Yuan’s Ascension

Summerpeak World, the Middle Land.

The talent of my qi refiner self is finally about to blossom. Far away in the Summerpeak World, Wu Yuan's body refiner self revealed a slight smile.

Two true selves shared one consciousness.

In the past, his qi refiner self’s startling displays of skill were mainly the result of his body refiner self’s Dao comprehension aptitude, which was merely applied by his qi refiner self.

What a pity, apart from a single consciousness, shared memory, and interconnected Dao comprehension, the two true selves differ greatly in other aspects. Wu Yuan shook his head slightly.

While the soul of his qi refiner self underwent a transformation, the soul of his body refiner self changed very little, his current Soul Force range still below five hundred li. It would take his body refiner self a few more years to reach the Soul Will level.

Of course, in terms of overall talent, the body refiner self was still slightly superior.

My qi refiner self resides within Dragon Star, on the Immortal Continent. Protected by my master, I can cultivate in peace for a while. Wu Yuan furrowed his brows slightly.

As for the current situation in the Summerpeak World?

Wu Yuan's body refiner self dared not to leave the Middle Land, allowing only scouting teams to carry out expeditions and bring back intelligence. This enabled him to gain a better understanding of the overall situation in Summerpeak.

Five civilizations had been discovered so far. Some were established on a single, massive landmass while others were on an archipelago. Their populations ranged from hundreds of millions to tens of billions, but none compared to the Middle Land.

Under Wu Yuan's orders, no one was to disturb these civilizations. Only observation and intelligence gathering were conducted.

So far, no abnormalities had been detected.

Hm? Wu Yuan furrowed his brows slightly. Fang Xia is looking for me?

With a thought, a strand of Wu Yuan's consciousness entered the Middle Land Immortal Hall, arriving directly in the Conference Hall. Fang Xia had been waiting for some time.

"Young Master." Fang Xia bowed slightly.

"What's the matter?" asked Wu Yuan.

"Something has happened to the team scouting in the direction of the Xin Continent. Of the four soul lamps, three have been extinguished and no news has been received," Fang Xia said solemnly.

Wu Yuan's pupils contracted.

The soul lamp, also known as the life lamp, was tied to the soul of an immortal cultivator.

After receiving an immense quantity of information, intelligence, and teachings from Wu Yuan's qi refiner self, Fang Xia had crafted some low-grade soul lamps.

Although their effective range was limited, it spanned the entire Summerpeak.

"There are only three possibilities when a soul lamp is extinguished," Wu Yuan said in a soft voice.

"First, they have fallen. Second, they voluntarily cut off contact. Third, they teleported to an extremely distant place, which automatically severed their connection with the soul lamps."

There was no doubt that the first possibility was the most likely one.

"This team consisted of four immortal cultivators. The soul lamps of three of them went out instantly," Fang Xia said quietly. "Chances are, they were instantly killed by a powerhouse, at least a late-stage qi sea cultivator."

"Out of the five teams, the other four have returned after completing their scouting mission. Only the team heading in the direction of the Xin Continent did not return, and now more than half of them have died."

"Young Master, I speculate that there exists a rather strong immortal path civilization on the other side of the Xin Continent, possibly one stronger than us," Fang Xia said seriously, "And they might bear hostility towards us."

Wu Yuan listened silently.

From the historical immortal epochs, he could make several deductions. This was just further confirmation that a strong immortal civilization existed beyond the Xin Continent.

Hostility? That might not be the case. The Summerpeak World served as a Bloodforge World. For all they knew, there was a base of the Bloodforge Devil Hall lying on the other end of the Xin Continent.

"Spread this news to all the immortal cultivators of the Middle Land Guard. Order all personnel in charge of the monitoring array throughout the Middle Land to heighten their vigilance. As soon as there’s news, report it immediately," Wu Yuan said calmly.

"Understood," Fang Xia nodded.

"Seven days. If no emergencies occur within seven days..." Wu Yuan said softly, "I will personally scout the area beyond the Xin Continent."

"Young Master, you'll go personally?" Fang Xia was taken aback, "Wouldn't it be better to send my clone to scout ahead first?"

"There’s no need. No matter what dangers there are, we must face them eventually," Wu Yuan shook his head, then chuckled.

"Old Fang, I'm not being arrogant here. With my current strength, even if there are powerful civilizations in the Summerpeak World, few enemies can actually threaten me."

Although the Summerpeak World was vast, it had only just begun to recover. Could an Amethyst Cradle cultivator have emerged in this short span of time? Wu Yuan needed to know.

“If it’s just an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, I can crush them with one slap.” Wu Yuan stated calmly, his voice filled with unwavering confidence.

Even if he met an Amethyst Cradle cultivator, he could still put up a fight. The outcome would not be decided that easily.

"Understood." Fang Xia responded respectfully.

In his early twenties, Wu Yuan was capable of killing Jin Quan, a cultivator at the Golden Core phase.

Nearly thirty years had passed, just how powerful had Wu Yuan become? This was a mystery that all beings of the Middle Land were curious to find out.

…

Once the scouting team was annihilated, the entire Middle Land went on high alert.

Southeast of the Middle Land, about four million li away, lay a vast landmass with a winding and meandering coastline. The width of this continent exceeded a million li.

This place was home to over a hundred billion living beings. An abundant immortal path civilization had flourished over thousands of years, producing countless immortal cultivators.

On the eastern part of the continent, majestic mountain ranges undulated, and numerous pavilions and towers nestled within the mountain peaks. Numerous immortal cultivators flew to and fro on their swords.

This was the Huoyan Sect, one of the three major immortal path sects on the continent.

Today, the atmosphere within the magnificent main hall of the sect was unusually tense.

"Elders, I believe you have all received the message from our ancestor," A silver-robed elderly man sat on the host seat, speaking slowly.

"Our Summerpeak World's spiritual qi has fully recovered to its original levels. According to the requirements of the higher world, our Summerpeak World will officially join the other Bloodforge Worlds."

"I believe you've all read the information. All three of our sects must send a sufficient number of Qi Sea and Golden Core cultivators for the trial," the silver-robed elder's gaze swept over the other elders in the hall.

"Otherwise, once the wrath of the higher world descends upon us, it will be more than we can bear."

The elders looked at each other.

"Sect Leader, it's not that we're unwilling," a purple-robed elderly man frowned. "But they’re expecting the Summerpeak World to supply a thousand Qi Sea cultivators and thirty Golden Core cultivators? Where are we supposed to find that many?"

"Qi Sea cultivators? That's manageable. But Golden Core? The Golden Core cultivators of our three great sects and other loose cultivators combined don’t even add up to a hundred individuals," the purple-robed elderly man shook his head. "Are you suggesting that we elders should join the trial?"

As Golden Core cultivators, all of them had lofty statuses on the continent. Why would they willingly participate in the notoriously brutal Bloodforge?

Historically, almost no Golden Core cultivators who participated in the Bloodforge lived to tell the tale.

"I have thought of a solution," a white-robed elder sitting on the side of the hall suddenly spoke.

"Oh? Elder Yun, do tell," the silver-robed elderly man asked in response.

"We might not have enough cultivators among our three sects. But now, the forbidden regions have vanished. According to our previous investigations, our Summerpeak World consists of sixty-three indigenous civilizations and countless demonic beasts in the expansive oceans," the white-robed elder said quietly.

"We could capture a large number of Qi Sea cultivators from these indigenous civilizations to make up the numbers. As for Golden Core cultivators, we can start by capturing the known Golden Core and Spiritual Body demonic beasts."

"And among these indigenous civilizations, nine are particularly strong. A thousand years ago, they were already able to produce qi refiners. After developing for over a thousand years, they might have produced Golden Core cultivators."

The white-robed elder waved his hand.

Whoosh~ A massive light screen appeared, showing the projection of a vast map. Most of the map was taken up by a gigantic landmass, along with some islands scattered throughout the oceans.

Some of these islands couldn’t exactly be considered small. If Wu Yuan and Fang Xia were here, they would quickly notice that one of the large islands on the map was shaped just like the Middle Land.

There was also a large island to the Northwest, its coastline strikingly similar to the Xin Continent.

"Based on the previous agreement by the three great sects, once the world’s spiritual qi was restored, islands number three, six, and nine, would all fall under my Huoyan Sect's jurisdiction," the white-robed elder stated softly. "These three islands are easily home to billions of people."

"Especially island number three." The white-robed elder pointed at an island, which was unmistakably the Middle Land. "It has the highest probability of producing Golden Core cultivators."

"With this in mind, I estimate that the three great sects should be able to meet the quota for Golden Core/Spiritual Body cultivators without much problem," the white-robed elderly man proposed with a smile. "What do you think?"

"Mm, sounds good. With this, we can live peacefully for another five hundred years."

"It sounds feasible."

"I've always wanted to deal with those Golden Core demons." The elders all voiced their agreement.

They understood that capturing a large number of Golden Core cultivators was akin to going to war. This task was not as easy as it sounded. There was a good chance that some of the Golden Core cultivators among them would fall, perhaps even a large number of them.

But compared to the Bloodforge which meant certain death, they were all willing to attempt this alternative method.

"I’ve just received some news," an elderly man in silver robes suddenly spoke up. "Sect Elder Mo from Huang Island caught a scouting team from island number three."

"He killed three of the four Qi Sea cultivators and captured one alive. We've obtained quite a bit of information about island number three. Apparently, they call their island the Middle Land."

"This island civilization has over a hundred Qi Sea immortal cultivators and at least three Golden Core cultivators," the silver-robed elderly man said with a smile. "Moreover, these Golden Core cultivators have all made their breakthroughs in the recent decades."

"Elder Yun's suggestion seems highly feasible indeed," said the silver-robed elder.

"Broke through in the past several decades?"

"Haha, good!"

"The strongest among them should be at the third-stage Golden Core phase at most."

"How strong can an indigenous civilization be?" The elders in the hall relaxed. They were all aware of the difficulty of advancing through each stage of the Golden Core phase.

"But we must not be careless." The expression of the silver-robed elder subtly changed as he continued in a low voice.

"Sect Elder Mo just received the latest news. The strongest individual in the Middle Land is a peerless genius named Wu Yuan. In his early twenties, he was capable of slaying a Golden Core cultivator. Now, almost three decades have passed and his current strength is unknown."

Silence blanketed the room.

All the Golden Core elders present looked at him with widened eyes, finding it hard to believe. Could someone in their early twenties really slay a Golden Core cultivator?

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