Mission Failed

[Side Quest]

[Enforce Justice on Behalf of Heaven]

[Heaven and earth have order, the Dao and its laws are constant. Every action and every consequence is both the path ahead and the future.]

[Because there is a path ahead, there must be consequences. The cycle of heaven is unchangeable, and the growth and rest of all things have their destined numbers.]

[Quest Objective: Enforce justice on behalf of heaven, for the Heavenly Dao has its destined number.]

[Quest Success Reward: Exclusive Innate Divine Ability.]

[Quest Failure Penalty: Cultivation collapse, karmic backlash.]

[Do you accept the quest?]

Chu Xingchen's gaze swept over the text, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

It was the first time he had seen a quest with a penalty for failure.

Was this a warning, or a way to make him cut his losses?

An Exclusive Innate Divine Ability—it sounded boundlessly powerful just hearing the name.

It was just a pity that he was no immortal cultivation genius; he was merely a lazy person.

Chu Xingchen gently reached out his hand—and accepted the quest.

In the sky, the seven-colored tribulation clouds churned, then surged toward Chu Xingchen, sinking entirely into his body.

Bai Xuanling's eyes widened, her expression filled with extreme astonishment.

She saw Chu Xingchen's figure slowly levitate into the air, the Dao rhythm emanating from the tribulation clouds surging from his body.

His own cultivation base was also continuously climbing.

From the weakened Body Integration Realm, it rose step by step. His aura became increasingly awe-inspiring, and his Dao rhythm grew pure and profound... almost akin to Heaven itself.

Chu Xingchen's anomaly was also caught by the other cultivators, who all turned their gazes toward him.

At this moment, the radiant light of the tribulation clouds flowed around Chu Xingchen. His aura had already broken through the Mahayana Realm, reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, and it was still climbing.

Bai Xuanling subconsciously reached out to grab him. No matter how one looked at it, this situation was not right.

But just as her hand approached him, the radiant light emitting from Chu Xingchen directly repelled her.

Bai Xuanling was already at the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. Even if the situation was abnormal, she shouldn't be entirely unable to even touch him.

Her expression turned solemn. The spiritual energy around her surged and thrummed, and the sword light of her Qingming Sword illuminated the myriad rivers.

At this moment, Chu Xingchen's cultivation was still climbing continuously, and the surrounding radiant light intermittently flowed into his body.

Bai Xuanling pointed a finger, ignoring the deteriorating condition within her own body, wanting to forcibly pull him back.

But in the next moment.

Chu Xingchen slowly opened his eyes. Within his pupils, radiant light flowed. His expression was emotionless, and his cultivation had climbed to the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. He raised his hand and lightly tapped forward.

It was not spiritual energy, but an extremely pure Dao rhythm that directly swept away all the spiritual energy Bai Xuanling had mustered.

Bai Xuanling's eyes widened. Rather than calling this a divine technique, it was more like... the Dao itself had descended.

Given her current condition, she no longer had the ability to forcibly summon the same level of power again.

Huang Miao stood holding his sword, his gaze fixed on Chu Xingchen floating in mid-air, whose cultivation had already climbed to a level he could no longer fathom.

Radiant light flowed around Chu Xingchen, his eyes as emotionless as the heavens. The Dao rhythm around him gathered like a curtain, and the spiritual energy danced joyfully around him.

Seeing this, Huang Miao could only let out a bitter smile.

Just like Bai Xuanling, he was powerless to do anything.

As for what was happening to Chu Xingchen at this moment, he had no idea either.

He didn't know what he could do right now; it was more accurate to say he could do nothing at all.

However, the only thing he could be certain of was that Chu Xingchen's identity was indeed the one they had guessed.

Chu Xingchen stood in mid-air, his eyes and expression utterly devoid of emotion. He lightly pointed his finger toward Bai Xuanling, and then his finger twitched slightly.

The next moment.

Bai Xuanling's figure was immobilized by the Dao rhythm. Then, a streak of crimson light was gently drawn out from within her body.

Chu Xingchen raised his hand and grasped it. The radiant light around him enveloped it, covered by the Dao rhythm.

In just a brief moment, the radiant light faded away.

The crimson light originally in Chu Xingchen's hand had now transformed into specks of azure light. With a flip of his hand, the azure light swirled back into Bai Xuanling's body.

As the azure light returned to her body.

Bai Xuanling's aura finally underwent a complete qualitative change.

Specks of the Heavenly Dao's radiant light lit up around Bai Xuanling.

Bai Xuanling had never felt her entire body this relaxed. The shackles preventing her from ascending past the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm were gone, and the demonic hostility that had entangled her for nearly half her life completely dissipated.

Previously, she had been powerless to stop it, and could only allow the inner desire to destroy everything to gradually ruin her from within.

But now...

Bai Xuanling looked up.

Chu Xingchen's eyes were still veiled by the radiant light, and his expression remained solemn and dignified. However, Bai Xuanling suddenly caught a faint glimpse of the corners of Chu Xingchen's mouth lifting into a barely perceptible smile.

Boom!

Something that caught Bai Xuanling completely off guard happened.

Chu Xingchen's aura rapidly plummeted. The radiant light around him completely abandoned his body, and at the same time, his figure fell from mid-air.

Peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

Peak of the Mahayana Realm.

Early stage of the Mahayana Realm.

Middle stage of the Body Integration Realm.

Peak of the Soul Formation Realm.

Early stage of the Soul Formation Realm.

Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Bai Xuanling reached out and gently caught the falling Chu Xingchen. She lowered her eyes to look at him.

At this moment, Chu Xingchen's face was incredibly pale. His aura had fallen all the way to the early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, and the Dao rhythm around him had scattered into an almost unrecognizable state.

Bai Xuanling probed his body with her divine sense, only to find that Chu Xingchen's spiritual veins were also showing signs of shattering.

The only silver lining was probably that, with this level of damage, the Tianyan Sect could still heal him if they were willing to spend the money and time.

However, with his cultivation having dropped so drastically, no one could say for sure whether there would be any lingering consequences.

Bai Xuanling confirmed Chu Xingchen's current condition—his life was not in danger.

But the situation inside his body was truly too terrible. Bai Xuanling didn't even dare to inject her own source energy or spiritual energy into Chu Xingchen's body.

Looking at Chu Xingchen's pale face, Bai Xuanling suddenly remembered something. She took out an elixir from her spatial ring and placed it directly against Chu Xingchen's lips, planning to use her spiritual energy to dissolve the medicinal power and feed it to him.

"Don't..."

Chu Xingchen's lips moved slightly. He struggled to open his eyes and looked at Bai Xuanling. "Can't... eat it."

Hearing this, Bai Xuanling was taken aback. She didn't know if Chu Xingchen was afraid to eat the elixir she had refined, or if he simply couldn't eat it at this moment.

But since Chu Xingchen said so, Bai Xuanling didn't dare to actually feed it to him.

The corners of Chu Xingchen's mouth curled up. "I... told... you..."

Bai Xuanling reached out and lightly tapped Chu Xingchen's lips, her tone quite helpless:

"You're already in this state, can't your mouth just rest for a bit?"

"Rest if you're tired. I'll take you back."

Chu Xingchen didn't even have the strength to nod. He only felt an excruciating pain all over his body, as if he had been crushed by a roller. Even keeping his eyes open was extremely strenuous.

Hearing her words, he felt a sense of relief in his heart and could no longer move an inch.

Bai Xuanling supported Chu Xingchen with one arm. Her gaze sharply rebuked Huang Miao, who had wanted to come over and check the situation. Then, her eyes swept over the demons who had also started to flee, and she uttered just one cold word:

"Qingming!"

On that day.

Dao rhythm exerted its oppressive might, and radiant light surged in all directions.

Sword intent pierced through everything, moving mountains and leveling seas.

The Qingming Sword streaked through the air, like a banished immortal descending upon the world.

Ascending in broad daylight, the True One of the mortal realm.

Even Huang Miao's expression could not hide his envy. Such a True Immortal state had ultimately been achieved by Bai Xuanling.

Chu Xingchen's mind was a chaotic mess. He had long been unable to distinguish the situation and didn't know what was happening outside.

He could only hear the system's prompt.

[Quest Failed]