When Chen Yan regained consciousness once again, he still existed as a special form of "will," floating above the heavens.
Heavenly Summit Mountain remained within the reach of his sight.
Standing on the arena platform at Daoyan Arena was himself, wearing the daoist robes of Kongyuan Mountain, along with Ye Xiu.
"Mysterious Yin Weeps Blood, All Phenomena Share the Sorrow!"
So the reincarnation recording point this time was actually here?
Even better, it saved him the trouble of going through all that effort again.
The next moment, Chen Yan's consciousness resonated once more with the "self" standing on the arena platform.
Let me take action myself, huh?
After the "consciousness" of his former self—still merely a Martial Spring Realm cultivator standing on the arena platform—had left the main body, the body at that time had become nothing more than an empty shell.
Was it because he was currently above the heavens, causing the resonance between his own consciousness and his "self," or... was there some other reason?
Chen Yan didn't know.
But what he did know was that under these current circumstances, the body he had on Heavenly Summit Mountain's arena platform was entirely within his control to command.
After obtaining the reincarnation reward from the last cycle, Chen Yan had acquired a brand new Emptiness Annihilation Art and had his cultivation elevated by two minor realms.
Now, Chen Yan's cultivation had reached the peak of the Unity Realm.
The distance to the Divine Ability Realm was only one step away.
But as everyone knew, the greatest chasm between the Unity Realm and the Divine Ability Realm was actually the difference in natal divine abilities.
After obtaining a natal divine ability, a cultivator's spiritual sense and cultivation would both ascend to a higher level, gaining even greater enhancement.
If his next reincarnation reward could elevate his cultivation from the Unity Realm to the Divine Ability Realm, then what natal divine ability would he obtain?
As mentioned before, cultivators in this world who could obtain truly powerful natal divine abilities were actually few in number.
Most people's natal divine abilities were actually relatively useless.
So then, what about his own?
At this moment, Chen Yan didn't have much time to think about these things. He didn't even have time to study the uses of the Emptiness Annihilation Art yet. He only knew that what the Emptiness Annihilation Art interpreted was a completely different law from the Hidden Immortal Art and the Great Derivation Art.
The most important thing now was to command his body and defeat the Ye Xiu before him.
The next instant, Chen Yan's consciousness plunged sharply downward, his spiritual sense connecting with his body at Daoyan Arena.
In that moment, the chaotic sounds of conversations and exclamations from the surrounding cultivators at Daoyan Arena came rushing in, but they were quickly drowned out by the violent azure-black true qi mixed with a nearly weeping, sorrowful howl.
However, Ye Xiu's killing move was nothing more than "slow" to describe it from the perspective of Chen Yan's current spiritual sense.
Chen Yan felt the sluggishness and weakness of the true qi circulation within this body that belonged to him.
For Chen Yan at the peak of the Unity Realm, the body of a Martial Spring Realm cultivator was indeed as weak as an ant—no different at all.
Even the body of a Myriad Transformations Realm cultivator was just a slightly larger ant.
But to defeat a piece of trash on Ye Xiu's level, using his current body was already more than enough.
Chen Yan slowly raised his right hand, his fingertip pointing in Ye Xiu's direction.
Then, he began to activate his Martial Spring, channeling all the true qi in his meridians to initiate the Hidden Immortal Art.
This wasn't the shallow understanding of the Hidden Immortal Art that his "former self" had possessed. Instead, it was the profoundly mastered Hidden Immortal Art of Chen Yan, now at the peak of the Unity Realm, integrated with his own understanding of the immortal path.
The true qi gathering at his fingertip began to undergo a qualitative transformation.
Then, a faint point of Clear Light emerged from his fingertip.
Immediately after, just as in Chen Yan's own past memories, the boundless azure-black true qi melted away in an instant.
Then, this point of Clear Light shattered Ye Xiu's Protective True Qi, reaching all the way to the ring hanging on his chest, where it gave birth to a deep blue barrier that helped him block this point of Clear Light.
The Chen Yan of that time hadn't noticed these details.
But for the Chen Yan of now, everything was within his control.
Even though he had infused the peak Unity Realm Chen Yan's profoundly mastered understanding of the Hidden Immortal Art, and the body he was manipulating was indeed just a Martial Spring Realm cultivator.
This point of Clear Light at his fingertip still pierced through Mo Zheng's barrier, heavily wounding Ye Xiu.
It was entirely because of this point of Clear Light that it left some kind of "memory" within his former body, causing the Chen Yan of later times to unknowingly elevate his understanding of the Hidden Immortal Art by a level, enabling him to autonomously activate that point of Clear Light.
The entire arena platform was reduced to powder, dust filling the sky.
Chen Yan gazed at Ye Xiu, who was lying on the ground in a miserable state, about ten zhang away from him.
At this moment, the control of this body was still entirely within Chen Yan's grasp.
Wait a moment.
What if... he continued to occupy this body and acted according to various key points in his memory?
What would happen then?
Could it be...
Just as Chen Yan was thinking this, a bronze bell's sound, echoing through the heavens, rang out from the sky.
The next instant, Chen Yan's consciousness was instantly pulled away from this body, swept back above the heavens, and plunged once again into the chaotic flow of time.
...
Heavenly Summit Mountain, Profound Origin Pavilion.
Within the Unmoving Sword Sect's guest courtyard.
He An stood in the courtyard, holding the Mingxue Sword.
Seven Martial Spring Realm cultivators surrounded him in the center, searching for an opportunity to attack.
Then, they lunged toward He An, almost all at once.
He An strictly controlled his use of true qi, relying entirely on his footwork and swordsmanship to dodge and weave among the siege of these seven Martial Spring Realm swordsmen.
This man, hailed as the foremost swordsman among the current generation of young cultivators, appeared completely at ease.
But just a few breaths later, He An suddenly gritted his teeth, a look of unwillingness flashing in his eyes. Then, he activated his Martial Spring, unleashing a blood-colored ring-shaped sword energy that sent all seven Martial Spring Realm cultivators flying simultaneously.
"Not enough!"
He An's expression was extremely serious.
If he could only achieve this much, it would still be far from enough when facing Su Hongzhen.
Yuan Yi, standing by the side of the house, had been witnessing all of this.
He didn't utter a single word of reproach for He An's recklessness. In fact, ever since today's Dao Inquiry at Heavenly Summit Mountain had ended, Yuan Yi hadn't said a single word to He An at all.
It was time to do what he should do.
Yuan Yi reached his hand into the sleeve of his daoist robes, confirmed the object within, and then made some kind of resolution before starting to walk toward the direction outside the courtyard.
"Uncle-Master Yuan, what's wrong?"
"It's rare to have the chance to come to Heavenly Summit Mountain. I'm going out for a stroll."
Yuan Yi replied calmly, then stepped out of the courtyard gate.
Perched on a tree branch in the courtyard was a small snow sparrow. It tilted its head slightly, then flapped its wings and flew out, circling above the Profound Origin Pavilion as it followed behind Yuan Yi.
Just then, a sensation like a lightning strike suddenly hit this small snow sparrow.
Its wings went stiff, and it plummeted vertically onto the ground of the Profound Origin Pavilion.
The little snow sparrow tried to struggle, to take flight again, but no matter what it did, it couldn't... It couldn't even pull its spiritual sense out of the snow sparrow's consciousness.
It, or rather, she, began to panic.
Just then, footsteps and the sound of someone humming a tune came from behind.
And that voice seemed somewhat familiar.
The footsteps grew closer and closer, and then the snow sparrow's body suddenly lightened as it was picked up from the ground.
What came into the tiny snow sparrow's field of vision was a face wearing plain-colored daoist robes, looking quite at ease, calm and carefree.
This was a cultivator who looked very young.
He held the snow sparrow up in front of him, then broke into a smile:
"Little one, long time no see."