Eternal Life from the Golden Needle Technique

'He... he actually succeeded?'

'He hadn't even reached the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer for fifteen minutes, and he already skipped a realm to slay a veteran demon at the Soul Emergence Eighth Layer Late Stage!'

'And that Divine Transformation... I doubt even a Cultivator at the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer would have come out of that unscathed!'

Outside the Ninth Layer Mountain Array,

Wei Yuting was gaping in astonishment.

She had even stopped channeling Magical Power into the Array Plate in her hands.

As a result, the Ninth Layer Mountain Array, lacking the support of Magical Power, began to gradually dissipate.

The curtain of light that had enveloped Shen Changchuan and Qiu Kunsheng's battlefield also began to fade away.

However, Wei Yuting had no mind to spare for such trivialities.

At that moment, she could only stare blankly at the young figure in midair, so horrified she had practically lost the ability to speak.

When Shen Changchuan first leaped into the array, declaring he would fight his opponent to find the impetus for his breakthrough to the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer, she had been incredibly worried.

She had feared that their youngest junior brother was being too arrogant, that he was walking to his own death.

Later, when she saw Shen Changchuan use a Secret Technique to forcibly enhance his strength enough to go toe-to-toe with Qiu Kunsheng, she was shocked.

But at the same time, her anxiety didn't lessen in the slightest; in fact, it grew even more intense.

She thought she had seen through Qiu Kunsheng's ploy.

She figured the old demon was feigning weakness, waiting for the perfect moment to erupt with a fatal strike!

She worried that Shen Changchuan, lacking experience, would be deceived and fall for the trap.

Wei Yuting had originally resolved that, even if it cost her life, she had to ensure her prodigiously talented junior brother escaped and survived!

But then, Shen Changchuan achieved a breakthrough mid-battle, suddenly advancing to the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer.

After that, even an all-out Qiu Kunsheng could do nothing to him. In fact, as time went on, it was Qiu Kunsheng who began to fall into a disadvantage in their direct clashes.

This made Wei Yuting's eyes fly wide, her face a mask of utter disbelief!

Reversal after reversal, shock after shock.

In all her years, Wei Yuting had never experienced such a violent rollercoaster of emotions!

Never before had her mood been subjected to so many drastic swings in one day!

Just when Wei Yuting thought it was all finally over—that nothing else could happen to faze her, not even if Shen Changchuan actually managed to defy his realm and kill Qiu Kunsheng—

Shen Changchuan unleashed that incomparably brilliant sword-based Divine Technique!

With that single strike, the world lost its color.

Qiu Kunsheng, the Corpse Refining Sect's Leader at the Soul Emergence Eighth Layer Late Stage, was instantly cleaved in two.

This scene dealt Wei Yuting yet another earth-shattering blow, one that completely upended her worldview.

'How could such a powerful technique exist in this world?'

'Or rather, how could someone who had just reached the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer unleash a killing blow that was in no way inferior to one from the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer?'

Wei Yuting couldn't wrap her head around it, to the point that she even began to sink into a deep state of self-doubt.

...

And at that moment,

within the entire Grotto Heaven Ruins,

Wei Yuting wasn't the only one mired in shock and self-doubt.

'Junior Shen... has he already come this far...?'

At the entrance to the Secret Realm Ruins,

not long after having entered,

Wu Tianhao witnessed the scene on the mountainside: Shen Changchuan erupting with power and slaying Qiu Kunsheng—the Sect Leader of the Corpse Refining Sect, a man whose aura placed him in the Soul Emergence Eighth Layer Late Stage—with a single sword strike.

Wu Tianhao, who had traveled a great distance to rescue Senior Sister Wei and Shen Changchuan, froze in his tracks.

He just stood there, his gaze completely vacant.

A long moment passed.

Only after the scene had completely settled did a complex expression cross Wu Tianhao's face, followed by a sigh of resigned admiration.

"I knew the bottleneck at the Soul Emergence Sixth Layer Peak wouldn't hold him back."

"A few days ago, he came out of seclusion and told me he was going to Broken Soul Mountain to ask our master about some issues with his Cultivation bottleneck. I knew then that while this bottleneck is a life-or-death ordeal for most people, it wouldn't be an insurmountable problem for him."

"Still, I didn't dare to let my imagination run wild. I just figured that with our junior brother's talent and our master's guidance, he'd probably break through in three to five years."

"But I never in my wildest dreams imagined that he would break through after we'd only been apart for three to five days!"

Wu Tianhao stared dazedly at Shen Changchuan's figure hovering above the mountainside, speaking as if to the Shen Family's Third Elder beside him, yet also as if muttering to himself.

He couldn't help but feel a dazed sense of unreality.

Wu Tianhao could clearly sense that the aura now erupting from Shen Changchuan was undoubtedly that of the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer!

He just couldn't fathom how Shen Changchuan had managed to break through in a mere three to five days!

It simply defied all his expectations!

But where Wu Tianhao's shock eventually gave way to a mixture of relief and bewilderment,

the Shen Family's Third Elder, who stood beside him,

was simply horrified beyond belief.

He was so stunned that he couldn't even hear what Wu Tianhao was saying.

'How could his strength have increased so quickly?!'

A tempest raged in the heart of the Shen Family's Third Elder.

'I knew Shen Changchuan would become a major figure in the future!'

'With the talent he's shown, he could even be the Shen Family's next Divine Travel Realm Ancestor.'

'But according to my original calculations, it should have taken Shen Changchuan at least several years, maybe even more than ten, to reach the Soul Emergence Late Stage. As for the Divine Travel Realm, that should have been impossible to achieve in less than several decades.'

'But now... what am I seeing?'

'In just three years, he's already reached the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer Realm!'

'And not only that, he's displaying incredible combat power—the terrifying strength to severely wound or even kill someone at the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer!'

That last part, in particular, terrified the Third Elder to his core.

'If he can unleash a Ninth Layer attack right after reaching the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer... then forget about how many years it will take him to cultivate to the Divine Travel Realm. Once his Cultivation reaches the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer, won't he be able to go toe-to-toe with those in the Divine Travel Realm?!'

The Third Elder wouldn't dare entertain such a speculation about anyone else.

But for Shen Changchuan, for whom fighting above his realm had always been as simple as eating and drinking, he suddenly felt it was entirely possible!

'This is unbelievable! With his aptitude, while it's not a one-hundred-percent guarantee he'll reach the Divine Travel Realm, cultivating to the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer is practically a certainty!'

'And if he truly possesses the combat power of the Divine Travel Realm while at the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer, then for all intents and purposes, he can be considered a Divine Travel Realm expert!'

In an instant, a thousand thoughts raced through the Third Elder's mind, and his expression flickered uncertainly.

'No, I have to jump ship from the First Madam's side, and quickly!'

'This boy's future is limitless. I absolutely cannot make an enemy of him!'

'Looks like this is going to cost me dearly...'