Chapter 256 – The Connection Between Earth and Luotian, Su Xing’s Identity Exposed! (10,000 words, 2-in-1)
by spirapiraChapter 256 – The Connection Between Earth and Luotian, Su Xing’s Identity Exposed! (10,000 words, 2-in-1)
The cultivation world, and indeed all of the Three Thousand Worlds, was like this.
No one cared about appearances — only strength and cultivation mattered!
Even though Su Xing’s disguised appearance was utterly unremarkable, in the eyes of these two female cultivators, he was a great cultivator nearly at the Immortal realm — a senior expert!
Naturally, they couldn’t curry favor fast enough…
If Su Xing had made even more outrageous demands, the two women would likely have been willing to accommodate a ménage à trois…
But all Su Xing had on his mind was learning more about White Emperor Tower as a power, and gathering intelligence about the Three Thousand Worlds.
…
Over the course of the next full day, the two female cultivators showed Su Xing around White Emperor City.
Contrary to what Su Xing had assumed, although White Emperor City was the headquarters of White Emperor Tower, there were also branches of other neutral factions within the city.
For instance, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion had a branch store that sold intelligence, and the city’s largest auction was organized by them.
The only regret was that Su Xing found no trace of Azure Cloud Sect disciples.
According to the two female cultivators, Lesser Azure Cloud City was still tens of millions of li away, requiring an airship voyage across an ocean to reach…
Led by the two women, Su Xing went to White Emperor Tower at the center of White Emperor City to register, revealing his Mahayana stage cultivation.
With that, Su Xing became an outer member of White Emperor Tower.
He could enjoy certain benefits, such as receiving a set amount of spirit stones each year.
Su Xing used these spirit stones to purchase a shop in the western district of White Emperor City, convenient for doing a little business in the future and accumulating resources.
With that, the immersive simulation ended…
Su Xing returned to the Real World, a trace of wonder still lingering in his eyes.
“So that’s what the cultivation world is really like…”
“Because of the transcendent nature of individual power, it’s hard for any single centralized force to dominate. Instead, multiple powerful factions coexist… and this holds true across the entire Three Thousand Worlds!”
“And because the territories are so vast, the local customs and cultures vary greatly from place to place…”
After a pause, Su Xing digested all the information he had gathered throughout the day.
“In White Emperor City, most cultivators are at or below the Void Return stage…”
“Above that, Body Integration and Mahayana stage cultivators are already considered rare.”
“Tribulation Crossing realm experts are qualified to become core disciples of White Emperor Tower… and above that, those at the Human Immortal realm hold retainer-level status!”
“With the resources I currently have, planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers and running a pill-selling business wouldn’t be a bad idea… improving my Body Tempering cultivation on one hand while gathering intelligence on the Azure Cloud Sect on the other — that would be the wisest course of action!”
Su Xing thought thus, then turned his gaze to the simulation panel.
【You rented a small shop with a courtyard in White Emperor City, and borrowed a sum of spirit stones from the two female cultivators.】
【Afterwards, you set up Breath-Concealing Formations and restrictive barriers in the courtyard, and planted a batch of Spirit-Gathering Flowers.】
【You purchased medicinal ingredients, used a pill furnace to refine pills, occasionally inscribed talismans or set up formations for others, hoping to earn spirit stones this way.】
【At first, your business was quite slow, but as time went on, your reputation gradually grew.】
【Many cultivators in the southern district came to know of a master alchemist who was exceptionally skilled at refining pills for body cultivators — pills that, when taken over time, had minimal side effects and could significantly increase cultivation speed.】
【Year Thirteen: You had been living in White Emperor City for one year.】
【Over this past year, you sold Rebirth Pills and inscribed sixth to seventh-order talismans for others.】
【In one year’s time, you accumulated one million spirit stones.】
【You used these spirit stones to purchase a mid-grade spirit sword and some Demonic Beast Blood Essence from Tribulation Crossing stage demonic beasts to supply your own cultivation needs.】
【At the same time, over this year, you also gathered much information about the Azure Cloud Sect.】
【The Azure Cloud Sect was a powerful force, yet rarely interacted with outside cultivators. The best way to find them would be to travel to Azure Cloud City…】
【Upon learning this, your heart stirred with contemplation.】
【Although you had an agreement with Qingyunzi that would allow you to join the Azure Cloud Sect as his disciple—】
【—you could know a person’s face but not their heart. You couldn’t be certain whether Qingyunzi might harbor ill intentions toward you.】
【So you decided to raise your cultivation as much as possible before heading to Azure Cloud City.】
【And so, another two years passed…】
【Year Fifteen: Your first batch of Spirit-Gathering Flowers matured, totaling five hundred plants.】
【You knew this represented an enormous fortune. Five hundred Spirit-Gathering Flowers were equivalent to fifty million low-grade spirit stones — not an amount that cultivators below the Immortal realm could easily produce.】
【But you urgently needed to convert them, trading these Spirit-Gathering Flowers for large quantities of blood essence and other resources you required.】
【So you disguised yourself and concealed your aura, then went to the Celestial Secrets Auction House in the western district, consigning the five hundred Spirit-Gathering Flowers as auction items.】
【The person in charge of the auction house hurried over upon hearing the news, treating you with great warmth — after all, the auction house would take a five percent commission.】
【You became a VIP of the Celestial Secrets Auction House.】
【The person in charge told you that the Celestial Secrets Auction House held an auction every August, and would provide the auction catalog in advance so you could see if there was anything you needed.】
【You nodded slightly upon hearing this. The Celestial Secrets Auction House had an excellent reputation, with virtually no history of leaking buyer or seller information.】
【Moreover, you lived in the southern district, near the city center, and cultivators above the Immortal realm were forbidden from fighting within the city — so you had even less to worry about.】
【There was still one month until the auction officially began, and you received a catalog for this session.】
【At the person in charge’s suggestion, you decided to split the Spirit-Gathering Flowers into five lots of one hundred plants each for auction…】
【One month later, you attended the auction as scheduled, because the catalog contained items that interested you.】
【A ninth-grade pill furnace, and the complete corpse of a Human Immortal realm great demon!】
【You ultimately spent 5.6 million spirit stones to purchase a ninth-grade pill furnace… and 32 million spirit stones to buy the complete corpse of this Human Immortal realm demon cultivator.】
【There were also over a thousand jin of blood essence from Tribulation Crossing stage demon cultivators, which cost you nearly ten million spirit stones…】
【It was worth noting that the Spirit-Gathering Flowers sold for more than you had expected. The five hundred plants fetched a staggering price of nearly sixty million spirit stones!】
【And the buyer of all five hundred Spirit-Gathering Flowers was the same person — an Earthly Immortal realm cultivator who also served as a retainer of White Emperor City!】
【From this auction, after deducting the items you purchased, the Spirit-Gathering Flowers still left you with a surplus of ten million spirit stones!】
【This sum was roughly equivalent to the entire fortune accumulated over several thousand years by an ordinary Mahayana stage cultivator…】
【But you were not anxious — with your strength, you were more than capable of protecting this wealth.】
【After leaving the auction, you returned home, closed the shop for a few months, and devoted yourself entirely to pill refinement.】
【And so, several months passed…】
Seeing this, Su Xing sighed lightly and said:
“Human cities do have certain disadvantages compared to the Hundred Thousand Mountains!”
“Demonic Beast Blood Essence has become much harder to obtain, at the very least…”
【Year Sixteen: The complete corpse of the Human Immortal realm demon cultivator yielded nearly three hundred jin of blood essence, allowing you to refine nearly a thousand Rebirth Pills.】
【The Tribulation Crossing stage blood essence was also gradually refined into pills to support your daily transactions and cultivation needs.】
【This year, your cultivation reached the mid-stage of Grand Accomplishment Seventh Layer!】
【Over the next three years, you had only three objectives.】
【First, cultivate more Spirit-Gathering Flowers and accumulate resources.】
【Second, diligently improve your Body Tempering cultivation and advance your realm as much as possible.】
【Third, obtain information related to the Azure Cloud Sect.】
【Following this plan, you laid low in White Emperor City for three years, cultivating in peace.】
【The spiritual energy at your shop was not abundant — far inferior to a blessed land — so you didn’t waste time on Qi Refinement cultivation, instead focusing your efforts on improving your Body Tempering cultivation.】
【Year Nineteen: Your cultivation remained at the mid-stage of Grand Accomplishment Seventh Layer.】
【Over these years, you consigned one hundred Spirit-Gathering Flowers to the auction house annually. Any larger quantity, you feared, might attract trouble.】
【At the same time, you kept an eye out for blood essence from Human Immortal realm demon cultivators, and over three years managed to purchase over a hundred jin.】
【As your cultivation improved, you were able to absorb Human Immortal realm-level Rebirth Pills with greater efficiency, so your cultivation speed had not slowed.】
【However, over these years, information about the Azure Cloud Sect remained scarce.】
【After much deliberation, you decided to spend spirit stones at the Celestial Secrets Pavilion to purchase the relevant intelligence…】
【So you disguised yourself and concealed your aura, then went to the Celestial Secrets Pavilion’s branch in White Emperor City to purchase intelligence.】
【Based on what you had previously learned, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion’s intelligence was all-encompassing — covering not only the Azure Cloud Realm and the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm, but even intelligence from other worlds among the Three Thousand Worlds — and it was absolutely reliable!】
【What you most wanted to know right now was intelligence related to the Azure Cloud Sect and Qingyunzi.】
【So you went to the intelligence counter, where you saw a girl who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen, listlessly yawning as she boredly attended to customers.】
【Seeing this, you got straight to the point, directly stating your purpose — you wished to purchase intelligence about the Azure Cloud Sect.】
Seeing this, Su Xing’s heart stirred, and he silently thought:
“Use immersive…”
【Ding…】
As the simulator’s notification sounded, the scene before Su Xing’s eyes shifted.
The next second, Su Xing found himself in a quaint shop. Inside, some unknown incense was burning, filling the air with an enchanting fragrance that cleared the mind and lifted the spirits.
The entire shop was empty of other people — there was only a girl with braided pigtails, dozing off with her head resting on the shop’s counter.
“This is the Celestial Secrets Pavilion branch?”
After taking in his surroundings, Su Xing felt somewhat puzzled.
The Celestial Secrets Pavilion was a colossal force that commanded awe throughout the Three Thousand Worlds. Why was their shop in White Emperor City so humble…?
Upon seeing Su Xing arrive, the girl nonchalantly yawned and said casually:
“Here to buy intelligence, or sell intelligence?”
Su Xing was dumbfounded. Buying and selling intelligence — something so utterly confidential — was just announced openly like that?
Wasn’t this supposed to happen in some secret chamber, with everyone wearing face-concealing garments during the transaction?
Su Xing glanced back at the half-closed pearwood door behind him. Through the window, he could still see cultivators passing by like flowing traffic on a busy street…
Discussing intelligence like this — weren’t they worried about eavesdroppers?
As if seeing through Su Xing’s confusion, the girl raised an eyebrow and said:
“First time here, aren’t you?”
“The intelligence services at the Celestial Secrets Pavilion aren’t like they used to be… The moment you step into this shop, you can only see me and no one else. It’s an absolutely one-on-one service with the utmost confidentiality!”
“So there’s no need to worry about your identity being leaked…”
Su Xing’s heart stirred upon hearing this, and then understanding dawned.
So the shop was filled with layered formation arrays and restrictive barriers — combining Breath-Concealing, shielding, spatial, and many other types of formations. Even if ten thousand people entered at once, each would only see a single attendant. It truly was the perfect setup for intelligence trading.
Su Xing marveled inwardly: “Worthy of the Celestial Secrets Pavilion indeed. Even a branch possesses such methods…”
Su Xing then asked:
“Then may I ask — how is your intelligence priced?”
The girl’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. She neatly produced three tokens, each inscribed with the characters Yi, Bing, and Ding — indicating intelligence grades.
“Here you go. If it’s intelligence that exists anywhere in the Three Thousand Worlds, there’s nothing our Celestial Secrets Pavilion can’t get!”
“The intelligence we sell is divided into three grades: Yi, Bing, and Ding. Yi is the most expensive, Bing and Ding are somewhat cheaper. It just depends on which grade you want to buy!”
Su Xing frowned slightly upon hearing this and asked:
“Three grades — Yi, Bing, and Ding… Is there no Jia-grade intelligence for sale?”
The young woman chuckled softly upon hearing this and said, “Customers wishing to purchase Grade-A intelligence must meet certain status requirements… and can only do so at the Celestial Secrets Pavilion headquarters!”
“As for our branch, we only carry Grades B, C, and D!”
Su Xing nodded slightly and said:
“Then give me a report on the Azure Cloud Sect first…”
The young woman’s expression remained unchanged as she replied:
“Which grade would you like, sir?”
“Grade-D intelligence contains the most general overview of the Azure Cloud Sect’s strength distribution, including its grievances with various factions… This information is widely available — you could gather most of it yourself with a few years of asking around. The price is 50,000 low-grade spirit stones.”
“Grade-C intelligence includes some of the Azure Cloud Sect’s secrets, the strength levels of certain Elders, and their deployments in the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm. The price is 1,000,000 low-grade spirit stones…”
“As for Grade-B intelligence, it contains far more secrets… As you know, sir, even the righteous factions of the Three Thousand Worlds have their share of unsavory dealings… This intelligence is priced at 20,000,000 spirit stones!”
Su Xing smacked his lips after hearing this. The price gap between the three grades was simply enormous…
Over the years, Su Xing had accumulated a good several tens of millions of spirit stones, but he couldn’t possibly spend it all on purchasing intelligence.
So Su Xing said:
“Give me one copy each of Grade-C and Grade-D for now…”
With that, Su Xing produced a storage bag and placed 1,050,000 spirit stones inside.
The young woman accepted the spirit stones and handed over two jade slips.
“Probe them with your divine sense, and you’ll obtain the intelligence you seek…”
Su Xing did as instructed, first probing the Grade-D intelligence jade slip with his divine sense.
A massive stream of information flooded into Su Xing’s mind.
Moments later, after digesting the information in the jade slip, Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly.
The information in this jade slip was roughly the same as what Su Xing already knew — it was just compiled more comprehensively.
For instance, Su Xing knew that the Azure Cloud Sect conducted disciple recruitment, and this jade slip provided the specific requirements and timing.
But it didn’t contain the intelligence Su Xing actually wanted — things like inner disciple benefits, core disciple benefits… or Qingyunzi’s standing within the Azure Cloud Sect…
So Su Xing probed the other jade slip with his divine sense.
Compared to the previous one, the information in this jade slip was considerably more comprehensive.
For example, it detailed the requirements for disciple recruitment at the Azure Cloud Sect’s branches across various minor thousand worlds — what standards one needed to meet for admission, and it even predicted the probability of successfully joining the Azure Cloud Sect.
Beyond that, Su Xing also learned the strength of the Azure Cloud Sect’s most powerful individual stationed in the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.
A cultivator at the True Immortal realm, guarding Lesser Azure Cloud City!
His identity was that of an Azure Cloud Sect outer gate enforcement Elder, known for his uprightness and integrity.
Moments later, Su Xing nodded with satisfaction.
The jade slip contained quite a lot of information — the purchase was well worth it.
After all, the one million spirit stones only existed within this simulation, but the intelligence and information Su Xing had gained would stay with him forever!
However, this intelligence still didn’t fully satisfy Su Xing.
The report portrayed the Azure Cloud Sect as a righteous faction — a leading force among the Three Thousand Worlds, one of the most powerful organizations, always fighting on the front lines against foreign races.
It all sounded somewhat… overly flattering!
So Su Xing said:
“Give me a copy of Grade-B intelligence as well! About the Azure Cloud Sect!”
Su Xing handed over a storage ring containing 20,000,000 low-grade spirit stones.
The young woman’s eyes lit up at the sight — this was 20,000,000 spirit stones.
Their Celestial Secrets Pavilion White Emperor City branch might not sell even one copy of Grade-B intelligence in an entire year!
The young woman handed over an information jade slip. Su Xing took it and examined it carefully.
Moments later, Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, a peculiar gleam flickering within them.
This Grade-B intelligence was vastly different from the previous two!
If the first two reports painted the Azure Cloud Sect as the cream of the righteous factions, a mighty power whose reputation shook the Three Thousand Worlds —
Then this report gave Su Xing a far more complete picture.
According to the intelligence, quite a few Azure Cloud Sect Elders, core disciples, and other prominent figures actually had dealings with the Advent Cult!
Of course, these dealings didn’t mean they were helping the foreign races or the Advent Cult fight against humanity.
Rather, they were conducting transactions!
Spending spirit stones and the like to purchase foreign race corpses and foreign race treasures from the Advent Cult.
After all, foreign race corpses were difficult to obtain outside of battlefields, and the Advent Cult surely had no shortage of them.
Moreover, many of these foreign race items were quite useful to human cultivators.
Beyond that, there was also some “gossip” about certain Elders — for instance, several powerful Elders secretly keeping young dao companions on the side, relationships that couldn’t see the light of day…
There was even information about the Azure Cloud Sect’s feud with the Celestial Demon Prison. It seemed the conflict wasn’t simply about territorial disputes or injured disciples — the core reasons were far more complex, though the report didn’t elaborate in detail.
Finally, the most critical piece of information Su Xing obtained:
The Azure Cloud Sect’s strongest member — the patriarch who had been in seclusion for ten thousand years… Qingyunzi had still not emerged!
Qingyunzi was a terrifyingly powerful cultivator who had shaken the Three Thousand Worlds several cosmic cycles ago.
He was also one of the founding patriarchs who had established the Azure Cloud Sect…
“But why hasn’t Qingyunzi come out of seclusion… Ten thousand years of closed cultivation?”
“His prolonged seclusion has even led outside forces to believe Qingyunzi has already perished, causing the Azure Cloud Sect’s prestige to decline from what it once was?”
“But I clearly met Qingyunzi before… It’s only been a year or two… Qingyunzi is definitely not dead!”
A thread of confusion arose in Su Xing’s mind.
“Still, overall, the Azure Cloud Sect is indeed a prestigious righteous faction of the Three Thousand Worlds… Although there’s some dirt on them, their merits far outweigh their flaws.”
When a forest grows large enough, all kinds of birds will nest in it. With a faction as enormous as the Azure Cloud Sect, it was only natural that some Elders and disciples had crooked hearts…
What interested Su Xing the most, however, was what critical information the Grade-A intelligence might contain.
Unfortunately, reaching the Celestial Secrets Pavilion headquarters wouldn’t be easy or practical for Su Xing, so he could only set that aside for now.
“Based on the current intelligence, it seems worthwhile to pay the Azure Cloud Sect a visit!”
“If I reveal my identity as Qingyunzi’s direct disciple… that would make me a second-generation direct lineage disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect!”
“The current second-generation direct disciples are probably at least True Immortal or Mystic Immortal level figures, right? The resources I could access then… would be beyond counting!”
At this thought, Su Xing’s eyes lit up.
Setting everything else aside, a major sect like this surely had some kind of welcome gift, right?
Seven or eight True Immortal and Mystic Immortal level senior martial brothers offering welcome gifts — wouldn’t Su Xing make an absolute fortune?
He might even rocket straight up to the Human Immortal realm!
At this very moment, that was exactly what Su Xing was thinking…
But to be safe, Su Xing decided to purchase a few more intelligence reports.
“Give me a report on Qingyunzi as well — one Grade-B and one Grade-C!”
Su Xing said.
The young woman’s eyes lit up, and she handed over two jade slips:
“One Grade-C intelligence and one Grade-B intelligence — that’ll be 26,000,000 spirit stones…”
Su Xing’s mouth twitched slightly. Just purchasing four intelligence reports had consumed the bulk of his savings.
Still, Su Xing paid without hesitation, then probed the jade slips for their information.
Moments later, Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, a flash of astonishment crossing his gaze.
These two reports contained fairly detailed information about Qingyunzi.
Qingyunzi — a cultivator of tremendous fortune and extraordinary talent, the likes of which the Three Thousand Worlds saw only once in hundreds of thousands of years.
Several cosmic cycles ago, he had already attained the Golden Luo Dao Fruit!
What was the Golden Luo Dao Fruit? To explain that, one had to discuss the cultivation ranks beyond the Immortal realm in the Three Thousand Worlds.
After crossing the Thunder Tribulation and achieving the orthodox path of immortality, one became a Human Immortal.
After the three stages of Human, Earthly, and Heavenly Immortal, one could attain True Immortal!
True Immortals were already peak-level combat forces in a Medium Chiliocosm — patriarch-level figures who could found their own sects!
Above that were Mystic Immortal, then Golden Immortal… At this level, one’s comprehension of the Great Dao ran deep, lifespan was measured in cosmic cycles, and one’s power was terrifyingly unfathomable.
Beyond Golden Immortal was Supreme Unity Golden Immortal… Figures at this level were renowned, top-tier powerhouses across the entire Three Thousand Worlds. They often entered seclusion for thousands of years at a time, and ordinary cultivators could rarely hope to meet one.
Above Supreme Unity Golden Immortal was Grand Luo Golden Immortal!
This level was universally recognized as the strongest combat force of the Three Thousand Worlds’ most powerful factions!
The Celestial Secrets Pavilion’s master, the Azure Cloud Sect’s patriarch Qingyunzi, the White Emperor Tower’s patriarch the White Emperor… all were mighty cultivators of this realm.
Their power was vast and boundless — capable of destroying heaven and earth, shattering entire worlds with ease…
For cultivators of this caliber, lifespan was nothing more than a number.
“Hiss~ Qingyunzi… a Grand Luo cultivator…”
Su Xing sucked in a sharp breath. He had never imagined that when he first entered the cultivation world, he had actually encountered such a terrifyingly powerful being!
If not for the fact that the information matched roughly eighty to ninety percent of what Su Xing knew about Qingyunzi, he would have found it hard to believe!
According to the intelligence, although Qingyunzi’s strength was terrifying, he was by nature indifferent to fame and fortune. Instead, he enjoyed farming and spirit cultivation, often keeping company with the mountains and wilderness.
Qingyunzi even frequently disguised himself as an ordinary farmer, tilling fields in the countryside and wandering the Three Thousand Worlds.
If he happened to encounter a young person with good character and excellent talent, he would even take them as a disciple.
The currently illustrious second-generation disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, the Fire Cloud Golden Immortal, was a disciple Qingyunzi had taken in a hundred thousand years ago…
“Based on all this information, Qingyunzi doesn’t seem like a bad person… In that case, it really is worth making a trip to the Azure Cloud Sect to formally become his disciple!”
Su Xing felt a spark of anticipation in his heart.
As for why Qingyunzi had been in seclusion for ten thousand years despite Su Xing having met him, the intelligence also provided a relevant answer.
It was because Qingyunzi had mastered a heaven-defying supernatural art called One Qi Transforms into Three Purities!
It could split one into three, allowing all three to roam the Three Thousand Worlds… deepening one’s comprehension of the Great Dao.
Su Xing estimated that the one he had met was probably one of Qingyunzi’s clones.
“The only pity is that there’s no intelligence on Qingyunzi from the past ten thousand years… Perhaps the Grade-A intelligence has that? Or maybe even the Celestial Secrets Pavilion can’t obtain intelligence from the last ten thousand years?”
Su Xing let out a sigh.
But overall, having obtained the intelligence he wanted, Su Xing was quite satisfied.
Su Xing was about to leave when a thought struck him:
“By the way, do you have any intelligence on Luo Tian here…”
The young woman, who had been all smiles moments ago, showed a subtle shift in her expression upon hearing the words “Luo Tian,” but still replied:
“We do… Intelligence on Luo Tian is all classified at very high levels… It’s only divided into Grades A, B, and C, and our branch only has Grade-C intelligence available. Would you still like to purchase it?”
Su Xing’s expression grew somewhat puzzled, but he still nodded.
“Give me a copy of the Grade-C intelligence…”
“That’ll be 27,000,000 spirit stones…”
…
The immersive simulation ended, and Su Xing returned to the Real World, a complex, bewildered expression on his face.
“Luo Tian… so that’s how it is!”
“So, the Earth I inhabit… and all the surrounding fractured instances… are actually all part of Luotian!”
Su Xing was utterly shocked at this moment. He never expected that from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, he would obtain such explosive intelligence!
According to the intelligence, the Luotian Realm had been, several cosmic cycles ago, one of the most powerful Greater Worlds among the Three Thousand Worlds…
At that time, the entire Luotian Sect’s power was equal to or even surpassed that of the present-day Azure Cloud Sect!
Within the Luotian Sect, seventy-two Golden Immortals held the fort… and the Grand Patriarch was a terrifying powerhouse who had attained the Grand Luo!
But several cosmic cycles ago… a catastrophic tribulation struck — it was the invasion of the foreign races!
At first, the foreign races’ strength was not formidable, and the Three Thousand Worlds paid them little heed.
Until the foreign races launched a full-scale invasion of the Luotian Realm.
The Luotian Sect fought with everything they had against the entire foreign race…
But ultimately, the Luotian Sect was shattered. As for the outcome of that great battle, it remained unknown…
According to the intelligence, the Luotian Sect had once sought aid from other top-tier sects, but in the end, they were still breached.
Perhaps the other factions only cared about their own safety, and were even happy to see the Luotian Sect — that colossal behemoth — destroyed, so they could swoop in and claim a share of the spoils?
But the great powers among the Three Thousand Worlds never imagined that the foreign races’ strength would be so terrifying… The mighty Luotian Sect —
From Grand Luo Golden Immortals at the top… down to the lowest disciples who had yet to achieve immortality — all perished!
And the vast Luotian Realm was blasted into countless fragments…
The world coordinates were now lost to history, scattered throughout the void of the Three Thousand Worlds.
Based on this intelligence alone, there was no way to connect the Luotian Sect to Earth…
But combined with the information Su Xing had obtained previously, he was over ninety percent certain that the Luotian Realm was the entirety of Earth and its surrounding instance worlds…
Including the Beast Taming World, the Slaughter Battlefield, the Spirit Realm where Luo Shuying resided… as well as the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts, the Blood Demon Realm, and so on — all had once been part of the Luotian Realm!
“So… Luotian is currently sealed by the Red Moon?”
“And the Red Moon is a powerful evil god among the foreign races, who ultimately perished in that battle?”
“So the foreign races, the Advent Cult… that’s why they place such importance on Earth, wanting to seize Earth’s secrets — or rather, to inherit Luotian’s hidden legacy!”
Thinking of this, Su Xing drew a deep breath.
Combining this with the faint echo of the words “Luo Tian” that had come from beyond that black passage, and the residual power lingering in that space…
Su Xing could roughly guess at the relationship between Earth and Luotian.
At this thought, Su Xing’s emotions were rather complex.
There was a trace of fear and worry, but also a thread of excitement and adventurous spirit stirring within him!
What worried him was that among all those great figures and powerful cultivators, with their tens of thousands of years of scheming over Luotian — if they were to discover Su Xing’s secret, it could leave him without even a burial place…
What excited him was that the Luotian Sect’s hidden legacy, if truly found by Su Xing, would absolutely be the greatest support for him to stand tall among the Three Thousand Worlds and become a top-tier cultivator!
“Luotian!”
“Based on current speculation, the Luotian secret treasury may be a form of inheritance… I’ve already obtained from the Luotian inheritance a supreme body-tempering secret art that leads straight to the Sage realm!”
“Now that my Qi Refinement cultivation has reached the Mahayana stage, I wonder if I can obtain even greater benefits?”
Su Xing’s heart stirred with anticipation.
In the next simulation, Su Xing absolutely had to visit the Luotian instance again!
His gaze returned to the simulation panel.
【After leaving the Celestial Secrets Pavilion branch, you were overjoyed, having obtained the crucial intelligence you needed!】
【But what gave you a headache was that the spirit stones you had earned over the years from selling Spirit-Gathering Flowers and trading pills had been completely spent…】
【Moreover, there was even higher-grade Class B and Class A intelligence regarding Luotian, which was beyond your current financial means to purchase.】
【To further improve your strength, you decided to make a trip to Lesser Azure Cloud City.】
【But before that, you decided to accumulate more resources and improve your cultivation.】
【In the blink of an eye, three years passed.】
【Year Twenty-Three: your cultivation advanced to the late Grand Accomplishment Seventh Layer!】
【Over these three years, you purchased a considerable amount of Demonic Beast Blood Essence to refine pills, resulting in an impressive rate of cultivation progress.】
【At the same time, you accumulated tens of millions of spirit stones. Now you were ready to make the trip to Lesser Azure Cloud City.】
【According to your earlier intelligence, Lesser Azure Cloud City was tens of millions of li from White Emperor City, requiring a month-long journey by airship.】
【Airships were a common mode of transportation in the cultivation world, with speeds ranging from ten thousand li per day to a hundred thousand li, to several hundred thousand li… The finest airships could even rival the flight speed of high-level immortals.】
【For safety’s sake and to prevent unexpected incidents, you spent one million spirit stones on a premium airship ticket.】
【This particular airship even had a Heavenly Immortal cultivator standing guard, and the passengers were at minimum Mahayana or Tribulation Crossing stage… making it relatively safe.】
【You boarded the airship and crossed continents and seas… No incidents occurred during the journey.】
【One month later, the airship arrived at Lesser Azure Cloud City.】
【Upon arriving at Lesser Azure Cloud City, you did not rush to join the Azure Cloud Sect. Instead, you rented a room at an inn within the city, intending to observe the situation first.】
【You learned that the Azure Cloud Sect’s next external disciple recruitment was two years away, so you planned to reveal yourself at that time and then join the Azure Cloud Sect.】
【Over the next two years, you cultivated peacefully in Lesser Azure Cloud City.】
【Year Twenty-Five: Lesser Azure Cloud City had rather abundant spiritual energy, and with your sixth-order micro spirit-gathering formation, even with minimal active cultivation, your cultivation naturally advanced to late first-level Mahayana stage…】
【This year, the Azure Cloud Sect held its external recruitment, and a million cultivators from across the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm gathered here.】
【Some were rogue cultivators seeking to join the Azure Cloud Sect and ascend to the Azure Cloud Realm.】
【Others were cultivators who simply came for the spectacle, to see the grand occasion of the Azure Cloud Sect’s recruitment…】
【The entire recruitment ceremony lasted over three months.】
【At the recruitment site, even the Azure Cloud Sect’s outer-gate True Immortal Elder would appear in person.】
Su Xing looked at the simulation text before him and nodded slightly.
“This outer-gate Elder, according to the intelligence… is a third-generation direct disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect. With merely average aptitude and only a Heavenly Spirit Root, he still achieved True Immortal status and became the Azure Cloud Sect’s representative in the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm. His authority is not inconsiderable…”
Su Xing chuckled lightly, finding it rather interesting.
In terms of seniority, this outer-gate True Immortal Elder was the disciple of one of Su Xing’s senior brothers…
So he should rightfully address Su Xing as “Martial Uncle.”
“Then let me make my appearance at this grand assembly… At ordinary times, seeking an audience with a True Immortal is extraordinarily difficult…”
“If I can get through to this martial nephew, smoothly joining the Azure Cloud Sect wouldn’t be bad at all!”
Su Xing thought this as his gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【On the first day of Azure Cloud Sect recruitment, hundreds of thousands of cultivators registered.】
【From seventy-year-old elders to six or seven-year-old children, all harbored dreams of seeking immortality and hoped to enter the Azure Cloud Sect.】
【Even becoming an outer-gate disciple would be a meteoric rise to the heavens.】
【But the vast majority of applicants were cultivators with existing cultivation, whether at Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, or Void Return — rogue cultivators who wished to join the Azure Cloud Sect and gain a powerful backer.】
【You were in no hurry to register, because the True Immortal Elder had not yet appeared. You planned to wander around the recruitment grounds and broaden your horizons.】
【The quality of this Azure Cloud Sect recruitment was remarkably high. In just one month, you witnessed one cultivator with a Heavenly Spirit Root and two with True Spirit Roots being accepted into the sect.】
【The probability was indeed quite high, but you suspected these individuals had been tested for their aptitude beforehand, which gave them the confidence to seek entry into the Azure Cloud Sect.】
【During this recruitment assembly, an amusing incident occurred.】
【A “young master” dressed in brocade robes and accompanied by dozens of elderly servants was tested and found to possess True Spirit Root aptitude.】
【The young master, in high spirits, casually tossed out a few dozen low-grade spirit stones, causing ordinary people and low-level cultivators to scramble for them.】
【As luck would have it, these spirit stones landed right at your feet.】
【With your stature and cultivation, you naturally would not stoop to pick up a mere few dozen spirit stones.】
【This drew the young master’s displeasure. He cast you cold, mocking glances and even seemed to be on the verge of making a move.】
【You found this amusing — a little brat who hadn’t even reached the Qi Refinement stage was looking down on others.】
【So you secretly cast a spell, giving the little brat a streak of bad luck for a while.】
【Unexpectedly, one of the elderly servants beside him detected the spell, and a dispute nearly broke out.】
【You merely chuckled at this and did not bother arguing further.】
【However, this young master’s family held considerable power, apparently having produced a Body Integration stage ancestor in their lineage… As a result, they pursued you relentlessly with mockery and taunts…】
In the Real World, Su Xing couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head at this.
“Tsk tsk, who would have thought such melodramatic things happen in the cultivation world too?”
“Though in the simulation, I look like an unremarkable middle-aged man, almost like a farmer… So it’s easy to be looked down upon…”
Su Xing chuckled softly. It wasn’t that he was magnanimous — it was simply an ant swinging its fist at an elephant. Would the elephant choose to ignore it, or fight back?
The answer was self-evident…
“However… when the Azure Cloud Sect recruitment ceremony concludes, the True Immortal Elder should make an appearance. At that point, I can present my identity!”
Su Xing thought this as his gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【You repeatedly held back against this “young master,” but your restraint only emboldened them further.】
【They seemed certain that you had no powerful backing behind you.】
【But at the Azure Cloud Sect recruitment ceremony, you had no desire to cause a fatal incident.】
【Time passed quickly… arriving at the final day of recruitment.】
【The young master’s family, seeing that you hadn’t registered for the entire three months, concluded that you were a low-level cultivator whose aptitude was insufficient, and that you were merely here to watch the spectacle.】
【When the recruitment concluded, crimson light rose across the sky.】
【A figure accompanied by boundless flames descended upon Lesser Azure Cloud City’s skies like a god of fire.】
【The supreme powerhouse of the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm, the master of Lesser Azure Cloud City — True Immortal Danfire appeared! This was the Azure Cloud Sect’s outer-gate Elder.】
【True Immortal Danfire stood suspended in the high sky and declared this recruitment officially concluded.】
【The cultivators below… the disciples who had participated in the recruitment all displayed expressions of worship and fervor.】
【True Immortal Danfire had a red face and red beard, looking quite imposing and distinguished.】
【Just as True Immortal Danfire was about to depart, you, standing among the crowd below, soared into the air and blocked the departing True Immortal Danfire.】
【You told True Immortal Danfire that you had a matter to discuss with him.】
【True Immortal Danfire merely chuckled at this. Bold cultivators frequently tried to leave a deep impression on him, hoping to rise above others or gain some fortuitous opportunity…】
【Clearly, True Immortal Danfire took you for such a cultivator.】
【But at this moment, True Immortal Danfire was already preparing to leave, so he had no intention of paying you any attention.】
【Seeing that True Immortal Danfire was about to leave, you knew that if you missed this opportunity, you would have to wait several more years.】
【So you directly stated that you were a personal disciple taken in by a certain Grand Master of the Azure Cloud Sect while he was abroad, and that you had now come to formally present yourself at the sect and return to the fold…】
【Upon hearing your words, True Immortal Danfire halted his steps, showing mild interest as he asked which senior brother you had studied under.】
【After hearing this, you hesitated for a moment but chose to speak honestly, stating that you had studied under Qingyunzi. You then prepared to produce your token as proof…】
【Upon hearing this, True Immortal Danfire froze.】
【Not only that, but the several Elders and officials beside True Immortal Danfire, as well as the cultivators throughout the city, all erupted in thunderous laughter…】
【Everyone knew that Qingyunzi had been in seclusion for ten thousand years without emerging, and there had been no news of him.】
【Some Elders even mocked you, asking if you were perhaps a personal disciple from ten thousand years ago?】
【After all, they knew better than anyone that Qingyunzi had not taken any disciples in tens of thousands of years…】
【But just as the other cultivators and Elders were roaring with laughter, True Immortal Danfire noticed the token you had presented…】
【In the next instant, True Immortal Danfire’s expression changed dramatically!】