CH 235

Chapter 235 – Clear Pond, Dreaming of a Flower

Wind whistled by as the suanni spiritual beast shot through the hazy mist in a streak of azure light. Its four paws leapt off the clouds with each bound, causing the scenery filled with mountains and rivers to flit by. Despite the strong, sweeping gales, the long black hair of the youth standing atop the suanni spiritual beast only fluttered lightly. His lengthy hair hung down from his forehead, which somewhat masked the resplendence in his eyes, but that only served to accent his good looks.

Feeling the incredible willpower shown by the two Clone Avatar stage Greater Lords, even someone with as calm a temperament as Xu Disheng could only give repeated emotional sighs. Inwardly, he felt a bit of pressure from the weight of the trust they had put in him.

After Heavenly Lord Yu Jing had left, each Clone Avatar stage Greater Lord had been designated a thread of karma from him. But Greater Lord Mingxin and Greater Lord Zhuri had both staked so much on him simply because of his miraculous profound law foundation. Greater Lord Zhuri had gone so far as to use the thread of karma he had in his possession to bequeath him with a supreme treasure like this nine-petaled lotus seat, which could serve as a Dao protecting treasure!

These two Greater Lords weren’t necessarily staking everything on him, but it was rather that they didn’t have much time left to carry out matters for the Shangqing Sacred Sect!

Although the congregation of Divine Sea beings held by the House of the Earth God on the Buzhou Mountain was only a few years ago, the strongest sect in the Eastern region, the Heavenly Nirvana Sect, already had several peak Clone Avatar stage Greater Lords with nine avatars that were starting to transcend the Heart Demon Heavenly Tribulation.

There were also other paradises and celestial lands in the Eastern region that had Nine-Avatar Greater Lords that were beginning to transcend Heart Demon Heavenly Tribulation, all so they could reach the truly undying Divine Sea stage.

There were celestial lands that had long heritages stemming back to ancient times, like the Turquoise Pond Celestial Land, the Mountain Protecting Celestial Land, and the Yao Mountain Domain, who never took part in the disputes that occurred in the Eastern region, but still were able to produce Divine Sea stage beings using their deep reserves accumulated throughout their long histories. For them, it was usually just a matter of time before they could produce a Divine Sea stage being.

It was easy to predict that the moment the Heavenly Nirvana Sect produced the Eastern region’s first Divine Sea stage being, they would make a huge killing by demanding tribute from the Shangqing Sacred Sect, the Ancient Nuwa Sect, and the other overlord sects of each Territory. It would essentially be a repeat of history, a do-over of the previous humiliation that they had faced.

The duration of the Heart Demon Heavenly Tribulation varied. For some, it was long, lasting thousands of years, while for others it was short, lasting only a few hundred years.

The chances of passing this kind of tribulation were incredibly small. It wasn’t so easy to produce Divine Sea stage experts. There was a hint of gloomy apprehension in the hearts of all the Clone Avatar stage Greater Lords in the Shangqing Sacred Sect’s Pure Spirit Ocean due to this.

In the tens of thousands of years after Heavenly Lord Yu Jing had left, the most powerful sect, the Heavenly Nirvana Sect, had been the first to produce a Divine Sea stage expert two times in a row. But due to some secret, unknown reason, they had not levied any tribute on the other forces in the Eastern region.

With the House of the Earth God suddenly doing a premature conferral of divine posts several years ago, the Eastern region of the Human Realm was suddenly plunged into another loop of the cycle, where there were no Divine Sea stage beings present.

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As a result, in the last 100,000 years, the Shangqing Sacred Sect had only paid tribute once, not including the time when Heavenly Lord Yu Jing had gone and taken back the 50% tribute they previously paid to the Heavenly Nirvana Sect. Meanwhile, the demon race Ancient Nuwa Sect had not produced any Divine Sea stage beings in the last 100,000 years, and had paid the tribute twice, causing massive setbacks to the sect’s vitality. They had practically been unable to recover from this setback, and now they didn’t even have a single Nine-Avatar Greater Lord, let alone any chances of producing a Divine Sea stage being.

Some flourish, while others decline. The strong become stronger, while the weak become weaker. With the Ancient Nuwa Sect’s circumstances, they were gradually walking down the road to destruction.

In the passing of untold ages, countless mighty sects had fallen at the hands of exploitative tributes. They would eventually become unable to produce any more Divine Sea stage beings, and the vicious cycle would continue ad infinitum as they descended to ruin.

And when they finally reached their most fragile point, they would finally collapse.

The Shangqing Sacred Sect was able to give rise to Heavenly Lord Yu Jing, which enabled them to flourish for several tens of thousands of years, but at this point, their circumstances left them not much better off than the Ancient Nuwa Sect. Although it took a very, very long time for a sect to gradually weaken to its demise, the most telling sign was when a sect didn’t have any Nine-Avatar Greater Lords ready to immediately begin transcending Heart Demon Heavenly Tribulation following a congregation of the House of the Earth God.

The Sect Master of the Shangqing Sacred Sect, Greater Lord Qingxuan, was the only Nine-Avatar Greater Lord in the entire sect. He had immediately entered Heart Demon Heavenly Tribulation after Mirage Spirit Greater Lord left the Pure Spirit Ocean.

(TL: Mirage Spirit Greater Lord went to visit Pure Spirit Ocean and met with Sect Master Qingxuan in Chapter 194.)

… …

After being selected by a Clone Avatar stage Greater Lord, disciples like Xu Disheng who had a small chance of reaching the Clone Avatar stage in the future would be given the extremely rare title of ‘Shangqing Sacred Son’.

Even nowadays, with how enormous the Shangqing Sacred Sect was, there were only around a dozen Shangqing Sacred Sons. Each of these Shangqing Sacred Sons had been selected by some Greater Lord in the sect, who was putting increased efforts into supporting their cultivation.

After Xu Disheng publicly displayed the miraculous power of his profound law foundation, the Paramount Ancient Bell, Greater Lord Zhuri had noticed his talent. During his time at the Anxi Province, Xu Disheng had scrupulously abided by the sect rules, which made Greater Lord Zhuri feel very content with his performance.

Greater Lords always held great honor and respect for the rules of the sect. Although Greater Lord Zhuri had never met Xu Disheng in person, he had supported Xu Disheng from afar, designating him as the Shangqing Sacred Son that he chose to nurture.

As for the other Shangqing Sacred Sons, the weakest of them was at the Divine Core stage, and there were even a few who had already reached the Primordial Spirit stage. They normally spent their days in secluded meditation within the Yuluo Realm and seldom made any public appearances.

The sole point of commonality among the Shangqing Sacred Sons was that they all had incredible, heaven-defying profound law foundations!

This showed how important one’s powers of comprehension were, especially in fully comprehending one’s Dao Path. This was also the most crucial aspect when it came to breaking through from the Primordial Spirit stage to the Clone Avatar stage!

Having unrivaled powers of comprehension wasn’t that big of an advantage beneath the Primordial Spirit stage. As long as you had superior talent, possessing an upper class Spiritual Root Sequence, breaking through to the Primordial Spirit stage was simply a matter of time.

But if you wanted to peek into the realm above the Primordial Spirit stage, and peer into the miraculous wonders of the Clone Avatar stage, it was absolutely necessary to have heaven-defying powers of comprehension and gain full enlightenment of one’s Dao Path!

Without the Dao Path being clear in one’s mind, how could one create clones?

Greater Lord Mingxin had never paid much attention to matters regarding the sect. Even though Xu Disheng belonged to the influence of his Mingxin Mountain Range, he had never really paid him much attention. It was only because Greater Lord Zhuri had already made up his mind that Greater Lord Mingxin also issued a decree to the three Realm Masters of the Yuluo Realm. Once Xu Disheng retrieved the thread of karma that was under Greater Lord Zhuri’s control, he would officially receive the title of Shangqing Sacred Son!

… …

On Cloud Abyss Peak in the Mingxin Mountain Range…

The jade waters of the Profound Resonance Pond rippled quietly. A pure spirit lotus flower petal was floating upon the surface at the edge of the pond, rocking gently with each passing lull. It was suffused with spiritual energy, but a fair, slender finger suddenly reached out towards it, plucking it from the surface of the water. The figure sniffed it lightly and gave a gentle smile. “This lotus flower…”

“Insolence! Who are you? How dare you take the pure spirit lotus flowers of our Cloud Abyss Peak?!”

An indignant shout rang out, and in the next moment He Ziming appeared from the skies, bringing several peak Sea of Qi stage disciples with him. They landed in front of Profound Resonance Hall, expressions cold.

The pretty girl in the red dress standing there turned around, revealing a face blessed with elegant beauty. She was still holding the pure spirit lotus flower petal in between her fingers, and she maintained that gentle smile as she fixed her gaze on He Ziming.

When He Ziming felt her angelic gaze upon him, his heart throbbed, making his words come out a bit hurried. “Y-You… W-Who are you exactly?”

His aura and tone were a huge contrast to the last words he spoke.

“I don’t think I came to the wrong place, did I? Is this place not Profound Resonance Pond, on Cloud Abyss Peak?”

Chai Wenxuan, an intermediary disciple who arrived on the scene with He Ziming, came forward, his expression unflustered. “That’s right. This is Soul Suppressor Sacred Son’s domain. You are…”

“I am here waiting for Soul Suppressor.”

The girl in the red dress let go of the pure spirit lotus flower. It fluttered off into the wind, transforming into motes of green light that filled the air and gradually dissipated in front of Profound Resonance Hall.

“Impudent! How dare you refer to the Sacred Son like that!” He Ziming cried out sternly, his expression falling. Although he was taken with the girl’s beauty, he had already regained his composure somewhat.

“So what if I refer to him as such? Well… in a few days from now, even I will have to refer to him politely as Exalted Sacred Son,” the girl said, her eyes shining brightly.

The words that she uttered were shocking. Exalted Sacred Son!

Only a scant few, the Shangqing Sacred Sons with sublime statuses within the sect could be called Exalted Sacred Sons!