Chapter 154 - 153: The Six Peerless Geniuses
The morning sun rose over Sky Jade City, bathing Sky Jade city in golden light. Today was the day the Six Peerless Geniuses of the Upper Division provinces would finally arrive. Their arrival meant that the true monsters of the younger generation were about to set foot in the city, and the atmosphere throughout had become noticeably more tense.
Lord Zhao Shenming had not intended to host the Upper Division delegations within the provincial palace. To house the absolute apex of the Central Continent in the same halls where the Lower Division were settled would have been seen as a grave insult. For the past decade, Lord Zhao had commissioned the construction of a brand-new place: the Celestial Summit Palace.
Hovering a thousand feet above the center of Sky Jade City, the Celestial Summit Palace was supported by a complex network of anti-gravity arrays and spirit-gathering runes. It was more than a palace. It was a fortress built to withstand the pressure of dozens of Spirit Severing and Soul Transformation experts gathering under the same roof.
Far below, millions of mortals and low-level cultivators crowded the streets, all of them looking toward the sky. Their necks were craned upward as they waited in a feverish, reverent silence. Today, the legendary figures of the Upper Division were arriving, and to the people of Sky Jade City, their arrival was no different from the descent of gods.
Within the grand viewing pavilion of the Celestial Summit Palace, Lord Zhao Shenming stood at the forefront, clad in his finest imperial robes. Behind him stood the various patriarchs, sect leaders, and top elders of the Zhao Province. And standing quietly to the side, leaning casually against a pillar with Bai Qingyue’s wheelchair stationed safely beside him, was Lin Yuan.
As they waited, the heavy anticipation hanging over the city served as a stark reminder of the true nature of the Spirit Severing realm.
To the ignorant masses, reaching the Spirit Severing realm was the ultimate summit. It was the highest realm they could imagine, a level that seemed almost untouchable.
But to those who had actually crossed that threshold, Early Stage Spirit Severing was merely the beginning. It was a doorway, not the destination.
Beyond the Early Stage lay a vast and difficult chasm of cultivation. Breaking through it required more than simply accumulating Qi or strengthening one’s soul. A cultivator had to deepen their understanding of the Great Dao and refine their Dao Intent until it underwent a qualitative transformation, ultimately giving birth to Dao Resolve.
The Dao Resolve was not measured by the accumulation of spiritual Qi, nor the density of one’s cultivation, nor the physical robustness of the vessel. It measured only one thing: how absolutely unshakable a cultivator’s Dao Heart had become.
There were ten specific stages of Dao Resolve, representing the meticulous polishing of the soul after the mortal dust had been severed: Initiate, Adept, Steadfast, Resolute, Unshaken, Profound, Sovereign, Peerless, Supreme, and finally, Transcendent.
Every single step represented Heaven acknowledging the cultivator’s conviction.
A First Step cultivator at the Initiate stage could effortlessly resist ordinary mental attacks and illusions. A Fifth Step cultivator at the Unshaken stage could remain entirely unmoved and perfectly serene even when facing absolute, certain death. A Ninth Step cultivator at the Supreme stage possessed a will so terrifyingly solid that they could stand completely exposed before a Heavenly Tribulation without their Dao Heart wavering by a single fraction.
But the Tenth Step—the Transcendent stage—was fundamentally different.
It was no longer merely a measure of conviction. It was Heaven’s ultimate recognition that the cultivator’s Dao Heart had become flawless enough, heavy enough, and worthy enough to touch the primordial source of all cultivation.
The moment a cultivator stepped into the Tenth Step, the world itself responded to their existence. For a brief period, Heaven and Earth would open a high-dimensional crack. Through that opening flowed Origin Qi—the literal first breath of universal creation.
The cultivator possessed only a limited window to seize it. During this brief alignment, the cultivator had to draw the Origin Qi into their perfected Nascent Soul. The Origin Qi did not merely strengthen the soul; it triggered a peerless transformation. The Nascent Soul was stripped of every last, lingering trace of mortality, completely dissolving the boundary between the physical and the spiritual, and reborn as a Primordial Spirit.
From that point onward, the cultivator’s true existence was no longer their fleshly body. Their body became a mere vessel, a disposable coat worn by their Primordial Spirit. This was the true entrance to the Soul Transformation realm.
However, if a cultivator failed to seize the Origin Qi during that brief window—if their meridians couldn’t failed under the strain, or their comprehension faltered—the crack would snap shut. The opportunity would disappear, and they would be violently thrown back down the steps, forced to spend centuries re-perfecting their Dao Resolve before Heaven might grant them another chance.
This naturally explained why true Soul Transformation experts were so incredibly rare across the Myriad Realms. Many severed their mortal flaws. Many even reached the Ninth Step. But almost none reached the Tenth, and even among those who did, the failure rate of absorbing the Origin Qi was astronomical.
Lord Zhao Shenming, despite centuries of rule and limitless resources, had stalled at the Fourth Step. He was a Resolute stage Spirit Severing expert. To the Zhao Province, he was their Lord. But to the entities currently tearing through the sky toward the capital, he was barely a footnote.
BOOOOOOM!
The sky above Sky Jade City did not merely part; it shattered.
Six colossal spatial rifts tore open simultaneously across the azure firmament, bleeding raw, chaotic void energy into the mortal plane. The sheer pressure crashing down from the rifts caused the defensive arrays of the Celestial Summit Palace to shriek, the golden barriers flickering wildly.
The Six Upper Division delegations had arrived.
From the first spatial tear emerged a massive, floating island of jagged black iron and crystalline ice. From the second, a chariot the size of a city block drawn by nine skeletal dragons. From the third, a colossal flying sword that stretched for miles, radiating a blinding, surgical sword intent that made the eyes of the lower cultivators bleed just looking at it.
The grand procession of the Central Continent had come to the Lower Division, and they made absolutely no effort to conceal their terrifying, continent-shattering auras.
As the grand vessels descended toward the vast landing platforms of the hovering palace, the crowd of Lower Division elites in the viewing pavilion fell to their knees. The pressure was physical, mental, and spiritual.
These were the Six Peerless Geniuses. The Participating Generals of the Upper Division.
Descending from a relatively modest, yet immaculately designed jade skiff was Ling Chuan of the Ling Province. He wore simple white robes and possessed a calm, deeply honorable demeanor. As his skiff landed, he actively suppressed his aura so as not to crush the Lower Division servants.
Yet, despite his restraint, his Sovereign stage (Seventh Step) cultivation roared in the mind of those present. Among the Six, he was widely considered the "weakest"—a terrifying testament to the caliber of the group, that a Sovereign stage genius was the floor.
From a gilded, aggressively opulent warship stepped Ye Ao of the Ye Province. He was draped in pelts of extinct divine beasts, his face twisted into an arrogant sneer. The moment his boots touched the jade platform, he scoffed loudly.
"The spiritual Qi in this province is so thin it tastes like stagnant mud," Ye Ao insulted openly, his voice booming with Peerless stage (Eighth Step) cultivation. "How do they even breathe down here without suffocating on their own mediocrity?"
Right behind him, leaping from a chariot of roaring crimson flames, was Chu Kuang of the Chu Province. He was a mountain of a man, carrying a massive, rusted halberd that radiated the stench of millions of slaughtered souls. He didn’t even bother to insult the province; he simply laughed, a booming, arrogant sound that shattered the glass of the nearby pavilions. He, too, radiated the unyielding, terrifying pressure of the Peerless stage.
From the colossal flying sword descended Jiang Wan. He was the sole heir of the Wan Jian Sword Sect of the Jiang Province. He did not walk; he simply hovered an inch above the ground, his entire physical body seeming to vibrate with the frequency of a drawn blade. He was completely silent, his eyes closed, yet the Profound stage (Sixth Step) sword intent bleeding from his pores was so surgically lethal that it carved faint fissures into the indestructible white jade beneath him.
But it was the final two arrivals that truly stirred the interest of everyone present, drawing their gazes with genuine curiosity.
Floating down from a carriage woven entirely from purple dream-silk was a boy. He could not have been older than sixteen. He was slight, frail-looking, and possessed wide, unsettlingly calm eyes that were entirely devoid of pupils, burning with a solid, milky white light.
This was Feng Yao of the Feng Province.
Down below, Lin Yuan observed them in silence. But the moment his gaze settled on the boy, curiosity stirred within him. He quietly activated Shatter Illusion, See Truth, attempting to peer through the boy’s concealed state and see his true condition.
This had to be an illusion. Was someone actually pretending to be a boy?
The instant his skill brushed against the boy’s body, however, a sharp, warning spike of pain shot through Lin Yuan’s Spiritual Sea. His expression changed slightly, and he immediately withdrew his divine sense.
What in the heavens is that? Lin Yuan thought, his eyes widening a fraction.