The late Emperor passed away midway through his great undertaking, before his mission was half accomplished.

Sure enough.

You can count on anything, just not Xiaobai.

"Can't you learn from those other overpowered web novels? Have me step into the sect with my left foot, and the Qingxuan Sword immediately senses my aura, flying over frantically from the back mountain to beg me to be its master."

"Then the Sect Master of the Qingxuan Sect would see it, turn pale with shock, bow down, and invite me to be an honored guest."

"Why make it so flashy and complicated?"

"You can't even write a simple wish-fulfillment story. To be blunt, you shouldn't even be sitting in the position of the Heavenly Dao. I could tie a dog to the seat and it would do a better job!"

Ye Shu gritted his teeth and complained, "Do you think this is a video game where I have to do some fetch quests like unclogging toilets?"

"W-well... I didn't know before..."

Xiaobai lowered her head, pouted her little mouth, and fiddled with her toes in grievance.

"Such a powerful item should naturally be hard to obtain."

"Otherwise, how would it show its preciousness, its uniqueness, and its transcendent nature..."

Actually, the most important thing was that if he just got it directly, how was she supposed to pad the word count? How could she continue writing her three-million-word graduation thesis?

"Fine, you win."

Stuck with such a Heavenly Dao, Ye Shu was at his wit's end.

Seeing him like this, Xiaobai suddenly felt a bit wronged and asked cautiously, "Then, then how about we don't go? The world is vast, but life is the most important thing."

"Not go? How can I get stronger if I don't go?"

Ye Shu rested his forehead on one hand. "Let the villains and heroines monopolize all the resources while I hide in a corner? With them growing stronger and me falling behind, wouldn't that be even more dangerous?"

"Along the way, did you think I wanted to take risks?"

"It's not that I want to fight for it, but that I have to."

He sighed helplessly, then sat cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees, and began to meditate.

Since things had come to this, he might as well cultivate first.

The minimum entry requirement for the Grand Peak Tournament was the Golden Core realm, but he was merely an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

If he didn't improve his strength as soon as possible, he wouldn't even meet the basic requirements to participate in the tournament.

Thus, for the past few days, Ye Shu had been cultivating with all his might.

Day and night without rest.

He cultivated while eating, cultivated while sleeping, and even cultivated while helping Xiao Qingli take a bath.

Finally, one day.

Late at night, Ye Shu sat cross-legged on the roof, drawing in the starlight from the sky to correspond with the revolution of the stars within his body, in order to accelerate his cultivation speed.

Suddenly, he heard the shadows of the trees swaying in the distance.

Rustle...

It turned out to be Jian Wuhen, returning from a hard day's work, carrying a broom on his back and stepping on the leaves as he returned to the courtyard.

"Junior Brother Ye, still cultivating this late?"

"I have no choice."

Ye Shu broke out of his meditation, opened his eyes, and gave a bitter smile as he looked at the returning Jian Wuhen. "My cultivation is still shallow. I need to reach at least the Golden Core realm to participate in the Grand Peak Tournament. The date is approaching, so I have to step up my cultivation."

Hearing this, Jian Wuhen paused.

His expression suddenly became extremely colorful, and then he looked at Ye Shu with a strange look.

"Did no one tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Our Profound Heaven Sword Lineage doesn't have the qualifications to participate in the Grand Peak Tournament."

Gah—

Ye Shu was instantly dumbfounded.

He scratched his ear, somewhat in disbelief. "But I've already asked around. Every peak in our Qingxuan Sect will select their most outstanding disciples to participate."

"That's right, every peak is qualified to participate."

Jian Wuhen shook his head helplessly, then pointed at the dilapidated courtyard under their feet and spread his hands.

"But obviously."

"Our Profound Heaven Sword Lineage doesn't have a peak."

Ye Shu: "............"

After all this fuss, he didn't even have the qualifications to participate.

Then what was the point of all this cultivation!

"Look at you, why did you make it so troublesome?" He glared at Xiaobai in annoyance. "Now look what happened, I can't even get in."

"How was I supposed to know it would turn out like this?"

Xiaobai retorted aggrievedly, "Logically speaking, you should have joined the Purple Cloud Peak. Plus, I didn't know there would be a system involved, how can you blame me?"

Ye Shu didn't even have the energy to complain anymore.

He looked up at the sky and sighed deeply, his face full of grief and indignation. "The former emperor's great enterprise was halfway done before it collapsed in the middle."

"Junior Brother Ye, do you really want to participate in the Grand Peak Tournament?"

Seeing his reaction, Jian Wuhen asked curiously.

"Eldest Senior Brother, to tell you the truth, someone very important to me has fallen into a deep slumber. I need to borrow the power of the Qingxuan Sword to help her wake up, so I have to find a way to improve my strength as soon as possible and then win the Grand Peak Tournament." Ye Shu didn't hide anything and spoke frankly in front of Jian Wuhen.

Hearing this, Jian Wuhen fell silent for a long time.

Since his little junior brother said so, it must be someone very important. Ever since Ye Shu joined the sect, other than giving him a jade pendant, he hadn't done anything for his little junior brother.

Yet Ye Shu had still taken on a monstrous debt together with him.

Finally, Jian Wuhen's eyes flashed.

He turned around and left, as if he had made some sort of decision.

"Cultivate well and reach the Golden Core realm as soon as possible. Leave the rest to me, your senior brother. I'll figure something out."

"Senior Brother..."

Watching Jian Wuhen's figure gradually fade into the night.

Ye Shu felt a wave of emotion.

He made up his mind that in the future, even if he had to sell his body, he would help the Profound Heaven Sword Lineage pay off its debts!

With this thought in mind, he resumed his cross-legged meditation.

Cultivation, cultivation...

Cultivation...

Two or three days passed.

Early in the morning, on a cliff, Ye Shu sat cross-legged, enveloped by the morning mist.

His eyes were tightly shut, and his brows were deeply furrowed.

"As expected... I still can't figure it out?"

Ye Shu slowly opened his eyes, feeling the incredibly abundant spiritual energy within his body, and finally let out a sigh.

One of the nightmares of all cultivators.

A bottleneck.

Ever since returning from the Dangul Desert and subduing the Azure Lotus Heavenly Fire, his cultivation had already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm. All he lacked was that final step.

Taking this step would be a breeze for Ye Shu.

But he didn't want to do that, nor could he bring himself to do it.

The Circulation of the Heavenly Stars technique he practiced required him to create the chapters for each realm himself. He didn't want to simply form a single Golden Core, or just stack numbers like forming three hundred and sixty-one Golden Cores.

What he wanted was a path different from the past, his own path.

But he had been pondering bitterly here for over ten days, yet he still didn't have a single clue.

"Master, how should I walk the path ahead?"

Ye Shu murmured softly.

He suddenly remembered that when he created the Foundation Establishment chapter before, it was also inspired by his master.

Now, there was no one behind him anymore.

He closed his eyes again, wanting to empty his mind, think of nothing, and experience that profoundly mysterious state, to attempt the so-called unity of heaven and man described in ancient texts.

But his heart was full of thoughts.

There was Medusa, there was Little Fairy Doctor, there was Lin Qingxue, there was Ye Xiaosu, there was Zhao Zhixia, there was Qian Jiang, there was Little Beast, there was Lion King, there was Qingli, there was Xiaobai, there was his master...

There were simply too many...

The summer wind blew through the leaves.

A familiar sigh suddenly echoed in Ye Shu's heart.

"Shu'er... you are too impatient."