“Greetings, Elder Chen.”

“Good day, Elder Chen!”

Chen Yan walked through the streets of the Inner Court on Qingxuan Mountain, clad in the dark blue daoist robes of the Qingxuan Immortal Sect.

Now two hundred and ten years old, Chen Yan still possessed a handsome appearance indistinguishable from a young man in his twenties.

Ever since Chen Yan had publicly stepped into the Myriad Transformations Realm, he had been deliberately suppressing his cultivation realm.

Currently, as far as the outside world was concerned, Chen Yan’s cultivation level was merely mid-stage Myriad Transformations Realm, with around five thousand strands of innate true energy.

One hundred and forty years had passed since Chen Yan broke through to the Myriad Transformations Realm at the age of seventy.

No one suspected why Chen Yan’s cultivation speed had suddenly slowed down, because it was perfectly normal for cultivators to hit a bottleneck at the Myriad Transformations Realm.

Countless cultivators who had been smooth sailing and hailed as prodigies before reaching the Myriad Transformations Realm ended up stuck there for their entire lives.

It was only a matter of time before he publicly stepped into the Unity Realm.

And that time wouldn’t be too far off—if Chen Yan wished, it could even be tomorrow.

Currently, Chen Yan held the position of Enforcement Elder of the Yimao Hall within the Qingxuan Immortal Sect. His reputation within the sect was not low, and once he stepped into the Unity Realm, he would be able to initially enter the sect’s core circle.

At this moment, he was walking along the street leading to Yimao Hall.

The Grand Elder of Yimao Hall was an early-stage Divine Ability Realm cultivator. Chen Yan had heard that he had been stuck at the peak of the Unity Realm for nearly two hundred years because he had been unable to cultivate his natal divine ability.

It wasn’t until one hundred and fifty years ago that he finally managed to cultivate his natal divine ability and achieve the Divine Ability Realm.

When the Grand Elder summoned Chen Yan, a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

Because over the past two hundred years, the number of cultivators at the peak of the Dao Union Realm had reached one hundred and thirty.

These great power cultivators at the peak of Dao Union could even be called half-step Immortal Ascension.

In fact, if they wished, they could ascend to immortality at any time.

However, forcibly ascending would encroach upon and erode the Great Dao of those who had already ascended, causing the laws of heaven and earth to collapse and the dao resonance of those already ascended cultivators to erode.

Even the peak Dao Union Realm cultivators who forcibly ascended would pay a heavy price.

This desire for the seat of Immortal Ascension, which was within sight but out of reach, caused the atmosphere of the entire cultivation world to grow increasingly restless.

The enmity between the Zhaoyuan Immortal Sect and the Xiaori Immortal Sect was especially severe.

These two great immortal sects had even disturbed the Sage over their dispute regarding the seat of Immortal Ascension.

Although the Xiaori Immortal Sect was in the wrong and could only swallow their anger in the face of the Sage’s ruling, that didn’t mean they were convinced.

The cultivator at the Immortal Ascension Realm of the Xiaori Immortal Sect who had been personally slain by the Sage was considered the greatest prodigy in the sect’s history since its founding. Everyone believed that this slain Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator should have had a good chance of reaching the Uncarved Simplicity Realm in the future.

It was precisely because he didn’t want to waste all his talent waiting for the seat of Immortal Ascension, like Pine Silence True Person, that he took the risk and forcibly ascended.

Then he paid the price he deserved.

Although this realm had forty-nine Great Daos, there were currently only forty-eight cultivators at the Immortal Ascension Realm or above active in this world.

Because this realm had produced two Sages in total.

One was the Ultimate Sage of Heaven’s Extremity, Zuo He, who wore pitch-black daoist robes and rode a pitch-black carriage pulled by eleven ninth-realm great demons.

As for the other Sage, very few records about him could be found.

Now, this realm was completely dominated by the Ultimate Sage of Heaven’s Extremity, Zuo He.

However, there were also rumors that Zuo He was actually acting on orders from a higher-level existence.

Perhaps it was the other Sage of this realm?

Or perhaps, beyond this realm...

Recently, Chen Yan had also begun to hear rumors spreading among the elders of the Qingxuan Immortal Sect.

The general meaning was that the Ultimate Sage of Heaven’s Extremity had roughly expressed his intentions to the few True Lords of this realm. Since the conflicts among the twelve immortal sects had intensified to a considerable degree, it was better to let them vent rather than suppress.

The Sage intended to allow the conflicts among the twelve immortal sects to escalate further.

If some of the cultivators at the Immortal Ascension Realm and peak Dao Union Realm fell, then the current contradictions facing this realm would naturally be alleviated.

Chen Yan believed this was true.

Because friction among the twelve immortal sects was indeed increasing more and more, and the scale was growing larger and larger.

One could say the world was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Even so, Chen Yan’s steps remained unhurried, each one steady. Within the pavilions and towers on both sides of Qingxuan Mountain, the inexperienced Martial Spring Realm or Qi Sea Realm disciples of Yimao Hall bowed and saluted in Chen Yan’s direction with respectful expressions.

Then, Chen Yan arrived before the main hall of Yimao Hall.

The Grand Elder was very busy.

Amid the constant friction among the twelve immortal sects, many places required Divine Ability Realm cultivators to personally show up to maintain order and mediate.

As the Enforcement Elder of Yimao Hall, Chen Yan’s duties were more focused on internal discipline. The fact that the Grand Elder personally summoned him in the midst of his busy schedule undoubtedly conveyed a message.

The world was about to descend into chaos.

When Chen Yan stepped into the main hall of Yimao Hall, he saw the Grand Elder, who appeared tired and wore a solemn expression.

“Grand Elder.”

Chen Yan bowed and saluted in the direction of Yimao Hall’s Grand Elder.

This Divine Ability Realm cultivator raised his eyes, glanced at Chen Yan, then slowly lowered his gaze.

“Elder Chen has arrived. Sit down.”

Chen Yan complied and found a chair in the hall to sit on.

Currently, only Chen Yan and the Grand Elder were present in Yimao Hall.

“There is a very heavy matter I need to tell you, Elder Chen.”

The Grand Elder said slowly.

“Please speak, Grand Elder.”

Chen Yan replied.

After a brief silence of two breaths, the Grand Elder finally spoke:

“Your master, Elder Lang Feng, has fallen. It happened three days ago.”

Chen Yan’s heart stirred slightly.

Although he and Lang Feng hadn’t developed a deep bond over the past two hundred years—they had barely met formally a few times—he had to admit that Lang Feng had treated him, his disciple, quite well.

If Chen Yan weren’t an old monster who had lived for several thousand years, his growth under Lang Feng’s wings would have been quite smooth.

Over the past two hundred years, Lang Feng’s cultivation had also reached the late stage of the Unity Realm. In recent years, as friction between the major immortal sects continued unabated, he often handled these minor matters.