Chapter 74: Newcomers Join the Group

In the Chu Kingdom, at the Imperial Capital, beside the Guize Lake.

At this moment, a large crowd had gathered here because an extraordinary event was about to occur in the world: the leader of the world's greatest sect, the Supreme Elder of the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect, 'Heavenly Sword' Meng Huan, would shatter the void and ascend to immortality in broad daylight today!

"Master, I thought I would die of old age first; I never expected to have the chance to see you, my old master, shatter the void and ascend to immortality in broad daylight before I die!"

Meng Huan's third disciple, ranked seventh on the 'Heavenly List', 'War King' Liu Chengfeng, laughed loudly: "My luck is far better than that of my two senior brothers; to see you, Master, ascend to immortality, I would die without regrets!"

"Ascending to immortality in broad daylight has always been a legend! I never expected that today we would actually witness it with our own eyes!"

"It is said that over three hundred years ago, our Zhou Mountain Sword Sect's Supreme Elder, 'Heavenly Sword' Meng Huan's father, 'Frost Sword' Meng Yiqiu, ascended to immortality in broad daylight right here!"

"It is said that the former Sect Master witnessed Supreme Elder Meng Yiqiu shattering the void with his own eyes, but he failed to enter the Dao and passed away over a hundred years ago!"

"Besides the experts on the Divine List, who else in this world could live that long!"

"Yes! The place where Guize Lake is located was originally a mountain peak. It is said that over three hundred years ago, 'Frost Sword' Meng Yiqiu, who ascended to immortality in broad daylight, fought a great battle with another expert from the Divine List, which erased the mountain peak and created this Guize Lake!"

At this moment, the crowd around was discussing the matter fervently.

These sounds reached the ears of 'Heavenly Sword' Meng Huan, yet they caused him no effect whatsoever.

He practiced swordsmanship with his father in his childhood, roamed the Jianghu with his sword in his youth, mastered the extreme realm of 'Ice Heart' at thirty-two, ranked first on the Heavenly List at thirty-six, entered the Dao at forty-eight, and even now, he is fully capable of shattering the void and ascending to immortality in broad daylight!

How many people in history have possessed such talent?

But compared to his father Meng Yiqiu, his talent is completely insignificant!

"Now that I am able to ascend to immortality in broad daylight, perhaps I will even see my father!" 'Heavenly Sword' Meng Huan thought silently to himself.

Moments later, Meng Huan's gaze fell upon his disciple 'War King' Liu Chengfeng: "Chengfeng, you are currently ranked second on the Heavenly List. Although you are nearing the limit of your lifespan, you still have over ten years! With your talent and comprehension, you still have a chance to enter the Dao!"

"This disciple will certainly strive!" 'War King' Liu Chengfeng said respectfully in haste.

Meng Huan's gaze swept over his other disciples and family members once more.

Unlike his father Meng Yiqiu, who was not yet a hundred years old when he ascended and had his close relatives still alive, Meng Huan...

Meng Huan had cultivated for nearly four hundred years now, and even the Primordial Realm's Void Core stage only grants a lifespan of two hundred years, so most of his close relatives had already passed away.

Now, only his one son and one daughter, along with a few disciples, remained by his side.

"Master, take care!" Meng Huan's disciples were all very reluctant to let him go.

"Father, I don't want you to leave!" Meng Huan's daughter had tears in her eyes. Although her cultivation talent was quite good, she was currently at the Primordial Realm's Solid Core stage and was nearing the limit of her lifespan, so she looked much older than Meng Huan, who still appeared to be a young man.

Meng Huan reached out and gently patted his daughter's head, then comforted her: "Xiao Si, you are so old now; aren't you afraid the younger generation will laugh at you!"

The crowd around all looked at Meng Huan with respect.

Among those people were members of the Duan family, where Meng Huan's aunt Meng Yuxiang belonged, but since Meng Yuxiang had passed away many years ago, the relationship between the two families had undoubtedly become much more distant.

Now that he was shattering the void and leaving, the relationship between the Meng family and the Duan family would naturally become even more distant in the future.

"Enough!" Meng Huan let go of his daughter and quickly looked at his youngest son: "Xiao Wu!"

"Father!" The youngest son, Meng Wenxuan, looked at Meng Huan and said: "In the future, I will definitely shatter the void to see you and Grandfather!"

"Hahaha, good!" Meng Huan laughed heartily.

Yet he knew clearly in his heart that although his youngest son's talent was high, it took over two hundred years of cultivation to enter the Dao, so the hope of him shattering the void in the future was actually very slim!

But at this moment, he naturally could not discourage the child's enthusiasm!

Thinking of this, Meng Huan quickly looked at Meng Wenxuan and finally seriously warned him: "Xiao Wu, I know you have long had the intention to conquer the world and establish a vast empire!"

"Actually, with your current strength, plus the support of the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect, achieving this would be relatively easy! But do you know why I have always stopped you?"

"This son knows!"

Meng Wenxuan quickly answered respectfully: "Father is worried that this son will become obsessed with power and thus neglect his own cultivation!"

"Exactly!"

Meng Huan nodded slowly, then warned again: "Hundreds of years ago, the first place on the Divine List was 'Demon Lord' Xiahou Zhen. This person fought your grandfather twice, and this Guize Lake appeared because of the battle between him and your grandfather!"

"Although Xiahou Zhen's strength was far inferior to your grandfather, his talent was superior to yours! Unfortunately, he hoped to unify the world in his early years, and later cultivated body techniques in an attempt to kill other experts on the Divine List, ultimately losing the possibility of shattering the void and dying under your grandfather's sword!"

"This son will remember Father's teachings!" Meng Wenxuan said in haste.

In fact, he had indeed planned to sweep across the world with the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect as the core after Meng Huan ascended, but now he was somewhat hesitant.

After all, after becoming an expert on the Divine List, shattering the void is the most important matter!

If no one had shattered the void before, it would be one thing, but in the recent few hundred years, his grandfather and father had shattered the void and ascended to immortality in broad daylight twice in succession, which gave him hope!

"Enough! I am leaving!"

Meng Huan instructed once more: "Xiao Wu, you must take good care of the family!"

"Please rest assured, Father!" Meng Wenxuan nodded and said in haste.

Meng Huan's gaze swept over the crowd around, then he flew directly into the half-air, and drew a plain long sword from his waist.

After all, at his level of strength, even using the most ordinary weapon was sufficient to reach the realm of shattering the void.

As for the 'Frost Sword' left by his father Meng Yiqiu, and the 'Heavenly Sword' he had nurtured himself, they had long ago become one of the top two divine weapons in the world, so he had left them in the family.

Whoosh!

Meng Huan casually swung his sword, and a spatial rift three zhang long was instantly torn open in the void ahead.

But just at this moment...

A streak of light from not far away actually rushed rapidly towards that spatial rift, while a loud laugh rang out across heaven and earth.

"Meng Huan, you father and son are indeed extraordinary! Over three hundred years ago, your father Meng Yiqiu shattered the void and ascended to immortality in broad daylight here; I never expected that today you would also ascend to immortality in broad daylight!"

"I have never offended you father and son; today I will borrow your ascension channel; you shouldn't be so stingy, right!"

"What?" Seeing this, the crowd around were all startled in their hearts.

"It is actually him!" A trace of surprise flashed across Meng Huan's face.

This person was none other than the second on the Divine List, 'Shadowless Blade' Zhou Conglong!

As early as when Meng Yiqiu shattered the void and ascended to immortality in broad daylight back then, this person was already an expert of the Primordial Realm, and subsequently entered the Dao directly, becoming one of the few experts on the Divine List in the world.

With the older generation of experts on the Divine List passing away one after another, only Meng Huan, the first on the Divine List, could suppress him slightly.

However, since Zhou Conglong annihilated a small sect over a hundred years ago, he has completely vanished; many believed he had perished.

Who would have thought this person would appear today, and moreover, seek to use the void rift opened by Meng Huan to ascend in broad daylight.

Yet just as half of Zhou Conglong's body surged into the spatial rift, he suddenly felt the arrival of a great terror in his heart.

"Heavenly Punishment!" A sliver of realization arose in Zhou Conglong's heart.

But by this time he was already nearing the limit of his lifespan; even with the Heavenly Punishment right before his eyes, he could not care less!

As Zhou Conglong continued to surge forward, his entire body turned to nothingness under the Heavenly Punishment.

Watching Zhou Conglong's body vanish without a trace under the Heavenly Punishment, Meng Huan could not help but sigh silently in his heart.

In fact, he had previously considered letting his disciples and children ascend in broad daylight through the ascension channel he opened, but his father Meng Yiqiu had long told him that under the rules of the Heavenly Dao, those without the power to shatter the void were not qualified to ascend in broad daylight, so he had abandoned this idea.

He simply did not expect Zhou Conglong to disregard the Heavenly Dao's warning, but thinking that the other party was already nearing the limit of his lifespan, wanting to take a gamble was truly normal!

Coming to his senses, Meng Huan glanced at the crowd below, then smiled slightly before charging directly into the pitch-black spatial channel.

"Father!"

"Master!"

Below, Meng Wenxuan and others looked up at Meng Huan's vanishing figure and could not help but call out softly.

The spatial rift in the sky quickly closed, and Meng Huan's figure was seen no more.

Meng Yiqiu and Meng Huan, father and son, successively shattered the void and departed; this matter naturally became a great legend throughout heaven and earth.

Indeed, the supreme art they father and son used, "Sword of Heaven and Earth," was regarded by countless cultivators throughout the world as the number one supreme art.

Later, after the Meng family declined, this supreme art and the two divine weapons left behind by Meng Yiqiu and his son caused who knows how many storms throughout the world.

On the other side, after Meng Huan entered the spatial rift, he felt a mysterious power envelop his physical body.

Whoosh!

This power carried him, flying endlessly through the pitch-black void; in the blink of an eye, he had flown countless billions of li.

And through each spatial traversal, the scenes in Meng Huan's eyes constantly changed.

At times he saw massive stars in the far distance; at times he saw towering demon gods sleeping in desolate stars; at times he saw divine birds flying endlessly beside fireballs...

Soon, Meng Huan saw an incredibly massive star, around whose periphery layers of Lei Ting circled; even from an extremely distant distance, Meng Huan could feel the oppressive pressure emanating from that star.

And under the envelopment of that mysterious power, Meng Huan was now flying toward that huge star.

"Shattering the void and ascending in broad daylight means ascending into such a star?" Meng Huan guessed silently.

But just as Meng Huan, carried by the mysterious power, surged into that massive star, his expression changed slightly, because a strange sound suddenly rang in his mind.

"Ding! Welcome to join the Myriad Heavens Chat Group!"

Zhen Ling Continent, Chigu Desert, inside the Tianmeng Ancient Land.

The Tianmeng Ancient Land is an ancient inheritance place; normally it exists within a spatial fissure and cannot be discovered by people at all, only allowing entry when it actively opens.

Moreover, the Tianmeng Ancient Land opens only once every ten years, and simultaneously only those with a bone age not exceeding twenty-four can enter safely; others who try to force entry will be completely burned to ash by the rules of the Tianmeng Ancient Land.

It is said that within the Tianmeng Ancient Land exist numerous treasures; divine weapons, heavenly and earthly spiritual medicines, and cultivation technique manuals are said to be available in abundance!

Precisely for this reason, whenever the Tianmeng Ancient Land opens every ten years, countless sect forces from surrounding major nations dispatch their talented disciples beneath them to enter, competing for opportunities for their respective sects.

And for those talented elites who enter the Tianmeng Ancient Land, this is also an opportunity place where they can break through their cultivation strength.

Basically, after each trial, nearly one-tenth of the talented elites who entered the Tianmeng Ancient Land break through to the Bao Yuan Realm, and the cultivation of others who survive and emerge can also improve.

However, the death rate of trials within the Tianmeng Ancient Land is equally very high; even when all major sects send their most talented elite disciples to enter, the death rate still reaches nearly half.

Even with such a high death rate, for the future of their sects and for their own strength to break through rapidly, countless sect talents still rush forward one after another to enter.

And at this moment within the Tianmeng Ancient Land, the trial has reached its final stage.

In the depths of a lake stands an extremely magnificent palace; this palace is made of unknown materials, neither quite gold nor quite jade, its entire body radiating seven-colored brilliance, giving an incredibly mysterious feeling.

This is the most important key location within the Tianmeng Ancient Land, the Tianmeng Battle Hall.

Any talented person who enters the Tianmeng Ancient Land has no desire not to enter this Tianmeng Battle Hall.

And at this time, the Tianmeng Battle Hall is guarded by an ancient Xuan Jin Python tens of meters long, so countless talents are currently gathered together besieging the ancient Xuan Jin Python.

Among the countless talents besieging the ancient Xuan Jin Python, a figure in white robes holding a long sword stood in the center of a group of talents, performing extremely brilliantly while besieging the ancient Xuan Jin Python.

This person is Ye Chen, a disciple of Liuyun Sect from Tianfeng State; although his strength is only late-stage Ning Zhen Realm, because he comprehended sword intent, even many martial artists in early-stage Bao Yuan Realm are not necessarily his match!

Amidst the siege by this crowd of talents, the ancient Xuan Jin Python was now fighting like a trapped beast.

As its injuries grew heavier and heavier, the ancient Xuan Jin Python soon let out a mournful cry, then its massive body crashed heavily to the ground, completely losing its life force.

Boom—boom—boom!

As soon as the ancient Xuan Jin Python died, the Tianmeng Battle Hall not far away immediately sensed it; the huge iron gate slammed open, then released a large amount of Bai Guang, shining upon the crowd outside.

Under the illumination of this Bai Guang, the true qi within the bodies of the talents outside fluctuated one after another; among them, some people's cultivation even broke through directly, and Ye Chen of Liuyun Sect was one of them.

Under the illumination of the Bai Guang, he instantly broke through to the peak of late-stage Ning Zhen Realm as if everything flowed naturally.

Of course, this was inseparable from his previous accumulation!

"Charge!"

Seeing the Tianmeng Battle Hall open, the surrounding crowd of talents completely fell into madness, all wanting to rush inside.

"Get out of my way!"

Some talents with stronger strength rushed inside first; even some talents with ruthless methods casually killed disciples from other sects who blocked their path.

After circulating his true qi several times and finding no problems, Ye Chen also quickly led several talents from Liuyun Sect into the Tianmeng Battle Hall.

A quarter-hour later, the great door of the Tianmeng Battle Hall closed again, and all the talents inside the hall were completely separated.

Seeing this, Ye Chen could only sit cross-legged on the ground, attempting to meditate and cultivate using the dense heaven and earth yuan qi within the Tianmeng Battle Hall.

And just at this moment, the dense heaven and earth yuan qi quickly surged into a huge crystal ball above him; then, a white humanoid light shadow soon appeared below the crystal ball; the other party held a precious sword, and the appearance looked exactly the same as Ye Chen at this moment!

Swish!

The moment this white light figure appeared, it took a single step forward and slashed a sword directly at the real Ye Chen.

Ye Chen knew very well that this must be the trial the Tianmeng Battle Hall had set for him; only by defeating the opponent could he remain.

Thinking this, the long sword in Ye Chen's hand instantly flew out of its sheath, and he then charged directly at the white light figure.

Ye Chen was, after all, a peerless genius who had comprehended sword intent; a light figure merely at the late stage of the Condensed Truth Realm was naturally no match for him, so it was quickly beheaded by his sword and reverted to white light, returning to the crystal ball above.

At the same time, all the other geniuses were undergoing similar trials.

After all, those who could enter the Tianmeng Battle Hall were all elite disciples from major sects, so when the first round of trials ended, only five geniuses had underperformed and were quickly teleported to the outside world.

As for the second round of trials, it was much harder; even though these geniuses were quite powerful, thirty-five people were still eliminated.

And after the second round of trials, the third round of trials opened simultaneously.

This time, the strength of the white light figures increased again, so even more geniuses were eliminated, reaching a staggering two hundred and forty-plus.

Of course, although all these people were eliminated by the Tianmeng Battle Hall, they had also gained many benefits during the previous trials.

As for the geniuses who could pass the third round of trials and remain inside the Tianmeng Battle Hall, there were now only thirty-plus left.

Just like that, the trials continued, and the number of eliminated geniuses grew larger and larger.

And any genius who could continue to pass the trials gained huge benefits during the process; even many geniuses at the Condensed Truth Realm broke through to the Embrace the Origin Realm because of it.

Ye Chen of the Flowing Cloud Sect did not care whether others had broken through; at this moment, he was simply relying on his powerful sword intent to continuously defeat one white light figure opponent after another.

And every time he clashed with a white light figure, Ye Chen would feel a strange oscillating force transmit to his body, and within this force lay streams of extremely pure primal energy, continuously helping him increase his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Chen had already passed the fifth round of trials.

The white light figure in the sixth round of trials already possessed the strength of the mid-stage Embrace the Origin Realm and was even considered an outstanding figure within the mid-stage Embrace the Origin Realm.

Although Ye Chen possessed sword intent, his cultivation at this moment was only at the peak of the Condensed Truth Realm; dealing with such a terrifying opponent was indeed extremely difficult.

But no matter how powerful the opponent was, Ye Chen had no thought of giving up; instead, he continued to grapple with the opponent using his increasingly proficient sword intent.

Just like that, Ye Chen and the opponent fought continuously.

Finally, after exchanging exactly one thousand strikes, Ye Chen finally beheaded the opponent with a single sword slash.

But he was now completely exhausted, feeling only stars dancing before his eyes and dizziness in his head.

But just at this moment, a wonderful oscillating force began to surge into his body; under this oscillating force, he felt his bones and muscles itch, and then the flow speed of his true qi throughout his body suddenly accelerated, directly reaching several times its normal rate.

In addition, because of the boiling of his blood and qi, Ye Chen's face also began to turn ruddy.

Immediately after, the true qi vortex in Ye Chen's dantian began to continuously contract, finally forming a perfect true qi vortex.

And at this moment, it also signified that Ye Chen had officially broken through to the Embrace the Origin Realm.

But just at this moment, a strange voice sounded in Ye Chen's mind.

"Ding! Welcome to the Heavens Chat Group!"

Inside the chat group.

【System Notification: Detected increased activity within the chat group; two new members will be randomly added to the chat group!】

【Ding! Welcome 'Cultivation Genius Who Shattered the Void' to the chat group!】

【Ding! Welcome 'Sword Dao Genius with Exceptional Comprehension' to the chat group!】

【Hearing Pang Bo: Whoa, it seems the new members joining the chat group this time are all peerless geniuses!】

【Hearing Pang Bo: @Xiao Yan, it seems your title as the number one genius under the group owner within the chat group is about to be lost!】

Lu Qingshan did not pay attention to Hearing Pang Bo's words; instead, he carefully pondered the identities of these two new members.

However, the nicknames of these two new members were simply too ordinary; at this moment, he had absolutely no train of thought in his mind.

But regardless, since new members had joined the group, he still had to welcome them.

【Lu Qingshan: Welcome new members to the group!】

【Yue Buqun: Welcome new members to the group!】

【Han Li: Welcome new members to the group!】

【Cao Cao: Welcome new members to the group!】

【Xiao Yan: Welcome new members to the group!】

【Tianmeng Ice Silkworm: Popping up. JPG, Welcome new members to the group!】

(End of this chapter)