Volume 1, Chapter 128 – Luoshui’s Shock

Three days later, at Yaochi Immortal Palace.

Gu Han was guiding A-Yao in cultivating the Primordial Unity Immortal Scripture.

The little girl sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, her tiny face taut with concentration.

Following Gu Han’s guidance as best she could, she tried to mobilize the vast spiritual energy within her in preparation for Foundation Establishment.

“Master Mama… A-Yao feels like I still need lots and lots more spiritual energy…”

After a long while, A-Yao opened her eyes in defeat. Her little mouth set in a deep pout, she looked at Gu Han with a pitiful expression.

Gu Han chuckled and gently rubbed her head.

“There’s no hurry. A-Yao is still young. Here, have some fruit.”

As she spoke, she took a fragrant spirit fruit from the system space and held it to A-Yao’s lips.

A-Yao’s eyes lit up. She bit into it with an enthusiastic chomp, and her cheeks immediately puffed out.

Like a greedy little squirrel, she instantly forgot all her earlier unhappiness.

Gu Han watched her innocent, carefree expression, her eyes brimming with tenderness.

Ever since returning from Tianqiong Plains, she had temporarily set aside refining the Donghuang Bell and comprehending the Chaos Scripture.

Instead, she devoted more time to teaching A-Yao, while occasionally offering guidance to the disciples who remained in the palace.

As for the ever-growing uproar in the outside world over the “Yaochi Empress,” she had heard about it but paid it no mind.

It was merely an empty title. She did not care.

As long as no one disturbed her peaceful life of teaching her disciples and raising her child, they could call her whatever they pleased.

Just as A-Yao finished the spirit fruit and nestled contentedly in Gu Han’s arms, Elder Fushan’s booming voice came from outside the hall.

“Palace Master, there’s a woman outside the Immortal Palace who looks like trouble.”

“A woman who looks like trouble?”

Gu Han arched a brow.

For Elder Fushan, a late-stage Mahayana demon king, to describe someone that way was enough to show that the visitor was far stronger than he was.

“Who is she?”

“She calls herself Luoshui. She says she’s from the Eastern Region and has come… on behalf of Empress Qingxuan to pay her respects to the Palace Master.”

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A hint of unease colored Elder Fushan’s voice.

The Eastern Region? Empress Qingxuan?

A trace of surprise flashed through Gu Han’s eyes.

Qingxuan certainly moved quickly.

Gu Han had barely returned before the woman sent someone after her.

“Bring her in.”

After a moment’s thought, Gu Han gave the order.

Having received Gu Han’s command, Elder Fushan did not dare delay. He immediately turned and flew toward the outskirts of the Immortal Palace.

Outside the Immortal Palace’s grand formation, Luoshui hovered quietly in midair.

She was still dressed in a simple blue robe, her posture straight and proud.

To her eyes, everything about the valley ahead, shrouded in poisonous miasma, was extraordinary.

Even she felt a faint sense of trepidation at the fluctuations emanating from the formation.

“What kind of formation is this…?”

Luoshui wondered, her expression turning grave.

During her early travels across the continent, she had seen her fair share of ingenious sect-protecting grand formations.

Yet the formation before her was so intricate and complex, and the Dao laws it contained so profound, that she could not see through it at all.

As she pondered, the poisonous miasma ahead suddenly churned and parted of its own accord, revealing a passage.

Elder Fushan’s mountain-like figure flew out. He cupped his fists and said in his booming voice,

“The Palace Master invites you in. Follow me.”

Luoshui collected her thoughts and nodded slightly.

“Thank you.”

She followed Elder Fushan into the passage.

The instant she passed through the formation…

“Hum…”

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An indescribably vast wave of spiritual energy, mingled with Dao Resonance, engulfed her like a warm tide.

Luoshui’s pupils contracted involuntarily.

Such pure spiritual energy!

Such concentrated Dao Resonance!

The spiritual energy here was far purer than that of the Eastern Region’s finest cave abodes, surpassing even the Qingxuan Imperial Dynasty’s “secret realm”!

As for the omnipresent Dao Resonance, it was abstruse and unfathomable, as though it contained the ultimate truths from the dawn of heaven and earth.

In the span of a single breath, she felt the bottleneck that had stalled her cultivation for so long loosen by the faintest degree!

“How… How is this possible?!”

Despite Luoshui’s vast experience and knowledge, waves of shock surged through her heart.

She was at the ninth heaven of Tribulation Transcendence!

Across the entire Canglan Continent, there were likely only a handful of places where the environment alone could loosen even her cultivation bottleneck!

Just what kind of blessed paradise was Yaochi Immortal Palace?

Suppressing her shock with great effort, Luoshui focused her gaze ahead.

Once through the passage, the view suddenly opened up before her.

Encircled by mountains lay an immense lake, its misty waters stretching into the distance as spiritual fog billowed above it.

The water shimmered with a dreamlike, seven-colored sheen. From time to time, spirit fish leaped from the surface, trailing streaks of radiant light.

A small island stood at the heart of the lake, occupied by a lone ancient tree.

The ancient tree was not particularly tall, standing only a little over ten zhang, but its entire form was wreathed in a hazy azure glow.

Profound patterns had formed naturally across its trunk, as though tracing the paths of the Great Dao.

With just one glimpse from afar, Luoshui felt her soul grow clear and lucid. It was as though the invisible voice of the Great Dao were murmuring beside her ear, drawing her into its mysteries.

“Is that… an Enlightenment Tea Tree?!”

Luoshui nearly cried out in disbelief!

She had once seen fragmentary records of the “Enlightenment Tea Tree” in an ancient text.

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It was an innate spiritual root found only in legends!

It could help cultivators comprehend the Great Dao, clear their minds, and perceive their true nature. A single tea leaf was enough to send a Mahayana or Tribulation Transcendence cultivator into sudden enlightenment!

Her master, Empress Qingxuan, had searched for tens of thousands of years without finding the slightest trace of one!

And now… one had appeared in the Southern Region, within Yaochi Immortal Palace?

Luoshui felt as though everything she knew was being overturned!

“This way, please.”

Elder Fushan’s voice pulled her back from her profound shock.

Luoshui took a deep breath and forced herself to look away. She followed Elder Fushan along a covered walkway paved with white jade and deeper into the Immortal Palace.

Everything she saw and heard along the way left her shaken.

Pavilions and towers stood in harmonious arrangements, all constructed from spirit jade and precious spiritwood and engraved with profound patterns.

Though there were not many disciples coming and going, every one of them possessed a steady aura and solid foundations. Their eyes were clear and resolute, and even the weakest had reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

What shocked her even more was that most of these disciples were barely over ten years old. Some were only seven or eight.

At that age, children in the outside world had only just begun cultivating. The disciples of Yaochi Immortal Palace were frankly terrifying!

As they passed a vast plaza, Luoshui’s gaze was immediately drawn to the majestic nine-story ancient tower rising at its center.

The tower was simple and unadorned, emanating the weathered aura of countless years. Faint, unusual temporal fluctuations also radiated from it.

“Fluctuations of time, space, and laws… This tower…”

Luoshui’s pupils contracted once more.

She could clearly sense that the passage of time within the tower was entirely different from that of the outside world!

“That’s the Myriad-Phenomena Tower.”

Noticing her interest in the tower, Elder Fushan offered a casual explanation, a hint of pride in his voice.

“It’s a treasure bestowed by the Palace Master. Time flows ten times faster inside than it does in the outside world. The disciples all cultivate in there.”

Ten times faster!

Luoshui’s heart jolted.

What did it mean to possess a treasure capable of altering the passage of time?

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It meant that the disciples of Yaochi Immortal Palace had ten times as much time to cultivate as those in the outside world!

No wonder… No wonder these disciples had attained such cultivation at such young ages!

The foundations of Yaochi Immortal Palace were simply unfathomable!

She had already suspected that other powerful experts must be stationed within Yaochi Immortal Palace.

With a brief sweep of her divine sense, her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the two most conspicuous peaks in the distance.

One stood aloof and proud, covered in snow all year round. The faint, crystalline ringing of a sword echoed from it and soared into the heavens, as though intent on cleaving the world apart!

The other was wreathed in clouds and mist, peaceful and serene. Yet the vast sword qi concealed within the clouds was deep and unfathomable, like a boundless ocean!

“Those are Snow Moon Peak and Cloudmist Peak.”

Elder Fushan followed her gaze and said,

“Snow Moon Peak is where Li Hanyi, the Grand Elder of our Immortal Palace, cultivates. Cloudmist Peak is the residence of Deputy Palace Master Yun Yun.”

Li Hanyi… Yun Yun…

Luoshui silently committed those two names to memory.

She could clearly sense that the auras entrenched atop the two peaks had both reached the ninth heaven of Tribulation Transcendence!

Moreover, both were far stronger than she was, at least at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence!

The sword intent on Snow Moon Peak was pure and sharp to the extreme, as though it could sever all things!

The sword intent on Cloudmist Peak, by contrast, was profound and enduring, encompassing all things and carrying an air of quiet, effortless control.

Two experts at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence!

Add to that the auras of several Mahayana cultivators and five experts at the peak of Body Integration that she had sensed…

And then there was Gu Han, the unfathomable Yaochi Empress who had dispersed an Immortal Ascension remnant soul with a single strike…

Yaochi Immortal Palace’s upper-echelon combat strength was already no weaker than that of any top faction on the continent!

The last trace of superiority Luoshui had felt as a cultivator from the Eastern Region vanished completely.

At last, she understood why her master had spoken of Gu Han with such gravity, even with admiration and… delight.

This Yaochi Empress and the Yaochi Immortal Palace she had founded had already earned the right to stand proudly above the Canglan Continent!