677: Chapter 677 Heavenly Palace Offering

[On the other side.]

[You feel your Mahayana Stage strength, and your admiration for the Immortal Sword's power grows.]

["The Immortal Sword can actually help me, at the Body Integration Stage, fight a Mahayana Cultivator? Is Liu Xuerong just too weak, or am I too strong?" you mutter to yourself, your tone filled with disbelief.]

[You couldn't grasp this at the Body Integration Stage, but things are different now; you feel you could easily kill your former self.]

[Thinking about it now, if an Integration Stage Cultivator could take three of your moves, you wouldn't be able to believe what a Prodigy they must be.]

[No, you absolutely do not believe any Integration Stage Cultivator could survive three moves from you.]

[Unless you held back—held back an ocean's worth of water.]

[Never mind three moves; you feel like even one would be too much for them.]

[No wonder you were targeted by Tianming last time.]

[You feel that if you discovered such a person, you would either rope them in as a friend, kill them outright, or run whenever you saw them in the future.]

[Your state of mind gradually returns to calm, and that joy slowly dissipates.]

[For some reason, you suddenly feel that a Mahayana Breakthrough is really nothing special.]

[Before attaining it, you looked forward to it immensely.]

[After attaining it, it just feels like this.]

[You look back on the past, and the happiest times were those first eighteen years—following your heart, without worries, carefree.]

[The most exciting time of all was your eighteenth birthday.]

[But now, you can never find that feeling again.]

[As you are sensing your own strength, over a dozen figures flicker toward you from all directions.]

[The people who arrived are at least at the Void Refining stage, and among them are three Mahayana Cultivators.]

[You don't leave, just quietly waiting for them to approach.]

[A moment later, the dozen figures arrive one after another, all cupping their hands in greeting toward you.]

["Greetings, Senior."]

["Greetings, Senior."]

[Those Void Refining and Integration Stage Cultivators bow, cupping their hands one by one.]

[You sweep your gaze around and discover that you can now clearly see the Karma and Karmic Obstruction of these people.]

[Judging by these Karmic Obstructions alone, not a single one of them is a good sort.]

["Fellow Daoist, I am Han Feiyu of the Han Family Celestial Clan. Would you be willing to honor us with a visit to the Han Family?" a man in green robes asks, cupping his hands toward you.]

[You glance at him; Han Feiyu is the highest-ranked among these dozen people—Middle Stage Mahayana.]

[A stunning female Cultivator also speaks up at the same time: "Fellow Daoist, I am Yan Ruyu of the Yan Family Celestial Clan. Would you have time to discuss the Dao privately?"]

[You glance at her; Early Stage Mahayana, stunningly beautiful, with glowing skin.]

[The last Mahayana Cultivator speaks up as well, his tone indifferent: "Cai Xingchen. May I ask how to address you, Fellow Daoist?"]

[You look over; this person is Early Stage Mahayana, looks middle-aged, with a square face, thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a short beard on his chin.]

[After looking around, you smile and say: "I am Qin Chen. Thank you all for your kind offers; I will visit another day."]

[Having said that, you prepare to leave.]

["Wait a moment, Fellow Daoist." Cai Xingchen raises a hand.]

["What is it?" you look at him, frowning slightly.]

["Fellow Daoist must be a Loose Cultivator, right? It is truly rare to achieve a Mahayana Breakthrough as a Loose Cultivator. But in the Immortal Domain nowadays, it is hard to get by without some background." He looks at you with a smile.]

["The way I hear that... it sounds a bit like a threat?" you smile.]

["Hahaha." Cai Xingchen throws his head back and laughs, "I am also thinking of you, Fellow Daoist."]

["Are you from the Immortal Sect lineage?" you ask.]

[Cai Xingchen's lips curl up slightly, his tone indifferent: "I was, but I am not anymore."]

["Oh? You didn't switch sides to the Celestial Palace, did you?"]

["Fellow Daoist has a keen eye." Cai Xingchen says slowly with his hands behind his back, "I am now a Venerable of the Celestial Palace. It is fate that I meet you today, so I have come to extend an invitation. What do you think, Fellow Daoist?"]

[Your lips curl up.]

[You are very clear about the position of Venerable—to put it plainly, it is just a nominal title, equivalent to choosing a side.]

[Of course, there are many benefits; one is given priority access to the Celestial Palace's resources and territories. Moreover, the status is high, second only to the Mahayana Cultivators of the Celestial Palace family itself, and one does not even have to obey the Celestial Palace's commands.]

[This position of Venerable exists in all major top-tier factions.]

[The Venerables of the five top-tier factions are all at the Mahayana Stage, while the Venerables of first-rate factions are at the Body Integration Stage.]

[You scan Cai Xingchen up and down and smile indifferently: "So you are a dog of the Celestial Palace; no wonder your tone is so arrogant."]

[As soon as those words leave your mouth, the dozen or so people nearby smell that something is wrong.]

[The expressions of those Void Refining and Integration Stage Cultivators change drastically, and they repeatedly teleport away, retreating countless miles.]

[Han Feiyu and Yan Ruyu exchange a glance and smile, tacitly retreating ten thousand miles, though their Divine Thoughts remain firmly locked on you and Cai Xingchen.]

[Cai Xingchen narrows his eyes, his voice indifferent: "It seems Your Excellency intends to align with the Immortal Sect? Do you know that in recent years, the Immortal Sect's Luck has greatly diminished, and over a hundred factions have already switched to the Celestial Palace?"]

[He pauses, then smiles contemptuously: "And you still dare to dive in? Are you not afraid of courting your own destruction?"]

["Have you finished your nonsense?" you look at him expressionlessly.]

[A trace of killing intent flashes in his eyes, and he smiles: "Heh, you are just a guy who just achieved a Mahayana Breakthrough; who gave you the courage to be so arrogant before me?"]

["So much bullshit!"]

[Having said that, you move your will, and your Spotless Sword Body hums. At the same time, you reach out, and the Immortal Sword at your feet is grasped in your hand.]

[The moment the hilt is in your hand, you feel the entire starry sky go quiet—not a deathly silence, but submission, a yielding.]

[The Laws are retreating, and the Dao is yielding.]

[You couldn't see this at the Body Integration Stage, but now that you have reached the Mahayana Stage, you can see it clearly.]

[No wonder Liu Xuerong unleashed her strongest defensive measure back then.]

[Immediately, a terrifying scene unfolds.]

[You just casually swing your sword in a sweep.]

[That's right, just a casual sweep.]

[You feel it is enough!]

[In an instant, a trail of light sweeps out from the tip of the sword, silent, colorless, and formless.]

[Where it passes, the stars dim, the Void Realm cracks, and even light does not have time to escape.]

[It is too fast.]

[Faster than light.]

[So fast it exceeds the concept of time.]

[The entire starry sky is cut into upper and lower halves by this sword strike.]

[It is not an illusion.]

[It is truly separated.]

[Where that trail of light passes, space is sliced open like paper, revealing the pitch-black void behind it, with faint silvery-white light trails shimmering at the edges of the tear.]

[Cai Xingchen does not even have time to blink or think.]

[That trail of light has already sliced through his waist.]

[He sees his upper and lower body misaligning, sees his blood before it has time to spray out, and sees himself being cut into two pieces at the waist.]

[Even his Primordial Spirit is cut in two, and the Dao Source within his body is leaking out frantically.]

[He looks up at you.]

[In those eyes, there is no longer the contempt from before, no longer the arrogance of being a Celestial Palace Venerable.]

[Only two things remain—disbelief, and fear.]

["You... you... how is this possible?"]

[His voice is trembling.]

[This completely upends the understanding of this Mahayana Cultivator.]