Chapter 414 - 391: A Natural Breakthrough, the Celestial Pride List is Shaken

And this was a step Song Ciwan had accomplished long ago!

She thus bypassed this most difficult step and proceeded directly to the second: sinking her divine spirit into her Dantian, absorbing her consciousness, and connecting all of her Essence Qi to it.

This would allow her to achieve the goal of her divine spirit surviving in the world, even if her physical body were one day destroyed.

There are many Heroic Spirits in the world whom the Court ennobles as Divine Officers. Typically, such Heroic Spirits can only persist in the world and accept this ennoblement because they have some foundation in Divinity Transformation.

Song Ciwan cultivated both spirit and body, and her physical form was already as formidable as an Earth Immortal’s. Only at this stage did she realize that her path was vastly different from the typical one for Divinity Transformation.

No wonder that when her True Qi had previously reached Perfection, she had lost the opportunity for Divinity Transformation, with the spiritual impulse only reappearing now.

She had to merge the paths of Body Refining and Spirit Refining. And because a Foundation Establishment Treasure Tower resided within her Dantian, she also had to simultaneously balance the complex issues between the Golden Core Dao, spirit-based Cultivating Immortality, and body-based Cultivating Immortality.

Inside the Cultivation Space, scorching flames suddenly erupted around Song Ciwan.

It was the Samadhi True Fire!

Forged from the Heart Sutra Fire, the Bright God Fire, and the Calmness Fire, this Samadhi True Fire tempered body and soul, building a bridge to fuse everything together.

Within the Cultivation Space, endless Vitality surged toward her. Song Ciwan closed her eyes, focused on her breakthrough, and gradually fell into a perfect rhythm.

Meanwhile, outside, in the Steward Hall on Cyan Feather Mountain, Liu Siye, who was on duty sipping tea, suddenly shuddered. He looked up, a preternatural and indescribable sense of crisis rising within him. He felt as though something monumental was about to occur in the skies above the mountain.

’But what could it be?’

Liu Siye removed the Official Seal from his waist and strode out of the Steward Hall, arriving at the open plaza outside.

From this position, holding the Official Seal, he could clearly and completely observe everything happening in the skies above Cyan Feather Mountain.

But all he saw was the plaza before the hall, bustling with people coming and going. Some Cultivators were calling out from their market stalls, some were casually strolling and chatting, and others were hurrying to and fro. They made plans to discuss the Dao at each other’s homes or to venture out in search of treasure...

In short, the plaza before the hall was a picture of prosperity, just as it had been on countless days and nights before.

It seemed no one else sensed the strange crisis he felt. As Liu Siye caressed the Official Seal at his waist, he understood. ’My strange unease obviously isn’t because my own senses are particularly sharp, but because...’

’My Official Seal is trying to tell me something!’

Or rather, something momentous was about to happen, triggering a reaction from his Official Seal.

Liu Siye’s Official Seal was deeply connected to Cyan Feather Mountain. He gazed at the sky, a dawning realization on his face. ’Could it be... that some incredible figure is about to have a breakthrough here on Cyan Feather Mountain?’

’Is... is someone at Divinity Transformation about to enter the Divine Refining Stage and break through to the Earth Immortal Realm?’

’Is there really someone like that in seclusion on this mountain?’

When it came to who was in seclusion on Cyan Feather Mountain, Liu Siye might not know every single Low Level cultivator, but he knew every single one of the High Level ones.

He mused to himself, ’If it were someone breaking through to the Earth Immortal Realm, the Vitality on Cyan Feather Mountain probably wouldn’t be sufficient. Earth Immortals have their own domains and wouldn’t choose to have their breakthrough here. So who could it be? If not an Earth Immortal... could it be... one of the Celestial Prides is breaking through?’

Liu Siye instinctively placed a hand on his Official Seal, pacing back and forth across the plaza several times.

Gradually, people nearby began to notice him and whisper amongst themselves. "That’s Dean Liu of Cyan Feather Mountain. A Court-appointed official. Why does he look so agitated?"

"Could something big be about to happen?"

"Dean Liu is looking at the sky. What’s up there?"

"In the sky... there’s nothing but clouds!"

Just as the crowd was murmuring in confusion, a commotion suddenly erupted from the eastern corner of the plaza.

At first, the disturbance was small, but it quickly spread as a loud voice cried out, "A Suanni Descendant from the Golden Lion Demon Race, originally ranked ninety-fourth on the Celestial Pride List, shot up from ninety-fourth to fifteenth in just three days! This... how is this possible?"

After this cry of astonishment, the rest of the crowd gradually learned what was happening.

It turned out that someone had brought over a newly published copy of the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List, and this issue was clearly vastly different from those before.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List was not updated daily; normally, it was updated once every three months. Sudden updates happened occasionally, but they were very rare.

And every time the Celestial Pride List was updated unexpectedly, it was because a new, world-shaking record had been added.

This issue’s list contained just such a shocking record.

Someone read it out loud: "Gu Peng of the Golden Lion Demon Race, in three days, successively challenged twelve Celestial Prides of the Ten Thousand Races. His rank rose from an initial ninety-fourth, as he defeated number eighty-one, seventy-three, sixty-nine... all the way to number fifteen, the Human Race’s Duan Xinghun, thereby replacing him.

Duan Xinghun’s rank has fallen to twenty-seventh. Gu Peng has taken his place and is now ranked fifteenth!"

After this was read, the plaza fell silent for a moment.

This was followed by an even greater uproar. Someone exclaimed, "Challenging twelve Celestial Prides in three days? What kind of speed is that? How is that even possible?"

Someone else retorted, "What’s impossible about it? If it were impossible, why would the Celestial Pride List have recorded it? You think the Celestial Pride List would publish a fake record?"

The first person replied, "Of course I know the record can’t be fake. I just find it unbelievable. The Golden Lion Demon Race isn’t known for speed. How did this Gu Peng manage to challenge twelve Celestial Prides in just three days? What’s so special about this Golden Lion Demon?"

"Exactly! Forget the speed of the fights; the strangest part is, how did Gu Peng even find those twelve Celestial Prides in three days?"

This was a good question. After all, Celestial Prides weren’t clay idols; they wouldn’t just sit obediently in one place and wait.

Most Celestial Prides were constantly Traveling the world. They were incredibly fast; one might be in Liangzhou one day and Central State the next. They could be in Great Zhou today and a Demon Country tomorrow, or even venture overseas or into the Abyss...to all sorts of places ordinary people could neither reach nor even imagine.

Finding a Celestial Pride’s whereabouts was difficult enough. For Gu Peng to challenge twelve of them in three days, simply being able to locate them all so quickly was an unbelievable feat in itself.

Someone suggested, "Don’t tell me all twelve Celestial Prides just happened to be gathered in one place?"

Someone blurted out, "Impossible. I know for a fact that Mage Yixin is at Han Jue Temple. And Duan Xinghun is at Demon Slaughter Pass—that news just came out a short while ago."

Someone nodded. "Exactly. And as for the other Celestial Prides, Soul-Scattering Saber’s movements are notoriously cryptic, and he possesses the Body of Ten Thousand Transformations. Forget the rest, the fact that Gu Peng could even find Soul-Scattering Saber is terrifying enough."

...

The crowd suddenly fell silent. No one spoke for a moment. Then, someone brought up a chilling point: "The Celestial Prides Gu Peng challenged... they’re all from our Human Race."

Every single one was a Human Race Celestial Pride!

Though the onlookers were not Celestial Prides themselves, they were still human, and they felt a sense of shared kinship.

In that instant, an strange, indescribable atmosphere enveloped the crowd. Was it humiliation or anxiety? Shame or fury?

It was impossible to say for sure; a hundred people wore a thousand different expressions, too varied to describe.

Suddenly, someone else said, "Putting aside the Celestial Prides who are hard to track down, we have a Celestial Pride right here in our city whose location is perfectly clear..."

Someone quickly finished the thought: "The tenth-ranked Celestial Pride, Song Zhao!"

As the name "Song Zhao" was spoken, another commotion suddenly erupted from the other side of the plaza.

Someone shouted, "Gu Peng just made a declaration from Demon Slaughter Pass! He intends to fight his way through every Human Race Celestial Pride on the list, starting with number ten, Song Zhao, and going all the way up to number two, Yun Liuguang!"

"Gu Peng says he will make every member of the Human Race in the top ten of the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List bow their heads!"

A wave of fury rippled through the crowd, and in an instant, they were seething with collective anger.