About ten breaths ago.
On the steps before Heavenly Summit Palace, Mr. You's gaze fell upon the pitch-black long sword in Chen Yan's hand, which was wrapped in the lingering resonance of the immortal path, and he was lost in thought for a long time.
It was as if he was pondering something.
But no matter how he thought about it, Mr. You couldn't figure out how Chen Yan had managed to turn an immortal embryo into such a flawless immortal artifact in just a few breaths.
Such methods were simply unheard of.
If it had been those so-called Sages of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm, or Creating Illusion Realm Profound Immortals that Chen Yan had mentioned who could do such a thing, Mr. You might have reluctantly accepted it.
But Chen Yan, a cultivator at the Below Immortality level, someone who hadn't even established his Dao Basis yet, a Unity Realm cultivator—how could he?
But these thoughts didn't linger long in the mind of this young cultivator in plain-colored daoist robes, because at this moment, Mr. You was facing something far more important than Chen Yan and the pitch-black long sword in his hand.
And that was becoming a Sage.
As soon as Mr. You finished speaking, his body slowly began to rise from the steps before Heavenly Summit Palace, hovering in the clear, boundless sky.
Then, hovering in the air, Mr. You slowly lowered his head and gave Chen Yan, still standing on the steps before Heavenly Summit Palace, a look.
Chen Yan nodded.
And then, the sky began to tremble.
Or rather, this entire world itself began to tremble.
Immortal Venerable Fusheng, who had once dominated the Chenping Continent for tens of thousands of years, had already touched the threshold of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm more than sixty thousand years ago, only to give up because he was targeted by that hidden "existence."
After that, he had laid his plans for over sixty thousand years.
Everything Immortal Venerable Fusheng had done was for today.
And all the time Mr. You needed to step from the Returning to Void Realm into the Uncarved Simplicity Realm was—
Just an instant.
The canopy of the sky itself developed fine, dense patterns, spreading outward from around Mr. You's body like cracks in a glass vessel.
Countless dao rhymes were humming faintly, as if they were the essence of the world itself, the purest "Dao" swirling around Mr. You's form.
At this moment, the laws of heaven and earth above Heavenly Summit Mountain began to gradually collapse because of Mr. You's breakthrough, and a few pitch-black cracks started to appear in the sky, still expanding.
Mr. You stared at the pitch-black cracks that had appeared in the sky above him, the scene of the clear sky's decay fully reflected in his eyes.
And then, he simply blinked once.
When Mr. You opened his eyes again, all he saw were swirling dao rhymes and the spectacle of primordial chaos being born.
He slowly raised his right hand, extended his thumb and index finger, aimed them at the pitch-black cracks in the sky, and then gently flicked.
The pitch-black cracks that had been destroying the sky were instantly pinched together and sealed.
Chen Yan, still standing on the steps outside Heavenly Summit Palace, witnessing all of this, couldn't help but widen his eyes.
This was a scene he had seen before.
In the illusions presented by the Heavenly Summit Mirror, countless eons ago, Bai Chen, the Sage of Imperial Void, had once done something similar.
This meant that...
At this very moment, Mr. You had already become a Sage.
After Mr. You had repaired the gaps in the spatial rifts that had appeared in the sky, this Immortal Venerable Fusheng... or rather, Fusheng the Ultimate Sage, slowly lowered his head, his gaze falling on Chen Yan.
He first revealed a smile that seemed to indicate he had everything in the world under control, but in the next instant, his look towards Chen Yan suddenly froze.
"This is..."
Before Mr. You could finish speaking, the laws of heaven and earth, which he had just repaired, suddenly began to collapse again, and this time, the momentum of the collapse was far beyond what had occurred when Mr. You became a Sage.
A massive pitch-black rift, tens of thousands of zhang long, split open in the sky in an instant, like the maw of an abyssal giant.
And both ends of this pitch-black rift continued to spread towards the southwest and northeast horizons of the Chenping Continent.
Chen Yan felt as if all the spiritual energy in his Martial Spring, his qi sea, and his meridians had been instantly frozen.
Seeing this, Chen Yan quickly began to circulate the Hidden Immortal Art. Under its influence, the spiritual energy in his meridians seemed able to bypass the oppressive pressure emanating from the spatial rifts, allowing his energy to resume its flow.
Neither Mr. You nor Chen Yan was surprised by the current turn of events.
Or rather, both of them had long anticipated that this would happen.
Dong!
The sound of the bronze bell rang through the heavens.
The brilliant, dazzling colors of Seven-Colored Flowing Gold burst forth from the massive pitch-black rift in the sky, and then a goddess statue, thousands of zhang tall, dignified, majestic, and breathtakingly beautiful, slowly emerged from the rift.
The statue slowly opened its eyes, and a strange smile appeared on its originally expressionless face.
Then, the subtle patterns that had appeared around Mr. You when he became a Sage just a few breaths ago, patterns that should have long since vanished, began to reappear.
And those originally transparent patterns instantly turned into pitch-black cracks representing the collapse of the laws of heaven and earth, starting to spread across Mr. You's body.
Realizing his predicament, Mr. You's form flickered, appearing in an instant at the top of the Seven-Colored Flowing Gold goddess statue's head.
Then, the goddess statue slowly raised its hands, beginning to bring its palms together before its chest.
Chen Yan had also witnessed this scene before.
In the past, during the prime of Heavenly Summit Mountain, it had been reduced to ashes by a single clap of the goddess statue's hands.
So, the moment the goddess statue made its move, Chen Yan was already prepared.
Dong!
As the goddess statue clapped its hands together, the sound of the bronze bell rang out again.
Emptiness Annihilation Art!
Before the goddess statue could bring its hands together, Chen Yan quickly activated this technique, instantly severing all his karmic ties with this world.
"Pfft!"
But blood still spurted from Chen Yan's mouth, his entire form swaying unsteadily as he began to fall from Heavenly Summit Palace towards Heavenly Summit Mountain.
The sheer power at this level was not something his current cultivation base and his half-baked Emptiness Annihilation Art could completely block.
But Chen Yan was already grateful.
If he hadn't used the Emptiness Annihilation Art to sever his karmic connection with this world, he suspected that the moment he heard the bronze bell sound echoing through the heavens, he would have been instantly annihilated.
For Chen Yan, now was not the time to start Save-Scumming again.
Because he had to get more information from Mr. You, who had just become a Sage.
Thinking this, as Chen Yan fell downwards, he began to circulate the Great Derivation Art to heal the injuries he had sustained.