Flying through the air.
That was the phenomenon produced when a cultivator crossed from the Martial Spring Realm into the Qi Sea Realm, where the total amount of true qi available in their meridians instantly expanded over a hundredfold—a qualitative change arising from quantitative accumulation.
Whether one could fly through the air was an important basis for cultivators across the Chenping Continent to judge, through experience, whether someone else's cultivation had reached the Qi Sea Realm or above.
But there were exceptions.
As far as Chen Yan knew, one of those exceptions occurred during the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm eight thousand years later. At that time, he himself—who had only been at the Martial Spring Realm—had inexplicably achieved the ability to fly through the air.
Later, Chen Yan summarized the situation back then. He believed the reason he could fly through the air while still at the Martial Spring Realm was that the purity of true qi circulated by the Hidden Immortal Art was far higher than what any of the various cultivation methods across the Chenping Continent could produce.
This even included the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Canon itself.
Now, there was another exception.
Although it was difficult to fundamentally define whether Su Hongzhen's current act of treading emptily upon the accumulated snow was walking or flying through the air,
Su Hongzhen was nothing like Chen Yan, who cultivated the Hidden Immortal Art and possessed its supremely pure true qi.
In fact, the cultivation method Su Hongzhen practiced was even two grades lower than the methods of the Five Great Sects of the Chenping Continent.
The reason Su Hongzhen could accomplish this was entirely due to his mastery over true qi and his application of footwork.
Chen Yan even believed that Su Hongzhen—currently only at the Martial Spring Realm—possessed a level of control over true qi that would not be far inferior to ordinary cultivators in the Spirit Connection Realm.
Without any controversy, Su Hongzhen was the most talented cultivator Chen Yan had ever seen in his life. No exception.
Whether it was Zhou Jinyun or Qin Qingyu, compared to Su Hongzhen, they both fell short by more than one degree.
If there was truly another person in this world who could genuinely match him, it would perhaps only be Immortal Venerable Fusheng, Mr. You.
Eight hundred feet…
Five hundred feet…
One hundred and fifty feet.
At this distance, the majestic gates of Heavenly Summit Mountain had become fully visible to the naked eye.
Eternal, vast, imposing.
Amidst the pristine white snow and swirling sea of clouds, towering dozens of feet high, stood heavy, mountain-like white jade pillars.
Above the pillars, there was a massive horizontal beam over a hundred feet long.
At the center of the beam, three large characters, flowing like dragons coiling and serpents dancing, bold and vigorous, were cast from a strange metal imbued with the lingering resonance of the immortal path:
Heavenly Summit Mountain!
Even Chen Yan himself was looking up at the gates of Heavenly Summit Mountain from this angle for the first time.
The only sacred cultivation land of the Chenping Continent should be just like this.
One hundred and fifty feet…
Without any controversy, Su Hongzhen was the most talented cultivator Chen Yan had ever seen in his life. No exception.
One hundred feet.
At this distance, there was no longer any accumulated snow before the gates of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
Several cultivators wearing Star Heaven Sect daoist robes were seen standing beneath the towering white jade pillars dozens of feet high. Seen from this distance, human figures appeared so insignificant.
Those several cultivators in Star Heaven Sect daoist robes had clearly also spotted the two people slowly approaching the gates of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
The leader was a middle-aged man who appeared to be around forty years old, with a cultivation at the late stage of the Qi Circulation Realm.
This middle-aged man squinted slightly as he looked at the two figures—one in white, one in cyan—over a hundred feet away.
“Someone actually managed to climb up here?”
From behind the middle-aged man, a disciple let out an astonished voice.
They had long heard that before every Dao Inquiry Assembly of the Chenping Continent, many young cultivators who had not obtained the qualification for the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, unwilling to accept it, would try to climb from the foot of the mountain to the summit, hoping to gain a chance to participate.
But climbing over eight thousand feet to reach the top of Heavenly Summit Mountain was far too difficult, even for cultivators at the Martial Spring Realm.
The accumulated snow on the mountainside was an especially insurmountable natural barrier.
Take the leader, this middle-aged man who appeared around forty, for example. From the time he was a teenager, he had been assigned by the Star Heaven Sect to serve on Heavenly Summit Mountain. Now, he was an administrator stationed here.
This year, he was witnessing the third Dao Inquiry Assembly of the Chenping Continent in his life.
In these thirty years, this middle-aged man had seen a few Martial Spring Realm cultivators who, after enduring immense hardships, had managed to climb up Heavenly Summit Mountain.
Those people had truly “crawled” to the gates of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
Every time he saw those young people who had climbed up to Heavenly Summit Mountain through immense effort, his feelings were quite complicated.
Because these people were all younger than him,
And their cultivation talents far surpassed his.
Reaching the Martial Spring Realm before the age of twenty—such talent was truly enviable, even jealousy-inducing.
But he also felt pity for them, and he felt fortunate.
Pity for those prodigies who could reach the Martial Spring Realm before twenty, torturing themselves for a faint, illusory hope.
Fortunate that he, whose cultivation talent was not outstanding, had become a disciple of the Star Heaven Sect, even if he was only an outer sect disciple.
According to legend, during the Dao Inquiry Assembly of the Chenping Continent two thousand years ago, a young Martial Spring Realm rogue cultivator had climbed from the foot of Heavenly Summit Mountain to its gates, trying to earn the qualification for the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
At that time, disciples from Lingxiao Temple were in charge of maintaining order. After layers of reports, the final decision was made by the Imperial Envoy Elders of the Five Great Sects, granting that Martial Spring Realm rogue cultivator the qualification to participate in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
That was a completely precedent-breaking edition of the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry. As a result, that rogue cultivator received the attention of almost everyone on the mountain.
Then he was defeated in the first round.
Since then, at every Dao Inquiry Assembly of the Chenping Continent, many cultivators tried to gain qualification for the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry by climbing the mountain.
The Five Great Sects had clearly realized the severe consequences of breaking the rules back then—not only did it disrupt order, but it also made the Five Great Sects lose considerable face.
From that point on, the Five Great Sects never granted another exception for a Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry slot.
But still, there were people who refused to give up, trying to earn the qualification through this method.
The result was that they were all rejected by the people of the Five Great Sects.
Today, two more had arrived.
However, these two seemed a little different.
Because in the past, even if Martial Spring Realm cultivators managed to reach the summit of Heavenly Summit Mountain, they were almost completely exhausted, basically crawling to the gates on the ground.
But these two had walked up.
The young man in the cyan daoist robe appeared slightly tired, while the other, in a plain white daoist robe, looked completely calm and composed.
As if climbing this Heavenly Summit Mountain—standing over eight thousand feet tall from its base—was like walking on flat ground.