There are differences even among those at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Ye Chuan, with his Heaven-grade Foundation Establishment, peerless physique, and spiritual roots, made ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators seem rather weak in comparison.
This was the advantage of laying a solid foundation.
After spending so much on resources, how could he be on the same level as ordinary cultivators?
Wouldn’t that mean all that investment went to waste?
After issuing a warning to those Foundation Establishment cultivators, the line at the mountain’s entrance thinned considerably. Once the opportunists left, Ye Chuan noticed the queue slowly advancing into the sect’s gates.
Following the crowd inside, he arrived at a massive plaza spanning over a thousand zhang, with a stone monument placed at its center.
Elders and peak masters of the Qingyun Sect observed from a nearby pavilion, overlooking the scene below.
"Hey, handsome, what’s that?" Ye Chuan tapped the man in front of him again, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Don’t touch me!" The man glared, clearly irritated by Ye Chuan’s behavior. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this guy might have ulterior motives.
Men and women shouldn’t be too familiar, and men with men? Even more so!
"Then explain it to me?" Ye Chuan asked.
"That’s a testing stone. It measures spiritual root aptitude. If your talent is exceptional, you might even directly qualify as an inner disciple and receive focused training."
After his explanation, the man gave Ye Chuan a strange look. "There are no eggs here. You should just go home."
"Pfft, do I look like someone who’s obsessed with eggs?"
"Weren’t you here for the eggs in the first place?!"
...
At the center of the plaza, an elder in immortal robes spoke softly once all the candidates had entered. His voice, though not loud, reached every ear.
"Those who have reached the Qi Refinement stage may step forward first."
Hearing this, a few individuals moved ahead.
"Reaching Qi Refinement before the age of twenty or thirty requires resources only noble families can provide. For us commoners, even with cultivation aptitude, we’d have to start as labor disciples if we’re lucky enough to join the sect," the man in front lamented. But then he noticed Ye Chuan walking out.
He immediately called out, "What are you doing?!"
"Didn’t he say Qi Refinement cultivators can go up? I qualify." Ye Chuan grinned and strode forward, leaving the man utterly bewildered.
Wait, so you were just messing with me earlier?
Ignoring the man’s resentful glare, Ye Chuan rubbed his chin as he studied the stone monument.
His reason for participating in the Qingyun Sect’s disciple selection was purely to stir up trouble.
After all, if he died this time, who knew where on the Tianxuan Continent he’d respawn? Might as well make the most of this opportunity.
Cause chaos—that was Ye Chuan’s favorite pastime.
Especially since these people had bullied his Little Qianshuang.
That clueless foodie had even been hunted down while posing as the Demon Sect’s Holy Maiden. Ye Chuan felt compelled to do something about it.
Unbeknownst to him, while he was eyeing the monument, numerous gazes had also fallen upon him and the others.
"Elder Ziyun, this year’s batch seems quite promising," remarked a strikingly beautiful woman beside the elder who had spoken earlier.
"Over a dozen have reached Qi Refinement, more than in previous years," Elder Ziyun mused before instructing the candidates to begin their aptitude tests.
"Lin Feng, twenty-nine years old, early-stage Qi Refinement. Fire, Water, and Wood spiritual roots. Decent aptitude."
"Xiao Ding, twenty-seven years old, early-stage Qi Refinement. Wood and Fire spiritual roots. Decent aptitude."
"Zi Su, nineteen years old, mid-stage Qi Refinement. Ice and Poison spiritual roots. Exceptional aptitude."
"..."
One by one, the candidates stepped up for testing. Soon, it was Ye Chuan’s turn.
"Next. State your name," the testing disciple instructed.
"Huang Haotian," Ye Chuan replied with a smile.
"Huang Haotian, approach the testing stone."
As Ye Chuan stood before the monument, he hadn’t even touched it yet when several elders in the distance showed signs of surprise.
They realized they couldn’t discern his cultivation level at all.
Their probing spiritual senses vanished upon entering his body, as if swallowed whole, returning no feedback whatsoever.
This was because Ye Chuan’s Chaotic Immortal Body had grown stronger alongside his power. Unless he deactivated it, not even the heavens could determine his true strength.
"This young man is unusual," Elder Ziyun stroked his beard, his interest piqued.
What ordinary cultivator would possess artifacts capable of concealing their cultivation?
"Here?"
Following the disciple’s guidance, Ye Chuan placed his hand on the stone.
A cool sensation spread from his palm, but instead of glowing, the monument darkened as if stained. Simultaneously, his age and cultivation level materialized.
The testing disciple exclaimed in shock,
"Huang Haotian, eighteen years old… Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment?! Spiritual root attributes… undetectable?"
The words "Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment" instantly drew everyone’s attention.
An eighteen-year-old at the peak of Foundation Establishment?
This was the caliber of a top-tier genius in any major sect!
"Eighteen and already at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment? This one belongs to my Flying Sword Peak!" Elder Ziyun’s eyes gleamed as he appeared before Ye Chuan in a flash.
"Now, now, Elder Ziyun, this handsome young man is also of interest to our Falling Blossoms Peak," the beautiful woman from earlier materialized beside him, laughing coquettishly, her gaze unabashedly covetous.
From the pavilion, more elders and peak masters could no longer restrain themselves. Witnessing such talent, they rushed forward.
"The Artifact Forging Hall claims him!"
"Nonsense! A prodigy like this, wasted on blacksmithing? Divine Cloud Peak will take him!"
"Hand him over! Hundred Blossoms Peak hasn’t had a new disciple in years!"
"..."
The elders bickered relentlessly. At his age, Ye Chuan was a rare find indeed.
Even the Qingyun Sect’s homegrown geniuses, showered with resources, rarely reached Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment before eighteen.
"You’re Huang Haotian?" Elder Ziyun fixed his gaze on Ye Chuan. "Did you achieve this cultivation on your own? Do you belong to a clan?"
"Beats me. I just woke up like this one day," Ye Chuan replied cheerfully. "So my talent’s that good, huh?"
Woke up like this?
Could it be… enlightenment?
Legends spoke of cultivators who never trained yet ascended through comprehending the Dao itself—far surpassing ordinary practitioners.
Becoming a sage through a single epiphany wasn’t just a myth.
Ye Chuan could feel the elders’ and peak masters’ gazes growing increasingly fervent.
Perfect.
I’m a mole.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
