Chapter 450 – Nine Realms Invasion

Central Province, Azure Cloud Sect, Cloudtop Treasure Hall.

“Greetings, Immortal.”

“Immortal, your presence honors us.”

“Hmph.”

Liu Feng walked through his Cloudtop Treasure Hall as the Disciples passing by bowed their heads in greeting, their demeanor exceedingly respectful.

Yet toward these individuals, Liu Feng remained decidedly aloof.

His eyes held undisguised contempt for them, as if he and they existed in entirely separate worlds—he, a being far above them.

And over the past few centuries, Liu Feng’s words and actions had consistently reflected this attitude.

Toward these so-called “prodigies” he had gathered from various lands, Liu Feng had always maintained this cold indifference.

Truth be told, were it not for his “Master’s” directive, Liu Feng would never have bothered establishing the Cloudtop Treasure Hall, nor would he have recruited so many Disciples.

After all, in his view, these so-called prodigies were merely prodigies of the Lower Realm.

Had he not, in his own time before Ascension, also been hailed as a prodigy of the Lower Realm, unrivaled among his generation?

Yet even with talent like his, he had ultimately been stuck at the threshold of Ascension.

If not for his Master descending to the Mortal World to enlighten him,

Liu Feng felt he would have remained trapped at the Mortal Realm Immortal Realm, with no hope of Ascension whatsoever.

Thus, facing this group of Lower Realm Mortals whom he deemed destined never to Ascend, Liu Feng cared not for their lives or deaths, nor for what they did.

He was merely following his Master’s instructions, offering these individuals a chance to cultivate and enter the Cloudtop Treasure Hall.

As Liu Feng reached the center of the Cloudtop Treasure Hall, a majestic statue stood prominently within.

Unlike his cold demeanor toward the other Disciples of the Cloudtop Treasure Hall, Liu Feng’s attitude underwent a complete transformation upon seeing this statue—becoming deeply reverent, a stark contrast to his earlier arrogance.

Liu Feng lit a stick of incense before the statue and spoke: “Master, the tasks you assigned have been completed by this Disciple.”

As his words faded, the spreading incense smoke gradually coalesced into a human form.

Upon seeing the figure, Liu Feng immediately knelt, pressing his forehead to the floor.

“Disciple Liu Feng pays respects to Master.”

“Rise.”

“Yes.Liu Feng stood up, then stood awkwardly before this mysterious Master.

That an Immortal could be so awestruck and fearful spoke volumes about the exalted status of the manifested figure.

For this person was one of the rare True Immortals of the Thirty-Three Heavens… Qiu Yuan.

True Immortal Qiu Yuan gazed down at Liu Feng below, his profound eyes seeming to penetrate the entire Cloudtop Treasure Hall.

Then, as if noticing something, he nodded in satisfaction and praised, “Well done. It seems you have not disappointed this Master’s expectations.”

Receiving True Immortal Qiu Yuan’s praise, Liu Feng reacted as if granted a great reward, his breathing growing rapid.

The fanatical gleam in his eyes revealed the depth of his worship and loyalty toward True Immortal Qiu Yuan.

“Master, you flatter me. These are merely this Disciple’s duties.”

“This Azure Cloud World is indeed as you said—most Cultivators here are of little consequence, unable to withstand even mere Sky Demons at the Mortal Realm Immortal level. If not for your command sending me to the Lower Realm, this world might already have been overrun by the Sky Demons, shaming the Immortals of the Thirty-Three Heavens.””With my presence in this realm now, and having gathered a group of cultivators from the Lower Realm with exceptional Aptitude as per Master’s instructions, I believe that if such a situation were to occur again, this realm would not be as defenseless as it is now.”

Liu Feng’s tone was filled with pride, as if he believed his actions were a great salvation for an entire realm, and he was immensely proud.

True Immortal Qiu Yuan, however, remained silent on the matter.

His expression was unusually calm, almost eerily so.

Yet Liu Feng, lost in his excitement, failed to notice this.

Nevertheless, True Immortal Qiu Yuan did not dampen Liu Feng’s spirits and, uncharacteristically, responded: “Indeed, you have done well. For this journey to the Lower Realm, you deserve the foremost credit.”

“When you return to the Upper Realm, I will have the Immortal Venerable grant you an Opportunity to aid your Breakthrough to the Golden Immortal realm.”

Hearing this, Liu Feng grew even more exhilarated.

After all, in his view, his trip to the Azure Cloud World had encountered no real difficulties or dangers.

It had merely felt like a leisurely tour of the Lower Realm.

Yet this simple mission to the Lower Realm had unexpectedly granted him the chance to Breakthrough to Golden Immortal.

No matter how he looked at it, this was a tremendous stroke of fortune for him.

After speaking, True Immortal Qiu Yuan abruptly shifted the topic.

“Now that matters in the Azure Cloud World are concluded, you may prepare for your return to the Upper Realm.”

“However, the next hundred years mark the rare celestial event of the Thirty-Three Stars Alignment in the Great Luo Heavens, during which the passages between realms will temporarily close.”

“Once this celestial phenomenon passes, you may return to the Thirty-Three Heavens. Thus, you must remain in this realm for approximately another century.”

“A hundred years from now, I will personally come to guide you back.”

“As you command.”

“Very well. Three days from now, the celestial anomaly will manifest, and the Lower Realm may be slightly affected.”

“Since the Azure Cloud World has just endured the chaos of the Sky Demons, disseminate this news to prevent panic in this realm.”

“I obey Master’s decree.”

After True Immortal Qiu Yuan’s manifestation vanished, Liu Feng could scarcely contain his excitement.

It had been a full three thousand years since his Ascension to the Upper Realm.

Yet in all that time, he had found no method to Breakthrough to Golden Immortal.

This was because his Ascension had not been a true one—he possessed the form of an Immortal but lacked the spirit of one.

As other Immortals would say, individuals like Liu Feng could only be considered Half-Immortals or false Immortals.

Thus, although Liu Feng was revered everywhere in the Lower Realm,

in the Upper Realm, aside from a few other false Immortals within Qiu Yuan’s Immortal Palace,

no true Immortal ever regarded false Immortals like him with any respect.

This made Liu Feng’s life in the Upper Realm rather unsatisfactory.

But fortunately, all of this would soon come to an end.

He only needed to remain in this Lower Realm for less than a century more.

Once he returned to the Upper Realm and achieved his Breakthrough to Golden Immortal,

those Immortals who had once looked down on him would surely view him in a new light.

At this thought, Liu Feng could not help but smile.

Yet he failed to notice the icy coldness in his Master True Immortal Qiu Yuan’s gaze before he departed—

a gaze as if looking upon a lifeless corpse.

But lost in the joy of his impending Golden Immortal Breakthrough,

Liu Feng remained oblivious to this.

And just as Liu Feng basked in his own delight, a hidden undercurrent began to stir within the Azure Cloud World.

At the center of this undercurrent lay none other than the Cloudtop Treasure Hall where Liu Feng resided.Azure Cloud Sect, Ten Thousand Talisman Peak.

“The great era… is it finally coming?”

Lu Chen emerged from his cave residence, looking up toward the direction of the Cloudtop Treasure Hall as if sensing something.

Then he returned to his cave residence and retrieved a token.

This token was none other than the Nine Realms Token capable of traversing between two realms.

Once Lu Chen activated the Nine Realms Token, an illusory gate immediately appeared before him.

Lu Chen stepped through it and soon vanished without a trace.

Nine Realms, Great Thousand Mountains, Biyou Mountain.

“Master.”

White Jade Pine Deer was the first to approach as she saw Lu Chen emerge from his cave residence after concluding his seclusion.

Compared to five hundred years ago, Biyou Mountain had undergone tremendous changes.

Now Biyou Mountain was not only one of the rare great mountains in the Great Thousand Mountains, but Lu Chen’s incarnation as the Jiao Lord had also become the Great Mountain Lord of the current Great Thousand Mountains.

His status was second only to the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains.

Additionally, the cultivators in Biyou Mountain had significantly increased with the addition of the Imprisoned Sword Sect.

These Imprisoned Sword Sect cultivators externally displayed a style of assisting the sword with jiao, which also earned Lu Chen as the Jiao Lord an additional title to some extent – the Jade Pool Sword Ancestor.

Perhaps because sword cultivators were extremely rare in the Nine Realms.

Only then did people realize that Lu Chen could cultivate the Sword Path despite the Sword Ancestor severing the Nine Realms’ Sword Path.

The Great Thousand Mountains placed great importance on this.

In the past, the Great Thousand Mountains might have suspected Lu Chen of being from the Imprisoned Sword Sect.

After all, with the Sword Ancestor’s presence, normal Nine Realms cultivators shouldn’t be able to master the Sword Path.

But after multiple confrontations between the Nine Realms and the Daluo World,

many Nine Realms cultivators had devoured sword cultivators from the Daluo World, thus stepping onto the Sword Path.

Although due to the Sword Ancestor’s influence, these cultivators couldn’t advance beyond the level their Daluo World sword cultivator counterparts had achieved in life, unable to progress further,

the emergence of so many sword cultivators still caused the originally diminished Sword Great Dao in the Nine Realms to gradually resurface.

Or rather, it allowed the Nine Realms’ Heavenly Dao to reclaim some of the Sword Great Dao from the Nine Realms Sword Ancestor’s grasp.

Where there was one, there would be two; where there were two, there would be three.

With this development, while sword cultivators in the Nine Realms remained scarce, it was no longer the exclusive domain of the Imprisoned Sword Sect as before.

Lu Chen’s arrival at Biyou Mountain was not on a whim.

He had sensed the summons from the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains.

Therefore, facing White Jade Pine Deer who approached him, Lu Chen’s first words were:

“Come, accompany your master to the main mountain.”

“Yes.”

Great Thousand Main Mountain.

This was the core area of the Great Thousand Mountains. When Lu Chen first came to the Great Thousand Mountains to participate in the Jiao Lord legacy competition, this was where he had arrived.

However, at that time, Lu Chen’s location was the mountain where the ancient fiend remnant ‘He’ resided.

And there were many similar great mountains formed from ancient fiend remnants within the Great Thousand Main Mountain.

Or rather, the entire Great Thousand Main Mountain was built upon an enormous ancient fiend corpse.

Quite similar to the situation with the Nine Realms Sword Ancestor.

With Lu Chen’s arrival, the current thirty-six Great Mountain Lords of the Great Thousand Mountains gathered together.

However, among these people, besides Lu Chen, nearly one-third of the Great Mountain Lords hadn’t come in person but in the form of incarnations.

Some were because their cultivation had reached a critical moment and they couldn’t move.

Others were unable to attend personally due to various other special reasons.In any case, the attendance of thirty-six Great Mountain Lords was an exceptionally rare occurrence in the entire history of the Great Thousand Mountains Sect.

This demonstrated just how significant this matter was to the Great Thousand Mountains.

Once all the Great Mountain Lords had gathered, the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains, Hui, made his appearance.

Hui surveyed the surroundings and, confirming that everyone was present, wasted no time on formalities.

He immediately gouged out one of his own eyeballs and tossed it before the assembled crowd.

This bloody spectacle did not unsettle the Great Mountain Lords present.

After all, similar ancient methods were not uncommon in the Great Thousand Mountains.

In fact, such bizarre Divine Abilities and techniques were the very foundation upon which the Great Thousand Mountains stood.

As the eyeball landed on the ground, it projected a scene directly before the Great Mountain Lords.

The image displayed a grand hall.

The perspective was peculiar, as if the scene on the other side was being viewed through another eyeball.

It was then that everyone noticed Hui’s hollow eye sockets—both of his eyeballs were missing.

One eyeball lay before them, while the other was clearly the source of the projected scene.

Not all the Great Mountain Lords present were aware of the affairs of the Nine Realms and the Daluo World.

Thus, upon seeing the unfamiliar hall in the projection, one of the Great Mountain Lords inquired, “Sect Leader, may we ask why you are showing us this?”

Hui did not answer directly. Instead, he pointed at the nearby projection and calmly said, “Patience. Observe carefully.”

As Hui spoke, the projected scene began to shift.

It seemed as though someone had picked up the eyeball in the scene and was moving it elsewhere.

Carrying the eyeball, this person soon left the hall and ascended into the sky.

Through the images transmitted by the eyeball, the Great Mountain Lords quickly noticed something unusual.

“This… this is a previously undiscovered Major Thousand World?!”

As one of the Great Mountain Lords exclaimed in astonishment, the few who had been in seclusion and were thus less informed about external affairs immediately grasped the situation.

As for the majority of the Great Mountain Lords, they had long been aware of Hui’s purpose in summoning them.

Many of them had even visited the world depicted in the projection.

Once it was clear that everyone understood the situation, Hui revealed the reason for gathering them.

“The Celestial Beings have decreed that we must launch a full-scale assault on this world and place designated sacred artifacts within it.”

With that, Hui produced thirty-six wooden boxes and distributed one to each Great Mountain Lord.

Naturally, Lu Chen also received one.

When Lu Chen opened his box, he found a single, withered finger inside, resembling that of a mummy.

Yet, despite its desiccated appearance, the sight of this finger made Lu Chen’s expression turn grave.

Within this finger, Lu Chen sensed immense Ancient Fiend Power.

If all these fingers were placed at their designated locations in the Azure Cloud World, they could directly influence the very Dao of Heaven and Earth throughout that realm.

Vaguely, Lu Chen began to understand the purpose behind Hui’s actions.

And what this would mean for the Azure Cloud World.

However, even with this realization, Lu Chen had few options to prevent it.

For he knew all too well—this was the beginning of the Azure Clouds’ upheaval.This was the result of Gu Xian’s dealings with certain True Immortals.

If Lu Chen dared to reveal himself at this moment,

he would face suppression from both the Immortals and Gu Xian.

For someone currently only at the Transformation Soul Stage, this was absolutely insurmountable.

Therefore, to avoid exposing himself, Lu Chen could only properly play his role as the Great Mountain Lord and join the other Great Mountain Lords in arranging the invasion of Azure Clouds.

This time, the Three Sects of Nine Realms… had come fully prepared.

(End of Chapter)