Chapter 3: Shenghuang Yuan

Hasn't Hehuan Sect always been a demonic sect!

Truly the morals of the age have declined, hearts no longer ancient—how could such a demonic sect that has harmed countless lives become a Zhengdaoxian Sect?

Xu Xing walked to the bookshelf and reached out to take down a copy of *Newly Compiled General History of the World*.

Shenghuang Yuan first emerged a thousand years ago, and even then his realm was already on par with the leaders of the Gedaxian Sects.

In just two hundred years, his realm soared upward, reaching a level comparable to the Supreme Elders of the Xian Sects.

After that, Shenghuang Yuan allied with several Zhengdaoda Sects just below the Gedaxian Sects and drove a transformation of the age.

Enlightened the people's minds, spread the immortal arts.

Countless mortals who had lacked opportunity and lingered outside the immortal path thus stepped onto the cultivation road.

The number of cultivators in the world experienced explosive growth.

And under the guidance of Shenghuang Yuan and the Zhengdaoda Sects, the rapid increase in cultivators did not trigger chaos.

The social structure of the entire world gradually changed during this process.

After five hundred years, the social structure of the central continent of the Xuan Realm ultimately evolved into its current form.

The Qidaxian Sects and the Zhengdao Alliance jointly ruled the world.

But one thing was strange: during this process, the Gedaxian Sects and the demonic sects, for reasons unknown, merely watched from the sidelines and did not intervene.

And Shenghuang Yuan, who played the most crucial role in this entire process, mysteriously vanished fifty years ago and has not been heard from since.

Some suspect the culprit behind this is one of the Hehuan Laozu from the Qidaxian Sects or the demonic sects.

Regarding these rumors, neither the major Xian Sects nor the demonic sects ever offered any explanation, and eventually the matter was simply dropped.

Xu Xing closed the book and returned it to the bookshelf.

This *Newly Compiled General History of the World*, and indeed all books on this library floor, are incomplete, filled with extensive speculation and conjecture—there is actually little reliable content.

For instance, there is nothing on how Shenghuang Yuan convinced those Zhengdaoda Sects, or why Hehuan Sect became a Zhengdaoxian Sect; moreover, biographical details about Shenghuang Yuan himself are extremely scarce.

But the latter can be understood: most cultivators, once reaching a certain realm, strive to conceal their origins.

"Shenghuang Yuan…"

If nothing unexpected, this should be a fellow transmigrator—but further confirmation is still needed.

"I can ask an old friend for help later, but there's no rush now."

Xu Xing walked out of the library, just as quietly as he had come, unnoticed by anyone.

Many years ago, he too had wanted to change something, so he did many things—but the more he changed, the more chaotic it became, until he finally realized he was unsuited for such a task.

Now, after a single cultivation retreat, someone has actually accomplished what they once wanted to do—this must be seen properly.

But before that, this farce must be calmed down first.

…………

In a classroom, Zhang Yunlu sat in the corner, one hand propping up her cheek.

Her other hand held a phone, but the screen kept spinning with no image appearing.

Not just her—everyone else in the classroom was the same.

It must be due to the activation of the city-protection array, which had degraded the signal.

With nothing else to do, those among the students who knew each other gathered and began discussing the event three years ago when "Cang Jiezi" massacred a city to refine his art.

"My uncle told me that although 'Cang Jiezi' is dead, he had an older brother whose realm surpassed his, and who has spent these past years secretly hunting down the prodigies of the major sects, seeking to resurrect his younger brother."

The speaker was a gray-eyed youth at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation; his pale gray irises occasionally flickered with spiritual light.

This was the sign of abundant spiritual energy, heralding the forging of the Dao foundation.

The youths around him, upon hearing this news, each voiced their own opinions.

When the city-protection array first activated, they had indeed been tense—but in the end they were still youths, and had never witnessed the methods of demonic cultivators, so their anxiety had eased considerably.

Zhang Yunlu paid no mind to what they were discussing; there was no shortage of rumors about Cang Jiezi on the Spirit Net, but how many of them were true?

She snorted, returning her gaze to her phone screen.

Finally, the image refreshed—but before she could look, someone sat down in the seat in front of her.

"Miss, we meet again."

She looked up—it was that man from the school gate!

"You? How come you vanished the moment you came in?"

"I've never been here before, so I just wandered around to take a look."

"..." Zhang Yunlu was speechless—what time was this? "You're really calm, you actually dared to stand on the road and stare just now."

"It's fine. If a cultivator above the Void Return realm really attacks, this array won't hold long anyway—hiding here is just a matter of dying sooner or later."

"Hey hey hey! Don't say such bad luck!"

She was still young—what nonsense about dying! "Hehe, but it should be over soon."

"It's not that simple." She had thoroughly researched the Cang Jiezi massacre three years ago. "If it's a cultivator from a Zhengdao sect, his sect will explain things—but if it's a lone cultivator, just finding him will take a long time."

And demonic cultivators? Even more elusive, routinely massacring cities to refine their arts—every living being in their eyes is merely consumable material.

"By the way, let me introduce myself—I'm Zhang Yunlu, a student here. You… aren't one, are you?"

Though his appearance was young, he clearly wasn't a Qi Condensation cultivator like her.

"Indeed not. I'm Xu Xing, a cultivator of the Jian Sect." Xu Xing smiled.

Upon hearing this name, Zhang Yunlu felt no unease—she was merely more astonished by his identity.

"One of the Qidaxian Sects—the Jian Sect?!"

Although the current world differs greatly from the Ancient Cultivation Realm, one thing remains unchanged.

The Qidaxian Sects are still the world's overlords, the dream destination of countless cultivators.

For an ordinary cultivator, joining them is truly exceedingly difficult.

"You're really impressive. If only I could get into the Xiang Jianzong after graduation too." Her tone couldn't help but carry a trace of longing.

But unfortunately, too many people wanted to join the Xian Sect, and if it were only within this school, her talent could be considered decent.

But placed in that scale of competition, she could only be considered average.

In the previous year's College Entrance Exam, the top scorer was about her current age, but had cultivation at the peak of Jin Dan, the kind who could knock her older brother to his knees with a single punch.

Rumor has it that person was born with a strange phenomenon—able to walk and speak at birth, and began cultivating during infancy. Simply terrifying! Her actual goal was the several great academies founded by the Xian Sect; she planned to first get into an academy, then slowly prepare the matter of joining the Xian Sect.

"Your root bone isn't bad. If you cultivate diligently, there's still a chance. I look forward to the day you and I become fellow disciples."

"Hopefully."

When a sect chooses its disciples, prodigies can also choose their sect.

Because everyone can cultivate, prodigy cultivators emerge in endless succession.

To maintain the competitiveness of the new generation, although the Xian Sect's recruitment threshold has now been relaxed, the examinations have become even stricter.

Of course, no one had any objections to this. After all, placed before the Great Change Era, many people probably wouldn't even have qualified to participate in the selection.

Xu Xing said nothing more, and instead looked out the window.

"Looks like it's about to end."

Zhang Yunlu was startled, and looked over as well.

They saw the crimson array patterns above the city begin to fade.

What Xu Xing saw was more—as the great city-protecting formation shut down, space twisted slightly, and figures appeared out of thin air one after another.

The leading person had terrifying magic power fluctuations rippling around him, clad in a dark-red battle armor assembled from 129,600 tiny scales.

A great cultivator of the Return to Void realm! Begging for votes, begging for support! (End of chapter)