Chapter 464: The Power of the Immortal Net: Merging the

Just as Chi Jiuyu fully recovered and began searching for other competitors…

Under the jurisdiction of the Heaven's Mechanism Palace, 【Zhitui Xiancheng】.

Affected by the earlier collective assault by numerous competitors against the Return-to-Void, the entire city had grown far quieter.

But because it was one of the crucial hub cities under the Heaven's Mechanism Palace's control, it had not been abandoned like those fruit domains or Miao Cities under the Palace.

Yet, with the five stationed Spirit Transformation cultivators all dead, and even the Return-to-Void Immortal Elders sent as reinforcements driven into frantic flight…

This had turned 【Zhitui Xiancheng】 into a notorious place of peril.

Even though the Heaven's Mechanism Palace had set the mission rewards extremely high, not a single Spirit Transformation cultivator dared risk coming.

After all, after decades of grueling cultivation, they had barely reached the Spirit Transformation Stage—who would throw away their life for a mere reward?

That reward wouldn't even make them Return-to-Void…

Even if one is a beast of burden, who says a beast of burden can't value its own life?!

Moreover, Spirit Transformation Stage beasts of burden already stand above billions, just below Return-to-Void—they still have vision.

Since no Spirit Transformation cultivators were willing to come, 【Zhitui Xiancheng】 had simply been left vacant.

Now, the city's administrators were several Nascent Soul cultivators, one of whom had been among those who blocked Zhao Ruohan back then…

To demonstrate their resolve to perish with the city to their sect, and to prevent the city's "consumables" from escaping, those Nascent Soul cultivators had joined forces to activate the city's protective array.

Entry permitted, exit forbidden.

Of course, this restriction applied only to the "consumables" below Nascent Soul—the Nascent Soul cultivators themselves had kept escape routes open.

Outside the city.

The cave where Chi Jiuyu and the other two had once hidden to heal.

It looked just as before, the stone walls covered in an unknown climbing plant, lush and verdant.

Nearby grew shrubs and trees, their branches hanging with deep purple fruits that swayed gently in the wind.

But inside the cave, a radical transformation had occurred.

The stone walls were now coated with a thin layer of moss, like a velvet carpet of emerald green.

Occasionally, faint vibrations could be seen beneath the moss, as if something was wriggling underneath.

A figure sat cross-legged at the center, before her neatly arranged dozens of palm-sized potted plants, her fingertips wreathed in a verdant spiritual light.

It was Zhao Ruohan!

Inside the pots before her, young seedlings were sprouting, brimming with spiritual energy.

"Almost done."

She gently tapped one of the spiritual plant seedlings; the soft emerald spiritual light flowed down her fingertip and slowly merged into the leaf veins.

The seedling's veins unfurled, and the entire plant grew at a visibly rapid pace.

In the blink of an eye, the spiritual plant had grown nearly two meters tall.

During this process, the entire plant turned silver-gray, its long, sharp leaves gleaming with a metallic sheen, flashing like blades forged from superior spiritual iron.

This was a high-tier spiritual plant from the Tai Xuan Realm, called Swordleaf Grass.

It was typically used to make pills that unblock meridians.

Now, under the divine illumination of the Wan Qing Yuan Mu, it had become an extremely aggressive puppet.

Ding ding!

The leaves clashed with a crisp sound.

The Swordleaf Grass puppet suddenly moved on its own, its roots leaping out of the pot.

"Go." Zhao Ruohan said calmly.

Hum~!

The Swordleaf Grass puppet instantly transformed into a sliver of silver-gray cold light and shot out of the cave, vanishing.

"Forty-seven…"

This was her forty-seventh Swordleaf Grass puppet thus far, not counting many other types of spiritual plant puppets.

【Name: Zhao Ruohan】

【Age: 25】

【Realm: Spirit Transformation Stage, Early Stage】

【Current System Loaded: Scale of Time】

【Current Points: 0】

Still zero points…

Zhao Ruohan's gaze flickered.

She had brought these spiritual plant seeds in precisely for this moment!

Her innate divine ability—the Wan Qing Yuan Mu Supreme Spiritual Light—could awaken spiritual plant puppets, and the higher the rank of the plant, the stronger the puppet it became.

But this method had one fatal flaw: the puppets had a limited lifespan…

If she had awakened puppets from the start, everyone's movement range would have been too vast.

Her fellow sect members' hiding techniques were even more extreme—she might exhaust all her seedlings without securing even a few points…

So she'd simply saved them for last!

【Remaining Time: 00:34:47】

"Huh~"

She exhaled softly.

Half an hour remained until the second-to-last safe zone update.

Using this method at the last moment carried high risk—after all, those who made it to the end were certainly no ordinary opponents.

But it's better than exhausting all the spirit plant seeds without doing anything at all!

Zhao Ruohan pulled out one by one tiny seed, no larger than a fingertip, its interior glowing emerald green with purple patterns.

It was precisely the spirit plant seed she had traded for while vending at the Sword Sect.

Merely bringing it in had consumed thirty thousand spirit coins of her quota.

It was her trump card for this grand competition.

After carefully observing it for several seconds between her fingers, she solemnly planted it in the potted plant, then once again activated a verdant spiritual light from her fingertip to spur its growth.

Rustle-rustle!

Her thick and pure magic power surged forth like a mighty river, blazing immortal light flooding into the pot and landing upon the spirit plant seed.

If any Soul Transformation cultivator from this world had done this, they would have collapsed instantly!

But Zhao Ruohan's expression remained unchanged; she even increased her magic power output.

Hum~!

Immortal light illuminated all around; moss on the surrounding stone walls was affected, growing wildly.

Even the entire mountain trembled slightly.

The intertwined root system within the mountain's body was drawing in rock and soil, transforming the whole mountain into a vessel to support the spirit plant puppet.

Suddenly, Zhao Ruohan frowned.

The immortal light in her hand paused briefly.

……

……

At this moment, beneath the mountain path at its foot.

A white-robed woman, dressed as an ancient cultivator, with an ancient qin strapped to her back and an ethereal aura, gazed toward the direction of Zhitui Xiancheng.

She was unmistakably a traditional sound cultivator of Ling Yin Fang.

"This is where they repelled the Return to Void…"

After whispering softly, she withdrew her gaze and turned into the woods beside the path.

The safe zone will update soon.

Don't know what surprises might come—better to wait and observe, then enter after the update ends.

Maybe I'll gain some new insight.

Thinking this, she had already stepped into the forest.

Hush~!

A mountain breeze brushed past; leaves rustled. Her figure suddenly halted, then she looked up warily in all directions.

Her spiritual sense swept through—but found not a single other soul.

"…"

There was no one around—then why did she feel hundreds of eyes fixed upon her?

Could it be those cautious cultivators of the Taishang Dao Sect?

She paused, then bowed with clasped hands: "Fellow cultivator, please reveal yourself."

Her voice echoed through the forest.

But the only response was the whisper of wind and rustling leaves.

Seeing this, she unstrapped the ancient qin from her back: "If you won't show yourself, don't blame me for being rude."

Dong~

Her slender fingers plucked the strings; the melodious qin tones formed visible ripples spreading outward.

Yet the feedback from the music sent a chill through her heart.

Eyes were coming from every direction—front, back, left, right!

Zhao Ruohan: "…"

She really is a well-behaved contestant—if I'd met her before, I'd have admired her greatly.

But why now do I think she's a bit foolish…

…………

【Prompt! Thirty seconds until the fourth safe zone update. Contestants not inside the safe zone will be hunted by opponents of the same realm!】

【After this safe zone update, real-time rankings will be displayed.】

【Real-time route index and map functions will be unlocked simultaneously.】

【Warning! After the fourth safe zone update, the precise coordinates of all remaining contestants' physical bodies will be displayed on the real-time map every three hours.】

The remaining Taishang Dao Sect contestants, upon seeing this announcement, felt the sky had collapsed.

This is targeted!

It's blatant targeting!

Every three hours?

Physical body?

Precise coordinates?

These rules clearly target us!

Isn't the ability to conceal oneself also a form of strength?

Why should I suffer to hide, while you just broadcast my location?

Is this fair?

Isn't this corruption?!

The participants of the Grand Supreme Dao Sect's "Turtle Dao" were indignant.

Ancestor above, look how they're openly targeting our Grand Supreme Dao Sect! You must stand up for us!

Yet they did not know that their sect's Ancestor Seeing Hong Zun had actually known from the very beginning.

In fact, this rule was something he had explicitly requested be added right from the start.

These little brats—each and every one of them has decent divine abilities—yet they insist on playing this "Turtle Dao" nonsense?

Simply unfilial!

It was precisely at the moment the fourth round's safe zone was updating.

Zhao Ruohan, through her personally enlightened Wan Qing Yuan Mu Grand Supreme Immortal Light Spirit-Plant Puppet, successfully eliminated the Ling Yin Fang sound cultivator who had stumbled in, finally achieving a breakthrough from zero.

But she also lost quite a few puppets in the process, and was even injured by that sound cultivator's "trace-cause, seek-fruit" sound attack technique, leaving her no choice but to continue recuperating.

To be honest, hiding in the shadows and ambushing such an upright traditional sound cultivator of Ling Yin Fang—Zhao Ruohan still felt a tiny, tiny bit guilty about it…

But then she put herself in Chi Jiuyu's shoes and imagined how Chi Jiuyu would react after eliminating such a competitor…

That tiny bit of guilt instantly vanished.

It is worth mentioning that the area updated in this round's safe zone happened to be precisely the region containing the three great orthodox sects of the Xuanxiang Realm and their important cities.

【Wujue Xiancheng】, as one of the hub immortal cities, was naturally included.

In other words, she didn't even need to "run from the poison" anymore.

At this point, most of the Soul Transformation group competitors in this Xian Sect Grand Competition whose frontal combat strength was relatively weak had been eliminated.

Only perhaps a few remained among the Grand Supreme Dao Sect's participants…

But undoubtedly, at this stage, the difficulty of earning points was far beyond comparison with the very beginning.

……

……

【3, 2, 1!】

【Fourth round safe zone update, real-time rankings will now be enabled】

Every remaining participant received this prompt.

Hum~!

What followed was a strange tremor that swept across the entire Xuanxiang Realm.

Like the seven-colored rainbow light that swept through daily, affecting the entire Xuanxiang Cultivation Realm, absorbing the cultivation of all beings.

But it was far more profound, its influence reaching even deeper, as if touching the very origin of the world.

So much so that even Soul Transformation cultivators could barely perceive it; only those at Return-to-Void could sense it faintly.

At the highest point of the Tianling Sect, amid rolling spirit clouds and mist, numerous Return-to-Void cultivators stared blankly into the distance, their eyes full of bewilderment.

They could feel that the entire world seemed to be undergoing some strange change.

As if some existence far beyond their cognition had descended, like a great net being spread out, slowly wrapping the entire world within it.

In a daze, they could even see wispy, invisible, strange threads that transcended all essence descending, sinking into various places of the "world."

Compared to those threads, these Return-to-Void cultivators—even the entire Xuanxiang Realm—were like an incomparably fragile bubble; it seemed as if the slightest movement would pierce them without any resistance.

"……"

This is… what?

The Return-to-Void cultivators of the Xuanxiang Realm, who for years had stood high above, herding spirits and beings to nourish themselves, finally felt an unprecedented terror.

A question they had always refused to acknowledge, even instinctively refuted, was now finally laid before them.

The worlds behind those Outer-Realm Soul Transformation cultivators were strong—inconceivably strong!

Even Return-to-Void cultivators were no different from ants!

Just as the Return-to-Void cultivators of the Xuanxiang Realm were shaken within their hearts.

The phenomenon sweeping the entire Xuanxiang Realm also grew increasingly clear—first Soul Transformation, then Nascent Soul, Golden Core, and finally even Qi Refining and ordinary mortals who had never entered the Dao.

Whether immortal or mortal, whether Cultivation Realm or the mundane world.

Even those born with insufficient innate intelligence—the mad, the foolish, the dull—who possessed no relevant cognition, now all understood one thing clearly beneath that great power that transcended all essence of the world.

A great change was coming; an existence far surpassing the entire world would alter this world…

Fear its might, cherish its virtue.

Xu Xing and the others' purpose was to set this world right.

Otherwise, if the Tai Xuan Immortals had not done so deliberately, how could the beings within a mere Return-to-Void level world glimpse even a trace of the Immortal Net?

The remaining participants also stopped at this moment, looking up into the sky.

They were very curious.

For a world like this, what method would the Ancestors ultimately adopt?

All beings were immersed in the supreme might displayed by the Immortal Net, unable to recover for a long time.

Yet they failed to notice that earth-shattering changes were occurring everywhere throughout the Xuanxiang Realm.

At the places where Xian Sect Grand Competition participants had been eliminated, threads of the Tai Xuan Immortal Net descended one by one, sinking into them, as if linking up with some sort of "node."

In but an instant, a vast surge of light shot skyward, reflected upon the heavens, like a host of stars twinkling.

Within them, all the rules of the Xuanxiang Realm seemed to manifest, arranged together, so that one glance brought enlightenment, making clear what they truly were.

Order!

The Xian Sect prodigies carried nodes into the realm upon their persons; upon defeat, the nodes merged into the realm, just as divine positions in the Divine Dao are manifestations of the origin of rules.

Yet this method was far more domineering—it forcibly imposed the concept of "nodes" upon this realm's rules!

Once the Immortal Net was activated, it could sort through the rules and redefine order.

After all, the influence upon the Xuanxiang Realm was deeply rooted; to thoroughly purge it and uproot the "Spirit-Herding" lineage, this was the only way! (End of Chapter)