Qi Zui watched from a distance as the Xuanyuan Sect's group disappeared down the street, the injured Golden Core disciple in tow.
With a casual flick of his hand, Qi Zui's cultivation manifested subtly, and in an instant, he soared into the sky, leaving the city behind while following the group from afar, staying completely hidden.
The red-haired woman, an Elder from the Xuanyuan Sect, had no idea they were being watched—let alone the Xuanyuan Sect's Deacons.
Within half a hour, the group returned to the Xuanyuan Sect's headquarters, carrying the broad-shouldered man back to the sect for treatment.
Qi Zui hovered above, scanning the entire sect.
Then, he descended slightly, positioning himself above the main courtyard.
With a deep inhale, he shouted:
"Xuanyuan Sect! I am here! Don't you have a grudge with me? Come on, show me your strength!"
His voice carried like thunder, echoing across the walls of the sect. The sound rippled beyond the sect itself, stretching into the surrounding territory.
Inside the sect, the elders froze. Their eyes narrowed as the voice reverberated across the courtyards.
A dozen elders, all Nascent Soul cultivators, flew into the courtyard, anger written across their faces. "How dare you so brazenly provoke the Xuanyuan Sect!"
Qi Zui merely smiled faintly.
He slightly changed his cultivation on the surface, supressing himself further to the Soul Transformation Early Stage.
The elders charged, not knowing their opponent was a Soul Transformation cultivator.
Boom!
In a single, fluid motion, Qi Zui unleashed a burst of energy. The Nascent Soul cultivators were instantly overwhelmed, blood gushing out of their mouth.
Pfft—Ghwaa!
From within the sect's inner halls, the Sect Leader appeared, his aura blatantly speaking Soul Transformation throughout the entire sect.
The Sect Leader stood upright with a firm, commanding posture. His graying hair was tied neatly, and his sharp, square features carried years of authority. His eyes were cold and heavy, making others avert their gaze.
Clad in dark robes etched with faint golden body-refining runes, his build was solid and restrained.
If a uninformed person knew, they would never know this middle-aged man was the sect leader of the sect with the bulkiest disciples, full of muscles.
"Fellow Daoist, You have truly offended my entire Xuanyuan Sect! Not even a Immortal can help you escape today!" The sect leader's voice echoed throughout the sect, cold and sharp, his eyes mad with fury.
Qi Zui couldn't be bothered to converse, his expression remaining calm. He pushed his cultivation to Soul Transformation Peak Stage.
"Heaven-Overturning Palm!"
In an instant, he appeared before the sect leader, his right hand behind the sect leader's back filled with immense power.
"Not good!" The sect leader shouted in panic. He tried to escape, but he reacted too late.
"Pfft!" The courtyard shook as Qi Zui moved. In a single blow, he crushed the Sect Leader's dantian, crippling his entire cultivation acquired through tens of thousands of years.
The sect leader coughed up blood uncontrollably. "A-a Peak Soul Transformation old monster?! Impossible!"
He staggered backward, his steps unsteady, coughing up blood again.
Suddenly, a aura far surpassing everyone else combined bursted in the back mountain of the Xuanyuan Sect, like a divine being awakening from his slumber.
"Bastard, you dare destroy my Xuanyuan Sect in front of this old man? You're far too green!"
This appearing cultivator was the Old Ancestor of the Xuanyuan Sect, Shen Jian.
Although a cultivator, he looked more like someone from the Body Refining Lineage. His aged face contrasted sharply with his body—towering, bare-chested, and packed with dense, bulging muscles forged through pure body refinement. Bronze skin stretched over knotted flesh, veins coiling along his arms like iron cables. His fists were massive and clenched tightly, wrapped in gauntlets of unknown origin, radiating raw, brutal power.
Each step cracked the ground beneath him, and even without releasing qi, his oppressive presence felt like a mountain pressing down.
The Half-Step Void Refining Realm Old Ancestor appeared for the first time in public since hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The sound of his roar, magnified as it echoed across the sect, alerted the strong forces of the Northern Continent.
Nearby cities, powerful loose cultivators, and even other sects investigated the location of the tremor through their divine senses.
It could be said that this was the biggest event in the Northern Continent since countless years. A sect on the verge of destruction—the first time in history since the Five Great Sects was founded.
"What?! Someone is attacking the Xuanyuan Sect?!"
"This voice.. I'm not mistaken! This is the Xuanyuan Sect Leader one hundred thousand years ago, the holder of the Xuanyuan Divine Body—Shen Jian! It was said he was in seclusion to break through to Void Refining!"
"Hiss! Back in the day, he only needed one fist to kill all his enemies! Now he's at Half-Step Void Refining Realm, one of his fists could practically shatter the heavens!"
"What did you say?! The invader is actually a Soul Transformation Peak Stage Cultivator!!"
Boom!
In a instant, the major forces were in a uproar, shocked by both the mysteriously appearing cultivator and the Half-Step Void Refining Realm Old Ancestor.
One must know, to cultivate to the Soul Transformation Realm requires tens of thousands of years of cultivation and massive resources. Cultivating without traces is absolutely impossible!
Then, as if possessed, thought of a conjecture at the same exact time:
"Could it be.. a Cultivator from a different Continent?"
"Impossible! How much soul transformation cultivators have ever appeared, let alone a Soul Transformation Peak Stage big shot! I know every single one of them, but I've never seen him before!"
No matter how hard they thought, they would never know that this "mysterious big shot" was not a native of this domain. After all, this domain can't cultivate Void Refining beings, so they wouldn't know the details of the Endless Domain Sea.
It wouldn't seem right for a Void Refining big shot to conceal his cultivation either. Its like playing with ants—pointless.
Starting from the Void Refining Realm, one gains the ability to travel throughout the Endless Domain Sea, being refine parts of the Void to store in their dantian, capable of controlling the void in their dantian to attack, defend, and even displacement.
Once enough void spaces are refined and accumulated in the dantian, one's dantian can allow refining of the smallest, newborn Domains in the Endless Domain Sea to get a special type of void space: Heavenly Dao Space. After one's dantian stores the maximum possible amount of heavenly dao spaces, with each cultivator having different capacity for heavenly dao spaces according to their foundation, one can merge all the heavenly dao spaces into one single personal heavenly dao space— achieving the Body Integration Realm.
Then, one can start absorbing small-sized domains, gaining heavenly dao spaces, refining heavenly dao spaces into personal heavenly dao spaces, and after countless compression, accumulation, and compression of personal heavenly dao spaces, a miniature Domain can be formed in the dantian—achieving the Mahayana Realm, gaining almost unlimited spiritual qi supply that are generated by their domain.
Qi Zui, the mysterious big shot, hands behind his back, stood in the air like a immortal, robes fluttering, hair swaying.
Hmm? There's actually a Half-Step Void refining realm in this sect?
"No need to waste words, old man. One of us will perish here today!"
Qi Zui's expression was unreadable, with only a slight curve in his lips escaping.
"Good, good, good! A Soul Transformation ant daring to fight this seat, I will tear you down piece to piece, bits to bits!"
Shen Jian slammed his gauntlets mid-air, tearing apart the void. Then, he appeared above Qi Zui, both his fist wrapped in gauntlets charging down.
"Xuanyuan Divine Body Art Fist Style, Displacement Fissure!"
Boom!!!
An earth-shattering roar erupted, reverberating throughout the entire domain.
The void realm cracked, with space itself wobbling unstable enough to annihilate all unprepared soul transformation cultivators.
Qi Zui stood there without any change in his position, but a protective barrier appeared above him, yet not even leaving a white mark in front of the Shen Jian's fists.
Contrary to Shen Jian's expectations, the protective barrier didn't even scratch.
"I refuse to believe this! Break for me!!"
"Xuanyuan Divine Body Art Force Style, Space Collapse!"
"Roaring Dragon!"
"Mountain Slam!"
One after another, he traveled through the void, unleashing countless punches with his gauntlets.
The surrounding space continued to tremble uncontrollably, but only one person was standing steadily.
"Heh, is this all you've got? To think you actually dared to come out with this much. Laughable!"
Qi Zui was still standing, his steps floating mid air. His hands behind his back like a divine immortal.
His gaze was on a specific space in the air. To outsiders, it looked like he was spacing out.
Shen Jian finally appeared out of the void, his body, notably his gauntlets, showing cracks all over. He roared with anger and disbelief:
"Impossible! You-you're not a damn Soul Transformation cultivator! You're a Void Refining Realm monster!!
The moment those words left Shen Jian's mouth, the major forces which was communicating through divine sense, fell deathly silent.
"Void… Void Refining?"
All the soul transformation big shots, once renowned throughout the continent, all froze watching this battle with their divine sense as if struck by lightning when that sentence was said.
"Void Refining Realm? In this cursed world? Impossible!"
"Damn, Is it really a true Void Refining existence?"
"Fighting a half-step Void Refining expert while already standing at Void Refining?"
Cold sweat streamed down countless backs. They realized instantly.
This was not a challenger.
This was a monster who had been playing along.
A monster than didn't belong to the Yuanling Domain in the first place.
Shen Jian's bloodshot eyes widened when he realized he was fighting a opponent that he could never defeat in the first place.
He had never been facing an enemy of the same level.
He had provoked a being that stood far beyond this world's limits.
"It's over.. it's over.."
He muttered repeatedly, the same words going through his mind.
We already have an irreconcilable grudge.. What do i do?
I, I need to escape!
Then, he ran. Yes.
One of the greatest figures of the past era, the Half-Step Void Refining old monster, the once-unparalleled Xuanyuan Divine Body, actually ran away in front of an enemy. If anyone else saw this, they would surely think: "Has the world gone crazy or have i gone crazy?
However, as the saying goes, after Nascent Soul, escaping from a opponent a major realm higher than you is impossible, no matter how many divine abilities you have.
Qi Zui reached out his hand mid-air, then grabbed Shen Jian, who was escaping for his life thousands of mountains away.
He held Shen Jian's head in his right hand, with his left hand holding the wine gourd, then exerted qi to his right hand.
Boom!
The Old Ancestor of the Xuanyuan Sect, one of the strongest cultivators in the past era, silently died just like that, leaving a once-unparalleled but now broken legend throughout history.
What do i do next again.. Ah! That's right! Then, let's go! Heheheh...
Qi Zui didn't even bat a eye, instead slowly traveling to a certain direction throughout the air.
No need to rush. I still have lots of fine wine to drink throughout the way! Hahahaha!
Qi Zui laughed heartily, gulping as he drank the wine from his wine gourd. He knew that having a grudge didn't warrant destroying a sect. But so what? Wasn't this the freedom he wanted? Nobody can decide what he does, not even the will of the Endless Domain Sea itself!
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Mortal Realms: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Body Integration, Mahayana, Tribulation-Crossing
Domain Realms: Domain Master, Domain Lord, Domain King, Domain Sovereign, Domain Venerable, Domain Monarch, Domain Overlord, Domain Paragon, Domain Emperor
MC Realm: Chaos (sharing life and death with the endless domain sea itself)
P.S The amount of domains Qi Zui travels through are undecided, but Yuanling Domain(not a Great Domain) is the first domain Qi Zui goes to after going out of the Heavenly Dao Space.