132: Chapter 132 Weight

dragon slaying.

Those two words hung silently above the dark cyan palace gates, as if they had been silent for thousands of years.

But everyone present saw them.

It was as if those two words had come to life, slicing through the void with supreme Sword Intent and sending a cold, clear sword shadow deep into everyone's Soul.

Teng Yuzhi couldn't help but take half a step back.

She was not a timid person.

She began practicing the sword at seven, entered the Qi Accumulation at twelve, and reached the Primal Elephant Realm at seventeen. She had traveled this martial path more smoothly than anyone else, and she understood her own talent and pride better than anyone.

But at this moment, facing those two ancient seal characters spanning across the palace gates, she truly felt for the first time—

what it meant for an ant to look up at the sky.

That Sword Intent was too pure.

So pure that it held no killing intent, no hostility, and not even a sharp edge directed at anyone.

It simply "existed," like the sun and moon traversing the sky or rivers flowing across the earth, and that alone was enough to make all who looked up at it feel ashamed of their own inferiority.

This was... the third stage of the Mysterious Glimpse Realm, Nirvana.

This was the Dragon Slaying True Person.

Yuheng noticed her abnormality and reached out to gently place a hand on her wrist.

A warm, water-like Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence was transferred over, quietly dissolving the lingering awe-inspiring intent of that sword's hum.

"Don't force yourself." Yuheng's voice was very low, audible only to the two of them. "The Dragon Slaying True Person was famous for his sword. Even a leftover inscription is not something those in the Primal Elephant Realm can look at directly. How long did you look just now?"

"...One breath," Teng Yuzhi replied.

Yuheng fell silent for a moment, making no comment on what that one breath meant. She simply withdrew her hand and looked back at the palace gates slowly rising from the seawater.

"Then wait one more breath."

Teng Yuzhi lowered her eyes.

She didn't ask further about the meaning of those words; she simply let the sword shadow of those two characters sink into the deepest part of her heart, like hiding away an unpolished sword embryo.

On the sea's surface, the brief silence was shattered with a boom.

It wasn't a single person speaking; it was the low hum of thousands of people simultaneously inhaling, exclaiming, and discussing, merging into a torrent that surged from all directions toward the palace gates that had slept for thousands of years.

"The Dragon Slaying True Person! It's the Dragon Slaying True Person's Immortal Cave!"

"The Innate One Qi Sect! The ruins of the ancient Innate One Qi Sect have appeared!"

"That plaque... that's True Intent Manifestation! The supreme Sword Intent of a Nirvana stage powerhouse!"

"Heaven is helping me! If I can obtain the True Person's Legacy—"

"With just you? You dare to covet the True Person's hidden treasure even at the Burning Viscera Realm Perfection? Get lost!"

The clamor was like boiling water poured into a pan of oil, instantly exploding into countless sparks.

Some were trembling with excitement, some knelt on the bows of their boats with reddened eyes, some gripped their weapons so hard their knuckles turned white, and some had already begun to quietly move closer to the palace gates.

However, no one dared to cross the line.

Because those two ancient seal characters still hung there.

Because the palace gates had not yet opened.

Because everyone knew—the real players had not yet made a move.

Teng Yuzhi withdrew her gaze.

She didn't look at those fanatical Loose Cultivators, nor did she look at the various forces that had begun to secretly send messages and coordinate.

Her gaze passed over the many layers of boats and landed on a certain area of the sea on the other side of the Dragon Abyss Palace's large ship.

There, the Black Jade Mansion's Black Jade Flying Shuttles were arranged in neat Formations. On the most ancient-looking tower ship in the center, several young figures stood facing the wind.

The leader was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with a face like polished jade and cold features. He wore a dark cyan cross-collared robe, and a black jade medallion hung from his waist.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his internal energy restrained like an abyss. Although he just stood there quietly, all the surrounding Black Jade Mansion Disciples instinctively kept a distance of more than three steps from him.

Zhao Yuanchen.

A True Disciple of the Black Jade Mansion, in the second level of the Dragon Elephant Realm—the Dragon Fetus Realm.

Teng Yuzhi took only one look before looking away.

It wasn't the first time she had heard this name.

At the Peak of the Dragon Fetus Realm, he was only one step away from the Dragon Tiger Mutual Harmony, and rumors said he was already attempting to break through that barrier.

His personal arrival at Star Continent Anchorage this time was undoubtedly for the Dragon Slaying True Person's hidden treasure—more accurately, for that sliver of Opportunity to break through to the Mutual Harmony stage.

However, at this moment, Zhao Yuanchen's expression was not very good.

On that cold, jade-like face, his brows were slightly furrowed, and his lips were pressed into a straight line.

Although he still maintained the composed demeanor of a True Disciple, there was clearly a deep gloom suppressed within his slightly narrowed eyes.

Several Black Jade Mansion Disciples behind him were also talking in hushed tones. Their voices were kept very low, but a sentence or two still drifted on the wind.

"...Those who have not obtained spiritual essence... doesn't that mean only those in the Primal Elephant Realm can enter?"

"The President has already reached the Great Perfection of the Dragon Fetus Realm, wouldn't that..."

"Quiet!"

Teng Yuzhi withdrew her gaze, the corners of her lips curling into a very slight arc.

Those who have not obtained spiritual essence.

She had heard it just now as well.

That thought, which came from nowhere, was like a Heavenly Decree the moment the palace gates lit up, clearly and unmistakably etched into the minds of everyone present.

It was a condition.

It was also a threshold.

A threshold set by the Dragon Slaying True Person that only those in the Primal Elephant Realm could enter.

"—Only those who have not obtained spiritual essence may enter, and their number shall not exceed one hundred."

What did "not obtained spiritual essence" mean?

It didn't refer to mortal things that had not yet gained intelligence, but rather... beings who had not yet completely refined the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence into their own Origin.

In the Primal Elephant Realm, one condenses True Intent with their own blood and qi but does not absorb the spiritual essence from the world.

The Dragon Fetus was different.

Martial Artists in this realm have already nurtured a "Dragon Fetus" deep within their Dantian.

It is the product of the fusion and sublimation of spiritual essence and blood-qi, and of the Divine Soul and True Intent; it is the prototype for future Transcendence into Reality.

The moment the Dragon Fetus takes shape, the Cultivator is no longer just "borrowing" the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence, but has completely refined a wisp of it, integrating it into themselves and making it a part of their very life essence.

This was "Obtaining Essence."

And what the Dragon Slaying True Person wanted were precisely those who had not yet completed this step.

—The Primal Elephant Realm.

This was why Zhao Yuanchen's face had turned dark.

He had practiced hard for over twenty years and exhausted countless resources before finally stepping into the Dragon Fetus at the age of twenty-seven.

For the next six years, he had spent day and night attempting to reach the Dragon Tiger Mutual Harmony, all for the day he could break through to the Mysterious Glimpse Realm and join the true top tier of the West Sea.

Now that the Dragon Slaying True Person's hidden treasure was right before his eyes, that door had closed on him.

He didn't even have the qualification to step over the threshold.

Teng Yuzhi didn't look any further.

She just stood quietly by Yuheng's side, listening to the whispered discussions of the outer and inner Disciples of the Dragon Abyss Palace behind her, hearing some express regret, some feel lucky, and some quietly adjust their positions.

Then, she heard Yuheng's voice.

It was neither loud nor soft, just enough to reach the ears of the several Bibo Pool Disciples nearby.

"There are only one hundred spots."

Yuheng's tone was very flat, as if she were speaking of a foregone conclusion.

"Thirty people per major power, and the remaining ten will be given to those outside."

She raised her chin and nodded toward the dense, endless mass of Loose Cultivators' boats on the sea.

The movement was very slight, even casual.

But Teng Yuzhi heard the weight in her words clearly.

It wasn't a negotiation.

It was an announcement.

She followed Yuheng's gaze.

On the Black Jade Mansion's black jade tower ship, a figure dressed in a dark cyan robe was slowly stepping out of the cabin.

The man was about forty years old, with a thin face and three strands of long beard fluttering before his chest. His aura was deep and calm like an abyss, with not a hint of leakage.

But the moment he appeared on the deck, the sea breeze within a hundred-zhang radius came to a halt.

A branch of the Black Jade Mansion, in the Dragon Elephant Mutual Harmony Realm—?

Teng Yuzhi didn't know him, but she recognized that energy signature.

That was a being on the same level as her maternal aunt.

At the same time, on the black Mysterious Iron Warship of the Great Qi Sea Quelling Department, a burly figure clad in red bronze battle armor also rose into the air.

The man was over nine feet tall, with hair and beard bristling. His red bronze battle armor flowed with a dull metallic luster under the moonlight, and a fierce Bi'an pattern was engraved on his breastplate.

Sea Quelling Grand General, Li Xuanying.

The number one general of the Great Qi Dynasty's Sea Quelling Department, in the Divine Ability stage of the Mysterious Glimpse Realm.

Teng Yuzhi remembered that name.

When she was twelve, she had accompanied her father to the capital of Great Qi to attend a banquet for prestigious families.

During the meal, someone mentioned Li Xuanying, saying that he had proven his Dao through killing, entered the Dragon Elephant Realm at thirty, and broke through to the Mysterious Glimpse Realm at fifty-three. He had guarded the borders of the East Sea for thirty years, slaying countless sea beasts, and the blood on his hands could dye an entire island red.

At this moment, this Sea Quelling Grand General, who had killed enough to fill fields, was silently facing off with the Black Jade Mansion Elder and her own maternal aunt, Yuheng, across dozens of zhang of sea.

Three breaths.

Merely three breaths.

The thunderous clamor on the sea, which was enough to overturn dozens of large ships, suddenly fell silent.

No one gave an order.

There was no suppression from a Formation.

It was just that those three figures suspended in mid-air were themselves the heaviest of pressures.

Li Xuanying spoke.