Ye Luqing slowly opened her eyes.
She rubbed them, as if she had merely woken from a nap.
Upon waking, however, she felt an unprecedented clarity.
At this moment, within her Spirit Palace, an infant the size of a fingertip was curled up, radiating a milky white, peaceful light as it absorbed the spiritual power within the palace, establishing a faint but growing connection with her.
This Nascent Soul had yet to absorb the power of heaven and earth; it had only granted a slight boost to her spiritual power.
For a cultivator who had originally fallen from the Late Nascent Soul Stage, this improvement was limited.
Currently, Ye Luqing could be considered a Half-Step Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Aside from being unable to project her Nascent Soul outward, she was no different from an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.
She nodded with satisfaction, and as the tip of her nose caught a familiar fragrance, she instinctively opened her mouth to speak.
“A…”
Hm? A familiar scent?
“…Sister?”
Having already started speaking, Ye Luqing hastily corrected herself. She abruptly looked up, and sure enough, the person she saw was Xiao Qingxuan, not Pei Ruyi.
“Sister… what are you doing here?”
She was genuinely startled by Xiao Qingxuan’s sudden appearance. A quarter of an hour ago, the one holding her had been Pei Ruyi. Now, the person had somehow transformed into Xiao Qingxuan.
Fortunately, Pei Ruyi’s hair had returned to its light blue shade. If she had still been mimicking Xiao Qingxuan’s black hair, Ye Luqing might not have recognized her so quickly.
She shook her head. It turned out that Pei Ruyi and Xiao Qingxuan’s striking resemblance was actually a double-edged sword now that both had become her wings. Sometimes, it was truly troublesome.
Especially if she called out the wrong name during dual cultivation. With Pei Ruyi’s current temperament, she’d probably just get jealous, but Xiao Qingxuan would definitely try to cut someone down.
“You expended a lot of energy in your match this morning. I came to see if there was anything I could do.” Xiao Qingxuan seemed oblivious to that slight slip of the tongue.
A moment later, she spoke again:
“A-Qing, if you need someone to guard you while breaking through a realm, just come straight to me. Don’t trouble outsiders.”
Ye Luqing scratched her head awkwardly, hearing the jealousy practically dripping from those words.
What do you mean, don’t trouble outsiders? She’s clearly upset I didn’t rely on her, my own sister.
“It was a sudden sense of breakthrough, a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was a bit rushed,” she explained.
Hearing this, Xiao Qingxuan offered a faint smile:
“Then I shall come by every night from now on, just in case of unforeseen needs.”
“For anything you wish to do, you can rely on me completely.”
Hearing Xiao Qingxuan’s words, Ye Luqing’s mouth twitched slightly.
As expected of the ultimate possessive beauty, but please, no more of this.
Watching Ye Luqing, who had fallen silent, Xiao Qingxuan smiled with satisfaction and rubbed the top of her soft, azure hair.
She used her power of heaven and earth to soothe Ye Luqing’s meridians, stabilizing her newly reached Half-Step Nascent Soul realm.
However, the power of heaven and earth could not replace true enlightenment of the world itself, because this was Xiao Qingxuan’s power, not the actual process of “drawing in the energy of heaven and earth.”
Even so, this was a tremendous help to Ye Luqing.
The next day, clear skies.
As the Grand Tournament’s main event progressed, more and more guests from various sects arrived to observe.
In such a relatively long tournament, the later matches were naturally more exciting. The true battles between powerful experts were about to appear, undoubtedly drawing even more attention.
Moreover, the third day of the main event, featuring the round of sixteen to determine the top eight, received even more focus than the previous two days.
The guests who had come for the first two days clearly felt that the atmosphere today was much more tense.
The reason was simple: according to the tournament rewards, the Top 8 in the singles match could freely choose one Earth-Rank Dharma Treasure from the Myriad Affairs Peak Treasury.
Even for Heavenly Lords at the Spirit Transformation stage, Earth-Rank Dharma Treasures were extremely precious, let alone for these Golden Core and Nascent Soul stage disciples.
Furthermore, disciples who made it into the Top 8 would undoubtedly become the focus of the various Peak Elders.
There was an unwritten rule: as long as one reached the Top 8 in singles, they could stand out among the many Inner Disciples and become the Direct Disciple of a Void Comprehension Divine Lord Elder.
Although this might sound a bit unbelievable—since someone makes it to the Top 8 every year—the number of Divine Lord’s true disciples is extremely small.
This was because the vast majority of those entering the Top 8 were already personal or true disciples. To snatch a spot from these individuals naturally qualified one to stand alongside them.
At the viewing platform, besides Ming Mengmeng, another Dao Venerable expert had also arrived today.
“Sect Master Ming, it’s been a long time.”
The man had a gray goatee and robes, a powerfully built frame, and held a piece of black meteorite iron in his hand, making him look like an immortal deity.
Ming Mengmeng raised an eyebrow. Facing this elder who appeared much older than her, she casually spoke:
“It’s Little Tie, isn’t it? Haven’t seen you in over a decade.”
That man was none other than the Sect Master of Southern Sky Sword Sect, Tie Guhan.
As a Dao Venerable of the “Sword Qi” lineage, Tie Guhan’s reputation, though not equal to the other two Sword Dao Venerables, was still renowned.
The Sword Dao lineage possessed the most lethal offensive power, and the higher one climbed, the harder it was to cultivate. To achieve Dao Venerable was to be one of the rare geniuses who could dominate an era.
Hearing Ming Mengmeng’s words, Tie Guhan nodded slightly.
“I heard Feng Linyi’s Direct Disciple has been promoted to Elder. I came to see the caliber of Profound Firmament Sect’s next generation of disciples.”
It was a consensus among Transcendent-Rank powers and even Immortal Sects: once one’s cultivation surpassed the Nascent Soul stage and broke through to the Spirit Transformation Heavenly Lord realm, their status transcended that of an Elder.
Like Ming Mengmeng, Tie Guhan did not attend the Profound Firmament Upper Sect’s Grand Tournament every year.
Three years prior, after witnessing Xiao Qingxuan, at the peak of the Golden Core stage, overpower all other disciples to seize the championship in both singles and duo matches, he had determined that she possessed transcendent strength among the younger generation.
Just as he expected, during the last Immortal Sect Grand Tournament, Xiao Qingxuan once again won the championship with absolute power, even besting the disciples of the Five Great Immortal Sects.
His visit this time was specifically to see if this generation of disciples, following Xiao Qingxuan, included anyone who could pose a threat to their Southern Sky Sword Sect.
Hearing this, Ming Mengmeng merely let out a scoff.
“Little Tie, you only broke through to Dao Venerable less than a hundred years ago. You still seem to place quite some hope in your disciples.”
She gestured toward the people below the viewing platform.
“The Immortal Sect Grand Tournament happens every five years. Those who seize the championship are all geniuses among geniuses. Yet, how many of them can truly become Dao Venerables who grasp the laws of heaven and earth?”
“Even among the Direct Disciples of those old monsters in the Five Great Immortal Sects, countless ultimately stop at the Void Comprehension stage. Do you really think it’s so easy to grasp the Grand Dao and become a Dao Venerable?”
Her voice paused slightly, then took on a somewhat meaningful tone as she continued:
“Furthermore… your Southern Sky is a Sword Sect. Apart from the ‘Sword Qi’ lineage, the Grand Daos of the other two lineages are already occupied by others.”
The three Sword Dao Venerables were divided into three lineages.
Feng Linyi focused on the Sword Heart, grasping the “Void-Slashing Dao.”
Sword Pavilion Master Ye Anxing focused on Sword Intent, grasping the “Dao of Myriad Transformations.”
And Tie Guhan focused on Sword Qi, grasping the “Soaring Cloud Great Dao.”
“Don’t say a disciple you’ve taught—even you yourself would find it nearly impossible to contend with the other two for the Dao.”
The world believes there is no inherent superiority or inferiority among the three Sword Dao lineages, only differences in specialization.
But as a Dao Venerable at the Dao Integration stage, Ming Mengmeng’s understanding of the rules of the Grand Dao was beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals.
Among the three Sword Dao lineages, the most superior was the Sword Heart, followed by Sword Intent, with Sword Qi being merely the inferior path.
One who perfected the Sword Heart could prove both Sword Intent and Sword Qi. One who perfected Sword Intent could also prove Sword Qi.
This was because Sword Qi, the most commonly used offensive method for Sword Cultivators, was the easiest to prove.
And, relatively speaking, what is easy to prove is certainly not strong enough.
Therefore, in Ming Mengmeng’s view, Southern Sky Sword Sect, as a sword-focused sect, had already reached its pinnacle achievement by becoming one of the Seventy-Two Lower Sects.
To take a step further and become one of the Thirty-Six Upper Sects, they would have to abandon the shackles of being a “Sword Sect,” transform into a multifaceted sect like the Profound Firmament Sect, and cultivate Dao Venerables of other Grand Daos.
Tie Guhan did not answer Ming Mengmeng’s words again. He simply gazed downward.
His eyes did not waver because of her words. They pierced through the mist formed by the power of heaven and earth, staring toward the grand tournament arena below.
Beneath his resolute gaze, it seemed he had long ago found his own target.
