Gu Ling Mountain surged with violet qi that shot into the heavens. The Zhou father and daughter hurriedly rushed over.
The entire village was shaken with awe.
Jiang Shengxiang supported Grandma Zhang out of the house. Standing under the osmanthus tree, he gazed at the rising violet qi in the east with repeated exclamations.
"Violet qi rising in the east, an auspicious omen. Fairy Ranran is the guardian deity of our entire region!"
Grandma Zhang strained to open her eyes, leaning on her cane with trembling hands. "Fairy Ranran… truly a celestial maiden descended from the Ninth Heaven. Xiang-er, you are basking in her divine light!"
"Yes, yes, Fairy Ranran is the immortal maiden sent down to save us!"
The surrounding villagers all echoed in reverence.
Jiang Shengxiang felt immeasurable pride. To meet Fairy Ranran after cultivating fifty years—surely this was the result of the virtue he had accumulated!
At Gu Ling Mountain.
Before the Zhou father and daughter even neared the Taoist temple, they were already wrapped within thick violet qi.
The phoenix saw the two of them and lazily lifted its phoenix eyes. "You came late. There is still a little violet qi left. Hurry and absorb it."
Zhou Shengqian, having just broken through to Golden Core and still in high spirits, was startled when he heard a crisp young girl's voice. He looked in surprise toward the plump chicken resting in the corner.
"This chicken… could it… could it truly be the divine beast, the phoenix?"
Zhou Lili nodded, then suddenly exclaimed, "It can talk now?"
"Hmph. This phoenix is close to breaking through a great barrier, and by my master's grace I was given this chance. Naturally I can now speak."
The phoenix gave them a sideways glance, then curled back into the corner, closing its eyes to rest in warmth. It had eaten enough qi. Breaking through was enough; greed would bring no benefit.
Mainly, it was afraid that if it gorged itself too much, when its master emerged she might demand payment!
Zhou Shengqian had long heard from Xiao Rong of the phoenix's existence. Now seeing it for himself, though it looked like a lazy, fat chicken, its feathers radiated prismatic radiance. That kind of brilliance was not something any ordinary bird could possess.
"Father, I feel that today I can finally use the Foundation Establishment Pill you prepared for me!"
After Zhou Lili spoke, she immediately sat cross-legged in meditation.
Zhou Shengqian froze for a moment, still stunned by her words.
"My Li Li… is finally about to establish her foundation?"
He could hardly believe it until strands of violet qi entered his own meridians. The abundant spiritual energy made his whole body tingle with joy.
Gradually he awoke fully, exclaiming, "Could it be that Fairy Ranran is truly assaulting the Divine Transformation realm right now?"
At this thought, he dared not waste another breath. Excitedly, he too sat cross-legged in cultivation.
Their Biliu Sect—its ancestor would produce a world-shaking Divine Transformation Zūnzhě!
Even if Yao Ranran had nothing to do with Biliu Sect, Zhou Shengqian had already hung her portrait within the sect halls, making disciples bow to her daily. In the eyes of the sect, whether she was their ancestor or not, she was worshipped as one already.
Time slowly passed.
The black mist around Gu Ling Mountain gave birth to resplendent visions. The skies flushed scarlet. A streak of azure light rose from above Yao Ranran's head, fusing into the heavens, then suddenly opened into a single vast eye.
Seventy-two divine beasts flew forth, prostrating themselves devoutly before the colossal eye. That azure eye, calm yet detached, contained within its depths an immeasurable, terrifying pressure.
Within a hundred miles, all beings submitted.
Outside the great formation, whether robbers, killers, quarrelling cultivators or mere mortals, all fell into silence.
They raised their heads to the violet qi in the east and dropped to their knees in awe.
"Could it be… a true immortal descends there?"
They did not understand, but they knew this: whoever could summon such a phenomenon of heaven and earth was no ordinary person!
"That eye… that is a mighty one from the Upper Realm come to save our Eastern Wilderness! That must be the channel linking the higher and lower realms. Children, good children, we are saved!"
In a desolate mountain, a woman clutching a baby cried aloud with joy. Her face lit with ecstasy, she broke through the encirclement, stumbling as she shielded the child in her arms and ran eastward.
The knife-wielding cultivators were stunned. Under the crushing pressure, fear slowly grew in their eyes.
"Do cultivators of the Upper Realm truly exist?"
None could answer. But the weak now ran, for in the east they saw hope.
The azure eye twisted into a vortex, drawing in all qi of heaven and earth, even violent demonic miasma. As the vortex absorbed more and more, its shape gradually transformed into a grand, chaotic azure lotus in full bloom.
Yao Ranran still did not open her eyes, but the Shu Xi Palace in her arms rolled out.
A figure in azure robes descended. An Xiaolin stirred awake, lifting his gaze in a daze.
In the next breath, his eyes snapped wide open in shock.
"Twelve-petaled World-Purifying White Lotus!"
With one glance he recognized the vision hidden behind the vortex.
The Twelve-petaled World-Purifying White Lotus—a supreme treasure born of primordial chaos, imbued with heaven's creation, eternally self-renewing, capable of purifying all madness in the world—almost invincible!
An Xiaolin was dumbfounded for a long while, then his gaze shifted slowly to Yao Ranran's face.
"I…" he nearly cursed aloud.
For only now did he realize—beside his obedient disciple coiled a colossal violet dragon, whose breath from its nostrils blew directly into his face.
With tens of thousands of years' experience ruling Shu Xi Palace, An Xiaolin forced himself calm. This was nothing, truly nothing. He had survived the destruction of his palace; what was a dragon in comparison?
"Hehe… just a violet, legendary, peerless spiritual vein that I, in all my life, have never seen before…
Peerless spiritual vein. This is a peerless spiritual vein!!"
An Xiaolin shot up to the rooftop in excitement, staring from the dragon to his disciple's serene face.
"Only a few days apart… did my good disciple slip through time itself?"
He could scarcely believe it. The peerless vein unseen for millennia was right beside his disciple, aiding her breakthrough!
He knew too well: peerless veins were almost impossible to encounter, harder still to capture. Those few revealed to the world almost always self-destructed, dissolving back into heaven and earth as scattered qi.
"The vision of the Twelve-petaled World-Purifying White Lotus… the company of a peerless vein… and outside, that heaven-defying lingzhi spirit…"
An Xiaolin's mouth twitched. "And a divine beast phoenix as well…"
He had thought he had simply accepted a fine disciple.
But now he realized—he had embraced the thigh of a giant!
The heavenly visions dispersed in an instant, and the sky returned to calm.
Yao Ranran, her whole body brimming with power, opened her eyes comfortably.
"Master, when did you come out?"
She looked at An Xiaolin standing with hands clasped behind his back upon the rooftop, puzzled.
An Xiaolin gave a gentle smile. "Good disciple, this peerless vein you secured is not bad. To what realm have you broken through this time?"
Yao Ranran scratched her head in embarrassment. "Perhaps… disciple has only reached the peak of Qi Refinement?"
An Xiaolin chuckled. "Qi Refinement peak—good disciple, you are truly outstanding."
Yao Ranran blinked at him in confusion. Since when had her master learned to speak in riddles?