Volume 1, Chapter 127 – Renowned Far and Wide

The emergence of a power capable of surpassing the three great sacred lands presented the perfect opportunity to break the old balance and carve out more room and influence for themselves.

Sending congratulatory gifts was both a means of testing the waters and a prelude to choosing sides.

Some first-rate sects and major merchant associations that had long been dissatisfied with the Qingyun, Lingxu, and Tianyuan Sacred Lands even worked behind the scenes to encourage the growing momentum.

“Quick! Compile a detailed account of how the Yaochi Empress rescued the disciples of the various sects on the Tianqiong Plains, then spread it through every channel at our disposal!”

“Every cultivator in every corner of the Southern Region must know that our Southern Region finally has a pillar of its own to hold up the heavens!”

“And contact the storytellers and wandering cultivators. Have them turn the Yaochi Empress’s story into anecdotes and popular tales. Make sure they’re vivid and exciting!”

Driven by these overt and covert efforts, the name “Yaochi Empress” resounded throughout the Southern Region with astonishing speed.

Its reach and influence far surpassed those of the brief battle on the Tianqiong Plains itself.

It was no longer merely a title. Gradually, it became a symbol:

the embodiment of the Southern Region’s collective longing, suppressed for twenty thousand years, for a supreme expert of its own, and the focus of its spiritual hopes.

Several days later, outside the Wanjue Mountain Range, in Linyuan City.

As the largest gathering place for independent cultivators near the Wanjue Mountain Range, Linyuan City was perpetually bustling and always the first to hear the latest news.

At Listening Wind Pavilion, the largest teahouse in the eastern part of the city, the afternoon crowd was at its liveliest.

All three floors were packed with cultivators of every description: travel-worn independent cultivators, guards escorting merchant caravans, and disciples from nearby minor sects stopping to rest.

The storyteller had yet to take the stage, but the discussions in the main hall were more enthralling than any tale he could have told.

“Have you heard? Something big happened on the Tianqiong Plains a few days ago!”

A burly man at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, his face covered by a thick beard, gulped down a mouthful of spirit wine. His booming voice instantly drew countless gazes.

“Hu Laosan, where did you pick up this rumor?”

A gaunt cultivator at the neighboring table scoffed.

“When has a secret realm ever opened without something going wrong?”

“This time was different!”

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Hu Laosan glared and slapped the table.

“One of my sworn brothers is an outer disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect. He only returned from the secret realm a few days ago! He said…”

He paused deliberately, whetting everyone’s appetite, then lowered his voice while still speaking loudly enough for the entire hall to hear.

“The secret realm closed ahead of schedule! And inside it… Venerable Tianqiong awakened!”

“What?!”

“That great demonic cultivator appeared again? Then the disciples who went inside…”

Venerable Tianqiong’s fearsome reputation was well documented in the Southern Region’s historical records.

The entire hall instantly erupted into an uproar.

“That’s not all!”

Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect, Hu Laosan threw himself into the telling with even greater enthusiasm.

“That was only a wisp of Venerable Tianqiong’s remnant soul. He wanted to devour the entire secret realm and all the disciples inside to stabilize himself.”

“But the Palace Master of Yaochi Immortal Palace intervened. She shattered the secret realm with a single palm strike, then summoned a divine bell and crushed that remnant soul on the spot!”

“Good heavens…”

“She shattered a secret realm with one palm strike? What level of cultivation would that take?”

“Yaochi Immortal Palace? Could that be the reclusive sect in the Wanjue Mountain Range?”

The crowd broke into heated discussion, disbelief written across their faces.

“And that still isn’t the end of it!”

Hu Laosan lowered his voice another notch, his tone turning mysterious.

“I heard the Palace Master is a peerless beauty of unsurpassed elegance, and that her cultivation is at least at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence. She might even be at the legendary Immortal Ascension realm!”

The moment the words “Immortal Ascension” left his mouth, the entire teahouse fell silent for a heartbeat.

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Then an even fiercer wave of discussion erupted!

“Immortal Ascension? The Southern Region hasn’t produced a new Immortal Ascension expert in twenty thousand years, has it?”

“If she truly is at Immortal Ascension… then wouldn’t Yaochi Immortal Palace…”

“No wonder they could establish their sect in the Wanjue Mountain Range!”

Hu Laosan took in everyone’s stunned expressions, sipped his wine in satisfaction, then dropped another bombshell.

“What’s more, the sect cultivators on the Tianqiong Plains have privately given that Palace Master an honorific title…”

He swept his gaze around the room and enunciated each word.

“Yaochi Empress.”

As those four syllables fell, the teahouse became so quiet that a pin drop could have been heard.

Empress.

On Canglan Continent, that was not a title bestowed lightly.

The Eastern Region had Empress Qingxuan, the Northern Region had Empress Lingshuang, and Central Province had Sovereign Longteng. Each was a supreme existence who ruled over an entire region and inspired awe far and wide.

Was the Southern Region… about to have an empress of its own too?

After a brief, deathly silence, an even more tumultuous wave of voices surged through the room.

“Yaochi Empress… Excellent!”

“If she truly is at Immortal Ascension, why shouldn’t she be called Empress?”

“Our Southern Region has languished for too long. It’s time we had a supreme expert watching over us!”

“I heard Yaochi Immortal Palace accepts disciples regardless of whether they’re human or demon. Their disciples performed astonishingly in the secret realm this time. Two Golden Core personal disciples and dozens at Foundation Establishment…”

“If she truly is an empress, then the future of Yaochi Immortal Palace…”

A mixture of amazement, speculation, and yearning spread through the teahouse.

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In a corner, a cool and aloof woman dressed in blue silently rose and left.

After leaving the teahouse, she took out a communication jade talisman and relayed everything she had just heard inside Listening Wind Pavilion.

Along with her own preliminary observations and conclusions, she transmitted it toward the Qingxuan Imperial Dynasty in the Eastern Region.

Once that was done, she gently put away the jade talisman. An indescribably complex gleam flickered in her eyes.

Her name was Luoshui, and she was a mighty expert at the ninth heaven of Tribulation Transcendence.

She was also the senior sister of the Ye family’s ancestor, Ye Ningshuang, as well as the very first disciple Empress Qingxuan had taken in her early years.

She had come to the Southern Region on her Master’s orders to investigate Gu Han’s background.

After all, Gu Han had appeared far too suddenly. Naturally, Empress Qingxuan was curious about her origins and the power known as Yaochi Immortal Palace.

“Yaochi Immortal Palace… Yaochi Empress…”

Luoshui quietly repeated the two names, her exquisite face revealing little emotion.

Her cultivation made her one of the foremost experts even in the Eastern Region.

Yet she knew all too well that although the ninth heaven of Tribulation Transcendence appeared only one step away from Immortal Ascension, the two were actually worlds apart.

It was a leap to a higher order of life, a fundamental transformation.

“Shattering a secret realm with one palm and suppressing an Immortal Ascension remnant soul with one bell… Early-stage Immortal Ascension, perhaps even higher?”

The discussions in the teahouse echoed through Luoshui’s mind as she slowly pieced together a hazy picture of the battle on the Tianqiong Plains.

Although she had only just arrived in the Southern Region and had not witnessed the battle herself, the fact that Gu Han could suppress Venerable Tianqiong’s remnant soul so effortlessly…

It all indicated that Palace Master Gu’s strength was likely even greater than her Master had estimated.

“Someone like that… Interesting…”

Luoshui smiled faintly, then melted into the bustling crowd.

She strolled along the flagstone street, seemingly browsing the various artifacts, medicinal pills, and spiritual materials displayed in the shops lining both sides.

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In reality, her divine sense flowed outward like quicksilver, silently permeating every corner of the city.

She heard even more discussions about the Yaochi Empress.

Some said the Palace Master had silver hair like snow and peerless beauty, with an elegance that surpassed even the legendary Empress Qingxuan.

Some said her methods defied the heavens, allowing her to nurture two Golden Core cultivators and dozens at Foundation Establishment in just one short year…

Others claimed the divine bell in the Yaochi Empress’s possession was a legendary immortal artifact. Otherwise, she could never have suppressed Venerable Tianqiong so easily.

Some of these claims were exaggerated and others distorted, but the information they contained made Luoshui increasingly wary.

“An immortal artifact… The path to immortality has been severed for eight hundred thousand years… Where could an immortal artifact have come from…?”

She murmured under her breath, a complex gleam flickering in her eyes.

As Empress Qingxuan’s most trusted disciple, she knew many of her Master’s closely guarded secrets.

For example, her Master possessed an artifact from another world known as an Imperial Armament.

It was utterly unlike even the heaven-rank artifacts of this world, and it was the strongest artifact Luoshui had ever seen.

She refused to believe that the Yaochi Empress possessed an artifact even stronger than her Master’s.

Luoshui shook her head and pushed aside those distracting thoughts.

“Master only told me to investigate thoroughly and deliver the item, but she never said how I should deliver it.”

Luoshui’s delicate brows furrowed slightly.

“Would it be inappropriate to visit her directly with a gift?”

“Congratulate the newly risen empress? That seems a little clichéd.”

“Forget it. I can’t be bothered to think about it anymore… I’ll just use Master’s name!”

Luoshui smiled slyly as a plan gradually took shape in her mind.