Compared to the well-known Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Spirit Mist Realm, Ye Qin, despite his considerable strength, remained rather obscure.

In the Spirit Mist Great Canyon, Ye Qin had once repelled Amu Yu, one of the Eighteen Fiends of the Sky Dome Plain, causing a minor ripple of excitement among dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, the process of Ye Qin driving back Amu Yu was witnessed by no one; the two had dueled deep within the canyon's dense fog, and even the cultivators gathered on the Gobi Desert at the time remained completely unaware of the details.

When other cultivators heard this tale, their first reaction was sheer disbelief.

Since the great war among the cultivation worlds, Amu Yu had slain countless Spirit Mist cultivators, establishing a long-standing and fearsome reputation; his power had reached a terrifying level, such that even the top Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Spirit Mist Realm might not gain an advantage over him.

Conversely, no one had even heard the name Ye Qin in the preceding year or so.

For such an unknown Foundation Establishment cultivator to suddenly emerge and defeat Amu Yu—who would ever believe it? They would rather believe that Amu Yu had simply retreated due to some unforeseen accident.

Furthermore, Ye Qin had exhibited no other outstanding performance on the battlefield afterward, which only confirmed their suspicions. After stirring a small commotion, Ye Qin quickly faded from the discussions of the Spirit Mist cultivators within the city.

The war raged on. The vast majority of cultivators focused their attention on the peak Foundation Establishment experts whose power was overwhelming.

Ye Qin paid this no mind, satisfied with the current state of affairs. He simply buried himself in his own endeavors, cultivating peacefully. As for fame within the Spirit Mist Cultivation World, he did not give it a second thought.

Regarding the sixth-tier Skeleton Demon, Ye Qin made no special effort to conceal it, as many cultivators from the Three Realms were already aware of his possession of such a creature.

After every bloody engagement, he would take the Skeleton Demon to the battlegrounds outside Spirit Mist City, upon the Gobi Desert littered with the corpses of cultivators, allowing it to absorb the wisps of death energy drawn from the perished Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Upon absorbing these lingering spirits, its demonic core glowed a dark black, and the demonic power it erupted grew increasingly formidable.

The mere appearance of this Skeleton Demon would elicit gasps of awe from other cultivators. A half-corpse, half-demon beast like the Corrupt Bone Crocodile was exceedingly rare in the Spirit Mist Realm, making it one of the most suitable and potent beasts for refining into a skeleton. Its fame even surpassed that of Ye Qin.

However, what Ye Qin regretted was that over the past half-year, although it had absorbed immense quantities of death energy from both demonic beasts and cultivators, steadily increasing the power of its demonic core, it had yet to break through the sixth tier to reach the higher seventh tier.

Though only a single tier separated the two classifications, the disparity in strength was immense; one was merely a beast with Foundation Establishment level power, while the other was a beast with Golden Core level power.

He directed his spiritual sense to examine the jade slip containing the Yin Profound Great Technique, scrutinizing all sections related to skeletons and skeleton demons. Yet, it merely stated that skeletons could not naturally increase their strength, while skeleton demons could gradually enhance their own power; there was no mention of how a skeleton demon might break through its tier.

Ye Qin’s spiritual sense retreated from the jade slip, and he pondered for a moment before a sense of clarity washed over him.

For a cultivator to advance from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Golden Core stage was as difficult as ascending to heaven. Hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators tirelessly sought the rare heavenly materials to refine the Golden Core, yet ultimately only a meager few succeeded. Only a small minority could breach that threshold.

If cultivators found breaking the Golden Core bottleneck so agonizingly difficult, what hope did a skeleton demon have? The skeleton demon likely faced a similar bottleneck to cultivators, making breakthrough and advancement extremely arduous—unless by sheer providence, it was otherwise almost impossible.

Once he grasped this, the focus shifted: because of this sixth-tier Skeleton Demon, Ye Qin attracted considerable sidelong glances and envy.

Possessing a sixth-tier Skeleton Demon, when controlled by a cultivator, could unleash power equivalent to a cultivator at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, greatly augmenting the owner’s might. As for Ye Qin’s own strength, few paid it much heed.

Indeed, many cultivators even regarded Ye Qin as an Evil Cultivator.

However, ordinary Evil Cultivators, due to constant exposure to Yin Fire and forbidden texts, often exuded a pervasive chill, which even affected their temperament, turning them cruel. Often, merely approaching them would cause an involuntary shudder and extreme discomfort. For this reason, normal cultivators were reluctant to associate closely with Evil Cultivators.

Logically, after refining and controlling such a high-tier Skeleton Demon, Ye Qin, who frequently contacted Yin Fire and death energy, should also possess a dark and somber aura. Yet, contrary to expectation, Ye Qin carried none of that chilling aura associated with Evil Cultivators.

Ye Qin was a disciple of the Azure Elixir Sect. Besides occasionally participating in major battles, he was also tasked with alchemy duties. Almost every few days, he would fire up his furnace to refine spiritual elixirs and miraculous medicines to heal wounded cultivators.

Constant exposure to the Yang Fire of the alchemy furnace completely dispelled any Yin coldness, naturally having no negative impact on his temperament. Moreover, frequent contact with potent elixirs left him with a faint, medicinal fragrance—a scent of spiritual pills. These blended energies created a rather peculiar composite aura.

Time flew swiftly. About half a year after Ye Qin returned to Spirit Mist City, countless large and small battles of attrition had been fought across the cultivation world. Spirit Mist City’s spirit stones were almost depleted, forcing the numerous cultivators to hold the line through sheer grit.

The casualties on both sides exceeded ten thousand, leaving everyone utterly exhausted. Yet, this conflict had to continue, as no side could bear the consequences of defeat. For the Spirit Mist Realm cultivators, it was a matter of survival. For the cultivators of the Sky Dome Plain and Ten Thousand Moon Lake, it meant that all their arduous expeditionary efforts would be wasted, and all the immense sacrifices already made would go up in smoke.

On this day, the cultivators of the Sky Dome Plain and Ten Thousand Moon Lake advanced to attack the city once more, and a great battle erupted.

When all the cultivators assumed this would be just another routine bloody engagement, and as the more than one hundred thousand low-level cultivators from both sides fought fiercely on the battlefield, an utterly unexpected change occurred outside the fighting zone.

To the east of Spirit Mist City, three massive clusters of clouds, spanning dozens of miles, rolled in from the distant horizon. These three cloud masses were distinctly colored—black-green, golden-yellow, and jade-bright. Though their approach appeared slow, they surged like angry tidal waves, sweeping across hundreds of miles in an instant. They bore down upon the borders, enveloping the sky above Spirit Mist City. An immense spiritual pressure descended, completely shrouding the area within a radius of several tens of miles around the city.

The more than one hundred thousand low-level cultivators from the Three Realms, engaged in fierce fighting both inside and outside Spirit Mist City, struggled to draw breath under this colossal spiritual pressure. They all ceased their maneuvers, turning their gaze upward toward the clouds, their eyes filled with horror.

But all they could see were the clouds; there was no trace of any cultivators.

Even the Golden Core cultivators were no exception; their Spirit Sight techniques could not penetrate the cloud layers.

“They are Nascent Soul cultivators!”

The low-level cultivators from the three cultivation worlds fell into extreme panic, realizing this grim possibility. No one below the Nascent Soul stage could possibly command such terrifying might. Even Golden Core cultivators were far from capable of such magnificent divine abilities.

From within the vast expanse of clouds came the voices of three cultivators—two men and one woman—who seemed to be discussing something.

After a moment, a deep, resonant voice boomed from the clouds: “You must all be cultivators from the Spirit Mist Realm, the Sky Dome Plain Realm, or the Ten Thousand Moon Lake Realm. Whoever is in charge, step forward to speak.”

The true leaders from the three realms—Lu Ziyou, Huangpu Rui, Qin Shanjun, Zen Master Tian Meng, and six or seven other Golden Core cultivators—without hesitation, immediately withdrew from their respective factions, transforming into several streaks of light that shot into the clouds above Spirit Mist City.

They dared not harbor any thought of resistance.

There were three Nascent Soul cultivators, and three of them at that. Each Nascent Soul cultivator possessed world-shattering divine abilities; eliminating them entirely would be an effortless task. Against such grand cultivators, resistance was practically futile.

In mid-air, the contingent of Golden Core cultivators met, their expressions complex.

Nascent Soul cultivators should not be present here. Back in the ancient era, an ancient covenant was established among the cultivation worlds of the Central Continent: all cultivators who reached the Nascent Soul stage were required to leave the Central Continent and venture toward the outer seas. After the Nascent Soul cultivators departed, they seldom returned to the Central Continent unless under extraordinary circumstances.

Why would these Nascent Soul cultivators appear in the Spirit Mist Realm? Could it be that the war between the Three Realms had escalated so fiercely that it provoked dissatisfaction among the Nascent Soul cultivators?

The seven or eight Golden Core cultivators exchanged bewildered glances, unable to fathom the reason. Steel-hearted, they flew into the midst of the clouds to meet the three figures.

Inside the clouds floated three gray-haired cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage.

The one in the center was short, barely half a zhang tall, with a youthful face despite his grizzled hair; his eyebrows were crimson and stood erect, his nostrils pointed toward the sky, his body broad and round-faced, looking quite comical. He wore the gray-white robe common among Azure Elixir Sect cultivators, merely floating in the air with a detached gaze fixed upon the assembled Golden Core cultivators.

Beside him stood a stern-faced, bald cultivator emanating an innate wrath, leaning on a staff. He stood atop a colossal black-green sea beast, fully a li long, which inhaled and exhaled mist within the clouds, stirring up terrifying torrents of air.

The third was a female cultivator, clad in some shimmering, colorful magical artifact that sparkled amidst the clouds, appearing like a celestial maiden.

Though their attire differed, the sleeves of all three Nascent Soul cultivators were embroidered with an identical, small emblem… a streak of azure lightning tearing through a stretch of blue sea.

The assembled Golden Core cultivators, upon catching sight of this pattern, felt their hearts clench.

The Heavenly Dao Alliance!

Nearly every major cultivation sect possessed records related to the Heavenly Dao Alliance.

In ancient times, after the high-level cultivators of the major sects on the Central Continent successively traveled to the East Sea, they established an exceedingly vast alliance of cultivators there—the Heavenly Dao Alliance, whose motto was, “In the name of Heaven, carry out the Dao.”

The Heavenly Dao Alliance encompassed virtually the most outstanding talents from all the cultivation worlds of the Central Continent. Many cultivators from the Spirit Mist Realm, the Sky Dome Plain Realm, and the Ten Thousand Moon Lake Realm cultivated the Dao in the East Sea.

Which sect had which cultivators within the Heavenly Dao Alliance was core secret knowledge for the sects of the Central Continent. The attire of these three Nascent Soul cultivators clearly mirrored the customary dress of the Spirit Mist Realm, Sky Dome Plain Realm, and Ten Thousand Moon Lake Realm. They were evidently cultivators who had departed the Three Realms and held extremely senior seniority.

“Junior Huangpu Rui pays respects to Martial Uncle-Ancestor Wei, and to the two other Martial Uncle-Ancestors!”

Huangpu Rui reacted the fastest, bowing to the comical old man in the center before bowing to the other two Nascent Soul cultivators.

The Azure Elixir Sect cultivators who traveled to the East Sea left behind likenesses.

Furthermore, the images of those who became Nascent Soul cultivators were carved into the main hall of the Azure Elixir Sect for the younger generations to revere.

Huangpu Rui had committed all these portraits to memory and instantly recognized the one before him as Martial Uncle-Ancestor Wei, a Golden Core cultivator from the Azure Elixir Sect who had journeyed to the East Sea seven or eight hundred years ago. To find him now as a Nascent Soul cultivator filled Huangpu Rui with immense surprise. (End)