Chapter 100: The Heavenly Venerable

“A demon god as a mount?”

For the Ferryman’s suggestion, Xiang Xuanqing looked hesitant: “But he’s a squirrel—isn’t that inappropriate?”

“It’s the Four Unlikes, a divine beast!”

The Ferryman corrected: “The Chaos Demon God, the Five Elements Dao—how could such a thing be so trivial?”

“Just rinse its memories with the Ten-Ingredient Tonifying Decoction, twist reality, turn falsehood into truth, and redefine it.”

“From now on, he’ll forget he was ever a squirrel and devote himself entirely to being the Four Unlikes.”

“But isn’t its original form still a squirrel?”

Xiang Xuanqing shook his head: “I’ve always been proper—how would it look to go out riding a squirrel?”

“When have you ever been proper?”

The Ferryman ruthlessly mocked his own original self: “How about this—you don’t need the Four Unlikes. Just define it as the Five-Colored Lion instead.”

“The Dao says: Once, in the Primordial Blue Heaven, amidst the Azure Sky’s Empty Song, on the Vast Earth of Li… the True Ones sat in attendance, while the Primordial Heavenly Venerable hung his seat upon a floating Five-Colored Lion.”

“The Five Elemental Demons perfectly correspond to the Five-Colored Lion.”

“Huh? Now that you say it… maybe it’s not impossible.”

Xiang Xuanqing still hesitated: “But last time in the Yin-Yang Universe, I already captured a Five-Colored Lion as my mount!”

“It should still be being cared for by Fox Thirteen.”

“You still remember?” The Ferryman was surprised—his original self still recalled this minor cultivator.

“Of course!”

Xiang Xuanqing’s expression turned serious: “Fox Thirteen is quite clever. When he ascends, recruit him to work in the Underworld. He can’t be a Ghost King, but an Underworld Marshal would do.”

“Those few Tian Jun are good too—like Shang Tian Jun and Ling Xu Tian Jun. When they ascend, bring them to the Underworld too. One black, one white—wasting them on the role of the Death Envoys would be a shame.”

As the two chatted, Xiang Xuanqing’s Three Lives Stone was finished.

“Perfect for checking the current state of the Yin-Yang Universe,” Xiang Xuanqing planned to test the Three Lives Stone’s function.

He casually cast a thread of karmic connection into it; the Three Lives Stone quickly revealed the scene of the Yin-Yang Universe.

The first image to appear was a starry expanse.

【Pure Yang Tian Jun】Fox Thirteen, carrying a long blade, strolled behind a Five-Colored Lion through the deep cosmos.

He had shed his former naivety; his face now bore sharper contours, radiating a striking vigor, his posture tall and straight as a pine, strong and solid—clearly a master of the Black Fox Scripture, his entire being suffused with pure, unadulterated yang energy.

“Little Five, can you walk slower? The Tian Jun Grand Tournament is still far off—why are you in such a hurry to reach the Divine-Demon Arena?”

Fox Thirteen strolled slowly behind the Five-Colored Lion.

The Five-Colored Lion roared several times, as if urging him on.

【Your lazy attitude—can’t you take cultivation more seriously? No wonder after ninety thousand years you still haven’t reached Tian Wang—how pathetic!】

“That’s going too far!”

Fox Thirteen protested: “That’s your ten thousand, four hundred and twenty-first complaint about me!”

“Do you think I don’t want to become a Tian Wang? But how long has it been since the cosmic environment improved?”

“I broke through to Tian Jun just five hundred years after White Brother and the others ascended—that’s already impressive. I’m the second-fastest to reach Tian Jun since the new era began!”

The Five-Colored Lion glanced at him: 【You haven’t reached Tian Wang.】

Fox Thirteen objected: “In three thousand years, I’ve fought one hundred and twenty-four Tian Jun battles—never lost a single one.”

The Five-Colored Lion’s gaze had already turned skyward: 【You haven’t reached Tian Wang.】

Fox Thirteen’s face darkened: “Since I became Tian Jun, in every ten-thousand-year Tian Jun Grand Tournament, haven’t I always been among the top two, crushing all rivals?”

【But you still haven’t reached Tian Wang!】

“Can you stop bringing up this damn Tian Wang?!”

Fox Thirteen snapped: “Isn’t that just a theoretical realm? How am I supposed to cultivate it? Cultivate air?”

After the Six Tian Jun ended the chaos in the Yin-Yang Universe and collectively ascended, unprecedented changes occurred in the cosmos. The Tian Jun realm now allowed exploration of far greater Dao and laws, making today’s Tian Jun far stronger than those of ancient times.

Everyone has deeply cultivated in this realm for a long time; Fox Thirteen now far surpasses the former Muhouheishou , 【Original Tian Jun】 and 【Ancient Tian Jun】.

Yet he still hasn’t touched the threshold of ascension.

Beyond the Tian Jun realm, there is still a path—and at least one major realm—this was the conclusion reached through later speculation.

This major realm has been tentatively named: Tian Wang Jing.

No one can clearly explain how to cultivate the theoretical Tian Wang Jing, or how to break through it.

Everyone speculates that the Tian Wang Jing is currently unattainable.

Because only ninety thousand years have passed since the ancient Divine-Demon War; the great cosmic transformation is still progressing gradually.

The ceiling of cultivation was raised significantly, but not abruptly.

Thus, the Tian Jun deduced that the current universe lacks the capacity to support cultivators of a higher life tier.

The most reliable path everyone can deduce is—wait!

Wait until the great cosmos continues transforming, until the cultivation ceiling is raised further, until the top-tier Tian Jun naturally break through as the universe evolves.

This path was universally accepted as the only solution to reaching Tian Wang Jing until seven thousand years ago.

Then, a cultivation fanatic broke through and forged a second path, shattering the cultivation ceiling.

This fanatic was—【Divine Martial King】 the Five-Colored Lion, Little Five!

“Little Five, brother, be honest—seven thousand years ago, how did you break through?”

Fox Thirteen suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the Five-Colored Lion’s leg: “Tell me honestly—when White Brother ascended, didn’t he secretly leave you something amazing?”

“Otherwise, with the cosmic limit still stuck, how did you break through?”

【Just cultivate hard! I’ve told you this countless times.】

The Five-Colored Lion told him: 【After my master ascended, he only changed the cosmic environment—he left nothing else behind.】

【I broke through solely through hard cultivation. If you just follow me—repeatedly practice qi refinement, constantly polish yourself—you’ll succeed too.】

“Repeatedly practice qi refinement, constantly polish yourself, and you’ll succeed?” Fox Thirteen sighed to the heavens, hearing the same phrase he’d heard for seven thousand years.

“I’ve practiced qi refinement repeatedly—I’ve polished myself endlessly—I’ve even transformed from 【Black Fox Tian Jun】 to 【Pure Yang Tian Jun】—why still no breakthrough?”

【That just means you’re not trying hard enough.】

The Five-Colored Lion spoke matter-of-factly: 【My bloodline was ordinary, utterly unremarkable—I became Tian Jun just three hundred years after my master ascended, the fastest in the entire universe.】

【And because I cultivated hard, I challenged a Tian Jun every day—this entire universe’s fighting craze started with me.】

【Two hundred years before you became Tian Jun, I had already held the title of Supreme Divine Martial Champion for one hundred and ninety-nine years in the Tian Jun Grand Tournament.】

【It was only because those fools didn’t want to train with me that they changed the Tian Jun Grand Tournament to once every ten thousand years.】

【Luckily, I was diligent enough—I split into five incarnations and fought myself every day!】

【Practicing qi while debating Dao—that’s how I broke through seven thousand years ago.】

【So this is all the result of hard cultivation—why won’t you believe me?】

“But your method isn’t universally applicable!”

Fox Thirteen said: “You say practice qi, polish yourself, and then you succeed.”

Everyone has done the first two steps—how exactly does the final step work?

It simply doesn’t work!

【Not universally applicable? It’s simple—just cultivate harder.】 The Five-Colored Lion was nearly at his wit’s end.

【I’ve taught you Dao for seven thousand years—I’ve fought you for nearly seven thousand years—and you still don’t get it? What can I do?】

【I’m just as desperate as you are!】

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