volume.
By the time he finished reading through these histories, biographies, notes, and memoirs, he had found almost no mention of the spiritual monkey at the foot of the mountain—save for a brief passing note in a travelogue: *"In Fenghua Commandery, a divine mountain fell from the heavens, pinning an ape beneath it; there seems to be Buddhist karma involved."*
The Buddhist sect.
Lost in thought, he mused, "The Buddhist sect, a monkey, the Earth Immortal Realm..."
He placed the volume back on the shelf and walked over to a redwood rack filled entirely with jade slips. There were no restrictive seals placed upon them, meaning any disciple was permitted to view them.
He extended his divine sense into one of the jade slips. In the next moment, a deluge of information flooded his mind.
*"Spiritual Pivot Dharma Eye: The eyes serve as apertures of the spirit, observing the qi of heaven and earth; the heart acts as the spiritual altar, reflecting the source of all phenomena..."*
In the blink of an eye, he had memorized the spell and thoroughly grasped every key subtlety of its practice.
Pondering briefly, he channeled his spiritual power, gently gathering it at his eye apertures. In an instant, a brilliant divine light shone in his eyes. Looking around, he could see that the interior and exterior of the hall were enveloped by an invisible grand array, with countless intricate formation patterns flickering in the void, glistening with flowing light.
"A fine spiritual eye technique."
Satisfied, Huang Tian divided his divine sense and probed ten jade slips all at once. Surging torrents of information poured into his mind.
"Yimu True Lightning, Yin-Yang Mirror Void Incantation, Minor Earth Escape Art, Cloud-Plucking Brocade-Weaving Method, Golden Armor Body-Protection Curse, Mechanism Puppet-Controlling Technique..."
He rapidly digested these spells and then moved on to examine other jade slips.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. He had mastered virtually all the cultivation methods and secret arts across the various halls of Cangjing Peak. Although these techniques reached only up to the Yin Spirit realm, and the secret arts could not compare to minor divine abilities or true divine abilities, the harvest was still immense!
In particular:
"My comprehension of yin and yang has deepened..."
The Five Elements and Yin-Yang differed, yet were intricately intertwined. The mutual generation of the Five Elements was Yang; their mutual overcoming was Yin.
The Five-Colored Divine Light and the dual qi of yin and yang were undeniably supreme grand divine abilities no matter what world one was in!
*Still, I am still some distance away from deducing a divine ability of yin and yang qi...*
Suppressing the anticipation in his heart for now, Huang Tian looked inward and saw that his cultivation had already reached the culmination of the Dao Foundation realm.
*I can break through at any time!*
He stepped out of the hall. With a light step, a cloud lifted him straight into the sky, carrying him back toward Tianyu Peak.
Before long, he arrived at Tianyu Peak. Raising his hand with a wave, twelve small flags flew out—the Shangqian Weining Grand Array gifted to him by Ninth Senior Sister Li Manrou.
Having set up the mountain-protecting array, he went straight into the warm pavilion and retrieved all the precious pills and spirit medicines in his qiankun bag that could boost dharmic power.
"This time, I won't end my seclusion until I step into the Yin Spirit realm."
The reason he intended to wait until the Yin Spirit realm before emerging was twofold: first, he did not yet possess the Yang Spirit and Great Ascension chapters of the *Yang Origin True Brightness Scripture*; second, by his estimate, these medicinal pills were only enough to swiftly break through to the Yin Spirit realm.
*Once I break through, the subsequent techniques and pills will come. No rush...*
With this thought in mind, he took three translucent, round pills from a porcelain bottle and swallowed them in one gulp. Melting the moment they touched his tongue, their surging medicinal power was unleashed in an instant.
He swiftly circulated his cultivation method, guiding the medicinal potency through complete heavenly circuits.
About a quarter of an hour later, a wondrous aura diffused outward from his body. Above the hall, the qi resonated with heaven and earth, and the spiritual qi from dozens of li around churned and poured downward like an inverted river!
"This is... someone is breaking through again?"
From several neighboring peaks, a number of Daoists took to the air, looking toward the epicenter of the surging spiritual qi. There, unmistakably, was Tianyu Peak!
"Why is it Tianyu Peak again?!" one person said, his head buzzing.
"Golden Core! Could Senior Brother Huang be breaking through to the Golden Core realm?!" another cried in astonishment.
"How could that be? Absolutely impossible! It's only been half a month since Senior Brother Huang advanced to the Dao Foundation—how could he break through again?"
"Why impossible? Since Senior Brother Huang achieved the Dao Foundation in three days, what is so strange about congealing a Golden Core in half a month?"
"*Hiss—* what you say sounds somewhat reasonable, b-but this is the Golden Core! The gap in difficulty between breaking through to the Golden Core and establishing a Dao Foundation is immense; how can the two even be compared?!"
While they were debating excitedly, several streaks of light cut across the horizon one after another. Chen Guangsu, Long Ling, and Li Manrou revealed their figures in turn.
The Daoists hurriedly stepped forward to bow. Chen Guangsu waved a hand, his gaze cast downward toward Tianyu Peak, his lips pressed together in silence.
Long Ling and Li Manrou were astounded. "How is Junior Brother Huang advancing this quickly?"
It was so fast he didn't seem like a normal human being—no, he didn't seem human at all!
*Whoosh—*
From within the hall, five vast pillars of light suddenly soared upward!
The Five-Colored Divine Light arched across the sky like a rainbow, swaying and shimmering high in the air.
Beyond these five colors, a strand of pure yang qi and a strand of pure yin qi subtly intertwined, circling the Five-Colored Divine Light like swimming fish and exuding a primordial, boundless Dao charm.
"What a wondrous phenomenon for forming a core..." Gazing up at the marvelous spectacle in the heavens, Chen Guangsu was shaken beyond words, for he could actually feel a sense of pressure facing this phenomenon!
He was several major realms higher than Huang Tian!
If he was shocked, the others were completely dazed, their faces blank beneath the vast, radiant divine light.
*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—*
As the phenomenon grew ever more profound and grandiose, the disciples of Xuandong Mountain who were not in seclusion sensed the commotion and took to the sky in droves, casting shocked and suspicious glances toward Tianyu Peak.
*Swish, swish—*
The vortex of spiritual qi raged for a full two quarters of an hour before finally dispersing slowly. The Five-Colored Divine Light retracted alongside it, as the swimming fish of yin and yang qi converged at the same time, descending into the hall below. In the next moment, a formidable pressure swept outward in all directions.
"Little Junior Brother succeeded in his breakthrough!" Li Manrou murmured.
The people in the sky drew in a quiet breath, looking at each other with complex expressions.
"Entering the Dao Foundation in three days, advancing to the Golden Core in half a month... I've never even heard of such a thing," Long Ling sighed wistfully. Thinking back to her own journey, it had taken her nearly a hundred and ninety years to cultivate from Dharma Sensing to the Golden Core!
Yet Huang Tian had taken less than twenty days. A single day of his cultivation was worth ten years of hers!
"Junior Brother Huang has just broken through and needs time to stabilize his realm. Let us disperse for now," Chen Guangsu said after taking a deep breath.
"Yes!"
Streaks of light scattered in all directions. Chen Guangsu took one last, deep look at Tianyu Peak before flying away.
Tianyu Peak soon regained its tranquility, yet the vast Xuandong Mountain could hardly remain quiet.
Disciples buzzed with discussion over Huang Tian breaking through three realms in a dozen days—expressions of envy, wonder, and shock abounded.
Many speculated on the reasons behind his meteoric rise: some claimed he had immense fortune and obtained some extraordinary treasure; others insisted he was born with a physique naturally close to the Dao, grasping realms as easily as eating and drinking...
In short, the normally serene Xuandong Mountain had become lively because of him.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed. Just as the chatter about Huang Tian was beginning to die down, the spiritual qi above Tianyu Peak churned and boiled once more. An inscrutable qi radiated outward with Tianyu Peak at its center, sweeping across the surrounding peaks.
Every member of Xuandong Mountain who sensed this qi shuddered. "Again?!!"
In his cave abode, Chen Guangsu, who was meditating in seclusion, snapped his eyes open. "Could it be... Junior Brother Huang again?"
His expression shifted several times. He released his divine sense, covering the entirety of Xuandong Mountain in an instant, and immediately located the source of the qi: Tianyu Peak!
He stood frozen on the spot, only a single thought remaining in his mind: *Junior Brother Huang, you aren't about to become an immortal on the spot, are you?!!*
Chapter 188