On the Chenping Continent, within the Kongshan Sect.
In the Caijun Tower of Qingchan Peak, a young man with an indifferent expression and a lean build sat upon a meditation cushion. A token hung at his waist, inscribed with only four characters.
Qingchan Sword Master.
Two years ago, the former Qingchan Peak Sword Master Elder, Chu Chen, condensed ten thousand strands of his innate true energy, achieving Myriad Transformations into Unity. From then on, he could freely mobilize and utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, ascending to the position of Grand Elder.
The selection for the next Qingchan Peak Sword Master Elder would be decided between Qingchan Peak's True Dharma Elder, Bai Qiming, and Qingchan Peak's Caijun Tower Elder, Lu Li.
Whether in terms of seniority or cultivation level, Bai Qiming held a clear advantage over Lu Li.
The sole reason Lu Li could compete with Bai Qiming was due to the strong support of Qingchan Peak's Martial Elder, Fu Qian, and the strong recommendation of Chu Chen.
Originally, almost everyone believed Bai Qiming becoming the Sword Master Elder of Qingchan Peak was merely a matter of time.
Yet, in the end, the Qingchan Sword Master token still landed in Lu Li's hands.
Furthermore, his disciple was the undisputed number one among the current young generation of Qingchan Peak, having only lost to Si Youyou of the Wind Ravine Valley during the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry five years ago.
Although Bai Qiming had the backing of Grand Elder Qi Yi, Chu Chen had now also stepped into the ranks of the Grand Elders. Therefore, in terms of background, Lu Li did not lose out to Bai Qiming.
Lu Li lightly closed his eyes, pale gray innate true energy swirling around him.
He had only entered the Myriad Transformations Realm three years ago, yet he had already cultivated nearly a thousand strands of innate true energy. If he maintained this efficiency, he would need only thirty years to step into the Unity Realm.
If one were to speak solely of innate talent for cultivation, the current Lu Li was far inferior to Kong Yang, who ascended to immortality thirteen thousand years ago.
Even Kong Yang back then took nearly a hundred years to advance from the Myriad Transformations Realm to the Unity Realm.
The reason for Lu Li's astonishingly fast cultivation speed was not merely because he was retreading a path already walked.
It was even more due to the profound mystery of the cultivation art he currently practiced—
The Purple Mansion Art.
This was the name Lu Li gave to the art he currently cultivated.
After the death of the former Kongyuan Mountain Chief Disciple, Chen Yan, the seven major peaks of the Kongshan Sect all began attempting to perfect the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art he left behind.
The lineage on Qingchan Peak assigned the task of perfecting the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art to Lu Li.
During his research into the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art, Lu Li discovered the art contained many fragmented, jumbled, and useless passages.
He then began extracting those jumbled, useless fragments. After comparing them with both the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art and the Kongshan Art, he finally removed all parts of the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art related to the Kongshan Art. Then, by splicing these remnants with those useless fragments, Lu Li obtained the incomplete, nameless cultivation art he now practiced.
He named it the Purple Mansion Art.
Lu Li also realized that Chen Yan back then was not improving upon the foundation of the Kongshan Art. Instead, he had taken an unheard-of cultivation art and jumbled it together with the Kongshan Art to create something new.
Just who was Chen Yan?
He shouldn't have been the reincarnation of an immortal ascendant cultivator, because the flaws he left in the Purple Mansion Kongshan Art were far too obvious.
Or perhaps, he left those flaws intentionally?
This question had always troubled Lu Li.
Relying on the Purple Mansion Art, Lu Li would need thirty more years to break through from the Myriad Transformations Realm to the Upper Three Realms.
But did he truly have another thirty years?
The Great Demon's Egg within the Fallen Sword Mountain Range.
Despite being separated by thousands of miles, Lu Li could still sense the vast, overwhelming demonic aura emanating from the Fallen Sword Mountain Range.
The sheer volume of demonic aura released by that demon egg had already blanketed the land for hundreds of thousands of kilometers in all directions.
Its power far surpassed that of the Black Flood Dragon he had failed to slay back in the day.
Cultivators of the Immortal Ascension Realm could, to a certain extent, endure or evade the backlash of karma. However, if they directly confronted an established, inevitable outcome, then there was absolutely no way to escape it.
The backlash from altering karma is smaller the closer one acts to the time the inevitable outcome is set to occur.
The converse is also true.
However, Kong Yang had not anticipated that the karmic backlash spanning nine thousand years would be so severe.
So severe that it rendered him, having already ascended to immortality for four thousand years, powerless to slay a mere ninth-realm demonic beast.
Kong Yang battled it for over a decade without decisive result. In the end, he could only lure that Black Flood Dragon to the Kongshan Sect, forcibly activating the not-yet-fully-formed Mountain-Shaking Bell to separate the flood dragon's physical body and soul. He then sealed them separately at the bottom of the Jieyou Abyss on Yuanhua Mountain and within the Demon Suppression Stone.
Because of this, the Mountain-Shaking Bell failed to rank among immortal artifacts, its grade ultimately fixed at that of a magical instrument.
The current Supreme Martial Pacification Elder of the Kongshan Sect, He Zongzhou, defined the demonic beast incubating within that egg as a Great Demon of the Immortal Ascension Realm. Lu Li saw no issue with that.
Such a vast, soul-chilling demonic aura, capable of seemingly obliterating the entire world in an instant, could only be released by a demonic entity that had transcended the so-called Nine Realms Below Immortality.
If this demonic beast were to be born successfully, the entire Chenping Continent would likely face an apocalyptic disaster.
It was said that the few current Dao Union Realm cultivators on the Chenping Continent were preparing to jointly activate the Mirage Palace's Abyssal Tower to destroy that Great Demon's Egg.
Lu Li knew very well this was futile.
With the paltry, half-baked spiritual energy of those below the Immortal Ascension Realm, they could not unleash the true power of an immortal artifact.
Destroying that Great Demon's Egg was actually very simple.
One only needed to ascend to immortality.
But in the current Chenping Continent, no one could ascend.
"Cause of Calamity, ah, Cause of Calamity."
Lu Li sighed softly like this.
The Cause of Calamity Theory did not emerge seven thousand years ago solely because no one on the Chenping Continent could ascend to immortality.
From the night seventy thousand years ago when the Heavenly Summit Mountain was destroyed overnight, the seed of the 'Cause of Calamity' had been sown into the Great Dao of the Chenping Continent.
And the reason Lu Li suddenly spoke aloud to voice his sigh was naturally not for his own ears.
"So, may I ask how much longer the esteemed senior intends to hide in the shadows?"
Lu Li's expression was neither sorrowful nor joyful, utterly indifferent, as he spoke softly in this manner.
"I'll hide until you ask me to come out."
From the shadowy corner of the Caijun Tower's main hall, a young cultivator dressed in plain daoist robes slowly emerged. With his hands clasped behind his back, he walked unhurriedly to stand before Lu Li, who remained seated on the meditation cushion.
"The esteemed senior is a Great Power of the Upper Three Realms. What reason brings you to this Caijun Tower to amuse yourself at the expense of a mere Middle Three Realms cultivator like myself, who has only just entered the Myriad Transformations Realm a few years ago?"
Lu Li said.
"A Middle Three Realms cultivator?"
The young cultivator in plain daoist robes let out a light chuckle. A blank, uninscribed Kongshan Sect disciple token hung at his waist. He began to theatrically look up, surveying the interior of the Caijun Tower, then slowly said:
"The famously renowned True Person Caiyun, Kong Yang, is truly being humble."