But now, Gu Chengyin had laid that card bare in front of everyone.
Fang Nu’s face reddened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His posture was no longer as confident as before. It was as if someone had drained all the strength from him; even his shoulders slumped.
His fingers trembled involuntarily as he pointed at Gu Chengyin. His lips quivered for a long while before he finally forced a sentence through clenched teeth.
“You... You’re not even a disciple of the Azure Sword Sect! You can’t count it that way!”
At that, the smile on Gu Chengyin’s face did not diminish in the slightest. Instead, it gained a hint of amusement.
There was even a touch of sympathy and mockery in his gaze as he looked at Fang Nu.
He shook his head and spoke in the same unhurried tone as before.
“Vice Cult Master Fang, that’s a rather amusing thing to say.”
“My status as a sect master is recognized by the Three Offices’ joint tribunal, by the Azure Sword Sect, and by the Celestial Master Court.”
“And yet, according to you, it doesn’t count.”
At this, Gu Chengyin tilted his head and asked with feigned curiosity, “Who do you think you are?”
The words were like an invisible slap, striking Fang Nu viciously across the face.
Fang Nu’s lips trembled several more times. He wanted to argue, but he could not find a single point that would stand up to scrutiny.
Gu Chengyin gave him no chance to catch his breath. As he spoke, he turned toward the sect representatives gathered outside the hall.
“And besides, the reason I’m not a disciple of the Azure Sword Sect...”
He deliberately paused there before slowly continuing:
“Is because I am the Heir of the Azurecloud Immortal Clan.”
The news caused another uproar.
The revelation that Gu Chengyin was the Heir of the Azurecloud Immortal Clan had once sent even greater shockwaves through the cultivation world.
But later, under the powerful control of that invisible hand—the Celestial Master Court—the matter eventually came to nothing.
The higher-ups of the various sects seemed to have been warned. They avoided the subject as if it were poison.
Of course, not everyone was that obedient. The Sun-Moon Cult, at the very least, was rebellious to the core.
That was why the person representing the Sun-Moon Cult this time was Vice Cult Master Fang Nu rather than the cult master himself.
Gu Chengyin paid no attention to the commotion outside the hall and continued.
“The Celestial Master Court has always been tolerant and open-minded. It has never discriminated against anyone.”
“It did not discriminate against me simply because I am the master of the Azure Sword Sect. Instead, it took the initiative to invite me to join the Celestial Master Court.”
“So yesterday, right here...”
Gu Chengyin raised a hand and pointed at the floor beneath his feet. With righteous conviction, he declared:
“I swore allegiance and joined the Celestial Master Court in my capacity as the master of the Azure Sword Sect.”
After he finished speaking, the entire hall fell utterly silent.
Fang Nu stood in the middle of the hall, the red in his face having shifted from an angry flush to a deep crimson.
Every line of attack the Sun-Moon Cult had raised had been dismantled by Gu Chengyin’s casual words.
Dismantled completely, leaving not even a scrap behind.
Fang Nu had just claimed that the Celestial Master Court had no one from the sects among its ranks. But wasn’t Gu Chengyin a member of a sect?
Not only that, he was the master of the Azure Sword Sect—a status that could not have been more orthodox.
Fang Nu had also said that even Golden Core cultivators from the sects had to participate in the Taihe Battle. Yet Gu Chengyin, the master of the Azure Sword Sect, had not only participated—he was the very person who had initiated the Taihe Battle.
From every angle, Gu Chengyin perfectly fulfilled all the requirements Fang Nu had put forward.
Everything he said was true. Every word could withstand scrutiny. There was no exaggeration or fabrication whatsoever.
Yet everyone present also knew that, while it appeared to be one thing, in reality it was nothing of the sort.
And even if Gu Chengyin did meet all those requirements, it was meaningless to the Sun-Moon Cult.
What Fang Nu wanted had never been for a particular individual to receive special treatment. He wanted the sect factions to receive institutional privileges.
That was precisely the one thing Gu Chengyin’s status as an exception could never provide.
The problem was that there was no flaw to pick out.
If Gu Chengyin had used a religious name, Fang Nu could have found a connection to prove that Gu Chengyin had not joined the Celestial Master Court in his capacity as master of the Azure Sword Sect.
However, Gu Chengyin had used his real name when he swore the oath.
So whatever identity Gu Chengyin claimed to have used to join the Celestial Master Court was exactly the identity he had used.
If he wanted, Gu Chengyin could even claim that he had joined the Celestial Master Court as Luo Zhao’s master.
He had used the rules Fang Nu himself had established to defeat Fang Nu, then turned the banner Fang Nu had raised against him and stabbed him with it.
Fang Nu had lived for nearly a century, but he had never encountered such a method before.
Gu Chengyin slowly surveyed the crowd, taking in their wonderfully varied expressions.
Some were deep in thought. Some were smiling bitterly. Some were shaking their heads. Others were secretly studying him with a mixture of awe and trepidation.
At last, Gu Chengyin’s gaze returned to Fang Nu’s face, which had gone completely red with rage.
He shook his head and sighed deeply.
“Vice Cult Master Fang, although I understand what you’re asking for...”
“I still have one question.”
Gu Chengyin raised a hand and gestured toward the outside of the hall.
The motion encompassed an extremely broad area—from the domed roof of the main hall to the white jade plaza outside.
From the sect representatives gathered to watch, to the layers upon layers of Celestial Master Court buildings in the distance.
From every cultivator serving the Celestial Master Court on this land, to the generations of illustrious predecessors who had once departed from it.
“Since the Celestial Master Court was founded, it has never refused anyone entry for any reason.”
“As long as one swears the oath, one can join the Celestial Master Court.”
“That rule has never changed in a thousand years.”
Every word Gu Chengyin spoke struck the hearts of those present like nails being hammered firmly into place.
Among the representatives of the various sects outside the hall, many nodded unconsciously.
It was indeed the truth. The Celestial Master Court’s threshold for entry had never been one’s origin or bloodline.
It was an oath—and a heart willing to protect all living beings beneath the heavens.
Whether one was a rogue cultivator or a member of a sect, the Celestial Master Court welcomed all who came.
Everyone in the cultivation world knew of this rule. But precisely because it was so simple, people had grown accustomed to it and taken it for granted.
Gu Chengyin’s gaze slowly swept over the sect representatives. It was calm, without the slightest hint of intimidation.
Every person qualified to attend the Taihe Battle in the divine capital was an important figure in the cultivation world.
Yet each and every one of them lowered their heads slightly when his eyes passed over them, as if he had touched some corner of their hearts they did not want anyone else to see.
Then, word by word, Gu Chengyin asked:
“With conditions this simple—and the oath can even be sworn under a religious name—”
“Then why, exactly, have none of you joined the Celestial Master Court?”
His tone rose slightly at the end, carrying a hint of genuine confusion and curiosity.
Then he stopped.
A meaningful silence settled over the hall.
Only after the question had echoed through everyone’s mind several times did Gu Chengyin continue:
“Do you simply dislike it?”
His tone lightened, as though he were making a joke.
But in the next instant, his voice sank, and his gaze returned to Fang Nu.
A sharp glint flashed through Gu Chengyin’s eyes.
“Or do you simply not want to?”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
+ Slow Paced + Main Character Thrives Together with His Disciples】 Transmigrated into a cultivation world, Chu Xingchen awakens a discipleship system that reveals the tags of his disciples! Starting from scratch, he builds the strongest sect. Disciple One: Li Yingling 【Gold Tag: Genius Cultivator】【Purple Tag: Extremely Lucky】【Blue Tag: Bewitchingly Beautiful】 Disciple Two: Li Hangtian 【Gold Tag: Reincarnated】【Purple Tag: Ruthless and Decisive】【Blue Tag: Loyal and Noble】 Disciple Three: ??? 【Orange Tag: Alluring Demoness】【???】【???】 Thus, in the cultivation world, an unremarkable little sect appears out of nowhere, but little do others know that each member of this sect is a powerhouse in their own right. The book is also known as: Cultivation? It's Exactly Like This!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
