With Ye Qin at the Nascent Soul Eighth Layer, Huangfu Bing'er at the Sixth Layer, the Skeleton Demon at the Third Layer, and numerous Golden Core disciples of the Qingdan Palace standing guard, the eight core cultivators of the Qingdan Palace successfully navigated their Great Heavenly Tribulations.

The first to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and overcome the Great Heavenly Tribulation was the deeply rooted Huangfu Rui. He single-handedly withstood the ferocious heavenly might without even needing Ye Qin to intervene.

Subsequently, Chen Min, Yan Xuan, Shen Bao, Sun Ran, Chen Wei Dan, and others completed their ascensions one after another.

The Qingdan Palace suddenly boasted six Nascent Soul ancestors; perhaps due to the Vermilion Fruit flesh, their success rate in forming the core was astonishingly high.

Only Yuan Ningzhi and Feng An failed their breakthroughs after consuming the Nascent Soul Pills, not even triggering a Great Heavenly Tribulation. However, it was not a major issue; the Qingdan Palace still possessed Nascent Soul Pills, and they could simply consume another and continue their closed-door cultivation to impact the Nascent Soul realm, though it would require a bit more time.

Shen Bao, upon becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator and feeling the immense, profound magical power surging within him, excitedly clutched Ye Qin’s sleeve and wept torrentially, tears and snot mixing freely.

This was the Nascent Soul realm that Shen Bao had longed for since entering the Qingdan Immortal Sect in the Central Lands—a lifelong dream. As for the Soul Transformation stage, he dared not even hope for it; reaching Nascent Soul and becoming an elder universally respected in the East Sea cultivation world was already a massive fortune in his lifetime. This was all thanks to Senior Brother Ye Qin; otherwise, he would still be toiling in the alchemy rooms, counting every meager bit of earned money.

Huangfu Rui and Chen Min, the couple, found their son-in-law, Ye Qin, more pleasing the more they looked at him. Back in the Central Lands, they had seen him as low-key, silent, gentle, and reserved—a model young man. Who knew he would become a figure renowned throughout the East Sea for turning the tide, ushering in great prosperity for the lineage of the Qingdan Sect?

Moreover, the audacious act of supporting eight Golden Core cultivators through their tribulations was something no other Immortal Palace in the East Sea would likely possess the capability, nor the nerve, to attempt. Yet, the Qingdan Palace had the resources to do it, the resolution to try, and astonishingly, they succeeded.

Ye Qin’s contribution to the Qingdan Sect lineage surpassed that of any single individual.

Huangfu Rui’s praise caused Ye Qin’s face to flush slightly.

Only Ye Qin himself understood the true reason why he expended such a colossal price to bolster the Qingdan Palace before departing the East Sea.

The genuine motive was far removed from the surface goal of making the Qingdan Sect flourish in the East Sea.

It was intimately connected to the highly confidential secret of "Reincarnation and Samsara."

The path of cultivation was fraught with extreme peril; no one could claim they were guaranteed longevity. Should one perish, they would enter the Styx River of the West Nether Continent. The reincarnation cycle of the Styx would wash away all memory from the cultivator’s previous life. After rebirth, one might become a mere farmer in some remote village or a commoner in a county town, forever barred from setting foot on the path of cultivation again. Such reincarnation would bear no connection to the previous life.

The Purple Spirit Returning Yang Grass was the sole spiritual item capable of preserving a sliver of memory. This precious, minuscule memory could maximize the chance of the reincarnated soul stepping onto the path of cultivation once more. Only through such a reincarnation could one leverage the foundation built in the previous existence to reach even greater heights.

The Sage Emperor, with his profound foresight, had long established a lineage of the Yin family of the Sage Emperor Palace in the East Sea. Only after making these arrangements did he seek the Purple Spirit Returning Yang Grass to proceed to the West Nether Continent for reincarnation. By Ye Qin’s estimation, the Sage Emperor’s reincarnation stood a high chance of success.

With the Sage Emperor setting the precedent, Ye Qin naturally would not treat his own reincarnation lightly.

Both he and Huangfu Bing’er had already deposited several confidential treasure chests within the Qingdan Palace, meant to be opened after their rebirth. These included Vermilion Fruit, seeds of the Blood Devouring Ancient Demon Vine, Nascent Soul Pills, Spirit Root Potential Pills, and more.

This was a carefully prepared fallback route, the secret of which was entrusted to the cultivators of the Qingdan Palace for safekeeping. Therefore, the Qingdan Palace absolutely needed to possess considerable strength; this was the true reason Ye Qin invested so heavily in supporting the Qingdan Palace cultivators.

Ye Qin sincerely hoped he would never need to utilize this contingency plan; it was merely left as a safeguard against unforeseen disaster.

...

The Qingdan Palace now had six early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. The remaining affairs required no further worry from Ye Qin or Huangfu Bing’er. Huangfu Rui, Chen Min, and the other four Nascent Soul cultivators were fully capable of protecting Yuan and Feng as they too passed their Great Heavenly Tribulations and ascended to the Nascent Soul realm.

The site of the tribulations was close to White Floating City. Furthermore, the news of the six peak Golden Core cultivators successfully forming cores on the small archipelago was not intentionally suppressed. Numerous low-level cultivators gathered outside the islands to witness this grand event of ascension and tribulation.

Instantly, it caused an uproar in the immortal palaces of White Floating City—excitement, jealousy, endless speculation, and clamor.

The obscure Qingdan Palace suddenly rocketed to prominence overnight, establishing itself as a first-tier great immortal palace within the Northern Sect branch of the Heavenly Dao Alliance.

Yet, despite the envy and jealousy, no one dared to openly challenge the Qingdan Palace.

Setting aside the fact that the Qingdan Palace had instantly gained six Nascent Soul ancestors, with two more currently undergoing tribulation, the Grand Elder of the Qingdan Palace, Ye Qin, was already a figure whose name caused fear. He was the Fifth Elder of the Purple Sword Palace, a Guest Elder of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, a Divine Alchemist, and a person personally designated by the Blood Gourd Ancestor for advancement to the Southern Demon Continent. He had already entered the late Nascent Soul stage, clearly preparing to challenge the Soul Transformation realm.

Even the Alliance Master Zhou of the Northern Region of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, and the Chief Elder Zhong of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, could now only interact with Ye Qin as equals, calling him brother.

With such layers of formidable prestige enveloping the Qingdan Palace, its potential was limitless. Those consumed by jealousy and envy could only restrain themselves and strive to foster good relations with the Qingdan Palace.

Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing’er returned to White Floating City.

Pavilion Master Wang of the Heavenly Dao Pavilion in White Floating City personally visited Ye Qin at the Ye Estate in White Floating City. He delivered the vast sum of spirit stones obtained from selling the Vitality Pills Ye Qin had commissioned, along with the three minor divine ability-level flying swords.

Ye Qin was overjoyed; what concerned him most now were these three Minor Three Oddities flying swords.

These related directly to his peak combat power.

With these Minor Three Oddities swords, combined with the Great Five Elements Sword Array, they would form the Eight Trigram Sword Array, sufficient to render him invincible within the Nascent Soul stage.

Ye Qin retrieved the three Minor Three Oddities magical artifacts from his storage pouch, along with the explanatory jade slips, and could not help but gasp in awe.

These Minor Three Oddities artifacts, refined using ultimate demonic spirits of the Minor Three Oddities—acquired at an immense cost—were truly stunning.

The Great Five Elements consisted of the elements Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth; they cycled endlessly and stably. Among them, Water and Fire were prone to mutation: Water turning to Ice, Fire transforming into Wind, and the convergence of Water and Fire generating Lightning.

The Minor Three Oddities involved Ice, Wind, and Lightning—the three mutated elements, characterized by their ferocity.

The Wind Sword was named the "Three-Azure Winged Sword" by the artifact refiner. Its blade was thin as a feather, its color reminiscent of variegated plumes, with a streamlined form that was part sword, part blade, exquisitely beautiful. Its artifact spirit was a Twelfth-Tier Three-Azure Winged Bird demon spirit, granting the minor divine ability spell "Spatial Rip," which unleashed a razor-sharp strike of extreme speed, potent enough to tear open a space about one foot wide for about a single instant. Its power against a single enemy was terrifying, and its speed made it nearly impossible to evade.

The Ice Sword was the "Frigid Soul Freezing Sword." Its appearance deviated from common flying swords, possessing a three-edged blade shaped like cold crystal ice, radiating chill just by looking at it. Its artifact spirit was a demon spirit of the Ice Sea Frigid Soul Fish, granting the minor divine ability spell "Freezing Domain," capable of locking down a small expanse of space, maximizing its effect against a single target.

The last sword, the Lightning Sword, was named the "Chen Ming Lightning Marsh Sword." It was a slender, slightly curved longsword, with faint electric arcs swirling across its dark, deep-blue blade. Its artifact spirit was a "Lightning Phantasm" demon spirit, a rare sea beast capable of absorbing and spitting lightning. Its minor divine ability spell, "Lightning Absorption and Ejection," could unleash extremely powerful bolts of lightning accompanied by intense thunderous sound.

Compared to the Great Five Elements minor divine ability flying swords, the Minor Three Oddities minor divine ability artifacts clearly leaned more towards targeting a single opponent. In this manner, the direct approach balanced the unconventional, allowing the Great Five Elements and the Minor Three Oddities to complement each other, forming the "Eight Trigram Sword Array" with interlocking offense and defense.

True Lord Purple Sword was not exaggerating when he called the Eight Trigram Sword Array "invincible in the Nascent Soul stage."

Ye Qin currently felt that True Lord Purple Sword was slightly "shameless."

In the cultivation world, no matter which school of immortal techniques one practiced, there was always an opponent who could counter them. A cultivator with a Wood spiritual root at the Nascent Soul stage encountering one with a Fire spiritual root would certainly be suppressed and suffer greatly. An Earth-element Nascent Soul cultivator fighting a Wood-element cultivator would undoubtedly be utterly dominated.

A cultivator capable of controlling the swords of all eight elements could not be countered, yet could counter others.

However, how many such cultivators could be found in the East Sea cultivation world?

Though the Minor Three Oddities minor divine ability artifacts were in hand, they required a period of refinement before they could be utilized, so Ye Qin could not test their true power yet.

Now that the foundation of the Qingdan Palace was established, with Nascent Soul cultivators abundant, he and Bing’er no longer needed to worry. With the Eight Trigram Sword Array complete and all necessary procurements made, it was time to set off for the other continents.

Thinking of leaving the East Sea cultivation world behind, perhaps never to return, Ye Qin’s heart was filled with a complex mixture of emotions.

Disciples from several major immortal palaces in White Floating City—Zhou Yi, Zhou Yao, Jin Zhongshan, Liao Xiaozhi, Pan Lin, and other old friends—learned Ye Qin was about to depart for other continents and came to the Qingdan Palace to bid farewell, filled with emotion. Zhou Yi was now a Nascent Soul cultivator, while the others remained at the eighth or ninth layer of the Golden Core stage.

Ye Qin gifted them some Vitality Pills and even sold each of them a Nascent Soul Pill at cost price.

These extremely rare and precious Vitality Pills offered far greater enhancement to cultivation than ordinary spirit elixirs; only Ye Qin could refine them, and they could not be bought elsewhere. This would allow Zhou Yao, Jin Zhongshan, and the others to hasten their impact on the Nascent Soul realm.

These Vitality Pills were not of great use to Ye Qin, but he did not give them away freely. Past friendships were one reason. The other reason was that Zhou Yi, Zhou Yao, Jin Zhongshan, Liao Xiaozhi, Pan Lin, and the others held significant status as direct lineage members within their respective immortal palaces in the Northern Sect. If they could advance to the Nascent Soul stage, they would surely have the prospect of becoming palace masters or elders, rising to the high echelons.

Having accepted a favor from Ye Qin now, they would certainly ensure the Qingdan Palace received support in the future. After all, the Qingdan Palace had grown too fast, its foundation still somewhat precarious, and rapid growth always attracted unwanted attention, leading to minor troubles. Maintaining deep ties with these high-ranking figures of established great immortal palaces was the only way to truly stabilize their position.