81: The truth of Qingyuan Realm

"An ascension token! What a treasure!"

Amidst the crowd, Yu Xuzi marveled inwardly.

Having read the "Overview of Cultivation in the Shanhai Great Thousand Worlds," he understood the preciousness of this token better than anyone.

A Micro Dust World like the Fei Chen Realm had no qualification for Ascension. At most, a Xuantai True Person might emerge once every few thousand years; they would simply live for a few centuries before waiting to Pass Away. Ascension was completely impossible.

Even a Dharma Aspect True Lord could not achieve Ascension on their own.

Only Minor Thousand Worlds could nurture a fifth-rank Primordial Spirit Dao Lord, capable of breaking through the world barrier independently to ascend to a Middle Thousand World or even a Great Thousand World.

The existence of an ascension token was the artificial creation of an Ascension path, gathering cultivation talents from many Small Worlds and giving them the chance to go further!

Anyone capable of reaching the rank of Xuantai True Person in a Micro Dust World as resource-poor and spiritual essence-barren as the Fei Chen Realm would surely be considered a Genius of some note, even in a higher-level world.

If the Qingyuan Realm had possessed such a thing as an ascension token, then True Person Yanling would not have had to Pass Away.

Furthermore, the many Immortal Masters in history, and even the founding Ancestral Master of the Qingyuan Sect, True Lord Zhenshen, might have found another destiny in the Upper Realm.

However... Yu Xuzi suddenly thought of a question.

Logically, a Micro Dust World like the Qingyuan Realm shouldn't have been able to give birth to so many Immortal Masters, or even True Lords, right?

Currently, the Qingyuan Realm fit the profile of a Micro Dust World: Cultivators could generally only reach the second rank at most, with only a very few heaven-sent Geniuses able to Breakthrough the world's limitations and reach the third rank.

Was the prosperity of the Cultivation World over the past ten thousand years more like an anomaly?

"An age of decadence..."

"Is it truly a world-ending age of decadence? Or is it simply returning to its original state?"

Yu Xuzi had some suspicions in his heart, but he would have to wait until he returned to the Qingyuan Realm to investigate further... The Immortal Envoy from the Upper Realm had departed, leaving behind the ascension token.

The remaining Cultivators of the Fei Chen Realm began their respective returns. The entire continent was a scene of devastation; it was unknown how many years it would take to recover.

Eradicating the remaining demons, purifying the demonic aura, restoring the world's ecology, passing down the Sect's legacies, and gathering the surviving Mortals to thrive once more... there were too many things they needed to do.

Previously within the Heavenly Pass, all their surviving Cultivators numbered only five to six thousand.

There were, however, several hundred thousand Mortals—some were the Cultivators' own kin, others were subordinates of several large Sects, brought along on flying ships or other Magical Artifacts during the escape.

But compared to the vast continent spanning fifty thousand miles, this population was a mere drop in the bucket.

Without the protection of Cultivators, it was hard to imagine how many Mortals on the continent could have survived. Once they finished purging the demons, would they even be able to find a few million?

One must know that before the calamity of the Extraterrestrial Demons descended, the number of Mortals on the entire continent exceeded one billion... March 10th, Year 12 of the lunar calendar.

Fei Chen Realm.

In the western region of the Fei Chen Continent, the Tianshan Mountain Range, spanning three thousand miles, lay like a scarred spine beneath the leaden gray sky.

At the core of the Tianshan Mountain Range, what was once a verdant and mist-shrouded immortal paradise was now nothing but charred earth and deathly silence.

Strange Peaks had collapsed, and spiritual springs had run dry.

The exposed mountain rocks were covered in foul-smelling black stains and massive claw marks—the marks left behind after the demons' rampage.

This was the location of the Xuanhuang Sect's gate on the Fei Chen Continent, a Sect specializing in earth-attribute Daoist techniques and defensive Divine Abilities.

"Wooo—"

Amidst a low humming sound, a yellow flying ship over fifty zhang long traversed through the mountains permeated with faint Devilish Qi like a giant flying beast.

The flying ship was crafted entirely from a strange mysterious-yellow spiritual wood, its hull engraved with heavy spiritual mountain marks and dense Formation patterns, barely dispelling the surrounding foul aura.

This was the Xuanhuang Sect's "Thick Earth Spirit Boat."

On the deck, dozens of Qi Refining Cultivators stood by the railing, all dressed in earthy yellow or brown robes, their expressions solemn and carrying an ill-concealed sorrow.

Behind them, over a thousand sallow and thin Mortals were crowded together; these were the Bloodlines of the Sect's Disciples and survivors rescued along the way, whom the Xuanhuang Sect Cultivators had fought desperately to protect during their flight.

The flying ship slowly descended toward the core of the mountain range, landing at the Xuanhuang Valley where the Sect was located.

However, the sight that met their eyes completely extinguished the last flicker of hope in everyone's hearts.

Xuanhuang Valley, once filled with rows of halls and the constant shimmer of Formations, had already been reduced to a massive ruin.

The grand mountain gate built from countless boulders now only had half a broken base remaining. Layer upon layer of halls had collapsed, with massive beams lying haphazardly among the rubble.

The training grounds, alchemy rooms, artifact pavilions, scripture libraries... as far as the eye could see, not a single building remained intact.

Even more heart-wrenching was that within the ruins, the silhouettes of demons could still be seen wandering.

"It's all over..."

A Disciple muttered in a daze.

From the crowd, an old man with an aged face and an aura that had reached the Peak of the Early Dao Foundation Stage slowly stepped out and came to the bow.

He was the current Sect Master of the Xuanhuang Sect, Venerable Gu Xuan.

"Disciples, hear my command: immediately purge the demons within the valley, search for any remaining scriptures or spiritual seeds, and clear a place for us to stay."

"Elder Li, take some men to set up a defensive Formation to protect the Sect and the Mortals first; Elder Wang, organize people to take stock of our remaining Resources."

Venerable Gu Xuan knew that as the Sect Master, he had to remain steady at such a time and could not show even a hint of dejection.

Moreover, the demonic calamity had ended, and the Sect's reconstruction had begun, which should be a cause for joy.

"Yes, Sect Master!"

The two Peak Qi Refining Elders responded solemnly and acted quickly.

The flying ship landed on a relatively flat patch of open ground amidst the ruins.

Dozens of Xuanhuang Sect Cultivators filed out, forming arrays and wielding weapons as they charged with determination toward the demons that had begun to go wild at their arrival... Several hours later.

Late at night.

A terrifying Divine Sense descended grandly from the sky, like a giant hammer slamming heavily onto the newly established defensive Formation.

"Boom!!"

Venerable Gu Xuan, who was meditating, shook violently and looked up abruptly.

"Who is it?!"

Above Xuanhuang Valley, a figure in azure stood silently at some unknown point.

The man looked extremely young, calmly looking down from above, but his Divine Sense was so terrifying that even Venerable Gu Xuan, a veteran of the Dao Foundation Stage, felt inferior.

More importantly... why had he never seen this person before?

A hint of doubt flashed through Venerable Gu Xuan's heart.