Chapter 22: Stunning the Crowd

In front of the Cultivation Tower, an elder with white hair and a white beard stared at the light screen, his expression grave.

“Which floor has she reached?”

“Reporting to Elder, she has cleared the sixth floor and is about to enter the seventh.”

“The seventh floor…” the elder murmured slowly.

“That will be a battle crossing two major realms.”

At these words, all the surrounding disciples fell silent.

Two major realms.

Qi Refining versus Golden Core.

In the thousands of years since the founding of the Qingyun Sect, no one had ever appeared who could defeat a Golden Core cultivator while in the Qi Refining stage.

Even in the entire Southern Region, such individuals were extremely rare.

And those few eventually became pillars of their sects, with some even achieving Great Saint or Quasi-Emperor status.

“Will she enter?” someone whispered.

No one answered.

Because on the light screen, Lin Xiaoyu had already stepped into the seventh floor.

—

The seventh floor.

The scenery changed abruptly.

It was no longer a confined stone chamber, but a desolate Gobi Desert.

Yellow sand filled the sky, and the fierce wind cut like a blade.

Five figures stood silently ahead.

They were five puppets at the first layer of Golden Core, their bodies gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.

Without breath, without emotion, only pure, suffocating killing intent.

Lin Xiaoyu’s grip on her sword tightened slightly.

Golden Core.

This was the first time she had faced true Golden Core combat power.

Previously, within the Map of Mountains and Rivers, her master had never revealed his true cultivation, merely dismantling her attacks move by move.

She knew the gap between her and her master was vast, but she had never truly understood what it meant to cross two major realms.

Now, she understood.

The pressure radiating from the five puppets alone was enough to make her feel suffocated.

This was Golden Core.

But Lin Xiaoyu did not retreat.

She took a deep breath, pointing the Qingfeng Sword diagonally toward the sand.

She needed resources.

Luoxia Peak needed its name cleared.

She needed to grow stronger: strong enough to protect those she wanted to protect, strong enough to storm back into the demon den that had destroyed her family.

Then fight.

—

The five puppets moved simultaneously!

There was no probing, no warning, just the simplest charge and punches.

But even these simple, unadorned movements, infused with Golden Core true essence, distorted the very air!

Lin Xiaoyu advanced instead of retreating, her footsteps as light as the wind.

This was the footwork her master had taught her, derived from the Grand Dao Evasion Technique. Though she had only grasped the surface, it was already exquisite enough.

The first punch brushed past her hair, the fierce wind severing a few strands.

Lin Xiaoyu used the momentum to sidestep, the Qingfeng Sword tracing an arc as it slashed at the neck of the nearest puppet!

Clang!

Sparks scattered everywhere.

Only a shallow scratch was left on the puppet’s neck.

Lin Xiaoyu’s heart sank.

Her full-force strike couldn’t even penetrate the defense of a Golden Core puppet.

This was the chasm of crossing two major realms.

However, there was no time to dwell on it, as the other four attacks had already arrived.

Lin Xiaoyu’s toes tapped rapidly, her figure making sharp, rapid turns across the Gobi Desert. She barely dodged three blows, but the fourth grazed her left shoulder.

CRACK.

The excruciating pain of her shoulder blade shattering exploded instantly.

Lin Xiaoyu let out a muffled groan and was sent flying, slamming heavily onto the sand ten zhang^[1] away.

“Cough… cough…”

She coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth, her left arm already unable to lift.

The five puppets advanced expressionlessly, their metal footsteps leaving deep indentations in the sand.

—

Outside the tower, in front of the light screen.

A deathly silence fell.

“She’s… not getting up, is she?”

“The gap between Golden Core and Qi Refining is too great. This isn’t something a person can overcome…”

“Getting to the seventh floor is already incredible. It’s an honorable defeat.”

Some sighed softly, others felt regret.

But just at that moment.

On the light screen, the young girl used her right arm to push against the ground, staggering to her feet.

Blood trickled down her forehead, blurring her vision.

She raised her right hand, lifting the Qingfeng Sword once more.

At the same time, a strange aura slowly rose from her body.

It was no longer pure Qi Refining spiritual energy, but a deeper, more majestic power: gold tinged with faint purple, marked by faint traces of leaping lightning.

Outside the tower, in a hidden chamber somewhere, Saint Qingyuan’s eyes suddenly widened.

“That is…”

—

Lin Xiaoyu didn’t know how many people outside the tower were watching her.

She only knew that she couldn’t lose.

“Heavenly Dao Divine Art… second tier.”

A blinding golden light suddenly erupted from the Qingfeng Sword.

A sword aura a full three zhang long shot out, carrying the force of thunder and lightning, sweeping toward the five Golden Core puppets!

BOOM!

The sword aura collided with metal, emitting a piercing shriek.

Dust and smoke filled the air.

All five puppets stepped back half a step in unison, deep sword marks left on their arms.

But they did not fall.

Lin Xiaoyu knelt on one knee, gasping heavily.

That sword strike had drained all the spiritual energy from her body.

The Qingfeng Sword slipped from her grasp, stabbing into the sand beside her.

Still… not enough?

Her vision began to blur.

In a daze, she felt as if she had returned to that blood-red night.

Flames soared into the sky, and screams echoed all around.

Her mother pushed her into the cellar, using her own body to block the entrance, her voice trembling yet resolute:

“Xiaoyu, live on…”

Live on.

Grow strong.

Revenge.

Can’t… fall here.

Lin Xiaoyu bit her tongue, the sharp pain restoring a trace of clarity.

She raised a trembling hand and formed a strange hand seal.

Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

Her master had said that this Divine Ability could only be attempted after reaching Foundation Establishment at the very least.

But she couldn’t wait any longer.

“In the name of my Heavenly Dao Divine Physique…”

The last trace of Heavenly Dao power within her was forcibly ignited, circulating madly along the meridian pathways of the Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

It was a pain unlike any she had ever known, as if her meridians were being torn apart inch by inch.

“…Draw upon the might of thunder and lightning, and deliver heaven’s punishment!”

Lin Xiaoyu’s eyes snapped open.

Deep within her pupils, a point of golden light suddenly exploded, transforming into two streaks of golden lightning that shot out from her eyes!

Eye of Heavenly Punishment: First Revelation!

BOOM!

The air itself boiled wherever the lightning passed!

The five puppets simultaneously raised their arms to block.

But this time, the golden lightning directly pierced through their metal vambraces, its force undiminished, as it blasted fiercely into the spiritual stone cores in their chests!

CRACK… CRACK…

Cracks rapidly spread from the puppets’ chests throughout their entire bodies.

The next moment, all five puppets shattered simultaneously, turning into rubble and dim spiritual stones all over the ground.

—

Before the light screen, the deathly silence persisted for a full three breaths.

Then it erupted!

“Sh-She won?!”

“Qi Refining defeated Golden Core?! And five of them?!”

“What Divine Ability was that? Shooting lightning out of her eyes? I’ve never seen such a technique in the Qingyun Sect!”

“Heaven-Detested Physique? You call this a Heaven-Detested Physique?”

Countless gazes locked onto the exhausted girl who had collapsed on the light screen, filled with shock, horror, and disbelief.

The hand of the Guardian Elder of the Cultivation Tower trembled slightly as he stroked his beard.

He had been in the Qingyun Sect for three hundred years and had seen countless geniuses.

But never had anyone at the ninth layer of Qi Refining fought five Golden Core cultivators alone and won.

“This girl… will surely become a future pillar of the sect,” he said in a deep voice.

“Quickly, send for the Pill Hall Elder and bring the best healing pills. This battle record will mark the rise of our Qingyun Sect.”

“Yes!”

On a high pavilion in the distance, Saint Qingyuan stood with his hands behind his back, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Heavenly Dao Divine Physique.

Heavenly Dao Divine Ability.

Good, very good.

He murmured softly to himself, “That boy Chen Ping took in quite a good disciple.”

—