Yun State Daoist Academy, it was late spring.
The bamboo grove in the courtyard shielded the skies, with slender and tall green bamboo, dew condensing on the leaves, and a gentle breeze rustling through.
At the center of the bamboo grove, on a green stone platform, sat a figure in blue with crossed legs — it was Chen Xihua.
He wore a Sword Robe, with an ancient long sword across his knee, surrounded by a subtle Sword Rhyme of destruction; with every breath, a fine Sword Qi leaked from his pores, evolving into a Sword Domain.
At this moment, Chen Xihua was immersed in the mystical realm of Sword Rhyme and Heaven and Earth Resonance, when the Jade Scroll hanging by his waist suddenly grew warm.
A gentle Yang Spirit thought pierced through the Sword Rhyme barrier: "Xihua, come to the Celestial Song Tower to see me quickly."
It was the voice of his teaching mentor, Xun Daoist, calm yet carrying a certain urgency that couldn't be delayed.
Chen Xihua's heart stirred, and the Sword Rhyme of destruction around him instantly converged; beneath his feet emerged a faint Sword Gang, merging his figure into the void before quickly arriving at the Celestial Song Tower, located at the core of the Daoist Academy.
This building was entirely constructed of nanmu wood, divided into seven floors; upon stepping into the elegant room on the third floor, Chen Xihua saw Xun Daoist seated and having tea with a middle-aged man in blue.
Xun Daoist wore a plain Daoist Robe, his beard and hair white.
However, the middle-aged man in blue was particularly striking — dressed in a dark blue robe embroidered with patterns of stars, his waist cinched with a white jade belt, the belt embedded with an egg-sized ice crystal, within which a faint chill was seen flowing.
"Xihua, you're here."
Xun Daoist, seeing him enter, quickly stood and waved:
"Come quickly and greet Daoist Guang Yuan, this is a Refining Void Great Power from Yunlu Daoist Palace!"
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"Yunlu Daoist Palace?"
Chen Xihua's heart was stirred, immediately recalling Daoist Life-Annihilating who joined the Daoist Palace, he promptly adjusted his robe to salute:
"Junior Chen Xihua, greets Senior Guang Yuan."
"No need for excessive courtesy, young friend."
Daoist Guang Yuan laughed heartily, with a sweep of his sleeve, directly supported Chen Xihua's form, preventing him from bowing.
His gaze fell on Chen Xihua, carrying a few traces of scrutiny, yet predominantly friendly:
"I come this time, entrusted by Uncle Life-Annihilating, to deliver something to you."
"Uncle Life-Annihilating?"
Chen Xihua froze suddenly, his mind blank for a moment.
Before he could react, Daoist Guang Yuan raised his right hand, with a gentle sweep of his sleeve, a blue light floated out, condensing into a palm-sized ice crystal box in the air.
The box sculpted from Profound Ice, its surface inscribed with complex sealing runes, which circulated emitting a biting cold, yet wrapped in a delicate Spiritual Qi, avoiding harm to surrounding objects.
Daoist Guang Yuan pointed lightly and the ice crystal box's lid slowly opened.
From within the box, two weakly flickering cold light clusters rose, within which vague human figures were seen — the remains of Yang Spirit thoughts.
Upon seeing the familiar faces within the light clusters, Chen Xihua's breath momentarily halted, his hand gripping the sword hilt involuntarily bulging with veins.
"Bai Changqing! Chu Renxiong!"
He gritted his teeth, spitting out these names, recalling how they set the Heaven and Earth Net to hunt down him and others, forcing him and Chen Sheng to hide in Grotto Heaven for hundreds of years.
His old friends Carefree, Zuo Xuan also perished at the hands of these two, such deep resentment etched in his heart, never daring to forget day and night.
...
At this moment, Bai and Chu's Yang Spirits were exceedingly frail, with chaotic Divine Thought fluctuations, clearly having suffered extreme torment.
It was Chen Sheng who had put them into the Yin Yang grindstone, night and day for hundreds of years grinding, their Dharma Body and Yang Spirit crushed into purest energy to nourish the Cyan Nether Sword.
All value long drained, now remaining only two exceedingly frail residual souls.
Daoist Guang Yuan's smile faded slightly, his tone carried a hint of chill:
"Precisely these two, Uncle Life-Annihilating entrusted me to give to young friend for disposal, also to settle some karmic bond."
With that, he lightly flicked his finger, and the ice crystal box transformed into a blue light, landing steadily in Chen Xihua's hand.
Then, Daoist Guang Yuan waved his hand, turning to slightly nod at Xun Daoist, his tone returning to calm:
"Xun Daoist friend, excuse the disturbance, I bid farewell."
Before his words fell, a faint chill rose around him, the chill permeated like thin mist enveloping his form.
Once the chill dispersed, there was no trace of Daoist Guang Yuan left in the elegant room, only a faint trace of astral Dao Rhyme lingered.
Chen Xihua was momentarily dumbfounded, a feeling of unreality rose within him.
The two residual Yang Spirits within the box weakly pulsated; they were Bai Changqing and Chu Renxiong — once Refining Void Great Powers, now like ants at the mercy of others, handed casually to him for disposal.
"Still lost in thought?"
A gentle voice came from behind him, Xun Daoist walked close, his withered hand lightly patting his shoulder.
The warm and rich Dao Rhyme that flowed from his palm instantly calmed Chen Xihua's chaotic emotions.
Xun Daoist's gaze fell on the ice crystal box, a trace of sentimentality flashed in his eyes:
"Do you realize, for Refining Void Great Powers to bow so low, delivering something in person, what kind of weight your friend now holds?"
He shook his head, explaining to himself:
"Daoist Life-Annihilating, the fourth True Disciple under Dharma Master Hong Jue, in recent years, his fame among the circle of Refining Void Great Powers in the entire Yun State has been rising."
"That Daoist Guang Yuan just now is indeed Cold Monarch's Direct Disciple, hence calls him Uncle."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xihua's heart shook, though he did not know Cold Monarch's Cultivation, being able to teach someone like Guang Yuan, his Realm must be immeasurable.
And Life-Annihilating being his junior, his disciple showing such respect, his standing is imaginable.
Xun Daoist led him to the window, looking towards the stone tower soaring into the clouds on the west side of the Daoist Academy.
The tower was built with gray-white rocks, each level surrounded by different Dao Principle radiance, truly the sacred ground of Yun State Daoist Academy, "Mystical Tower."
"While chatting with me just now, Daoist Guang Yuan mentioned that Daoist Life-Annihilating recently broke through the twelfth layer of Star Tower. This Star Tower corresponds to the levels of our Mystical Tower, and you should know what this implies."
"The twelfth layer of Mystical Tower..."
Chen Xihua's breath suddenly halted; he knew well the difficulty of Mystical Tower—when he first joined the academy, he barely broke through the fourth layer!
In the centuries that followed, he mastered the Integration Secret Technique and received meticulous guidance from Xun Daoist, a late-stage Void Refining Great Power. He then barely broke through two more layers, now stuck at the sixth layer for fifty years.
Xun Daoist once predicted that if he could maintain such progress, he would surely comprehend the Dao Domain and advance to Void Refining within three thousand years, which was already remarkable among his peers.
But the twelfth layer...
"I recall that Master Xun only reached the thirteenth layer..."
A thought uncontrollably flashed in his mind, which Chen Xihua quickly suppressed, as Master Xun treated him well, and he should not be disrespectful.
Xun Daoist stroked his beard and sighed, his eyes full of admiration:
"When I reached the twelfth layer, I had been cultivating for thirty-seven thousand years, while your friend is only a few thousand years old now."
"Not long ago, I heard Dharma Master praise your friend, calling him the hope of the younger generation, most likely to condense the Dharma Seed and impact the Integration Realm."
"Condense the Dharma Seed..."
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Chen Xihua gasped, as he had not yet comprehended the Dao Domain, nor advanced to Void Refining and Integration Realm; it was unimaginable.
Xun Daoist patted his back, speaking earnestly:
"You have past interactions with him, this is a tremendous opportunity. If there's a chance in the future, you should engage with him frequently."
Chen Xihua nodded, "I understand, Master!"
...
The void at the edge of Royal Heaven Domain was originally a silent darkness.
Suddenly, waves of pale golden ripples spread in the void, and a light bridge interwoven from billions of star trajectories descended with a roar.
Countless time-space images flowed on both sides of the light bridge, with glimpses of mountains, rivers, and seas from dozens of domains rapidly passing by.
At the end of the light bridge, a mysterious figure slowly emerged, it was Chen Sheng.
The star trajectory light bridge faded behind him, leaving only a trace of starry Dao Rhyme merging into the void.
Chen Sheng sensed the yet-to-settle mana fluctuations within him, genuinely sighing:
"Transmitting across dozens of domains, such a technique of Master is truly earth-shattering."
Void Refining and Integration appear only a step apart, but actually worlds apart, with a gap far larger than that between Chen Sheng and mortals.
The former still cultivates the Heaven and Earth Dao Principle, while the latter has already condensed the Dharma Seed, surpassing the Heaven and Earth Dao Principle.
...
Next, Chen Sheng looked ahead to see two gigantic scorching suns suspended in the void billions of miles away.
The sun on the left was crimson, burning with fierce flames, intermingled with golden Dao Rhyme runes.
The sun on the right was dark red, its surface covered with black cracks, emitting a heavy gravitational field.
The two suns circled each other, colliding to create sparks that, during their fall, transformed into streams of law light nourishing the space below.
Under the dual suns' illumination, countless Secret Realm islands floated in the void, varying in size, some as large as continents, others only allowing space for a single cave abode.
The island surfaces were covered with rich Spiritual Qi, some enveloped in colorful miasma, where glimpses of rare flowers and herbs blooming could be seen.
"Is this Chongli Heaven? Truly a wonder between two realms."
Chen Sheng's heart stirred, starry light appeared around him, and his figure turned into a stream of light, rushing towards the fantastic space.
Passing through a transparent barrier woven from the Dao Principles of two realms, Chen Sheng felt a pause around him.
He quickly activated the Circulation Primordial Magnet Immortal Garb, fully restraining his breath, becoming an ordinary Spirit Light, merging into the void of Chongli Heaven.
...
Half a month later, Chen Sheng arrived at Dongming Prefecture at Chongli Heaven's border, with a gigantic city beneath his feet.
City walls built from black basalt, inscribed with dense runes, emitted a mighty pressure.
Chen Sheng's figure appeared outside the city gate, now transformed into a swordsman in green robes, with an ancient longsword slung at his waist, his aura restrained, seemingly no different from the cultivators coming into the city.
Entering the city with the crowd, he found streets lined with a variety of shops, their signs slightly different from those in the Spirit Realm.
Some shops sold stones imbued with Taiyi Realm's fiery charm, others displayed rare flowers and herbs from the Spirit Realm, while passing cultivators wore a mix of attire.
There were cultivators from the Taiyi Realm and the Spirit Realm, and even some with features from both realms, apparently born locally in Chongli Heaven.
Chen Sheng walked slowly down the street, spreading his Yang Spirit thought, discreetly observing the surrounding cultivators.
"These are the native cultivators of Taiyi Realm; their cultivation system is indeed different from the Spirit Realm."
"Mortal Transformation, Primordial Spirit, Longevity, Opening, Creation, Transcendence, each realm divided into twelve layers, the names much grander than those of the Spirit Realm."
Chen Sheng pondered the cultivation system of Taiyi Realm as informed by Dharma Master Hong Jue:
"The twelve layers of Longevity correspond to the twelve tribulations of Void Refining."
"Opening Realm corresponds to Integration, Creation Realm corresponds to Crossing the Tribulation, Transcendence Realm corresponds to Mahayana; I wonder how Taiyi Realm's cultivators in Transcendence Realm compare to Spirit Realm's Mahayana cultivators?"
"Since they're both from the Grand Thousand World, they should be similarly matched."
"For me, perhaps gathering some Taiyi Realm cultivation texts and studying them could yield insights; Master had me come for training, maybe this is also the reason."
He meditated inwardly, using his Yang Spirit thought to perceive and distinctly distinguish the different cultivators' realms.
Those with fiery, yet mundane and impure, breaths belonged to the Mortal Transformation Realm, corresponding to Golden Core and lower realms in the Spirit Realm.
Those with solid Primordial Spirits and formidable Divine Techniques were from the Primordial Spirit Realm, akin to Nascent Soul and Divinity Transformation in the Spirit Realm.
A few with vast ocean-like breaths, showing hints of completion in their physical form, were in the Longevity Realm, parallel to Void Refining Realm in the Spirit Realm.
In a teahouse along the street, several cultivators were loudly discussing recent Secret Realm developments, and Chen Sheng slowed his pace, listening closely.
"Did you hear? Sect Master Liefeng from the Blazing Sun Sect broke through to the eighth layer of the Longevity Realm, and is now leading a team to the 'Dual Sun Secret Realm' to treasure hunt!"
"So what, the wandering Daoist from the Spirit Realm isn't weak either, he's at the seventh layer of the Longevity Realm and reputedly excels in Void Secret Techniques!"
Chen Sheng nodded gently; Dongming Prefecture, as the outskirts of Chongli Heaven, had its strongest at the seventh and eighth layers of Longevity Realm, yet with his six-tribulation Void Refining power, he could comfortably settle here.