Chapter 72: Ascension

Jiang Yu pointed at the forked river in the distance and said, "You choose, which branch to take."

"Right." Jiang Tu, seeing the few cultivators flying this way, thought for a moment and added, "The old Cloud Mist site really isn't safe."

"Or we could chat with the Xuantang Xingjun."

"Go to his secret cave?"

"Mm."

"Aren't we afraid of what traps he might have set before?"

"......" Jiang Tu fell silent, but Jiang Yu knew his advancement was imminent, and clear thinking was beneficial.

So they disembarked midstream, stepped onto the shore, quickly set up an Underworld formation, and slipped into the void with him.

Jiang Yu said bluntly, "Xuantang Xingjun, we wish to borrow your cave for a while. How exactly do you define 'going out'?"

"As a half‑sword spirit, can you leave?"

The Core Formation stage is called "True Person," the Nascent Soul stage "True Lord," while the Divine Transformation stage is the "Xingjun," suggesting something as distant as the stars.

At present, no Divine Transformation has appeared on Tianyuan Continent, but that doesn't mean none exist.

Fortunately, I've been refining my spiritual sword daily, fully attuned it, and can sense through the blade, even threaten the one before me.

Otherwise, who knows what might happen.

The little old man Xuantang Xingjun raised an eyebrow, noting the young cultivator's blunt and threatening tone, "I can already enter the vessel, so I naturally have a way to detach from the spiritual sword."

"Leaving means completely severing ties with the spiritual sword, and also departing from your cave."

"But when you enter the Great Luo Celestial Realm, you must bring me along."

"May I assume that you've been lingering in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's sword pool for years because you haven't seen a chance to return to Eastern Continent?"

"And when I appeared that day, you noticed the cave's sigil and deliberately let the spiritual sword recognize me as its master." Jiang Yu, drawing a parallel, rolled up her sleeve to reveal the Tai Chi Fish emblem on her arm.

Xuantang Xingjun twitched his mustache and nodded, assuming the demeanor of a sage: "Indeed."

"Junior, I understand," Jiang Yu said, then turned and led Jiang Tu away.

"Wait, what did you understand?" Xuantang Xingjun could no longer feign composure, swooshing to the light barrier at the cave entrance, "Little girl, finish speaking before you leave."

The most annoying thing is when a conversation stops abruptly.

"Your senior's sincerity is lacking; we'll look for a cave ourselves for now." In today's battle, Jiang Yu found that wandering outside for a couple of days was fine.

It lets us stretch our limbs and gather extra supplies—cough, this line can be ignored.

Jiang Tu calmed down, his cleverness returning, "What do you suspect about him?"

"His current strength is suppressed by the spiritual sword, but a Divine Transformation can separate the primal spirit; his divine abilities are incalculable."

"Is his true body still alive? If he leaves the sword body and regains power, will he kill us on the spot?"

"He doesn't even care about the massive Cloud Mist Immortal Sect; what are we but ants in his eyes?" Jiang Yu had to stay vigilant.

"He only has a single primal spirit; daring to cause trouble, I'll use spiritual energy to destroy him first."

"Besides, the Cloud Mist Immortal Sect has been extinct for two or three thousand years, and a Divine Transformation only lives three thousand years; he should be long gone, right?" Jiang Tu believed that after his advancement his ability would jump dramatically.

Jiang Yu said cautiously, "The Divine Transformation's power—there are longevity secrets in the world that match it."

"But his true mortal body—whether it ascended to the spirit realm or is hidden within the Great Luo Celestial Realm, we don't know."

"You could easily burn him with spiritual fire, but that might cause a huge hidden danger."

She paused, then pointed at Ao Ze, who was still dozing beside the Dragon Monument, and said, "I'm more afraid he'll take over him."

Since Jiang Tu and I are of a different gender from him, we're temporarily safe.

Jiang Yu led it out of the space, surveyed many spots along both riverbanks, and finally chose a small peak far from crowds and with few monsters.

"I will open a cave." She thought, released that handle‑less sword.

With both hands swiftly pinching the secret technique, she slashed the rock; with booming sounds, the spiritual sword carved a cavity over a person tall and more than ten meters deep.

At the moment Jiang Yu turned to open the inner chamber, the spiritual sword suddenly thrust straight toward the lower left.

With a hum, a strip of earth‑yellow glow burst forth, shooting straight at Jiang Yu.

She couldn't dodge in time; to prevent her defensive bracelet from cracking again, she gathered the spiritual sword and Jiang Tu and flashed into the void, racing to the Dragon Monument to see the situation.

But the Dragon Monument showed everything normal, as if the earlier glow had never appeared.

Jiang Yu thought briefly, raised her sword toward the ice cave, "Xuantang Xingjun, why must you feign mysticism?"

"I can't even get out of this cave, what mysticism can I conjure?"

"Don't squint at me. Think about it: the confinement barrier across the Dragon Pearl Space is like a tiny interface communicating with the outside; even if my mortal body is here I can't breach it."

"Before, I could see the outside world only because you hadn't set any defenses; that's how I could sense a part of it inside the spiritual sword." Xuantang Xingjun spoke with utmost sincerity.

He paused, saw Jiang Yu silent, sighed and said, "I won't say anything until I see the Dragon Monument. What have you encountered?"

"At your young age, don't be too suspicious; at least now our interests are aligned."

Jiang Yu surged spiritual fire with one hand, quickly drawing in midair the scene of the spiritual sword's encounter when opening the cave.

Xuantang Xingjun's eyes widened instantly: "Cloud Mist Mountains, you've already arrived here."

"Your eyesight is truly sharp."

"Nonsense. I have cultivated in the Cloud Mist Mountains for over a thousand years; I know every inch of its soil."

"Below is the exit linked to the Cloud Mist Sect's special teleportation passage; a strike from the spiritual sword would naturally be rebounded by the barrier."

"So powerful, yet you don't attack the spiritual sword directly at me?" Jiang Yu kept a skeptical attitude toward him, wondering about the Divine Transformation elder.

At first Jiang Tu didn't use spiritual fire to kill him, fearing he'd ruin the newly reborn spiritual sword; later he was a bit hesitant, as this person can also solidify his soul near ice crystals.

"The formation barrier automatically identifies living beings; the spiritual sword, however clever, is still an inanimate object."

"The barrier remains, indicating its other end is still intact; you can go down and teleport to check."

"Advancing at the old Cloud Mist site, even if there are odd phenomena, people usually treat them as ordinary." Xuantang Xingjun wanted to see for himself, but this had to be spoken by the young cultivator.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu simply nodded, "We'll look for another spot."

"……" Thus: Xuantang Xingjun called out to her as she turned, "At such a young age, why have you no drive at all? If you're scared of this and that, how will you refine?"

"If you die, you have nothing." Jiang Yu will seal the cave entrance, and will explore again after Foundation Establishment succeeds.

Jiang Tu deeply agreed, and the two went downstream again, finding an unremarkable low hill.

The surrounding spiritual energy was not evident, few cultivators or demonic beasts lingered, only river water and trees accompanied them, and it was just over a hundred li from the charred spiritual field site of the Cloud Mist Sect.

This time opening the cave residence showed no anomaly, so for safety they set a double formation.

The inner layer was naturally a high-level Huangquan Guest-Receiving Formation, the outer layer a mid-level supreme Five Elements Inverted Formation bought in Floating Tower City.

This formation's illusion was excellent, able to bind pills invisibly, and is a premium defense for many small and medium families.

Thus, occasionally a one- or two-tier flying demonic beast would land on the peak and never fly away again.

Jiang Yu was determined not to perform Foundation Establishment nor exit the pass; she paid no attention to demons that mistakenly entered the formation, and fortunately no one fell in.

After a full four months, at midnight one night, she finally sensed her internal spiritual energy reaching the critical point.

She then immediately took a Foundation Establishment Pill; just as the spiritual energy was about to compress into liquid, the Chaos Primordial Talisman residing in the Milan Palace whooshed and sucked away most of it.

Fortunately, Jiang Tu's superior spiritual stone was set as a backup formation nearby.

"Wait for me to succeed in Foundation Establishment; when you absorb the nearby heaven-and-earth spiritual energy later, it's not too late," Jiang Yu gently advised, and when she swallowed the second Foundation Establishment Pill, the talisman only devoured a quarter.

She had to consecutively take the fourth and fifth pills, and the massive energy instantly erupted within her body.

Jiang Yu rapidly activated her technique, guiding it to flush all meridians and sinews throughout her body.

After a short while the energy converged into the dantian, forming the first drop of spiritual liquid; within a radius of several thousand li the earth's spiritual energy gathered here, the second and third drops… more spiritual liquid followed closely.

Foundation Establishment complete!