Myriad Paths Ancient Realm

News of the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm’s emergence quickly spread throughout the Profound Heaven Continent.

The existence of the Ancient Realm could no longer be traced back to its origins.

It was said that in an extremely distant era, a large number of Immortal Emperors had joined forces to refine several hundred shattered worlds, eventually creating this trial ground specifically for nurturing young cultivators.

Within it were environments and laws of the Great Dao from countless different worlds.

There were primordial mountain ranges teeming with ferocious beasts, ancient cities of immortal dynasties that had long since been destroyed, and even sect ruins that had been preserved in their entirety.

Every time the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm opened, its regions and laws would change.

Even those who had entered before could not rely on their past experience to gain an advantage.

After entering the secret realm, those ranked on the Heaven’s Pride Stele could accumulate Myriad Dao points by killing the realm’s creatures, completing random missions, obtaining inheritances, and exploring hidden areas.

The person with the highest final score would receive a reward from the core of the Ancient Realm.

More importantly, everyone’s score would be displayed directly on the Heaven’s Pride Stele.

Every cultivator on the Profound Heaven Continent would be able to watch the rankings change!

This was also what the various immortal sects valued most.

The rankings of their young disciples represented not only their individual strength, but also the sect’s reputation and fortune.

If an immortal sect had several disciples place within the top one hundred, the sect would receive a return of heavenly fortune from the Heaven’s Pride Stele.

…

The main peak of the Supreme Unity Immortal Sect.

“This, this, and this—that’s how it works.”

“That, that, and that—just like this.”

“Waibi babu…”

Lu Taixu gave a brief explanation of the trial’s rules, then looked at Ye Chuan, who was seated beside him.

“Holy Son Ye, the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm will open in seven days.”

“The top one hundred on the Heaven’s Pride Stele will gain direct entry. In addition, each immortal sect will receive a certain number of extra slots.”

“This time, I intend to lead the team personally.”

Seeing that Ye Chuan had remained silent, Lu Taixu assumed that he was not interested in the trial.

“The reward for first place this time is a fragment of an Immortal King’s Dao Fruit.”

“There are also one hundred thousand Great Dao Immortal Crystals and a chance to cultivate in the Myriad Dao Divine Pool.”

Ye Chuan raised his head. “How much is a fragment of an Immortal King’s Dao Fruit worth?”

Lu Taixu fell silent for a moment.

“Something like that cannot be measured in ordinary immortal stones.”

“A complete Immortal King’s Dao Fruit is enough to increase a peak Immortal Venerable’s chances of breaking through to the Immortal King Realm by thirty percent.”

“Although the reward is only a fragment, countless Immortal Venerables in the outside world would still be willing to offer their entire fortunes to fight over it.”

Ye Chuan nodded.

If it could not be measured in immortal stones, that usually meant it was extremely valuable. It seemed that first place was worth claiming after all.

Lu Taixu secretly let out a sigh of relief. As long as Ye Chuan was willing to participate, that was enough.

If the person ranked first on the Heaven’s Pride Stele did not even dare to enter the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm, who knew how many unpleasant rumors would spread throughout the outside world?

“Besides you and Lin Fan, the sect will send thirty more disciples,” Lu Taixu continued. “Huang Wuya and several other direct disciples will also be going.”

Ye Chuan thought for a moment before finally recalling who Huang Wuya was.

He seemed to be the former Holy Son—no, Dao Disciple—who had come looking for trouble a few days after Ye Chuan arrived at the Supreme Unity Immortal Sect.

Later, he had been beaten up, then plucked bald by Lan Xiaoke. Apparently, he had not shown himself again over the past few days.

Huang Haotian was still easier to remember.

“Can Lan Xiaoke and Hu Li enter?” Ye Chuan asked.

“As long as they are under ten thousand years old, they can use the sect’s allotted slots,” Lu Taixu replied. “However, their cultivation…”

“I wanna go!”

Lan Xiaoke, who had been lying beside them and eating, immediately raised her hand when she heard her name.

“I wanna go—”

“Are there treasures inside?!”

Lu Taixu froze for a moment. “There are indeed quite a few immortal fruits and heavenly treasures in the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm.”

Lan Xiaoke’s eyes lit up instantly.

“I’m definitely going!”

Hu Li quietly looked toward Ye Chuan.

She had no particular interest in the inheritances of the Great Dao. She merely wanted to continue following the boss.

Ye Chuan understood the meaning in her eyes and said casually, “Then you two can come along.”

Lu Taixu did not object.

With Ye Chuan’s current strength, protecting the two of them should pose no problem, as long as they did not enter the deepest regions of the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm.

Besides, the Ancient Realm itself possessed protective laws. When a participant suffered a lethal attack, they would be teleported out directly.

Although they would still lose part of their souls, they would not truly die.

…

Seven days passed quickly.

The Supreme Unity Immortal Sect’s white immortal vessel rose from the main peak.

Ye Chuan, Lin Fan, and several dozen sect disciples all boarded the vessel.

Yue Qingyi did not accompany them.

She had just undergone the Taiyin Unity with the Dao Technique, and the immortal power within her had yet to fully recover. She needed to remain in the Moon God Hall and continue her closed-door cultivation.

However, before Ye Chuan departed, she handed him a silver-white moon token.

“There will be an Immortal King stationed outside the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm.”

“If anyone uses their seniority and strength to bully the younger generation, crush the moon token.”

Ye Chuan accepted the token and casually stored it in his system inventory.

“They shouldn’t be that unreasonable, should they?”

Yue Qingyi regarded him calmly.

“An Immortal King’s Dao Fruit fragment is enough to make many people lose their reason.”

“Besides, you have only just reached the top of the Heaven’s Pride Stele. There should be no shortage of people who do not wish to see you grow stronger.”

Ye Chuan felt that she had a point.

The immortal vessel left the Supreme Unity Immortal Sect and rapidly vanished into the distant sea of clouds.

At the same time, immortal vessels and carriages drawn by immortal beasts from the other immortal sects across the Profound Heaven Continent were also converging on the location where the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm was about to appear.

The entrance to the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm was located in a desolate region of the Profound Heaven Continent near the Central Continent.

There had originally been no mountains, rivers, or sect forces there—only an endless gray-white plain.

But after the Heaven’s Pride Stele reappeared, a spatial vortex spanning tens of thousands of miles emerged above the plain.

Countless complete Great Daos descended from the depths of the vortex, illuminating the surrounding world in a multitude of colors.

By the time the Supreme Unity Immortal Sect arrived, a large number of immortal vessels had already gathered nearby.

All kinds of powerful immortal beasts occupied the sky, their auras causing the earth below to tremble constantly.

When many immortal sect disciples saw the Supreme Unity Immortal Sect’s white vessel, their gazes immediately converged upon it.

More precisely, they all fell upon Ye Chuan.

“The Supreme Unity Immortal Sect from the Eastern Wasteland… Is that Ye Chuan?”

“He certainly seems to possess the aura of a peak Great Firmament Golden Immortal, but why can’t I sense anything from within his body at all?”

“The Heaven’s Pride Stele says that neither his Great Dao nor his foundation can be determined. I wonder whether that’s true.”

“He broke through two major realms in such a short time. I don’t believe his foundation could remain completely unaffected.”

“Once we enter the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm, we’ll naturally be able to see his true level.”

The various discussions were not deliberately concealed, so Ye Chuan heard every word clearly. However, he did not take any of them to heart.

Lan Xiaoke lay against the immortal vessel’s window. Seeing so many people below staring in their direction, she immediately tidied her hair.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh! Are they looking at me?”

“No.”

After Ye Chuan stopped, a large patch of ground was soon soaked by his pet’s water-element power.

“Boo-hoo-hoo, there must be several,” Lan Xiaoke said, clearly unconvinced. “This looks so exciting.”

Ye Chuan noticed that quite a few divine senses were probing toward the immortal boat, so he casually released a layer of Primal Chaos Force.

Once the black-gold radiance spread out, every divine sense that drew near instantly lost contact.

Several cultivators below changed expressions.

They had only wanted to investigate whether the immortal power within Ye Chuan was unstable. Yet the moment their divine senses touched that black-gold radiance, they were swallowed whole!

They had not even been able to resist.

“Interesting.”

A calm voice came from nearby.

The immortal boat of the Nine Heavens Sword Sect had already stopped beside them. Gu Changge stood at the very front, with a young man in gray standing behind him.

The man carried no sword and emitted no aura, yet faint traces of sword intent occasionally surfaced across the immortal boat beneath his feet.

Gu Wufeng.

He had originally ranked seventeenth on the Prodigy Stele, but now stood at eighteenth.

His gaze crossed the distance between the two immortal boats and landed directly on Ye Chuan. “You’re Ye Chuan?”

Ye Chuan glanced at him. “What do you want?”

“The Prodigy Stele believes your talent surpasses mine.”

Gu Wufeng’s tone was calm, without the slightest hostility. “Once we enter the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm, I will compete with you.”

Ye Chuan asked, “Compete in what?”

“Prove that I’m stronger than you.”

Ye Chuan immediately lost interest. “Then do your best.”

Gu Wufeng fell silent.

The expressions of the Nine Heavens Sword Sect disciples also became rather strange.

Whenever Gu Wufeng had challenged other prodigies in the past, whether they were afraid or excited, they had at least responded seriously.

Ye Chuan, however, seemed not to care about the competition at all. Gu Changge, standing nearby, could not help letting out a laugh.

“Little Friend Ye, it seems you’ve been living quite well at the Taiyi Immortal Sect these past few days.”

“Not bad. They provide food and lodging,” Ye Chuan replied.

Standing beside him, Lu Taixu’s eyelids twitched faintly.

For Ye Chuan’s sake, the Taiyi Immortal Sect had not only offered him the position of Holy Son, but had also opened the sect’s treasury and Moon God Peak to him.

Yet in Ye Chuan’s words, all of that had been reduced to food and lodging.

The teams from the other immortal sects arrived one after another.

Almost every young cultivator ranked near the top of the Prodigy Stele glanced toward Ye Chuan’s position.

After all, before Ye Chuan appeared, they had been the most renowned prodigies of this generation on the Profound Sky Continent.

Now that Ye Chuan had made his debut, he had immediately stepped on top of them all. Naturally, some of them wanted to prove that the Prodigy Stele had made a mistake.

Lin Fan also attracted considerable attention when he left the Taiyi Immortal Sect’s formation.

He ranked ninth on the Prodigy Stele.

He possessed nine-colored fortune.

Either one of these qualities alone would be enough for an immortal sect to groom him as a core disciple. It was only because Ye Chuan’s brilliance was too overwhelming that Lin Fan seemed less conspicuous for the time being.

An elder from an ancient immortal sect carefully observed Lin Fan for a moment before nodding lightly.

“His immortal root is only of the upper grade, but his Dao Heart is exceptionally firm.”

“Moreover, fortune surrounds his entire body. It’s obvious that he has received the favor of Heaven and Earth.”

“This young man’s future achievements may not be inferior to those of prodigies possessing supreme immortal physiques.”

Lin Fan took these assessments to heart, and the pressure he had felt because of Ye Chuan eased considerably.

I possess the makings of a Great Emperor.

Emperor Cangxuan also reminded him from deep within his sea of consciousness, “Don’t keep staring at Ye Chuan.”

“There are countless opportunities within the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm. With your nine-colored fortune, as long as you advance steadily, you will naturally obtain what belongs to you.”

“Ye Chuan’s goal is first place.”

“For you, entering the top three this time will be enough to make everyone recognize you anew.”

Lin Fan nodded lightly. “This disciple understands.”

Just as the disciples of the various sects were assembling, a violent tremor suddenly came from the entrance to the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm.

The spatial vortex covering the sky rapidly contracted.

An ancient stone gate standing ten thousand zhang tall slowly descended from the depths of the void!

Countless blurred murals were carved across its surface.

They depicted immortals slaying vicious beasts, countless cultivators fighting over an ancient city, and, in the deepest section, the indistinct figure of an Immortal Emperor seated within the starry sky.

An old white-haired man appeared before the stone gate. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

“This time, the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm will open five major regions.”

“The Desolate Ancient Mountain Range, Myriad Laws City, Burial Sword Valley, the Ancient Beast Plains, and a final region that has yet to be explored.”

“Once you enter, you will be randomly teleported.”

“Killing ancient-realm creatures, occupying regions, and obtaining inheritances will all earn you Myriad Dao Points.”

“The rankings will be displayed simultaneously on the Prodigy Stele.”

“When you suffer a fatal attack, the ancient realm will forcibly teleport you out.”

“However, the deepest regions of the ancient realm may contain areas beyond the coverage of its rules. Whether you enter them will be up to you.”

With that, the white-haired elder raised his hand and swept it through the air. The ancient stone gate slowly opened to both sides.

“The Myriad Dao Ancient Realm is now open!”

As the elder’s voice rang out, none of the immortals present immediately entered. Four light screens of different colors soon appeared before the ancient stone gate.

The white-haired elder continued explaining, “This time, the ancient realm will adjust its basic difficulty according to the cultivation level of each participant.”

“In addition, you may choose an extra difficulty level before entering.”

“Yellow Rank difficulty: the ancient-realm creatures will be roughly equal in strength to the entrant.”

“Black Rank difficulty: the ancient-realm creatures’ strength will increase by thirty percent, while the points awarded will be doubled.”

“Earth Rank difficulty: the ancient-realm creatures’ strength will double, while the points awarded will increase fivefold.”

“Heaven Rank difficulty: the number of ancient-realm creatures will increase tenfold, their strength will double, and the points awarded will increase twentyfold.”

At the mention of the final difficulty, a wave of discussion immediately spread through the surroundings.

A mere doubling of strength was not frightening.

What was truly terrifying was the tenfold increase in numbers!

At Yellow Rank difficulty, one would encounter a vicious beast of the same realm. At Heaven Rank difficulty, one might face ten vicious beasts at once, each with twice the usual strength!

Moreover, the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm was not an arena.

The enemies within would not care about fighting one-on-one, nor would they wait for cultivators to recover their strength before launching another attack.

Once Heaven Rank difficulty was chosen, it was practically equivalent to facing enemies ten times more numerous from the moment one entered the ancient realm, with no letup in the attacks.

The white-haired elder looked at the crowd and slowly said, “Once an extra difficulty level has been chosen, it cannot be changed until you leave the ancient realm.”

“During the past ten openings of the ancient realm, thirty-seven people chose Heaven Rank difficulty.”

“Thirty-six of them were teleported out on the very first day.”

“The remaining person lasted three days.”

The young cultivators who had originally been tempted immediately abandoned the idea of choosing the highest difficulty after hearing this.

At that moment, Gu Wufeng did not hesitate. Riding on sword qi, he flew toward the black light screen representing Heaven Rank difficulty.

“My sword has never feared anything.” He smiled faintly, reached out to touch the light screen, and his figure was instantly swallowed by the ancient-realm stone gate.

Most of the young cultivators near the top of the Prodigy Stele also chose difficulties of Earth Rank or higher.

They had sufficient confidence in their own strength.

The fivefold difference in points was also enough to let them rapidly widen the gap between themselves and ordinary participants in the rankings.

Lin Fan stood before the four light screens without making a choice.

Emperor Cangxuan’s voice soon reached him.

“Choose Earth Rank.”

“Your cultivation realm is still low, so the enemies generated by the Ancient Realm won’t be very strong either.”

“With the combat techniques I, this Emperor, have taught you, dealing with cultivators in the same realm whose strength is twice yours won’t be difficult.”

“More importantly, earning five times the points will ensure that you don’t fall behind the others in the early stages.”