What a joke!
The battle between the Mad Sect and the Sword Sect was something the Desolate Emperor’s son had been closely monitoring.
Furthermore, due to the involvement of the Ancient Dharma Civilization, the Ancient Desolate Civilization found it inconvenient to dispatch significant figures to intervene.
Regarding this fight, the Desolate Emperor’s son was certain the Mad Sect would win: the Child of the Sword hadn't made a move, Lu Yuan was stuck at the Fourth Heaven of the World Realm due to his seven-emotion deficiency, and Ancestor Jian Mie was mediocre at best. Not to mention the Mad Sect’s ultimate weapon, the Spear of Madness. Yet, this unexpected outcome had occurred.
Lu Yuan!
This individual absolutely must be made to face hardship.
He absolutely could not be allowed to pass this easily.
He must be punished!
As for the nature of that punishment, he needed more time to consider—it had to be a terrifying reprisal, like a thunderbolt.
Lu Wu must not be allowed to survive this.
And simultaneously, this news hadn't only reached the Ancient Desolate Civilization.
The Ancient Dharma Civilization had also received word!
Interesting! Truly interesting news.
The Dharma Saint Emperor’s son was momentarily startled upon hearing the update, then burst into loud laughter. To be honest, the Dharma Saint Emperor’s son had not anticipated such a turn of events. He hadn't expected Lu Yuan to break through to the Fifth Heaven of the World Realm, the Creation Realm, even while lacking the Seven Emotions. It made his future growth truly anticipated.
Beyond them, the Ancient Immortal Civilization, the Ancient Martial Civilization, the Ancient Buddhist Civilization, and various other common civilizations—such as the Confucian Civilization, the Wind Civilization, the Medicine Civilization, and so forth—had all received this news.
This marked Lu Yuan’s third near-fame event across the world.
The second time he was almost famous was at the World Volcano, where Lu Yuan achieved an unbroken streak of 11,000 victories. That notoriety spread across numerous civilizations, but it failed to reach the ears of the Five Arrows Ancient Civilization. While that feat was stunning, it hadn't earned the qualification necessary for the Five Great Ancient Civilizations to hear of it; such recognition required extraordinary merit. The first time he gained renown was at the Elemental Tower. The Elemental Tower incident became famous because Lu Yuan shattered the eighty-four-stage record previously held by the Seven Sons of Destiny, thoroughly overshadowing the Child of the Buddha. The Child of the Buddha was already a famous figure in the Central Heavenly Court, so overshadowing him naturally brought world renown.
The second time, however, was the ultimate confrontation with the Child of the Sword. This was when Lu Yuan truly shook the world—he actually defeated the Child of the Sword! That was the Child of the Sword, an extraordinary figure, a truly formidable member of the Seven Sons of Destiny. Defeating such a person meant he could not fail to become famous.
And now, this was the third time.
One must never underestimate the significance of Lu Yuan defeating the Mad Sect Master, Zhan Yijue.
Zhan Yijue was, after all, a regional hegemon, a supremely powerful figure beneath the Heavenly Venerate level. This was a war between two major sects, and Lu Yuan reversed the entire tide through his sole effort, securing victory. This was tremendously significant. In battles involving Supreme Great Sects, reversing the situation through the power of one individual was enough to warrant world fame, though clearly not as sensational as defeating the Child of the Sword.
But in sum and substance, the vast majority of the Central Heavenly Court had now heard the great name of Lu Yuan.
Because of the need to target Lu Yuan, all sorts of strategies had emerged.
Currently, within the entire Central Heavenly Court, there were likely no fewer than fifty specialized research groups dedicated to studying Lu Yuan.
Concurrently, Lu Yuan was focused on studying something within the Sword Gate.
After defeating the Mad Sect Master Zhan Yijue, Lu Yuan began researching how to advance to the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm: the Vital Energy Realm.
The Sixth Heaven was the Vital Energy Realm. The so-called Vital Energy Realm meant that in previous stages, one had to continuously inject energy into their personal space because the space itself produced no inherent energy. However, in the Vital Energy Realm, the space itself generates its own power source, capable of creating vital energy to sustain its own consumption. This establishes a self-perpetuating energy cycle within the space, eliminating the need for the space’s owner to inject energy; in fact, excess energy might even flow back to replenish the owner.
Ancestor Jian Mie possessed considerable documentation on how to assault the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm, the Vital Energy Realm, though he himself had never succeeded.
Lu Yuan reviewed Ancestor Jian Mie’s data while simultaneously analyzing it.
It turned out that within his Sword Space, there was indeed a miniature sun. But that miniature sun was only superficially identical to a real sun; it required Lu Yuan to inject a certain amount of energy for it to emit light and heat. Simply put, the Sword Space could not achieve energy self-sufficiency. To break through to the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm, the Vital Energy Realm, one needed to master a specific technique, theoretically referred to as the nuclear fusion method.
Had he not mastered numerous elements back at the Elemental Tower?
Nuclear fusion, however, required a deeper understanding than merely mastering elements. It involved fusing lighter atomic nuclei under extremely high temperatures to generate heavier atomic nuclei, simultaneously releasing colossal amounts of energy.
As for why energy is produced, the explanation is even simpler: mass defect. Everything in the cosmos generally exists perpetually. When a state transforms into another—say, water turning into ice—no mass is lost, nor is energy produced. However, if a portion of mass is completely annihilated, it generates immense energy. This resulting energy is terrifyingly potent.
This was the theory behind breaking through to the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm, the Vital Energy Realm: mastering nuclear fusion.
But knowing the theory was one thing; successfully implementing it and actually reaching the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm, the Vital Energy Realm, was quite another.
The gap between the two was substantial. Lu Yuan had only obtained the theory from Ancestor Jian Mie, but he lacked the specific method to advance. If left to his own devices to figure it out immediately, he wouldn't find a way.
And why were masters of the Sixth Heaven Vital Energy Realm so vastly superior to those at the Fifth Heaven Creation Realm? The simplest reason: experts in the Vital Energy Realm possessed an overwhelming surplus of vital energy, far exceeding those at the Fifth Heaven Creation Realm. Moreover, the Sixth Heaven Vital Energy Realm experts could unleash exaggerated nuclear fusion attacks. Such attacks were incredibly fierce, capable of generating immensely powerful explosions in an instant—a capability that caused considerable headache for those at the Fifth Heaven Creation Realm.
This was the nature of the Sixth Heaven Vital Energy Realm. For the time being, Lu Yuan hadn't devised a breakthrough method.
Forget it, time for a break.
Everyone understood what Lu Yuan's rest entailed: drinking, and sleeping.
One day, while enjoying a hearty drink, Jian Xiong rushed in. Incidentally, Lu Yuan wasn't residing on the Ancestral Sword Star. Typically, Grand Elders stayed there for cultivation. However, Lu Yuan didn't need to cultivate there; as the current foremost expert in the Sword Gate, he had nothing left to practice. Therefore, Lu Yuan stayed on the Sword Gate Star, which was far more lively and offered better varieties of liquor. Jian Xiong strode in with powerful strides, announcing, "The Child of the Sword has returned."
"What? The Child of the Sword?" Lu Yuan sounded surprised. Ever since his narrow victory over the Child of the Sword, the latter had vanished without a trace.
And now, the Child of the Sword had actually returned.
"And I fear his intentions are ill," Jian Xiong added.
"Oh? Is that so? I'll go immediately," Lu Yuan nodded.
If the Child of the Sword harbored ill intentions, the current Sword Gate Master, his master Taishikong, might not be able to hold the situation. To be precise, not just Taishikong, but even Ancestor Jian Mie might be overwhelmed. Currently, Lu Yuan and the Child of the Sword were the two strongest figures in the Sword Gate. Lu Yuan had narrowly won last time, but the Child of the Sword was no pushover; his power was exceptionally high and unique.
Lu Yuan needed to go establish dominance.
The Mountain of Emptiness, the Palace of Heaven and Earth—this was where the Sword Gate Master handled affairs.
The situation inside the Palace of Heaven and Earth was currently dire.
Yes, the Child of the Sword had returned.
His aura upon returning was noticeably different from when he was defeated by Lu Yuan’s sword. He seemed to have ascended to an even loftier realm. Furthermore, he was accompanied by two figures: the second disciple of Tong Yun-chou, Tong Shangxin, and the third disciple, Tong Liulei.
Tong Shangxin’s face was so steeped in sorrow that merely looking at him induced sadness.
Tong Liulei didn't look quite as mournful, yet he appeared to be weeping constantly.
The appearance of these two was, frankly, rather comical.
However, their strength was no joke.
Both of these individuals possessed the strength of the Seventh Heaven of the World Realm. Moreover, they were brazenly radiating their powerful auras without restraint.
Under such circumstances, the pressure on Taishikong, who was only at the Second Heaven of the World Realm, must have been immense. Under the crushing force of their auras, Taishikong found himself struggling to utter a word. It was a colossal pressure; Taishikong felt that Tong Shangxin and Tong Liulei could crush him with a casual gesture.
Ancestor Jian Mie had also arrived, but it was useless. Ancestor Jian Mie was currently far inferior to the Child of the Sword, or even any one of Tong Shangxin and Tong Liulei; his aura was completely suppressed.
The Child of the Sword smirked faintly.
He delicately picked up a cup of tea.
At that very instant, a streak of azure light appeared. The blue-robed Lu Yuan walked into the Palace of Heaven and Earth, clutching a wineskin.
The Child of the Sword drank tea; Lu Yuan drank wine.
This was the fundamental difference between the two.
Lu Yuan had finally arrived, and his presence immediately stabilized the situation. The Child of the Sword had lost to Lu Yuan once, and while Tong Shangxin and Tong Liulei were stronger than Lu Yuan, their fame paled in comparison, and their auras could not suppress Lu Yuan. Finally, the aura between the Child of the Sword’s faction and Lu Yuan’s faction was roughly equal, allowing for an equitable dialogue.
The Child of the Sword looked toward Lu Yuan. He naturally knew Lu Yuan had reached the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm and that his single sword strike shattered the Mad Sect’s ultimate weapon, the Spear of Madness—truly profound and unfathomable.
Lu Yuan, in turn, detected that the Child of the Sword’s magical power was even more exquisite than his own, seemingly having reached the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm as well. It appeared the Child of the Sword had received guidance from a master during this time, and this master must be astronomically powerful, quite possibly the Vice-Lord of the Bronze Civilization.
(The return of the Child of the Sword brings a highly specific plot development, which I doubt you have guessed. I am quite proud of this plot development.)