Daoist Competition

Another day passed in the blink of an eye, and the momentum of the spiritual tide gradually waned. Despite the brief period, the cultivators in the gorge have already harvested greatly.

During these one or two days, the Spiritual Energy they’ve breathed in is equivalent to several months of past efforts, and the lower one’s cultivation, the more one benefits.

Although the Spiritual Energy is not as turbulent as it was initially, it still wanders the earth, lingering and refusing to disperse. Thus, few have departed, as they remain there striving to absorb and refine themselves.

At this moment, it was only the early part of the hour, the Heavenly Gate had not opened, and the morning sun began to warm, waiting for the frost to melt. Golden light illuminated the Great River. Under the blue sky, white egrets occasionally soared by, while mountains lay in stillness as the morning breeze blew across. A myriad of resplendent clouds leaped over hundreds of rivers and thousands of peaks.

Xuanmo disciples held their breath and focused, attentive to outer heaven movements, rendering the gorge momentarily silent except for the ancient, unchanging sound of the river rushing eastward.

By the end of the hour, a sudden sound of thunder in the clear sky was heard, shaking the four directions, each sound louder than the last. Above the heavenly vault, Gang Clouds spun violently, manifesting a large vortex that gradually sank like navel, as if someone beyond the sky had grasped it, pulling upwards.

Soon, the clouds parted, and the vortex expanded, as if the sky had opened a large hole. Through that heavenly gap, one seemed to glimpse a colossal indescribable object suspended above the Nine Heavens.

Yet it was only a fleeting moment before the object was obscured by light. A curling burst of Cloud Light emerged, and within seconds, a sound like tearing silk was heard, exploding outwards like a hatching egg. The Heavenly Vault was filled with a glow of gold stars and silver flowers, spreading in all directions. Once expanded to the limit, they descended, proclaiming downwards, with thousands of rainbows and rays, cascading down, rumbling, and falling, filling the earth with sound.

The Six Demon Sects, though having planned to block the Xuanmen Sect disciples first, restrained from acting early to avoid alerting the opponent. Thus, they remained inactive.

Only at this moment, seeing the Heavenly Cloud open wide and the object activating the Forbidden Gate, did they know the time had come.

Elder Jin moved the spell, letting out a muffled snort. The Gang Cloud above his head dissipated, and the next instant, he appeared atop the heavenly vault.

His face was slightly pale, seeming greatly weakened in Primordial Qi, but his actions were swift and smooth as he took out a jug, pulled the stopper, and poured it downward.

Instantly, countless black smoke billowed from the jug’s mouth, spreading within moments. The rolling Demon Cloud covered hundreds of miles, blocking the path. This Demon Cloud could neither harm people nor disturb minds, but it could obscure movements and confuse perceptions, and it kept expanding always, faster than tunneling light, soon extending beyond ten thousand miles.

With his action, tunneling lights flashed in disorder from below the peak, with dozens of rays of light shooting up—every Demon Sect practitioner ascending toward the Extreme Sky.

On Qingdan Peak, Elder Liu glanced over, sneering, as he had anticipated this, so his face showed no surprise.

The fighting in the gorge had reached a pause, and the true determinant of victory lay in this battle in the Extreme Sky. The crafty methods of the Six Great Demon Sects were not unexpected.

He initially intended to invite one or two elders from each sect to join forces, striking first to intercept the Demon Sect disciples.

However, each sect’s elders only cared about their disciples, unwilling to take the initiative to battle, believing that Xuanmen’s numbers outweighed the opponent. If the Demon Sect dared to come, they had nothing to fear, merely meeting them in battle. Hence, there was little response to this suggestion.

Ying Ya Daoist thought for a moment and said, "Senior brother, why not use the Dharma Treasure ’Smoke Luo Chui’ from our sect to disperse this Qi?"

Elder Liu shook his head and said, "That would take an hour. It’s better to detour around, for without planning ahead, one is always a step behind."

Elder Ying Ya secretly thought, "Every disciple of each sect has elders by their side to guard them. Even a small loss shouldn’t affect the greater situation, and senior brother is overly worried."

As Elder Jin acted, Feng Haiyang and the others were already riding the wind in the sky, extending tunneling light to the extreme, rushing towards the outer heaven.

Without disturbance, they stormed through the vortex and reached the heavenly vault.

Above, they saw a Spirit Stone suspended in the solitary sky, ten thousand feet tall, round yet flush, with hundreds of apertures exhaling Gang Qi, emitting thousands of radiances, now bathed in the morning sun, shining both inside and outside amidst golden rays.

This object was crafted long ago by a great cultivator using Great Dharma Power from an outer heaven flying star, with a Grotto Heaven within. To retrieve the Qiantian Junyang Essence, one must reach inside.

The Star Stone seemed close, yet it was actually located in the Second Realm Heaven, where the emitting Gang Wind originating from outer Nine Heavens was extraordinarily fierce. Even standing from a distance, they felt their Protective Treasure Light trembling, their figures hard to stabilize, seemingly about to be swept away.