"Impossible! Who in our Solar Star Domain could possibly harm those two? Could it be they turned on each other?"

"No, no, the Master of Tian Lu and the leader of the Death Pact had just formed an alliance; their relationship was quite strong. The ones who injured them were someone else entirely!"

"Who then?"

"The same person who wounded the Master of the Demon's Den!"

"Ji Changkong?"

"Precisely!"

"Ah! How could that be!"

"It's absolutely true! I just received the news. There’s no mistaking it. Word is that when the Master of Tian Lu and the leader of the Death Pact returned to their respective Life Stars, they were left with only one or two master subordinates; the losses were catastrophic!"

"Heavens! How could that fellow be so powerful? It’s unbelievable!"

Above the sun, several figures condensed from divine souls gathered together, speaking in hushed tones. Their exclamations revealed extreme astonishment.

Similar conversations were unfolding on the moon, on the various Life Stars, and across every inhabited planet. In a short time, every Celestial Master who had achieved success in cultivation within the Solar Star Domain knew of this earth-shattering news.

For many, it was the first time they had heard of the Five Elements Continent, of Xuanyuan Valley. Yet, as the news spread far and wide, tales of the Five Elements Continent and Xuanyuan Valley began to circulate extensively throughout the Solar Star Domain.

Suddenly, the Five Elements Continent, Xuanyuan Valley, and Ji Changkong became the hottest topics across the entire Solar Star Domain. Experts from every corner of the domain, whenever they met, would discuss the matter, either openly or covertly.

Xuanyuan Valley, which was previously unknown, transformed within a mere ten days into the most mysterious force in the Solar Star Domain. Every accomplished Celestial Master regarded Xuanyuan Valley as an almost mythical place.

The gossip-loving Celestial Masters from the major families and sects who had traveled from the Five Elements Continent to cultivate on the moon and the sun suddenly found themselves treated with immense respect during their movements across those celestial bodies.

It was as if, in an instant, all Celestial Masters from the Five Elements Continent had become synonymous with true power.

The influence of Tian Lu and the Death Pact on the moon and the sun suddenly diminished. The deterrent effect these two powers once held on the populace unconsciously weakened significantly. Many felt that the Solar Star Domain was on the verge of a massive upheaval, believing that the obscure Xuanyuan Valley was poised to usurp Tian Lu’s dominant position.

When one rises to prominence, their associates benefit; any expert originating from the Five Elements Continent was now regarded with awe on the moon and the sun. If that person happened to be from Ji Changkong's Xuanyuan Valley, or affiliated with any of its forces, they were immediately treated as VIPs, showered with flattery and eager attention.

Xuanyuan Valley suddenly became bustling.

Super experts from the various Life Stars actively pleaded their cases, and finally, with Ji Changkong’s assent, they traveled directly from the Hailan Continent to the Five Elements Continent, taking temporary residence within Xuanyuan Valley.

Upon arrival, these individuals were remarkably well-behaved. Arranged by the Ji Family, the Xiao Family, and the Ghost Sect, they were housed in the mountain ranges surrounding Xuanyuan Valley. The natural ambient energy there was far from rich, significantly inferior to their previous cultivation grounds.

Yet, they voiced no complaints; indeed, each one displayed profound gratitude.

Those who managed to arrive were all masters from the major Life Stars, most of them at the Nine Palaces Celestial Realm. On their home Stars, these individuals were figures of great reverence, but within Xuanyuan Valley, they were exceedingly docile, conducting themselves with perpetual smiles, none daring to put on airs.

Initially, members of the Xiao Family, the Ghost Sect, and the Ji Family approached these newcomers with extreme caution, some even trembling inwardly. This was because many among the guests were the super-strong figures from the Solar Star Domain they had heard whispers of on the moon and the sun.

They had expected these arrivals to be arrogant and difficult to deal with, causing the three families within the valley to feel rather uneasy.

However, as time passed, they observed that these figures, famous throughout the Solar Star Domain, treated one specific person with extraordinary circumspection, even to the point of over-cautiousness.

That person was Ji Changkong.

Consequently, the super experts arriving from other Life Stars behaved timidly around Ji Changkong, even making deliberate efforts to please him, terrified of inadvertently causing him displeasure in any aspect.

The three families within Xuanyuan Valley were astute observers of subtle cues. Seeing the guests’ conduct, they were immensely surprised, unable to comprehend why these famed super-strong experts of the Solar Star Domain displayed such apprehension and deference toward Ji Changkong. Nevertheless, the guests' behavior brought great relief to many in Xuanyuan Valley; they knew that as long as Ji Changkong was present, any super expert arriving from another Life Star would remain obedient and cause no trouble.

Xuanyuan Valley was vibrant.

These experts from other Life Stars frequently moved around the valley, sometimes participating in the Celestial Master trade fairs organized by Xuanyuan Valley. These individuals were top-tier figures on their respective Life Stars, often possessing marvelous artifacts that masters on the Five Elements Continent had never encountered.

In the core of Xuanyuan Valley, several of these super experts often gathered. Sometimes, feeling generous, they might offer guidance on perplexing bottlenecks in cultivation to the valley inhabitants. Occasionally, merely two or three sentences were enough to pinpoint the exact block preventing progress.

Many masters in Xuanyuan Valley, after receiving these benevolent pointers, broke through to new realms in short order.

Xiao Poshan, who had long since reached the peak of the Eight Trigrams Celestial Realm, had found his cultivation stalled for years. To break through to the Nine Palaces Celestial Realm, he had exhausted every conceivable method.

Gu Yan had once offered guidance to Xiao Poshan out of respect for Ji Changkong, but every challenge in the path of cultivation is unique. Even Gu Yan could not perfectly anticipate and resolve every difficulty inherent in traversing the bottleneck between the peak of the Eight Trigrams Realm and the Nine Palaces Realm.

Xiao Poshan, stalled at this stage for too long, had begun to believe he would never enter the Nine Palaces Realm in this lifetime. However, while helping some Seven Stars Celestial Masters and newly entered Eight Trigrams Celestial Masters in Xuanyuan Valley, he inadvertently voiced his own predicament, which was overheard by the bald head of Jin Caishen, passing by chance.

The bald head had encountered the exact same dilemma when he was at the peak of the Eight Trigrams Realm. After meticulously inquiring about Xiao Poshan's troubles, the bald head offered several suggestions, advising him to try altering his approach.

Half-doubting, Xiao Poshan, upon learning that the bald head was the leader of Golden Web Mountain, retired into seclusion within the valley. Astonishingly, within just three days, he shattered the bottleneck and glimpsed the dawn of the Nine Palaces Realm.

Sometimes, a barrier that limits one for decades is merely an invisible membrane; pierce it, and one immediately steps into another wondrous state.

The news of Xiao Poshan’s breakthrough to the Nine Palaces Realm following the bald head’s counsel spread throughout Xuanyuan Valley overnight. Suddenly, many masters within the valley were galvanized. Especially those struggling with severe cultivation obstacles, they began moving around the valley, immediately lowering their postures and sincerely seeking instruction the moment they saw any expert arriving from another Life Star.

Surprisingly, these individuals, so arrogant on their home Life Stars, were one and all affable and generous with their wisdom within Xuanyuan Valley.

Soon after, several more masters from Xuanyuan Valley broke through their own bottlenecks by following the guidance of these visitors.

In just a few days, Xuanyuan Valley gained three new masters at the Nine Palaces Celestial Realm and five new ones at the Seven Stars Celestial Realm—individuals who had been stagnant at their previous levels for years, even decades!

Xuanyuan Valley became the most miraculous place on the Five Elements Continent.

Any sect or family closely associated with Xuanyuan Valley found various pretexts to visit, to linger there. Some came to exchange rare treasures from other Life Stars, while others sought the kindly pointers from the famous strongmen of the Solar Star Domain.

Xuanyuan Valley unequivocally became the central hub of the Five Elements Continent, truly establishing itself as the leader of all Celestial Master forces. Dozens of Nine Palaces Celestial Masters were now permanently stationed there. What power in the world would dare challenge them?

To this day, if any unrest flares up anywhere in the realm, a simple message released from the valley is enough to halt even ongoing battles immediately.

Xuanyuan Valley had undeniably become the supreme authority in the world. The Ji Family, too, reached an unprecedented peak!

Dragon’s Poison Pool.

Ji Changkong sat silently by the pool’s edge, starlight shimmering around him, occasionally flashing with iridescent rainbow light across his skin.

Sitting still, he was like the ocean—profound and inscrutable. He exerted no deliberate power, yet anyone gazing upon him felt an instinctual urge to submit.

After returning to Xuanyuan Valley from the Hailan Continent, he had instructed Xiao Xing and others to settle the experts arriving from other Life Stars. He then immediately journeyed from Xuanyuan Valley to the Dragon’s Poison Pool. Back in the valley, Gu Yan, Lan Fen, and the elderly Madam Shang were tasked with interfacing with the visiting experts from other Life Stars, discussing the current situation and exchanging intelligence regarding the Death Pact and Tian Lu.

He, meanwhile, was cultivating intensely in the Dragon’s Poison Pool, hoping to refine the essence of the stars contained within his acupoints as quickly as possible, allowing him to advance further to a more profound level.

Time slipped by, and three months passed unnoticed.

During these three months, he finally succeeded in refining the stellar essence within one acupoint, allowing that single point to store a vast reservoir of power.

Knowing the method for cultivating acupoints was one thing; mastering it was another. He had grasped all the intricacies of refining a single acupoint from Gu Yan, Lan Fen, and the others, having preemptively eliminated nearly every known difficulty before starting. Yet, during the refinement process, he discovered novel problems.

It was only then that he understood that due to individual differences in physique and soul alignment, the challenges encountered during cultivation would inevitably vary for each person.

Only by overcoming these myriad difficulties and confronting one’s inner self could one potentially shatter bottlenecks and achieve one's goals.

What he had initially thought would take only a few days to complete for one acupoint required a full three months. Fortunately, during this period, he gained a clearer understanding of himself, grasping the unique mysteries latent within his body.

After that initial month, the speed of his acupoint cultivation accelerated. Benefiting from the experience gained over the preceding three months, he managed to refine two more acupoints in the following month, allowing those two points to also store massive reserves of primal energy.

Without pausing, having unlocked the secret to his cultivation method, he dedicated all his focus to refining acupoints. In the subsequent two months, he refined nine more, infusing those nine acupoints with the power he had condensed.

In half a year, twelve acupoints were refined—a rate that was already quite swift.

The stellar essence within those twelve acupoints vanished, replaced by divine space forged into a novel domain, brimming with immeasurable primal energy. This energy contained the force of the stars, the essence of his own bloodline, and the consciousness of his soul.

Through repeated tempering, the combined power stored within these twelve refined acupoints now exceeded the total primal energy contained within the tendons, veins, and organs of his limbs and torso.

In essence, although only twelve acupoints were refined, his physical strength had more than doubled!

Of course, this represented a doubling of his true personal strength, not the power of the Tian Yuan Pearl, nor the amplification from his bloodline essence.

But even so, the increase was substantial. He knew that armed with the experience from refining these twelve acupoints, his progress in subsequent cultivation would become far more rapid, the speed increasing exponentially.

Just as he prepared to dedicate more time to further refinement, his soul detected the approach of another presence.

He awoke serenely from his meditative state. Behind him, the Dragon’s Poison Pool churned violently as the massive form of the Sky-Grasping Dragon slowly emerged. Its voice rumbled, "Someone has arrived."

Ji Changkong nodded slightly, a faint smile touching his lips. "Do not worry, it is one of our own."

Indeed, after a short while, Xiao Poshan’s robust figure gradually became visible. Xiao Poshan, whose hair had been white, now showed marked changes; both his hair and beard had turned completely black, with a noticeable luster.

Xiao Poshan, who previously looked sixty or seventy, appeared significantly younger, resembling a man in his early forties, much to Ji Changkong’s surprise.

Xiao Poshan arrived, first curiously surveying the surroundings, then walked toward him directly, calling out, "Where is Old Li?"

"Grandpa Xiao, have you stabilized your Nine Palaces Celestial Realm cultivation?" Ji Changkong asked with a smile. Upon hearing of Xiao Poshan’s breakthrough, he had received the news and sent the Sky-Grasping Dragon to Xuanyuan Valley to summon Xiao Poshan to the Dragon’s Poison Pool. Xiao Poshan had replied that he needed time to fully solidify his current realm before making the trip.

"Yes, ha ha. After half a year of dedicated refinement, my state of mind has finally stabilized. Recently, I spent time re-tempering my body and consulted your maternal grandfather in detail about the specifics before daring to come," Xiao Poshan replied with a laugh and a nod.

"That is good." Ji Changkong rose, walking step by step toward the Dragon’s Poison Pool, turning back to Xiao Poshan. "Come, I will send you to that continent. Uncle Li is currently cultivating within; you can join him there as company."

"Haha, that’s excellent! You boy, you truly have a knack for this!" Xiao Poshan was visibly thrilled.

Experts from other Life Stars risked their lives to contend for the stellar essence on inhabited worlds, yet even then, finding a living world suitable for cultivation was exceedingly difficult, given the severe scarcity of such worlds containing stellar essence in the current Solar Star Domain.

Xiao Poshan knew that many of the Nine Palaces Celestial Masters currently visiting Xuanyuan Valley had not yet refined all their acupoints. These individuals had been stuck at the Nine Palaces Realm for decades, sometimes even centuries, and in all that time, they could not find a suitable place with stellar essence for cultivation—a testament to how rare that essence was.

But here was Xiao Poshan, having only just broken through to the Nine Palaces Realm and stabilizing his state, and Ji Changkong had already secured a living world for him to cultivate to his heart’s content. How could he not be excited?

He hadn't followed the wrong person. If he hadn't possessed the foresight years ago to bind the Xiao Family and the Ji Family together, how could they possibly enjoy this current glory? How could they have such good fortune? Xiao Poshan mused inwardly with satisfaction.

"Oh, right, there is one more person," Xiao Poshan suddenly recalled after his initial excitement, hastily adding.

Ji Changkong, who was now hovering above the Dragon’s Poison Pool, paused upon hearing this. "Who else?"

"Miss Shang. This… this was arranged by your maternal grandfather. He asked her to come to the Dragon’s Poison Pool, but after me. She should arrive some time later. Your grandfather wants to see what your own decision is regarding her." Xiao Poshan explained.

Ji Changkong frowned, a headache beginning to form. Shang Bingjie was also at the Nine Palaces Celestial Realm and lacked a star essence for cultivation—he was well aware of this, and knew Shang Bingjie desperately needed the essence for rapid advancement.

It wasn't that he held any grudge against Shang Bingjie; it was just that... Shang Bingjie belonged to the Shang Family.

And in the Shang Family, there were numerous experts who had reached the Nine Palaces Realm but lacked the star essence for continued advancement. If he made an exception for Shang Bingjie and allowed her access, he feared she might soften and leak the secret of the Dragon’s Poison Pool.

If that happened, the Nine Palaces Celestial Masters from other Life Stars would inevitably swarm in, begging him regardless of the cost. Since they came from all directions, once the secret was out, it would no longer be a secret.

If he wasn't ruthless, Xuanyuan Valley would lose its advantage, which would be highly undesirable.

"Changkong, Shang Bingjie does not know about the Dragon’s Poison Pool. Her coming here is mainly for you. If you are unwilling to let her enter that place, you must act quickly," Xiao Poshan warned.

"I will send you in first, then wait for her arrival to discuss her attitude, and decide then," Ji Changkong concluded after a moment of thought. "Hurry now, I'm opening the passage. Go in immediately before she arrives."

Xiao Poshan nodded and swiftly descended, plunging into the bottom of the Dragon’s Poison Pool.

It is the final day of the month; don't hold onto your monthly tickets. Give them to me. Thank you.