Chapter 483 - 456: Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List, Another Transformation

[You have sold human desires: one jin and six liang of the surprise, suspicion, and caution of an Early-Stage Returning Void Cultivator. You have received the complete Upright Shadowless, one of the Thirty-Six Celestial Spirit Techniques.]

Upright Shadowless: You become as nothingness, and no worldly technique can draw near.

In other words, while using Upright Shadowless, Song Ciwan would transcend the Mortal World and exist in the void, making her immune to all worldly attacks!

This was not the first time Song Ciwan had obtained a Celestial Spirit Daoist Skill, but it was the first time she had obtained one this potent.

It wasn’t that Fetal Transformation and Shape-shifting was weak, nor was Call Wind and Rain. It was just... Upright Shadowless was on an entirely different level of power, operating on a different plane of principles!

It was too profound, too wonderful—beyond all description.

As the abstruse Technique Mantra poured into Song Ciwan’s mind like a river of stars flowing from the void, she was plunged into a state of joyous enlightenment, as if she had suddenly glimpsed the Grand Thousand Worlds.

The shallow grass that barely covers a horse’s hooves, the riot of flowers that threatens to overwhelm the eye...

The Grand Thousand Worlds held infinite mysteries. After all her cultivation to date, she realized she had only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg!

’Upright Shadowless. But how does one stand upright and cast no shadow?’

If she could grasp this profound mystery, only then could Song Ciwan say she had truly begun to understand the Dao and the underlying principles of this world.

Song Ciwan fell into an indescribable state of epiphany, and several hours passed in a flash.

The moment she awoke, her cultivation had naturally broken through to Late-stage Divinity Transformation.

To say her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds would be a gross understatement.

Of course, when compared to the ancient sages who could become an Instant Saint, there was clearly no contest.

So, in truth, Song Ciwan’s progress was actually quite steady and methodical.

After all, she traded for cultivation time daily, spending at least ten to twenty years training in the Cultivation Space every single day. Even though she had to divide her focus among many other Techniques, and even though her Dantian Sea was incomparably vast—far exceeding that of other Cultivators at her level.

In fact, her Dantian Capacity could be said to surpass her peers’ by tenfold, even a hundredfold. After accumulating power for so long, a breakthrough was long overdue.

The breakthrough was a natural and logical conclusion. Once it was complete, Song Ciwan finished refining her Peach and Plum Puppet as well.

She still carried the Li Wood Puppet with her. As for the Peach Wood Puppet, she could carry it with her or find a place to bury it.

For the time being, Song Ciwan hadn’t found a suitable place, so she kept the Peach Wood Puppet with her.

She could always bury it later once she found the right spot.

And so, forty-nine days passed. While Song Ciwan was lost in her cultivation in the mountains, oblivious to the affairs of the Mortal World, a storm of blood and intrigue was brewing outside.

The commotion Lu Bell had stirred up had far more profound consequences than Song Ciwan had ever imagined.

First and foremost, the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List had changed again.

Just as the group of spectating Cultivators at the foot of Thunder Strike Ridge had predicted, the Celestial Pride List had not only changed—it had changed drastically.

On that day, the same List Guardian was dozing at his post, chin propped in one hand, on the verge of sleep.

The mid-afternoon sun was cool, and the snow in the Capital had yet to fully melt. Beneath the Jade Stele of the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List, only the small pavilion housing the List Guardian was warmed by a brazier—

After all, of all the people gathered beneath the Jade Stele, waiting for the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List to change, only the List Guardian had been dispatched by the Court. He represented the Court’s honor.

The List Guardian dozed lightly, thinking, ’Peerless Celestial Prides are rare. Song Celestial Pride just caused a major stir not long ago. It’s unlikely another event of that magnitude will happen again so soon.’

This wasn’t just the List Guardian’s opinion; it was the prevailing sentiment among most of the spectators gathered at the Jade Stele.

After watching the list for so long, they all developed the strange feeling that they were qualified to pass judgment on the world’s affairs, as if they themselves looked down upon all under heaven.

The dazzling names on the Celestial Pride List were nothing more than idle gossip for them.

Just then, one of the spectators was saying boredly, "It’s been a few days since the last change on the list, hasn’t it? That Lu Bell moved up from seventy-second to fifty-first, but that’s not very exciting. Fifty-first place isn’t even in the top fifty."

As soon as he said it, someone naturally had to argue.

The contrarian retorted, "Hey, so what if it’s not the top fifty? He still moved up, didn’t he? How is that not exciting? The man went from seventy-second to fifty-first in just a few days. Who’s to say that this Lu Celestial Pride won’t keep climbing?"

"Keep climbing? How much higher can he go? You think he can make it into the top ten? Heh, as if the top ten is so easy to get into..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, a loud cry of "AH!" erupted from the crowd beneath the Jade Stele, completely drowning him out.

It was followed by a wave of "AH!"s, one after another.

One after another: "AH!"

"Heavens!"

"Celestial Lord!"

"Unbelievable! Am I going crazy?"

"Th-th-this..."

"Heavens! Lu... Lu... Lu..."

They repeated his name for a long while, yet no one could form a complete sentence.

The man who had just been insisting that "Lu Bell is only fifty-first"—a clever-faced man in sackcloth clothes and an ocher felt hat—was now staring upward, his head tilted back. His felt hat fell from his head, landing on the ground with a soft PAT.

The hat lay on the ground, but the man in sackcloth, who normally cherished it, paid it no mind.

His mouth hung agape. Finally, taking up where the chorus of stammered "Lu’s" had left off, he finally managed to shout, "Lu Bell, he... he... he’s in! He’s in the top ten!"

"Oh! My Celestial Lord!"

The man in sackcloth yelled, jumped up, and suddenly began slapping his own face. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

He showed himself no mercy. After just a few slaps, his face was already swelling.

Yet no one in the surrounding crowd paid any attention to his swollen face.

Finally, the stammering crowd found their voices. Gasps of astonishment and fervent discussions erupted like a flash flood, pouring forth in a torrent.

"It’s real! I’m not seeing things! Lu Bell really made it into the top ten!"

"He’s... he’s... he’s... fourth place!"

"He shot straight to fourth place, surpassing Du Xingheng, even surpassing Su Baiyi..."

"The Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List... it can’t be wrong, can it?"

Down by the Jade Stele, the List Guardian in his warm pavilion jolted awake. He shot up, bounded down the pavilion steps two at a time, and pushed his way through the crowd, HUFFING and PUFFING, until he was right in front of the stele.

Then, he unhooked the Copper Gong and Jade Hammer from his waist and began to strike it furiously. DONG! DONG! DONG!

The crisp, bright sound of the Copper Gong instantly rang out across the vast plaza in front of the Jade Stele.

Immediately after, the lights of one Communication Talisman after another began to flare to life.