Chapter 428 - 409: [Regional Event: Sword Testing Conference—Countdown!]

Chapter 428: Chapter 409: [Regional Event: Sword Testing Conference—Countdown!]

A mystical sensation spread through Lu Ping’s entire body.

This was a leap in the very essence of his life.

He felt as if he had escaped from a murky pond and swum into a great river.

The world became different in that instant.

The mountain wind was no longer just wind; he could see the flowing trails of Spiritual Qi within it.

The clouds and mist were no longer just mist; he could feel the water vapor and dust contained within.

The entire world, within his perception, seemed to become more three-dimensional and vibrant than ever before!

His flesh, bones, meridians, and even his spiritual soul were being rapidly tempered and sublimated by the power of the Asking Dao Ladder!

The foundation of the Great Dao was being forged!

Foundation Establishment!

He’d done it!

Below the Asking Dao Ladder, everyone felt that aura, which had been steadily climbing until it finally broke through a certain boundary!

"Foun... Foundation Establishment?"

"On the ladder... just like that... his cultivation rose?!"

"Shouldn’t he have exploded and died after failing? How did he get even stronger?"

A newcomer, his voice trembling, voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

"Could it be... this is... a real... Asking Dao Ladder? It’s fake... this has to be fake! This is still part of the act, right?!"

"What kind of act has someone pretending to raise their cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Stage?!" another newcomer roared at the person beside him, having a complete breakdown on the spot.

An act?

At this point, who would still dare to call it an act?!

The fear brought by the rolling head on the martial arts field had been real.

And now, the shock of this on-the-spot breakthrough, this descent of a miracle, was so real it was suffocating!

The undercover agents from the righteous path had completely given up on thinking.

They just stared blankly at the figure enveloped in the pillar of light, feeling as if their entire understanding of cultivation was being ground into the dirt.

On-the-spot Foundation Establishment...

A naturally formed Dao rhythm...

A miracle like this, one that only existed in the legends of ancient sect records, was actually happening in the flesh within a demonic sect! Happening to an unknown, fledgling disciple!

’Falling to a Heart Demon and failing the test actually results in a cultivation boost! This Guixi Sect... just what kind of place is it?!’

’Even if this is a den of demons, we have to see it through!’

The demonic path spies’ minds had also turned to mush.

’A plant? What kind of plant is this dedicated?! Achieving Foundation Establishment on the spot just for an act?! Isn’t that cost a bit too high! This isn’t just insane, it’s utterly unbelievable!’

’Unless... he’s not a plant at all! The Asking Dao Ladder is real! Is this demonic sect really so extravagant? To give newcomers this kind of reward!’

At the thought of this possibility, the backs of all the demonic path spies were soaked in a cold sweat.

Su Ling’er gazed at the figure, her heart a tangled mess.

’Foundation Establishment... he really achieved Foundation Establishment just like that.’

’No Foundation Establishment Elixir, no sect elder acting as a Guardian... he didn’t even seem to have planned for this himself. Is this the Asking Dao Ladder?!’

’As expected of a divine object that could forcibly raise my own cultivation to the peak of Qi Cultivation!’

After breaking through the Foundation Establishment barrier, this power continued to push Lu Ping’s cultivation forward relentlessly!

Early-stage Foundation Establishment... stabilized!

Peak of Early-stage Foundation Establishment!

He was just a hair’s breadth away from stepping into the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment!

However, at this point, the unstoppable momentum finally began to slow.

The vast Spiritual Qi continued to wash over his body, but it could no longer advance his cultivation by even a fraction.

But this Spiritual Qi did not dissipate.

It cleansed Lu Ping’s entire body again and again, forcibly stripping away the impurities accumulated since his mortal days, as well as some things he himself hadn’t even noticed.

Unbeknownst to him, the Guardian Dao Divine Spell that the Celestial Furnace Sect used to control its disciples let out a faint cracking sound under this tyrannical force.

Then, it crumbled and dissipated into nothingness.

Lu Ping felt his entire body lighten, but it wasn’t over yet!

The Spiritual Qi was also washing away the Origin Dust that had formed when he first began cultivating in the Celestial Furnace Sect.

This brand, known to the outside world as "Origin Dust," flickered between light and dark under the cleansing, fading slightly.

After all this was done, the immense Spiritual Qi finally seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion.

The remaining Spiritual Qi changed direction and surged into the iron plate resting against Lu Ping’s chest!

BUZZ!

A soft hum emanated from Lu Ping’s chest.

The iron plate, which had been with him for who knows how many years, was now radiating a scorching heat through his clothes, pressed against his skin.

Lu Ping subconsciously reached for it, only to find the iron plate was scalding hot, completely untouchable.

Immediately after, he saw the originally blurry patterns on the iron plate’s surface begin to grow incredibly clear under the torrent of Spiritual Qi!

Lines of ancient, profound patterns lit up, weaving together into an intricate design.

The light grew brighter and brighter!

The temperature rose higher and higher!

Finally, as Lu Ping watched, the once-battered, hard iron plate melted into a pool of silver liquid. The liquid seeped through his clothes, down his chest, and directly merged into his body!

A cool sensation spread through his entire body.

Lu Ping stood frozen, feeling as though something new had appeared in his mind.

He immediately calmed his mind and probed his sea of consciousness.

Within his originally empty sea of consciousness, a brand-new object was now floating quietly.

It was an iron plate.

Identical to the one he had been wearing against his skin.

Lu Ping carefully extended his Divine Sense toward it.

The moment his Divine Sense touched the iron plate, a massive amount of information flooded into his mind!

[Name]: Great Dream Leisure Scripture

[Type]: Heart Method

[Heart’s Gift: Stealing Leisure] The mortal world is full of endless troubles; better to lie back and watch the clouds drift by. Fifty is the number of the Great Dao, but one escapes; so steal half a day’s leisure from this fleeting life.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was an extraordinary person of unparalleled talent who was nevertheless inherently lazy. He saw cultivation as hard labor. While others entered seclusion to comprehend the Dao, he slept on mountaintops. While others trained and fought to the death, he fished by the river. The elders of his sect, furious at his lack of ambition, sought to expel him. But when he was surrounded, he simply yawned. As a result, all his opponents were overcome with weariness, their fighting spirit completely vanished. They all dropped their swords, found a patch of grass, and fell fast asleep. The extraordinary man left peacefully, leaving behind nothing but a field of snores.

This Heart Method is the culmination of his lifelong "fishing" enlightenment. Cultivating this method to a profound level imbues one’s every word and action with a power of "Stealing Leisure," causing opponents to lose their will to fight, feel weary, and give up the struggle without even realizing it.

[Divine Escape: Fishing] Can only be used once per week. When encountering a crisis, silently recite the incantation in your heart and burn your essence blood to randomly teleport to a completely safe location within a hundred-mile radius.

Lu Ping carefully read the introduction to this Cultivation Technique called the "Great Dream Leisure Scripture," word by word.

He stood frozen to the spot.

’There’s... a Cultivation Technique like this?’

’It doesn’t seek conflict and dislikes killing, but it can make opponents fall asleep? And it even gives a chance to run away once a week?’

’But... bound by the Celestial Furnace Sect’s divine spell and now trapped in this demonic den of the Guixi Sect, I can’t just leave the mountain as I please. When will I ever be able to roam free, go back to see Qinghe Town, or return to Broken Sword Ridge to see... that white monkey I haven’t seen in so many years...’

...

「At the same time.」

Tens of thousands of miles away, within an immortal mountain palace that sat above a sea of clouds.

Celestial Sword Pavilion.

The Celestial Sword Pavilion Master stood in the center of the hall, his hands clasped behind his back.

Within the sect’s Hall of Soul Lamps, the Life-Bound Soul Lamp representing a Nascent Soul elder of the sect had already been extinguished.

A Nascent Soul cultivator had fallen, just like that, inexplicably, in the direction he had gone to investigate!

For the Celestial Sword Pavilion, which didn’t have many Nascent Soul cultivators to begin with and lacked the protection of a Divinity Transformation expert, this was no different from a pillar of the sect collapsing!

Just then, the space above the great hall distorted slightly.

A ray of golden light appeared out of thin air, transforming into a three-foot-long golden decree.

A terrifying pressure emanated from the decree, weighing down on the Celestial Sword Pavilion Master so heavily he could barely stand up straight.

A decree from a superior righteous sect had descended!

The Celestial Sword Pavilion Master’s heart clenched. Not daring to show the slightest disrespect, he hurriedly bowed in salute.

One by one, large golden characters materialized on the decree, written in a flowing, serpentine script.

"Your unauthorized actions resulted in the loss of a Nascent Soul cultivator, bringing shame upon the righteous path. This is an act of incompetence."

"The Golden Light Temple and the Profound Talisman Sect are also at fault."

"The positions of the three sects are not matched by their virtue."

"By the decree of the superior sects, the Sword Testing Conference shall be reopened at Broken Sword Ridge in one month’s time."

"At that time, all righteous sects within the Yunzhou Realm of the Daqian Dynasty may participate."

"The top three of the conference shall become the new pillars of Yunzhou’s righteous path, wielding authority and distributing tributes."

"Consider your actions carefully!"

The golden characters slowly faded, and the decree dissolved into a sky full of light motes before vanishing completely.

The Celestial Sword Pavilion Master slowly straightened up, the color drained from his face.

The Sword Testing Conference!

Broken Sword Ridge!

Those two names pressed down on him, leaving him breathless.

He knew what this meant.

It meant that the "pillar of the community" status the Celestial Sword Pavilion had earned through centuries of management and the sacrifices of generations could very well be lost in the reshuffle of this so-called Sword Testing Conference!

This Sword Testing Conference gave an opportunity to those sects that could have become pillars but lacked the chance. In this battle, the sects that wanted to advance and no longer be carved up like meat would surely give their all.

Once defeated, the Celestial Sword Pavilion would return to that position of being carved up at will, liable to be sacrificed as cannon fodder by the superior sects at any moment!

And an identical scene was playing out simultaneously in the magnificent Golden Light Temple and the Profound Talisman Sect, where talisman light shot to the heavens.

...

[Real World]

Ashen Heaven Group, Divine Thought Supercomputing Center, three hundred meters underground.

This was the core of the entire game "Ashen Heaven," a digital ocean where players’ consciousnesses ebbed and flowed.

A huge matrix of servers coiled around a central pillar of light, their faint blue indicator lights blinking in the constant low temperature.

The entire space was empty, so quiet that the only sound was the hum of the cooling system.

Suddenly.

The data stream on the central control screen stuttered for a moment.

Immediately after, a separate window popped up on its own.

[Regional Event Generation Module Initializing...]

[Event Trigger Condition Met.]

[Target Area Locked: Daqian Dynasty · Yunzhou · Broken Sword Ridge]

[Event Name: Sword Testing Conference]

Lines of text appeared in the window, then quickly vanished.

In the end, only a constantly ticking countdown remained on the screen.

[Countdown to Yunzhou Realm Event Announcement]

[00 Days : 23 Hours : 59 Minutes : 57 Seconds]

[Countdown to Event Start]

[29 Days : 23 Hours : 59 Minutes : 57 Seconds]