369: Goodbye Liu Yu

"Foreign Race?"

Li Haotian showed a look of surprise. He was already an Immortal Venerable in Cultivation, yet he unexpectedly sensed this familiar aura again. With a single step across the void, he arrived above a certain power's location.

Below, the Prodigies of the Cultivation World had gathered, presenting a veritable golden age of Cultivation. Without the interference of the Ant Race, the Human Race was flourishing, and vast resources were continuously emerging. It was as if the Heavenly Dao of this world was cheering.

"In this Ascension Convention, we have once again selected the top Ten Great Powers, namely the Flying Bird Sect, the Hundred Poisons Valley..."

Following the Host's announcement, the newly selected top Ten Great Powers once again entered the public view.

When the Heavenly Profound Sect left initially, they took three major powers with them. Now, factoring in the remaining powers for the ranking, Li Haotian hadn't expected the Divine Mirror Sect to have declined.

The Divine Mirror Sect could only rank ninth now. The top Ten Great Powers had undergone a near-complete upheaval. How could such massive changes have occurred in only about a century since he left?

Puzzled, Li Haotian followed the Divine Mirror Sect's people back to the location of their former Sect.

Although everything around him had become unfamiliar, it still held traces of familiarity. It was here that he had established the Foundation for the top Ten Great Powers in one fell swoop.

The Divine Mirror Sect now had more Powerhouses than before, with over seventy individuals in the Great Emperor Realm.

But why did it decline to ninth place among the Ten Great Powers?

A look of confusion appeared on Li Haotian's face. When his Divine Thought swept across the entire Sect, he discovered an old acquaintance.

Liu Yu.

Liu Yu was now a Great Emperor in Cultivation, and he had become the Sect Master of the Divine Mirror Sect.

He was currently handling affairs in the Sect's main hall.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

A very familiar voice rang out. Liu Yu looked up in confusion and glanced around, finding no one. He sighed softly, thinking he must have been working too hard lately to be hearing things.

Just as he was about to resume work, he noticed the brush in his hand was gone, and a man had appeared before him without him realizing it.

The man was currently toying with the writing brush Liu Yu had just been using.

"Who are you? How dare you trespass into my Divine Mirror Sect..."

Liu Yu wanted to scold him, but the words caught in his throat. He couldn't utter another syllable. The person before him was incredibly familiar; how could he not recognize him?

"Sect Master Li... you!!"

Liu Yu stood rooted to the spot, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"That's right, it's me."

Li Haotian replied, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Liu Yu hadn't displayed such a shocked expression in many years. The other party had clearly undergone Ascension, even taking the entire Sect with him—a legend throughout the entire Heaven Domain.

Yet, now the other party had simply appeared right in front of him. This feeling was truly too profound.

Before Li Haotian left, he had completely destroyed the passage connecting the Human Race and the Foreign Race, ensuring the Heaven Domain had no future worries and could develop freely.

But the question was, how exactly did he return?

Liu Yu's first reaction wasn't that Li Haotian had returned, but that someone was impersonating him, seeking to gain some benefits from him.

After all, no one had ever heard of someone returning to their original world after Ascension. None of the Seniors who had Ascended before had ever been seen coming back.

Liu Yu tried to follow this line of thought to determine the identity of the person before him, but no matter what, he couldn't sense what level of Cultivation this person possessed.

If he was a Mortal, it would be impossible for him to bypass so many barriers and appear before him. But if his Cultivation was stronger than his own—since Liu Yu was already in the Great Emperor Realm—who could this person possibly be?

"Are you truly Sect Master Li?"

Li Haotian nodded.

"It is me, Li Haotian, the one who fought alongside you at the Fissure back then."

Liu Yu's eyes were filled with deep emotion. He opened his mouth but didn't know where to begin.

"This subordinate greets the Immortal Elder."

After a long time, Liu Yu slowly cupped his hands, bowed, and saluted.

"You, ah, are still so meticulous about these formalities."

Li Haotian sighed and tossed a Storage Pouch forward. Liu Yu instinctively reached out and caught it.

"Look at what you've let the Sect devolve into, declining into this state. Take these and develop the Sect properly, and also improve your strength. You can come find me when you go to the Immortal Realm in the future."

Li Haotian was like a young man who had left the village, made a fortune outside, and returned home for the New Year.

Liu Yu, who was essentially his childhood friend, looked at the Storage Pouch in his hand, utterly bewildered. After scanning it briefly with his Divine Sense, he froze on the spot.

Although the Storage Pouch was small, the vast resources contained within surpassed the Divine Mirror Sect's reserves accumulated over tens of thousands of years.

Crucially, countless resources within were things he had never seen before, and they contained a substance with a special kind of energy.

This special energy was much purer than Spiritual Qi. Absorbing just a little bit was equivalent to absorbing ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times the Spiritual Qi.

"This is..."

"immortal fate stones, resources used by Immortals for Cultivation, just like Spirit Stones."

Li Haotian provided the explanation directly, which only shocked Liu Yu further.

"I never imagined that you would already be... in the Immortal Realm after such a short time away."

Liu Yu took a deep breath, his eyes revealing endless longing.

"Judging by your expression, you must think the Immortal Realm is easy to navigate."

Li Haotian shook his head with some helplessness. If he threw this guy into the Immortal Realm, he would probably end up as a laborer, working for others his whole life, mining for eternity.

Even if his Cultivation was stronger now, his talent higher, and the people who respected him more numerous, he would still be the lowest-level waste once he reached the Immortal Realm.

He might struggle to Break through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm throughout his entire life.

"Sigh, forget it. I'll tell you when you get to the Immortal Realm. I have some things I want to ask you now."

"The Divine Mirror Sect clearly has significantly more Powerhouses than when we left, so why is it only ranked ninth now? Are the other powers really that strong?"

Li Haotian voiced the doubt in his heart. Only then did Liu Yu recover from his ecstasy, and a look of contemplation appeared on his face.

"Well... I don't know how to explain it. Since you left, one emerging power after another has constantly sprung up. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi has also become much denser, Natural Treasures have increased, and all sorts of Fortuitous Encounters have gradually appeared."

"The current top Ten Great Powers you see now were all outside the top hundred back then."

"I don't know what method they used to Cultivate such a large number of Powerhouses in such a short time. Based on our philosophy back then, there must be a problem, possibly even the work of the Foreign Race. But I've investigated countless times and found no clues."

Li Haotian nodded.

"I understand. I'll handle it."

For an Immortal Venerable Powerhouse like himself to be doing such grunt work, next time he should bring those Disciples along, lest they waste away doing nothing and cause trouble all over the Sect every day.