In truth, the Five Peaks Summit convened by the Huashan Three Sects was nothing more than an exercise in protracted haggling.

Lu Yuan had committed two violations of the sect rules. One was disrespect toward his elders, and the other was internal strife among sect members. Therefore, punishment was due. The reason the penalty was so light stemmed from Lu Yuan’s defense: "I haven't left my Changchun Residence for two years, completely unaware that Yunyang Valley now belongs entirely to the Sword Sect. I assumed half of it was still ours, the Sword Qi Sect, so I went over to claim spirit stones and ended up in a fight." For anyone else, such an excuse would be utterly unbelievable. What true disciple neglects worldly affairs for two years and remains ignorant of external events? Yet, this was Lu Yuan. Given his established lifestyle, there was a sliver of possibility it might be true.

Coupled with the Qi Sect’s intervention and the subsequent debate among the Three Sects, Lu Yuan was ultimately sentenced to three years confinement on Sigou Cliff (Cliff of Reflection).

Hearing the verdict, Lu Yuan felt no great surprise. Three years was three years; he would explore Sigou Cliff first.

However, before entering Sigou Cliff, there were two matters to attend to. The first was that Lu Yuan immediately procured a large quantity of wine. Being confined, he certainly couldn't come out. How could a mere thousand jin of wine be enough? Averaging one jin per day—if his spatial artifacts had allowed, it would have been even more. Alas, he had to settle for less. Lu Yuan was indiscriminate about the quality of his drink; fine wine or rotgut would do, but he absolutely required alcohol.

Drinkers fall into several categories. One type comprises connoisseurs who savor the ritual, preferring specific wines and employing numerous flourishes while drinking. Just looking at their cups—ox horn, rhino horn, dragon and phoenix motifs, celadon—the variety of vessels alone was endless.

Another type is the hopeless drunkard who cares nothing for the vintage; they simply crave intoxication. Even among these hopeless drunks, some are legendary. Take the immortal cultivator known as the Drunken Immortal, Li Xiaoyao, who once commissioned a wine vat the size of a small town, submerged himself in it for a year, and drank it all dry.

The third type, like Lu Yuan, seeks the feeling of drinking; the quality of the wine is secondary to the experience.

The second task before entering Sigou Cliff was to attempt a breakthrough: advancing to the second stage of the Longevity Realm. The urgency to reach the second stage of the Longevity Realm stemmed from Uncle-Master Ye Yangrong’s advice: if he could boost his mana before confinement, he should do so, as life on Sigou Cliff would be exceptionally difficult otherwise. Lu Yuan had a good habit of heeding the counsel of experienced individuals, and since Uncle-Master Ye, who managed intelligence, offered this advice, it must carry weight.

Therefore, now was the time to test the advance to the second stage of the Longevity Realm—the Two-Thousand-Year State. Only by reaching the Two-Thousand-Year State could one truly attain a lifespan of two thousand years. This milestone was significant; after all, the pursuit of immortality was fundamentally the pursuit of longevity.

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged and, with a sweep of his hand, forcibly shattered two thousand spirit stones. Indeed, this was Lu Yuan’s current style of grand expenditure. He had only recently earned ten thousand spirit stones; why economize now?

Furthermore, the higher one ascended, the vaster the required primordial energy of heaven and earth needed for advancement.

As the two thousand stones fractured, the released spiritual energy saturated the entire Spirit Sealing Array. Simultaneously, within the Spirit Sealing Tablet, the twenty-two large Cloud-Type spirit beasts incessantly inhaled the immense primordial energy of heaven and earth, channeling it into Lu Yuan’s body, pushing his mana ever upward.

This advancement attempt relied on deep reserves. He had reached the Longevity Realm two years prior and had spent the last two years accumulating mana. Now, aided by the sudden infusion from two thousand spirit stones and the mana channeled by twenty-two large Cloud-Type beasts, he possessed the prerequisite foundation for the breakthrough.

However, success remained uncertain. Never mind; he would attempt the strike and see. Even if it failed, it wasn't the end of the world.

Lu Yuan sat motionless on the floor of Changchun Residence, ceaselessly drawing in mana. Around him, white vapor had become almost visible, ethereal like mist or cloud outside his body. This was completely different from before. Before the Body Tempering Stage, no matter how refined the internal energy, it remained confined within the body. But upon reaching the Longevity Realm, when condensing mana, one could perceive vast white mist internally. As one progressed further into the Longevity Realm, the more extensive and dense the surrounding white mist became.

Strike!

Lu Yuan’s sustained effort lasted an indeterminate time. He seemed tantalizingly close to breaking through the barrier, but in the end, the two thousand spirit stones were entirely consumed, and the barrier remained unbroken. He had not reached the second stage of the Longevity Realm, the Two-Thousand-Year State.

Failure! Lu Yuan felt a brief pang of dejection, but quickly rationalized it. Failure was failure.

The path of immortal cultivation was immeasurably long. On such a vast road, constant success would be utterly false; occasional failure was perfectly normal.

Having accepted this setback, he prepared for his departure to Sigou Cliff—a place he had long anticipated, one of the few locations on Huashan he had never visited.

Sigou Cliff was a truly unique location among Huashan’s hundred peaks.

To begin with its origin: over four thousand years ago, the Second Patriarch of the North Peak held a status comparable to Yan Cangtian. At that time, the Sword and Qi Sects held immense power, their animosity bordering on outright war, threatening to completely fracture Huashan. The Second Patriarch of the North Peak, thoroughly exasperated, simply encircled an entire peak, set up countless restrictive enchantments, and tossed in all the members of the Sword and Qi Sects, as well as anyone advocating for Huashan’s division. They were to remain inside and reflect deeply until they came to their senses. It must be said that sometimes, a brutally direct method succeeded where mere verbal persuasion failed.

Subsequently, for reasons lost to time, Sigou Cliff became established as a place of confinement.

Any member of the Huashan Immortal Sect who committed an error that was neither minor nor catastrophic was relegated to Sigou Cliff. Minor faults didn't warrant it; severe transgressions warranted immediate execution rather than a stay at Sigou Cliff—if one had truly colluded with demons or committed unforgivable sins, they were simply killed.

And the environment of Sigou Cliff was certainly no paradise. Though the internal conditions were unknown, every person who had passed through Sigou Cliff carried an expression of tormented recollection.

Sigou Cliff itself was one of Huashan’s hundred peaks. The Second Patriarch had initially layered it with numerous restrictive spells. Succeeding Patriarchs then added various other formations over millennia. These prohibitions, diverse in technique and specialization, began interacting over the centuries.

Consequently, the array of protective and restrictive spells surrounding Sigou Cliff today was impossibly complex. Even the current Sect Master, Chu Duan, could likely not break through them all. No one knew the total count. While a figure of the Nine Generations Sword Immortal level was undeniably unparalleled, being cast amidst the chaotic, intertwined formations surrounding Sigou Cliff would likely leave even them dizzy and trapped to death. A saying persisted: "Huashan’s strongest formation is not the Peak Protection Arrays, but the arrays of Sigou Cliff." This was undeniably true. While the Peak Protection Arrays were complex when designed, they adhered to discernible principles, meaning a master formationist could eventually find a way to break them.

But the arrays of Sigou Cliff—I regret to inform you—had too many masters adding their prohibitions, knotting them together until they became fundamentally unbreakable.

Entering Sigou Cliff allowed only one path. This path was narrow and long, perhaps only a zhang wide and several thousand zhang in length. This path was known as the Path of Reflection.

Once past the Path of Reflection, one could enter the main body of Sigou Cliff.

Lu Yuan now traversed the Path of Reflection. This narrow, lengthy road felt interminable. He dared not stray beyond the one-zhang width, having been explicitly warned. As he walked, Lu Yuan suddenly noticed a small peak ahead—his destination. Reaching the summit of this knoll, he found himself on a vast, open cliff face.

On the cliff, besides himself, two other figures sat cross-legged.

Both men bore intensely cold expressions: one was a thin, gaunt old man, the other, a stern and imposing old man.

Lu Yuan surveyed the surroundings and realized that everything beyond this small peak was enveloped in the void—nothingness remained!

“A junior has arrived. From the Sword Qi Sect, I presume?” asked the thin, gaunt elder. “Yes. Your junior is the tenth-generation disciple of the Huashan Sword Qi Sect,” Lu Yuan replied, finding deference to elders natural. “Interesting. The minimum requirement for entry into Sigou Cliff is the Longevity Realm. A mere tenth-generation disciple achieving Longevity—not bad, not bad at all,” said the thin elder. “I am Lian Nian of the Sword Sect. This cold-faced fellow beside me is Nangong Zhe of the Qi Sect. We are both ninth-generation; consider us your martial uncles.”

“Tell me, how fares Huashan now? Does Sect Master Yan still hold the throne as the foremost figure in Great Jin?” Lian Nian of the Sword Sect inquired.

Lu Yuan paused. Ancestor Yan ascended two years ago; it was now Martial Uncle-Ancestor Chu leading the sect. But then he remembered: Sigou Cliff was entirely cut off from the outside world; ignorance of the last two years’ events was expected. He proceeded to recount the major happenings at Huashan. Martial Uncle Lian Nian listened with mounting astonishment, while the imposing elder beside him clearly focused his attention, also startled by the magnitude of the external changes.

The transformations at Huashan over the past two years were indeed profound.

Lu Yuan was puzzled why only three people—including himself—occupied Sigou Cliff. This was plainly wrong. By his understanding, Sigou Cliff should house dozens of individuals. Furthermore, the sectarian representation of the three men was curious: Sword Sect, Qi Sect, and Sword Qi Sect—exactly one from each primary lineage.