[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-watching-the-immortals-fall":3,"chapter-watching-the-immortals-fall-watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-20":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Watching the Immortals Fall",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2259893,4410,"Chapter 20: Fame Shakes the Outer Court","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-20",20,"\u003Cp>The Heavenly Book Academy has been passed down since antiquity, its depth of heritage nearly equaling that of human history itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each generation sends brilliant talents here to seek the Dao, only to be defeated by even more extraordinary souls on the same path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some may stand like cranes among clouds, proud and solitary within their prefectures, counties, or districts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Heavenly Book Academy is different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the Holy Sect of Great Xia and the foremost of the Seven Immortal Sects, geniuses here are as common as weeds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You strain day and night to catch up, only to realize effort is a lie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as now, everyone has abandoned sensing the Heavenly Book, instead craning their necks to hear what Chu He will tell them it contains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But with the sudden burst of celestial light and surging airwaves, the silent Awakening Ground erupted in panicked cries and countless figures leaping to their feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside and outside the grounds, the crowd churned like cold water splashed into hot oil!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He… what’s wrong with him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is he going to explode?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Explode? He’s sensed the Heavenly Book! Ji You sensed the Heavenly Book!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the uproar and the tiger’s roar and dragon’s cry in the sky, Chu He and Lu Qingqiu jolted awake, stunned for a moment, then turned their heads in disbelief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Ji You stood bathed in dark light, his body pulsing with an inexplicable aura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Natural, auspicious, tranquil, and serene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whirlwinds spun around him, yet not a single gust pierced the dark light—only stirring his long hair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He kept his eyes tightly shut, expression largely unchanged; the only oddity was the intermittent flashes of spiritual light from his third eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Chu He and Lu Qingqiu stared in utter shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless nights and days, they sat here from dawn till dusk, consuming countless elixirs, burning through endless spirit stones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chu He guarded against Lu Qingqiu; Lu Qingqiu guarded against Chu He.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet that rustic self-cultivator, Ji You, came to the Awakening Ground only half the time each day—and still hadn’t gathered even a single strand of dark light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the instructors said this year, among the fully cultivated lower three realms, only the two of them were contenders for the Inner Court slot—Ji You was merely an accidental bystander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet today, celestial light roared for him, and the Heavenly Book responded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chu He stared, pale-faced, for a long while, then turned to Ban Yangshu: “Senior Brother Ban, is his sensing of the Heavenly Book… off? I feel something’s wrong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. This is exactly how the Heavenly Book responds.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Chu He’s face grew even paler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As one raised since childhood as a celestial prodigy, a direct disciple of an immortal sect, he had always held one belief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If ten are chosen, I am among them; if five, I am among them; if one, it must be me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, it is not me—and he felt the Heavenly Book had no justice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some, after their daze, noticed Chu He’s disbelief and suddenly recalled what had been said before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the Heavenly Book Academy, the Holy Sect of Great Xia—you will always encounter those more gifted, beyond your reach for a lifetime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, the protagonist has switched places…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ban Yangshu, too, was filled with awe, gazing for a long while, then suddenly remembered something and froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew sensing the Heavenly Book caused such phenomena, but one thing puzzled him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All who had sensed the Heavenly Book knew: you first see a faint glow, then chase it; only with fortune do you connect with the Heavenly Book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he had just seen Ji You was not even in a meditative state—he had his eyes open. How had he suddenly sensed it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ban Yangshu could not fathom it. His gaze drifted, then landed on a flood of Outer Court disciples rushing toward the scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the hour of Xu, the Heavenly Book Academy’s female quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Ruoyao sat on her bed, continuously circulating spiritual energy, when suddenly awakened by noise outside the window, her eyes dazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This morning, she finally sensed her true spirit, and after a night’s effort under Pei Ruyi’s guidance, she had successfully entered the Initial Awakening Realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From studying the General Outline of the Dao Source to finally sensing the Celestial Spirit, she had spent ten days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though merely the most basic state of the lower three realms, she was greatly encouraged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For she knew Ji You remained stuck in the fully cultivated lower three realms, not advancing an inch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made her feel that her words in Yuyang County—that she was no worse than him, merely starting later—were no empty boast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could no longer keep using the title of Ji You’s fiancée; it would eventually be exposed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she must surpass Ji You.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet just then, she saw a senior sister dash past her window, then a second, a third, a fourth…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, a disheveled, unkempt senior sister also ran out of the female quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This senior sister was called Qiao Rong; she had entered the Academy four years ago, but her spiritual sense was weak and she could not bear the cost of prolonged elixir consumption, forever stuck at the threshold of sensing the Dao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years ago, she abandoned direct Dao sensing and turned to sensing the Heavenly Book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her last hope died, and she had given up ever since.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In another half year, she might be expelled from the Heavenly Book Academy—but expulsion was not the end; there were still minor affiliated sects and hamlets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Book Academy had minor branches scattered across the land, like the Fengxian Mountain Villa and Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion, returning once a year for the sect’s Heaven Offering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In recent years, Qiao Rong had lost interest in everything except the one thing she could never attain: sensing the Heavenly Book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is it Chu He or Lu Qingqiu?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After careful thought, Fang Ruoyao believed it must be Chu He.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Chu was the scion of an immortal noble family, radiating the aura of a noble youth, always solemn, widely admired by female cultivators in the Outer Court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially by those from small places like herself, who had never seen such a person—she and others would discuss him late into the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master Chu is truly a celestial being…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Looks like Lu Qingqiu won’t get the Inner Court slot this year.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Ruoyao pondered for a long while, never once recalling her former fiancé, then immediately rose from bed and followed the crowd toward the Awakening Ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath the night sky, the Awakening Ground was packed to bursting—Fang’s daughter had never realized the Outer Court had so many disciples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, some even stood on spiritual light, hovering above the lake, craning their necks toward the center of the Awakening Ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed each generation had its prodigy who surged ahead alone, shattering the Dao hearts of countless peers, leaving so many forever frozen in place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Ruoyao also rose on tiptoe to peer forward, but her view was completely blocked by the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet just then, someone spotted her, paused in surprise, remembered the rumor she had publicly claimed, and pulled nearby cultivators aside to make way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s going on…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since entering the Heavenly Book Academy, Fang Ruoyao had vanished from notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, this was a place where status was determined by cultivation base and family background—she had the lowest cultivation and the humblest origin; it was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, the crowd making way for her left her suddenly flustered and overwhelmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet some remained confused, standing still—until whispered explanations reached them, then they too stepped aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With doubt and bewilderment, Fang Ruoyao stepped forward hesitantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1294,"2026-06-19T15:28:39.995Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","91c13b9e5abcd4c414d8e77d38cd89cc65b42b789682a9fa4d7219f78f9a2c47","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-21","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-19",430,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwatching-the-immortals-fall-cover.jpg"]